For more about progressive overload, check my book on all things training, available here! www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat Also lots of exercises, fully described, with pictures (obviously, who writes a training book without pictures??) and hundreds of pages of easily digestible and useful content.
For the sake of arguing (8:35) , do you think it is optimal to go from RPE 10 - RPE 8 for the same weight and same reps without overloading measurable factors like reps , sets , weight etc.
@@user-zk4dv2nx8k hard to say. what is optimal often varies. I'll say that it's "viable". You do a really brutal triple one week, it turns into a very tough triple next week, and the week after it's a tough but manageable triple. You could have gotten 4 reps week 2 or 5 reps week 3, but if you are progressing, you might not even NEED to. The fact that the same weight and reps are easier is a clear sign the training is working! Sometimes biting off more than you can chew leads to regression. I've been guilty of that many times. Like if week 2 you take that 4th rep, and it's a total grinder...maybe now your week 3 is farked, and you are back to 3 reps or worse. Training harder and heavier than last time only really works quite early in a training career for those not training very hard.
This type of progression I think is called step loading, where you keep a weight until it feels comfortable enough that is no longer or (very minimally) stimulating, and then you move up again. It's very popular in gymnastics, where you should strive to "master" a movement or strength skill, before even attempting to move to a harder variation because jumps in progression in gymnastics are so huge.
@; you never recrut 100% of the muscle fibers. More mind muscle connections means more muscle fibers used, thus more strength, more size, more stress on the muscle not on the joint, better form, less joint injuries, etc
@@RikarwbNo it just means that you are aware of what your muscles are doing so that you can lift with the best form and effort possible to stimulate the muscles you are training
This video is right on time for me. I’ve had to cut my bench down by 30-40 pounds and hone in on technique cause my shoulders (the left especially) are a mess and physician said to go easier for a while. So taking a step back to take more step forwards later really is the wave sometimes and I gotta keep that in mind.
“You cannot progress linearly forever.” Noob gym bros who train 7 days/week and don’t use deloads: You underestimate my power *angry Anakin Skywalker face*
@@jocaingles8464 I don’t think they need to deload nearly as frequently as advanced and elite lifters, but it’s likely still optimal to do a short deload (4-5 days) every 8-10 weeks or so. But that will obviously vary depending on their training intensity and programming.
Love how you're talking about long-term compared to short term. Training is like a rollercoaster. Sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down. But the consistency and the diligence is what makes the progression a possibility in the "long term". Geoff seems knowledgeable, too bad he's not as well known as some of the other jokers.
Purchased the book. Your channel is one of the best fitness channels I have ever come across. You belong in the god tier for sure. And watching your workout routines has been a great help too. Keep up the good work brother. And thank you for the free wealth of knowledge.
Have patience when laying the foundations If you rush things, tendons and ligaments may not be able to catch up to your muscle strength Let strength consolidate
10 seconds in and i already agree, i HATE trying to beat my old records, it gives me anxiety and distracts me from the workout, forces ugly form, etc doing things right progressive overload happens automatically, you don't even realise if you just adjust the weights to hit a certain rep range the weights will go up in time without even noticing I started progressing the day i stopped caring about how much weight i was using but more on the form and rep range
100% agree. Especially at my age of 52, I have to really listen to my body and curtail weight progression if it isn't going well. This was my approach with my previous hypertrophy training where I would often work with the same weight for weeks and never went up by large increments. It can be nice just feeling a weight get easier and easier before increasing.
Barbell medicine said something interesting in a recent podcast of theirs. I can't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of "if you bench 210 for 5 reps at RPE 7 and then bench 220 for 5 reps at RPE 10, did you get stronger or did you just exert yourself more?". It's definitely changed my perspective about trying to progress constantly even when I might be already working at close to max capacity. Forcing yourself to do more weight might not be making yourself much more stronger and just more fatigued.
Yea it's where "harder than last time" really breaks down. Tell top powerlifters to train harder than last time, and they'll laugh at you. I mean, I'd rather have a heavier weight feel EASIER than a lighter weight feel HARDER. If you do 100kg for 5 reps at RPE 8, next session would you rather: 105kg for 5 reps at RPE 7 OR 95kg for 5 reps at RPE 9 Easy choice for me.
I pretty much had no choice but to train this way over the last year during quarantine. Had limited equipment to work with, so I would just pick a rep range per set I wanted to hit, and slowly worked my way through those sets for weeks on end while putting more focus on slowing down the eccentric, and trying to have as explosive a concentric as possible. Once I finally got back under a barbell again and some heavy weight (finally purchased a powerrack for the homegym) I realized that not only did I NOT lose strength on most of my movements, but I actually noticeably increased weight on my bench and squat. This has completely changed my approach to training and I no longer push weight up every session like I used to. Best gains I ever made were training with a pair of adjustable dumbbells in my garage vs the prior 12 months training in a gym with barbells. Honestly, though I was completely panicked about it at first, spending that whole year out of a gym and working with lighter weights was probably the best thing that could have happened to my training as I finally was forced to put focus on ROM and MMC which is something I never gave a shit about in the gym. You very much speak the truth, Mr. Schofield.
