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Intensity

165kg × 10reps
165 kg × 10 reps on the 4×4 Bar

Preamble

I trained for some 15 years using HIT (High Intensity Training) - it didn't work. From this I learned that having a rigid, religious training philosophy is a bad thing. You see, pretty much all HITers are fanatical in their belief that HIT 'is the way'. That being the case everybody else (non-HITers) must be a fools.

HIT as a principle is fine, just as volume as a principle is fine. However turning it into a cult is a bad thing.

Its the same in life, as a person becomes a cultist they lose the ability to critically evaluate the subject, indeed they lose the ability to critically evaluate a whole raft of subjects...

Relative Intensity

Imagine triplets, they look exactly alike except they are different in size. A is the smallest, C is the biggest. They can all deadlift exactly the same max of 100 kg. However if they take 80 kg lifter A does 2 reps, B does 5 and C does 9...

rep no. 1 2
weight used 80 80
weight that could have been used 100 80
intensity (Nautilus def.) 80 100
A
rep no. 1 2 3 4 5
weight used 80 80 80 80 80
weight that could have been used 100 95 90 85 80
intensity (Nautilus def.) 80 84.2 88.9 94.1 100
B
rep no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
weight used 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80
weight that could have been used 100 97.5 95 92.5 90 87.5 85 82.5 80
intensity (Nautilus def.) 80 82.1 84.2 86.5 88.9 91.4 94.1 97 100
C

This is because although lifter A has the smallest amount of muscle mass he has the highest neuromuscular efficiency. Thus he is using the same amount of muscle mass to lift the 100 kg as B and C. However this amount of muscle mass is a greater percentage of the total amount of muscle he has available for deadlifting, so he has less in reserve for subsequent reps.

For illustrative purposes I am assuming that with each rep the strength of the lifter decreases in a linear fashion. Taking the Nautilus definition of intensity to be the percentage of momentary ability1 it follows that the intensity of each rep can be easily calculated. Thus on the 1st rep each lifter could have lifted 100 kg but in fact only lifted 80 kg thus his intensity is 80%. On the last rep each generates 100% intensity.

Each lifter is also making an inroad into his strength with each rep. Lifter A makes a massive 20% inroad per rep, lifter B 5% and lifter C 2.5% (SuperSlowers define intensity in these terms, i.e. inroad per unit time). The total inroad in each case is 20%. There is however an unspecified amount of inroad after the last rep. For example if lifter A tried a 3rd rep he might only generate 60 kg of force, therefore the inroad from his 2 rep set would be 40% - SuperSlowers call this 'inroad after the last rep' effect2.

Absolute Intensity

There is a general suggestion on reading Nautilus3 and SuperSlow stuff that even if low reps weren't supposedly dangerous then there wouldn't be enough inroad, especially with singles.

However, I find that with a lot of the singles I do I am momentarily incapacitated with a lack of strength on completing the lift. This is because a single max effort uses as many fibres as possible, more than is possible than in any other style....

One might counter that it would be better doing reps because one could get the same inroad and intensity with a lower weight and thus stress the connective tissues less. But, the Nautilus definition makes no distinction between relative and absolute muscle fibre usage.

rep no. 1 2 3 4 5
weight used 100 50 25 12.5 6.25
weight that could have been used 100 50 25 12.5 6.25
intensity (Nautilus def.) 100 100 100 100 100
D

Imagine that one of the triplets has a bar that magically reduces its weight in proportion to the strength loss per rep. On the 1st rep he pushes 100 kg, this involves 100% intensity. On the 2nd rep he pushes 50 kg, this is also 100% intensity and so on. Each rep is 100% intensity but the first rep is of greater intensity in terms of absolute amount of muscle fibres. In other words on the last rep the intensity might be said to be to be only 6.25% as it only involved 6.25% the fibres of the 1st rep - the remaining 93.75% of the fibres being too exhausted to participate. (In this table I've shown a form of exponential decrease in strength.)

If a lifter took 80% of his 1 RM (rep max) none of his reps could involve anything but 80% of his fibres.... he would never exceed 80%. Thus, for example, a 90% of 1RM lift would always involve more muscle fibres than an 80% lift. A 1 RM lift would be the only way to involve 100% of all possible fibres in one go.

