Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is a basic tenet of strength and conditioning. In order to get stronger, you must move more weight, routinely. Bret Contreras wrote an in depth article on this called, “The 10 rules of progressive overload.” I’ll borrow a few ideas from this and apply it to our strength work at CFNYC. 

How should I approach strength work @CFNYC?

1. The most basic approach is simply adding a little weight each week. As you learn a new movement, these jumps may be large, expect them to get smaller as time passes.

2. Move the same weight as last week, but do it better (&/or faster.) This is especially important when the lift is highly technical, and you are still adapting to the movement.

3. Over the course of X number of sets, move more weight than the week before. 

Notice I did not suggest trying to hit a certain percent of your one rep maximum. Due to the highly varied nature of our training (& randomization to suit hundreds of athletes,) this approach would not be practical or sustainable. Instead try to work up to a heavy and fast set each time you are exposed to a movement, and move with the intent of perfection.

Very rarely should you work up to a weight that causes you to do a slow, grinding, often ugly set. This stimulus leaves you too beat up for the upcoming conditioning, and will more quickly lead to overtraining. 

We rountinely (though not often) test one rep maximums, don’t worry about these numbers during a cycle. Remember, you are doing a “general physical preparedness program,” not one that is specifically focusing on strength. While we hope your strength will incrementally improve over time, it is not the only variable to be considered in your well rounded fitness.