How To Use Micro-Progressions In The Gym

Today, I want to talk to you about progressive overload but specifically how to use micro-progressions in the gym. This is one of the most neglected concepts in the gym. Everyone talks about progressive overload, and what they’re often talking about is adding 5, 10, or 15 kilos per week. Firstly, there are more progressive overload methods available than just adding weight to the bar, and secondly, it’s just not realistic for most people, most of the time, especially for smaller individuals, to be adding large amounts of weight each week. If you’re adding five kilos per week at 50 kilos versus 100 kilos body weight, you’re talking about adding 10 per cent of your body weight per week versus five per cent of your body weight per week. Progressing at the same level from an absolute perspective is leading to double the rate of progress. Are you progressing at double the rate? No, probably not, you’re just adding more weight to the bar, and often prematurely so.

So, learning how to use micro-progression in the gym is going to allow you to progress at a more realistic rate, and thus you will be able to get more out of your training, reduce your risk of injury and get better results over time. These are some of the very same methods we use with our coaching clients, and they are very effective.

 

How To Use Micro-Progressions In The Gym

 

We have a couple of different micro-progression options accessible to us. The first is the use of microplates, which are really effective and often not used. These are small-weight plates, often less than 0.5kg. It doesn’t seem like much, but if you were adding one of these small plates every single week, think about what that looks like over the course of two years. Over the course of two years, that’s giving you an increase of ~50 kilos on the bar. Are you really going to gain 50 kilos on your bench press in two years? No, and that should tell you that most people are simply progressing too fast. They have excessive expectations. If they’re adding 2.5kg, 5kg, or 10kg every week, they are probably being too aggressive with their loading. It’s just not realistic most of the time.

So, these smaller weight plates should be getting more use. They should be in more gyms, and even if you are in a public gym, you’ll see some plates like 1.25 or 2.5kg, and people are scared to add them on. They think, “No, I wouldn’t go up by an increment that small” because they think it’s too little. When in reality, it’s probably the perfect amount or maybe even too much for realistic progress each week.

You can get even smaller plates too. Powerlifters are very used to using small calibrated plates and regularly add small amounts of weight, often less than 0.25kgs. Which feels like nothing, but you’re adding these every single week. This begins to add up. You often also see powerlifters adding weighted collars to the bar as a form of progression, which probably isn’t adding on anything significant, but it’s just to make the point that everything that goes on that bar is a means of progression.

These micro-progressions don’t just apply to barbell exercises. For example, if you’re using a cable stack, you might be looking at it your first option is five kilos and then your second option is 10 kilos. What about all those weeks where you’re a bit stronger than five but not quite strong enough for ten? You have a couple of options here. Number one, you can get a small weight plate, put the pin through, and add it back on. That weight is going to move up with the cable stack.

Some very well-equipped gyms will have other options. Some gyms have weight plate magnets. Which you can add to the weight stack, increasing the resistance that you’re dealing with. These could also be applied, or similar concepts to this could be applied, to any other machines that you’re using, any stack with a pin, and even plate-loaded machines.

And these types of tips can also be really helpful at the other extreme. If you’re far too strong for a machine, let’s say you’ve stacked the machine out, you could add weight on as described above as a means of increasing the weight that you’re dealing with.

If you’re training with dumbbells or kettlebells, you may be thinking, ‘Okay, well, how would I do it there? How am I going to add on these micro-progressions?’ And there are actually multiple different options. What some people will do when they have heavy dumbbells is they’ll add weight plates to the side, and use resistance bands to wrap it all up. That can be a little bit risky sometimes, especially if you’re lifting weight overhead, as they can fall off.

Another option here for micro-progression would be to use a strap. Simply put the strap through the gap in the weight plate, put my strap around the dumbbell as I normally would, place the strap under the dumbbell, hand over the dumbbell, and now let’s say I’m doing an exercise that’s really difficult to progress, like a lateral raise. I’m not ready to go from three kilos to five kilos. I can start with 3.25, then I can go to 3.5, and so on.

 

Using Micro-Progressions In The Gym

Progression is really important if you are trying to actually get the results you want in the gym. You need to be adding weight to the bar over time. But that doesn’t mean you need to increase the weight on the bar every single week. What we’ll often expect is that we’re seeing maybe one to two per cent extra weight over the span of one to four weeks, depending on how consistent you’ve been training, if it’s a new program, your training history and experience, and so on.

For example, if we were coaching a client and they were squatting 100 kilos, we wouldn’t tell them to add 10 kilos next week. I’d say, try 102.5kg, for example, next week. That would be an increase of 2.5 per cent. And then, if they’re able to do that, then we keep it steady for a week and see how they get on. If they’re not ready for another weight increment, we might increase the number of reps that they’re doing. For example, could give a rep range of six to eight reps. Do your 100 kg squat for six, then for seven, then for eight. Three weeks have passed by, now you’re ready for an increase in weight. We go up by 2.5 to 5 kilos, and we continue that sequence over time. We call that double progression, and that can be incredibly helpful for your progress in the gym (we di

Remember, if you’re bench pressing 20 kilos and you’re thinking of adding five kilos, that’s a 25 percent increase. If you’re benching a hundred kilos, a 25 percent increase would be an extra 25 kilos in the bar. Totally different and not to be expected. The weaker you are, the smaller you are, the less you’re lifting, the smaller increment of progression you will require. But remember, it’s all about that long-term progress. Track your numbers, and you’ll get better results long term.

If you need help with your own training, we do offer world-class online coaching. We do also have lots of content on nutrition, sleep and stress management, if you want to ensure you are ticking every box to ensure you are getting the results you desire. If you are interested in becoming a nutrition coach or you are already a coach and are looking at upskilling your nutrition coaching practices, we do have an incredibly comprehensive nutrition coaching certificate. You can also keep up with our YouTube videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.