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Somebody had to say it. The fitness industry has been lying to you — about how to train, how to eat, how to recover, and why you keep starting over. FranklyPHit is the podcast that calls it out. Every week, coach [Name] breaks down what actually works, debunks what doesn't, and gives you the real blueprint behind sustainable strength, smart fat loss, and a mindset that sticks. No supplements to sell. No bro-science. Just frank, honest, evidence-backed fitness coaching — straight, no chaser. Subscribe and let's get to work.
📍 Two years. That's how long some of y'all been in the gym consistently, no days off, no excuses. Monday through Friday, sometimes Saturday, and if you're like me when I first started, probably Sundays too. I mean, you put in the hours, you put in the sweat, and, and, and what's wild about that, about all that is that when you look in the mirror today, you look almost exactly the same as the day you started.
The Two-Year Plateau Problem
Let me tell you something, I, I know firsthand, my hur- my whole first year of training was exactly like that. Like, I started training at 140 pounds, and at the end of 365 days, I was 142 pounds. So let me tell you, when, when I know what it feels like to go through that whole process and be consistent at it, that, like, yeah, it can feel a certain way.
I mean, it's like, you know, you do every single thing that you're supposed to do. You know, you're sticking to, uh, whatever type of meal plan, whatever, you know? But as far as you understand, you're, you're on nutrition, you're working out every day, and you do your part, but, like, just the results just don't come.
But because I've gone through it, you know what I mean? Like, don't worry about it because today I'm gonna tell you exactly why that happens, and, and I promise you that it's not a 100% you problem, but it is a 100% you can fix problem. All right? Hey, let's play the intro.
Good.
Welcome & Intro
📍 I'm Coach Frank, and welcome back 📍 to the Make It Make Sense health and fitness podcast, where I skip the fluff and I call out all that nonsense. And what I do is I give you the blueprint for what actually does work. And if you're new here, go ahead, subscribe right now. I mean, I'll be honest, I do my best to drop new episodes every single week because I wanna make sure that you stay moving on your fitness journey, and I don't wanna be part of the reason that you get held up.
So at every single week, I try to drop a new episode, and every single one is simply for the purpose of making fitness make sense. Today's episode is all-- This is, uh, episode two of my Body Blueprint series. It's a whole series of, uh, videos I'm gonna be doing. All right. And this one, this is pillar one, strength training.
Um, on last week's episode, you can go ahead and check that out, uh, what I did was I laid out the full five, uh, pillar framework. Um, and so today I'm just gonna go in and, um, go in, uh, deep in, uh, one concept that I feel, me personally, is responsible for more plateaus, more frustration, a-and more wasted time in the gym than anything else really that I can think of.
And if you know me, you know one of the biggest things that I hate is wasting time in the gym. Like, get in, do the work, and let's get out of there. But excuse me. I'm sorry. That one thing is called, uh, progressive overload. And by the end of today's episode, I guarantee you that you are gonna understand it, right?
Um, trust me. You're also, you're gonna own it, and you're also gonna know exactly how to apply it, um, in your workout. If you catch today's episode before today's workout, you can actually apply it today, uh, before today's workout, but you can definitely, uh, apply it to your current program right now. All right, so let me-- Let's see.
Let me,
Diagnosing the Problem
📍 let me paint you a picture. And I want, and I want to be, I want you to be honest with yourself about this, right? And, and think about if this is you or not. All right. So, a-and I've seen it before, but just think about if this is you. Right? You, you go to the gym, uh, you do your thing. Um, you do chest day on Monday.
Uh, typical chest day. You got bench press, uh, dumbbell flies, uh, cable crossovers, um- Maybe some push downs at, uh, at the end of the workout. Uh, you know, you sweat, uh, you feel the pump, uh, you go home, you eat, um, probably, you know, chicken and rice is the, the thing that everybody goes to. Chicken, rice, and broccoli, actually, you know, when everybody starts their fitness journey, and, uh, you know, you feel real good about yourself.
And, and then on Wednesday, uh, you train back, and then on Friday you train legs, y- you know, sort of, you know, whatever, you train legs. And, and let's say you've been doing this for eighteen months, or let, let's say, let's, let's say you've been consistent at this particular format and this, this same routine for, for two years, right?
