The Lee Method™️

My 5x week progressive overload training program that gave me my life back and reminded me who the f*ck I am

Hi everyone!!! After probably around 350+ DM’s and comments on Instagram, I’m so excited to finally share with you The Lee Method™️!

5.30.26, the morning I married my soulmate Jack, feeling beautiful and strong, inside and out.

The Lee Method™️ is my progressive overload training regimen that I developed to get into the best shape of my life.

By following this plan, I gained 2 pounds of muscle and lost 1 pound of body fat in three months. I am toned for sure—but that’s not always an indicator of health. You know what is? How I feel—and I feel freaking amazing. Sustained energy every single day. I jump out of bed at 5 in the morning without an alarm. I sleep soundly through the night. I don’t have a 3 PM energy slump, and I am fueling my body with beautiful, protein-rich foods (and still having ice cream every night!)

How I show up in the gym lays the foundation for how I feel about my life. I’ve never felt so confident and capable, strong and sexy. I truly believe that how we feel about ourselves radiates outward, sending ripples through every facet of our lives. Choosing to invest in ourselves spills over into our work, our relationships, our friendships, and our creativity. And for me, it all starts in the gym.

My plan has made me feel amazing, and I want to help other women feel amazing too.

The results speak for themselves. Left: September 2024, right before I started lifting. Right: May 2026, 19 months into using weights, 3 months into using The Lee Method™️

My plan utilizes progressive overload training, the best way to build muscle. Progressive overload is the only way to keep building muscle—without it, you plateau. Most people, especially women, do strength training totally wrong (if they even do it at all!): they stick to 2 to 8 pound weights for life out of fear of getting “bulky,” and never increase them.

What is progressive overload training?

Progressive overload training involves gradually increasing weights, reps, or sets over time to build muscle, improve endurance, and prevent plateaus.

Why we lift

I feel incredibly strong, and my posture has never been better (yes, even as a 200HR yoga certified teacher). Reaching for the groceries from the backseat of my car at odd angles—carrying them blocks to and from my apartment—has never been easier. My arms are as toned as they’ve ever been, and wearing a bikini doesn’t require a second thought.

But wait… muscles aren’t just for vanity; they are literally saving our lives.

As soon as women turn 30, their muscle density begins to decline¹, with the body losing up to 3-5% of its muscle mass per decade. This sets the path for a plethora of pain and diseases down the road. I believe that maintaining lean muscle mass, especially as a woman approaching her 40’s, is the single most powerful defense against the impending age-related decline in metabolism², bone density³, and hormonal health⁴. This ensures we enter midlife resilient, metabolically active, and completely independent, without needing help to lift the groceries at fifty-seven.

In other words, building muscle is one of the best things we can do (that’s in our power) to help us live longer, live stronger, and avoid much of the disease and ailments that come with age.

Getting older is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to suck.

My best friend and I said we wanted to be our strongest in our mid-thirties—and I am proud to report that goal has come to fruition through steady, disciplined hours in the gym.

Posture is everything! I equate the best posture of my life, which I have now without thinking, to progressive overload training.

What is The Lee Method™️?

A complete progressive overload training program you can do at home or in the gym. It entails five active training days per week: four days of strength, one day of cardio, and two full days of rest, ideally back-to-back.

Who am I?!

I’m Lee Tilghman, and I’m a wellness lover and practitioner who has been obsessed with wellness for 18 years. I am not a certified personal trainer, nutritionist, or doctor—I'm a lady who got really, really into progressive overload after taking a long break from being in touch with the side of herself that loves movement and athleticism. I’ve done a lot of research (and a lot of trial and error) along the way. Everything in this post is my own experience, on my own body. Please check with your own doctor before starting anything new, especially if you have any injuries or pre-existing conditions.

Let’s talk about body recomp

Body recomposition—the process of losing body fat while simultaneously building or maintaining muscle—is becoming increasingly popular as people recognize one of the biggest downsides of rapid weight loss without strength training. With the rise of GLP-1 medications, it’s become more obvious that losing weight often means losing muscle, too, if you’re not actively working on building it. (I’m seeing so much online about “Ozempic face”, but this also speaks to the broader loss of lean tissue across the body.) Body recomposition asks a different question entirely: not “How much do you weigh?” but “What is your body actually made of?” The goal isn’t just a smaller body; it’s a healthier ratio of body fat to lean mass.

Put simply, body recomposition is the process of gaining muscle and losing fat. You do this by strength training, keeping protein high, and a balanced diet near your maintenance calories, or slightly below, depending on your goals.

Now, let’s get to the workout!

The Lee Method™️

You Will Need

• a wide range of dumbbells

• a workout bench

• a yoga mat

Keep In Mind

• Keep track of your progress every day so you know when to progress. Note how many reps, how many pounds, and how it felt. I’ve built a Notion page to track your reps, weights, and progress, and you can use it too.

  

  Track your progress with my free Notion page

• While going through my program, if you’re not sure what a movement is, Google it, watch a YouTube Short to see form, then film yourself doing it and compare form. Google is your friend! Do not let a lack of knowledge stop you from doing this! If you’re an experienced athlete, jump right in!

