Skip to main content
bencefabian12345
bencefabian12345 g Bence Fabian
18 Post(s)
18 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2016
Posted

Hi guys, please help me because i am lost.

 

By progressive overload you mean:

 

 Lifting more wheight at a given set and rep range every single workout

Example: 

Workout 1

3 sets of 6-8 reps 100 lbs

Workout 2

3 sets of 6-8 reps 105 lbs if the previus workout reached the prescribed rep range last time

---OR---

Train to failure and exhaust your muscles as much as you can every single workout, by lifting more wheight, doing more reps, decreasing rest time, doing supersets or whatever. the most important here is to kill your muscles and dont pay as much importance to the wheights you lift as in version 1. 

 

Thanks,

Ben

 

William_Steinset
William_Steinset p William Steinset
1K Post(s)
1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: December 12, 1969
Posted
Posted By: bencefabian12345

Hi guys, please help me because i am lost.

 

By progressive overload you mean:

 

 Lifting more wheight at a given set and rep range every single workout

Example: 

Workout 1

3 sets of 6-8 reps 100 lbs

Workout 2

3 sets of 6-8 reps 105 lbs if the previus workout reached the prescribed rep range last time

---OR---

Train to failure and exhaust your muscles as much as you can every single workout, by lifting more wheight, doing more reps, decreasing rest time, doing supersets or whatever. the most important here is to kill your muscles and dont pay as much importance to the wheights you lift as in version 1. 

 

Thanks,

Ben

 

Hi !

 

Progressive overload is as you say firstly there: One more rep or one more kilo or one more set etc each workout. The second one will not at all contribute towards a good bodybuilding life style: The goal of bodybuilding is not to annihilate muscles it is to STIMULATE muscles. If you completely kill your muscles you will have a hard time recovering and thus growing.

 

Also for pure bodybuilding - 6-8 reps is to low.

 

Hope it helps, keep asking if I can help more !

MS Athelete / Super Hermanite / SHF
bencefabian12345
bencefabian12345 g Bence Fabian
18 Post(s)
18 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2016
Posted

Thanks a lot! Could you please help with the pure bodybuilding rep range then?

 

Bence

jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: bencefabian12345

Thanks a lot! Could you please help with the pure bodybuilding rep range then?

 

Bence

Bodybuilding rep ranges can be from 6-15. 6-8 is when you want to add a bit more strength gain with 6 being the very low end - especially if you do pyramid type rep ranges like 12-10-8-6. 10-12 with medium heavy weights (70%-85% of 1RM) are best for hypertrophy. 15-20 reps is great for endurance especially if you can still keep the weight in the 65%-70% of 1RM range.

 

Strength training primarily stays in the 1-6 rep range. Programs liks 5x5s and 5-3-1s are designed more for strength adaptations.

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: bencefabian12345

Hi guys, please help me because i am lost.

 

By progressive overload you mean:

 

 Lifting more wheight at a given set and rep range every single workout

Example: 

Workout 1

3 sets of 6-8 reps 100 lbs

Workout 2

3 sets of 6-8 reps 105 lbs if the previus workout reached the prescribed rep range last time

---OR---

Train to failure and exhaust your muscles as much as you can every single workout, by lifting more wheight, doing more reps, decreasing rest time, doing supersets or whatever. the most important here is to kill your muscles and dont pay as much importance to the wheights you lift as in version 1. 

 

Thanks,

Ben

 

Some good answers here for you @bencefabian12345! There are a lot of ways you can implement progressive overload to your workouts. Check out this article: http://muscularstrength.com/article/Progressive-Overload-How-To-Keep-Making-Those-GAINS

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
bencefabian12345
bencefabian12345 g Bence Fabian
18 Post(s)
18 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2016
Posted

Guys, I am confused a bit.

 

Imagine you have to do X exercise for 4 sets of 10 reps.

 

What is better?

 

Adding the smallest increment as soon as you can do 4 sets of 10 reps with the wheight

 

OR

 

 

Adding the smallest increment as soon as you feel you could do 4 sets of 12 reps.

 

Do you feel the difference?

 

The first time you are doing each occasion less than 10 reps, or 10-8-7-6 and so on, and by the time you reach 4x10 you raise the wheight.

 

The second is doing every time 4x10, and when you feel the wheight easy to do you add a bit more.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Bence

jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: bencefabian12345

Guys, I am confused a bit.

 

Imagine you have to do X exercise for 4 sets of 10 reps.

 

What is better?

 

Adding the smallest increment as soon as you can do 4 sets of 10 reps with the wheight

 

OR

 

 

Adding the smallest increment as soon as you feel you could do 4 sets of 12 reps.

 

Do you feel the difference?

 

The first time you are doing each occasion less than 10 reps, or 10-8-7-6 and so on, and by the time you reach 4x10 you raise the wheight.

