Many of our readers strive for maximum muscle growth and with that the perfect training program. Fine, but don’t overdo it. What really matters for muscle growth is progressive overload.

EXAMPLES

We will go through this case with three examples.

TRAINING VOLUME

A good example is training volume, or the number of sets you do weekly for a muscle group. The optimal number of sets for you depends on many personal factors. But that number does not have to be optimal at all: as long as you create progressive overload, or gradually use more repetitions and/or more weight, you are fine. It is sufficient to use the general guidelines: 10 sets weekly for beginners increasing to 20 sets for advanced strength athletes.

TRAINING INTENSITY

Another example is relative training intensity. We don’t know exactly what the perfect intensity is, i.e. do you have to train all the way to muscle failure, or can you get by with a few reps ‘in the tank’ (RIR) and how many reps are those? Science still doesn’t know and it doesn’t matter, as long as you do enough stimulating reps, so at least train close to muscle failure.

TIMING OF FOOD

This also applies to nutrition, especially the timing thereof. Many strength athletes strive to consume proteins at exactly the right time . However, science makes it plausible that the amount of proteins over the entire day counts, and not so much the timing of it.

CONSISTENT EFFORT

In all three examples, as long as you are making progress, you are good. And that requires consistent effort.

Yes, you may not be doing an optimal aspect of training or nutrition, but muscle growth will not disappear: at most, you will reach your goal a little slower.

CONCLUSION

Consistent effort produces progress. Not chasing a kind of perfect program. This means instead of chasing perfection, chase progress and make sure you put in consistent effort.