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Lecture Notes

When we talk about the intensity of resistance training, we're really talking about the percentage of your maximum capacity, and so this is where the one-rep, three-rep or ten-rep max comes in handy, because otherwise it's very hard to judge how intense your resistance training program is, and what you'll notice above is that the intensity is connected very much to your strength training goals. So, for example, if you just want to develop muscular endurance, you're going to choose resistance that is between 50 and 65% of your maximum capacity, which is much lower than if your goal is muscular strength, and in that case you're going to look for between 75 and 85% of your maximum capacity. And for general health and fitness you just fall somewhere in between those two. So you'll notice that very much so your intensity and the weight that you choose to lift in your resistance training program is tied to whether you want to build muscular endurance, muscular strength, or whether you just want general health and fitness goals.