What is progressive overload and why does it work?

Slowly increasing the demand on your muscles overtime to help them grow is known as progressive overload. Alive programs utilize progressive overload by increasing the amount of reps or sets as your progress through a program, adding a superset or additional exercise, slowing down the tempo of an exercise, or by increasing the complexity of an exercise to challenge the muscles more. Another key way to use progressive overload is to increase the amount of weight you are using for an exercise. If the last 2-3 reps of a set do not feel difficult, it may be time to increase the weight you are using for that exercise.