@@GVS For sure! And don't get me started on the nutrition side of things. Working from home allowed me to dial in the nutrition and sleep side of things as well. At this point, if we ever were forced to physically go back to the office, I'll probably lose all my gains and gain 80lbs of fat within the first 3 days. lol
Same thing happened to me. Trained with dumbbels for a month before I got my own home gym/rack. Used the same light weights all month, 8-15reps. Just increased sets as work capacity improved, and focused on full ROM and MMC.
Interesting topic, & I see your point & agree to a good degree. I also think there’s many different ways to continue using progressive overload to master a certain level of resistance without going up in weight, such as adding in a focus on slow eccentric movement, using pause reps, changing the volume for a given workout, etc.....but yes, You make some good points. I’ve also had many clients reduce the weight lifted on some exercises in order to make better progress if their form was bad and/or they had plateaued at a given resistance. That’s also where Periodization can be very helpful.
You took the words right out of my mouth! Must have been while you were step loading me ;) Great advice as always and appreciate your transparency Geoff!
So glad I purchased a bunch of change plates to use with my loadable dumbells. I think I can go up in 1 kg increments, not too bad. My wife also appreciates those plates as her absolute weights on the bar are not huge and having smaller jumps is very nice.
I love this video. I'm so glad that as a noob female lifter I adapted this right out of the gate. I went from 60kg high box squats to 40kg ass to grass paused squats in two months because I resisted progressive overload on weight and decided to gain mobility. That 40kg feels so much more as a massive win than the shitty quarter ROM 60kg squat that fried my erectors. Noobie gains pressure is real, but this is definitely the better approach for me. Thank you Geoff, you're my new UA-cam crush 🥰
Another great video! After lifting for 30+ years I definitely can't use linear progression so I use all kinds of techniques to keep overloading the muscle. During quarantine I've been lifting with my 19 year old son and he can put more weight on the bar each workout. I gotta admit, it makes me jealous as hell.....
Pavel Tsatsouline talked about Russian weightlifters incorporating a form of periodisation similar to what you’re talking about. “Step-Loading” is what he called it, where you train with the exact same load for an extended period of time, before increasing.
I dropped my sets from 4 to 3 and dropped the weight by about 35% throughout all my lifts; starter focusing on the mind muscle connection and proper technique and saw the best gains I ever have and I'm in my early 30s. Consistency and overall lifting smarter were a factor as well. Progressive overload your consistency bro.
I used that technique to recomp my body because I came to struggle to add weight while eating the exact same calories, my goal being to loose fat, and I had gotten tired of dieting. I've seen great success, especially focusing on mind muscle connection and really slow reps. I've not gotten weaker at all, and have maintained or increased many 5×5, regular lifts. My legs respond so well to very slow, intense, gruelling reps.
Interesting take on progressive overload, I, myself have thought about the points you raised but nobody in my gym paid heed to me... With time, even I forgot about it. Will include it in my training. Thanks.
Geoff you'll be pleased to know I've been doing this before you made the video. Last fall I was doing 17.5 lb side raises, eventually I found out other muscles were doing the work not my delts. Now I'm still doing 17.5 lbs but my delts go on fire.
I shit you not... in the beginning, when you said, “Wait for it,” the video froze for a minute to load.... it’s like the UA-cam verse was purposely fucking with me. Haha
I read Dan John saying something similar - the way of progressing where you might lift a weight for e.g. 5 reps, then 8, then 12, then 15 then move up weight, so you get to work in different rep ranges. Same with kettlebells where you can't micro load. It's my favourite way of progressing as it gives variety.
You make a valid point. Often it is really difficult to exactly replicate every aspect of an exercise performed, even in multiple sessions of the same week. My training partner often accidentally varies his grip width, squat depth and angles of the bar path. Tempos may vary slightly, rest times are a pain to track, etc. Thus, measuring progressive overload in the short term is a fool's game.
Love this message! I ran exactly into that trap: I was writing heavier and heavier weights, but the training effect became negligable due to not controlling the weight and overtaking of other muscle groups. Not to mention the injury risk when this happens on dead lifts or squats...
This is so true. When I start a training program the only variable I'm focusing on is QUALITY. I start off @2 sets and don't add any for a few weeks and all I'm focusing on is the quality of movement, meaning I am thrashing the target areas with full control and minimum breakdown pushing close to failure, comfort and efficiency of the movements and sometimes even getting them done in less time. After those weeks, I will start adding 1 set or more depending on keeping the quality sky high.
Having chased goals such as the planche, much of the time my only measure of progress is an additional second to an isometric, going deeper on planche pushups, feeling the lean of the movement much more naturally than before, better maintaining my scapular protraction, and overall there is a lot that is unique to such a movement. I have also used more objective measures such as measuring the actual degree for which my planche leans are improving.
