diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f039e06a2b..8f29d01ec1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 - Breaking change: Widget.notify and App.notify now return None https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/3275
 - App.unnotify is now private (renamed to App._unnotify) https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/3275
 - `Markdown.load` will now attempt to scroll to a related heading if an anchor is provided https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/3244
+- `ProgressBar` explicitly supports being set back to its indeterminate state https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/3286
 
 ## [0.36.0] - 2023-09-05
 
diff --git a/src/textual/_types.py b/src/textual/_types.py
index 03f83f619d..b1ad7972f3 100644
--- a/src/textual/_types.py
+++ b/src/textual/_types.py
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ def post_message(self, message: "Message") -> bool:
         ...
 
 
+class UnusedParameter:
+    """Helper type for a parameter that isn't specified in a method call."""
+
+
 SegmentLines = List[List["Segment"]]
 CallbackType = Union[Callable[[], Awaitable[None]], Callable[[], None]]
 """Type used for arbitrary callables used in callbacks."""
diff --git a/src/textual/types.py b/src/textual/types.py
index b768c424c4..024d388f24 100644
--- a/src/textual/types.py
+++ b/src/textual/types.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
     CallbackType,
     IgnoreReturnCallbackType,
     MessageTarget,
+    UnusedParameter,
     WatchCallbackType,
 )
 from .actions import ActionParseResult
@@ -29,5 +30,6 @@
     "MessageTarget",
     "NoActiveAppError",
     "RenderStyles",
+    "UnusedParameter",
     "WatchCallbackType",
 ]
diff --git a/src/textual/widgets/_progress_bar.py b/src/textual/widgets/_progress_bar.py
index 617d390892..ec8c1b22cb 100644
--- a/src/textual/widgets/_progress_bar.py
+++ b/src/textual/widgets/_progress_bar.py
@@ -8,16 +8,19 @@
 
 from rich.style import Style
 
-from textual.geometry import clamp
-
+from .._types import UnusedParameter
 from ..app import ComposeResult, RenderResult
 from ..containers import Horizontal
+from ..geometry import clamp
 from ..reactive import reactive
 from ..renderables.bar import Bar as BarRenderable
 from ..timer import Timer
 from ..widget import Widget
 from ..widgets import Label
 
+UNUSED = UnusedParameter()
+"""Sentinel for method signatures."""
+
 
 class Bar(Widget, can_focus=False):
     """The bar portion of the progress bar."""
@@ -276,7 +279,6 @@ class ProgressBar(Widget, can_focus=False):
     """The total number of steps associated with this progress bar, when known.
 
     The value `None` will render an indeterminate progress bar.
-    Once `total` is set to a numerical value, it cannot be set back to `None`.
     """
     percentage: reactive[float | None] = reactive[Optional[float]](None)
     """The percentage of progress that has been completed.
@@ -398,6 +400,7 @@ def advance(self, advance: float = 1) -> None:
             ```py
             progress_bar.advance(10)  # Advance 10 steps.
             ```
+
         Args:
             advance: Number of steps to advance progress by.
         """
@@ -406,30 +409,28 @@ def advance(self, advance: float = 1) -> None:
     def update(
         self,
         *,
-        total: float | None = None,
-        progress: float | None = None,
-        advance: float | None = None,
+        total: None | float | UnusedParameter = UNUSED,
+        progress: float | UnusedParameter = UNUSED,
+        advance: float | UnusedParameter = UNUSED,
     ) -> None:
         """Update the progress bar with the given options.
 
-        Options only affect the progress bar if they are not `None`.
-
         Example:
             ```py
             progress_bar.update(
                 total=200,  # Set new total to 200 steps.
-                progress=None,  # This has no effect.
+                progress=50,  # Set the progress to 50 (out of 200).
             )
             ```
 
         Args:
-            total: New total number of steps (if not `None`).
-            progress: Set the progress to the given number of steps (if not `None`).
-            advance: Advance the progress by this number of steps (if not `None`).
+            total: New total number of steps.
+            progress: Set the progress to the given number of steps.
+            advance: Advance the progress by this number of steps.
         """
-        if total is not None:
+        if not isinstance(total, UnusedParameter):
             self.total = total
-        if progress is not None:
+        if not isinstance(progress, UnusedParameter):
             self.progress = progress
-        if advance is not None:
+        if not isinstance(advance, UnusedParameter):
             self.progress += advance
diff --git a/tests/test_progress_bar.py b/tests/test_progress_bar.py
index 64b034817d..bc7f799196 100644
--- a/tests/test_progress_bar.py
+++ b/tests/test_progress_bar.py
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def test_update_total():
     assert pb.total == 1000
 
     pb.update(total=None)
-    assert pb.total == 1000
+    assert pb.total is None
 
     pb.update(total=100)
     assert pb.total == 100
@@ -119,6 +119,15 @@ def test_update():
     assert pb.progress == 50
 
 
+def test_go_back_to_indeterminate():
+    pb = ProgressBar()
+
+    pb.total = 100
+    assert pb.percentage == 0
+    pb.total = None
+    assert pb.percentage is None
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     ["show_bar", "show_percentage", "show_eta"],
     [