Intensity ≠ Speed

When you’re getting back into exercise, it’s easy to think that a good workout needs to have you running around and jumping up and down, leaving you exhausted. You might find yourself moving quickly between exercises, trying to get as many reps as possible, or pushing the pace because it feels like the faster you work, the harder you work. But there’s a problem with this approach:

Intensity doesn’t just mean speed.

In fact, if you’re new to training, returning after a long break, or simply trying to improve your movement, slowing things down can be one of the most useful ways to make an exercise challenging.

What is “intensity”?

Intensity is simply a way of describing how demanding an exercise is. The more demanding an exercise, the higher the intensity. That demand can come from a number of places: weight, repetitions, duration, reduced rest or speed.

As you can see speed is just one way of increasing the demands of an exercise. The problem is that moving quickly can sometimes make an exercise feel harder without necessarily making it more beneficial. If you’re rushing through an exercise, it can become harder to maintain good technique and control. For someone who is still learning how to move well, that can make it more difficult to understand what the exercise is actually asking of you. This is particularly important when you’re starting out. Before you worry about moving faster, it’s important to learn how to move well.

Try tempo training

One of my favourite ways to introduce intensity without relying on speed is tempo training. Tempo simply means controlling how quickly you perform each part of an exercise. Take a squat. Instead of trying to complete 30 squats as quickly as possible, imagine taking 10 seconds to complete one full repetition.

This might look like:

• 5 seconds to lower yourself

• A short pause at the bottom

• 5 seconds to stand back up

Suddenly, a relatively light squat can become surprisingly challenging. No rushing needed.

Isometric training

Another option is isometric training. An isometric exercise involves producing muscular tension while holding a position rather than repeatedly moving through it. Using the squat again, you could lower yourself to a challenging position and hold it for 30 seconds. It might look simple, but it doesn’t feel it.

Isometrics can be a useful way of challenging yourself while keeping the movement relatively straightforward. They can also help you become more familiar with different positions and what it feels like to maintain tension and control.

Why is slowing down so important?

The biggest benefit of these approaches, especially when you’re newer to training, is that they give you more time to understand the movement. When you move slowly, you have more opportunity to notice what your body is doing. What are your knees doing? How do your hips feel? Are you in control the entire time? This information is incredibly useful when it comes to progressing your training.

Intensity isn’t about making every session fast. There is a place for speed in training in that as you become more experienced, moving quickly and explosively can be an important part of developing strength, power and athletic ability. But you don’t have to start there. If you’re returning to exercise, learning a new movement, or simply trying to build confidence in the gym, controlling your movements can be a much better place to begin.

So next time you train, don’t automatically try to complete your reps as quickly as possible. Try slowing things down. Take your time and control each repetition. Pay attention to how your body moves. Training is about learning what your body can do, developing control, and progressively asking more of it.

That’s how you build confidence in movement.

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