Progressive Overload and Control Systems

Philip Pape 0:01

Are you chasing arbitrary strength standards , constantly comparing yourself to what others can lift ? Maybe you're frustrated that your squat still isn't at body weight or your bench press hasn't hit two plates yet . Here's what most lifters miss that true strength development works just like a control system . It's not about hitting random numbers . It's about creating the right feedback loop for continuous progress . Today , we're talking about why progressive overload is the only strength standard you'll ever need and how understanding control systems will transform your training forever .

Philip Pape 0:44

Welcome to Wits and Weights , the show that helps you build a strong , healthy physique using evidence , engineering and efficiency . I'm your host , philip Pape , and today we're talking about the most important principle in strength training , the one from which all others derive progressive overload , or what some people like to call progressive loading , because technically you're not overloading , but that's a different topic and we're going to look at this progressive overload or what some people like to call progressive loading because technically you're not overloading , but that's a different topic and we're going to look at this through the lens of engineering control systems . I'm surprised . I have never talked about control systems before , but here we are . A control system is a feedback mechanism that helps something , improve or maintain stability , like , for example , for example , the speed on your cruise control in your car right . Or another one I like to talk about is your thermostat Keeping your house at the perfect temperature . It's always feeding back based on what the actual temperature is , and your body has a similar system for adapting to training . And if you can understand that and tie it to this concept , it is kind of going to revolutionize how you think to getting stronger .

Philip Pape 1:48

Now , before we get in to this episode , if you want to experience a program that applies this and all of our other principles for nutrition training mindset with scientific precision I'm just kidding , not that scientific , there's a little bit of flex in there I want you to consider joining Wits and Weights Physique University . We now have , as of the end of February , going into March , we're going to have our first monthly challenge . Every single month we're going to have a challenge in the group in addition to the custom nutrition plans , workouts , tracking tools , courses , the supportive community check-ins all of that to help you reach your strength and physique goals faster than ever . So if you want to try it free for 14 days and get your first challenge at absolutely no cost , use the special link in my show notes . That is the only way to get it . You have to click the link in the show notes to join for free for the first 14 days , wits and Weights Physique University and get to try the first challenge at no cost , and I will be unveiling what that challenge is soon . But you can join at no cost . Reach out to me if you have questions .

Philip Pape 2:53

And now I want to get into today's topic , which is progressive overload , and we're going to cover it from a different perspective . First we're going to talk about control systems , because control systems are a really good analogy to our bodies in the context of strength training . Then we'll talk about the three components that regulate your training adaptation , and then how to apply this framework to your own training so you can get some consistent progress . Now I've talked about progressive overload before . I usually approach it in the more traditional sense , talking about increasing your weight and your reps and all of that . But today is going to be a different angle that I think you're going to appreciate

Training Control Systems

Philip Pape 3:31

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Philip Pape 3:31

So let's talk about control systems . These are actually everywhere in engineering . They're everywhere in your life . You don't even realize they're there . They monitor outputs , they compare them to a desired target and then they make adjustments and anything run by a computer today pretty much has a control system and that's how things can run optimally and automatically . So I mentioned the cruise control in the intro your car's cruise control very common system that we're all familiar with . It is measuring your speed on the road , it compares it to your target speed and then it adjusts the throttle . Now , of course , if you're driving a Tesla or something that has automatic driving , that is a much more advanced control system that's using sensors and cameras and everything to keep you on the road . But just back to the cruise control , you know if you go uphill it's just going to add more gas . If you go downhill , it eases off and it does it in a very smooth way . Well , generally it does . It's not jerky , it's not like over responsive . The system's always working to maintain that perfect speed .

Philip Pape 4:29

Well , your body works the same way when it comes to building strength . When you lift weights , you create a stimulus . Your body then responds by adapting . It builds stronger muscles and more efficient neural pathways . Right , it's both neuromuscular as well as physical muscular . But here's where most lifters go wrong . They focus on arbitrary numbers instead of trying to optimize the feedback loop so that they can keep making progress .