And, and but, and if so, here's a question that I want you to sit with and I want you to ask yourself, right? What did you bench press the, the first month when you were, when you were training, and what are you benching now? Think about what you were benching when you first started and thinking about what you're benching now.
Now, I'll say this, if the answer is about the same, well, that's, that, that's your diagnosis. That's your thing right there. You know what I mean? That's, that's not genetics. Um, that's not gonna be your metabolism. That's, that's not the fact that you're a, a hard gainer, which is what I used to hear all the time or, or whatever the, the, the, the label the internet is giving people these days.
You know, that's not what it is. The problem simply to-- is, is that your training hasn't, hasn't asked your body to change. You haven't done anything to, to add anything, to, to force yourself to add anything. Right? Now, if you know me and you've trained with me before, you know I like to get into something I call, uh, nerd talk, where basically I just talk about the science of fitness and how things go, right?
And because, just so you know, it's not my personal opinion. So
The Science: Why Your Body Stops Changing
📍 here's the biology in plain English. Your body is incredibly smart. It adapts. So when you first started lifting, everything was new. Um, your, your nervous system was learning the movements, uh, your, your muscles were being challenged in ways that they had never been challenged before.
So they grew from where they were. They, they got stronger, and of course, you saw results after doing something from a period of doing nothing. But like most people, you then settled into that routine. Um, and this routine, you're doing the same weights, right? Uh, you're doing the same reps, uh, you're doing the same exercises a- and sometimes in the same order.
And when you're doing that a- and you're telling your body this, here's your body's response. "Got it. Uh, I've adapted to this. I'm comfortable No need to change. I'm just gonna go ahead and sit right here. And that's when you start asking yourself the questions. Now, the thing is, when most people think, you know, their body has done something, uh, the, the, the fact of the matter is your, your body is not trying to be difficult, it's just trying to be efficient, right?
Your body, it, it-- what it does is it builds exactly, uh, the muscle as it's needed to handle the stress that it's, that you're gonna be giving it, that it's gonna be put through, right? And to be honest, it's not gonna do anything more than the challenge that it's prepa- that, that it's been prepared to face, right?
Now, that's not a flaw in your body, that's a feature. And what that feature does is allow you to always handle that same workload as long as you keep trying to push that exact same workload. Now, um, once you understand, and I hope you're starting to understand what's going on here, you can use this feature of your body to push your, your fitness journey or push your workouts a little bit more.
Now, the name for this particular mechanism or whatever, uh, the principle that, that governs all of this, that what, what I'm talking about, it's called progressive overload, and it's the single most important concept in all of strength training, and that's period. It-- And if you apply it correctly, you will notice changes in your body that you've never seen before, right?
Um, so you understand exactly what I'm talking about, let me, let me, let me break it down. And again, this is, uh, nerd talk again a little bit here, right? Progressive overload is the gradual increase placed on the body during training. Um, without it, there just simply is no growth. If, if I go ahead with, like, the book definition of progressive overload, um, it is...
Let's see. I, I, I was trying to remember these things, but let's see. If I were to define progressive overload, it is, um, because I know a lot of pe- a lot of you have heard it. I've said it a few times today, and you, so you, it may recall something you've heard before. And if not, uh, it's totally new to you, so let me make sure that I use-- that I explain it correctly.
Now, progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress on the body over time I, I gave a, a real strong buildup like it was gonna be something like, like mind-blowing, right? Like rocket science or something. Like really and truly, no, it's just a gradual increase of stress on the body over time. That's it.
I mean, the word progressive is the key, right? It-- because, you know, it has to move forward. Always move forward, right? Because the moment you stop asking your body to do more than it's already adapted to, the, uh, the more the, the more you stop giving it reason to grow. It's gonna find that spot where it can always perform those particular duties.
But if you place something additional on it, it won't be because you haven't-- it won't be able to because you haven't forced your body to be able to handle that. Now The thing is, when most people hear this, what I'm talking about, progressive overload, you know, uh, they think, "Okay, okay, cool. I just need to add weight every single session."
And, you know, while that's sometimes true, you know, like especially early on, because in the beginning you're, you're kind of learning what you can do. You're learning your flexibility, you're learning your range, you're learning, uh, how strong you are, what your strength levels are. You know, you're learning your endurance.
