Dropping intensity, upping volume

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

I am just finishing up the General Strength and Conditioning template, which is a great program, but tweaked my left shoulder somehow. It hurts when I squat and when I bench or press, so I’ve been trying to change up my grip to see if I can get it to go away. Some of it may also be related to work-related stress so I’m not worried.

However, it did limit the intensity that I could do on the incline bench the other day because it seems to be aggravated by the weight rather than the reps (I can do the reps at lower weight without any issues).

What I decided to do this morning for close grip bench is to drop the intensity by about 20% and double the reps. It felt pretty good.

My question is whether this strategy of dropping intensity and increasing reps leads to a similar adaptation/strength gain.

Thanks for any insights.

Sunil

2

Dropping external intensity is the right move for working through pain or rehabilitating an injury, as discussed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdwj5ORPmX0

I would expect the nature of adaptation to be different from this (i.e., you will adapt more towards handling higher-rep work). However, given that this would be a temporary modification until your shoulder feels better, this is not a problem.

1 Like
3

Thanks much!

Sunil