Judging Intensity During Strength Training

In this episode, I explore how a mountaineer should (and should not) judge the intensity of their strength training.

Episode Chapters:
​
0:07 
Introduction to Judging Intensity
1:39 
Importance of Strength Training Intensity
2:53 
Misleading Advice in Strength Training
4:09 
Measuring Intensity in Strength Training
4:57 
Percentage-Based Training
9:54 
Rate of Perceived Exertion
14:16 
Reps in Reserve Explained
16:48 
Practical Application of Intensity Measures
20:09 
Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode,

[0:03] we are talking about judging intensity for strength workouts. And we're going to be talking through a few options you can use as a mountaineer to judge and manage the intensity of your strength training. And also a couple of options which I've seen recommended, but definitely are not really very effective in this situation. Now, when it comes down to any type of training, judging and managing your intensity is pretty important. Now, we often talk about this in the cardiovascular sense for mountaineers, in the sense of making sure our low-intensity training is low enough to stimulate the adaptations we want and not overly fatigue us in certain ways. So, we'll often talk about sitting below our thresholds or sitting at zone two or whatever it may be. And we also want to make sure in our cardio sense that when we're doing a higher-intensity training, that it's high enough, that we're working hard enough to really reap the benefits. So judging your intensity around managing fatigue, hitting the right energy systems, and basically getting what you want out of your workouts in the cardiovascular sense is very important.

[1:06] Now on the strength training side of things, this is also important because we want to make sure that number one, when we are doing our strength training, that we are getting enough stimulus, getting enough challenge to move us forward and challenge the muscles, challenge connective tissues, and actually develop that strength that we want. But we also want to manage it certain ways that we're just not overdoing things. We're not just running ourselves into the ground because lifting is never our primary sport. We're not powerlifters or bodybuilders, but we want to make sure that we're getting enough stimulus that we want to move us forward, but it's not negatively

[1:38] affecting our other training. So judging our intensity is pretty important.

[1:42] Now, this particular episode was inspired and just give you a bit of context about why I'm talking about this was a bit of discussion I saw online the other day in a mountaineering forum, which is an inspiration for a lot of these episodes. Essentially, the context was there was a beginner, well, there was a mountaineer who hadn't done strength training before. And they said, look, I've been struggling in certain sections on the mountains. Someone recommended I do strength training. I need some advice about getting started and yada, yada, yada. And there were a bunch of different responses as they always is. But there was one response which kind of inspired today. And it came from a coach who gave this very long, complicated answer, which isn't the point of this episode. But one of the things they said was that strength training in the mountaineering context should be done at a low enough intensity that it doesn't affect your other training. So it doesn't affect your hiking, your running, your cycling, whatever it may be, which isn't bad advice. As I said before, we don't want to make sure our strength training is moving us forward, but it's not affecting our other sessions. But then the interesting bit came in because someone asked, okay, you said we want to do it at a low enough intensity.

[2:50] How do I know if I'm going at the right intensity for strength training? And their response was during strength training, you should stick to zone two or you should stick to nose breathing.

[3:02] And i'll tell you right now this is just not very good advice because using heart rate targets zone two or using breathing targets and you know nose breathing that is very very very effective and very very useful when we're talking about cardiovascular training when you're running when you're hiking when you're cycling whatever may be but when it comes down to strength training these have zero relevance which.

[3:27] They are not a good measure of intensity. They're not something you should worry about. They're not something you should focus or change your training about. And in all honesty, I would encourage any mountaineer who's doing strength training to take any type of heart rate tracker off. And I know that sounds like sacrilege because a lot of people love tracking their stats and all of that. But in all honesty, it has so little relevance to your strength training. On top of that, it can just be so distracting because a lot of people just become slaves to these things. And they think, oh my gosh, if my heart rate's not going up enough, I'm not working hard enough, or if it's too high, I'm working too hard or whatever. No. First and foremost, when you're looking at strength training, don't worry about heart rate. Don't worry about breathing. They're not relevant for this type of training.

[4:09] But with that being said, it is still valuable to have some way of measuring your intensity and tracking your output and making sure you are working at the right levels during your strength training. So if you can't use heart rate and breathing, what can you use? Well, when it comes down to strength training, there's a bunch of different ways going about it. But really, there's three big ways that I commonly see recommended, and they can be quite effective. Of these three, there's one I use pretty much all the time. There's another one that I'm a big fan of, but I don't personally use. And there's another one which gets used a lot and recommended a lot, but I don't think it's super useful. Or I don't think it's super practical, I should say. So, to break them down, the three different ways you can measure your intensity

[4:56] when it comes to strength training. The first way is percentage-based. Now, what this involves is is essentially for each of your main exercises, say you're doing a squat, say you're doing a pull-up, say you're doing a deadlift or whatever may be. At the start of each training phase or at the start of each training block or whatever may be, you want to find your 1RM or estimated 1RM of each exercise. So hypothetically, if you're really, really, really well-trained and you're very, very experienced at this, you may go into the gym and you may do a deadlift and you may go up to your 1RM. So you test and test and test until you get to the absolute limit that you can only do one repetition of that. And that's your 1RM, that's your max.

