Exercise Intensity

The understanding of 'intensity' often poses problems for trainees. Intensity is not related either to the amount of work you are doing or to the production of power. In basic terms it is a reflection of the percentage of momentary ability actually being used. Maximum intensity means you are using as much muscular force to perform an exercise as possible at any given moment.

During exercise, levels of intensity constantly fluctuate. It's not always possible to perform an exercise to maximum intensity due to the fatigue your muscles have experienced on a previous exercise. Experts believe that intensity levels of 100% are the fastest way to build muscle size and strength. But how do you know if you are producing this level of intensity?

The only way to ensure you are reaching full intensity is to reach the point of MMF (Momentary Muscular Failure).

Momentary Muscular Failure: The point of an exercise at which you have so fully fatigued the working muscles that they can no longer complete an additional repetition of a movement with strict form.

Basically if you have performed as many repetitions for any given exercise and find that lifting one more repetition is impossible, then you have reached 100% level of intensity. This also means that the muscles involved in the exercise have been worked to Momentary Muscular Failure and have been stimulated to optimum levels. Should you stop short by a few repetitions of intensity then you will not reach MMF and you will have stopped short of the threshold leading to lean muscular growth. In a nutshell, intensity is the key to success here, reach it and you'll force those muscles to grow, fall short of it and the muscles will have no stimulus to grow on.

This High-Intensity exercise is what will place the necessary demands on your muscles to increase in muscular size and strength. This exercise program will also increase strength and overall ability in other physical activities, and generally creates a feeling of well-being. Unfortunately the reverse effect can often happen and the trainee can be left feeling tired, drained and without energy. Obviously you will feel tired at the end of your first few workouts if you are new to exercise and weight lifting, but if the feeling persists it is a clear indication that you are over training. Workouts should never exceed the recovery ability of the body.

High-intensity exercise places enormous demands on the body that are not easily met. A muscle being worked very hard requires vast quantities of oxygen and nutrition and the quality training program will not have the full effect without proper diet and lifestyle. When exercise is completed it is vitally important the muscles are given sufficient time to return to normal. Muscular growth and recuperation occur during periods of rest, therefore, failure to rest your muscles and continuing with high-intensity work to soon after your previous workout will result in muscle deterioration and loss in both muscle strength and size. I recommend atleast 24 hours rest before hitting the weight again.

Quality, not Quantity

This is a very common misconception that an increase in the amount of exercise done will automatically lead to an increase in the intensity of the exercise. Not only is this completely wrong but it will drastically impede your progress. The minimum amount of exercise that causes the greatest amount of growth stimulation will always produce the very best results. If the program is going to work for you then the load must be heavy enough to force muscles to work. Before a muscle is capable of its maximum effort it must first be warmed up through the repetition several times by a movement lighter than it is capable of handling. Cold muscles fail at a level far below their actual strength. Isometric exercises (Stretching exercises) simply don't provide sufficient stimulation to force muscles to work inside their existing levels of strength reserve. This is not to say that isometrics have no place in a body-building program. Far from it! Isometric contractions (Stretches – See Page 118) should terminate every set of almost every exercise - after the maximum number of full movements has been performed. At this stage - say in the eleventh or twelfth repetition, the muscles will fail completely and although they may be contracting as hard as possible against a heavy resistance no movement will occur. This indicates that an exercise has been properly terminated and maximum growth stimulation reached.

Form

To witness the maximum benefits of the Lean Muscle Plan, performance style is of crucial importance. Proper form includes the following:

Isolation Movement

This is an exercise involving only one muscle group or part of the body; it involves a single joint rotary movement. The trainee should, regardless of the particular exercise or equipment being used, concentrate on isolating only the muscles used in a specific movement, doing as many repetitions as possible in perfect form. Cheating - bringing surrounding muscles into action should be avoided. Only in compound exercises, when no other perfect repetitions can be performed, is cheating permissible - but even then it should be kept at an absolute minimum.

Relaxation of Uninvolved Muscles

The isolation of a particular muscle is directly related to the ability to relax the uninvolved muscles. Dangerous levels of stress may be reached if the trainee places too much stress on too many muscles simultaneously. A warning sign of this is the development of headaches during exercise. Greater energy, and therefore more efficient growth stimulation, can be released to the isolated muscle if you learn to effectively relax your other body parts.

Speed of movement

Research conducted over some years has indicated that slow repetitions are far more productive than faster ones.

Range of movement

A fully contracting muscle produces a full range of movement. If a particular movement is less than full range, the entire length of the muscle will not be involved in the work. In order to achieve the desired effect of increased lean muscular shape and size, the range of movement of each repetition should be as great as possible.

Supervision

High-intensity exercise, properly performed, is very demanding and few people find it possible to workout effectively with out the use of a training partner or spotter. The presence of a supervisor acts as encouragement and inspiration. A spotter is recommended with Squats and Bench Presses.

Workouts - How many, How Often?

This a question which could be disputed forever. Unfortunately this confusion is still fairly widespread and results in many people spending as many as 20 hours a week training, in an attempt to accelerate progress, when in fact better results would be produced if they limited their training to not more than three hours of correct exercise per week. The actual time needed to develop lean muscle size is not that great, and this is a vital fact that all trainees must understand. It should also be pointed out that once any high intensity workout has been completed, the body needs approximately 24-48 hours to renew itself. Therefore beginners should not train on consecutive days. This plan recommends a three day training routine every other day. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and an optional workout on Saturday or Sunday.

Performing Exercises

The range of movement and control of each exercise is very important. Jerking the weight or using other muscle groups should be avoided. A simple guideline is the following: it should take two seconds to lift the weight and four to lower it, or in other words, two seconds positive and four seconds negative. Not only does doing exercises in this way decrease the amount of weight used, but it vastly increases results, as well as almost totally eliminating the chance of injury. Exercise concentrated on one particular muscle will also have an effect, albeit to a lesser degree on other muscles of the body, even those not being exercised at all. An unbalanced exercise program will, to a certain extent, develop certain muscles disproportionately, but the body seems to impose its own limits on this unbalanced development.

Exercise Sequence