How progression and deloads work

Mettle uses double progression: work up through the rep range at a given load, and when you top it, the load goes up and the reps restart at the bottom of the range.

• Increments are real: a 45 lb bar, 2.5 lb change plates, 5 lb dumbbell jumps. Mettle does not prescribe a weight you cannot build.
• Your own feedback counts. Too light, just right, or too heavy after a set feeds directly into the next prescription.
• Weekly volume is accumulated per muscle across the whole week against a landmark appropriate to your experience, so a six-day split cannot quietly double your chest volume.

Deloads

A deload lands every fifth training week, counted from weeks you actually trained rather than weeks on the calendar. A three-week layoff does not fast-forward you into recovery, and regenerating your program does not reset the cycle.