Well, I personally don’t like to use a “forced” progression (meaning that you have to add weight at each workout).
The fact is that except for beginners, the average weekly rate of strength gain is much lower than even a small increase in load.
For experienced intermediate lifters, strength can be gained at a rate of around 0.5 to 1% per week. Advanced will be even lower at 0.25 - 0.5%.
Let’s say that you squatted 315 x 5 (for example) a 0.5 to 1% rate of gain, this means that you are 1.5 to 3lbs stronger for a set of 5.
If you go up to 320 right away you rate of increase in resistance is higher than your rate of strength gain.
You will be able to sustain that for a few weeks, but you will hit the wall pretty fast.
At first, you might think that it’s “working” because you compensate the deficit in strength gain by getting your sets closer to failure or using worse form/a shortened range of motion (or cheating).
For example, maybe your 315 x 5 was done with 3 reps left in the tank… so the next week you might be able to get 320 x 5 but with only 1-2 reps in the tank… it doesn’t mean that you got 5lbs stronger though.
Think about it: adding even a small 5lbs per week on a lift will lead to a yearly increase of 255lbs… 510lbs more every two years, etc.
What I prefer to do for long-term progression is to use the triple progression model.
Step 1. Pick a reg range (8 to 10, 6 to 8, 4 to 6 or 2-4), I suggest starting at 8-10 for a longer progression.
Step 2. Select a number of sets to be done for that rep range (let’s say 4 work sets for the sake of our example)
Step 3. Select a starting weight for each lift, a weight that you will use for all of your work sets.
Step 4. The goal is to be able to do all of your work sets (4 in our example) with the same weight,at the top of the selected range (“10” for the 8-10 range).
When you can complete all four sets at the top of the range with the same weight with proper form you are allowed to add 5-10lbs at you next session.
e.g. if you get 315 x 10, 315 x 10, 315 x 9, 315 x 7 you are not allowed to add weight
If at the next session you get 315 x 10, 315 x 10, 315 x 10, 315 x 8, you have progressed, but not enough yet to justify adding weight.
Then at the next workout you are able to do 315 x 10 for all 4 sets… you can now move up to 320 or 325 and start the process again.
Step 5. When you stall or regress for 2 consecutive workout (you cannot add at least 1 total rep over all of your work sets) you switch to the next rep range. If you were at 8-10, you move to 6-8 and start the process again with 5lbs more.
Step 6. When you again hit a plateau with that zone you move to the next zone (moving from 6-8 to 4-6).
Etc.
One you hit a plateau for 2-4 you either take a week off and start over at 8-10 or you can go back up to 8-10 with new exercises.