# Double progression: how it works and how to run it

> Double progression adds a rep until you top out your range, then adds weight and resets the reps. Here is the rule, the edge cases, and a worked example.

**Source:** https://trycompound.cc/blog/double-progression/  
**Author:** Scott Shumaker, maker of Compound  
**Published:** 2026-08-22  
**Topic:** Progression (double progression, progressive overload, programming, barbell training)

## In short

Double progression is a rule for deciding what to do next: hold the weight and add one rep per session until you reach the top of your rep range, then add the smallest plate jump you own and start again at the bottom of the range. It progresses two variables one at a time, which is why it keeps working long after a percentage chart has stopped matching what you can actually lift.

- Pick a rep range, not a rep. Five to eight for heavy compounds, eight to twelve for isolation work.
- Hit every set at the target on one weight, and the target goes up by one rep next time.
- Top out the range and the bar goes up by one jump: 5 lb on the big lifts, 2.5 lb on the small ones.
- Miss a set and nothing changes. The target waits for you, it does not reset.

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Double progression answers one question with one rule: what goes on the bar next
session. Hold the weight and add a rep until you reach the top of your rep range, then
add the smallest plate jump you own and start again at the bottom. That question is
where most programs quietly leave you on your own, and this rule keeps answering it for
years.

## What is double progression?

Double progression means you progress two variables, reps and weight, but never at the
same time. You pick a rep range instead of a rep count. You hold the weight until you
reach the top of the range on every set. Then you add weight and drop back to the bottom
of the range.

The name is the method. Two things go up, in strict order, one at a time.

Compare it to what most people do instead. Linear progression adds weight every session
at a fixed rep count, which works beautifully for about four months and then falls off a
cliff. Percentage programs hand you 82.5 percent of a max you tested in March and no
longer have. Both need you to know something you do not know. Double progression only
needs you to know what happened in the last session.

## Why add reps before weight?

Because reps are the smaller increment.

The smallest plate jump most gyms have is 5 lb, which is 3.7 percent of a 135 lb bench
press. That is a large step to ask for in one week. One extra rep at the same weight is
a much smaller step, and there are three or four of them between plate jumps. So the
rep range is the ramp: you climb it gradually, and the plate jump lands only when you
have built enough room to absorb it.

This is also why the range should be wide enough to matter. A range of five to six gives
you one rep of runway. Five to eight gives you three, which is enough for the jump to
feel earned rather than optimistic.

## What counts as a successful session?

Every working set at or above the target, all at one weight.

That last clause does the real work. Three sets of eight at 135 lb is a success. Eight,
eight, six is not. Eight at 135 and eight at 125 is not either, because the sets were
not at one weight and there is no single number to progress from. Anything less than all
sets at one weight leaves you arguing with yourself about partial credit, and the
argument is always won by the version that adds weight sooner than you earned it.

A rep in reserve is fine. You do not need to grind every set to failure for this to
work, and the research on training to failure suggests you get most of the adaptation
without it, at a much lower fatigue cost. What matters is that the target was met on
every set.

## When do you add weight, and how much?

When the top of the range is met on every set. Then you add one jump and reset the
target to the bottom of the range.

The jump should be the smallest one you can actually load:

- **5 lb (2.5 kg)** on barbell compounds: squat, bench, deadlift, row, overhead press.
- **2.5 lb (1.25 kg)** on isolation work: curls, lateral raises, triceps, rear delts.
- **10 lb (5 kg)** on leg press and other machines where the stack has no finer setting.

Kilogram lifters should use 2.5 kg rather than a converted 2.27 kg. Progression should
land on numbers you can actually put on a bar.

Here is a full cycle on a bench press with a five to eight range and three sets:

| Session | Weight | Target | What you did | Next session |
|---------|--------|--------|--------------|--------------|
| 1 | 135 lb | 5 | 5, 5, 5 | 135 lb for 6 |
| 2 | 135 lb | 6 | 6, 6, 6 | 135 lb for 7 |
| 3 | 135 lb | 7 | 7, 7, 6 | 135 lb for 7 again |
| 4 | 135 lb | 7 | 7, 7, 7 | 135 lb for 8 |
| 5 | 135 lb | 8 | 8, 8, 8 | 140 lb for 5 |
| 6 | 140 lb | 5 | 5, 5, 5 | 140 lb for 6 |

Six sessions, one plate jump, and no decision made at any point. Session 3 is the
important one: the miss cost nothing except a repeat.

