Intensity???

[benchmaniac2]

When people say increase the intensity, do they mean increasing the amount of reps, decreasing the amount of rest between sets or neither?

Does increasing the intensity help build more mass or strength?

 

[bignate73]

i can increase intensity by cutting any weight you use in half and putting you in a new range of motion or unstable surface. just an example.

there are tons of intensity building practices.....some work endurance, some for hypertrophy, some for strength and power, some for coordination/ new neural pathways.

the muscle doesnt know the difference between an increase in weight, or just a different stimulus. its all about fiber recruitment. know how thats done? nervous system. strong nervous system, strong muscle.

 

[katana]

Your body only will respond to the most difficult thing that it's encountered, everything less than that, your body has already adapted to.

All exercise should be done using a manor ( form, speed of movement, weight, control, ect) that causes the muscle to fatigue to momentary failure. ( if you can do one more rep in good form, you do it.) thats called intensity.

You can use almost anything for an increase in intensity. You can slow or speed up a rep ( within your ability to control, and feel the weight).

You can perform partials and full reps to make the muscle burn more.

You can pause and hold a weight on the most difficult part of the rep.

Always concentrate and focus to make the muscle burn, and pump, ( the more it burns, the better your doing.

Keep pumping bro. E

 

[Valdez]

Intensity is literally defined as a % of your 1 rep max in weight.

When people say increase the intensity they mean, go to actual failure, or go beyond failure, or superset, or grow some fu&*ing balls and stop lifting like a woman.

 

[bignate73]

Intensity is literally defined as a % of your 1 rep max in weight.

When people say increase the intensity they mean, go to actual failure, or go beyond failure, or superset, or grow some fu&*ing balls and stop lifting like a woman.

for traditionalists yes

if you dont stray from a particular exercise, with the same variables. ie flat bench with a straight bar. the 1rm is basically all you can do.

by varying the exercise platform, balance, weight medium, etc though, one can acheive the same intensity level with less weight. still working the same motion but in a different manner. those are intensity builders.

example. if i were to have someone perfect a 1 arm dbell row. they get to where a 1rm max with perfect form is 90lbs. awesome work. how do i overcome that plateau? vary the reps with a lighter weight? continue to try to increase reps? sure....

now how about we change the bench that the person uses out for a stablity ball an make that person stand instead. its still a dbell row right? but now the person has to lighten the load considerably, be concious of balance, alot more proprioception is involved which will increase neuromuscular pathways. have the person do this until adaptation occurs. if that person goes back to the old way of doing dbell rows, on that stable bench, chances are he will be stronger than before. why? because the body doesnt have to concentrate on the other factors that were involved with that unstable surface, now all it has to do is pull.

thats how using lighter weight, with equal or higher intensity, is used to break plateaus.

same can be applied to someone who shoulder presses 90lb dbells on a seated bench. if you sit them at the end of a bench with no back support, that guy is gonna be weak. his body isnt used to this type of movement and wont be able to just pick up the 90s and bang em out. you can literally wreck him with 45s in the same manner that the 90s may have made him feel.

intensity is the apparent feel of an exercise, related to maximum effort. how taxing it is mentally and physically. remember, strength increases are not always the result of muscular gain, the nervous system is the key component. better neuralmuscular control you have, the more you can recruit fibers.

 

[GenetiKing]

Great answer bignate.

 

[HeavyDutyGuy]

I am somewhat of a freak I guess, becuase I have always found that only way I get bigger or stronger is to jack up tthe intensity. This almost always breaks plateaus for me. I have recently experimented witrh BFT and found that some of my greatest gains in strength have come in the two weeks AFTER I did it as my body apparently now how the rest to supercompensare for all that intense training. The "backing down" phase was still harder than most guys normal training- at least in the gym I'm at.

 

[wynnyelle]

Valdez I AM a woman. I lift till my body is screaming for mercy. I go heavy as i can and leave the gym shaky in the legs.

intensity means how difficult it is, i think--pushing to failure, getting past the 'comfort zone' as opposed to just swinging the weight for 10 minutes without really thinking about it. in going to real intensity i have to fight my mind's urge to just quit and you know, do those two or three more reps i thought i couldn't do.

 

[Valdez]

hehe, guess I gotta sleep on the couch for that one...
no disrespect meant, it's still a deeply embeded phrase in american culture that apparently I have not shed.

 

[wynnyelle]

It's okay.