This title is the closest to clickbait you've ever gotten, which speaks to the epic quality of your channel. I loved the video and agreed with your points, by the way. I also think mild clickbait is completely permissible and counts as ethical marketing (I mean it made me click lmao).
Yes this video is VERY noticeably the best performing video out of my last 10. Some people were complaining...but clickbait is the reality on UA-cam. If you want to grow, you have to do it a bit. Every big creator, fitness or otherwise, realizes the need for clickable thumbnails and titles.
I've been there, in that I've had to drop the weight, and it wasn't cos I upped it too soon, been training for 25+ years and yourself and Jeff Nappard are the only two I watch and enjoy listening to...(always learning in this trade), good job on the channel fella 👍
I'm trying to maintain the same weights in my leg workouts for as much time as possible, after having to stop training legs 3 times in a year because of knee pain and hip pain and etc. I tend to go over my limit too frequently if I do what I want. So now my focus is on mastering the weights that are mildly challenging for me now, and training more frequently without going too hard on it. Slower, but more reliable progress, so I don't end up in a wheelchair in the future.
Those were some really good points! I figured I was just wasting time if the weight, reps or sets weren’t increasing. Nice to hear a different perspective 👍
Mate, this is some crucial advice. You've got some solid content on here. I've been checking out your channel thanks to Natural Hypertrophy bloke. I've gone through so many UA-cam fitness channels it's become pretty depressing to me to keep finding that content on almost all of those eventually goes to shit, or that I've had wool put over my eyes with some fucking gimmick. It's only after years of this trial and error, I feel like I finally come across some guidance that feels very genuine. Also, it almost feels like audience has to mature to actually appreciate this type of content too. Thanks for existing and doing your thing.
I look for technical failure in the 10-12 rep range. I've noticed it helps me build mich faster than any other method. When I fail to perform the rep keeping my form I throw it away. Love your content man! You dive into some really deep topic s
I agree with you 100% that sometimes going down in weight will give you better results than increasing the weight. With some exercises, I feel I've increased the weight too quickly because I start to notice that my form is sucking, like bent-over rows and my back is rounded or my body angle is too high. So I've had to back off the weight to fix my form which is going to hit the muscle, where I want it to, better. Very helpful video, thanks.
This video is awesome! Thanks Geoffrey! I have been experiencing lots of these in the last year, like using the same weight but getting less reps or even less weight. I just assumed it's because I'm in my 40s.
Very good advice man, I've been working out for 8 months now trying to add weight every week. But I realised something I'm always getting sore and I'm always brute forcing my reps rather than controlling them sure I'm lifting more but is it really worth it? I think this video helped me to realise it's not and that I should take my time :)
Good advice. Put my back out going too heavy on Bulgarian split squats. Was chasing the progressive overload dragon. That’ll learn me. Will dial it back. Cheers Geoff.
I’ve always done this!! Eccentrics speed up a little when weight increases, then after a few +1s I start slowing rep tempo down, eventually get to the top end of the rep range with super slow eccentrics, rinse and repeat.
I'm really glad I watched this video. I was a little discouraged about my split squat, bet then I realized I have much more stability now and my feet don't hurt afterward so I guess I've made progress after all. Plus, everyone should know about Goodheart's Law.
Mark Wildman, a kettlebell nerd, is all about volume cycling. If you can do five sets of five, add another set until you get to ten sets of five. Then drop down to five sets and do six reps, progress back up to ten sets. When you can do ten sets of ten, start decreasing rest periods. THEN add weight. He's probably like this because you can't easily micro load a kettlebell.
@@betterlifeptstudio7314 yeah I think more work AND less time is a bit much. If you can do more work in the same time, or the same work in less time (density overload), those can be legitimate approaches. More work in less time seems a bit overkill
I agree with most of the points you made in this video. Well it is important to eventually move up in weight you make a good point that it is possible to progress and get stronger in the gym without having to lift more weight every single workout. And quality of reps, proper mind muscle connection, and having proper form are just as if not more important than how much weight a person can lift.
I've been running 3 week cycles, mostly for heavy heavier and heaviest deadlift/squat. But keeping my upper body lifts the same for those three weeks. Thanks to an Alex Bromley video, I have inadvertantly been wave loading for lower and step loading for upper body. Still progressive overload. Just not linear. : )
After no progressions with barbells for a while I switched to higher rep dumbell exercises for a month. I did not progress in weight, just added a couple of reps and adding sets. RIR was like 7-4. When I came back to barbells I started progressing again. Progressing the load by 10% over my previous working weights
I only have a couple of dumbbell sets and a barbell with four 10 kg plates. Got a couple of chairs that I put pushup handles on for dips, and have door pull up bar with neutral grips. I'm mainly going by visible gains, and whenever I focus on the muscle with mind muscle connection there is a visible difference the next couple of days. I bought SWEAT finally and lays out everything so fine. It'll be the first book I read through in a long long time (I hate reading books).
