You usually don’t envision the combination of weight training and science, but one of the best ways to explain why high intensity weight training is safe and effective at building a stronger muscle mass is to explain the science behind how it all works. Both biology and physics explain why this kind of training not only gives you better results than pounding down a cement sidewalk or lunging around on a floor, but also hands you a safer method of developing stronger muscles and a younger, more toned up body. To get the scientific ball rolling, let’s start first with physics.
The Physics of High Intensity Weight Training Workouts
The best approach to weight training routines is to do them in a deliberate and slowed down method. Physics describes force in the formula F = M x A, where mass (M) multiplied by acceleration (A) equals force (F). Acceleration is the change of speed with respect to a measurement of time. When you lift a weight, you take it from a dead still point and “accelerate” it. By moving that weight at a slower rate, you essentially decrease its acceleration close to zero.
With high intensity exercising, the speed of your movement is vital to your success. Most people can smoothly move a weight slowly in about six to 12 seconds. A jerky motion is the usual result when slowing down to between 15 and 20 seconds and that irregular motion includes bits of acceleration. That’s a not what you want. In order to be effective, the goal is to produce the slowest velocity that results in the smoothest movement at a constant speed. A steady speed corresponds to an acceleration nearing zero. In the physics equation where F = M x A, if acceleration nears zero, then force is also lowered, too. What does that mean when we’re manipulating weights? It means this method is a safer way to exercise.
Go to a training room and most weight lifting that you’ll witness resembles the track and field event called the discus, because the weights are thrown, not lifted. It’s a normal inclination for us to accelerate a weight when we move a weight, since the sudden momentum means less force by our muscles. When we stop momentum, muscles receive more of a load, which is what we want. Here’s the biology to explain why this works.
The Biology of High Intensity Weight Training Principles
As humans, we’re adaptive creatures of the natural world. If you poke a worm with your finger, it recoils. Stimulate us with something that irritates us and we’ll react. It’s a basic biologic factor of reacting to a stimulus, which is what weight training exercises are—a simple stimulus. In biological terms, when an organism receives a stimulus, it reacts. Put this idea into weight training and to be effective, the stimulus, or exercise, must be strong enough to create a response. Also, there needs to be enough time to respond.
So, how does this translate to weight training for men or weight training for women? In exercise, the main stimulus is an item called “inroad,” or a brief failing of the muscle. By moving a weight predetermined by your trainer very slowly, you smoothly move it to the top in about 10 seconds. Instead of letting the weight gain momentum with a drop, you then change directions on that weight in a smooth fashion and slowly lower it to the bottom in roughly 10 seconds. Getting to the bottom, you don’t relax your muscles and merely start lifting slowly back up.
The slow lifting and lowering keeps momentum out your exercise technique and puts the stimulus of a steady load on your muscle, which fatigues and gets weaker. It’s important to obtain severe fatigue to the muscle. This “inroading” stimulus produces a biological response that you’re seeking through your exercise, which is to trick your body into adapting with a stronger muscle.
This brings us back to our comment about an adequate time for your body to respond. More is not better with this approach. There needs to be a minimum of three days for the body to recover. Most people need a week between exercise sessions. That doesn’t mean that you’re totally inactive. But, the muscles in your body need time to repair. And, when they’re repairing, they not only build back, but add additional strength.
High intensity weight training isn’t about flipping weights around. Instead, there’s a science behind it. You’re using principles of physics to create biological stimuli to the muscles in your body in the form of severe fatigue, which in turn, produces a response of muscle growth and additional strength with the benefit of time. The key to your success is concentrating on slow, steady movement and pushing the muscles in your body to fatigue. Not only is it safer, but you’re in for some amazing results through this technique.