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Relative Intensity
Understanding & applications
Kaushal Sumedh;Anshuttam Mishra
3/22/2019
Kaushal Sumedh, Anshuttam Mishra ©Iron Creed Coaching Services. 2019

Understanding Relative Intensity

Generally speaking, relative intensity is the proximity to concentric muscular failure in a set. It
can also be understood as the intensity or effort put into achieving a % of your 1 rep max for a particular
number of reps. For example, if you did 3 reps at 100kg in a set where the maximum reps you could
have done is 7, you are said to have trained at a lower relative intensity compared to another set where
you did 6 reps at 90kg where you could have done a maximum of 7 reps. You will learn more about
applying relative intensity in your training as you proceed further. Simply put, relative intensity is a
measure of figuring out how difficult a particular load x reps was with respect to your 1 rep max.

But first, why should you know about relative intensity? Well, let us see a hypothetical program
which asks you to do 85% of your 1 rep max (assuming we are talking about a recent true 1 rep max) for
5 reps (1 x 5 @ 85% of 1RM) and asks you to increase the weight next week while maintaining the same
rep scheme. It doesn’t look too bad on paper, does it? Actually, every rep after the first rep @ 85% adds
an additional stress on your body. This added stress is more than the number that is 85%. How hard will
it be then? That is why we have a relative intensity table. This is given below (Table 1).

% of 1 RM REPS
100 1
95 2
90 3–4
85 5–6
80 7–8
75 9 – 10
70 11 – 12

Table 1

This table simply depicts a % of your 1 rep max along with a spectrum of a fixed rep range. More
on why the term “spectrum” was used, later. Meanwhile, from the table, you can see that the maximum
number of reps you can do at 90% is 4. This means, for a maximum of 3 – 4 reps, you can lift 90% of your
absolute max. Your relative intensity is said to be 100% in this case. Similarly, for a maximum of 5 – 6
reps, you can lift 85% of your 1 rep max. So, the hypothetical program asked you to do 5 reps at 85%

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but you worked at 100% relative intensity. You put 100% of YOUR effort. To your horror, you were told
to increase the weight in the following week. Spoiler alert – you shouldn’t be surprised if you miss reps
in the following week and the week after that.

Now coming to why the word “spectrum” was used while defining these rep ranges. This is
simply because of the fact that different people have different aerobic capacities and fitness levels.
Moreover, 1 rep max and subsequent rep maxes change frequently for newer lifters.

Now while a general idea about relative intensity has been formed by now (hopefully), it is
important to learn how to calculate it. For this, first you need to calculate your 1 rep max. There are two
major ways to find out your 1 rep max –

 Do an actual 1rm test; this is the easiest way to find out where you do an actual testing of a 1rm.

 Do an AMRAP set and then try to estimate your 1rm by using calculators.

While testing your 1 rep max is the most effective way of figuring out what your 1 rep max is, 1 rep
max testing can be very taxing on the body and you may need to take a step back from training hard so
that you can completely recover. Therefore, it is something that needs to be built up to in subsequent
training cycles that eventually lead to a peaking cycle to actually check. You can however simply test out
your 1rms just to see where your current strength is.

The second method isn’t very accurate. Here’s why. Some people might have the same 1 rep maxes
but one of them is much better at doing reps as compared to the other. This happens due to poor
aerobic capacity, coming off of injury, new training lifespan etc. For example, 2 people with 100 kg as
their 1 rep max doing an AMRAP with 70% of 1RM, one who is good with reps might end up with 12-15
reps whereas the other who isn’t as good might end up with only 7-9 reps.

Once you calculate your 1 rep max, you divide the weight to be lifted with the rep max for the given
rep range and multiply the quotient with 100. So, relative intensity is given below as –

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𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕
𝑹𝑰 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝑹𝑴 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒑 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆

For example, if your program calls for 3 x 2 @ 80% of 1 rep max and your max is 100kg, the rep
max (RM) for the given rep range (which is 2 here) is 95% of 100kg or 95kg. 80% of 100kg is 80. So, the
relative intensity will be (80kg ÷ 95kg) × 100% or 84%.

Once you are armed with the method of calculating relative intensity, you can easily integrate it
into your programming. It can’t be stressed enough that it is important to understand the concept of
relative intensity from a programming aspect, especially for those who want to train submaximally.
Submaximal training has been proven to be a great way for getting stronger since it doesn’t stress you as
much and has better recovery with a higher fatigue resistance.

