Training Variables

[Sportsmedjosh]

The most significant aspect of training for sport is the discovery of training variables and how manipulating them can affect your training in a positive way, when done in accordance with scientific fact, or in a negative way, when based on unscientifically derived notions. When it comes to your training, there’s more to consider than the sets and reps you do...

Density: If you shorten the rime of rest you take between sets, but still perform the same total amount of work (sets and reps), your training session becomes more dense. By increasing the density of your training. you’re also increasing the intensity of your training.

Duration: Principally, this refers to the Length of your set or the Length of your training session. By increasing or decreasing the duration of your training, you can decrease or increase the intensity of your training, respectively.

Frequency: How often you train a particular exercise or body part constitutes Frequency. You can obviously manipulate the training effect by training with more or less Frequency.

Intensity: This term refers to the amount of power or force you generate. You can increase your power in a rep by moving the same amount of weight quicker or by moving a greater amount of weight at the same speed as a Lighter weight. In terms of force, or strength, you typically calculate your training intensity based on a percent of your 1-rep max. Therefore, training with 8o pounds when your max is 100 pounds constitutes a training intensity of 80% 1-rep max. You can record your training intensity based on the average you do For a given exercise or over an entire training session, week, month, etc. However, you need to be aware that many of the other variables discussed in this sidebar can also impact your training intensity.

Repetitions: A repetition is the performance of a given exercise through a given range of motion. When you add several repetitions before you rest, you ye completed a set. This variable is closely related to volume, but intensity as well.

Rest: Though rest can be defined as resting time between sets, we believe that definition is related to density. Therefore, our interpretation of rest refers to the time you take between repeating a given exercise or training a particular body part again. In that context, we re talking about days or weeks, and by increasing or decreasing rest you can manipulate training gains and recovery.

Sets: A set is composed of several repetitions of a given exercise, and you can perform any number of sets for a given exercise or body part. This variable is closely related to volume, but intensity as well.

Velocity: Velocity is the speed at which you move a given weight through the beginning to the end of the range of motion. The more speed you use, the more intense is the action. Also, depending on your type of sport, the speed of your reps could become a primary training consideration.

Volume: This is the total, amount of work that you do in a training session, in a week, in a month, or in any other period that you might determine. You can estimate your training volume by adding up all the repetitions that you do (~ exercises for 3 sets and 5 reps each 45 total reps) or the total amount of weight that you Lift (i.e. reps with 100 pounds 1,000 pounds x 3 sets 3,000 pounds). Determining your training volume is important in order to figure out the total training stress that you place on yourself in order to adjust it upward or downward or to maintain it. Therefore, training volume is also related to training intensity.

RELATIONSHIPS
As you can see by the variables and their definitions, they’re all related in one way or another. In particular, they’re all related to your training intensity. In fact, all of them can impact your training intensity. What’s critical for you to realize is that training intensity is the key to making improvements and meeting your goals. However, too much intensity—or not enough—can prevent you from reaching your goals. Although science indicates Fairly clearly how you should approach your training for maximal gains (see the training programs elsewhere in this issue), training probably enters the realm of an art form when it comes to finding the exact intensity combinations for you—and what’ll work this cycle will Likely not work the next. This is where your training becomes a real challenge, and we would Like to think—fun.