Intensity

1 CommentTuesday • December 27, 2011 • by cfprovidence

By Coach Judah

One of the keys to achieving a higher level of fitness is based upon the level of intensity one works out with.  One of the factors limiting intensity is the amount of time involved in a workout.  Imagine you had to run a 400 M run as fast as you could.  Not so bad.  Now imagine if you had to run that pace for 1 mile straight.  It might hurt a lot! However, if you dug down deep mentally somewhere in there you probably could keep the pace up with some drop off the further you got into it, however, the pace would be substantial.  Now imagine trying to keep up that pace or something close to it for a 5 Km run, or a 10 Km run?  Not happening.  Why not?  The longer we move our bodies, the less intensely we can work out.  In short workouts, we are able to keep our intensity up for longer.  Past 8 minutes, keeping up the intensity is incredibly hard.  If it is hard past 8, it’s even harder past 10 and 12 minutes.  There is a HUGE decrease in work output after 12 minutes.  Coach Glassman has always stated, “All positive adaptations come through intensity.”

The other thing which happens when we exercise is that we place our bodies in the physiological condition of stress.  There are many types of stress, our bodies handle each of them extremely similarly.  Bad diet, poor sleep, cranky partner, job, no job, traffic.  All types of stress which accelerate the release of hormones in our body.  These hormone levels change as our bodies try to figure out a course of action.  We cannot control your lives, or the amount of stress/stressors in your life.  We can ensure that we do not complicate the stress in your life.  Exercise, to an extent is a positive type of stress.  We want our stress to be adaptive, and anabolic (building).  The downfall of long workouts, outside of the drop in intensity is that they stop being anabolic.  The stress from exercise can be harmful, and maladaptive.  Long workouts tend to be catabolic (breaking down). Also, the longer the workout, the more reps you do, the more reps, the more your body breaks down.  The more your body breaks down, the more stress, the more catabolic, the more negative impact the exercise has on your health and well-being.

Every now and again, it is good to test yourself by working in a time frame where your intensity severely drops.  Every now and again you may see one of these longer workouts at CFP.  It will not be the norm.  You will not see many.  What you will see is many things which will be anabolic.  You will see ways to make yourself and your body stronger, and better able to move in space.  You will have many opportunities to work at 100% intensity for the entire workout.  With this, you will, as Coach Glassman says, be making only positive adaptations.