Philip Pape 4:55

Whether you want to call it ego lifting or just a lack of understanding very common problem , I see . If I give you a concrete example . All right , let's say you're squatting 225 pounds and then you try to jump straight to 275 pounds . What usually happens ? Your system gets overloaded , your form breaks down , your reps get sloppy , you risk injury . And it doesn't even have to be that big of a jump . You may take a 10 pound jump and it's too big . It's one of the most common reasons people fail their reps common reasons people fail their reps . Then they say , hey , philip , this isn't working . Should I do a reset or take a deload ? I'm like , no , you just jumped too much and you would have known not to do that if you had taken your history and your data into account . But we'll get back to that . So if you jump more than you can handle , that'd be like again in the car analogy you're slamming the accelerator instead of letting the cruise control make the smooth adjustments . And remember when you do that your car can't quite get there and then it may eventually get there , but it's basically doing it in a very jerky way that taxes the engine , your body , like a good control system needs time to process the feedback and then adapt . I mean Same idea Now progressive overload , which is the gradual increase in training demands . That's all that is right .

Philip Pape 6:10

It's not that your body is on its own just deciding to get stronger . It is that you are pushing it to its limit and it's getting stronger . And it works just like any other well-tuned control system . You provide a stimulus , you measure the response and you make calculated adjustments . And too many lifters get caught up chasing numbers . I need to squat 315 , or my buddy squats 315, . I'm only squatting 275 , so I'm weak . But yeah , maybe for you you're not . I should be benching twice my body weight . Whatever . You know these strength standards and I've been asked many times before like what is considered strong ? Well , it's all relative to you . Some people are super strong right out of the gate . Some people are not . Some people actually get stronger , faster than other people , and so if we use arbitrary standards , they are going to ignore how your unique system responds .

Philip Pape 7:00

Think again about homeostasis , your body's natural tendency to maintain balance . When you train , you are disrupting that balance and then your body is going to adapt to handle future disruptions better . That's one way to put it . Another way to put it is you are shifting your homeostasis , your capacity , your peak . You're shifting it outward , you're shifting it upward and it's this beautiful feedback loop that allows you to become a different person physically , but only if you respect how the system works and lean into it properly . So that gets me to something very it's going to sound a little bit technical .

Philip Pape 7:36

It's something we use in control systems and it's called a PID controller . I'm going to use this as an analogy for the three components of training control , but you'll I'll go back and forth so you know what I'm talking about . So don't get lost in the terminology . It's a pid controller , proportional integral derivative . Again , you don't have to know exactly what those means mean and I'm going to give you a very um kind of simplified definition of those . So it might sound complex , but your body's response to training follows the same pattern .

Philip Pape 8:01

Let's let's just break it down First . The P . So remember PID proportional integral derivative . The P is proportional control . This is your body's immediate response to a training stimulus , like right in the moment when you lift a weight . That's challenging but manageable , meaning you can actually do it , and that includes for all the reps . So that means if you're doing a set of five , that means you lift a weight that you can get for a set of five and it's not like a max , all-out grindy set .

Philip Pape 8:29

Your body then responds proportionally proportional . It recruits the right amount of muscle fibers , it helps you maintain proper form , right Balance , stability , all that and it helps you complete the movement successfully . A lot of this is neuromuscular . A lot of this is based on movement patterns . This is why having enough reps and enough practice and frequency is important . But the point is your body will proportionally respond .

Philip Pape 8:55

If you , however , try to go too heavy , too fast , the system gets unstable . You're going to fail your reps or your form is going to break down . That could be the potential for injury . Your nervous system also gets overwhelmed , especially on really big lifts like deadlifts . But if you increase it just the right amount , right , just that five pounds on your bench press , or maybe it's two pounds with microplates depends on where you are your body's going to adapt perfectly . There's a nice sweet spot . It's not super wide , but it's also not so precise . You have to be down to a decimal point or anything like that . And again , I've seen this countless times with clients those who try to force huge jumps in weight inevitably are going to plateau . I don't even call it a plateau , I just it's like um , they , they feel like the program's wrong for them or it's not the right weight or not the right lift or whatever , and they immediately go to the doom and gloom . All these potential issues and , granted , if you're not sleeping enough , you're not eating enough , those could definitely be the issues . But sometimes it's just you're not increasing by the right amount or you're not taking enough rest period and you're just over . It's not only progressive overload , it's progressive way overload , okay . But if you respect this proportional ability for your body to meet the demand only up to its limits , right , and getting into that sweet spot with those small calculated increases , now you could build strength consistently for years on end . I mean years and years . So that's proportional control . Then we have integral control Remember PID proportional , integral , derivative . So integral control .

