Exercise Progression
Let’s talk about progression in the gym; there are more options than just putting extra plates on the bar. Healthy progression is defined as maintaining good form whilst increasing the difficulty of the exercise.
Injuries can occur when weights are increased before the supporting part of your musculoskeletal system is prepared to handle the weight increase. Simply put, your joints, ligaments, and muscles are not ready for the load, so they tear. Furthermore, most of the time the weight on the bar is nothing more, than just an ego boost.
In the gym, we try to progressively overload the muscles to see constant progression. Let’s see some (usually) under-rated options.
Option 1: Adding tempo work into the lift
So instead of doing your usual tempo, add a bit of challenge and slow the exercise down. It gives you more time under tension and significantly increasing the difficulty of the exercise. e.g., on squat you were following a 2s down, 0s on the bottom, 1s up now try to slow it down. 3s down, 2s pause on the bottom and 1s up.
Option 2: Adding extra reps
Simply doing more reps with the same weight is a great yet simple way to progress the exercise. E.g., were you able to do 10 reps with the weight before, then now try to do 12 reps
Option 3: Adding extra sets
Same as before, doing one more set of the same exercise is a great way to progress forward. E.g., instead of doing 3×8 reps doing 4×8 reps
Option 4: Changing the loading method:
Adding elastic bands into the equation can significantly increase the difficulty, because the more you stretch the band, the more resistance it provides.
