The Significance of the Overload Principle

Overload. This is probably one of the most important, if not the single most important fitness principle out there. Look up any fitness program or talk to any personal fitness trainer, and you'll always see & hear that in order to obtain real results you need to push yourself a little harder each an every workout. This is the basis of 'progression' - a series with a definite pattern of advancement. Essentially, the 'Overload Principle' states that in order for your body and muscles to get stronger and better, you need to add more than the normal (or previous) level of stress/load than before.
For example, let’s say you bench press of 135lbs today for 10 repetitions. The next time you do the same exercise, overload it -add an extra 10lbs and try to do 145lbs for 10 repetitions. This principle applies to any sport. The key is to make your muscles work harder each and every time than they previously were before by lifting more weight (heavy loads), running faster in a shorter amount of time (this applies to HIIT), or increasing flexibility to offset the potential for injury.

By overloading you’re letting your body and muscles adapt to new levels of stress. By applying this systematic approach, you’ll be able to reach your fitness and performance goals much faster. Guaranteed!

Time to get to it!

-AR