Philip Pape 10:22

This is really looking at history . It's looking at the accumulated training over time , not like your injury history or your training or diet history over the years . This is more of the recent , like the last few days or last few weeks of training , and this is also why tracking your volume and your progression and what you're lifting and how much you're lifting really matters a lot . Okay , your body , just you know it doesn't just respond to what you're doing today . It kind of remembers the workload that you've handled over the past few days , weeks , even months . And so if you brought me someone and said , hey , write a program for them , I wouldn't know what is optimal for them unless I talk to them about what they've done recently , right ? Or I would have to get them into a kind of prep , easy kind of prep phase for a few weeks just to work all the fatigue out of their system . Actually , there's a good analogy when we talk about dieting and prepping for fat loss , kind of getting the food-related calorie deficit stress out of your system similar idea . So your body kind of remembers this kind of like . You know it's like your bank account . I mean , you know , if you put $1,000 in the bank today , that's great , but if you've spent so much money the last six months that you're in a million dollars of debt , that thousand dollars isn't going to do much . So I don't know how great of analogy that was , but it came to mind . And back to training .

Philip Pape 11:46

This is where the program , a lot of programs themselves , like in isolation , actually fall short because it's all about this individual workout , right ? Hey , come buy my latest workout , like I have a workout for you . Or follow this workout on YouTube and it just says just jump right in , it's not personalized , it doesn't count for history . If , if you're going to buy a program from somebody , um , take , take my coach , andy Baker , for example . He sells templates on his , on his website , but when you download one of those templates , it's this like 20 page PDF explaining the principles behind it , and there's actually a lot of work you have to do to make it work for you . And this is not a criticism on Andy , he wouldn't mind me saying this . It's because he doesn't know where you started from and you need to figure that out as you get into the program . He's not just going to say , hey , do these exercises these days and you're done . Anybody can do that with chat GPT today . That's going to fall short and you're done . Anybody can do that with chat GPT today . That's going to fall short .

Philip Pape 12:40

Um , the bigger picture is are you gradually increasing your volume or have you gone with too much volume recently ? Are you balancing intensity and volume over different exercises , days and weeks , right , Because your body knows this , even if your mind doesn't realize it , and that's why you need um , well , I guess I'm going to get , I'm going to get to the third piece now when I talk about deloads . But that's why you have to be aware of your history when you program . So the last part is derivative control . So remember PID proportional , integral derivative Derivative control is the rate of change , so that's how quickly you're progressing or accumulating fatigue ,

Optimal Training Progression Strategies

Philip Pape 13:15

right .

Philip Pape 13:15

And this is why we need either deloads or we need a program that naturally incorporates resets or variety or undulation or waves or whatever it is . It doesn't have to be complicated Some are more complicated than others Some sort of cycling that is in there where you don't even need a deload necessarily , right , some programs you just design it that way and then six weeks and then you have a deload . Others it's kind of built in . You know , like I'm following a program that's based on a base strength and then peak strength , and every third week you reset slightly , but the reset is heavier than three weeks before that . So it's kind of a natural deload .

Philip Pape 13:55

Your body has limits on how fast it can adapt , so if you're pushing too hard , too fast and the system starts to get too fatigued , you start breaking down . That's where you're going to hit a wall and you're going to keep hitting a wall until you somehow release all that tension and go at the right rate of change . So both the history of it how much have you accumulated and then also now what we're talking about is the rate of change , how fast and how hard you're going as you work through this are really important . It's like balancing all of this out is critical . So now , how do we use this knowledge to build your real-world strength , to become as strong as possible , to keep doing it without injury , to keep going and being consistent ?

