Continuing on this weekend, learn the metrics of progress.
How do we measure progress in the weight room and during gym practice?
Intensity
I use this term to describe several things, relative to the task at hand.
- Weight used for the movement in relationship to the one rep maximum you can lift (%1RM). This is how intensity is often measured for lifts such as the Olympic lifts, the Powerlifts, and other “big lifts”. If you are deadlifting 400 and your max is 500 (known and tested)- the intensity is 80%. Naturally this is not 100% accurate because your “max” is a number which is changing all the time up and down slightly, but it is useful for observation and tracking purposes.
- The amount of reps performed in a single set for endurence/multiple rep attempts. Examples would be the number of reps in a single set of long cycle, number of pull ups in a single set, or number of hindu squats you perform in relationship to your best performance.
- Movement Speed is another form of load, and to this end speed is measured as intensity.
NOTE: Attitude is not one of the above; we are talking mathematics, not emotional behavior
Volume
The total amount of work done. Typically volume is used to describe total amount of tonnage or pounds lifted for a given number of sets without regard to time. If you lift 100lbs 100 times your volume is 10,000 lbs. Some additional thoughts on volume as it has come up several times in the last few weeks.
- Volume in itself is not a primary goal of Perpetual Progress. We do not “try” to lift more due to doctrine or plan. Additionally we do not prescribe anyone chase volume UNLESS that is their goal. Josh spoke on this specifically when he said “I enjoy it.” The things we like are clues.
- In my observations, volume is typically one of the first things which will increase. To this end tracking total volume is essential. For many of us, the ability to do more comes before doing it faster.
- Volume appears to be an important element to hypertrophy and for those seeking more mass lifting more total weight is associated with adding size.
- Volume without time does not give a complete picture of the exercise session. For example two people both move 20,000lbs deadlifting. Now what if I mention that the first person moved 20,000 in 3 hours, and the second person moved 20,000 in 8 minutes…which brings us to the third element
Density
The amount of work done in a specific block of time. We typically measure density as pounds lifted per minute (PPM) but other methods exist.
- In my opinion, density is the most important element of progress. The ability to do the same amount or work (tonnage) or more work in the same amount of time or less time is a prime indicator of better. You press 100lbs 10 times in 5 minutes, a week later you press 100lbs 10 times in 2 minutes. There is no question when you did more work. Total volume is the same–1,000lbs. But the first workout was 200lbs a minute and the other 500lbs per minute which clearly is better
- One of the most common errors for lifters is failing to track time during the sets, and during the workout. Without time, you are not able to track progress.
- As always this is not about forcing better. You do not have to “work” to decrease rest times. If you are doing quality work the rest time will decrease quickly.
Improvement of Movement: This is the elimination of accessory movement during the rep. When we first learn a skill, we often exaggerate the movement and produce force in planes other than what is needed.
- As we grow more skilled we are able to refine movement. This does not mean make the movement more complicated. The fixation on making movement more complicated in gym movement practice is confused thinking. The majority of people lift weights to lose fat/build muscle, move better, and feel better, not recreate Circus ballet next to the “curl rack.”
- Elimination of accessory movement is the critical step towards mastery of a given motion.
- The fewer mistakes you make in a given movement, the more energy you can direct to the primary effort of force.
- Prime mistakes made: Moving sequentially when you should be moving simultaneously/moving simultaneously when you should be moving sequentially , inefficient breathing patterns, unfocused force production/excessive tension, unneeded starting/ending movements
- Starting off clean and taking away more and more is in my opinion the fastest way to progress.
- The fixation should be focused on moving from point A to point B without compromising the elements of effort (excessive tension, excessive breathing, alignment shifts)
- The best of the best make things easy, and do the most work with the least amount of effort.
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{ 13 comments }
Good clarifications for everyone. Like the new site, I think, take some getting used to.
Beautiful! Excellent descriptions. This should be pasted on every trainers forehead.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
thanks Mike
My take………………
VOLUME – Total work done…………….. you can allways do one more rep in a workout somewhere to show you are improving. Irrelevent in my mind.
MOVEMENT – Good form should allways be used in any lift. Irrelevent.
DENSITY – Now we are getting somewhere. Work done in a given time. Good standard for watching improvement.
INTENSITY – Why we all train, when it comes down to it. More reps done, Good gage for tracking improvment. BUT…….. for me, and everyone one else ( admit it or not ) is weight used.
So to sum up my thoughts…….. Weight used and reps done in a given time is what it’s all about. The rest you can improve on anytime you want.
Harlan,
I disagree with you in the above- review the attached information. recall we are working towards better, which means no do or die shit which ends up hurting people. to say volume and form improvements are not PRs is to ignore many many progressions in a path- Lets say on a good day you can close a 3.5 COC 1 time, end to end, no half ass reps- and the next week you get two singles in a workout, would you say that is not progress? You have found the frustrations of missing reps no matter what you do (grippers are my bugbear with that one) and now lets review form- If you are unable to move in a certain way, and than you are able to- is this not progress? think about your current restrictions, would you rather add 20lbs to a bench press or have pain free hip movement? consider i would not waste your time with an article if i did not believe the points were useful to you and your program
I think you’ve got some valid points, Harlan, but I disagree on a bit.
Volume – Past a point, ROM is highly unlikely to return within a reasonable time frame, so I think within the guidelines a volume of work/reps PR is still a valueable thing. I see what you’re saying about adding one more rep (potentially after a huge rest etc), but if we wanted to cheat ourselves I could track volume over days and claim a volume PR. But that’s not helping anyone and I don’t think we’re stupid here.
Movement – I think there’s “good taught form” and “good adapted form”. Few people in the world would call Adam’s “humpback deadlifting” good form, but it tested well for him, so is it wrong? “Good form” without analysing all structure of the practitioner’s muscular & skeletal systems minimum seems to me to be a pipe dream, a general target to aim at.
Density – Couldn’t agree more.
Intensity – Again, pretty true. Hard to argue with that.
Now I wish this blog had a “delete comment” button, hahaha.
Thanks for the very useful post, Adam. I’d been wondering for a while about how you were gauging intensity on the LCCJ in particular.
Good food for thought on gauging your progress with deeper observation.
excellent post adam
This cleared up a lot of questions for me and is going to make the testing and evaluation much easier.
Casey, stick with it. Just like everything else, the more reps you get in, the more familiar the testing will begin to feel.
In your quest to measure progress, it appears as though you have not factored in rest between workouts and the minimum necessary. Rest should always be the most important element in training not (PPM) or (TUL). Remember, it is always the last rep and not the first rep that is the most important. Next, is to seek the “minimum” necessary for growth to occur, never the maximum. It is drawing a firm line between the two that separates training from overtraining. The question that I always ask is, “If I were doing bench press, how many sets should I do and why? The answer should never be subjective. Between 1 set and 1000 sets, where should I stop and why?” I have yet to find a logical answer to these questions outside the realm of the minimum necessary.
Bryon
if you are tracking density, you are catching the rest between sets.
testing ensures one accomplishes the minimal effective amount of work without over training, this is why it is common for GM trainees to move over 250K a week while PRing in every movement in every workout.
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