Microprogression

Gains in muscular strength and size from training tend to follow an asymptotic curve. You make rapid progress during your first six months to a year of training, about half as much progress during your second year,  about half of that the third, and so on until your gains level out. The further you are from the limits of your potential the faster you will approach it, the closer you get, the slower.

The general recommendation is to increase the weight you use for an exercise by approximately five pounds or five percent, whichever is less, whenever you are able to complete a certain number of repetitions. This works very well for most exercises when you start working out, but five pounds can be way too much of an increase for exercises requiring a lighter starting weight, and it is unrealistic to expect to continue to go up five or ten pounds every couple of weeks indefinitely. Exercises with smaller starting weights require smaller weight increments, and as you become more advanced you need to progress in smaller increments, what is known as “microprogression”.

Microloading with fractional plates

How small of a weight increase? Consider if you were able to increase the weight you use for an exercise by only one pound per week you would be lifting over fifty more pounds after only one year, and over one hundred more pounds after only two. While this is certainly possible for some compound exercises during your first few years of training, eventually even this becomes unrealistic.

A better progression increment for advanced trainees is around one half pound, or one quarter kilogram for those of you on the other side of the pond, for several reasons. It allows resistance progression at a relatively constant rate that is possible for even advanced trainees. Such a small weight increase every week or two will be barely noticeable, and makes it easier to stay close to the top of your target repetition range. Although your weights will not increase as much each time, they will increase more often, which can also be more motivating than seeing the same numbers on your chart workout after workout (although it is important to keep in mind performance on paper isn’t the same as progress).

You should start reducing your weight increments when a five pound or five percent increase in weight consistently results in your repetition count total dropping below your target range on most exercises (assuming there are no other factors negatively effecting performance). You don’t have to drop down from five pounds all the way to one half right away, though. Intermediate trainees may only need to reduce their weight increments to around two and a half pounds at first.

As a general rule, if after increasing the weight you are consistently unable to complete your lower target repetition number you should reduce your weight increments by a decreasing amount until the increase consistently puts you in at least the lower half of your target repetition count. If after increasing the weight you consistently exceed your upper target repetition number you should increase your weight increments by an increasing amount until the increase brings you down to at least the middle of your target repetition count.

Fractional plates for microloading

There are several ways to do this. The most obvious is using fractional plates, which are usually available in one-quarter, half, three-quarters, and one pound plates, and can be put on a barbell or adjustable dumbbell or hung over the pin on a selectorized machine. These sets can be ridiculously overpriced though, costing over ten dollars per pound which is ten to twenty times the cost of most Olympic plates, and some do not fit all Olympic bars. Instead, I recommend getting eight quarter-pound washers with a two-and-one-eight inner diameter. These will fit Olympic plates and bridge the gap between two-and-a-half pound plates in half-pound increments for around half the cost of most fractional plate sets. If you’ll be taking these to the gym with  you I recommend getting a letter punch set for stamping metal and putting your name or initials on them.

Another slightly cheaper option is to cut lengths of chain to the weight increment you want, which can be clipped on to spring collars or weight selector pins with a carabiner. Buy a few feet and weigh it, dividing the ounces by links to determine the links needed to get the weight you want, including the weight of the carabiner. If you plan to create several different weights you can buy carabiners in different colors to indicate the weights, or spray paint them.

If you’ve got questions about microprogression or know of a source of good, fairly priced fractional plates, please post them in the comments.

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  • Brian Jul 28, 2014 @ 17:25

    I’ve been using your method ever since we spoke on the phone about 3 years ago. To this very day I have had “training partners” quit on the first exercise. My first exercise is always the deadlift and for some reason people don’t realize how hard it is until they do it A) Correctly B) slowly for 3 or 4 or even 5 reps (if they are brand new to correct dead lifts I put less weight then I should for their first time)

    Theoretically, If I do two reps of any exercise where I end with a isometric or an extended negative that results in complete failure then shouldn’t that be sufficient for an adaptive response? Are there any differences in using the method this article states that I wouldn’t get from a “failure” based 2.x rep set? The thing is, if I do a 2.x rep set for enough total sessions I will always end up above 3 reps eventually and it keeps going from there until I hit 4. 4 is where I increase my weight which sometimes results in a 1.x or 2.x rep per set for a few sessions before the cycle repeats.

    Thanks for the awesome article by the way!

    • Drew Baye Jul 28, 2014 @ 17:50

      Hey Brian,

      I had a similar experience at the gym I worked at in college. I would occasionally convinced one of the bodybuilders to let me put them through a proper high intensity training workout. A few converted, but most complained that it was way too hard.

      I suspect there may be some benefit to the variation in repetition count that comes with double progression, and as long as you are training to momentary muscular failure you will stimulate increases in strength and size, and as long as the weight is not so heavy you are unable to use strict form you are unlikely to be injured even if the set is short, but I recommend reducing your weight increments if you’re dropping down to only one rep, even using a very slow speed of movement.

