Progressive overload for progressive success

By Dr. Joshua Kiely, DC

This is a fantastic time in athletics where we are seeing performance unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, but on the flip-side, we are seeing more health problems due to inactivity than ever in history. We are starting to see the effects of inactivity on children, adults, and the elderly to a magnitude we’ve never seen before.

The problem

Most of us in Ottawa live relatively sedentary lives. We work and study behind a desk or are mildly active in our work, we often commute by driving, and we are tired at the end of the day so we might spend some time watching tv or reading to relax. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with any of this, however the body requires stress and stimuli to drive adaptation.

I certainly don’t suggest we go back to a society where all of us are farmers, loggers and hard labourers, but it might be important for today’s society to replicate some of the physical adaptation that these challenging jobs used to necessitate.

We adapt to the things we do, and if we don’t do anything physically challenging, we don’t adapt.

The solution

Progressive overload is the act of performing more challenging activity that creates a stressor to the body that forces adaptation. The most common use of the term progressive overload is in the context of strength training. 

Most people perform better and feel better with a base foundation of strength. For some people adequate strength helps them improve their sports performance and for others it ensures that they can get themselves up off the floor by themselves or pick up their grandkids.

Progressive overload is the act of slowly and steadily increasing the challenge to the body. This can be performed by slowly adding weight or challenging repetitions to an exercise. This process can start very simple and produce incredible results in sports and day-to-day life.

Progressive overload in action:

Week 1-3 perform doorknob squats progressing from 8 to 15 reps in a set.

Week 4-6 perform bodyweight squats progressing from 10 to 20 reps in a set.

Week 7-10 perform dumbbell goblet squats with a 10lb dumbbell progressing from 6 to 10 reps in a set.

Week 11+ slowly increasing the weight of the dumbbell as it becomes easier to perform 10 reps in a set.

In this example, we started with a supported, less-than-bodyweight squat and progressed to a squat that is more than bodyweight. The body got stronger and adapted to the stress we imposed in a positive way. As long as recovery is accounted for we can continue this progression for a long time.

But, I don’t want to get too bulky!

As someone who has been trying to get big and strong for over a decade, let me tell you, it doesn’t happen by accident and it doesn’t happen quickly. We can see a ton of improvement in functional strength and muscle without having a bulky bodybuilder appearance (not that there's anything wrong with that if that’s your jam).

Most of us might be lucky to gain a couple of pounds of muscle per year - that won’t have us looking like Ronnie Coleman anytime soon.

What if I get hurt

The fear of injury is legitimate but often overblown by media and online gurus trying to sell their products. Getting stronger is actually shown to reduce our risk of most injuries in our day to day life.

To reduce our risk of injury, we can progress our exercises very slowly over time. We want to slow cook our fitness goals to give our body time to adapt as we build a wide foundation of strength. If we jump straight from the couch to heavy lifting seven days a week there is a good chance we won’t be able to recover, which may lead to injury.

Instead, I propose we gently nudge our bodies to adapt to gradually increased challenge - this approach makes us more resilient because we can continuously recover and adapt and prepare ourselves to take on the next challenge!

Conclusion

If you are currently dealing with an injury that is preventing you from moving the way you’d like or causing you pain, please contact us and we can come up with a solution to help you overcome the injury and begin improving your health. If you live in Kanata, or the West end of Ottawa you can see Dr. Kiely in person for house call chiropractic or within the clinic at OCSI clinic in Westboro.

If you think it might be helpful for you to get expert advice about sustainable fitness, incorporating progressive overload into your routine and how you can set yourself up for success, we are here to help virtually or in-person.