Progressive Overload Calculator
Project where a lift should be in 4 to 16 weeks using practical linear progression rates: about 5 pounds per week on lower body lifts and 2.5 on upper for beginners, with slower rates as training age climbs.
Members: the Phorme app recalculates this automatically as you log.
Plan the climb before you start it.
Strength grows when training demands a little more than last time. The simplest version is adding weight on a schedule, and the rates here come from decades of novice linear progression practice, popularized by programs like Starting Strength: beginners add roughly 5 pounds per week on squat and deadlift and 2.5 on pressing movements.
Training age bends the curve. Intermediates hold about half the beginner rate, and advanced lifters accumulate load on closer to a monthly cycle, because the nearer you train to your genetic ceiling, the more slowly adaptation arrives. The calculator encodes those slower rates rather than promising beginner gains forever.
Every projected week is also rounded to a plate-loadable weight, so the plan survives contact with an actual barbell. When reality falls behind the table twice in a row, that is information: change the progression scheme, not the effort.
- 1. Enter the weight you currently work with on the lift, not your max.
- 2. Set the length of the block in weeks.
- 3. Pick your experience level and whether the lift is upper or lower body.
- 4. Press Calculate to see the week-by-week projection with plate-loadable weights.
- 5. When you miss the projected weight twice, change the progression, not the effort.
Beginner: About +2.5 per week on upper body lifts, +5 on lower (novice linear progression rates).
Intermediate: Roughly half the beginner rate: +1.25 upper, +2.5 lower per week.
Advanced: Monthly-scale steps: about +2.5 upper and +5 lower per month, spread weekly.
Loading: Projected weights rounded to the nearest 2.5 for plate math.
Questions we hear a lot.
What is progressive overload?
Doing measurably more over time: more weight, more reps, or more sets at the same difficulty. It is the mechanism behind strength adaptation. This calculator projects the load version because load is the easiest variable to plan a block around.
Where do the weekly increments come from?
Novice linear progression practice, popularized by programs like Starting Strength: roughly 5 pounds per week on squat and deadlift and 2.5 on presses for beginners. Intermediates progress at about half that rate, and advanced lifters add load on closer to a monthly cycle.
Why do lower body lifts progress faster?
More muscle mass moving larger absolute loads. A 2.5 pound jump on a 315 squat is under 1 percent of the load; the same jump on a 135 press is nearly 2 percent. Increments scale with the size of the lift, so the big pulls and squats absorb bigger jumps.
What do I do when the projection stops matching reality?
Missing the same weight twice means the linear phase for that lift is ending. Repeat the weight, or drop about 10 percent and build back up, or move to a weekly or monthly progression scheme. The projection is a plan, not a promise.
Can I run linear progression forever?
No. Beginners get weeks to months of session-to-session gains because they train far from their ceiling. The closer you get to it, the more slowly adaptation arrives, which is exactly why the calculator uses smaller increments for intermediate and advanced lifters.
One plan. Training and recovery in one system.
Phorme builds the plan from what you log and how you recover. No spreadsheets. No guessing.