 

The second is doing every time 4x10, and when you feel the wheight easy to do you add a bit more.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Bence

The answer to your question is it is up to you - both of these methods will work and both provide progressive overload. The more important thing you need to be concerned with is to make sure you are giving both your central nervous system (CNS) and muscles sufficient recovery time. If you do not, you will find instances where you are able to increase the weight for the target sets and reps and then all of a sudden you need to lower the weight to what you started with or lower because you can not do the same sets and reps like before.

 

This phenomenon is due to either CNS fatigue, insufficient muscle recovery, or both. Unfortunately, the body does not always progress linearly and there are times where you need to reduce the weight lifted to be able to raise the amount you lift again.

 

Training is a journey and is a marathon not a sprint. Experiment with different methods like progressive overload to stimulate muscle adaptation like you are describing and see how your body reacts. You also need to remember there are other methods to stimulate growth like metabolic stress and mechanical tension - not just purely progressive overload. You need to try to incorporate all three or cycle them in your training to maximize strength and size gains.

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: bencefabian12345

Guys, I am confused a bit.

 

Imagine you have to do X exercise for 4 sets of 10 reps.

 

What is better?

 

Adding the smallest increment as soon as you can do 4 sets of 10 reps with the wheight

 

OR

 

 

Adding the smallest increment as soon as you feel you could do 4 sets of 12 reps.

 

Do you feel the difference?

 

The first time you are doing each occasion less than 10 reps, or 10-8-7-6 and so on, and by the time you reach 4x10 you raise the wheight.

 

The second is doing every time 4x10, and when you feel the wheight easy to do you add a bit more.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Bence

I would simply say to give yourself a range to aim for - so you might be aiming for 8-10 reps per set. You might be able to pick a weight where you can do 10 reps, 10 reps, 9 reps, then 8 reps. This would mean you hit your given range on every set, so it's time to increase the weight.

 

When you increase the weight, you might get 8 reps, 8 reps, and then 6 reps for example.. in which case you would decrease the weight to do 2-4 more reps, and then keep the weight decreased to do 8-10 reps on the last set too. This would mean that the next time you do the exercise, you would aim for at least 8 reps on every set, and by the time you can actually do that, you might be hitting 10 reps on the first set again...

 

Does that make sense?

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
bencefabian12345
bencefabian12345 g Bence Fabian
18 Post(s)
18 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2016
Posted

Scott, in your second paragraph (When increasing the weight, and getting less exactly as your wrote above in your example) are you recommending that:

 

I should decrease the weight DURING the exercise for the last one-two sets, and next time try again all sets with the heavier weight

 

OR

 

I should decrease the weight for the whole exercise, for all sets?

 

It is not clear to me.

 

 

Also guys, for pure bodybuilding, aiming for 8-10 or 10-12 is the better range to aim for? or it doesnt matter? I know that 8 is closer to strenght and 12 to endurance, but does any range better than the other in case of pure bodybuilding?

 

 

Many thanks for your help so far guys! You are the best!

 

Thanks,

Bence

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: bencefabian12345

Scott, in your second paragraph (When increasing the weight, and getting less exactly as your wrote above in your example) are you recommending that:

 

I should decrease the weight DURING the exercise for the last one-two sets, and next time try again all sets with the heavier weight

 

OR

 

I should decrease the weight for the whole exercise, for all sets?

 

It is not clear to me.

 

 

Also guys, for pure bodybuilding, aiming for 8-10 or 10-12 is the better range to aim for? or it doesnt matter? I know that 8 is closer to strenght and 12 to endurance, but does any range better than the other in case of pure bodybuilding?

 

 

Many thanks for your help so far guys! You are the best!

 

Thanks,

Bence

@bencefabian12345 so I suggest you start with as heavy a weight as possible, and only decrease it when you get to a set when you can't hit your rep range. So your sets might look like this on a dumbbell curl...

 

Set 1: 40lbs, 8 reps.

Set 2: 40lbs, 8 reps.

Set 3: 40lbs, 6 reps (so now you lower the weight to about 30lbs, and do 2-4 more reps to finish this set).

Set 4: 30lbs, 8 reps.

 

Make sense?

 

Anywhere from 8-12 is a good range to aim for. You could pick some exercises where you aim for 8-10, and then maybe your last exercsies where you're already fatigued, you could aim for 10-12.

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
bencefabian12345
bencefabian12345 g Bence Fabian
18 Post(s)
18 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2016
Posted

It is clear now, thanks a lot, again. I cant thank you enough!

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: bencefabian12345

It is clear now, thanks a lot, again. I cant thank you enough!

You are very welcome bro! 😊 

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
muscular strength
 You must be a Member to view or reply this tread. Please Log In or become a Member .