Weight belts, chalk, straps and truckloads of iron. For decades, these items have served as the base equipment for building not only mounds of muscle but also raw, bar-bending strength. Over the years, these primitive implements have helped push the limits of the human physique, making it possible to win the battle against gravity day in and day out. But their most important contribution may be to one of the most basic mandates of weight-lifting: progressive overload.
The principle of progressive overload simply states that an increase in volume and intensity is required to achieve a targeted goal. Weight begets weight, and each workout is a step toward your objective. Bench-pressing 405 pounds one time, for example, requires a lifter to work his way up from his starting one-rep max with incrementally heavier loads until he reaches that 405-pound benchmark. How long it takes to reach a given goal is, of course, unique to each lifter. It could conceivably take one person years to hit that standard, while another may land in the coveted four-plates-per-side promised land after only months of training.
What about achieving progressive overload with each rep? Imagine the benefits you could reap from repetitions that get harder and heavier with each inch the weight is moved - challenging reps that offer no rest for muscles accustomed to recovering during lockouts or benefiting from elasticity. Weight belts, chalk, straps and truckloads of iron - they build muscle, all right. But to these things we now add chains and bands.