Um, but it's not always possible, and that's kind of where the, the science or, or the nuance comes in. So let me give you, let me give you an analogy. Think about how when you learned to read, right? You, you didn't start with War and Peace, right? You started with picture books and then chapter books and then novels, right?
But on each single stage, you asked a little more of your brain than you did on the last. So your reading ability then grew to meet the demand that you placed on it before. So, like, you go from picture books to, like, just-- to reading, like you've... Your mind has already mastered the pictures. Now it wants the reading.
Now we gotta comprehend the novels. And once you progress through that, then you, then you see exactly how the mind goes. But as a benefit, your muscles actually work the exact same way. Uh, you start where you are, and then in, in subtle increments, you know, you progress. And then over weeks and over months and over years, you build something that is genuinely, genuinely impressive.
And you know what that is that you build when you, when you're consistently working at it? You're building the version of you that you want to be, and that is such a beautiful thing. But you only get to that if you keep turning the page, only if you keep increasing dema- keep increasing the demand that you're putting on your body.
Now, here's why this matters so much, and, and I want you to think about this. Um, the biological process of building new muscle or protein synthesis, uh, if we wanna break it down to, to, to one, to define it, um, that's, uh, your muscle fibers have to be placed under a load that challenges them Right? If you want them to grow, you have to challenge the muscle fibers.
They won't just grow automatically. It's not just something that they're just going to do. You have to win- when you have to challenge them, challenge your fibers, and then when that load is challenged, they experience micro damage. During recovery, your body rep- uh, repairs that damage, and then it builds back the fi- builds back the fibers.
However, when it builds the fibers back and you recover, it builds those fibers back just a little bit stronger and a little bit tougher than they were before. And now this time, those muscle fibers are just a bit more prepared for the load that you're gonna put on them next time. And that's why the recovery phase is so important when you're talking about your workout routine.
But if next time is the exact same load, the muscle is already prepared. There's no, there's no signal for your muscles to adapt. There's, there's nothing pushing it forward. There's nothing to cause your muscles to grow. Um, all you've done is you've done the work so you maintain. And that's where you hear people talk about a plateau, where they're stuck in the same position.
And that's what it is when you're not challenging yourself, you're just gonna stay within that same mode, right? Because you've done the work to maintain only, and your body is going to receive that information, and that's how your body's gonna handle it, right? Uh, but-- And that's what two years of going through the same process looks like if you don't try to make a change.
And that's what it looks like on the cell level, like on the science of it. Again, that's not my opinion. That's just how your body is going to adapt and going to respond to the challenges that you put on it. And look, when it comes down to it, you know, I'm not here to make you feel bad about it. You know, it's just a process of, of training and, and it's something that you can change, right?
I'm just trying to here-- I'm just here, uh, to make sure it never happens again. Like I said, I experienced the exact same thing. So How to avoid that. Let's talk exactly how you progress, right? Because there's more than one way to do it. There's actually
The 4 Variables of Progressive Overload
📍 four variables to progressive overload, and if you know all four and, and you have options, then you can see where your progression stalls and you can see where your progression can grow.
All right, so the four variables. Um, if you need to, go ahead, write them down. Uh, make sure you remember them. Or just come back to th- this video and, and go back over it again and, and find the information. But remember, there are four variables to progressive overload. Uh, I'm gonna go over the first one.
The first variable to progressive overload, uh, is load. Uh, that's the weight on the bar, that's the weight on the dumbbell or, or that's in your hand, AKA whatever the weight resistance is, uh, the cables, the bands, uh, whatever exactly that is. Uh, it's the most obvious form of progression, and it's the one that most people know about.
I mean, even if you're adding two and a half pounds, uh, um, or adding five pounds or even if you're just adding like one and a quarter pounds with the, the micro plates, um, that's, that number's going up and that's still progression. That's load that- that's going up and that's just progressive overload. So you are doing more no matter what it is.
Remember, you can't-- progress is progress. Uh, no, no matter the distance or, or whatever, progress is pro- if as long as you do more than you did, it's progress. Uh, but here's where it gets interesting, right? Because load isn't the only option. You also have, uh, the second variable in progressive overload, and that's gonna be v- be, uh, volume Volume is your total workload.