One of few ways of incorporating relative intensity into training would be a linear increase in
weekly RI (week by week basis) followed by a reduction in absolute intensity depending on the
individual’s recovery. This can be shown in the graph given below.

98%
96% ↑ IN WEEKLY RI
94%
92%
90%
88%
86%
84%
82%
80%
78%
WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4

Fig – 1

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Now, this linear increase in RI can be done by either keeping the volume (reps x sets)
constant (Fig – 2) or by varying the rep ranges (Table 2). Remember, RI must increase from
week to week or session to session if you are doing a movement once or if you are following a
pure linear periodization strategy or microcycle to microcycle in order to realize the principle of
progressive overload.

CONSTANT VOLUME ↑ RI
RI VOLUME (sets x reps)

20 20 20 20

85% 87.50% 90% 92.50%

WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4

Fig – 2

WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4

REP SCHEME 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 |2 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2
INTENSITY (%) 52|58|64|70|76 55|61|67|73|79 58|64|70|76|82 61|67|73|79|85
RI (%) 79 82 85 88

Table 2

In the table above, there are 3 rows - rep scheme, which is the rep scheme that you have
selected for the training block, intensity or absolute intensity which is a percentage of your 1RM and RI
or relative intensity or how difficult did the set feel with respect to your 1RM. The 4 weeks shown above
are the number of weeks in a training block or mesocycle; this is just a generalization as some blocks can
last even 5 or 6 weeks and peaking blocks can last longer up to 8 or maybe 9 weeks in some cases.

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However, for simplicity’s sake, we are going to assume that your training block is 4 weeks long. Now, the
rep scheme is something that is decided based on what type of block you are currently running. If you
are running a hypertrophy block for example, then you are going to choose sets that are of 8 or 10 reps.
What the above table represents is progression within your training block by using the relative intensity
method. For week 1, you choose a load that is 52% of your 1RM if the rep scheme you have chosen is 10
reps, or 58% of your 1 RM if the rep scheme you have chosen is 8 reps. When you do sets of 10s at 52%
load of 1RM or sets of 8s at 58% load of 1RM, the relative intensity is 79%. On week 2, you progress by
keeping the rep range the same but you now change the load to 55% of 1RM for sets of 10s or 61% of
1RM for sets of 8s. This ensures that you are progressing in load without adding any volume while
increasing the intensity of effort. Obviously a set at 55% of 1RM for 10 reps is going to be tougher than
52% of 1RM for 10 reps and thus, the relative intensity increases from week to week realizing the
principle of progressive overload.

The above table is a simple guide on how you can use RI for certain rep schemes based on your
training block. Now, it must be taken into consideration that, according to Tudor O Bompa, the Father
of Modern Periodization, relative intensity should not be increased by more than 5% from week to
week. This allows the athlete to gradually build up to higher relative intensities and absolute intensities
over time, thus increasing their rep maxes.

While designing programs involving block periodization, a novel way to progressively overload
would be to increase relative intensity by 3% in the first block(focusing on higher volume), 2% in the
second block (moderate volume with higher intensity than the first block) and 1% in the final block
(more like a peaking block).

From the above example, it must be realized that selecting the load and volume is a matter of
individualization. Overall, relative intensity is the umbrella term from which concepts like RPE (Rate of
perceived effort) and RIR (Reps in reserve) have been derived. This is where concepts like RPE and RIR
are important to understand because they add a whole new level of individualization to different lifters
who have different responses to higher volume work as opposed to higher intensity work. Although we
are going to be making a generalization as this does apply to a significant number of the general
population, if a particular lifter can lift say 100 kg for 12 reps as compared to another lifter that can lift
100 kg for 8 reps, chances are that the lifter with 12 reps has a higher estimated 1 rep max when

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compared to the lifter with 8 reps. This will apply to the general population; however, this is just a
generalization and it is hard to say for sure what a person’s 1 rep max actually is unless it is tested.

In conclusion, it must be understood by now that while absolute intensity is a measure of load
or your 1RM, relative intensity is a measure of the effort. Relative intensity can be a useful tool to
monitor load, overload, fatigue and recovery. However, individual factors and external stressors must
also be taken into consideration while designing an individual program.