[5:38] Or if you're not so experienced or not so confident with that level of lifting, you would do a deadlift, but maybe you would work up to a 5RM, whether you do the most you can do for five repetitions. And then essentially you can take that number and put it into a table and you get like an estimated RM.

[5:55] And essentially what you do from here once you've got this total number than when you're looking at your training program. When you're looking, okay, I've got squats today, I've got deadlifts today, or whatever it may be, it sort of says, okay, you're going to do eight repetitions at a certain percentage of your 1RM, at 80% of your 1RM, or 60% of your 1RM, or 50% of your 1RM, or whatever it may be. So you'll get your exercise, your reps, and your percentage of your 1RM to figure out your weight. Now, the positive of this is that essentially it'll give you clear targets to hit for each exercise you do or each of your main lifts at least. And if you know what you're doing, this can control your intensity pretty well. Because as a coach, they can say, you know what, on this exercise, I want them to really, really, really push the limit. So I will give them percentages which are going to really push it. Or alternatively this week, I want them to be a little bit more chilled out. So I will give them percentages which have a little bit more leeway. So they have that particular weight, but it's a little bit easy. And essentially as a coach or as someone who's self-programming, you can use this to manipulate how hard you're training, adjust your intensity around different cycles of training or how you're feeling or whatever it may be. And ultimately, just make sure when you're training hard, you are training hard. And when you want to be easier, you have clear targets to be easier.

[7:11] Now, a lot of people in the strength training world will use this. I don't particularly like it, in all honesty.

[7:19] First and foremost, when it comes down to this, as you probably know listening to this podcast, I'm just not a big fan of numbers-based training. When it comes to cardio, when it comes to strength, I like to steer clear of numbers as much as I can, because sometimes I feel like it just loses the human element a little bit. But to get a little bit more dialed in on this, I just think it's overly complicated for mountaineers. First of all.

[7:46] The very first point of this is you have to test these exercises to figure out your numbers. You have to either do a 1RM if you're experienced or a 5RM if you're not or whatever you want to do. And in all honesty, that takes a session, which you may not particularly need to do. It can be intimidating to a lot of people. And even working up to a 5RM and hitting your limit on that, even if you're doing five reps, it can still be really, really tough for a lot of people. And a lot of people who don't have experience lifting heavy, which many mountaineers don't, that can really, really just not be a true measure. So the test is a little bit flawed or a little bit tricky. Second of all, when we're using this, depending on how often you test, the tricky thing is, is it doesn't really account for your improvements over time. So if you test it every eight weeks, over that eight week period, your 1RM would change. Week one, week two, week three, it might be accurate, but as you get stronger, that will change. Now, a really, really, really experienced coach who is absolutely dialed in and knows how to do this can probably accommodate for that and work around it. In all honesty, most people, if you're self-coaching or for whatever it may be, it's probably not something you're really going to nail.

[8:55] The next thing is it doesn't really account for your energy on the day because we all know we all have day-to-day and week-to-week fluctuations of energy. And in all honesty, you may walk in one day and you may have an 80% 1RM of a certain exercise for something and you walk in one day and you're like, that was pretty doable. I did it. I worked hard, but it was kind of okay. You may go do that same thing the next week and you might be like, I'm a little bit low in energy or just not feeling in the zone today. And that was the hardest thing in the world. So even though technically numbers-based, you may be at the same intensity, physically, like just in the day, it's just completely different.

[9:33] And finally, you also do need to know what you're doing to set appropriate percentages here. Like as a self-coached athlete, you can learn about this stuff, but time is probably better spent elsewhere. As a coach and someone who does this their living, maybe they can do this pretty well. And I know there's a lot of people out there that do this effectively.

[9:51] But in honesty, I'm not a big fan of this for mountaineers. It needs to be mentioned. It needs to be talked about, but I don't think it's super relevant. Now, the second measure of intensity is using rate of perceived exhaustion. Now, this is a great measure of intensity, which can be used for strength training, also for cardio as well. Now, if you haven't heard of this before, it's very, very, very simple. Essentially, you'll be using targets on a scale 1 to 10. 1 being the easiest thing in the world. You're barely lifting a feather. 10, when you're doing this exercise, you are pushing to the absolute limit. You've got nothing left. You absolutely put through the house down and then everything in between. 10 is kind of your maximal effort. So you will likely go until failure. So if I give you an exercise for 10 repetitions at 10 RPM, you are RPM, RPE, you would literally get to the end and be like, oh my gosh, I got to 10 and I'm burning, I'm dead, I've got nothing in me. Or if I did the same thing for five repetitions, same thing.

