What exactly is intensity ??

[priyanthab]

What exactly is intensity ?? Is it the increase of number of reps,sets,weight or increase of speed ??

[JasonDB]

The % of your one rep max you are lifting. If you can bench 315, not one lbs more for a single 315 is 100% intensity for your bench press, 275 is 87% intensity etc.

[dantheman999]

What exactly is intensity ?? Is it the increase of number of reps,sets,weight or increase of speed ??

Did someone tell you to increase the intensity of your workouts?
They probably meant to lift some heavier weights, cut down the rest periods, and just get jacked up in general. No more easy lifting.

[priyanthab]

The % of your one rep max you are lifting. If you can bench 315, not one lbs more for a single 315 is 100% intensity for your bench press, 275 is 87% intensity etc.

This confuses me. I thought intensity is some thing to do with the speed of workout

[priyanthab]

Did someone tell you to increase the intensity of your workouts?
They probably meant to lift some heavier weights, cut down the rest periods, and just get jacked up in general. No more easy lifting.

Actually I see this work in every article I read and its used in different meaning at different times !! What you said is kind of similar to what I thought though

[oakwood-jones]

I think of it mostly as rest periods, doing the same amount of work in a shorter period of time. Do 8 exercises, 3 sets each over the course of a whole day and I doubt you'd break a sweat, that's not intense. But do the same stuff in a 45min block and it becomes more of a challenge.

[gbrs5]

Not sure at all, but gonna contribute anyways
To me, "intensity" always meant the amount of effort you're putting into the workout. Ok, obviously that's not something you can really calculate. But if you bench 80% of 1RM for 5 reps and then rest 30s before starting the next set, it's more intense than doing 60% of 1RM for the same number of reps and same rest time...it's also more intense than also doing 80% of 1RM for 5 reps, but then rest 2 mins. So to me, stuff like rest time, reps, weights...etc. all contribute to the "intensity."

[JasonDB]

What a word means to you have no relavance on what the word means. Ask anyone who has taken basic courses in college on excersize science what intensity means and they will tell you % of 1 RM for a lift. This is not an abstract notion. It has an exact numerical meaning.

People are getting Mike Mezter's bro-science HIT terminology confused with actual kinesiology terminology.

[JasonDB]

I think of it mostly as rest periods, doing the same amount of work in a shorter period of time. Do 8 exercises, 3 sets each over the course of a whole day and I doubt you'd break a sweat, that's not intense. But do the same stuff in a 45min block and it becomes more of a challenge.

That would be your workload not intensity.

[dantheman999]

What a word means to you have no relavance on what the word means. Ask anyone who has taken basic courses in college on excersize science what intensity means and they will tell you % of 1 RM for a lift. This is not an abstract notion. It has an exact numerical meaning.

People are getting Mike Mezter's bro-science HIT terminology confused with actual kinesiology terminology.

I still think the OP was looking for the bro science answer. Don't get hung up the terminology so much even though you are correct.

[jgreystoke]

What a word means to you have no relavance on what the word means. Ask anyone who has taken basic courses in college on excersize science what intensity means and they will tell you % of 1 RM for a lift. This is not an abstract notion. It has an exact numerical meaning.

People are getting Mike Mezter's bro-science HIT terminology confused with actual kinesiology terminology.

This.


Most of the other stuff is purely subjective, and pretty worthless for planning your program and judging progress.

[Defiant1]

In Exercise science intensity is the percentage of your 1rm you are training with.

In everyday gym talk, it simply means relative "effort" which can include, but is not limited to, the above.

[jgreystoke]

What exactly is intensity ?? Is it the increase of number of reps,sets,weight or increase of speed ??

I still think the OP was looking for the bro science answer. Don't get hung up the terminology so much even though you are correct.

The bro science will only do him good if he knows what the hell he is doing.

If he increases the:

1. Number of reps, that necessarily means a reduction in the weight and hence the actual intensity. Of course muscular endurance is a good end in itself, but so is strength.

2. Number of sets, if it is "sets across" using the same weight for every work set, again a necessary reduction in intensity.

3. Weight, then of course he is increasing the intensity.

4. Speed, he will have to reduce the poundage in some exercises, unless he was using a slow tempo. For some exercises, you just can't go slow. In power clean or snatch or push press, then the more speed you can generate the more poundage you can put up. That generates a lot of power. You actually generate more power pulling a 75kg clean 1.5 meters in 1 second, than pulling a 200kg dead 0.6 meters in 3 seconds.

Power = work/time = (force x distance)/time

And of course the force = mass x acceleration =

75 x 9.8(acceleration due to gravity) = 735 newtons for the above clean

735 x 1.5 = 1102.5 joules of work

divide by 1 = 1102.5 watts, the power generated by the clean.

if you repeat for the dead the work done is 1176 joules, but the power generated is only 392 watts.

