Intense debate started by HESS lecturers

Intensity; in-ten-si-ty; noun.

1. Often used ambiguously within resistance training.

2. Is it time to drop the term altogether?

The definition of terminology in science is a hugely important factor in facilitating understanding and of avoiding confusion.

This is something that James Steele, Associate Lecturer and final year PhD candidate on the Health, Exercise and Sport Science programme, has highlighted in an article just published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. In it he discusses and defines the use of ‘Intensity’ as a variable in resistance training highlighting that researchers and practitioners currently use it incorrectly and should discontinue its use.

Many researchers incorrectly refer to intensity as being synonymous with the load used in resistance training. James Fisher, Senior Lecturer in Sports Conditioning and Fitness noted the issues that arise from this in a recent letter to the editor in European Journal of Applied Physiology. Instead, he noted, intensity should be used to refer to the effort used during resistance training. 

Intensity - load or effort or is it time to re-evaluate?

 The debate between using intensity to refer to load or effort has been on-going over recent years. Both James Steele and James Fisher have published articles previously suggesting that intensity best represents effort (see here and here). However, in this new article, James Steele offers the idea that in fact both sides of the argument are incorrect and the term should not be used at all in order to avoid confusion.

In discussion James mentioned “…correct definition and use of terminology in science is paramount to understanding and hopefully this paper will be of use to both researchers in controlling studies, academics in their teaching, and students in facilitating their learning.”

To read the full article follow this link.