Eighteen months ago, my coach looked at me and asked if I'd been hitting the gym over summer. Said I looked more muscular.

Doesn't sound like much. But for someone who'd trained since 13 and looked the same for six straight years, that one sentence was massive. So what had changed?

Turns out it wasn't what I changed. It was what I didn't.

I started training at 13. By 19, my body had barely changed. For years I had experimented with my routine, chasing every exercise from every video that promised to build a specific muscle. And for years, I built very little muscle.

The change for me came when I began to stick to the same routine. I kept it simple. Three exercises for the muscle groups that I wanted to build the most. Two for the others. Those exercises remained the same, and I tuned out every social media post telling me they were the wrong ones. The results? Because I kept doing the same movements, I got good at them. Meaning I could do more reps, and eventually, add more resistance. Over time, my muscles grew to keep up with the heavier loads — and that's where the physique changes came from.

So what actually is progressive overload?

Progressive overload is the consistent increase in work output. Whether that's more reps, a heavier load, or both — you're asking your body to do more than it's used to. That extra effort breaks the muscle down more than before, so your body rebuilds it stronger — ready for next time. By doing this repeatedly, the muscles will grow in size. Think increased effort = increased strength = increased size.

This doesn’t happen straight away. The gains come in tiny amounts — so slow you might not even notice them happening. This is where the consistent part matters most. If you continue to increase your output slowly, even if it is by one rep whenever you can, the gains will continue. If you stop however, or maintain the same output, no gains will occur.

My challenge for you: try this for yourself. Minimum 12 weeks. Pick a few exercises, keep it simple, and aim to add reps or weight every session you can. By the end, you might visibly notice the difference. Even if you don't, if you're lifting heavier than you were 12 weeks ago, the visible progress isn't far away. This isn't about finding a better program. It's about doing the same boring thing for long enough that it stops being boring and starts being results.

Stick with it.

- Nate