High intensity workout plans into consideration

I’ve been reading up on different routines and claims by people, and am coming to a new theory of how one should approach a routine.
We all know that consistency is key to PE, but what kind of consistency are we talking about?
Reading threw the information I have come to the conclusion that there are two ways of going about PE.

1) Low intensity but very frequent.
2) High intensity but with many rest days.

Assuming that the information posted is valid, users here have stated that both work, and work well. Bird2 would be a low intensity user, while tae_lord would be a high intensity user, but the list is not exclusive to the two, many more seem to claim these things. Anyway, I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Should we take high intensity workout plans into consideration?

Ahhh yaaaaa, theory time, love it!!!

High intensity anything is certainly not for Newbies, so that should be made clear. Each man can tolerate things in his own way and high intensity might not work for everyone. It may be a ticket to Injuryville. Perhaps suggesting that someone having a plateau with low intensity should consider a trial of high intensity is valid, but each guy has to figure out for himself what works best. Just as there are many PE techniques (hanging, pumping, manual work, ADS, etc.) that work doesn’t mean any are better than the others since there are guys who have benefited from each different one. I’d go for low, but consistent, intensity until it didn’t work anymore. Then I’d try another low intensity method, or change my routine to something with more stress, but fewer episodes.

A most interesting topic! I just posted my thoughts on this in “Short Duration/High Intensity VS. Long Duration/Low Intensity”. I am new to forums (and PE) so I do not know how to link to it.

I’ll just post it again for you all. Would love to hear your thoughts on this:

The people who are posting here now, marinera, gprent have incredible PE knowledge and of course I defer to their tried and true experiences. However, I would like to make a point about intensity and see what they think.

Before I go on allow me to explain intensity the way “I” mean it just so I know we are talking about the same thing. I do not consider “long” necessarily intense. Hanging 1 oz for 36 hours straight is NOT my idea of intense. Intense, the way I mean it is hanging 1000 pounds for 1 minute (please forgive the extreme examples but they illustrate what I am trying to say better than I can define it).

Intensity has proven itself to me time and again in the gym and my gut feel (at first) was to apply intensity here as well. However, hours of reading here at the forum reinforced that what works in one area doesn’t necessarily transfer successfully to another. Maybe the answer is to approach it systematically?

Many people try an intense PE routine (perhaps a TOO intense routine) and after injury or other negative consequences back off, and rightly so. But because of their negative experience in intensity, they take with them the feeling that ALL intensity is bad. That opinion however, is not really giving intensity or their own personal growth potential a fair shake. Misuse of ANYTHING is bad but I think we’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.

While I still believe in intensity, it is now a “cautious intensity”. When I am done exploring the effect rest has on growth I would like to try something that explores developing a systematic way for a person to achieve as much personal PE intensity as possible WITHOUT spilling over into ANY negative consequences such as lig toughening or worse, injury. This way everyone could utilize their own personal “maximum intensity level” allowing them (I feel right now) more growth potential.

I think it’s the correct INDIVIDUAL level of intensity that is important here.

I believe we all have our own personal and safe “maximum intensity level”. By maximum intensity level I mean the maximum intensity level an individual can PE at WITHOUT any negative consequences WHATSOEVER.

Why would it be good to know this? Because as a believer in intensity, I think working PE at only 25% or 50% of safe maximum personal intensity does not allow for achieving FULL growth potential. We DO have to at least achieve SOME micro tearing.

I think a systematic and intelligent way to approach one’s own personal maximum intensity level can be developed. The ideal system would allow for maximum intensity and maximum gains WITHIN one’s own personal “safe zone”. Intensity is not bad. Misusing it is.

And andrea_pe is right. “TOO much” of anything doesn’t work. What I am talking about here is the CORRECT individual amount of intensity.

The problem we run into with high intensity is that the tissues become strong as steel (literally) and resist all future approaches.

As a powerlifter I will tell you that ligaments take. A while to strengthen, but once strong, stay that way indefinitely.

Newbies especially need to really watch for strengthening before lengthening by really maxing out the newbie routine before any thought of intensity.

If the intensity you speak of makes the tissues strong as steel then that is NOT the CORRECT intensity I am talking about. I spoke about the highest intensity possible “WITHOUT spilling over into negative consequences such as lig toughening or injury”.

btw a-unit, I love your hot bath approach to stretching and have incorporated it into my experimental routine.

DGA I really like the point you make. Intensity is definitely relative to the individual. For instance I only do about 5 minutes of stretches and 100 good slow jelqs, but after that I am beat! My dick feels very worked and expanded (in a good way). However this routine would be merely a warm up for some vets. I think the ultimate goal is to have the highest level of intensity before over training or tissue hardening occurs.

Thanks Ironhead.

That’s exactly what I had in mind when I put these thoughts down. 100% intensity for me might be 20% intensity for you. However, if we BOTH work at our safe 100% intensity levels than we should both be getting the most out of what we are doing, no matter how different our routines are.

I am thinking there must be a way to “nudge” ourselves higher and higher up the ladder of intensity until we reach the perfect intensity level for our own personal selves and not go further.

I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know what signs to look for on the way that tells a person when they are “there”. I am hoping to try and find a systematic way for individuals to figure out their own personal best intensity level though.

Can’t do it right now as I am doing a routine to try and figure out if more rest (rather than less) is the key to better growth.

I’ll be giving this some thought though.

DGA

PIs as talked about in many threads should definitely help you find your ideal intensity. If your PIs go down back off if they don’t go up add more. But then comes the question of adding more intensity first or adding more time first? I have also thought if you do 100 jelqs with x amount of intensity but see no gains, would increasing the intensity of those 100 jelqs achieve the same effect as doing 150 jelqs at the original intensity? (Hope I worded that understandably). As far as moving up the intensity ladder if you correlate PE to weight lifting, when I first started lifting, squatting 135 was damn hard, now I squat 315 for around ten reps which definitely puts more stress on the body but the same amount of intensity was being used for both instances. Now as you become more accustom to PE I think you would want to be putting the tissue under the same relative, but progressive stress that you attained your best gains from. But then you could also consider the different types of stress put on the tissue. Expanding stress from jelqing, clamping etc and stretching stresses from streching. Holy shit so many scenarios to look at it’s exhausting. I’m gonna say just like everything else in life, work hard, work smart and be dedicated and gains are sure to come!

Ironhead22, put some spaces in your posts please.

Sorry about that, my brain was just going to fast. Haha

Thank you Ironhead. I will look into PI’s as an indicator of intensity. All your other questions need to be answered and addressed in the search for the ideal intensity level one question at a time. You make a very good point in that intensity levels can CHANGE. This means the level of personal intensity would need constant monitoring.

I would also think one would need to monitor each individual exercise for its own ideal intensity level.

Maybe you’re right. I think I’ll go have a beer before my head (the one on my shoulders) explodes.