      • Brian Jul 28, 2014 @ 18:16

        Gotcha. That’s a good point. So basically, if strict form is compromised then the micro method becomes Ideal. That makes complete sense as when I normally hit that situation, I would alternate between a higher weight with a slightly compromised form and the lower weight with too many reps between sessions until I successfully could do the higher weight with un compromised form. I primarily have this issue with Should Press and the pull down with bicep inclusion exercise. So I’ll definitely find ways to explore a micro method since I just thought it was too tedious to consider in the past.

        Thanks!

        • Drew Baye Jul 28, 2014 @ 18:46

          Brian,

          Yes, I’ve switched to smaller increments for my own training and my clients and their form has been consistently better with more frequent but smaller weight increases than with the larger, less frequent ones.

  • Mike Jul 29, 2014 @ 1:49

    I attached 3 small self adhesive disc magnets to all my fractional weight plates.
    Like these: https://www.magnet-shop.com/neodymium-magnets/adhesive-magnets/discmagnet-220-x-10-mm-n35-nickel-self-adhesive::970.html
    I need them most on dumbbells.

    • Drew Baye Jul 29, 2014 @ 11:50

      Hey Mike,

      This is a great option for uncoated metal dumbbells, and you could probably buy a set of eight quarter-pound washers with a 2-1/8″ inside diameter and enough magnets to put them on your dumbbells for less than the cost of PlateMates.

  • Thomas Jul 29, 2014 @ 9:34

    Brian or Drew,

    If you don’t mind, how slow are you doing the deadlift?

    • Drew Baye Jul 29, 2014 @ 11:19

      Thomas,

      I am using negative-emphasized reps with an approximate 3/10 cadence on all exercises, including the deadlift.

  • Drew Baye Jul 30, 2014 @ 9:55

    A reader e-mailed the following suggestions,

    “While I was at Rock Bottoms here in Asheville I picked up a number of smaller washers and the girl at ace hardware got the digital scale out so I could weigh them, 1 oz each. If you are using machines with a weight stack, placing 4 washers on each side of the guide rods is easier, and probably less friction, than hanging plates from the pin.

    I also got 1 lb weighted ankle (or wrist) wraps but the washers you can put on the bars are a great idea.”

    This may cost less than buying quarter pound washers if you are using them on machines.

  • Andy Aug 3, 2014 @ 12:41

    Hey Drew,

    When increasing weight in such small amounts like a half pound, shouldn’t even advanced trainees expect to see weight progression each week over several weeks or months?
    Even expect to reach the same number of reps each week with an only minimally increased weight? Is this unrealistic for an advanced trainee?
    I consider this just in concern of short term monitoring the success of a routine. I know real progress is not shown on paper but on your body. But these bodily improvements are often so terrible slow as an advanced trainee that you need a short term indicator for success.

    Thanks
    Andy

    • Drew Baye Aug 21, 2014 @ 13:48

      Andy,

      It depends how close someone is to the upper limits of their genetic potential. The closer you get, the slower you will progress. For someone who has only been training a few years a half-pound increase per week may be realistic, but you can’t keep adding twenty five pounds to every exercise every year, or those of us who have been training a few decades or more would be using over five hundred pounds for every exercise.

  • Bradley Aug 8, 2014 @ 16:38

    Hi Drew. how can you tell whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced trainee? Do you need to look at how much more weight you can lift compared to when you first started and go from there? many people consistently overtrain and do not see any significant weight progression and are thus still beginners even after years of training

    • Drew Baye Aug 21, 2014 @ 14:20

      Hey Bradley,

      This is somewhat subjective, but I use terms like “beginner” and “advanced” for teaching purposes and base it on skill proficiency and ability to train intensely. Someone who is just learning to exercise and unskilled at exercise performance in general and at the performance of specific exercises and not capable of pushing themselves very hard would be a beginner, while someone who has a high level of proficiency and is capable of consistently pushing themselves to momentary muscular failure would be an advanced trainee.

  • Jose Manuel Aug 19, 2014 @ 7:43

    Drew,
    Thanks for the article. You always give the key to the critical issues. The micro-progression and recovery seem to me the most direct and consistent with physiology to ensure progression manner. Training provides the stimulus. Recovery generates adaptive overcompensation. And the micro-progression adjusts the required increase in the next session to gain physiological actually performed. When the progress ceases, assuming that the “external” factors (work, family, other activities, etc.) have not changed and keeping constant the intensity and volume (one set to failure 5-7 exercises). What would be the best way to progress forward, reduce the frequency keeping the weight increase or decrease the weight increases, while maintaining the same days of recovery? I’m trying experience increased with decreases in weight (micro-progression) while the same frequency is maintained. It works, though I suppose the question will recognize the incremental limit below which no further. At that time the frequency should be reduced.

    • Drew Baye Aug 28, 2014 @ 9:38

      Hey Jose,

      If you are consistently having difficulty performing your lower target repetition number or minimum target time under load when increasing the weight you should reduce the resistance increments. If you are not making relatively steady progress you may need to reduce your volume or frequency or switch to a split routine.