Progressive overload means lifting a little more over time than you did before. The American College of Sports Medicine position stand describes raising the load by 2 to 10 per cent once the current load can be lifted for one or two reps over the target[1]. The open question is when to move, and by how much.
QuietGains answers it per set, from the sets you logged last time. Its progression engine applies the rule below, and each set arrives prefilled with the result.
- A set that reached the top of its rep range moves up one weight step, with reps back at the bottom of the range.
- A set inside the range keeps its weight and adds one rep, or two when the effort rating said three or more reps were left.
- A set that fell short of the range repeats the weight. A second miss in a row at that weight drops it one step.
- A step is the smallest change the equipment allows: the increment saved in the gym profile, or the catalog default.
The decision happens at the end of an exercise, from numbers already in the log. Nobody writes a plan on Sunday night.
Why the steps are small
A 2.5 kg step on a 100 kg lift is 2.5 per cent, the low end of the 2 to 10 per cent in the position stand[1]. One step every fortnight for a year is 26 steps and 65 kg, a 65 per cent increase. The engine never makes a two-step jump that adds more than 10 per cent.
Small steps are also why reps come before load. Four sets of eight become sets of nine and ten inside the rep range before the weight moves.
A repeat is a decision with a reason, not a missed step.
What happens in each case
| Situation | Next suggestion |
|---|---|
| Top of the range with three or more reps left | Two weight steps when the jump stays within 10 per cent of the weight, otherwise one |
| Top of the range on a set taken to failure | The same weight when the next step would add more than 10 per cent |
| Three sessions at the same weights with no more total reps | One step down on every set, back to the bottom of the range |
| Fourteen or more days since the last session | The same weights, with reps back at the bottom of the range after 28 days |
The effort rating comes from one question after the last set of an exercise: how many more reps you could have done. It applies to every set of that exercise.
When a lift stalls
The engine counts a stall as three sessions in a row at the same weights on every set, where neither of the two newer sessions beats the total reps of the oldest. It then drops every set one step and starts again from the bottom of the rep range. The session still happens; only the starting numbers change.
What the engine reads
The weight and reps of each logged set, the effort rating after the last set, the plan’s rep range, the weight steps for the equipment and the days since the last session. Nothing else goes in.
Sources
- [1]American College of Sports Medicine. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 41(3):687-708, 2009. doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181915670