That's gonna be like your sets multiplied by your reps multiplied by your load. Now, if you're doing, let's say, three sets of eight last week, and then you do four sets of eight, um, this week with the same weight, uh, you've increased your volume. Uh, that again, that's gonna be progression. Your body has done more total work, right, than it did before.
Even if it's the same weight, doing more reps is going-- is progressive, and that's progressive overload, and then the volume is how you understand is variable two. Variable three in progressive overload is reps. Let's say you did eight reps last week, and you hit 10 this week, but it's the same weight.
That's progression again, right? Because you squeezed out, uh, more, more work. The, um, even though, even though it's the same load, you did more work. So you can call it, um, rep progress- rep progression or, or double progression, and it's one of the most common methods, uh, for progressive overload of the variables that's actually used.
And, uh, for like people that are somewhat They're not brand new to the gym, they're sort of in the middle, like intermediate. That's what those type lifters, uh, that's the, the variable they would gravitate to more and what they probably use a lot more, especially if they're training, um, consistently, but without a dedicated coach because that's something that they can, uh, monitor.
Now, now we have variable four. That's density. Now, this one is, it's severely underrated, but you have to understand, again, progress is progress. So as long as it's something that helps you progress in, in your fitness, then it has to be a good thing. Um, density is how much work you do in a given amount of time, right?
And we don't have to get into the accepted distractions that cause long gym sessions, you know, texting, uh, pictures, talking, whatever. Um, but this-- think about it like this. If you did the same workout last week in sixty minutes, and then you did the same workout this week in fifty-five minutes, then what is it?
That's progression. Of course, because maybe it's shorter rest periods. Um, whatever, whatever the reason, you're getting more work per unit of time. So you're putting more on your muscle fibers this week in fifty-five minutes than you did in the sixty minutes last week. So your body has to become more efficient to handle that, that, uh, that growth.
And now, now that it's being more efficient in another way to adapt, and that of course is progression, part of progressive overload. Now Here is the key insight or what you really wanna remember. You don't have to progress in all four variables at once. I- in fact, you know, if you do try to do that, it's kinda like a, a fast track to over-training and possible injury, because what you really need is a system, right?
You need a plan. You need a plan that's gonna tell you, uh, which variable that you need to chase and how to rotate between them as you advance on your physical journey, right?
A lot of talking. Man, see when you talk like that
Excuse me. All right. So now for most people who are in that one to three-year training range, I recommend what I call double progression. Um, here's how double progression would work, right? Say, pick a rep range. Let's say This week, the rep range is 6 to 10 reps. Uh, you start at the bottom of that range, uh, with a weight that challenge you-- uh, challenges you.
Uh, each week, you try to add one to two reps. Uh, when you hit the top of that range or 10 reps, then you add weight, drop back down to six, rinse, repeat, yada, yada, yada. You get what I mean. So you're progressing through reps. Once you get to the end of that range doing reps, then you're gonna add weight, and then you're gonna start that process over.
That's a double progression. That's progressive overload. Now, that is a-- that's a progressions-- a progression system. That's a plan. That's the difference between two years of just going to the gym, going through the motions, doing, uh, your Monday, Wednesday, Friday split, um, just seeing what happens. Um, this-- that versus two years of actually building something, of actually working towards your honest motivation.
And now, listen. Now, I wanna be clear, and I s- I said it just a few moments ago, right? Progress does not have to be dramatic to be real. Again, adding two and a half pounds or adding one and a quarter pounds, uh, to your bench press every two weeks. Well, let's just say... All right, let's, let's make it something simple to understand.
Let's say you add two and a half pounds to your bench press every two weeks. 📍 That's sixty-five pounds in a year. Um, let's say one rep, uh, one rep more per set each week. That compounds into a completely different level of strength inside of six months, right? Small progress consistently applied, I'm gonna repeat, small progress consistently applied is the most powerful force in all of training.
Because that's why they call it, and I tell my clients all the time, that's why they call it a fitness lifestyle, because you're incorporating these things throughout your life to whereas you're consistent on this style, and your s- your style of life helps you stay consistent on these small steps of progression.