• Try to get your two full rest days back-to-back. I truly believe two consecutive rest days signal to the brain to let you relax, allow the muscles to double-recover, and that way we are pumped and ready to GO by Monday morning!

• Remember, this is a progressive overload training program. That means, each week you need to:

  • Increase Load: Add more weight.

  • Increase Volume: Add more sets or reps.

  • Increase Time Under Tension: Slow your tempo.

  • Decrease Rest: Shorten rest between sets. [1, 2]

  You decide the ways you want to challenge yourself, but don’t stay stalled (unless you are pregnant or are being told to by a medical professional)

• DELOAD WEEK: It is imperative to take a deload week every 4-12 weeks of training or whenever your body is showing clear signs of deep fatigue. On deload week, you’re still doing the program, but only at about 30-50% of what you were lifting the week prior. For instance, I deloaded on week 10 and dropped my chest presses from 25 to 10 pounds that week.

• RETURNING FROM DELOAD: The following week after deload, I picked back up to what I was doing before, or even slightly above, because I’d gotten proper rest!

Above all, know this: a lot of women are afraid of lifting heavy. They may feel like they need a fancy gym membership, a personal trainer, be afraid of getting hurt, or that they must be an “athlete” to get started. And to this I say: Do not let the fear of doing it perfectly stop you from doing it at all. Obviously, listen to your body and work on form, but just get started, don’t stay in fear.

Quick “which weight to start at” key: New to this? Start with a weight where the last rep of each set is hard. Already an experienced athlete? Use a weight where the last 2 reps are hard. Been at it a while? Push to failure by the last set.

Monday: Upper Body

1. Dumbbell chest press — 3x10 @ 25 lbs

2. One arm row (each side) — 3x10 @ 30 lbs

3. Overhead tricep extension — 3x12 @ 15 lbs

4. Bicep curl — 3x10 @ 15 lbs

5. Rear delt raise — 3x10-11 @ 10 lbs

6. Lat raise — 3x10 @ 10 lbs

7. Overhead crunches — 3x10 @ 30 lbs

Tuesday: Lower Body

1. Romanian dead lift — 3x12 @ 50 lbs

2. Bulgarian split squats — 3x11 @ 50 lbs

3. Weighted hip thrusts — 3x12 @ 50 lbs

4. Step-ups — 3x11 @ 50 lbs

5. Squats — 3x11 @ 44 lbs

6. Side plank hip thrusts — 1 min each side

7. Weighted glute bridge — 1:10 hold with 60 lbs on hips

Wednesday: Upper Body

1. Renegade rows — 3x20 @ 30 lbs

2. Diagonal dumbbell press — 3x8-10 @ 25 lbs

3. Tricep kickbacks — 3x10 @ 15 lbs

4. Rear delt raises — 3x10-11 @ 10 lbs

5. Lat raises — 3x10 @ 10 lbs

6. Serving platter — 3x10 @ 10 lbs

7. Dead bugs — 3x10 @ 15 lbs

Thursday: Lower Body

1. Squats — 3x10 @ 44 lbs

2. Romanian dead lift — 3x10 @ 30 lbs

3. Reverse lunges (each side) — 3x7-8 @ 30 lbs

4. Leg curl — 3x10 @ 50 lbs

5. Calf raises — high reps/time-based (I aim for 1:10) @ 60 lbs

Friday: Cardio

Sprints. I love to do my sprints outside on the piers, but you can also use a bike or an elliptical machine. Short bursts of 80-100% effort sprints are not only time-efficient, but it gives us all the cardiovascular health benefits without spiking cortisol. This method is based on the advice of Dr. Stacy Sims.

• Warm up 5-10 minutes (jog)

• 8 sets of :25 seconds 80-100% effort sprints

• 1 minute of full recovery in between

• Then you’re done!

But wait, there’s more.

PROTEIN: If your goal is to get lean and build muscle, diet is important! While doing progressive overload training, I made adjustments to prioritize protein, aiming to get roughly 105-120 grams per day, with my average being around 115g per day. This is on par with Dr. Stacy Sims’ recommended 0.7 to 1.1 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily.

WALKING: Throughout this process, I also made sure to hit at least 10,000 steps per day, even on rest days. Undoubtedly, hitting this daily target kept my system working beautifully, and these long daily walks (sometimes short and broken into spurts, but most often I do 7K in the morning, 3k in the afternoon) have become my favorite way to clear my head before the day starts.

MEAL TIMING: As soon as I started lifting heavy, I noticed an increased need to eat a little something in the morning after my walks and before my strength training session. Most often, I enjoyed a piece of fruit or a piece of toast with butter (or a Dr Natazia zu Stolberg banana muffin) to give me energy, then enjoyed a full protein-forward breakfast of either my protein pancakes or 3 scrambled eggs and toast immediately after completing my workout.

If you have any questions, let me know. I’m so excited to share my routine, and I can’t wait to hear how it goes for you.

With love and dumbbells,

1. https://womenshealth.gov/sarcopenia

2. https://www.massgeneral.org/news/article/why-muscle-mass-matters-and-how-to-keep-it

3. https://functionalmedicinecoaching.org/podcast/stacy-sims-108/

4. https://lifestylemedicine.stanford.edu/strength-training-during-perimenopause/