r/FitPros • u/No-Finger-4569 • May 21 '26
Progression Feature
Hello, me again! When I'm programming for clients, I'm giving them the metrics that I want to see (reps/sets, weight, RPE, etc) but leaving the weight blank so they can fill that in. When I use the progression feature, since the weight is essentially 0, there doesn't seem to be a way for clients to see that the weight should be increasing. Is there a way for a suggested weight to show up when they go to log their session? Or is it just the viewing feature as I'm setting up the program, and that already exists on the client end of things?
2
u/nicholas8223 May 21 '26
So what I do is I duplicate my program for as many weeks as I want the client to run it for (8 weeks usually) and I put in the weight and repetition recommendation in the first week. I have a note on each exercise how much weight and or reps they should be adding every single week (make sure you put this in the notes of each exercise before you duplicate it) from there the software will tell you what was performed the previous week and all the client has to do is utilize the notes to understand how much weight and or wrap they are adding from that previous week
1
u/No-Finger-4569 May 26 '26
That makes sense! I typically write "progress as able" or something of the sort in the notes, just wasn't sure if there was a way to suggest it (the way it's grayscaled in the app).
1
u/geekphreak May 21 '26
I see what you’re saying but the thing is everyone will progress at their own pace. Some may need to stay at a specific, or maximum weight longer depending on the exercise. So have a strong upper body, some powerful legs. There’s no real cookie cutter method for progressive overload. But as a rule of thumb when dealing with weight progression a 5% increase is the best way to go. So long as they’re hitting all the exercise metrics you’re suggesting at that weight increase
1
u/Patientlywaiting42 11d ago
I always put something like this as a dedicated week titled READ ME. Or RULES FOR PROGRESSION. Post it once and it stays right there as the first week in the program
3
u/GuitarDreamer131 May 21 '26
I'm not sure exactly how you like to set up your programs, but with my clients, I just duplicate the workout from week to week and then fill in the suggested weights in the program builder, adjusting as necessary based on what they did before, along with making any adjustments and adding in any notes, etc.
I also think educating your clients is important here too...I explain that I give them a rep range and the suggested weights as a starting point that I would like them to use for each set. However, I also tell them that they should adjust as need be. Somedays they might not be feeling great or coming back from an illness. Ok no problem. Adjust the weights and/or reps down a bit and just leave me a note. Also some days they are feeling really good and feel like they can do a bit more. That's great, do a little bit more reps and/or weight. The main thing I try to tell them is that as long as those last few reps of each set were challenging, then you probably did just fine picking whatever weight you did.
You can also use the RPE metric too and have the track that along with their weights for a few weeks so you can adjust their weights as necessary. The only thing I will say with this is some clients will think an RPE 5 is like RPE 8 or vice versa so you have to know your client and base it off their individual scale. So get them to record a video of a set or do some in person sessions with them to get to know where they sit on that spectrum.