All right, so here's the part where I stop talking about what's wrong, and I start building what's right. All right?
Your Progression Plan
📍 Your progression plan. There are three components. Uh, I want you to, again, write these down. All three of these matter, and this will help you stay with progressive overload. This will help you, um, stay on your fitness journey, and this will, and this will help you make your fitness, this will make it make sense Component one, you need a structured program.
Not a vibe, not whatever you feel like doing when you get to the gym. Um, you need a structured program, an actual written-out plan that tells you which exercises you're doing, uh, it tells you in which order, for how many sets, for how many reps, and on which days. And if you don't have this, then you're just improvising, and you can't, you can't produ- progressive overload because you don't know where you've been, so you don't know where you're going.
You're just-- It's just something that you're making up as you go. Excuse me Now, for most people in the beginner to the intermediate range, um, a program, let's say that's about, uh, three or four days, uh, push, pull, legs, that's gonna be like an upper body, chest, shoulder type deal, um, upper body, back, bicep type deal, and then legs, um, that type of a split, or you can do, uh, like an upper lower split where you're doing complete upper body and then complete lower body splits.
Uh, those work extremely well. Uh, with those programs, you're hitting, uh, each muscle group, uh, at least two times per week, um, and that's a good way to start, um, your training, a good way, uh, to push off your fitness journey. Um, with-- And with that, research has shown that the sweet spot for hypertrophy or muscle growth gives, um, is best during that particular, um, type process.
Uh, you wanna give each session a primary compound movement, a squat, a deadlift, a press, a row, uh, one of those followed by two or three accessory movements. Uh, that structure is your foundation. Uh, you do this with progressive overload, um, definitely using the variables and to watch how your fitness changes.
Now, component two, uh, you need a training log. This has to be non-negotiable, right? I mean, I don't care if it's a notebook, I don't care if it's Coach Frank's app on your phone because you're one of his clients. I don't care i-if it's a spreadsheet. Uh, you need to be writing down what you did every single session.
Uh, you need to write down the weight, you wanna make sure that you write down the reps, and you wanna make sure you write down the sets. Like every single time, you wanna know exactly what work you are doing. You wanna be able to see what you've done and look back on it and be able to do more next week.
And here's why. You can't chase progress if you don't know where you've been. I mean, walking to the gym without a log is like-- it's kinda like, it's kinda like driving to a destination with no GPS and, and no, no, no real memory of the route. Like, you might get there eventually, right? But you're probably going in circles Or you think about this, right?
You could do something like that. You may even pass the place you're going a couple times, you know, just because you're trying to recall it off memory and just seeing what happens. But however, you know, getting back to training, getting back to your fitness, uh, when you have a log, your, your next session has a target.
It has something for you to shoot for. Uh, last week, let's say you did, uh, one eighty-five for three sets of eight on the bench. This week, let, let's say your goal is one eighty-five for three sets of nine or, or one ninety for three sets of eight. Like you-- at this point, you're not guessing, you're, you're executing a plan, and that shift from guessing to executing, like that's everything within your fitness journey.
That's how you can tell that you are getting better. That's, that's, that's how you know where change needs to be made, and that's can-- that's also where you know where change has been made, right? Now, the next part is so important. The next component is so important, component three. It's a weekly target.
Every week when you sit down to train, you should know the one thing you're trying to beat from last week. Um, I, I don't care, you know, I don't care if it's one lift. Um, I don't care if it's a one rep, uh, PR or, or, uh, progression. I don't care if it's one set done with better form or if it's... or you have less rest.
Just one target. Keep it focused. Uh, when you have that target, when you're going to the gym, it, it separates, uh, the people that are in the gym who look the same year, year after year from the ones who show up in 12 months looking completely different. And that's not genetics, you know, and that's not gonna be the, the hours spent.
It, it's not gonna be how much they, they've suffered in, in the gym. It's gonna be whether or not they have a number that they're trying to beat. Um, it, it's all about what I like to call daily progression. As you-- The goal in anything, uh, especially with fitness, is to get better each day, to get better this time than you were last time.
