The Basics of a Strength Program: Training Progression

One of the principles that we apply to our training, whether its a LifeStrong Class, SportStrong Class, or Custom Program, is an idea called training progression.

It sounds simple, but most group class model gyms don’t apply it, or if they do, very sparingly. For a training progression, not to be confused with a movement progression, We simply take an exercise, and aim to gradually increase your ability in that exercise over time. This can be done with any exercise. However there are only major ways to modify a progression. These four are Intensity, Volume, Density, Tempo,

Intensity: A great example of increasing intensity would be the Texas Method; starting with 5x5 of a squat, keep the rep scheme the same, and add 5lbs to the lift every week you do the 5x5. This allows your body to adapt to the stress you apply to it, compensate, and get stronger for the next week of heavier squats.

Volume: An example of a volume progression is to increase the amount of reps done at the same weight. So you could do 5x5 on a squat on week one, then 5x6 on week two, then 5x7 on week three, and so on. This also works by increasing the sets and keeping the reps static, so 5x5, then 6x5, then 7x5 etc. Increasing reps would be great for anyone looking to progress their muscle endurance, while increasing sets might be better for female strength athletes who can generally tolerate more volume than males, but don’t want to increase their muscle endurance.

Tempo: There are three ways to modify tempo, you can increase the speed of a rep, you can decrease the speed of a rep, or you can implement a pause during the rep. Increasing the speed of the rep, particularly on the concentric, is a great tool for olympic weightlifters and sport athletes to develop explosiveness. Decreasing the speed of the rep, and purposefully slowing it down is great for bodybuilders and powerlifters who are looking to increase their muscle mass. Adding a pause in the lift is a great way to push past a sticking point at that point, or just generally make the lift harder if the athlete has run out of other tools to progress.

Density: Density is a method of progression in which you progress the amount of work done in certain window of time. This can be done by performing 5x5 squats in 30 mins at 265lbs, then the next week aim to complete it in 25 mins, then 20 and so on. You could track the amount of rest taken between sets, and progress that down, or set a fixed window of time, and aim to increase the amount of reps completed. You could also increase the density by keeping the rest time, reps, and sets, the same, but increase the weight gradually, and your workload will generally improve. Density training would likely be the best system for a CrossFit athlete to implement who is above average strength, but has poor conditioning. This could also be great for clients who are strong but want to find easy ways to improve their conditioning without sacrificing significant amounts of strength. Finally, it could be great for clients with a limited time to train, and have run other progressions dry.

Regardless of the progression you choose, this will still be one of the best ways to improve your movement, and is a fundamental part of our Remote Programs, Group Classes, and Custom Coaching!