Dr.Mike covered this. His analogy was really good. It’s like reading a book. Just cuz you read it once, doesn’t mean you absorbed all the information. You can keep rereading the same book until you no longer have anything to gain from it. That’s when you proceed to the more advanced book. Edit: Guy below me uhh uhh donates sandwiches without cutting the crust off. Insults for the algorithm.
This is so true, the body is not already adapted to a workout if you have done it only once, I experimented with this by doing the same push workout 3x and I got sore after every of them. I rly think it can be beneficial to do the same but wait until it feels easier and you feel ready to add weight again.
Quality of contraction is key. I know a training block is over when on the final week im pushing to absolute failure and my form gets a little sloppy; then i deload, take a step back with the weight / reps in reserve, and progress from a new low point. Over time, the lows get higher, and im lifting the same weight with much better form and ease. On paper I’m not getting stronger that fast, but im still growing. Progress is like a stock. Its not going up all the time; it has its high and lows, but it ultimately goes up in the long term
in my opinion and experience too: progressive overload works jump by jump (ok, maybe more some kind of hops) and not uniformly every week or so. especielly when your nubie gains are over.
I had to learn this the hard way, I was using too much weight and had to grind out sets to meet my rep goal. When I significantly lowered the weight and worked back up, my progress skyrocketed.
this is true . being overly fixated on weight progression gave me some tendon issues that took months to heal. Maybe its not a good idea to follow the methods of guys that have repeatedly injured themselves or can no longer do certain exercises due to permanent damage.
This is absolutely golden info, thanks so much for the ridiculosuly good content you provide us with. Been thinking about this topic myself too. I have a set of dumbbells at home and now I've reached a stage where I'm struggling to add intensity so I must come up with other ways. Doing more reps (and maybe adding a few sets) is obviously what I'm looking for -without sacrificing form- but I'm also assessing the control I'm having over the movement. For instance at overhead dumbbell extensions I remember struggling to get 10 reps with questionable form somewhere around summer. Now I'm using the same dumbbells and I'm getting around 25 reps and I'm also having much better control and slightly better range of motion. Bulgarian split squats, I'm doing similar reps, 20-25 (yes I like to torture myself) but I'm trying to slow down the tempo and have a longer strech at the bottom.
Wow wait a sec..... those are valid pionts. I was about to say blasphemy. Please make a video about mind muscle connection as you are saying it something a natural person should consider.
For more about progressive overload, check my book on all things training, available here!
www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat
Also lots of exercises, fully described, with pictures (obviously, who writes a training book without pictures??) and hundreds of pages of easily digestible and useful content.
For the sake of arguing (8:35) , do you think it is optimal to go from RPE 10 - RPE 8 for the same weight and same reps without overloading measurable factors like reps , sets , weight etc.
@@user-zk4dv2nx8k hard to say. what is optimal often varies. I'll say that it's "viable".
You do a really brutal triple one week, it turns into a very tough triple next week, and the week after it's a tough but manageable triple. You could have gotten 4 reps week 2 or 5 reps week 3, but if you are progressing, you might not even NEED to.
The fact that the same weight and reps are easier is a clear sign the training is working! Sometimes biting off more than you can chew leads to regression. I've been guilty of that many times. Like if week 2 you take that 4th rep, and it's a total grinder...maybe now your week 3 is farked, and you are back to 3 reps or worse.
Training harder and heavier than last time only really works quite early in a training career for those not training very hard.
@@GVS fair enough , great points made 👍
I think I know someone who writes a training book without pictures.
This type of progression I think is called step loading, where you keep a weight until it feels comfortable enough that is no longer or (very minimally) stimulating, and then you move up again. It's very popular in gymnastics, where you should strive to "master" a movement or strength skill, before even attempting to move to a harder variation because jumps in progression in gymnastics are so huge.
Mind muscle connection gains are real, and the joints are thankful.
@; Do you lift or nah?
@; you never recrut 100% of the muscle fibers. More mind muscle connections means more muscle fibers used, thus more strength, more size, more stress on the muscle not on the joint, better form, less joint injuries, etc
@@RikarwbNo it just means that you are aware of what your muscles are doing so that you can lift with the best form and effort possible to stimulate the muscles you are training
This is like stepping loading that pavel talks about, “adaptation is discreet, not gradual”. Thanks for putting quality content all these years.
What does that mean?
This video is right on time for me. I’ve had to cut my bench down by 30-40 pounds and hone in on technique cause my shoulders (the left especially) are a mess and physician said to go easier for a while. So taking a step back to take more step forwards later really is the wave sometimes and I gotta keep that in mind.
“You cannot progress linearly forever.”
Noob gym bros who train 7 days/week and don’t use deloads: You underestimate my power
*angry Anakin Skywalker face*
And just like Anakin, they too will need new limbs.
Eric Bugenhagen enterer the chat
they dont need to deload in the first semester
@@jocaingles8464 I don’t think they need to deload nearly as frequently as advanced and elite lifters, but it’s likely still optimal to do a short deload (4-5 days) every 8-10 weeks or so. But that will obviously vary depending on their training intensity and programming.