Philip Pape 14:35

The first thing is to forget arbitrary strength standards . Don't worry about it , stop asking about it , stop worrying about absolute numbers and instead create a system that respects how your body actually adapts to training and you may respond differently than someone else to a certain amount of volume . You may respond differently when you're in fat loss versus when you're not , or when you're eating certain foods versus not , when you're training fasted or not , how much cardio or sports or other things you're doing outside of the lifting sessions . So , going back to our three components , if we want to apply these to real life . Let's start with proportional control . This means you're going to make small , consistent increases in either load that's , the weight on the bar and or reps . So if you're bench pressing 185 for three sets of five , you may not want to jump to 215 next week or next session . Whatever program you're following . You may want to go from 185 to 190 . And if you've been doing that for a while and it's getting really , really hard , you might want to go from 190 to 192 and a half .

Philip Pape 15:40

This is where microplates are helpful and a lot of people somehow don't even realize they exist . I shouldn't say it that way . That sounds patronizing . I should not have said that , but what I mean is a lot of people . You could sense some of my frustration here and how many times this comes up . For those of my clients listening who have benefited from me sharing microplates , who didn't know this before , I apologize if that comes across as insulting , but I guess I'm just saying I'm surprised that it's not part of the common lexicon , like so many other things .

Philip Pape 16:10

So look for microplates which include both small fractional plates for your barbell but also plates that can go on dumbbells , and then that way you can progress in the right levels and then , as you get closer and closer to your limit , until you reduce the frequency . In other words , if you're squatting three days a week , you can only go up so so much doing that before you have to now increase once a week , right . Even if you're squatting three times a week , you may only go up once a week , for example , right . So it's got to depend on what level of training you're at . So that's proportional controls , those small , consistent increases .

Philip Pape 16:48

If you're a beginner , I definitely love focusing on increasing load , and then , as you become more advanced , you can learn how to increase on reps as well , or back and forth load reps , depending on what you're working on . For integral control remember , this is the one based on accumulated fatigue you're going to want to track three metrics . The first one is your volume per exercise . This is sets times reps . It could be times weight as well , so that's called tonnage , but even sets times reps , just the volume per exercise , okay . And then number two is the volume per muscle group , because that way you can see how many sets you're doing per muscle group , which will also tell you maybe you're not doing enough , depending on what your goals are and then your overall training load across your what some people call mesocycle or a block like a four to six week block . What's your overall load ? And there's some cool apps that do this as well .

Philip Pape 17:42

If you're into that , like I use Boostcamp . You could find a link to that below in the show notes . But with Boostcamp you could actually see a graph of your volume over time . So the program I'm following you'll see it go up for three weeks and then drop , and then go up for three weeks and drop . So that can be really helpful for those who are trying to make sure that you're in the sweet spot . Now , if you're following a , if you have a personal trainer or you're following a really good coach or using one of the programs like that are already in Boost Camp , for example they're probably already set up to give you a reasonable volume .

Philip Pape 18:13

But you need to know hey , I'm feeling really fatigued , do I have too much volume ? Well , you don't know that unless you track it , and a lot of people don't track this stuff . I'll tell you , even in my lifting community , with all the buddies that lift , that I know a lot of them don't really think about volume . A lot of them are following lower volume programs anyway . You may not have enough volume , though , for what you're trying to achieve , or you may have too much , and it depends on what phase you're into . You may have to drop the volume , for example . So tracking , that's the only way you're going to know , right , that you're progressively overloading without overwhelming your system .

Philip Pape 18:47

And then the last piece , the derivative control . This is more . How do you know , do you need recovery or deload , unless you've already built it in , which I talked about earlier , which is a really smart strategy . Just build it in and be proactive . But I want you to be tracking your biofeedback . How's your sleep quality ? How is your recovery ? I mean , are your warmup sets feeling smooth ? Are you feeling kind of wiped out right from the beginning ? Is your overall performance trending up or down ? How is your motivation ? How is your energy right ? All of that is important and , again , it may indicate a problem with your diet , with your carbs , with your meal timing , something else like with your sleep , with your stress . But as long as you have the information , you can then start digging into the why behind them . And these indicators are great because they tell you whether you're adapting optimally or you need to adjust something . Of course you can use aura rings , you can use your Apple Watch , and those all have different measures of stress and resilience . It's all good stuff , just make sure you're correlating it with what you're doing .

