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But this is a highly effective way to pack on overall size and strength, and it's a method that you really just can't go wrong with.
Sean Nalewanyj explains the dynamic double progression method for efficient muscle gain through progressive overload and workout tracking.
Key Takeaways
- Progressive overload is critical for muscle growth and must be tracked objectively.
- Dynamic double progression allows faster and more flexible strength and size gains than basic double progression.
- Using the first set as the main progression indicator optimizes workout efficiency.
- Adjusting weights on subsequent sets helps maintain effort and rep range without stalling progress.
- This method is ideal for everyday lifters rather than elite strength athletes.
What the video covers
- Sean Nalewanyj introduces dynamic double progression as an effective hypertrophy training method.
- Progressive overload is emphasized as essential for muscle growth and strength gains.
- Many generic workout programs lack structured progression plans, limiting muscle gain efficiency.
- Basic double progression involves increasing reps first, then weight once upper rep range is hit across all sets.
- Dynamic double progression differs by focusing on the first set as the main gauge for progression and allowing weight adjustments on subsequent sets.
- The method maintains a consistent relative effort level (RPE 8-9) across sets rather than requiring max reps on all sets.
- This approach suits typical lifters aiming for muscle and strength gains without elite-level complexity.
- Sean shares personal experience using this method since his early training days.
- Rep ranges with a gap of about two reps (e.g., 8-10) are recommended for this progression model.
- Custom workout and nutrition plans are offered via Sean’s website for personalized guidance.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Effective Muscle Gain Method
- 00:39Importance of Progressive Overload and Tracking
- 01:21Subscription Reminder and Progression Schemes Overview
- 02:12Basic Double Progression Explained
- 02:58Example of Basic Double Progression in Practice
- 04:08Dynamic Double Progression Introduction
- 04:52Dynamic Double Progression Example and Details
- 06:34Using First Set as Progression Gauge
- 07:13Rep Range Recommendations and Final Notes
- 09:41Custom Plans and Closing Remarks
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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What's up, guys? Sean Nalewany, realscienceathletics.com. And in this video today, I want to share with you my top recommended progression method to use for hypertrophy training.
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In my view, it's the most efficient way to increase your overall strength levels. And since size and strength are pretty much directly correlated, it's also going to be the quickest way to gain muscle as well. Now, some people
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out there will say that it's not important to track your workouts or that progressive overload isn't necessary to build muscle. However, they are wrong.
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Progressive overload is the underlying driver of the entire muscle-building process. And by tracking your workouts objectively, you're going to achieve progressive overload in the most efficient way. So, all these programs that you see out there, or maybe even
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ones that you've purchased, where someone just gives you a workout and says, "Do three sets of 10 reps for each exercise." That is not very helpful since they're not giving you a structured plan on how to move forward
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with that program and how to progress from week to week in the most efficient way, which is critical when it comes to gaining muscle. Now, before I lay this method out for you, since this video is definitely going to help you make
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muscle gains at a faster rate, please do me one small favor and help this video make some faster algorithm gains by hitting that like button below and leaving a comment as well. I really do appreciate it. And if you're new here,
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don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications as well to stay up-to-date on all of my future content. So, there are a variety of different progression schemes that you can use. They're all effective in their own right. So, I'm
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not saying that this is the only way to do things, but based on my experience and my coaching and on what just makes the most sense, I would say that dynamic double progression is what I would recommend assuming you're like the vast
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majority of people watching this, meaning you're not some sort of high-level strength athlete following a reverse auto-regulatory undulating GPP wave periodization block cube whatever thing trying to get your deadlift from 620 lbs up to 630. Okay, this is for the
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typical everyday lifter out there who wants to gain muscle, get strong, and have a top, I'd say, 1 to 2% physique, but isn't necessarily competing or trying to get to an elite level. You really don't need anything fancy, and
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you can make basic linear progress and probably build the majority of the muscle you're ever going to build using this one model alone. This is how I've personally been training for the majority of my lifting career. It's
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actually how I started out training at the age of 13 in my parents' basement with my trusty set of sand-filled Walmart weight plates, but I had no idea back then that it was called dynamic double progression. I didn't
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even know what double progression was. I just trained this way because it made the most intuitive sense to me. And I've played around with a variety of different approaches over the years, but this is the one that I always come back
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to because it is very effective and very reliable. So, double progression, what does that mean? Very simply, it just means that you're adjusting two different variables as you progress through your training, which are weight and reps. You have a given rep range.
