Intensity vs Volume vs Density vs Frequency
A dive into your training structure and recovery
When making a training program or when accessing your training, it is useful to have a vocabulary that can separate our overall training structure into distinct sub-modalities or different ways in which your training is stressing your body. One division I find useful is when you think about your training structure or single training session in the term’s intensity, volume, density and frequency.
This can sound a bit fancy or academic but bear with me. It is way simpler than it sounds. When you finish a training session and you feel crushed afterwards, and you do not know why it is useful to have some analyzing-tools at your disposal. But before we dig deeper, Let me explain the difference between the four terms.
Intensity
This is how intense your workout is. If you are running, then your heart rate is the indicator of how intense your workout is. If you are training in 80-100% of your max heart rate, your relative intensity is high, and you will probably need adequate rest between sets (if you are doing interval training) and training sessions. If you are lifting weights the amount of weight relative to your maximal strength is the indicator of your intensity. If you lift heavy and lift near the point of failure, then your relative intensity is high, and you will probably need adequate rest between sets and sessions. Whereas if your running or lifting intensity is low, you will not need as much recovery time between sets and sessions. In short, this means that you will be able to train more frequently if the relative intensity is lower, whereas you will get a higher return on investment if you go full retard in a single workout, but this will demand more recovery. Higher intensity training is beneficial for building and expressing your maximum potential in a given sport or movement. Lifting near your maximum weight is great for building and expressing strength, and high-intensity cardio is very beneficial for your VO2-Max – which is an expression for how capable your cardiovascular system is compered to your bodyweight. High intensity is, therefore, a great way to get a high return on investment and useful if your sport demands it like powerlifting, weightlifting and high jump.
Volume
In short, volume is how much work you do. If you are lifting weights, the total volume can be expressed as reps x weight, and in, for example, running a good example of volume will be your total weekly km. When thinking about volume, you should not, initially, be concerned about how often you train or how hard, but rather think about the total amount of work done. Total volume tolerance is often a good indicator of fitness – you see this in long-distance runners, many bodybuilders, Olympic weightlifters, CrossFit athletes etc. A lot of athletes who do well in their sports can handle a lot of training volume.
If you gradually can make your body more tolerant of training volume, there is a good chance that you are getting fitter.
Frequency
The frequency expresses how often you train. If you are a bodybuilder, this is how often you train a given muscle, in running it is how often you run, you get the point. Frequency is a really good tool to consider when you are training. A higher frequency can be used if you have a busy schedule and still what to perform, then shorter and more frequent training sessions can be useful. If you want to practice a new skill like the Olympic lifts, the piano or golf, shorter and more frequent exposure to the practice you want to master is a superior approach. Many bodybuilders are also doing full-body workouts almost every day, and are reporting good results, and this has also been the approach for Olympic weightlifters, CrossFit athletes and long-distance runners for years. Story short, the frequency can be a very effective tool.
Density
This is the one variable I see people neglect when assessing their training. They factor in the other components we discussed so far, but they forget the training density. Density is the expression of much work you do in a single workout. High density is the long Sunday run, the long bike ride or a hero-workout in your local box. This is where you take a lot of volume and cram it into a single workout. If I ask you to do 100 pull-ups for time or if you run a marathon this can be examples of high-density work. High-density work is important if your sport demands it, so if you are training for a marathon or an Ironman then density training is key because you will get tested in that very discipline. Whereas if you are just training to better yourself, high-density sessions can be unnecessary hard on your recovery.
“So, how is this useful for your training?”
The two most important aspect of this overview is:
1) for you to be able to structure your training and
2) for you to understand how your training affects you
If you see every one of these four variables as an ingredient in your training. The different dose of each ingredient yields a different taste and a different result. You need to get the balance and ratio right. If you just pour all of the ingredients in a big training bowl you get something that probably will kill you or severely cripple you in the short run.
If you want to add more of one ingredient you will need to reduce some of the others. You can, of course, build a bigger tolerance to your weekly training load, but this is a gradual and slow process. It can be useful, in this aspect, to focus on increasing one variable at a time. In this case, the volume can be a beneficial initial variable to focus on. Then you can use the other three variables to structure how you can distribute your weekly volume – so if you want to add 10% more to your weekly volume you can do this by adding an extra weekly session, and hereby add more frequency to your training. Another strategy can be if you add the 10% to an existing session, and herby adding more density to a session. This is useful if you, for example, are training for a marathon. The added volume and density will help you adapt to the specific requirements that your future run will demand.
This perspective can give you the tools to better understand the ingredients that constitute a training structure and single sessions. It can be difficult to juggle these concepts from the get-go, but it is well worth it, to understand this in the long run. This also explains why you feel like shit after you do a hard CrossFit workout. A workout like Murph (1600m run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and 1600m run) will destroy you if you do not have an enormous tolerance for density, intensity and volume, and it will probably hinder your training for the days to come. Likewise, if you go for a 20 km run for time without the proper tolerance you will have a hard time recovering, and you will have trouble handling the necessary future training frequency needed for improvement.
If you are starting out
If you are starting or getting back into training, this approach can be useful. Take a moderate dose of all of the ingredients. If you, for example, want to run, then start running three times per week (frequency) aim for 3 km per session (density), walk/run on every session (intensity) and aim for 9 km a week (volume). In this case, you are not able to handle the expected intensity, hence the walk/run – so you should be aiming at running the full distance down the road. This means that we will focus on the intensity variable first. So, for the next couple of weeks, you should try to reduce your walking (intensity) until you can run 3 km per session (density). Now you can focus on increasing your weekly volume. A 10% increase is a good rule of thumb. A 10% increase is 1 km and now the weekly sessions will be 3,3,4 which means that your weekly volume has gone up and the density of the third session has also increased, but the frequency and intensity stay the same.
Follow this strategy for a couple of weeks and your sessions will look something like 10,10,10 km per week. Now it can be beneficial to look at frequency and intensity. If we add 10% volume, (3 km) this can be added as an extra interval session (frequency and intensity) this can be done as 5 sets of 600m sprints. And we will move 3 km from session 1 to session 3 to add some density to the mix. Now the training structure will be 7km, 5x600m, 10km and 13km, and looks like a typical week of a typical running program.
This is just one example to illustrate how these ingredients can be used to make a training structure that can progress over time, making you fitter and more tolerant.
I hope this can help you on your journey, and we will make more in-depth articles, where we explore the different aspects of this article down the road, but until then.
Get after it and good luck