Linear Training & Getting Big
August 3, 2022 | Words by Gabe Yanez
Get Ready — It’s Time to #GETBIG
Last week, we talked about why building and maintaining muscle is so important regardless of your specific goal. Whether you’re trying to burn fat, gain strength, change your body composition, or just live freely and fully outside the gym, muscle matters. If you missed that write-up, you can catch up here.
Building off of that, the next question naturally becomes “What is the best way to train in order to build and maintain muscle?”
As with most questions related to fitness and nutrition, the answer depends on a variety of factors such as your training age (how long have you been resistance training), your biological age, how much muscle you currently have, genetics, muscle fiber types, and more.
With that being said, there is one tried-and-true principle when it comes to training for muscle and strength gain that’s generally applicable to anyone looking to #GetBig.
That principle is progressive overload and it refers to the gradual increase of loading, intensity, or volume in your strength training routine as a way of challenging your body to create adaptations that will lead to muscle and strength gain over a specific period of time.
Whenever you follow a program that has you performing a specific movement week after week while gradually increasing the loading percentage or rep volume, that’s an example of progressive overload.
Yes, some people can still make strength and muscle gains while following a program with a lot of variance and no progressive overload, but those results will take longer to achieve.
If you’re training specifically to #GetBig, structure and progressive overload is key.
One Thing to Try This Week
The downside of linear programs that rely on progressive overload is that they can often get repetitive and make training boring. Who wants to repeat movements week-in and week-out for a 12-week cycle?!
This is why our approach with NCX, NCMCETON, and NCFLEX on the NCFIT App is so unique. All of our programs utilize progressive overload to create favorable strength and hypertrophy adaptations, but we combine these cycles with fun, ever-changing workouts that keep things interesting and engaging.
No one is going to #GetBig if their workouts don’t get them excited to hit the gym.
This week is the perfect time to hop on the NCFIT App and follow our NCMETCON program! We’re gearing up towards an Olympic lift cycle starting in September by touching those lifts once a week this month.
Download the NCFIT App today and gain access to not just NCMETCON, but also our strength and conditioning track (NCX) and our functional strength and bodybuilding track (NCFLEX).
So many gains to be had! Let’s go!
