One of the greatest mistakes, that sometimes holds you from building muscle mass, is misunderstanding of the factors that influence exercise intensity. Exercise intensity is the total mass of the weight you have lifted during the exercise.

It is easy to calculate your exercise intensity. You have to know the weight you are lifting, the number of times you have lifted it, and the time spent on the exercise. The next step is to multiply the weight by the number of times you’ve lifted it. Then divide it by the number of minutes spent on the exercise.

For example: you curl 50 pounds, 10 times per set, for 3 sets. The time spent is 5 minutes. To calculate the exercise intensity we multiply 50 by 10 and by 3 and get 1500 pounds. If we divide it by 5 minutes we get 300 pound per minute.

Exercise intensity is directly connected with building muscle mass. The higher is the intensity the more noticeable will be the effect. You can achieve the same result with smaller weights. I mean you do not have to constantly increase weight (although it also works) but you can change one of the factors that influences your exercise intensity.

You can increase the number of curls during one set; for example from 10 to 15 per minute, but use the smaller weight. The effect will be the same. The risk of trauma is also decreased if you use smaller weights, especially at the beginning of building muscle mass. Remember, that your goal is long lasting results.