What is intensity? It will mean different things depending on what you are doing. For someone lifting weights, “Training intensity is best described as giving 100 percent of your mind, body, and soul to every repetition, every set, every exercise, and every minute of your workout. Intensity means pounding the weights so hard that all your working sets end in absolute failure: no reps uncompleted, no energy left in the tank. Intensity is as much a mental feat as it is a physical one.”
Another way to look at intensity is to always be thinking, “Can I do a little more than I thought I could?”
“Can I squeeze out one more rep?”
“Even though I’m tired, I’m going to do one more set.”
“Can I go up in weight on this set?”
If you are a runner, intensity might mean telling yourself, “Today, I am going to run four miles instead of three.”
It could mean asking, “Can I shave thirty seconds off my best time today?”
One of the biggest mistakes that I see in the gym is people working out with minimal intensity. Minimal intensity equals minimal results. To be sure, most people are not going to go into the gym and give 100% every workout. Consciously, trying to raise our level of intensity for every workout, however, will result in increased muscle size, strength, and will burn more calories.
What can you do to up the intensity of your workouts?
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