Are you stuck? Try the double progression

If you find yourself stuck on a strength plateau, try a method and smash your records with double progression.

The longer you lift, the harder it becomes to keep progressing; during the initial stages, you’ll be able to add weight to the bar easily.

In the first few months, you may be able to increase the weight by 2.5 to 5 kg in total for upper-body lifts and by 5 to 10 kg for lower-body lifts.

But after six months, things change. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep adding weight. At this point, you need a change of pace so that strength and muscle gains keep coming… it’s as if you’ve hit a plateau…

One of the best ways to overcome a plateau is the double progression method.

The essence of double progression

Choose a rep range and stick with the same weight for as long as necessary to reach the highest number of repetitions you can perform with good technique.

Once you can reach your maximum reps for each set with a given weight, increase the weight and reduce the reps to the lower limit of your chosen rep range.

• Let’s say you hit a plateau in the squat at 3 sets of 3 reps with 125 kg.
• Instead of attempting 130 kg and letting your technique suffer, set your rep range at 3–6 repetitions using the double progression method.

This is what your squat training will look like over 8 weeks:

• W/Week 1: 3×3, 125 kg, Week 5: 3×3, 130 kg
• W/Week 2: 3×4, 125 kg, Week 6: 3×4, 130 kg
• Week 3: 3×5, 125 kg, Week 7: 3×5, 130 kg
• Week 4: 3×6, 125 kg, Week 8: 3×6, 130 kg

This form of progression is an excellent way to build confidence under the bar.

While training hard, remember to provide your body with key recovery nutrients such as BCAAs + glutamine, which will reduce nervous system fatigue and allow you to restore muscle glycogen, as well as reduce the acidosis caused by hard training, while stimulating protein synthesis.

Why this method works

Increasing your repetitions with a fixed weight allows you to “master the weight,” which will help you feel more comfortable moving to a slightly heavier weight with a reduced number of repetitions.

Adding more repetitions with a given load also gives your body time to develop the supporting strength of the fascia, tendons, and ligaments needed to lift heavier loads safely in the future.

With this type of method, known as double progression, you can also avoid overtraining, which will mentally help you plan not only your new goals but also allow you to visualize things, including both your mistakes and your possibilities… this is called “experience”...