Intensity... how do YOU define it?

[beerbar]

Originally Posted by 2nd_chance

I have an odd habit. I find one song that gets me going and I lock in and listen to it over and over. I once listened to the same song for 4 workouts in a row LOL. Gets me in the zone....

I have been listening to the same 3 songs on the way to the gym for over two years. It helps me set the tone and shake out the cob webs from work. My iPod hasn't changed ever.

Intense to me is walking out to my car and having to hold the door when I get in or else I fall from jello legs.

[dutter]

is 95% mental focus...no matter how you get there

[Fiend_73]

Imo its not limited to end reps or certain sets, its a way of life.

Its inwardly planning and preparing what you need to do to be the best you can be and then pushing past all obstacles to get there.
Day in, day out, every rep, every set, every meal eaten, years on end.

Its a land where complacency and weakness are not an option, ever.

[Old-Time-Lifter]

Originally Posted by double gonad

^^ This is the textbook definition, used by successful strength and conditioning coaches. Intensity refers to the weight you are lifting as a percentage of you 1 rep maximum.

ie, my max bench is 300# - I'm benching 275# for max reps (~92% of your 1RM). That's your intensity.

Doing tabata overhead squats until you pass out might be hard, etc - but it's not "technically" an intense workout.

I go with the textbook definition...

I agree doing marathon sets is not in my book intensity.........

[greyhair]

Originally Posted by Arlecchino

% 1RM.

'feels hard' or 'I'm tired' are far too subjective.

x2
Intensity == % 1RM
Volume == Sum of the (Reps x Weight) lifted

[LWW]

while a higher level of intensity goes into % of max, it's silly to think you can't have a higher intensity training with a lower % of max, since as you approch your max reps even with a lower % your still hitting MAX efforts.

A very simple gauge to use is by doing better every session, yelling, puking, urgency, ect. does not gauge intensity, in fact all of that can desrupt achieveing your highest levels of intensity possible in weight training.

[JC480]

My shirt is drenched in sweat, I have the 1000 foot stare and I feel fatigue beyond my muscle and bones and into my nervous system. I'm ready to leave the gym cause there ain't nothin left in me.

[bikes4u]

OP--on leg days if you can't walk your good. On chest day if you feel like you've pulled something your good. On back day if you have to hold your shoulders back your good.

[Fit_After_40]

You got me curious on this one Dave so I looked up how it is defined in the dictionary:

1 : the quality or state of being intense; especially : extreme degree of strength, force, energy, or feeling

There are many different ways to define it. That is why I think you get many different viewpoints from both a pure numbers view and from an energy/feeling view.

[LWW]

Originally Posted by Fit_After_40

You got me curious on this one Dave so I looked up how it is defined in the dictionary:

1 : the quality or state of being intense; especially : extreme degree of strength, force, energy, or feeling

There are many different ways to define it. That is why I think you get many different viewpoints from both a pure numbers view and from an energy/feeling view.

in training it's not about feeling, it's about doing, you can show intensity in training, doesnot mean your really increasing it.

[rocketman44]

It looks as though we're arriving at two conclusions: Intensity as an attitude/mental state, and as a measureable component of training (based on percentage of 1 rep maximum).

This, from Wiki: "Three important variables of strength training are intensity, volume and frequency. Intensity refers to the amount of work required to achieve the activity, and is proportional to the mass of the weights being lifted. Volume refers to the number of muscles worked, exercises, sets and reps during a single session. Frequency refers to how many training sessions are performed per week."

Not that Wiki's the final word, but it seems that intensity is a measured component, expressed in percentage of 1RM. The article has a chart that categorizes an Intensity 80-100% of 1RM as "High".

[ctgblue]

when I unrack a weight and my mind says "you cannot lift this, you've got no more reps left, you don't really NEED this set, and I just do it anyway"

[Fit_After_40]

Originally Posted by LWW

in training it's not about feeling, it's about doing, you can show intensity in training, doesnot mean your really increasing it.

Completely disagree here. Somedays I feel the intensity just out of pure anticipation before I even get to the gym. Cannot wait to get to the lifting and that spills over into my workout.

Some days, for whatever reason (maybe stress at work, feeling tired, etc.) you feel a little less enthusiastic. It does not mean you do not go and do the work anyway.

But how you feel can play into it.

[Byakuya]

I sometimes wonder about the balance between intensity and overtraining. I usually try to go pretty intense. But I'm worried that if I go TOO intense during my workout, I'll be overdoing it and I'll end up doing more harm than good. Am I just confused about the concept of overtraining? Is it more about the length of the workout than the intensity?

