What is Intensity?
Intensity can be thought of as 2 things how hard you think you are training and how hard you are actually training.
In simplicity they are defined as Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and absolute Intensity (AI) which is how close you are to your Rep Max and closeness to your 1 Rep Max (1RM)
The reason I defined it as how hard you think your training and how hard your actually training is because it’s difficult to assess how hard you are training.
Unless you have lifted your 1RM or taken a set to failure where you can’t complete one more rep. You may not be training as hard as you think.
It also differs depending on whether you are training with compound exercises as compound exercises are tougher to hit failure on as they cause a lot of stress to your neural and respiratory system.
So RPE is not just dependant on the absolute intensity but also the type of exercise.
In addition to these factors there are methods of going beyond your Rep Max or failure point using different methods.
In going beyond failure you will increase your RPE as well because these sets are tough and especially on a compound movement. You will know your working.
Intensity is important but it’s also important to know that you are actually training intense.
The reason intensity is important is because the more intensity you create in your workouts the greater the recovery time.
How you divide your workouts into body parts or sections of the body is important. The smaller muscle groups are also very important to consider in the design of a program.
The greater the intensity the less days per week you can train an exercise or body part and also the less number of times you can train.
If you are taking sets to the repetition maximum it takes a lot longer to recovery than if you take your sets to 1 to 2 reps shy of failure.
How long recovery takes is individual and based on sleeping, eating and alternative activities outside of your workouts.
What is the best program?
That can’t be answered unless there is more specific information such as goal, training experience, food intake, work activity and sleep time and quality.
Conclusion
I believe you first need to experience failure and then know your 1RM before you can give a number for your RPE.
You may think your training hard because your sweating and breathing hard but you may not be training as hard as you think.
It’s rare to be too intense but it can be the alternative problem. Too many sets to failure and too many workouts per week. This can also hinder progress.
Make sure your training intensity is high enough before you assess that a program doesn’t work.
A program only works as hard as you work hard.
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