Introduction To Weight Training Intensity
The overload concept of exercise program design suggests that an exercise stimulus must be administered at a higher intensity than the body is used to cause physiological changes. Reaching a plateau, where exercise no longer seems to affect the body stops making any physiological changes, is one of the most typical obstacles faced by the ordinary fitness enthusiast. This occurs because, similar to the Groundhog Day scenario discussed above, repeating the same workouts with the same weight for the same amount of repetitions will not provide enough overload to trigger physiological changes. Resistance training requires performing enough repetitions to generate momentary exhaustion of the relevant muscles or using a heavy enough resistance to cause fatigue after only a few repetitions to cause an adaptation. A high-intensity heavy load puts mechanical…