[freediverchuck]

To me intensity is EVERYTHING that goes into an increase in workload over my previous workout session. Intensity is everchanging......fail to increase your intensity and you will fail to continue seeing results.

[ejthomp]

Originally Posted by JC480

My shirt is drenched in sweat, I have the 1000 foot stare and I feel fatigue beyond my muscle and bones and into my nervous system. I'm ready to leave the gym cause there ain't nothin left in me.

There we go! That's about what I was going to say.

Walking out of the gym with jello legs on leg day, sweat dripping off the nose.....

I recently had a woman remark, "Are you okay? I never sweat like that when I lift." My reply, "I don't think you are doing it right then....."

That made me look around.... She is right, most of the people in the gym are not perspiring much at all.

[2nd_chance]

Originally Posted by bikes4u

OP--on leg days if you can't walk your good. On chest day if you feel like you've pulled something your good. On back day if you have to hold your shoulders back your good.

These things are all true bro. Plus I can't get my tie back on nor can I flip my back collar on my shirt down (workout at noon).

[JOHN GARGANI]

OP: I blew up my silly avatar picture: but notice the look on my face: THAT is intensity....

[SpadesOfIndia]

Intensity = (Weight x Reps x Sets x Tempo)/break between sets

[Ed_Nauseum]

From Jack Reape's - A Simplified Approach to Powerlifting

---snip---
Intensity is not a grimace and a backwards baseball cap, it is a mathematical formula! That Mathematical formula is based on all the reps you do above about 40-50% of 1RM in a time period, say a month, and what the percent of your 1RM was your average rep. Lets say you benched 330 in your last meet in a shirt. Your best in training raw is 295. Your first month of training you bench once a week and do the following workouts: 205x8x2, 215x8x2, 225x8x2, and 230 x7, 6. Your volume is equal to (205x16)+(215x16)+(225x16)+(230x13)=13,310 lbs. 13310lbs/61 lifts=218.2 lbs. 218.2 lbs/295 lbs=74% average intensity.

[LongLefty]

Seriously..... when the hottest girl in your gym walks by in booty shorts while you're in the middle of a set, and you don't look (for long)

[slainethewarped]

to me its a combination of things, Itsthe level of focus you have its when your completely in tune with the muscle your working and can feel every part of every rep. Its the physical effort, the fact that you are working at your physical boundary, to the point that at the end of your workout you are completely spent. Its about form and quality of rep, theres no momentum everything is controlled.
You are for want of a better term 'in the zone' oblivious to all around you even the weight is distant its just your mind and your muscle.
I think there are two levels of intensity, theres the agressive, focused intensity that most of us achieve on a regular basis, the one where the music and the atmosphere get us pysched up. And theres another almost serene to the casual observer where you are that focused everything else just disappears a state that few achieve and one that i rarely reach but continually strive to.
Back to the music issue it definately helps get me started but to be honest usually i couldn't tell you what music has beenplaying once i get going it just fads into the background

[LWW]

Originally Posted by Fit_After_40

Completely disagree here. Somedays I feel the intensity just out of pure anticipation before I even get to the gym. Cannot wait to get to the lifting and that spills over into my workout.

Some days, for whatever reason (maybe stress at work, feeling tired, etc.) you feel a little less enthusiastic. It does not mean you do not go and do the work anyway.

But how you feel can play into it.

well, I don't disagree with this at all, however I don't believe this has much to do with what I was talking about.

..........but senero 2 has something to do with what I'm getting at, it's about uping the intensity even though the feeling of "amped" "jacked" whatever isn't happening.

On deadlift days I'm at a HIT approach, I start to reach total failure at 11reps in the 320-330lb range, I've hit 330x13 feeliing "amped", I hit 332.5x12 not feeling amped, I matched my intensity, now hitting 320x14 would take the highest level of intensity I've ever had, I went for this over the weekend, (first thing in the morning, not feeling amped-up at all), I only made it to 11reps, I added 2.5lb as quick as I could (I don't believe in drop sets) I told myself 4-more reps, after first rep, I didn't see 3-more......

yet I was able to bring it home and get another 4reps (5-total) the intensity was improved, but 320x14 is still going to be better intensity.

...but feeling "amped-up" "jacked" isn't needed at all, I try not to rely on these feelings, I like to "just do it".

[ctgblue]

Originally Posted by LongLefty

Seriously..... when the hottest girl in your gym walks by in booty shorts while you're in the middle of a set, and you don't look (for long)

sadly, the hottest girl in my gym at 5am was my wife, who works out at home now, she would look great in them, but not the ones who are left now

and yet I go anyway, that must be intense