Exercise Intensity & Volume
Exercise Intensity can be defined as the energy you expend while you are exercising. It is a representation of how hard you are working during your workout. It is often expressed as a % of your maximum effort and can be judged through perceived intensity scales. Exercise Volume refers to the total amount of activity that you performed. It is typically quantified through the amount of repetitions, sets, and frequency.
Higher Intensity Training (HIT) typically involves brief, intense and infrequent bouts of training, whereas High-Volume Training (HVT) involves longer, less-intense bouts of exercising on more days of the week.
Now you are aware of the difference between the two. But what exercise parameters are right for me?
Important Training Principles
Before you make a decision about proper exercise parameters (training volume & intensity) that are suited to your needs and get you closer towards reaching your individual health and fitness goals, you should be aware of certain principles when it comes to exercise training. The two principles covered below will provide you with an increased awareness of what training stimuli your body should be exposed to so that proper physiologically adaptations to training can take place, which ultimately will lead you closer to your goals. This is not an exhaustive list of exercise principles, however will be the ones of focus for the purpose of this article.
Principle of Specificity
An important consideration when it comes to determining appropriate exercise intensity and volume is what kind of bodily adaptations (“gains”) you would like to get from working out. The “Principle of Specificity” is an often under-appreciated concept in the fitness industry. It states that you primarily get better at the specific activity that you are performing and that typically, there is little translation into other types of activity.
For example, if you engage your muscles in activities that result in muscular failure (the point where your muscles are unable to lift the weight for one more full repetition), then you muscles will adapt to become stronger at activities that would mimic this trained activity. For instance, if you perform a single set-to-failure leg press of 10 repetitions, then this will translate into you improving at activities involving repetitive weighted squatting motions. The closer the activity to your training, the greater the direct improvement of that activity.
Principle of Overload
A further important principle when it comes to exercise training is the Principle of Overload. It states that a training response that leads to enhanced physiological function is only achievable if you expose it to stimuli that are greater than your norm. In other words, your are only going to get bodily improvements as a response to exercise training if you expose your body to loads that are greater than what it is already used to. This will be different for an 20 year-old vs. a 50 year-old and your training regime will have to reflect this. As you may have learned from the principle above, your body is great at adapting to what you expose it to.
For example, if you are preparing for a marathon race that is coming up in 6 months and you are currently only able to run 5 km without issues, you will need to attempt to intensify your training stimulus by engaging in runs that are longer than 5 km. Repetitively running 5 km will not be enough to induce proper training adaptations and will not get you closer towards racing a marathon.
Take-Home-Message #1: Exercise volume can be described as the total amount of activity that you performed (repetitions, sets & frequency), whereas exercise intensity is a representation of how hard you are working (% of your maximum effort)
Take-Home-Message #2: Prior to determining appropriate exercise parameters suited to your goals, you should be aware of two training principles. The Principle of Specificity states that you will primarily get better at the specific activity and parameters you are performing and that there generally is little translation into other activities. The Principle of Overload states that your training response is in direct correlation of the stimuli you expose it to and that in order to see noticeable improvements, the exercise load should be greater than what you are normally exposed to.
Resistance Training – Recommendations
In 2010, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) came out with recommendations for the general public for both resistance training and cardiovascular training. The ACSM are a great resource for your overall physical fitness, including training for muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular fitness, as well as other components of fitness such as range of motion. They are responsible for analyzing relevant, peer-reviewed and recent scientific literature and pack the findings into generalized recommendations to be shared with the greater public.
General Recommendations
- Intensity: 60-80% of your 1-RM (the maximum weight you are able to lift only once)
- Repetitions: 8-12 through the full available range of motion
- Sets: Adults 2-4. Children & older adults 1-2.
- Exercises: 8 -10 encompassing all major muscle groups.
- Frequency: 2-3 on non-consecutive days/week if possible. Once/week can be sufficient if the intensity is high enough.
