Notes on Training Intensity - Part 3: Submaximal Weight Training

It is a well known fact that once an athlete has progressed to a reasonable level of strength, maximal strength levels can only be improved by lifting heavy weights (>80%1RM). Beginners and early intermediate strength trainers can see improvements with much lower percentages due to the novelty of the stimulus for their body. Once someone has passed that early development stage, training with moderate weights (50-70% 1RM) may allow them to maintain their strength in the short term but not improve it. Continued training at these lower percentages will soon result in a loss of strength.

So what value then would submaximal weight training offer for experienced individuals looking to improve maximal strength? It would at first seem like not much, especially if by nature the weights would be quite a bit below the 80% threshold. My belief is that although submax weights won’t directly make you stronger, they will provide the structural and technical foundation necessary to maximize strength work performed later. This will occur primarily through allowing a high volume of work to be done, which has the following (potential) benefits:

1. Psychological and physiological break from high intensity work

2. Preparation of connective tissues, muscles, and bone for heavier weight training

3. Increased contractile mass

4. Possible technical improvements

The first point is self – explanatory: any type of training will become psychologically and physiologically monotonous if practiced for a long enough duration. This represents a drop in the stimulus to adapt and also in motivation to push towards the same type of goal. Vladimir Zatsiorsky, in his landmark text “Science and Practice of Strength Training” suggests that training stimuli should be adjusted before they become stale in order to maximize adaptive response. By switching from high load, low volume work to moderate load, high volume sessions, the physiology and psychology of the athlete are stimulated.

Inherent to lifting weights in the 80%+range are large forces throughout the system with relatively little blood flow increases. There are certain people who can tolerate these stresses in perpetuity and have no issues however I believe most athletes and especially older athletes can benefit from a break from lifting heavy weights.

High volumes of work are associated with larger changes in blood flow to muscles, creating a more efficient network for delivering nutrients and extracting waste products. Connective tissue properties change with the type of work they are exposed to, with submaximal volume loading being associated with an increased elasticity of tendons and ligaments. These properties will lend themselves well to high load lifting by strengthening the platform the muscles have to operate from.

Hypertrophy (increase in contractile mass) of muscle tissue is typically achieved not through maximal weight loading but through submaximal weights lifted many times. The goal is essentially to maximize muscle protein breakdown by a balance of load and volume. In most literature (Zatsiorsky’s included), the range of repetitions given for maximal muscle size gain is between 6 and 10, corresponding to approximately 65-75%1RM. However there are multiple other programs out there, such as the popular German Volume Training that rely on lower percentages of 1RM and higher volumes of work for increasing contractile mass.

For all individuals, increasing muscle cross sectional area results in a greater potential for muscular strength. This potential must be realized through appropriate (high intensity) training however creating a better starting point through submax work is a reasonable goal. For CrossFit in particular, unless an individual is quite large already (i.e. average height and in the 200lb+ range), most could benefit from having more contractile units to engage.

*Note: like all things in strength training, this is not a new concept… Charles Poliquin has been a long standing advocate of accumulation-intensification (building potential – converting potential) and this idea has been in Eastern Bloc theory for at least 40 years.*

Much like rhythmical submaximal running, using higher rep sets with moderate load can help embed consistency of technique through multiple repetitions. In CrossFit terms, this might lead to an increased ability to hold form with fatigue – enhancing the ability to deliver more reps faster towards the end of a WOD. For novice and intermediates whose form deviates from rep to rep, allowing a large amount of practice without having to deal with a heavy load would be very beneficial.

Lifting weights is a skill, and admittedly lifting heavy weights is a different skill than lifting light weights although there is obviously some crossover. Training submaximally in the back squat for example involves the same muscle groups, positioning, and sequence of movement as performing heavy sets in the same movement.

Keep in mind that I am not suggesting continually training at submax effort for months at a time, as that would necessitate to long a departure from heavy load adaptations. What I am suggesting is that submaximal weight training can have several benefits that will enhance strength development when that becomes the primary focus.

In the next part of the series, I’ll discuss what submaximal weight training looks like and how repetitions, load, and sets combine to create a volume stimulus.