What Is Density Training?

By Ralph Roberts

A common definition of density is "the degree to which something is filled, crowded or occupied." That definition is at the heart of density training.

What Is Density Training?

Density training works to increase the density of the workouts you do. Density, in training terms, is a combination of the volume and the duration of your workout. The volume is the total workload you take on during a workout session. You can basically think of it as the number of sets you do multiplied by the number of reps you do in each set. The duration of your workout is how long the workout session lasts.

Take this example. Let's say you did 10 reps of 10 chest presses at a given weight. The workload for that session was 10 reps times 10 presses or 100 repetitions. It took you 15 minutes to complete the session. So, your density was 100 repetitions (volume) in 15 minutes.

How To Implement Density Training

There are two ways to add density training into your workout routine.

First, keep your workout volume the same, but shorten the duration of the workout. So instead of doing 10 reps of 10 chest presses in 15 minutes, you shorten that to 10 minutes. You can do this by shortening the time between reps or by increasing your training speed.

The second method is to keep the duration of the workout the same, but increasing the number of reps you do in that time frame. So instead of doing 10 reps of 10 chest presses in 15 minutes, you increase your volume to 15 reps of 10 chest presses for a total of 150 repetitions. Again, to do this, you would have to shorten the time between reps or increase your training speed.

Why Concentrate On Training Density?

Density training helps your fitness level in a number of ways.

• Burning calories. When you start training faster and resting less, you will start to burn fat and calories. This will make you leaner and stronger all at the same time.
  
  
• Gaining muscle structure. As you start doing more, your muscles are going to respond. They will build up faster and add to your lean appearance.
  
  
• Enhance your workout capacity. Adding more exercises in a shorter amount of time will build your endurance. This will make it possible to do even more in the same amount of training time.
  
  

If you're interested in ramping up your workout, perhaps through density training, give Ralph Roberts a call. He is a personal trainer in Amarillo, working out of the Downtown Athletic Club.

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