Defining INTENSITY

Kim Wood, legendary strength coach for the Cincinnati Bengal’s for 28 years conveyed to me in a personal conversation that Arthur Jones – inventor and founder of Nautilus and high intensity principles – defined INTENSITY as “percentage of momentary ability”.

So what does “percentage of momentary ability” mean? Basically, it means working as hard as is momentarily possible so that maximum intensity (hard work) is achieved. This high level of intensity then is not dictated by your strength levels but by your efforts on every set of every exercise throughout your workout. Understanding this concept is important because maximum effort is the key here. Let’s use an example to get a better understanding of percentage of momentary ability. Let’s say an individual (let’s call him AJ for examples sake) has a best effort in the leg press of 200 pounds for 20 repetitions. On one particular training day AJ comes to work out, but prior to his training session he chose to go for a 2 mile run. AJ then loads up the leg press with 200 pounds and performs a set using maximum effort but only achieves 17 repetitions. One would immediately realize that AJ’s run fatigued his legs which in turn prevented him from obtaining his previous best of 20 repetitions. But AJ worked within his percentage of momentary ability because he made his set of leg presses very intense by giving 100% effort and therefore stimulated his lower body so as to become stronger. So it’s the intensity of effort that is important, not how much weight you use.

“Train With A Purpose”

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Fred Fornicola