A disadvantage of having a good audience who does not fall for B.S i guess, not many arguements
Love how you're talking about long-term compared to short term. Training is like a rollercoaster. Sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down. But the consistency and the diligence is what makes the progression a possibility in the "long term". Geoff seems knowledgeable, too bad he's not as well known as some of the other jokers.
Purchased the book. Your channel is one of the best fitness channels I have ever come across. You belong in the god tier for sure. And watching your workout routines has been a great help too. Keep up the good work brother. And thank you for the free wealth of knowledge.
Happy to help, and I appreciate the support with the book!
@@lyft4238 yes sir. I sure am.
@@lyft4238 a fellow Sri Lankan I see. 🙏🏽.
🇱🇰
He gotta catch up with the drama game to garner the audience.
This is legit, I've had to explain this to my clients as well and when they actually see these differences it really motivates them
Have patience when laying the foundations
If you rush things, tendons and ligaments may not be able to catch up to your muscle strength
Let strength consolidate
Amen brother!
Thats why a lot of roid boys tear their muscles.
Great comment, thanks!
It is really hard to argue when he explains things so good that you just think, maybe I will try it.
Doesn’t staying at a given weight over time give your tendons and ligaments time to strengthen also?
Another benefit, yes.
Assuming you are not beating them up with insane intensity or volume, or lazy injurious form.
10 seconds in and i already agree, i HATE trying to beat my old records, it gives me anxiety and distracts me from the workout, forces ugly form, etc
doing things right progressive overload happens automatically, you don't even realise if you just adjust the weights to hit a certain rep range the weights will go up in time without even noticing
I started progressing the day i stopped caring about how much weight i was using but more on the form and rep range
Very underrated fitness youtuber!
100% agree. Especially at my age of 52, I have to really listen to my body and curtail weight progression if it isn't going well. This was my approach with my previous hypertrophy training where I would often work with the same weight for weeks and never went up by large increments. It can be nice just feeling a weight get easier and easier before increasing.
Barbell medicine said something interesting in a recent podcast of theirs. I can't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of "if you bench 210 for 5 reps at RPE 7 and then bench 220 for 5 reps at RPE 10, did you get stronger or did you just exert yourself more?". It's definitely changed my perspective about trying to progress constantly even when I might be already working at close to max capacity. Forcing yourself to do more weight might not be making yourself much more stronger and just more fatigued.
Yea it's where "harder than last time" really breaks down. Tell top powerlifters to train harder than last time, and they'll laugh at you.
I mean, I'd rather have a heavier weight feel EASIER than a lighter weight feel HARDER.
If you do 100kg for 5 reps at RPE 8, next session would you rather:
105kg for 5 reps at RPE 7
OR
95kg for 5 reps at RPE 9
Easy choice for me.
I pretty much had no choice but to train this way over the last year during quarantine. Had limited equipment to work with, so I would just pick a rep range per set I wanted to hit, and slowly worked my way through those sets for weeks on end while putting more focus on slowing down the eccentric, and trying to have as explosive a concentric as possible. Once I finally got back under a barbell again and some heavy weight (finally purchased a powerrack for the homegym) I realized that not only did I NOT lose strength on most of my movements, but I actually noticeably increased weight on my bench and squat. This has completely changed my approach to training and I no longer push weight up every session like I used to. Best gains I ever made were training with a pair of adjustable dumbbells in my garage vs the prior 12 months training in a gym with barbells. Honestly, though I was completely panicked about it at first, spending that whole year out of a gym and working with lighter weights was probably the best thing that could have happened to my training as I finally was forced to put focus on ROM and MMC which is something I never gave a shit about in the gym. You very much speak the truth, Mr. Schofield.
Perhaps a blessing in disguise! :)
@@GVS For sure! And don't get me started on the nutrition side of things. Working from home allowed me to dial in the nutrition and sleep side of things as well. At this point, if we ever were forced to physically go back to the office, I'll probably lose all my gains and gain 80lbs of fat within the first 3 days. lol
@@Mako-se8uj heh...well, perhaps you can strongarm them with your new strength into letting you just work from home haha
Same thing happened to me. Trained with dumbbels for a month before I got my own home gym/rack. Used the same light weights all month, 8-15reps. Just increased sets as work capacity improved, and focused on full ROM and MMC.
Interesting topic, & I see your point & agree to a good degree. I also think there’s many different ways to continue using progressive overload to master a certain level of resistance without going up in weight, such as adding in a focus on slow eccentric movement, using pause reps, changing the volume for a given workout, etc.....but yes, You make some good points.
I’ve also had many clients reduce the weight lifted on some exercises in order to make better progress if their form was bad and/or they had plateaued at a given resistance. That’s also where Periodization can be very helpful.
Exactly! You can't ride the gainz train forever. Gotta deload once in a while - sooner if there is pain or wonky form.
You took the words right out of my mouth! Must have been while you were step loading me ;) Great advice as always and appreciate your transparency Geoff!
thank you for this, form, time under tension, controlling the rep, 100 times better for muscle growth than your ego.
