Claire Jenkins
Fitness Trainer
ACSM-CEP, MS, RYT-200
So, you’ve started a workout regimen and it’s all been going well until several months in you hit the dreaded plateau. Your progress has stalled and you’re not sure why. This can be a common, albeit frustrating, phenomenon that occurs when your body adjusts to whatever you have been doing for your workout routine.
The good news is that a training technique called progressive overload can get you through this period of seemingly stalled growth.
Read on to find out how implementing progressive overload into your workout program can push you to the next level and continue to improve your overall health and well-being.
What is Progressive Overload?
Progressive overload might sound fancy, but it’s a pretty simple concept. When you work out—whether through strength training or cardio, you provide a stimulus for your body to adapt to. For example, when you place more load on your body, it signals your muscles to grow stronger to handle the increased demand.
Over time, your body adapts to this stimulus, which is why it’s important to gradually increase the challenge to continue seeing results. This process is known as progressive overload. By increasing demands in a controlled way, you can push past plateaus and keep making progress. It’s important to remember that these increases should be gradual, because progressing too quickly can increase the risk of injury or burnout.
You can plan progressive overload sessions using a schedule, with the help of a coach, or you can simply adjust based on how you feel as you go. Either approach works if you continue to challenge your body to achieve optimal results.
How Progressive Overload Can Impact Your Training
Progressive overload isn’t just fitness jargon; it’s one of the most important principles for continual improvement in strength, muscle growth, cardiovascular fitness, and overall performance. Here are some ways it can meaningfully impact your training. (4)
Drives Strength and Muscle Growth
A 2024 randomized controlled trial compared different ways to apply progressive overload in resistance training, such as increasing load versus increasing repetitions. The study found that both approaches significantly increased muscle strength over 10 weeks, supporting the idea that progressive overload (whether via weight or repetitions) effectively stimulates muscular adaptations. This means that consistent, progressive challenges lead to measurable gains, whether you add a little more weight each week, squeeze in extra reps, or manipulate other training variables like sets or tempo (more on all of this below). (2)
Helps You Push Past Plateaus
One reason progress stalls is because the body adapts to a training stimulus, and once adaptation occurs, doing the same routine repeatedly yields diminishing returns. Progressive overload combats this by continuously increasing the challenge, so your muscles and nervous system keep responding. (4)
Enhances Cardiovascular and Endurance Adaptations
Progressive overload isn’t limited to lifting weights. A 2023 study on endurance training found that progressively increasing treadmill intensity improved the endurance level of participants in the program, compared to participants who maintained a constant training intensity over the same period. In practical terms, gradually increasing run pace, cycling resistance, or workout duration over several weeks can deliver better cardio improvements than staying at the same level workout after workout. (1)
Offers Multiple Pathways to Progress
While increasing load is the most widely known method of applying progressive overload, other variables, such as volume (sets and reps), repetition increases, tempo changes, rest manipulation, and even frequency, can all be used to progressively overload your system. This flexibility is especially useful for athletes who might be recovering from injury, managing fatigue, or looking to prioritize endurance or power alongside strength. (3)
How to Incorporate Progressive Overload into Your Workout Routine
There are several ways you might implement progressive overload in your training. This can be based on personal preference or geared towards more specific fitness goals.
Strength Training
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Increase Load: This refers to increases in the amount of weight you are lifting. If you’re focusing on building strength, this is a great way to do it.
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Increase Reps or Sets (Volume): Increasing your overall training volume via reps or sets is another great way to challenge yourself. This can help not only with improving strength, but with improving muscular endurance, too.
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Alter the Tempo: Changing the tempo of your lift is another way to manipulate intensity. Focusing on slowing the eccentric portion of your left (where the muscle lengthens) is great for muscle growth, while speeding up the concentric part of your lift (where the muscle shortens) can help improve your power.
- Swap Out Exercises: Changing up which exercises you include in your routine is an excellent way to challenge how your muscles are working while still hitting essential movement patterns and muscle groups.
Cardiovascular Training
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Increase Time: Increase the amount of time you’re exercising for to improve endurance over time.
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Decrease Rest: If you’re doing interval training, you can reduce the amount of rest you take in between intervals to keep your heart rate elevated.
- Increase Intensity (Incline, Resistance, or Speed): This will look different depending on your mode of exercise, but you can increase intensity to keep challenging your heart rate. If you’re running, perhaps try an incline; if you’re doing a cycle class, consider adding more resistance; or if you’re rowing, try picking up the pace.
Level Up Your Health and Wellbeing
Plateaus are a normal part of any fitness journey, but they don’t have to be permanent. Progressive overload provides a clear, evidence-based method to keep your body adapting, improving, and moving forward—whether your goal is building strength, improving endurance, or simply feeling healthier and more capable in your workouts.
The key takeaway is that progress doesn’t require drastic changes. Small, intentional increases in load, volume, intensity, or effort over time are often enough to reignite results while minimizing the risk of injury or burnout. By listening to your body, being patient with the process, and consistently applying progressive overload in a way that aligns with your goals, you can train smarter, not just harder.
Ultimately, progressive overload isn’t about pushing yourself to the limit every workout. It’s about creating sustainable challenges that help you grow stronger, fitter, and more resilient over the long term.
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