The Rules of Proper Progression

Increase your training in a smart, safe way.
The rule is a simple one: increase your training by 10 percent per week. That’s it. Well, I guess there’s a little more to it than that, but the 10 percent progression rule is where we’re going to start.
Let’s use running as an example:
Sarah currently runs about 15 miles per week and she just signed up for a marathon this fall, so she needs to start training. She wants to bump up her mileage, but she doesn’t want to get injured or suffer from the “too much, too soon” syndrome.
Here is what her plan will look like:
Week 1: 15 miles
Week 2: 16.5 miles
Week 3: 18.2 miles
Week 4: 20 miles
Week 5: 22 miles
Week 6: 24.2 miles
Week 7: 26.6 miles
Week 8: 29.3 miles
Week 9: 32.2 miles
Week 10: 35.4 miles
Week 11: 39 miles
Week 12: 42.8 miles
Within three months, Sarah can nearly triple her current weekly mileage, and with a much lower chance of injury.
It may seem that you’re increasing mileage at a painfully slow rate, but 10 percent progression is a great place to start, and the miles add up fast. As your mileage increases, allow the majority of the increase to come from one long run during the week, instead of spread throughout all runs that week. At some point, you may also need to increase the frequency of activity, and add in another day of workout.
Let’s use Sarah as an example again:
Week 1: Sarah may run 4 days a week, with run lengths of 3,4,3, and 5 miles.
Week 6: Sarah may run 5 days a week, with runs lengths of 4,3,6,3, and 8 miles.
Week 12: Sarah may run 6 days a week, with run lengths of 7,5,8,6,5, and 12 miles.
The same principle can be applied to strength training as well. Weight x Reps will give you your total workload. Only increase your total workload by 10% per week to start. And don’t forget that this is always weekly totals. Obviously upper body workouts will yield a lower total workload than lower body workouts due to the nature of the body. So add up all weights and reps, then multiply by 1.1 to get a 10% increase for the following week.
With any fitness or training program, be sure to also listen to your body and pay attention to any warning signals. Stress fractures and shin splints are both very common overuse injuries associated with road running especially. If you are experiencing pain or symptoms of these conditions, it might be good to drop down to 5 percent progression, or just stay at one mileage for several weeks to allow yourself more time to acclimate to the higher workload. Regardless of what you are training for, remember to always train smart.
Becca Capell
iFit Head Trainer