In HIT mythology the last rep of a set taken to maximum is defined as 100% intensity, however it is clear that it doesn't involves 100% of the muscle fibres (or perhaps more accurately myosin-actin interaction) that the nervous system could involve if the muscles were fresh.... only a 1 RM would do this. Similarly the notion that one ought to pre-exhaust a muscle so that a light weight 'feels' heavy4 belies the actual physical difference in number of fibres used to lift heavy and light weights.

Thus it seems that the more usual definition of intensity (weight compared to 1 RM) used by weightlifters is the more useful when it comes to strength training.

The Russian Way

Unlike HITers who only think of intensity in terms of 0 or 100% the Russians utilise different intensities for different effects. Roman5 explains that beginners should concentrate on muscle mass and the strengthening of the motor support apparatus. As such beginners and low class athletes do not use maximum possible repetitions, instead they lift 2-3 time less. For example suppose a weight could be lifted for a 12 rep max, it would instead be lifted for 4-6 reps but for multiple sets. A 12 rep max would not allow the athlete to do sufficient volume and instead induce nervous fatigue.

To confuse things further the Russians classify Absolute Intensity as the average weight lifted (tonnage divided by number of lifts) and classify Relative Intensity as % of 1RM - where 1RM is not competition max but an unstressed training max. By unstressed I mean a max that can be achieved with minimal 'psyching up'.6

As lifters become stronger they need to become accustomed to greater muscle tension which is achieved by multiple repetitions along with 1-3RM.

Roman categorises intensities thusly;

90-100% intensities develop strength. 80-95% develops strength-speed, because they allow a heavy weight to be used but not so heavy that speed and technique are neglected (known as a complex method).

However systematic training with such heavy weights fatigues the CNS (central nervous system) especially with the big lifts. It is also necessary to selectively develop speed and strength whilst avoiding monotonous (constantly repeated/same) loading (to avoid habituation/accommodation) by using weights from 40-120%.

For example to develop speed the lifter uses special assistance exercises where the amplitude of the movement is greater than the competition lift. For example the powerlifter might do deadlifts whilst standing on blocks - the amplitude of the move is greater than the regulation height deadlift so the speed (particularly where the standard deadlift starts) is faster than the standard deadlift height.

To develop strength the lifter must use heavier weights, however constantly hitting the classical lifts leads to monotonous overload and CNS fatigue. A lifter can instead use bigger lifts (than the competition lifts) for example a weightlifter can do back squats. A powerlifter might do half squats (partials), band pulls, board presses. He can do these lifts with larger weights, for more volume and with less nervous expenditure than the classical lifts. He can of course also hit these lifts as hard as the classical lifts but avoid monotonous overload by rotating the different special exercises.

Generally speaking when calculating tonnages the Russians only look at 60% and above of 1RM. The Russians also don't look at intensities in terms of 'percentage of momentary effort' they use variations of % of 1RM.

These different loads are thus often categorised something like this;

  1. Maximal Effort Method (ME): Maximal loads, >90% loads.

  2. Submaximal Effort Method (SE): Lifting submaximal loads to near failure, 80-90% loads.

  3. Modified-Repeated Effort Method (RE): Lifting submaximal loads to near failure, <80% loads.

  4. Dynamic Effort Method (DE): Lifting submaximal loads at the highest attainable speed. Load dependent on goal.

References

1 Darden, Ellington The Nautilus Bodybuilding Book Contemporary, p. 48, 1982

2 Francis, Robert Thorough Inroad SuperSlow & Dr Ken HG #30, p. 25, 1994

3 Darden, Ellington Massive Muscles in 10 Weeks Perigee, p. 40, 1987

4 Darden, Ellington The Ellington Darden Interview: Part II HG #12, p. 14, May 1991

5 Roman, R. A. The Training of the Weightlifter Sportivny Press, p. 39-44, 1988

6 Medvedyev, A. S. A System of Multi-Year Training in Weightlifting Sportivny Press 1989

26th September 2023