Increasing the intensity of your strength training program

The intensity of traditional strength training with machines or free weights can be increased three ways:

• By using a slightly heavier weight for the same number of repetitions or by drastically increasing the weight and performing fewer repetitions;
• By resting for less time between sets (this is very common in programs dedicated to increasing lean muscle mass); or
• By performing repetitions more slowly, thereby maintaining muscle tension for longer (this is popular among bodybuilders as a method of increasing muscle tension which promotes muscular growth).

Depending on your goals, phase and level of fitness, you can use any or all of these methods to increase the intensity of your workout.

Free weights and machines
Changing the speed of an exercise can also increase the intensity of your workout. When using free weights, if a repetition generally takes you 5 to 6 seconds to complete, slow down so it takes 8 to 10 seconds to complete the movement and see how it feels.

The only problem with concentrating on the speed of movement is that as you become preoccupied with counting the seconds, you lose track of the number of repetitions! Therefore, when you are performing slow repetitions perform every set to muscular failure (the point where you cannot perform another repetition) so you can concentrate on speed and feel the difference between faster and slower speeds of movement.

Frequently changing the weight used, the rest interval between sets and the speed of performing the exercise are great ways of adding variety to your workouts and “shocking” your body with new training challenges. Start by using a slightly heavier weight. When you reach a plateau in the number of repetitions you can perform at a certain weight, decrease the rest interval between sets by 30 to 50%. In other words, if you are accustomed to resting for 90 seconds between sets, try resting for 45 to 60 seconds. This will make the exercise much more intense, so don’t be surprised if you have to decrease the number of repetitions because of increased fatigue.

Bump up the intensity by performing the Truestar for Women exercise circuit.
Hydraulic machines, like those in our Truestar for Women fitness centers, provide a great push and pull feel to every movement. For instance, with free weights, you bend your elbow to raise the bar to shoulder level when performing a bicep curl and then relax and slowly control the barbell back down to the starting position. When performing a bicep curl on a hydraulic machine you are constantly working against resistance, both when pulling the bar up and when pushing the bar down. This is the beauty of hydraulic machines: to increase the intensity of the workout, raise your heart rate and burn calories, all you have to do is increase the speed of the exercise.