Double progression, worked through
Double progression moves two things in turn. You keep the weight the same and add repetitions inside a range, and once you reach the top of the range you add weight and work back up. This guide follows one exercise through four sessions, then shows how to track the same thing in Barbells.
How double progression works
Pick a repetition range for an exercise, such as 8 to 12, and a weight you can lift for at least the bottom of that range on every set. Each session, try to beat the repetitions you managed last time at the same weight. When every set reaches the top of the range, add a small amount of weight. The heavier weight usually puts you back near the bottom of the range, and the cycle starts again.
The idea is an old one. The American College of Sports Medicine's position stand on resistance training suggests a 2 to 10% increase in load once you can perform the current workload for one or two repetitions more than the desired number (source). A rep range builds that cue into the plan: the top of the range is the signal to add weight.
This is one approach, not the only one. Lifters vary the range, the size of the jump, and whether every set or just the first has to reach the top. The example below uses one common version: all sets at the top of the range before any weight is added.
Four sessions, worked through
Take a barbell row: 3 sets of 8 to 12 at 60 kg, adding 2.5 kg once all three sets reach 12. A 2.5 kg jump on 60 kg is about 4%, inside the 2 to 10% range above.
| Session | Weight | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 kg | 12 | 10 | 9 | 60 kg |
| 2 | 60 kg | 12 | 12 | 10 | 60 kg |
| 3 | 60 kg | 12 | 12 | 12 | 62.5 kg |
| 4 | 62.5 kg | 9 | 8 | 8 | 62.5 kg |
Sessions 1 and 2 stay at 60 kg. The first set reached 12 both times, but the others fell short, so the job is to add repetitions. Session 2 added two on the second set and one on the third.
Session 3 is the first time all three sets reach 12, so the next session moves to 62.5 kg.
Session 4 is the heavier weight, and the repetitions drop to 9, 8 and 8. That is expected. Every set is still inside the range, so the weight stays at 62.5 kg and the next few sessions are spent working back up towards 12.
When the repetitions stop coming
Progress is rarely as tidy as the table. If a set falls below the bottom of the range after a weight increase, the jump may have been too big for that exercise. Common responses are to stay at the weight for another session or two, use a smaller increment, or go back to the previous weight and build up again. Which one suits you depends on your training, and it is your call.
Smaller exercises often need smaller jumps. Adding 2.5 kg to a heavy row is a small step; adding 2 kg to a pair of light dumbbells can be a large one. Equipment matters here too, because the next available dumbbell or machine plate may be further away than the jump you want.
Tracking double progression in Barbells
Barbells handles the weight half of double progression. You log the repetitions; when every set reaches the top of its range, it proposes the weight increase for your saved plan at Finish. To set up the example above, create a plan with the exercise and give it these progression settings:
- Sets in the plan
- 3 sets of 8 to 12 at 60 kg
- Progression source
- Manual
- Weight increase
- 2.5 kg
- Target type
- Top of range
- Progression mode
- Standard
Top of range makes 12 the target for each set, because 12 is the top of each set's range. Standard mode moves the exercise as a whole: every planned set has to be completed, and with ranged sets like these, every one has to reach its target before anything increases. That is the all sets rule the worked example uses.
Start a workout from the plan and log each set as you go. At Finish, Weight increases shows what would change. After session 3 it shows the row going from 60 kg to 62.5 kg; after sessions 1, 2 and 4 there are no automatic increases. The Apply weight increases to plan checkbox is on by default, so you can clear it if you would rather hold the weight. Your logged workouts are never rewritten.
Barbells updates weights; it does not program your repetitions. The plan stays at 8 to 12 after an increase, and adding repetitions from session to session is still up to you. It also never lowers a weight on its own. If you decide to go back down, edit the plan.
Signing up does not create this example for you. You build your own plan with your own exercises and weights, and the settings above are one way to configure it.
A per-set variation
Some lifters move each set on its own instead of waiting for all of them. In Barbells that is Per-Set mode. Using the same plan, session 2 above (12, 12 and 10) would move sets 1 and 2 to 62.5 kg and leave set 3 at 60 kg until it reaches 12 too.
It gets the heavier weight onto the bar sooner, at the cost of sets at different weights within one exercise. Neither version is better in general; pick the one that matches how you want to train.
What Barbells does not do
- It does not choose your range, your starting weight or the size of your jump. You set them.
- It does not change your repetition targets or plan a deload. It only raises plan weights when a session qualifies.
- It does not judge whether an increase is appropriate for you. This is bookkeeping for the numbers in your plan, not a training programme, and it cannot promise a result.
- Equipment with uneven jumps, AMRAP sets and linked exercises change the behaviour. The progression rules cover each case.
Getting started
Barbells runs in the browser. It is free for 14 days, and after that it is £2.99 a month or £29.99 a year. For how a session is logged set by set, see the logging workflow on the home page.
Sources
- American College of Sports Medicine. Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41(3), 687 to 708, 2009.