Your buddy gets back from the gym and he’s pumped. He’s hi fiving strangers and yelling in sheer exuberance. Interrupting him as he fixes his eight raw eggs protein shake, you ask him why he’s so excited. “I just worked out at an insane workout intensity,” he screams, hi fiving himself. What is he talking about? What are you supposed to understand from this? Does he mean he lifted a lot of weight, that he worked out close to his own maximal workout capacities, that he did a ton of reps, or that he focused extremely intensely on his form during each rep? What does ‘intensity’ mean in a workout context?
Let’s look at the first likely suspect, lifting a lot of weight. Say your buddy squatted 200lbs. Is this intense? Does this mean he worked out hard? That would depend, wouldn’t it, on his own limits. Are we talking about his own weight relative to the weights he lifted? 200lbs lifted by a 140lb is more impressive than 200lbs lifted by a 250lb man. Right? Or does it not still depend on each man’s strength? There are too many variables for this to mean anything, so no, intensity can’t mean just how much weight was lifted.
Let’s add some context, and go to proposition numero duo, working out close to your maximal lifting capacity. If your buddy 1 rep max is 200lbs (the most he can lift on one rep), and he did four sets at 100lbs, you can say he worked out at 50 intensity, which is less intense than if he had done 4 reps of 150lbs, which would have been 75 . Now we’re making more sense. The pros of this method is that it’s easy to figure out the intensity level you’re working at. However, there’s a problem. All is not well in Arcadia. Some people will work out at 85 and do eight sets, though the last few reps are grinded out and technique is rough. An Olympic lifter, working on form, might work at 85 , but only do three sets, focusing on form. Which is more intense: 8 reps at 85 , or 3 reps at 85 ?
What about intensity of effort? Some people, especially those who love HIT (high intensity training, love to train to failure. Doing reps until you can’t lift anymore is considered 100 effort. With some practice and skill you can figure out how many reps you have left till failure, and figure out your rating of perceived effort (RPE). So say 10 reps is failure, that’s 100 . If you do 9 reps, and are 1 away from failure, your RPE is at 90 . While this works, you need to train extensively and be familiar with your own failure points. Many people don’t train to failure, so this method is of limited utility.
Finally, you can choose to train your neural system, your muscular system, or your metabolic system depending on how many reps you do. The intensity level for each depends on how much you focus on them. Also, some people can train incredibly intensely with light weights by focusing ferociously on their form—to some, this is a form of intense training all by itself.
So when it comes to ‘intense’ training, what are we talking about? How much you can lift? How much you lift relative to your max? How close you come to failure, or which system you are trying to focus on? Each of these methods is valid, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. So the next time your buddy comes roaring into the kitchen, exulting in his latest workout, don’t assume you know what he means by an ‘intense workout’. Ask him. Because he might be talking about how much time he spent flexing in front of the mirror, and not about lifting weights or whatever else you might assume to begin with.
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