Thread by @WellBuiltStyle

Here are my Top 3 Principles to making progress in the gym - REGARDLESS of the routine you use...

You incorporate these things thing into ANY program and you will make big changes, no doubt.

1) Progressive Overload.

If you lift the same weights day in, day out you can't expect your body to change much. You have to get stronger in some capacity in order to get bigger.

This might be adding weight to the bar over time, doing more reps with the same weight, doing more sets, doing your workout faster (shorter rests) etc.

The name of the game here is to GET BETTER. Put stress onto the body. Force it to adapt and grow.

This is why you NEED to keep a training journal. Log your weight/sets/reps...and also your rest times. Try to beat your numbers each time you step into the gym.

Here's the deal though: as you get stronger and more experienced over time, you won't be able to make progress from workout to workout (or even week to week). This is when you have to plan longer training cycles over weeks to build up to new personal records (periodization).

But don't worry about that - for the vast majority of guys out there you'll need a few years of consistent training before you get to that more advanced stage. For now, focus on beating your log book every time you step into the gym.

2) SAID Principle - Specific Adaptations To Imposed Demands.

You want bigger biceps? Train biceps.
You want a bigger chest? Train your chest
Want a stronger squat? Squat more.
Want to run a faster 5K time? Run more.

In other words, if you want to improve an area or get better at something, you need to do that specific thing and do it OFTEN.

This principle applies especially to bringing up LAGGING body parts.

If your arms are small you need to train them MORE, train them MORE OFTEN, and train them FIRST in your workout.

It's hard to get better in an area or improve something by doing LESS of it.

3) Deload (aka the 10-20% principle)

As you get stronger and push your body harder it'll take you longer to fully recover from workouts. Fatigue will build up. Your body will become RESISTANT to the training stimulus. You will plateau.

When guys plateau their first thought is to do MORE. Not a bad way to go but it won't always work, especially if your body is NOT already recovering from the training stimulus.

What you need to do is DELOAD. Take a step back. Lighten the load so your body can supercompensate. An easy way to do this is to cycle your weights back 10-20%.

So let's say you bench 255lbs for multiple sets of 5 but have been stuck at that weight for a few weeks.

Reduce the load by 10% (go down to 230lbs) and then build back up slowly adding perhaps 5lbs per week.

Eventually you will bust past that plateau. This is sort of like taking 1 step back in order to go 2 steps forward.

The deload here allows for some of the accumulated fatigue to dissipate so your body can supercompensate and you gain continue making gains again.

These are the three principles I turn to again and again whenever I feel like I'm "stuck" in the gym. The routines, the set/rep schemes, the exercises...those are all just minor details to me compared to these principles.

As long as I account for these three principles in my routine I'm good to go. I know I will make progress and I know my body will respond.