Sal DiStefano

I want to be very clear because someone may be getting confused. progressively overloading your muscles means they get stronger. That's true. Every one that we're going to cover today means you're getting stronger, but that doesn't mean there's more weight on the bar. So I'll explain. Let me go with the first one, right? Here's an easy way.

to progressively overload your muscles without adding weight to the bar. Let's just say you do curls with a 50-pound barbell, okay? And that's hard for you. 50-pound barbell is hard to do 10 reps. And you get stronger. You're like, you know what? Should I add weight to the bar? I could. I could add five pounds to the bar, which means I'm stronger. Or...

to progressively overload your muscles without adding weight to the bar. Let's just say you do curls with a 50-pound barbell, okay? And that's hard for you. 50-pound barbell is hard to do 10 reps. And you get stronger. You're like, you know what? Should I add weight to the bar? I could. I could add five pounds to the bar, which means I'm stronger. Or...

to progressively overload your muscles without adding weight to the bar. Let's just say you do curls with a 50-pound barbell, okay? And that's hard for you. 50-pound barbell is hard to do 10 reps. And you get stronger. You're like, you know what? Should I add weight to the bar? I could. I could add five pounds to the bar, which means I'm stronger. Or...

I can make the reps go slower or I could slow down the reps. I can make the reps take an extra second or two on the way up and on the way down so that now I'm doing the same amount of reps with the same weight, but it's much harder. Now, the way I'll pose this is this, slower reps with the same weight doesn't mean you have, does that require more strength? It does.

I can make the reps go slower or I could slow down the reps. I can make the reps take an extra second or two on the way up and on the way down so that now I'm doing the same amount of reps with the same weight, but it's much harder. Now, the way I'll pose this is this, slower reps with the same weight doesn't mean you have, does that require more strength? It does.

I can make the reps go slower or I could slow down the reps. I can make the reps take an extra second or two on the way up and on the way down so that now I'm doing the same amount of reps with the same weight, but it's much harder. Now, the way I'll pose this is this, slower reps with the same weight doesn't mean you have, does that require more strength? It does.

Somebody who could squat 300 pounds and take five seconds on the way down, five seconds on the way up is stronger than somebody who squats the same weight, two seconds up, two seconds down. So you're still getting stronger. You're just not adding weight.

Somebody who could squat 300 pounds and take five seconds on the way down, five seconds on the way up is stronger than somebody who squats the same weight, two seconds up, two seconds down. So you're still getting stronger. You're just not adding weight.

Somebody who could squat 300 pounds and take five seconds on the way down, five seconds on the way up is stronger than somebody who squats the same weight, two seconds up, two seconds down. So you're still getting stronger. You're just not adding weight.

Right. And the muscles aren't perceiving the weight on the bar, or should I say they're not perceiving objective weight, it's the tension. Yep. And slowing the rep down increases the tension. Here's how I used to use this with clients.

Right. And the muscles aren't perceiving the weight on the bar, or should I say they're not perceiving objective weight, it's the tension. Yep. And slowing the rep down increases the tension. Here's how I used to use this with clients.

Right. And the muscles aren't perceiving the weight on the bar, or should I say they're not perceiving objective weight, it's the tension. Yep. And slowing the rep down increases the tension. Here's how I used to use this with clients.

When I would have a client that I'm training and my target rep for them range, let's just say 10 reps, and I'm watching them and they're on rep eight and I'm like, uh-oh, they could do probably four or five more.

When I would have a client that I'm training and my target rep for them range, let's just say 10 reps, and I'm watching them and they're on rep eight and I'm like, uh-oh, they could do probably four or five more.

When I would have a client that I'm training and my target rep for them range, let's just say 10 reps, and I'm watching them and they're on rep eight and I'm like, uh-oh, they could do probably four or five more.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll tell people right now.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll tell people right now.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll tell people right now.

That's right. The weight on the bar only matters because of the tension it provides. And you can increase the tension by simply slowing the reps down. And so now you've progressively overloaded your body or the target muscle without having to add weight to the bar. The next one is to increase the range of motion. This one's a big one, especially for certain exercises like squats.