Build More Muscle Without Lifting Heavier Weights

Manipulating exercise variables to progressively overload without increasing how much weight we’re lifting.

Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

Have you ever heard that “light weights can’t build muscle”? Maybe you’ve heard that “you have to lift heavy to get strong.”

What if I told you that this isn’t true and that you don’t need to increase how much you lift to build muscle?

Progressive overload is a time-tested exercise strategy to get stronger and build muscle. Most people do it by slowly increasing the weight lifted on different exercises. And it’s pretty effective in most cases.

However, there is more than one way to increase strength and build muscle. This article explores how to progressively overload without relying on lifting more weight.

Understanding Progressive Overload

Progressive overload in resistance training is the gradual increase of the stress placed on our muscles over time by adjusting variables such as the weight, number of reps or sets, or intensity.

“Progressive overload is a principle of resistance training exercise program design that typically relies on increasing load to increase neuromuscular demand to facilitate further…