- Progression: 5-10% weight increase if you are able to perform an extra 2-4 repetitions within two consecutive workouts (2-for-2 rule) with the above-mentioned repetitions and sets.
- Exercise Order: Should be based on primary goals. Following that, choose major muscle group exercises over smaller muscle group exercises. Alternate push & pull exercises. Alternate upper body and lower body exercises.
Training for Muscular Strength
Novice
- Intensity: 60-70% of 1-RM
- Sets: 1-3 sets
- Reps: 8-12 reps
- Rest Intervals: 30 sec – 5 min
- Exercise #, Frequency & Progression: same as above
Intermediate
- Intensity: 70-80% of 1-RM
- Sets: 1-3 sets
- Reps: 6-12 reps
- Rest Intervals: 30 sec – 5 min
- Exercise #, Frequency & Progression: same as above
Advanced
- Intensity: 80-100% of 1-RM
- Sets: “multiple”
- Reps: 1-12
- Rest Intervals: 30 sec – 5 min
- Exercise #, Frequency & Progression: 4-6 days/week
Training For Muscular Endurance
Novice
- Intensity: 50-70% of 1-RM
- Sets: 1-3 sets
- Reps: 10-15 reps
- Rest Intervals: <30 sec.
- Exercise #, Frequency & Progression: same as above
Intermediate
- Intensity: 50-70% of 1-RM
- Sets: 1-3 sets
- Reps: 10-15 reps
- Rest Intervals: <30 sec.
- Exercise #, Frequency & Progression: same as above
Advanced
- Intensity: 30-80% of 1-RM
- Sets: “multiple”
- Reps: 10-25
- Rest Intervals: <30 sec.
- Exercise #, Frequency & Progression: same as above
Cardiorespiratory Training – Recommendations
Below you can find the Cardiorespiratory fitness recommendations developed by the ACSM. You will notice that they are not as specific as the resistance training guidelines. Recommended are 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity cardiorespiratory exercise per week. Activities that classify as cardiorespiratory fitness training promoting health of your heart and lungs include activities that stimulate your heart rate past 40% of your maximum (or a 4/10 subjective intensity rating) in bouts of at least 10 minutes.
General Guidelines
- Frequency: 3-5 days/week (3 days/week for vigorous intensity, 5 days/week for moderate intensity training). Beginners and older adults are recommended to train on non-consecutive days.
- Intensity: Moderate (40% – 60% of max) to Vigorous (60-100% of max) intensity exercise. Unsure if you are training at a sufficient intensity? During moderate intensity activity, you are able to keep a conversation going, while taking a few breaths in between sentences and you would build up a light sweat. During vigorous intensity activity, you would have difficulty keeping up a conversation as your breathing frequency increases, and you would be sweating more profusely.
- Time: Moderate intensity (30-60 min/day), Vigorous intensity (20-60 min/day) in bouts of at least 10 minutes
- Type: Rhythmical activities that involve large muscle groups
- Progression: Similar to the resistance training progression guidelines, individuals are recommended to progress their cardiorespiratory fitness program once the body has adjusted to the frequency, duration and intensity. Increase either of those variables by a maximum of 10%, depending on your exercise goals.
In addition to the above, the ACSM guidelines recommend a warm up and cool-down of 5-10 minutes at 20-40% intensity. Following activity, you should perform static stretches of your legs, low back, abdomen, hips, groin and shoulders to maintain or improve your joint range of motion. A sample test to measure your lower extremity range of motion is called the sit and reach tests. Talk to your physical therapist about the best cardiorespiratory exercise program for you.
These are the general recommendations set out by the American College of Sports Medicine. Talk to your physical therapist about the best cardiorespiratory exercise program for you. As mentioned above, the recommendations were developed through the analysis of the most relevant current literature and provide us with a general direction of how to approach our exercise program planning. Despite there being advantages to general guidelines, there are also a few drawbacks that you should be aware of. You can read more about the Pros and Cons of the ACSM Guidelines below.
