4 Methods to Build Muscle With Progressive Overload Without Adding Weight | Men’s Health Muscle
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00:00by gradually and progressively overloading your muscles to work harder and harder in your workouts
00:04over time you'll subject them to the stimulus that they need to grow and get stronger
00:11the thing is this doesn't always mean lifting bigger and bigger weights and it doesn't always
00:16mean adding more and more reps to each set if progressive overload is really that simple
00:21then every single person who spent a decade or so in the gym would have a 500 pound bench press
00:26and a 750 pound deadlift or we'd all be doing 100 rep sets for every lift
00:30since every workout we just add on another rep and just go a little bit heavier
00:36progressive overload works differently at some point in your training journey no matter how hard
00:41you try you're no longer going to be able to just keep adding weight to every single workout and
00:46over years and years of training you'll wind up hitting that wall multiple times on multiple
00:51exercises all exercises have a different load progression if you will on some lifts such as
00:57bench presses and squats you'll find that you're able to add weight a few times a year in part
01:02because these lists recruit large muscle groups that can really let you move some weight on other
01:06lifts such as dumbbell curls or skull crushers once you reach a certain level of experience in
01:11the gym you're rarely going to be able to add weight because these isolation style moves target
01:15fewer muscles and when you go too heavy you only wind up breaking form or using other muscle groups
01:20than what you're really trying to attack it all makes it really hard to continually practice
01:25progressive overload in terms of adding weight or in terms of adding reps but that's only because
01:30of the big misconception around progressive overload and that is that it only works with
01:35weight the truth is we can manipulate several variables in our training and understanding how
01:40to adjust these can keep you progressing even when you can no longer pile on plates so if you're
01:44struggling to go heavier in your training then start playing with these three principles so
01:49that we can keep progressive overload moving in smart ways your first option is time under
01:53tension one of the most underrated ways to create progressive overload in a routine is to add a bit
01:59more time under tension to each set during any rep of any exercise your target muscles are under
02:04tension as they lower and lift the load and the truth is it's this mechanical tension that sets
02:10the stage for growth if you're having trouble adding weight to a set then try creating situations
02:15that allow you to increase the time under tension there are two ways to do this first off you can
02:20play with the tempo of every single rep during a standard rep of bench press for example you may
02:25naturally spend one second lowering the weight to your chest then another one to two seconds
02:30pressing it upwards over eight reps that winds up accruing maybe 16 to 20 seconds of time under
02:36tension for your chest tris and shoulders on every single set so if you can't go heavier try tweaking
02:42the lowering portion of the lift focus on spending three seconds lowering the weight then your normal
02:48press upwards that'll result in four to five seconds per rep of time under tension and over
02:54eight reps that winds up being 32 to 40 total seconds so we've made the set longer and that's
02:59going to help you push and continue to grow another way to increase time under tension is to have a
03:06partner help you with what's called a four strap or two after you've hit your limit so you might do
03:11your regular eight reps of presses then when you can no longer do any more of those with a partner
03:16spotting you lower the load very slowly aiming to take four to five seconds to do this have your
03:22partner then lift the bar up off your chest when you can't drive it up repeat this one more time
03:27and you've added 10 seconds of work to your set both of these approaches can set the stage for
03:32gains in part because of the speed at which heavy reps occur as you add more weight to your bench
03:38press the load gradually moves more and more slowly because it's heavier and harder for your
03:43body to press it up by progressively increasing your time and retention during each set you're
03:48readying your body for that challenge at the tougher loads you might be struggling with
03:53another approach you can take is we can slash your rest times during a normal set of bench
03:58presses for example you're probably going to rest anywhere from 90 seconds to two minutes
04:02but if you're struggling to add weight maybe we're going to cut that all the way down to 60 or even
04:0775 seconds by moving more quickly in between sets you're subtly training your body to battle
04:12through lifts with increasingly limited recovery time and that will gradually feed your body's
04:17ability to squeeze out an extra rep here or there at the end of your regular set with that limited
04:22recovery use this approach with care though don't expect to thrive if you're instantly cutting your
04:28rest periods from say 120 seconds all the way to 15 seconds you never want to take more than 20
04:34seconds off your rest periods in any given week your last option is we can increase the total load
04:40that we're moving for an entire workout and this is all about rethinking how you view your loads
04:45in general we generally think only in reps and sets but you can also choose to view the loads
04:51you're working with in terms of total weight lifted per exercise let's go back to the bench
04:55press example let's say you're doing three sets of 135 pounds eight times you've moved a total of
05:023240 pounds during that entire set now if you're struggling to add more weight or reps to your
05:09workload you can simply think about adding another set on sure you'll be weaker by the time you get
05:14to the set but let's say you just do an extra four reps next week on the bench press by the end of
05:20your bench pressing you've now moved 3780 pounds you want to use this approach sparingly because
05:26if you keep using it you're just never going to leave the gym because you're going to pile on set
05:29after set after set but just adding a little bit of extra work just adding one set of say four to
05:34six reps can help you set the stage for gains later there are some other more varied approaches
05:39you can still take the progressive overload beyond these three for example you can take a lift and
05:44change the execution so we can go from a flat bench to say a low incline press and now we're
05:49going to get a little bit more range of motion or you can change the tools you're working with say
05:53going from the barbell to dumbbells and then if you're moving the same load you have more stability
05:58demand so that's another way you can change things up and still continue to build muscle and strength
06:03even when you can't lift heavier and the key overall to progressive overload is if you're
06:07struggling to add weight you just want to pick one of these approaches and you want to stick with it
06:12you've got to give it three to four weeks so that you can give your body and your mind a chance to
06:16understand the new barrier do not expect instant results after one session with a new approach
06:22big picture you have a lot of options to coax muscle and strength out of your body and it's
06:27not always going to be about weight so think about taking a cerebral approach to your training
06:32don't always add weight don't always add reps and use these approaches and in the long term
06:36you'll continue to gain muscle and strength and you'll continue to get all the gains that you're chasing