All your videos are great, straight to the point and sooo much useful information. Cheers for being a youtuber!
Just saw this after failing same weight for 3rd week in a row. Hahaha. Definitely feel better now.
Awesome content. I needed this.
I like the "you'll never guess it" in the title, UA-cam title game strong
Thanks, it's (by far) #1 of most recent 10 videos. I need to get better at "SEO" (aka clickbaiting).
I “argue” that you are smashing too much good content in succession 😉
So glad I purchased a bunch of change plates to use with my loadable dumbells. I think I can go up in 1 kg increments, not too bad. My wife also appreciates those plates as her absolute weights on the bar are not huge and having smaller jumps is very nice.
I love this video. I'm so glad that as a noob female lifter I adapted this right out of the gate. I went from 60kg high box squats to 40kg ass to grass paused squats in two months because I resisted progressive overload on weight and decided to gain mobility. That 40kg feels so much more as a massive win than the shitty quarter ROM 60kg squat that fried my erectors. Noobie gains pressure is real, but this is definitely the better approach for me. Thank you Geoff, you're my new UA-cam crush 🥰
Another great video! After lifting for 30+ years I definitely can't use linear progression so I use all kinds of techniques to keep overloading the muscle. During quarantine I've been lifting with my 19 year old son and he can put more weight on the bar each workout. I gotta admit, it makes me jealous as hell.....
Pavel Tsatsouline talked about Russian weightlifters incorporating a form of periodisation similar to what you’re talking about.
“Step-Loading” is what he called it, where you train with the exact same load for an extended period of time, before increasing.
Yup, exactly.
I dropped my sets from 4 to 3 and dropped the weight by about 35% throughout all my lifts; starter focusing on the mind muscle connection and proper technique and saw the best gains I ever have and I'm in my early 30s. Consistency and overall lifting smarter were a factor as well. Progressive overload your consistency bro.
I used that technique to recomp my body because I came to struggle to add weight while eating the exact same calories, my goal being to loose fat, and I had gotten tired of dieting. I've seen great success, especially focusing on mind muscle connection and really slow reps. I've not gotten weaker at all, and have maintained or increased many 5×5, regular lifts. My legs respond so well to very slow, intense, gruelling reps.
Interesting take on progressive overload, I, myself have thought about the points you raised but nobody in my gym paid heed to me... With time, even I forgot about it. Will include it in my training. Thanks.
I had this thought on my form, slowly progressing on form before I add a rep or weight. You said it a lot better than my chaotic mind.
Geoff you'll be pleased to know I've been doing this before you made the video. Last fall I was doing 17.5 lb side raises, eventually I found out other muscles were doing the work not my delts. Now I'm still doing 17.5 lbs but my delts go on fire.
This is one of the most intelligent observations I’ve ever heard
I shit you not... in the beginning, when you said, “Wait for it,” the video froze for a minute to load.... it’s like the UA-cam verse was purposely fucking with me. Haha
I pay them big bucks for that kind of service.
I read Dan John saying something similar - the way of progressing where you might lift a weight for e.g. 5 reps, then 8, then 12, then 15 then move up weight, so you get to work in different rep ranges. Same with kettlebells where you can't micro load. It's my favourite way of progressing as it gives variety.
Can't wait to watch when I'm done work, looks like spicy info
You make a valid point. Often it is really difficult to exactly replicate every aspect of an exercise performed, even in multiple sessions of the same week. My training partner often accidentally varies his grip width, squat depth and angles of the bar path. Tempos may vary slightly, rest times are a pain to track, etc. Thus, measuring progressive overload in the short term is a fool's game.
Love this message! I ran exactly into that trap: I was writing heavier and heavier weights, but the training effect became negligable due to not controlling the weight and overtaking of other muscle groups. Not to mention the injury risk when this happens on dead lifts or squats...
Word!! So many ways to progress. These last few months I've been trying to progress in these other ways, and my training has felt more productive.
You videos make me feel progressive even though i dont work out at all lol, i do jog and cycle sometimes, great resources for advise.
Mind blow and funny bone tickled ("isn't that what the internet's for?" "Godwin's law"). Perfect combination.
Couldn't comment right away. Had to wash the dishes 😁. This guy is definitely better than my doctor who seems like a sell out nowadays. 😂
This is so true. When I start a training program the only variable I'm focusing on is QUALITY. I start off @2 sets and don't add any for a few weeks and all I'm focusing on is the quality of movement, meaning I am thrashing the target areas with full control and minimum breakdown pushing close to failure, comfort and efficiency of the movements and sometimes even getting them done in less time. After those weeks, I will start adding 1 set or more depending on keeping the quality sky high.
Hahahah... "Another day, another quarter".
[plate drops in]
Majer lulz.