[10:50] Or if I gave you a little bit lighter, it'll be a bit easier. And like it ends up being like five to six is kind of a warm up and everything in between goes at scales up and down. And ultimately, the other numbers will ramp up and down in intensity. Now, this particular method, if you do it right, it can be very, very effective because it will adjust around your progressing strength over time. Meaning if I sort of had an eight week block and you were just doing squats for eight weeks And I ask you every single week to do an RPE of seven on this particular exercise. Well, the first few weeks, you'll do a certain amount of weight at seven RPE. Then you feel it get a bit stronger and you can probably stack on a little bit of weight and you can still work at that seven RPE, but you're just working around it. So week by week by week, it's very, very subjective in that sense that it will be fluid. It's probably the better word and it will adjust. Same thing around your energy. If you roll in and you have a day where you're feeling great and amazing and fantastic, if I give you an RPE of eight, you can go in and just absolutely nail it and put it in and do a little bit more work than would usually. Alternatively, if you roll in and you're like, I am so, so, so flat and I'm working an RPE of eight, you may end up using significantly less rest, but you'll be still working at that same relative intensity for the day.

[12:09] Now, through this method, you can ensure that your hard sets are hard, your moderate sets are moderate, and your easy sets are easy. And in all honesty, it just reduces the numbers and the thinking. You don't have to get a calculator or a table or a spreadsheet to figure out all these numbers. You literally just roll in. I've got this exercise for this rep. This is the RPE. Let's go figure out a way for that. Boom.

[12:29] Now, the drawbacks to this. There are definitely some drawbacks. Many people, in all honesty, when it comes down to this stuff, because it is quite subjective, a lot of people kind of, yeah, don't quite get this right. And in all honesty, a lot of people out there don't really know what a 10 feels like. In the sense that when it comes down to a 10 with RPE and doing a 10 at five repetitions or eight repetitions or 15 repetitions, that feeling at each of those rep ranges, it's very distinct. It's very hard to hit, and you are absolutely at your limit. A lot of people, especially if you don't have a huge amount of experience with strength training, may never get to that point. They may feel like, oh my gosh, I got really tired by then. That's not really a 10. It's not really their limit. If I was standing next to them and I was actually talking to them like, yeah, come on, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, maybe they could squeeze out another three or four reps. But because it feels like they're at that point, they call it a 10. Now, it is very subjective, but it can be tricky. And because a lot of people like, you know, maybe undershoot this, this kind of leads them to maybe undershoot everything.

[13:36] For mountaineers this is not you know honestly a big deal because for mountaineers kind of getting in the ballpark of intensity you don't have to be absolutely at your limit as long as you're getting the nuff challenge even if you are doing an rpe of eight and in technically you're hitting maybe a seven or a six it's probably still going to be fine um but it is definitely definite, definitely a drawback so something to be aware of i know a lot of coaches out there use rpe very, very effectively. I know it's very, very, very, very useful. I don't personally use it because I feel like the next thing I'm about to describe is a little bit easier to explain, but RPE can be a good option.

[14:16] Now, the third option, and this is the one that I personally use, is called reps in reserve. And it's pretty much the same thing as RPE. It's just a different way of looking at it. Essentially, reps in reserve. What we're doing here is for exercises, we will give targets for how many repetitions you kind of keep in your back pocket or in reserve in the name per exercise. So for example, to give you put this into a crystal clear example, if I ask you to do a set of 10 squats.

[14:50] And I asked you to do a set of 10 squats at the target of two reps in reserve. What that means is you are going to find a weight, which if you really, really, really pushed your limit and got to that absolute end point where you're like, oh, I've got nothing left. You could probably do 12 repetitions if you really pushed it. But instead, we're keeping two reps in reserve. So we kind of finish at 10. We always have those two reps in reserve. Or alternatively, if we say no reps in reserve, this means you absolutely just push to the limit. You find that weight, by the time you get to those 10 repetitions, you've got nothing more in you. And you can do three or four or five or whatever it may be. Now, this can be really effective because, again, similar to RPE, it will adjust around your changing strength.

[15:38] It will adjust around your energy around the day. It'll give us a good judge of kind of progress, and it does tend to work quite well. And i find it's just easier for a lot of people to kind of wrap their heads around this compared to the rpe sometimes both equally valid both equally effective but i just find this is you know just a lot more digestible for a lot of people and it's just super simple to figure out now again drawbacks similar to rpe is a lot of people will kind of undershoot this a little bit especially people who are a little bit more beginner side of things and if i said hey i want Once you do 10 repetitions with two reps in reserve, some people, beginner, may not know how that real limit feels, so they'll kind of undershoot a little bit more.