Now, let me give you one more thing, uh, before I close out, because it's a, a common question that I get. Uh, "Frank, what if I can't add weight? Um, what if I'm just stuck at, at this same weight like for forever, and I just can't push past this weight?" All right. First, let's check a few things. Check your recovery.
Are you sleeping enough? Um, are you eating enough protein Um, are you training too frequently without enough rest? Um, because prog- progress usually stalls for a biological reason, so you wanna rule those things out first. Um, and more common, more common than anything is that, um, it's gonna be rest or, and proper nutrition, um, is what's gonna be the things that are holding people back.
Um, second thing that you wanna check w- for is, um, if the, if the load truly can't go up, uh, go back to the other three variables. Um, chase reps, uh, add a set, um, cut your rest in between sets. Uh, the, the system has options, uh, with progressive overload, so use those options, and it's, and it's science. Your body will adapt as long as you're putting the, the proper challenges on it.
It will adapt, and your body will get stronger. And, and third If you've been truly stuck for more than, let's say, three or four weeks, uh, with, with no change in, in any variable, you, you might need what's called a deload, right? I'm gonna cover that in full, um, in a couple, couple episodes out in advance in Episode ten.
Uh, but the short version is sometimes the path forward is a planned step back. Uh, your body needs to reset before it can grow again. Now, that's not failure. Again, that's just your body being efficient. Um, that's just your body doing what it's supposed to do. That's just the science of what your body actually is.
Um, that is just the biology of it. You know, you can't escape it. That's just what it is, right? All right. So I know I've given you a lot, but-- And we've stayed really focused. I wanna thank you family for focusing-- for, for tuning in today and paying attention. I'm glad-- I hope I provided some value to you.
Now,
Weekly Challenge
📍 here's your challenge for this-- your challenge for this week, and I'm serious about this, right? I want you to actually do it 'cause I am gonna check. Um, don't just nod at your screen. Don't just say, "Okay, Frank." Um, step one, I want you to pull up whatever workout you're doing this week. Uh, I want you to look at it.
Uh, do you know, do you know what weight you're using for every single exercise that you're doing in your workout this week? Not the ones you've already done. needn't worry about that. I'm just talking about going forward, you know, progressing. Um, do you have a log from last week to compare it against? Uh, if the answer is no, then that changes today.
So for step two, for every exercise in your next session, uh, write down your target before you get to the gym. Um, like you can do it before you leave the house, no mat-- Uh, before you, uh, get out of the car, no matter what. Before you walk into the gym, write down the target for your next session. Uh, not afterwards, before, because if you do it before, that, that simple change, that'll affect how you, how your workout goes because now your workout is more towards that target that you've set instead of just going to the gym.
It's gonna literally change how you train. You're gonna go-- Now you gotta go in the gym, and you're focused, and now you're on a mission instead of just, you know, trying to feel a vibe and just, just hanging out and just, you know, seeing what happens, you know, and just, just wasting time. Now, step three After your session, I want you to drop a comment below.
Tell me, uh, tell me one lift where you hit a new personal record today. Like, I don't care if it's two and a half pounds, and again, I don't even care if it's one and a quarter pounds. It, it does not matter to me because progress is progress. Tell me. Let me know because that's the culture that I wanna build here, uh, because where progresses get celebrated, every single one of them.
All right. Hey,
Outro & Call to Action
📍 if this episode gave you something real, do me a favor, uh, share it with one person who's been in the gym, um, who's been in the gym in a while, who, who's been in the gym a while, and they're not seeing the results that they think they should be seeing, uh, or they deserve to be seeing. Uh, that's the best thing, uh, that you can do for them.
Uh, e- especially, uh, if you care about them, and you care about them and their fitness journey, uh, share this video with them. Tell them to come back. Uh, subscribe if you haven't. Hit the bell. Uh, episode three drops next week, and on episode three, what I'm gonna do is, uh, I'm gonna go, uh, deep on the four compound lifts, uh, that build 80% of your body, and why most people are doing at least one of them.
Out of, out of the four, one of them most people are doing completely wrong. All right? Now, I'm Coach Frank. This has been the Make It Make Sense Health and Fitness Podcast. Uh, tune in each week for a new episode. My goal is to take fitness and make it make sense. All right? And A, see you next week, and you know the motto, be grinding or be nothing.
Peace.