When 2.5 kg Is Too Much: Progressing in Micro-Jumps
Informational content: this is not a substitute for medical advice. Check with a doctor before starting a training program, especially if you have a health issue or any pain.
You do 8 reps at 40 kg on the overhead press. Next time you load 45 kg, get 5, decide you are not ready, go back to 40, and get 8 again. You have just spent three weeks going in circles, and the culprit is neither your programme nor your recovery: it is the smallest plate your gym owns.
The problem is arithmetic, not physiology
A 2.5 kg plate each side means 5 kg added at once. On a 40 kg bar that is a 12.5 % increase. Nobody progresses 12.5 % in one session, at any level.
| Exercise | Typical load | A 5 kg jump |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlift | 120 kg | +4 % |
| Squat | 90 kg | +5.5 % |
| Bench press | 60 kg | +8 % |
| Overhead press | 40 kg | +12.5 % |
| Barbell curl | 25 kg | +20 % |
That table alone explains why your legs keep moving while your shoulders and arms have felt stuck for six months. The smaller the lift, the more brutal the standard increment. And with dumbbells it is often worse: going from 12 to 14 kg on a curl is 17 % in one step.
The cheapest fix: double progression
This is the method to try before buying anything, and it solves most cases. You set a rep range, say 8 to 12, and you only add load once you hit the top of the range on every set.
- Week 1: 40 kg, 8 / 8 / 7 reps
- Week 2: 40 kg, 9 / 8 / 8
- Week 3: 40 kg, 11 / 10 / 9
- Week 4: 40 kg, 12 / 12 / 12, so you move to 45 kg
- Week 5: 45 kg, 9 / 8 / 8, and the cycle restarts
You progress every week without touching the bar, and the 5 kg jump becomes absorbable because you arrive at it four reps ahead. Which range to pick depends on the exercise, as covered in our article on rep ranges.
Micro-loading, where it is available
If your gym has 1.25 kg plates, you already have 2.5 kg steps. Plenty of gyms own them and nobody uses them, because they sit at the very bottom of the rack.
To go finer, 0.5 kg plates or magnetic weights cost about twenty euros and fit in a bag. This is not specialist kit: it is what turns a six-month stall on the overhead press into twelve steps you can actually climb.
| Increment per side | Increase on a 40 kg bar | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5 kg | 12.5 % | Deadlift, squat |
| 1.25 kg | 6 % | Bench press, row |
| 0.5 kg | 2.5 % | Overhead press, curl |
| 0.25 kg | 1.25 % | Arm work, end of a cycle |
What to do when you have nothing
Add a rep, not weight. That is double progression, and it needs no equipment.
Add a set. Going from three to four sets at the same load raises your total work by 33 % without changing a gram.
Raise the load on one set only. Three sets at 40 kg become one at 45 then two at 40. The following week, two at 45 and one at 40. You climb the stairs one step at a time.
Slow the lowering. Three seconds instead of one on the eccentric makes the same load markedly harder, and it is a free variable.
Cut the rest. Doing the same sets on 90 seconds instead of 120 is genuine progress, provided you record it, or you will think you stalled.
Switch to dumbbells on the small lifts. On an overhead press, two 20 kg dumbbells are not exactly a 40 kg bar, but a dumbbell rack often offers finer steps than anything you can build on a barbell.
The three mistakes to avoid
- Adding load when only one set hits. If you get 12, 9, 8, you are not done with that weight. The top of the range has to land on every set, otherwise you move up too early and come back down the week after.
- Wanting the same increment everywhere. A deadlift absorbs 5 kg, a curl does not. Every exercise has its own step, and it is normal for them to progress at different speeds.
- Changing exercise to escape the stall. Replacing the overhead press with a machine because it stopped moving just deletes the information. The stall comes back, three weeks later.
What it adds up to over a year
A curl stuck at 25 kg for six months because 30 kg will not go is zero progress. The same curl with 1 kg steps is six increases over the same period, so 31 kg, and a load genuinely lifted rather than hoped for.
That is the whole point: progressive overload does not require big jumps, it requires jumps that land. The rest is arithmetic and whatever plates are available.
Frequently asked questions
Does micro-loading slow progress down?
No, it makes it possible. Moving up 1 kg every two weeks comfortably beats a 5 kg step you cannot clear and that holds you still for months.
Should you buy 0.5 kg plates?
Start with double progression, which is free and solves most cases. If you still stall on the overhead press or on arm work, a pair of small plates is one of the best value purchases in your training.
How do you micro-load on machines?
Most machines impose fixed steps, often 5 kg. Go through reps, sets or lifting speed instead, or use the intermediate pin when the machine offers one.
What if I stall even with 0.5 kg steps?
Then it is no longer an increment problem. Look at sleep, intake and weekly volume, in that order, before concluding anything about the programme.
This method rests on one thing: knowing exactly what you did last time, set by set. In Musku, per-exercise history shows your sets from the previous session while you train, and per-exercise targets let you fix your load and rep range so you know, without thinking, whether this session triggers the increase or not. Fine steps ask no arithmetic of you, only that you do not have to remember.