Why Intensity Matters

Intensity is a bit of a buzz word and has become somewhat overused…this was intense, that was intense.  Really?  Was it?  Was your 2 mile stroll around the neighborhood intense because it was sunny out?  Or was it just hot?

Intensity should not be used just because you sweat, got your heart rate elevated, or became tired. Your intensity is a direct result of your power output.

Let’s dive deeper.

Force x distance / time = Power.  That’s science.  You can take any movement or workout and plug it into that equation and get a power output.

For example:

Force = Bodyweight (we will do air squats and you weight 140lbs.)

Distance = How far you move each rep, the average person moves 2 feet per squat, only counting the way up, against gravity, and you do 50 reps.

time = You do these 50 reps in one minute.

140lbs. x (2 ft. x 50 reps) / 1 minute = 14,000 foot pounds per minute

Horsepower is also measured this way and one horsepower is approximately 33,000 ft. lbs. per minute.

So in one minute of squats you generated about half of one horsepower or your Power.

Power is your intensity.

The more power you can generate the more intense you are.

That’s why we love these functional movements, squats, deadlifts, presses, they have the ability to generate high amounts of power, especially when you do them fast…for time.

Now you don’t have to plug every workout you do into this equation, but simply by keeping track of your workouts and seeing if your times go down and your weights go up, you are doing this.  So when the scale isn’t moving and we ask you how your performance is doing, you have other metrics and data points to rely on.