PROGRESSION

GUIDE

TRAIN WITH GUNEET

 TRAINWITHGUNEET

Note By The Author

We all know and understand that progression is key to building muscle
and strength.

In this Guide, I will be helping you understand the various methods of

progression from beginner to advanced.

This will allow you to crush it Week on Week

What To Expect
This guide is like a convenient handbook to give you the basic tools
required to make progress in the gym when it comes to both strength
and muscle mass.

This is not a proper course book on training, biomechanics and

programming however it is based on those fundamentals and put into
very simple straightforward text.

Page 01
 TRAINWITHGUNEET

Goal Based Training

Understanding Goals
I would mainly classify this into two categories

HYPERTROPHY (Increasing muscle cells or building muscle)

STRENGTH (Increasing strength on particular lifts)

Now both of the above are actually going to go hand in hand but if I had to
put the above goals into a little more perspective. Two common trainees
might come to your mind.

RECREATIONAL LIFTER POWERLIFTING ATHLETE

When it comes to wanting to Even powerlifting training will
progress in the gym one accommodate the techniques we
could mean multiple things. use above but these two would
prioritise progression on
If you are like me and want to strengthening certain movements
just get jacked, look aesthetic over the others.
and also lift a good amount of
weight, your training can be For example PL revolves around
slightly more intuitive and SBD -> Getting strong on Squat
progression a little simpler. Bench and Deadlifts.

Page 02
 TRAINWITHGUNEET

The God Table

A Table That
Contains It All
The below listed table is taken from the muscle and strength training
pyramid book written by Eric helms.

It talks about the various progression techniques.

Page 03
 TRAINWITHGUNEET

Exercise Selection

Understanding Why
An Exercise Exists
There is so much hate all over social media on some exercises.

To be honest no exercise is inherently bad for you, yes definitely for a certain
goal certain exercises might fit better but

Statements like
Barbell Rows are bad for you
Dumbbell Lateral raises are bad for you
Deadlifts are bad for you
Squats are bad for you

These statements are often made with the argument that there are better
alternatives for training the lats, shoulders and legs.

But let me tell you what, hypertrophy or building muscle isn’t the only goal
one has

How about stability, mobility, movement pattern

Page 04
 TRAINWITHGUNEET

Exercise Selection

Understanding Why
An Exercise Exists
Do you think a wrestler just needs more muscle to throw a person down?

A 40kg wrestler can probably throw a 70kg bodybuilder with ease, why?

Movement pattern, technique and leverage of certain joints in the body.

For specifically the gym and strength training let me break movements down
into 2 parts-
Compound movements (Multiple muscle groups at the same time)
Isolation movements (trains muscles in isolation)

On compound movements, we can often leverage movement patterns, and

also since they involve multiple muscles it makes it easier to overload
(increase weight)

On isolation movements we can use them to build our weak points both in
strength and size.

Page 05
 TRAINWITHGUNEET

Exercise Selection

Understanding Why
An Exercise Exists
A mix of both is essential for general strength and fitness.

My recommendation generally is,

Try to plan overload for compound movements
Push to failure in a given rep range on isolation movements

My reasoning
Compound movements often have a certain risk when it comes to
failure. You can push to failure easily on leg extension without hurting
yourself but pushing to failure on squats without safety can result in
injury, that being said use a safety rack and equipment at all times.
Second because compound movements involve more technique and
movement patterns, and also use multiple muscles together it is easier
to progress on them.
Another important point is if out of 5 exercises in a workout I am able to
progress on just 1-2 that is good. Because even if I performed the same
load on the others, I would have made progress considering I lifted the
same with more pre fatigue than last time.

Page 06
 TRAINWITHGUNEET

Progression Structure

Pre Requisites
Track all the weights you use in training, either by copying your workout to
your notes and writing how much you lifted on certain movements, or using
apps like hevy and strong.

how some of my clients may convey their strength levels to me

Sounds primitive I know, but it works :)

Page 07
TRAINWITHGUNEET

Progression Structure

Basic Progression

For Compound exercises

We use the following chart to pick a rep range for the exercise
Lets say for Barbell Squats we take 5-8 reps each set
We will choose a weight in the mentioned RPE range.
Perform the exercise till we can get the upper range of reps on all
sets. Then increment the weight (small margin) and start with
the lower rep range.

For Isolation exercises

We push near failure.
Rep ranges can be a little open based on the fatigue caused in
previous exercises.

Page 08
TRAINWITHGUNEET

Progression Structure

Example
Here is an example to make this easier
Say DB Bench press with 20kg Dumbbells for 3x8-12 reps
If we can get 12 reps in all 3 sets with 20kgs
Next week we come in and use 22.5 kgs to try and get 3 sets for 8 reps
each
We keep it the same till we get 22.5 kgs for 12 reps in each set
Then we do the same thing again with 25kgs for 3x8

Whats The Catch?

After a point this will become very slow and if you’re already an
intermediate/advanced lifter it probably already is that slow
Does this mean you can’t progress further?
No obv not but I have another question to ask….wait for it….

Page 09
TRAINWITHGUNEET

Progression Structure

Stepwise Day In
The Gym

Page 10
TRAINWITHGUNEET

Progression Structure

Stepwise Day In
The Gym
I would walk into the gym, perform my light 5-10 minute warmup
I see I must lift 90kgs on Bench
So I start with an empty bar (20kgs approx) and do 10-12 reps exactly
how I would want my top set to move
Add 15kgs each side (50kg Total) do 6 reps exactly how I would want my
top set to move
Add 10kgs each side (70kg Total) Do 3-4 reps exactly how I would want
my top set to move
Add 10 kgs each side and perform my first working set and try and get
the upper range of 8 reps but not more than that even if I can
(Note it shouldn’t be this easy that you can do 5-6 more reps, at most 2-3
reps more)
Now I will try and get 8 for all sets, if I am able to, means it’s time to go up
next week in weight.
Next time this exercise will now look like 3x6 (92.5-95 kgs)
Now I move to DB Presses I may take one warmup set with 20kg
Dumbbells
And use the same technique to get through these sets
Post that I will not think much, Just pick a weight and push to failure
Even if you just have an estimate of the weights for the rest
Things will work just fine

Page 11
TRAINWITHGUNEET

Final words

Other Ways To
Progress
Is increasing weight the only way to progress? NO
Initially yes it makes sense till you start understanding what pushing to
failure feels like
But after that training hard and near failure is pretty much enough
unless you plan to compete for strength.
If you want to specifically increase strength on certain movements
Doing those movements more often, alongside adding accessory
movements would help
For example-
If you want to increase your deadlift
Accessory movements would include RDLs, Hip Thrusts, Deficit
deadlifts, Paused deadlifts
If you want to increase your bench
Accessory movements would include Paused bench, DB Bench Press,
Larsen Press
These are just top of the surface examples and designing programs
for powerlifting athletes is a whole different ball game. Check out the
PL Program design by JT Strength.(Click link for pdf copy)
Either way if you still want to learn more about PL and the strategies
that surround that drop me a message and lets talk.

Page 12
TRAINWITHGUNEET

Ending Note

This Is
Oversimplified
The knowledge in this Ebook is meant to be super practical and
straightforward regardless of how much you know about Exercise and
Strength Training.
This will not make you a coach
This is 100% not the only Ebook you need to understand progression
thoroughly but it is the only one you need to start seeing progress.

That being said,

Go KILL IT!!

THE END