Progressive overload is the law of the land in the weight room. Look at progressive overload as your path to improvement. In order to improve your physique, you're probably going to need to lose fat, and grow (or tone, as some prefer to say) a little muscle. To do this over a long period of time - you need to give your body a respectable dose of unconditioned stimulus!
There are lots of people out there who;
a.) have physical jobs, yet aren't extremely physically fit, and
b.) exercise regularly, but you can't really tell.
How does this happen? What are they missing? In both cases, their bodies have most likely adapted to the stressors they are placing on it, so it's become conditioned for that specific activity. The human body has an astonishing ability to acclimate itself to different environments, and lifestyle requirements. When your body becomes more efficient at a specified activity - it will require less energy to perform, and it will no longer be a catalyst for adaptation- known as the Law of Diminishing Returns (it's not only a law in economics).
THAT'S BAD NEWS! Those are two of the main things you want to illicit with a weight training program!
Less energy expendituremeans you're burning less fat in the same amount of time - which is a big bummer :(
No further adaptation means you'll either hit a plateau and get frustrated... or become content, and decide it's time for maintenance mode.
THE GOOD NEWS: All you need - in order to continue burning the maximum amount of fat, while building more muscle/strength - is PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD!
When Sarah started training - only 5 years ago - she could barely do a bodyweight squat!
She can back squat 250lbs today!
Along with making her much, much stronger - constantly progressingand overloadingher body has kept the energy requirements of exercise the same. Her body hasn't had a chance to finish adapting, because we keep adding 5 more pounds to the bar, changing stances, depths, tempos, bar placement, rest periods, exercise pairings, etc...
The moral of the story: DO NOT LET YOUR EXERCISE PROGRAM BECOME REDUNDANT; ALWAYS USE IT TO PUSH YOUR BOUNDARIES!
Until next time...
Train like you mean it,
Calvin
Our best tips for constant and never ending improvement: track your workouts - it's hard to progress your squat 5 pounds when you can't remember how much weight you had on the bar last time. Also, keep tabs on how your clothes fit, your body fat percentage, and amount of muscle mass, as these are much better indicators of health and fitness than how much you weigh on a scale! Check out the app we use to track our workouts!