What Is Progressive Overload?

Everything we know we once had to learn how to do.

Learning how to do something is a combination of doing something that’s challenging--something we haven’t done before; and something that’s manageable--something close enough to what we have done before so that we aren’t scared off course. 

If we learned how to ride a bike when we were a kid, we likely didn’t go from riding a tricycle (those are for babies!) to riding a bicycle (I’m a big kid now!). 

We probably put training wheels on our first bike. 

The training wheels approximated our experience of riding our tricycle--by this time a too familiar experience--so that we were able to trust the process of learning something new. And because the training wheels were higher off the ground than the back tire, they only bumped into the pavement when we tilted off balance. Our training wheels represented both the challenge of doing something new, and the familiarity of doing something normal. They straddled the edge between known and unknown, order and chaos. 

As we continued to practice, we became better at maintaining balance on two wheels and our training wheels were hardly touching down at all. The experience of riding a bike on two wheels started to feel more normal, and we exposed ourselves to the next task on the edge of known and unknown: No more training wheels. 

Gradually exposing ourselves to new challenges is how we learn how to do new things. Challenge is stress. We need to be stressed--Not too much that we injure ourselves, but not too little that we stagnate and fail to grow. An optimal amount of stress is needed to propel us forward into new frontiers while not making us succumb to the beliefs or physical injuries that hold us back from reaching those goals. This is how we become stronger physically and psychologically.  

No wonder then that learning how to move our bodies optimally is also predicated on a gradual exposure to challenge. It even has a name. Progressive Overload is the technical term, and a basic understanding of its principle (and how to utilize this strategy in yoga) will help us confidently select the movement varieties that are right for our body in any given moment. 

Here’s how it works!

How Progressive Overload Works

“Our musculoskeletal system is always building, repairing, or degenerating in response to the dose of mechanical input.” - Jules Mitchell, Yoga Biomechanics Stretching Redefined

I love this quote because it gets at the heart of how our muscles work: They adapt in response to load. 

When we exposed ourselves gradually to the challenge of riding a bike, we strengthened our bike-riding skills. When we expose ourselves gradually to load, we strengthen our tissues. Strong tissues are resilient, capable and powerful. They can handle an immense variety of situations with ease, which makes us feel confident and well-adapted to life’s challenges. 

Load is whatever I’m asking my muscles to move. Load is the weight of my legs as I walk forward. It's the kettlebell I’m holding, and also the pencil I pick up. It’s the weight of my work bag on my shoulder, a resistance band I’m pulling against, a table I’m trying to move, and the weight of my arm when I reach up to grab my coffee mug in the morning. 

Our muscles build, repair and degenerate (to borrow Jule’s language) in response to how we load them throughout our lives. 

Let’s say I love my couch and I don’t participate in a lot of movement. Consequently, I’ve gotten really good at managing the loads I do all the time. For instance, I’m really good at holding my tooth-brush, I can walk a good half mile before I get tired, and I can get into and out of a chair with ease. In fact, all of this feels second nature. But because this is the extent of my mechanical input, my muscles are not adapted to do anything more than this. I would hardly be able to skip a block, maybe I could lift a 50 pound box, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to do a push-up. As it stands, I’m a great example of someone who chronically underloads their tissues. I could be motivated in the future to rethink my loading strategy, either out of interest or motivated by the aches and pains that tend to result from the degeneration that happens when I chronically underload.  

Now let’s say that I’m someone who has a regular workout schedule but I don’t have a great understanding of how progressive loading works. I formulate my workout plan mostly around my interests and recommendations from other people. This is great and seems to work. I do see results--I notice myself becoming stronger, more resilient, less pain, better range of motion. But I also notice that there are missing pieces in my strategy. Because I don’t have an understanding of progressive loading, I have no idea how to dial up and down the load of a movement in order to keep progressing without stalling or injuring myself. I’m not progressing as quickly as I could be, I’ve plateaued in some areas and injured myself in others, and the best way I might describe my movement strategy is wishful thinking. As it stands, I’m a great example of someone who underloads in some areas, overloads in others, and doesn’t have a great sense about what to do next to get the results I’m looking for. 

But now let’s say that I’m someone who has a regular workout schedule and understands how progressive loading works. I understand that my muscles adapt in response to load and that the key to getting stronger is to gradually increase the load of a movement as my muscles adapt and to keep myself on the edge between loads that are tolerable and intolerable. In other words, I understand that my success as a mover is about finding the right load for my body in that moment. This understanding provides me a roadmap for optimal loading so that I continually train my muscles to take on more challenge. I know what to do today and what to do tomorrow, and my outcomes are reliable. 

This is how our tissues respond to load. If we load our tissues with just-right challenging movements, our muscles will adapt and become stronger. If we load our muscles with too-much-too-soon challenging movements, our muscles may not be able to generate the force needed to adequately resist and we may injure ourselves. If we habitually underload our muscles, they will degenerate in response. Finding the right amount of load is sort of a Goldilocks situation--we’re looking for the not-too-hot, not-too-cold, just-right bowl of porridge, aka: The perfect amount of load for my muscles today. 

Progressive Overload & Yoga

Weightlifters tend to understand the concept of progressive-overload rather easily. It’s common sense in the weight room to start with a manageable weight and progressively work up as your capacity to manage load increases.

It gets trickier when we try to take this concept and apply it in the context of a yoga practice, because in yoga our load is our body weight. We can’t swap out for a lighter or heavier body for every pose, the way we would swap out for different weights at the gym. In order to apply this concept to a yoga practice, we need to understand load as more than just weight. 

Load is actually a set of parameters (I like to think of dimmer switches) that can be dialed up or down to increase or decrease the load. Weight is one of those parameters, and probably the most easy to discuss, but there are others. Before we can talk about how to use progressive loading in yoga, we need a more in-depth understand of what load actually is. 

Additional Resources: 

Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined by Jules Mitchell [Book]

How To Add Load to Your Yoga Practice with Jenni Rawlings [Online Workshop]

Progressive Overload by Jules Mitchell [Article]

Our yoga platform features smart, simple movements that help you feel better without confusing you, overwhelming you, or asking you to do impossible things. We believe you are capable of moving well, resolving pain, overcoming obstacles, and feeling capable beyond your wildest dreams. Try our online yoga membership risk-free for 7-days, or subscribe to our mailing list to stay in touch.