Intensity Audit

Do you go hard enough in the weight room? Most of us think we do, but it’s not always the case. A recent study published in The Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research described two groups of trained subjects who participated in three separate workouts. The first was 10 reps of a leg press, bench press, leg extension, and arm curl. The next workout was a one-rep max of those four exercises, and the third was 10-rep max of the same movements.

One group worked out by themselves, and the other group was under the supervision of a personal trainer. The group under the auspices of a trainer chose significantly heavier loads in all of the lifts. The largest difference was in the lower-body exercises. Interestingly, even the group who had the trainer chose weight that was quite a bit lighter than their 10-rep max indicated.