Philip Pape 19:40

So the key to all of this ? To progressive overload and notice . I'm just talking principles here . This one principle is going to translate to everything else . It is even more important than , for example , mechanical tension . Right , we talk about mechanical tension being the driver of hypertrophy and muscle mass , but I've never seen a really good lifter not also progress by virtue of using mechanical tension . Thus it's sort of a secondary principle , if you will . As long as you're progressing , that tells you you're doing the right things . Now you may have to uncover what things you need to do right to get to proper progressive overload . That's a whole different deep dive . So the sustainable feedback loop is pretty cool once you've implemented it . It makes you a lifter , it makes you confident , it helps you get progress .

Philip Pape 20:25

So I have a client who made progress on a beginning style three by five style program , kind of like starting strength with some modifications right , and she made progress for a while and then she started to move into an intermediate program and started to stall a little bit and get frustrated and asked her are you progressing on all of your accessory movements ? She's like , yeah , all of that's coming straight up . I said , okay , then there's something going on with the main lifts in one of these three areas we're talking about here that we're off on . We're either not increasing the right levels right , we we are , we have too much fatigue . I don't think that's the issue in this case , but you know , could always be that I think it's more the proportional control . We're not necessarily going up in the right levels . Something's off in the way we're progressing . If she's able to progress all this other stuff , you know it could be a form issue or something as well . All right , so you know .

Philip Pape 21:11

What do you do here for this system ? Just to recap , you're going to monitor performance through consistent tracking , so you have the data to act on . You're going to make small strategic adjustments based on your data . You're going to have adequate recovery between training sessions , between sets and across your whole block of training and you're going to repeat this while gradually increasing demands over time as your capacity increases and then , when all of this works well , you're going to notice consistent strength gains without plateaus . They're going to be very infrequent and usually for other reasons , or usually because you've just gone , you've overreached just a little bit . You're going to have better recovery between sessions . You're probably going to have fewer aches and pains , lower likelihood of injury and more predictable progress , like you can forecast .

Philip Pape 21:55

Okay , six months . I want to . I want my deadlift to be here and I know I have a pretty good confidence I can get there now that I've gotten a predictable process in place . And that's how you build lasting strength without burnout or injury . Right , it's not as exciting as chasing big numbers every session , but it's far more effective and efficient in the long run . That's what we're all about , right ?

Philip Pape 22:16

What's what's fascinating about all this is , once you understand this control your body is a control system . It has these feedback loops you realize that progressive overload really isn't about just adding weight to the bar . Right , it's actually about optimizing your body's adaptation mechanisms , your adaptation mechanisms . The weight on the bar is just a method to get there right . And then that framework can apply to any fitness goal , from fat loss to muscle gain . They're all adaptations . So then you're not just building strength , you're becoming guess what an engineer of your own physique .

Philip Pape 22:52

That is what we do on this show . That is the point . When you stop chasing arbitrary numbers of any of this stuff and you start treating training , nutrition , mental growth , all of it , relationships like the sophisticated control system , it is , I mean , your body . When it comes to training , everything changes . Your progress becomes more consistent , more predictable and , ultimately , more sustainable . All right , and again , if you want to apply these principles to your training , join us in Wits and Weights Physique University .

Philip Pape 23:23

I'm going to give you a secret link in the show notes , and I didn't mention it earlier , but in addition to the 14-day free trial , in addition to a free challenge , you are going to get a discounted rate from what is publicly available . It is a rate that I am testing with new clients . Keep it a secret . Well , I know the millions of people listening to the show won't but hearty heart , okay . Anyway , back in the physique university .

Smart Training for Sustainable Progress

Philip Pape 23:49

You know we use this approach , this kind of very logical , objective , efficient , confident building approach , to help you build strength and muscle and also tackle your nutrition Nutrition is a huge part of it To make this sustainable , to stay injury-free , to get the confidence in the wins constantly . So click the link in my show notes for the 14-day free trial , the free challenge , the secret discounted price . And remember , smart training beats random progress . Chasing every time , every single time , all right until next time . Keep using your wits lifting those weights and remember your body is the most sophisticated control system you'll ever work with , so learn how to use it . This is Philip Pape . You've been listening to Wits and Weights . I'll talk to you next time .