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HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING - Cycling Intensity
 You want to know a secret? High Intensity Training is a requirement of ANY exercise program. However, where most folks go wrong, is either NOT exercising hard enough or exercising too much! Happily, there IS a solution... This solution is called cycling. Cycling Training IntensityCycling? Are we talking Lance Armstrong and The Tour De France? Er, nope. Not that kind of cycling... though The Tour De France is kinda cool. No. Cycling for our purposes is related to a 'cycling of effort'. Sadly, cycling intensity is one of the most overlooked and underused areas of muscle building fitness and high intensity training, yet this magical principle gives the greatest gains. Consider some of its benefits:
A Typical High Intensity WorkoutLet me explain how a typical high intensity workout, for the majority of folks, it is just plain wrong. Anyone who ever exercised is familiar with the mantra: 'Just one more rep'... However, by working out at full intensity all the time - if you continually try to top your best effort - you will burn out! Now training at high intensity is fine - in fact, high intensity effort is sometimes ESSENTIAL - but NOT ALL THE TIME! To improve requires a two-steps-forward-one-step-back philosophy. It requires cunning. It requires guile. The Sun and The WindRemember Aesop's fable about the sun and the wind disputing who was stronger? Do you recall who succeeded in removing the fellow's cloak? For those who missed the tale in nursery school, the sun won, which goes to show: Huffing and puffing gets you nowhere fast! ;-) So what can we learn from this fable? How about: Exercising SMART gets you where you want to go faster!  'Special' High Intensity TrainingThe above would suggest the typical trainee requires a Special High Intensity Training program to succeed... High Intensity Training? Yes! But in MODERATION.
An example: You're going to squat. Now normally, you can lift 60 kg for 20 repetitions, but instead of doing 20, you're going to lift 60 kg for 6 repetitions. Easy. And next workout? You'll complete 8 repetitions... And the workout after that? 10 repetitions. Cycle over. When you lift again, you add 1kg to your bar and begin again at 6 reps; then 8 reps; then 10 reps - done!
Right here is 'cycling exercise intensity' at its most basic. You begin with a repetition range that is comfortable and ACHIEVABLE, and on completion of each cycle - your repetition range - you add a little more weight to your bar before starting over... Simple.
NEVER max out on repetitions! Why? Because you'll shortcut the muscle building process and wreck your results. Going to maximum EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT means you burn out. It means you stagnate. And stagnation means no results and no progress :-( NEVER add more to the bar than 1kg on a lower-body 'beast' exercise and 1/2kg on an upper-body compound exercise. If you do, you will kill progress, which leads to stagnation and no results. A bummer! Ouch :-( So never, never, NEVER (did you get that?) try to shortcut something that works just because you think you can and should do more...the right amount is simply the right amount, and doing more when it isn't necessary, will yield you 'no results' and wreck all your hard work. All that huffing and puffing will get you nowhere!!! Keep this important rule in mind, and your RESULTS will FOLLOW!
Want to see what is possible on 10 minutes a week? Let the inchworm and his friend the tortoise, show you NOW!!!
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