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Let's use eight to 10 reps as an example here. And let's say you're doing three sets of a given exercise. So, your first goal is to train for additional reps with whatever weight you're using.
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Then, once you can hit the upper end of your rep range across all three sets, so, in this case, it would be 10 reps, you would increase the weight and start the process over again. So, maybe
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it looks something like this as an example. For workout one, on the first set, you do 100 lbs for 10 reps.
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Then, let's say on the second set, you get nine reps, and on the third set, eight reps. Workout number two, you come back and you do 100 lbs for 10 reps.
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Then, you get 10 reps on the second set this time, and then nine reps on the third. Now, for workout number three, you do 10 reps across all three sets.
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So, now, for workout four, you add 5 to 10 lbs, depending on the exercise, and maybe again you do 10 reps, nine reps, eight reps, and you just keep progressing forward like this. So, you train for reps, and then once you can do
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10 reps across all three sets, you bump up the weight and you go back to training for reps again. And keep in mind that these rep counts are just examples. The number of reps that you lose or don't lose from set to set,
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that's going to depend on exactly how hard you're training and your strength levels on any given day. So, that's a basic double progression model, okay?
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Pretty straightforward. And it does work well. Now, with dynamic double progression, you're going to do things a little bit differently. And that's that you don't have to hit the upper end of your rep range across all three sets
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before you go ahead and increase the weight. Instead, what you're going to do is maintain the same relative effort level across all three sets. What I recommend is about one to two reps short of failure. If you're thinking in
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terms of RPE, then that would be an RPE of about eight to nine. And you're going to use the first set of each exercise as your main gauge for progression. So, the first set is the one that you really
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focus on and that you really use to determine when it's time to add more weight. As soon as you can hit the upper end of your rep range on that first set, then the following workout, the weight on that first set. And then
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for the remaining sets of that exercise, you can reduce the weight if necessary in order to stay within your targeted rep range. You don't have to use the same weight across every single set with this approach. So, here's an example of
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what this might look like. Again, we're going to use a rep range of eight to 10 with three sets for the lift. So, for workout number one, you do 100 lb for eight reps. And since you're at the
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bottom end of that eight to 10 rep range, you decrease the weight slightly to stay within the range. So, for set number two, you do 95 lb for, say, nine reps, and then 95 lb for eight reps.
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Workout number two, you do 100 lb for nine reps. And now since you got nine reps, you can probably get eight on the second set. And so, you stick with 100 lb and you do eight reps. Now, you're at
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the bottom end of the range, so you decrease to 95 lb and you get nine reps.
