Progressive overload & double progression

The problem with "just add weight"

Progressive overload, or gradually increasing training stress, is the most settled principle in resistance training. The hard part was never the principle; it's the decision rule. When exactly do you add weight? How much? What happens after a bad day? Most lifters improvise those answers session by session, which is where progress quietly stalls.

Flexbound turns the answer into three explicit, versioned rules. They run against your confirmed history, never your unparsed notes or an AI's impression of them.

Rule 1: The rep-target gate (double progression)

Each lift has a target rep range. You earn a load increase only when you hit the top of the range on all working sets with acceptable technique. Until then, the weight stays and the reps climb. That's double progression: reps progress first, load progresses second.

This is graded strong evidence in our methodology. It's a direct operationalization of the progression models in the ACSM's position stand and current expert consensus.

Rule 2: Missed reps mean repeat, not add

If any working set falls short of the target, next session repeats the same load until the full prescription is completed cleanly. No adding load on top of missed reps. It sounds obvious; almost nobody does it consistently without a log that remembers.

Rule 3: Smallest practical increment

When progression is earned, the app suggests the smallest jump your equipment realistically allows. By default, that means5 lb / 2.5 kg on upper-body lifts and10 lb / 5 kg on lower-body lifts. Small jumps keep you inside the rep range you just earned; big jumps throw you back below it and stall the loop.

What this looks like in the app

• Next-session targets appear as margin notes with the rule cited
• Suggestions never overwrite your plan without confirmation
• Deload and pain rules can override progression because safety outranks streaks

Limits, stated plainly

Double progression is a robust default, not the only valid scheme. Advanced lifters running percentage-based or velocity-based programs are deliberately trading simplicity for specificity. Flexbound's rules aim at the broad middle: lifters who want reliable progress without managing a spreadsheet. The increment defaults assume standard plate math; adjust them if your gym has microplates.