Double Progression: The Rep-Then-Weight Scheme

Double progression is the simplest reliable overload machine: within a fixed rep range, you add reps first, and only when you hit the top of the range do you add weight — then the reps start over. This page mechanizes the scheme, walks a worked example set by set, and covers the rules that keep it honest when the weight gets heavy.

The Scheme, Stated as Rules

Double progression runs on four rules. Everything else is judgment; these are the machine.

• 📏 Pick a rep range — the protocol's default is 6–12 reps for most patterns; the loading page owns why ranges map to goals: Reps, Sets & Weights.
• 🔁 Add reps first — within the range, chase the top: 3×8 becomes 3×9, 3×10, 3×11, 3×12.
• 🏋️ Then add weight — the session after you hit the top of the range on your working sets, add the smallest plate step (the 2–5 rule page computes the jumps).
• 🔄 Reset the reps — at the new weight you will not hold 3×12; you will land near the bottom of the range, and the chase begins again.

Why Reps First, Not Weight First

Two mechanisms make rep-first progression safer and more effective than chasing plates. First, the musculoskeletal system — tendons, joints, motor patterns — adapts more slowly than muscle force, so the smallest sustainable demand increments win over years. Second, reps are dense information: they are a fine-grained progress meter, while weight jumps are coarse.

• 📊 Fine-grained measurement — going from 8 to 9 to 10 reps tells you the adaptation is happening weeks before a weight jump would; that feedback is what keeps adherence alive.
• 🪜 The smallest step wins — a 2.5 kg jump at 3×8 is a 4% bump; the same jump at 3×11 is a smaller relative step, easier for tendons and technique to absorb.
• 🧠 Motivation by design — climbing reps week to week produces a streak of small visible wins; the habit side of that loop is documented in the Review Systems page.

Worked Example: The Squat, Week by Week

The table is the whole scheme. Notice that total session volume (sets × reps × load) rises almost every week, which is the point — demand grows every turn of the loop, even on weeks the bar does not move.

The Honesty Rules at the Top of the Range

The scheme only works if "top of the range" means something. Three rules keep the boundary honest:

• 🎯 All working sets count — the target is the top of the range on every working set with acceptable technique, not one heroic set with two cheated reps.
• 📈 Record the actual number — write "3 × 8, 9, 8" when sets differ; an inconsistent top is not a top. The tracking page shows the log format: Tracking the Load.
• 🧭 Two sessions at the top minimum — hit the top twice before adding weight; one good session can be luck, two is a trend.

Common Failure Modes

• 📉 Stuck at the bottom of the range — reps stall at 8 for weeks: check recovery first (sleep, volume, stress), then ask whether the range is too wide for the exercise; the stall page has the full diagnostic: When Progress Stalls.
• 🏃 Range creep — 6–12 quietly becomes 6–15, then 6–18; the scheme dissolves into "as many as possible." Re-anchor to the range in writing at the start of each block.
• 🤕 Pain versus soreness — climbing reps is a fatigue generator; sharp joint pain is not fatigue and is a stop-and-get-checked signal, per the parent protocol's safety line.

Variations Worth Knowing

Double progression has two common cousins. Knowing them prevents confusion and lets you adapt the scheme to your schedule.

• 🔢 Wave progression — rep targets cycle (8 → 10 → 12 → 8) with the load step arriving on schedule; slightly more aggressive, slightly less beginner-friendly.
• ⏱️ Time-based double progression — replace reps with time under tension (e.g., 40–60-second sets) for bodyweight patterns where reps are awkward; identical logic, different ruler.

Choosing a Range per Pattern

The 6–12 default is a starting point, not a law. The range should fit the exercise and the goal, and double progression works identically inside any range.

• 🏋️ Strength-biased (3–6) — heavier sets, longer rests, fewer reps; the scheme still applies, it just climbs faster through the range.
• 💪 Hypertrophy-biased (6–12) — the protocol's default family; the sweet spot for most readers most of the time.
• 🔋 Endurance-biased (12–20) — useful for accessory and carry patterns; at these rep counts the "top of range" check matters even more, because fatigue disguises effort.
• 🧠 Keep the range narrow — a 4-rep window (6–10 or 8–12) gives the scheme room to move without letting the exercise drift into another goal entirely. The loading page's rep-continuum section explains the underlying evidence: Reps, Sets & Weights.

The Inconsistent Week: 8, 10, 9

Real sets do not march in lockstep. Here is how the scheme reads a session that ends 3 × 8, 10, 9 at the same load:

• 📈 Record the spread, not the best — write "8, 10, 9," not "10." The first set is the honest floor: fatigue accumulates, so the first set is the purest measure of the load.
• 🎯 The top requires the first set — the target is the top of the range on the first working set (and ideally all of them); a 12 that happens only on set three is fatigue noise, not a target hit.
• 🧭 The trend rule — track the first-set number across weeks; when the first set of the session climbs to the top of the range for two consecutive sessions, the weight step fires.

This precision is not pedantry — it is what makes the log legible, and legibility is what the tracking page is for: Tracking the Load.

Interfacing With Deloads

Double progression and the deload week are designed to cooperate. The deload does not reset the scheme; it re-arms it.

• 🗓️ Deload at a natural boundary — the ideal moment is the week after a weight step lands, when the reps are low and the body is adapting; a deload mid-chase (mid-range) just postpones the top.
• 🔁 Come back one rung down — after the deload, resume at the bottom of the current range at the current load; the step that was pending usually lands within two weeks.
• 📊 The stall page owns the failure case — if even post-deload the top of the range refuses to come, run the full diagnostic: When Progress Stalls.

Questions, Answered Briefly

• ❓ Can I use double progression in the same session as my deload? — No; the deload is a reduced-dose week by definition. The scheme resumes when the dose does.
• ❓ What about bodyweight exercises? — Use the time-based variant: chase the top of a 30–50 second set duration, then add load (a harder band, a backpack), then reset the timer.
• ❓ Does the scheme fail for low-rep work? — It compresses: in a 3–6 range the rep climb is short and the weight steps come faster; that is correct behavior, not a breakdown.
• ❓ When do I stop using the scheme? — When progress stalls across two blocks despite honest execution — then the answer is a programming change (variation or volume), not the abandonment of measurement.

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