Some guys up their dead by concentrating on stuff that is far less systemically exhausting like power cleans and good mornings. That's how Bill Starr set a record in the dead for the 198lb class without regular dead training................. and he wasn't a powerlifter! I guess that he really knew what he was doing

[ironwill2008]

That's how Bill Starr set a record in the dead for the 198lb class without regular dead training................. and he wasn't a powerlifter! I guess that he really knew what he was doing

Ya think?

[mAssholio]

it's grunting when you get your swell on at the gym to let everyone know how jacked and tan you are

[darinaldi]

There is so much misinformation going on in this thread that it's just plain upsetting.

This is intensity:

[training4me]

haha, hillarious.

[bonvec01]

LOL!!! Damn... i was chuckling at the entrance... but the little db made my LOL for real. Just gets funnier as it goes along.


But in all seriousness, I believe that intensity is making every rep count and doing absolutely everything in your power to improve upon your last session.

[JasonDB]

LOL!!! Damn... i was chuckling at the entrance... but the little db made my LOL for real. Just gets funnier as it goes along.


But in all seriousness, I believe that intensity is making every rep count and doing absolutely everything in your power to improve upon your last session.

You don't have deloading phases or periodize your training?

[bonvec01]

You don't have deloading phases or periodize your training?

Sure I do. Deloads are few and far between, but I'm still lifting with the same intensity, just less sets/volume.

And whether I'm training for strength, hypertrophy, whatever, I still make sure that I'm doing all I can to increase the weights or do more reps with the same weights as I used last session.

[JasonDB]

Sure I do. Deloads are few and far between, but I'm still lifting with the same intensity, just less sets/volume.

And whether I'm training for strength, hypertrophy, whatever, I still make sure that I'm doing all I can to increase the weights or do more reps with the same weights as I used last session.

In a deloading phase you intentionally reduce the weights a specific % while using the same # of reps, to allow CNS recovery and adaptation, but doing enough workload to prevent detraining, prior to your next maximum strength phase.

[bonvec01]

In a deloading phase you intentionally reduce the weights a specific % while using the same # of reps, to allow CNS recovery and adaptation, but doing enough workload to prevent detraining, prior to your next maximum strength phase.

Honestly I've tried both ways, and I find that using similar weights for less volume causes me to have to spend less time working back up to the weights I was using.

While dropping weights for same reps may be better for recovery, it just feels like a waste of time and a step in the wrong direction to have to spend a few weeks working back up to my previous weights.

Is there really a right/wrong in this situation? As long as you're not going 100% full throttle 52 weeks a year?

[spider28]

In a deloading phase you intentionally reduce the weights a specific % while using the same # of reps, to allow CNS recovery and adaptation, but doing enough workload to prevent detraining, prior to your next maximum strength phase.

my god dude, you rely are studying dem sports science buks arnt u, im sooooooo gettin negged for bad spelling. But seriously what you read in sport science books are just guidlinespeople learn with experience what works best for them, technicly you are right about the deloading but in practice it might not be the most effective way for some1 else, we are all diffrent

[dinger8]

There is so much misinformation going on in this thread that it's just plain upsetting.

This is intensity:

what a douch bag if that was supposed to be funny it was not it actually kind of pisses me off, and if that was serious who gets that jacked for kick backs GAY

[bonvec01]

what a douch bag if that was supposed to be funny it was not it actually kind of pisses me off, and if that was serious who gets that jacked for kick backs GAY

I feel sorry that you can't laugh at that.

[Defiant1]

There is so much misinformation going on in this thread that it's just plain upsetting.

This is intensity:

Muthafuker is just flat out INSPIRING!!!















WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

[bigbilly69]

What a word means to you have no relavance on what the word means. Ask anyone who has taken basic courses in college on excersize science what intensity means and they will tell you % of 1 RM for a lift. This is not an abstract notion. It has an exact numerical meaning.

People are getting Mike Mezter's bro-science HIT terminology confused with actual kinesiology terminology.

Before you get high and mighty I'd think that you can ask anyone who has taken basic courses in college on exercise science to be able to correctly spell exercise.

[JasonDB]

Before you get high and mighty I'd think that you can ask anyone who has taken basic courses in college on exercise science to be able to correctly spell exercise.

My spelling is quite bad most of the time, no doubt.

[boathead]

The % of your one rep max you are lifting. If you can bench 315, not one lbs more for a single 315 is 100% intensity for your bench press, 275 is 87% intensity etc.

^^^^^

this is often the definition. but often a training article will use intensity to describe a mindset, an attitude, a method of attacking your workout. and there are many ways to amp it up....extra reps, extra sets, less time between sets, power moves, compound exercises...the stuff that drains you and makes you crawl into the fetal position.

[oakwood-jones]

That would be your workload not intensity.

Nah, what i'm saying is keep the workload exactly the same, but decrease the time it takes you to do it. That would be upping the intensity, no?