Having chased goals such as the planche, much of the time my only measure of progress is an additional second to an isometric, going deeper on planche pushups, feeling the lean of the movement much more naturally than before, better maintaining my scapular protraction, and overall there is a lot that is unique to such a movement. I have also used more objective measures such as measuring the actual degree for which my planche leans are improving.
I like the step-overload concept, and fully dominating the weight idea.
I didn’t want to hear you say stay on the weight but it makes complete sense and I will do that from now on
Thanks
Agreed 💯
Definitely a very nice video!
This title is the closest to clickbait you've ever gotten, which speaks to the epic quality of your channel. I loved the video and agreed with your points, by the way. I also think mild clickbait is completely permissible and counts as ethical marketing (I mean it made me click lmao).
Yes this video is VERY noticeably the best performing video out of my last 10. Some people were complaining...but clickbait is the reality on UA-cam. If you want to grow, you have to do it a bit. Every big creator, fitness or otherwise, realizes the need for clickable thumbnails and titles.
Umm.. insert random insult to someone's mother.
COME AT ME BRUH!
FIGHT ME BRUH!
someone.. ahem... SoMmeOne HOOoold mE BaCk
Argue argue argue
I've been there, in that I've had to drop the weight, and it wasn't cos I upped it too soon, been training for 25+ years and yourself and Jeff Nappard are the only two I watch and enjoy listening to...(always learning in this trade), good job on the channel fella 👍
Currently at a bench plateau and I needed to hear this
I'm trying to maintain the same weights in my leg workouts for as much time as possible, after having to stop training legs 3 times in a year because of knee pain and hip pain and etc. I tend to go over my limit too frequently if I do what I want. So now my focus is on mastering the weights that are mildly challenging for me now, and training more frequently without going too hard on it. Slower, but more reliable progress, so I don't end up in a wheelchair in the future.
This isnt emphasized nearly enough. Thanks for posting!
Those were some really good points! I figured I was just wasting time if the weight, reps or sets weren’t increasing. Nice to hear a different perspective 👍
Mate, this is some crucial advice. You've got some solid content on here. I've been checking out your channel thanks to Natural Hypertrophy bloke. I've gone through so many UA-cam fitness channels it's become pretty depressing to me to keep finding that content on almost all of those eventually goes to shit, or that I've had wool put over my eyes with some fucking gimmick. It's only after years of this trial and error, I feel like I finally come across some guidance that feels very genuine. Also, it almost feels like audience has to mature to actually appreciate this type of content too. Thanks for existing and doing your thing.
I look for technical failure in the 10-12 rep range. I've noticed it helps me build mich faster than any other method. When I fail to perform the rep keeping my form I throw it away. Love your content man! You dive into some really deep topic s
"Add weight when you're ready to."
_-Alan Thrall_
Very informative. This video is definitely going to shock people who want 16-inch arms in 3-4 months' time.
I agree with you 100% that sometimes going down in weight will give you better results than increasing the weight. With some exercises, I feel I've increased the weight too quickly because I start to notice that my form is sucking, like bent-over rows and my back is rounded or my body angle is too high. So I've had to back off the weight to fix my form which is going to hit the muscle, where I want it to, better. Very helpful video, thanks.
New favorite lifting channel by far. Solid info and the edits are ridiculous, in a good way.
This video is awesome! Thanks Geoffrey! I have been experiencing lots of these in the last year, like using the same weight but getting less reps or even less weight. I just assumed it's because I'm in my 40s.
I needed this to feel better about the type of training I'm going to be limited to for the next while.
Very good advice man, I've been working out for 8 months now trying to add weight every week. But I realised something I'm always getting sore and I'm always brute forcing my reps rather than controlling them sure I'm lifting more but is it really worth it? I think this video helped me to realise it's not and that I should take my time :)
Good advice. Put my back out going too heavy on Bulgarian split squats. Was chasing the progressive overload dragon. That’ll learn me. Will dial it back. Cheers Geoff.
I’ve always done this!! Eccentrics speed up a little when weight increases, then after a few +1s I start slowing rep tempo down, eventually get to the top end of the rep range with super slow eccentrics, rinse and repeat.
the speaker of the truth has spoken
"progressive overload" key word being progress. Nuff said. Boom 💥
I'm really glad I watched this video. I was a little discouraged about my split squat, bet then I realized I have much more stability now and my feet don't hurt afterward so I guess I've made progress after all. Plus, everyone should know about Goodheart's Law.
I knew the good lord made 2.5lbs plates for a reason 😄 I always try sneaking on an extra 5lbs on the later sets, just a super feel good thing IMO
Mark Wildman, a kettlebell nerd, is all about volume cycling. If you can do five sets of five, add another set until you get to ten sets of five. Then drop down to five sets and do six reps, progress back up to ten sets. When you can do ten sets of ten, start decreasing rest periods. THEN add weight.
He's probably like this because you can't easily micro load a kettlebell.
I love your vids man they’re really helpful 😊
I thought I was the only one that really stuck to this. I refer to it as "milking the weight".
Don't forget being able to do more work with less rest between, can definitely be used to overload :D
That's been proven not to be the best thing for long term gains. Unless you have a specific reason to shorten your rests.