## What do you do after a missed set?

Nothing. The target stays where it is and you try it again next session.

There is no deload, no percentage back-off, no reset to the bottom of the range. A
missed set is information about one day, and one day is usually about sleep or lunch
rather than about your program. Log what you actually got, honestly, and repeat the
target.

The honest log matters more than it sounds. If you round eight, eight, six up to three
sets of eight, you will add weight you have not earned, miss the next session too, and
conclude that double progression does not work. It works. The record has to be true.

## How fast should this go?

Slower than you want, and you can choose how much slower.

At one successful session per bump, a five to eight range takes four clean sessions to
earn a plate jump. On a four-day split where each lift comes around once a week, that is
about a month per jump. That is the honest pace for an intermediate lifter, and it adds
up to roughly 60 lb a year on a main lift, which is a great year.

If you are recovering badly, or coming back from a layoff, you can require two or three
successful sessions before each bump instead of one. The climb gets slower and the
sessions get more repeatable. This is the correct adjustment when progress starts
costing you sessions.

## What double progression does not solve

It is a progression rule, not a program. It has nothing to say about:

- **Exercise selection.** It will happily progress a badly chosen movement.
- **Volume.** Three sets or five sets, it applies the same rule to both.
- **Fatigue over months.** If everything stalls at once, that is a recovery problem, and
  no rule about reps will fix it.
- **The true plateau.** When one lift stops for two or three months while the rest keep
  moving, the answer is a variation of the movement or a change in set count, not a
  smaller plate.

It solves the decision, which is the part that actually gets skipped.

## How Compound runs it

Compound applies this rule automatically to every lift in the program, which is what
the app is for. Each exercise carries its own progression, so your bench and your row
climb at their own paces without you tracking either.

You tap a circle for each set you complete. If all your sets hit the target at one
weight, the app raises the target by a rep for next time. When you top out the range it
adds the jump for that exercise and resets the reps. If you got fewer reps than the
target, you long-press the circle and log the real number, and the target repeats.

You can also tell it to wait: two to five successful sessions per increase instead of
one, if you would rather climb slowly. The rule is the same. The bookkeeping is not
yours any more.

## Common questions

### What rep range should I use for double progression?

Five to eight reps for heavy compound lifts, eight to twelve for isolation work, twelve to twenty for small muscles and high-fatigue movements like calves or lateral raises. The range matters less than staying in it long enough to climb through it. Any range works if you actually add the rep.

### Does double progression work for bodyweight exercises?

Yes, up to the top of the range. Pull-ups and dips climb reps exactly the same way, but when you top out there is no plate to add. At that point you either add external load with a belt, or hold at the top of the range and add a set.

### What if I hit the target on some sets but not all of them?

That is not a successful session, and the target stays where it is. Partial credit is what turns a progression scheme into a spreadsheet argument. All sets at the target on one weight, or the target repeats.

### How is this different from linear progression?

Linear progression adds weight every session at a fixed rep count, which works for a beginner and then stops abruptly. Double progression adds reps between weight jumps, so each jump is earned across several sessions and the same rule still applies two years in.

### How long should one weight take?

On a five to eight range, four successful sessions takes you from the bottom to the top, so a jump every four to six weeks per lift is normal once you are past the beginner phase. If you are adding weight every week on a compound lift, you are still in the beginner phase and should enjoy it.


## Sources

- [Schoenfeld et al. (2017): Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28834797/)
- [Grgic et al. (2021): Effects of Resistance Training Performed to Failure or Not to Failure](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33555822/)

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*Scott Shumaker, maker of Compound. Builds Compound, an iPhone and Apple Watch app that runs one lifting program and does the bookkeeping. Trains on the pull, push, legs and auxiliary split, and wrote the progression engine described here.*

*Compound: A workout app with exactly one workout in it. Four days, automatic double progression, warm-up and mobility built in. No account, no cloud. https://trycompound.cc*