ACSM Guidelines – Pros vs. Cons
Pros
- Strong research support: The ACSM analysis thousands of high-quality research articles evolving around proper health and fitness recommendations.
- Comprehensive generalized guidelines: Unsure where to start or what exercises to recommend to your family and friends? The ACSM guidelines are a good start. There is a lot of misinformation out there about appropriate exercise guidelines. The ACSM is a reputable source and provides you with some direction when it comes to exercise program planning.
Cons
- Non-Specificity: Since the general ACSM guidelines are designed for the general population and since they often only specify recommendations based on different age groups, they lack personalization.
- Adherence: Cardiorespiratory and strength training on most days of the week for more than 30 minutes /day is not often feasible for people. If an exercise program is difficult to maintain, it is only a matter of time when the adherence drops.
Take-Home-Message #3: In 2010, the American College of Sports Medicine set out general exercise recommendations for the general public to stay healthy and fit. Their recommendations have strong research support and are great comprehensive guidelines, as there is a lot of misinformation about exercise recommendations, however they lack personalization and can be difficult to adhere to.
The Importance of Adequate Exercise Intensity
The body is great at only using the necessary resources to complete a task and conserve as much energy as possible. In terms of survival, using more energy than required for a task would not make much sense. With higher levels of intensity, you use more muscle muscle groups and tax your body significantly more than with lower intensities. It allows us to significantly shorten our workouts, make them easier to adhere to and get greater bang for our buck.
By exposing your muscle cells to greater stress, they will need greater time to recover, which leads to increased caloric consumption after you finish exercising. This can help reduce your percent body fat and improve your overall body composition. You can read more about the amazing health benefits of high-intensity training here.
How Can I Safely Add Intensity to my Workout?
Before going into how to safely add intensity to your workouts, I want to quickly debunk common misconceptions when it comes to high intensity exercise and safety. Based on my experience, the main reasons that individuals are worried about the safety of high-intensity exercise is either because they are afraid of injuring themselves or because they are worried about exposing their cardiovascular system to a stimulus that it cannot handle.
I am aware that the term “high-intensity” may get you to believe that limbs are flying uncontrollably through the air and that you therefore must be at an increased risk for injury. In fact, when truly focusing on the “intensity” of the exercise, the opposite is true. The word intensity only refers to the amount of work you are performing. There is no mention of speed. By getting the intensity from lower speed, our movements during exercise will be more controlled and we are able to reach the same end-goal by taking a different approach.
By performing exercises at a lower speed and with less frequency, we are actually performing exercise that is quite safe. We are actually at a decreased risk of overuse injuries and it is easier to maintain proper form.
Unless you have a pre-existing heart condition or you are worried about your cardiovascular health (in which case you should talk to your doctor prior to starting a new exercise program), your heart will adapt well to the new exercise stimulus. In fact, high-intensity training may be the best thing you can do for it to improve its health. As you may remember from the above-mentioned cardiorespiratory exercise guidelines, 150 minutes of weekly moderate (40-60%) – vigorous (60-80+%) activity are recommended for anyone that is 18 years and older.
Take-Home-Message #4: Your body is great at conserving energy and only using the necessary resources to complete activities. In order to stimulate more of your musculature and to tax your body more, we need high levels of intensities in our workouts. High intensity workouts help our bodies adapt positively to greater stressors, which leads to superior health benefits.
Take-Home-Message #5: Unless you have a pre-existing heart condition, high-intensity training, when performed correctly is significantly safer than lower-intensity workouts.
The 30-minute Workout Solution
A great and safe way of adding intensity to your workout is through blood flow restriction training (or occlusion training). It involves the occlusion of blood vessels that provide oxygen-rich blood to your exercising musculature. Occlusion training allow your muscles to experience high-intensity cellular environments with lower loads and less time. You can read more on occlusion training here.
If you would like to learn more about my “Prime-Your-Happiness” framework, as well as a free 40-page guide on Exercise Euphoria that I have designed over the past few years and is only 15-20 minutes (2x/week) in length, you can learn more about it by clicking here.