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Workout number three, you do 100 lb for 10 reps, then 100 lb for nine reps, then 100 lb for eight reps. And now for workout four, since you got 100 lbs for 10 reps on that first set, you increase
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to 105. Okay, you don't continue using 100 lbs on the other two sets and wait until they all reach 10 reps like you would with the previous double progression model. So now you do 105 lbs for eight reps. You're at the bottom end
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of the range, so you drop down to 100 lbs for nine reps and then 100 lbs for eight reps. Workout number five, you do 105 lbs for nine reps, then 105 lbs for eight reps, and then you drop down to
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100 lbs and you do nine reps. So hopefully you get the idea here. Again, you're using the first set of the exercise as your primary gauge for when to add more weight. And once you can hit the upper end of your rep range on that
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first set, you increase the weight on the first set for the following workout. And then from there, if you need to drop the weight down slightly on one or both of the following sets to stay within your targeted rep range, since it's
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normal to lose a rep or two if you're really training hard enough, then that's totally fine. So again, both the basic double progression approach and the
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likely progress faster in the overall picture because you're keeping the relative effort level the same across all of your sets rather than allowing the effort level to drop on the first or second set or maybe even the third and
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fourth set if you're doing uh say four to five sets for an exercise. For example, if you're using the first model and you do 10 reps, nine reps, eight reps for workout one, and then you do uh 10 reps, 10 reps, nine reps on workout
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two, if you've already done uh 10 reps on the first set two weeks in a row, then I would say that you're leaving progress on the table by once again going back for week three and doing the exact same thing on that first set when
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you are uh fully fresh and when your strength is at its highest. And you're only leaving that progression to that third and final set. The relative effort on that first set is dropping from week to week as you wait for the subsequent
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sets to catch up in reps. Whereas with dynamic double progression, you're maintaining the same effort level across all of your sets. And so you can see exactly how your strength is progressing on every set, and you're giving yourself
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an opportunity across every set to progress. Now, technically you could use whatever rep range you want for this, but I generally like to use rep ranges that have a gap of two reps. So, maybe five to seven reps, uh six to eight,
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eight to 10, 10 to 12. Because usually I find that when you do increase the weight, whether it's five to 10 lb on a compound lift or two and a half to five lb uh on an isolation, usually you'll
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lose about two reps with each increase. Uh not always, that's just a general guideline. Um you can uh use larger gaps, that's totally fine. But if you're doing uh say six to 10 reps per set, then when you do get to 10 reps, you can
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apply a larger weight increase. And also keep in mind that it's not the end of the world if you misjudge things and you end up outside of your targeted rep range slightly. So, if your rep range is six to eight, and on the first set you
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lift uh 200 lb for seven reps, and you feel like you can still get six on that next set with 200 lb, and so you stick with that weight, uh but you only get five reps, that's not a big deal. It
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doesn't have to be perfect. Or if on one workout you do um a certain weight for seven reps, so the following week you come back in with that same weight, and you're targeting the upper end of the rep range, so you're aiming uh for eight
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reps. If you just happen to be particularly strong on that day, and you're able to get nine, then go for nine. Okay, don't just stop at eight because your rep range on paper is six to eight reps. The goal is to train one
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to two reps short of failure on the majority of your sets, regardless of what you think you should be getting.
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So, this isn't going to be perfect. Okay, it's just a general model. Um you have a given rep range. Once you hit the upper end of that rep range on the first set, then you increase the weight the
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next workout on that first set, and then you adjust the weight if necessary on the remaining sets to stay within your targeted rep range. And the whole thing just gradually moves forward over time.
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Um it's not the only way of doing this, and as you get more advanced, um there are other ways to apply progressive overload besides just adding more weight and more reps, but this is a highly effective way to pack on overall size
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and strength, and it's a method that you really just can't go wrong with. And if you want to grab a free step-by-step training program from me that you can use to apply this dynamic double progression model to with all the
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exercises, sets, and reps mapped out, then you can visit shawnnal.com/custom, fill out the form on that page, and I'll send you back a custom workout and nutrition plan that you can follow based on your current goals and your
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condition. You can click up here for that or use the link in the description box below. On the supplementation side of things, you can also visit realscienceathletics.com to check out my science-based, no-BS supplements that I personally formulated to help fully streamline your program
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and maximize your muscle-building and your fat-burning results, and you can use coupon code youtube15 to save 15% off your entire first order. You can follow me as well on Instagram for more tips, and as always, make sure to hit
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that like button, leave a comment, and subscribe below if you haven't already in order to stay up-to-date on future videos. Thanks for watching, guys, and I'll see you in the next one.
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Because you're keeping the relative effort level the same across all of your sets rather than allowing the effort level to drop what the [ __ ]
Topics:muscle gainhypertrophy trainingprogressive overloaddynamic double progressionstrength trainingworkout trackingrep rangelinear progressionSean Nalewanyjfitness coaching