@@betterlifeptstudio7314 yeah I think more work AND less time is a bit much. If you can do more work in the same time, or the same work in less time (density overload), those can be legitimate approaches. More work in less time seems a bit overkill
I agree with most of the points you made in this video. Well it is important to eventually move up in weight you make a good point that it is possible to progress and get stronger in the gym without having to lift more weight every single workout. And quality of reps, proper mind muscle connection, and having proper form are just as if not more important than how much weight a person can lift.
Really good stuff. Enlightening. Helped me big time. Thanks, man. You're good.
I've been running 3 week cycles, mostly for heavy heavier and heaviest deadlift/squat. But keeping my upper body lifts the same for those three weeks. Thanks to an Alex Bromley video, I have inadvertantly been wave loading for lower and step loading for upper body.
Still progressive overload. Just not linear. : )
After no progressions with barbells for a while I switched to higher rep dumbell exercises for a month. I did not progress in weight, just added a couple of reps and adding sets. RIR was like 7-4. When I came back to barbells I started progressing again. Progressing the load by 10% over my previous working weights
I'm actually going to pay for something on the internet
Thank you Geoffrey, great video, your content and knowledge shine dude :)
I only have a couple of dumbbell sets and a barbell with four 10 kg plates. Got a couple of chairs that I put pushup handles on for dips, and have door pull up bar with neutral grips.
I'm mainly going by visible gains, and whenever I focus on the muscle with mind muscle connection there is a visible difference the next couple of days.
I bought SWEAT finally and lays out everything so fine. It'll be the first book I read through in a long long time (I hate reading books).
This was really helpful! Definitely cleared up some confusion I had.
Thank you for easing my guilt for being stuck on the same weight for lateral raises for the last year 🙏😄
Ah shit. I've experienced the same. Although I try not to set a PR in lateral raises.
Dr.Mike covered this. His analogy was really good. It’s like reading a book. Just cuz you read it once, doesn’t mean you absorbed all the information. You can keep rereading the same book until you no longer have anything to gain from it. That’s when you proceed to the more advanced book.
Edit: Guy below me uhh uhh donates sandwiches without cutting the crust off. Insults for the algorithm.
This is so true, the body is not already adapted to a workout if you have done it only once, I experimented with this by doing the same push workout 3x and I got sore after every of them. I rly think it can be beneficial to do the same but wait until it feels easier and you feel ready to add weight again.
Quality of contraction is key. I know a training block is over when on the final week im pushing to absolute failure and my form gets a little sloppy; then i deload, take a step back with the weight / reps in reserve, and progress from a new low point.
Over time, the lows get higher, and im lifting the same weight with much better form and ease. On paper I’m not getting stronger that fast, but im still growing.
Progress is like a stock. Its not going up all the time; it has its high and lows, but it ultimately goes up in the long term
Good reminder. I'll do the same weights this week with better form =)
I will buy your friggin book on Monday. Really like your channel bro
Awesome, you'll definitely enjoy it!
@@GVS I know I will. Been going through your videos, saw your review of that expensive book. The response to it was sad.
Awesome video man. The editing skills are kicking in. lol Always very informative. #lovesTheContent
Thanks! Pretty how I train, but not many people talk about it!
I liked agree w this opinion a lot actually. Never thought of it this way but it makes a lot of sense
in my opinion and experience too: progressive overload works jump by jump (ok, maybe more some kind of hops) and not uniformly every week or so. especielly when your nubie gains are over.
Holy shit, that Frank Yang deadlift, that brought back memories.
Yea epic lift. He's definitely a unique individual.
I had to learn this the hard way, I was using too much weight and had to grind out sets to meet my rep goal. When I significantly lowered the weight and worked back up, my progress skyrocketed.
this is true .
being overly fixated on weight progression gave me some tendon issues that took months to heal.
Maybe its not a good idea to follow the methods of guys that have repeatedly injured themselves or can no longer do certain exercises due to permanent damage.
genius level training here. not everyone trains to go pro in powerlifting.
This is absolutely golden info, thanks so much for the ridiculosuly good content you provide us with. Been thinking about this topic myself too. I have a set of dumbbells at home and now I've reached a stage where I'm struggling to add intensity so I must come up with other ways. Doing more reps (and maybe adding a few sets) is obviously what I'm looking for -without sacrificing form- but I'm also assessing the control I'm having over the movement.
For instance at overhead dumbbell extensions I remember struggling to get 10 reps with questionable form somewhere around summer. Now I'm using the same dumbbells and I'm getting around 25 reps and I'm also having much better control and slightly better range of motion. Bulgarian split squats, I'm doing similar reps, 20-25 (yes I like to torture myself) but I'm trying to slow down the tempo and have a longer strech at the bottom.
This was extremely helpful. Thanks.
Wow wait a sec..... those are valid pionts. I was about to say blasphemy. Please make a video about mind muscle connection as you are saying it something a natural person should consider.