Lift The Bar

One of the most important principles in fitness, yet often misunderstood by clients, is progressive overload. Whether your client wants to build muscle, increase strength, improve endurance, or lose fat, progressive overload is the key to long-term results. 

But how do you explain it in a way that clicks? 

We know that progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed on the body during exercise and that it is this, combined with recovery, that causes the changes people want to see.  It can be done by increasing weight, adding more reps or sets, reducing rest time, improving technique or range of motion, changing tempo or increasing training frequency. The goal is to continually challenge the body so it adapts, getting stronger, faster, leaner, or more conditioned over time. 

Many clients expect results without changing their effort. They might stick to the same weights, same reps, and same routine for months. It’s also really common, and completely understandable, for clients to have a fear of not being able to complete an exercise for the desired number of reps or sets.  This means they will choose to use a weight, range and tempo that they know they can do rather than risk ‘failing’. Then, when progress stalls, they get frustrated.

Helping them understand progressive overload helps set realistic expectations, empowers them and prevents plateaus so it’s really in our best interest to ensure they know why we are pushing them outside their comfort zone. 

We need to explain that the body adjusts to the demands we put on it and that if we keep doing the same thing we will become more efficient at doing that thing whilst maintaining that function but that if we want to get fitter or stronger or continue to improve in any way then we need to continue to challenge ourselves. You can also use analogies such as the graph analogy: “Think of your fitness journey like a graph. If the line stays flat, you’re not progressing. To move upward, you need to increase the challenge.” Or the brain analogy: “Learning a new skill takes practice and increasing difficulty. You wouldn’t keep reading the same book over and over and expect to get smarter. Your muscles need new challenges too.” 

It’s important to understand how each client thinks about these things and adjust your questions and language to them.  Not every client can gauge their RPE (rate of perceived exertion) or estimate how many reps in reserve they have at the end of a set.  If that’s the case then help them check if they can do more by encouraging them to experiment with higher weights or more reps when they are in a safe environment (e.g. with you to spot them where applicable).  Reassure them that it’s ok to not be able to complete a set, that it’s ok to stop if needed and give them options for when that occurs (e.g. a 10 sec break and go again, reduce weight and continue, end set there). 

Help them understand how to progress including information on how much difference an increase of weight makes in each exercise.  E.g. how it varies based on the muscle groups involved and how advanced they are in training.  We all know that a jump of 2.5kg on a dumbbell can be massive in some exercises and more manageable than others but anyone new to training won’t know that.  Plus how easy it can be to go up weights consistently at some points during your resistance training journey and then feel like you grind to a halt at others. 

Help clients apply progressive overload by tracking progress, setting micro goals, celebrating wins, appropriately explaining your choices during sessions, and using rep ranges rather than targets. 

Highlight even small improvements and explain why you’re increasing the load or changing the tempo. Structure training blocks with planned progression so clients see the bigger picture and trust the process if possible but empower them to make decisions for themselves for those times when life doesn’t go to plan.  

Clients may have concerns but these can be addressed appropriately. If they say “I don’t want to bulk up,” reassure them that progressive overload doesn’t mean massive muscle gain.  

If they’re worried about injury, explain that gradual progression is safer than staying stagnant and suddenly pushing too hard. 

If they feel they’re not strong enough, emphasize that overload is relative, even improving form or adding a rep is progress. Progressive overload is the foundation of effective training. 

Helping clients understand and embrace it will not only improve their results—it will deepen their trust in you as a coach. Educate, empower, progress. That’s how you build lasting client success.

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