How Much Weight to Add Each Week: Linear Progression

On a linear progression you add the smallest increment your plates allow each time you complete all the prescribed reps: typically 2.5 kg (5 lb) per session on the squat and deadlift and 1 to 2.5 kg (2.5 to 5 lb) on the bench press, overhead press and row. For a lifter squatting three times a week that is 5 to 7.5 kg a week at first. The jump is right as long as every rep still goes in; the moment they stop, the progression changes shape. The lifting log generator prints these targets for you so you only have to write down what happened.

The rule behind the number

The American College of Sports Medicine’s position stand on progression gives the general rule: once you can perform the target reps with one or two to spare on two consecutive sessions, raise the load by about 2 to 10 percent. Kraemer and Ratamess describe the same “2-for-2” idea in their review of progression. Two things follow from a percentage rule:

Big lifts take bigger jumps. 2.5 percent of a 100 kg squat is 2.5 kg; 2.5 percent of a 40 kg press is 1 kg.
The jump shrinks as you get stronger. A 2.5 kg jump on a 60 kg squat is 4 percent. On a 140 kg squat it is under 2 percent, which is why the same increment that felt easy in month one feels like a wall in month six.

Linear programs for new lifters, such as the one described in Starting Strength, turn that rule into a fixed schedule: add the same small increment every session, because at that stage almost any increase is within the 2 to 10 percent band and recovery between sessions is enough to support it.

Increments by lift

These are the common defaults, and they are what the log generator uses for its linear 5×5 program:

Lift	Per session (kg)	Per session (lb)	Why
Squat	2.5	5	Large muscle mass, recovers between sessions
Deadlift	5 for the first weeks, then 2.5	10, then 5	Starts well below its potential; once a week or less
Bench press	1.25 to 2.5	2.5 to 5	Smaller load, so keep the percentage similar
Overhead press	1 to 2.5	2.5 to 5	Smallest load of the main lifts; stalls first
Row	1.25 to 2.5	2.5 to 5	As the bench

The small jumps on upper-body lifts need small plates: 1.25 kg or 0.5 kg in a kg gym, 2.5 lb or 1.25 lb in a lb gym. If your gym does not have them, a pair of 0.5 kg plates is one of the cheapest pieces of training equipment you can own. The plate calculator will tell you whether a target is loadable with the plates you actually have, and how close you can get if it is not.

Session by session, then week by week

Linear progression runs in phases, and the log shows you when to move from one to the next.

Phase 1: add every session. Each time you hit all your sets and reps, the next session’s target is the old weight plus the increment. The log generator’s linear program does this for the first four weeks. You can expect this phase to last a few weeks on the press and a couple of months on the squat for a new lifter; experienced lifters coming back from a break may run through it faster.

Phase 2: add once a week. When the daily jump starts producing missed reps, hold the weight for the rest of the week and add on the first session of the next one. The generator switches to this from week five. At three sessions a week, this cuts the rate of increase to a third while keeping the same simple structure.

Phase 3: cycle the load. When weekly jumps stall as well, the next step is to vary intensity across the week or across a month: a heavier day and a lighter day, or a four-week wave that works up to a top set and then resets. This is what 5/3/1-style programs and the generator’s wave program do, with a training max set at about 90 percent of your estimated 1RM so the cycle starts with room to grow. The guide to structuring a 12-week block covers this stage.

Reading the log for the signal

The decision rules are simple when the data is in front of you:

All reps done, bar moved well: add the increment next time.
All reps done, grinding on the last set: add the increment, but expect to hold it next time.
Missed reps once: repeat the same weight. One bad session is noise.
Missed reps twice at the same weight: the progression at this rate is over for now. Either move to the next phase, or take the load down by about 10 percent and work back up in smaller steps.

Logging RPE next to the top set makes rules 2 and 3 much easier to apply, because you see the effort rising before the reps drop. The guide to tracking progressive overload goes through the comparison in detail, and when to deload covers what to do when the trend has flattened for several weeks.

Three common mistakes

Jumping too far too soon. Adding 5 kg a session on the squat feels productive for three weeks and ends in a stall at a weight you cannot repeat. Smaller jumps keep you progressing for longer and end at a higher number.

Adding when the reps were not there. Progression is earned by completing the prescribed work. If you did 5, 5, 4, the next session is a repeat, not a jump. This is the whole point of writing the reps down.

Treating a stall as a verdict. A stall on a linear program means the rate of increase is too high for your current recovery, not that you have stopped getting stronger. Changing the rate is the fix.

Putting it on paper

Pick the increment per lift from the table, set the starting weights at about 75 to 80 percent of your estimated max (the 1RM calculator gives you that from any recent hard set), and print four weeks of targets from the generator. Each week, fill in the review strip: did the top set move, and at what effort? That one line, repeated, is the whole method.

Questions lifters ask

How much weight should a beginner add each week?

Most linear programs for new lifters add 2.5 kg (5 lb) per session on the squat and deadlift and 1 to 2.5 kg (2.5 to 5 lb) on the bench press and overhead press, which is 5 to 7.5 kg a week on the squat at three sessions a week. The jump is right if you keep hitting all your reps.

Should I add weight every session or every week?

Every session while you can. When you start missing reps on the same weight twice, switch to adding once a week, then to a program that cycles intensity. The log tells you when: two consecutive misses at the same load is the usual signal.

Why does the overhead press progress slower than the squat?

Smaller muscle mass and less total load. A 2.5 kg jump on a 40 kg press is over 6 percent; the same jump on a 100 kg squat is 2.5 percent. Use smaller plates on upper-body lifts so the percentage increase stays similar.

What do I do when I cannot add weight any more?

Repeat the weight once. If it fails again, drop about 10 percent and work back up over two or three weeks, or move to a program that varies the load across the week. A deload is not a failure; it is the next step of the same progression.

Sources

American College of Sports Medicine. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults . Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2009;41(3):687-708
Kraemer WJ, Ratamess NA. Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription . Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2004;36(4):674-688
Rippetoe M, Kilgore L. Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training (3rd ed.) . The Aasgaard Company, 2011
Wendler J. 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System for Raw Strength (2nd ed.) . Jim Wendler LLC, 2011

This guide is general education about training, not medical advice. If something hurts, stop and get it checked by a qualified professional.