[16:23] But as we sort of said with Mountaineers, not the end of the world. This is what I personally use. I like using this. I think it's very, very effective. It's very, very simple, and it takes a lot of thought out of things.

[16:34] Now, those are three different options, all pretty good. Two of them, I think, very, very similar, but very, very effective. One that a lot of people use. It can work well if you know what you're doing, but I don't think it's amazing for mountaineers personally.

[16:48] Now, you may be asking, okay, this is all well and good, but if I'm listening to this podcast, I'm probably coaching myself. I'm probably programming for myself. So yes, managing my intensity and strength training is valuable. Yes, I understand all of this. but how does this actually look in reality? How can I apply this to make sure I'm actually using this effectively? Well, one way people can do this is when they're looking at their training. They'll look at their workout and they'll give targets for a bunch of different things. They may have six different exercises for their workout and they may say, you know what, these three exercises I'm going to do at two reps in reserve. This one exercise I'm going to do absolutely to limit. These two exercises are going to be a little bit easier, maybe do three or four reps in reserve or something like that. And then week by week by week, as I adjust my training phase, as I do other things in my cardio, as I balance everything out, that may change. And some weeks may be much, much easier. Some weeks may be much, much harder, whatever it may be. That absolutely works if you know what you're doing. And if you are really, really balancing out everything that's going on with your training week and your training month. But for me, I like to keep things simple.

[17:58] And I'm going to talk you through a super, super, super system on how to use this. For me, the way I get my mountaineers to approach their strength training is we'll use these two reps. We'll use these reps in reserve target. For 95% of their strength training, I ask them to hit the target of that two reps in reserve. So whether we're doing 15 reps, 10 reps, eight reps, six reps, three reps, whatever it may be, 95% of the time, I say, look, just go to two reps in reserve. The reason being is regardless of what rep range you're hitting, this will be enough of a stimulus to push you forward. This will be enough of a stimulus to give you that strength challenge to actually move you forward. On top of that, having those two reps in reserve, it will always leave enough in the tank that you won't walk out of the session barely able to walk. It will save you from those last couple of reps, which sometimes when people are pushing to that point of technical failure, things are getting shaky, things are getting wobbly, and that's kind of when injuries or tweaks happen. And it just gives you a little bit of wiggle room. So enough to move you forward, but it just takes away some of the risk and some of the detrimental side of things. 95% of the time, I'll do that.

[19:12] Occasionally, when we're looking at some exercises where we're like, hey, we just want to push this today, whether it's endurance stuff, whether it's little finishes, whether we're about to have a bit of a holiday or a break and we're like, you know what, we're going to send this strength training. Occasionally, we'll do one or two exercises in a workout where it's no reps in reserve, where it's as many as you can. We absolutely push it. This is only in small, small doses when we need. And then the only other target I use is if you've been sick, if you're coming off the back of being ill, if you're on a really, really low energy stage or whatever it may be, maybe you're really low motivated, there's just something compromising you, we aim for like four reps in reserve, which ends up being more, I'm just going through the motions, I'm just pushing through, I have a little bit of resistance, but it's not very difficult or whatever it may be. They're kind of the three targets I hit. And in all honesty, if you just went in with the mindset of like, I'm just going to do two reps in reserve on everything, that is good enough.

[20:09] So there you go. A little bit of thought on this. And when it comes down to judging your intensity, when it comes to any type of training, it is valuable.

[20:17] It is valuable to make sure you're working hard enough to get the results you want, but not working so hard that it's maybe being detrimental in other areas. If you're looking at strength training, just be aware heart rate targets, don't worry about them. Breathing targets, don't worry about them. They are not relevant to strength training. Instead, have a think about what you may use. If you love numbers and you've got a history of strength training, percentage-based training may work for you, but instead probably look at RPE or reps in reserve. They're both equally valid, both equally effective. Just take a little bit of experimenting to figure out what's going to be right for you and figure out how everything feels, but they can be very, very useful.

[20:56] So with that being said, I am going to wrap things up here. I hope that makes sense. I hope that helps a few people. As I always say is if you are a Mountaineer and you're looking at strength training, you're like, look, how do I incorporate this to balance out everything else I'm doing with my training? How do I make sure I'm moving forward with my cardio, with my hiking, with my cycling, with my climbing? But I'm also doing strength training in a way that's going to be beneficial, but not detrimental to these things. If you needed a bit of a hand with that, I would love to chat with you. If you want to find out a little bit more about our online personal training for mountaineers, go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer. On that page, there's a big video that talks a lot about our program. And if it sounds like something you want to learn a little bit more about, there's a link on that page. You can book a free call with our team. We can have a bit of a chat and see if and how we may be able to help you out. So if you want to check it out, go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer and we can take it from there. So thank you so much for listening and we'll talk very soon. Bye.

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