Intensity & Frequency - Part 3 of Anabolic Muscle Building Factors
In the previous article, we discussed the concepts of adaptation & progressive overload, and how virtually everything about building muscle revolves around these two principles…
Today, the topics are intensity & frequency, two other “concepts” that are highly “anabolic” in nature, meaning that they can have a significant impact on muscle growth.
Intensity seems to be a very hot topic over the past few years. Proponents of low volume, high intensity training swear by raising the intensity of your workouts, while reducing overall volume. On the other side, traditionalists prefer lower intensity workouts to higher volume.
What is workout intensity?
Intensity is defined as the amount of effort you exert in a given period of time. Another term for intensity is “perceived exertion”. This simply means how you feel while working out. If you feel like you are working out very hard, then your intensity is high. If you feel like you’re having a light workout, then your intensity is light.
Intensity can be measured by the amount of work that you complete within a certain timeframe. So, if you’re lifting 200 lbs on the bench press, and you do 10 reps over a course of 30 seconds, then your intensity for that particular set is: 200 x 10 = 2000 lbs / 30 seconds = 66.7 lbs per second.
Many people argue that in order to elicit the greatest muscle building response, you should workout with 100% maximum intensity. Usually, what they mean by this is taking a set to complete failure.
Although working out at a high level of intensity is beneficial, taking a set to failure may not be. Basically, you don’t HAVE to take a set to the point of failure…
Read the rest of “Part 3: Anabolic Muscle Building Factors” Here…