The Progression Principle

Milo of Croton was a Greek military general and six-time Olympic wrestling champion more than 2000 years ago. His legendary strength inspired the myth of Milo and the bull. As the story goes, each day he would lift a calf and carry it around. As it grew into a bull, Milo’s strength grew proportionately.

Essential to this myth is the concept of exercise progression. The progression principle tells us that progress is dependent on regular increases in the amount of work we perform.

 

Why progression is important

Rome wasn’t built in a day, Milo of Kroton didn’t become the strongest man in the world overnight, and it’ll take you more than a day to bulk up.

There is an optimal rate at which you should bulk up. Unfortunately, this rate differs for everyone, and you’ll have to experiment to figure out what works best for you.

If you use too slow a rate of progression, your bulking diet will make you fat. This isn’t such a big deal because you can always lose the extra flab. But it is avoidable and, since you only get one chance at true newbie gains, you want to maximize your potential by choosing a sensible rate of progression.

An overly-aggressive rate of progression also causes problems. Aside from the obvious risk of having your gains stall because you bit off more than you can chew, there are very real risks of injury when you push things too far.

Muscles are capable of increasing in strength at a much faster rate than ligaments and tendons. This is especially evident in highly-trained professional athletes who use anabolic steroids to pack on extra mass during the off-season. While they may increase their strength by 20% in less than 2 months, they often succumb to injuries because their connective tissue is not prepared for the stress put on it by the athlete’s newly powerful muscles.

However, as a skinny guy trying to bulk up, you shouldn’t worry about growing too quickly. Take all the progress you can get and be happy about it. Form problems and insufficient flexibility are more likely to result in injury than becoming too powerful for your tendons and ligaments. We should all have that problem!

What to do when your progress stalls

It happens eventually, usually sooner rather than later. One day you find that you can’t add any more weight to the bar. Your progress has stalled.

How can you use the progression principle if you are unable to make any progress?

Use the tried-and-true method of breaking through an impasse: take one step back and two steps forward. Every strength athlete who has ever made significant progress knows that occasionally, you have to back off and let your body recover. These deloading phases are integral parts of bulking programs.

Periodization is a catch-all term describing the schemes people use to vary progression and keep gains coming for as long as possible before a stall. A periodized program can help you peak at a certain time.

Different types of progression

Obviously, adding weight to the bar is in accord with the progression principle. But you can use other changes to satisfy the need for progression in your bulking program. For instance, you can incorporate progression into your workout by regularly increasing the intensity, either with more sets, by working out more frequently, or by taking less rest between sets.

Bulking programs adhere to the progression principle

Basically, anything that makes overload a regular part of your workout schedule satisfies the need for progression. If you are doing more work now than the last time you worked out, you are using the progression principle. You can’t get more muscular without getting stronger, and to increase your strength you need progression in your workout.

You will not bulk up without gaining weight and pushing yourself to new heights every time you work out.