Goldfingers24, are you paying attention?
Then please tell us the difference between rah rah intensity and measurable intensity.
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
The original “volume vs. intensity” debate as it pertains to bodybuilding was (to the best of my knowledge):
Lots of non-failure sets (“volume”, and yes, I’m aware of the fact that you can do a lot of sets to failure as well.) vs. very few sets to failure and beyond (“intense” training/HIT/whatever).
While Bill and co are correct in that “intensity” is actually defined as %1RM in weight-training, that is not really the meaning it originally had in that debate.
OP, personally, if I didn’t know what to do or what’s important in this game and what’s not, I’d read the threads referenced in the “Best of T-Nation” stickies. hinthint
[/quote]
This.
Yes, the exercise science definition of intensity refers to %1RM, but I don’t think that’s what the OP was referring to. Maybe I’m wrong, but it didn’t sound from the original post that they were an exercise scientist or interested in that context.
Either way though, generally the more “intense” (whether it be %1rm, or how close to maximal effort) the more CNS intensive the workout is going to be, and the less volume one is going to be able to perform and still recover adequately over the long run.
In Bill Roberts’ terms, the rah-rah intensity should come along in a high volume, as well as a low volume program. The focus, form, proximity to failure, characteristics of this type of intensity should come with both approaches.
The intensity regarding training science is affected directly by volume; it is very unlikely that you have the same loading performance when training high volume than when training low volume.
[quote]jasmincar wrote:
Intensity is the percentage
Intensiveness is the other thing[/quote]
x2
hmmmm…I see, thanks all that does help. I initially got the impression that if one were to increase intensity, volume would inversely decrease, being that they are opposing exercise strategies, but appraently that does not have to be the case. I understand that if you increase intensity, undoubtedly one will perform a less amount of reps. However I see that one can increase the amount of sets for higher intense workouts equaling the volume of low intensity workouts.
[quote]goldfingers24 wrote:
hmmmm…I see, thanks all that does help. I initially got the impression that if one were to increase intensity, volume would inversely decrease, being that they are opposing exercise strategies, but appraently that does not have to be the case. I understand that if you increase intensity, undoubtedly one will perform a less amount of reps. However I see that one can increase the amount of sets for higher intense workouts equaling the volume of low intensity workouts.[/quote]
Which definition of intensity are you talking about?
[quote]goldfingers24 wrote:
hmmmm…I see, thanks all that does help. I initially got the impression that if one were to increase intensity, volume would inversely decrease, being that they are opposing exercise strategies, but appraently that does not have to be the case. I understand that if you increase intensity, undoubtedly one will perform a less amount of reps. However I see that one can increase the amount of sets for higher intense workouts equaling the volume of low intensity workouts.[/quote]
from my standpoint the two are this.
Volume: Numerical amount of work done. as in Exercises x Sets x Reps x Days performed before rotation begins again.
so say this is an example of high volume. 6 exercises @ 6 sets x 10 reps
moderate volume. 4 exercises @ 4 sets x 12 reps
low volume. 2-4 exercises @ 5 sets x 5 reps
when i think of intensity i think of:
time spent resting: 5 mins of rest verses 60 seconds at the same amount of weight being moved.
specialized moves: supersets, trisets and giantsets or rest pause techniques, staggered sets and stuff like that. those can all have different levels of volume and intensity. it really all depends on how much you are willing to give during a workout and how well you can recover from it.
now you can’t assume that there is lower intensity based on the amount of volume. both can be used together. the guys that get it correct are usually the big guys in the gym. they combine really intense short sessions along with the correct volume that will allow them to recover and come back fresh during the next workout without incurring any injuries.
but then again, that is my opinion on what the differences would be. i know for a fact from reading on here that many people could explain it more scientifically that i.
[quote]Onslaught2099 wrote:
when i think of intensity i think of:
time spent resting: 5 mins of rest verses 60 seconds at the same amount of weight being moved.
[/quote]
Work per unit of time (which is what you’re talking about here) is usually referred to as ‘density’. Man, always interesting to discuss things that people have so many different definitions of! 
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
LOL. LOLOL. So intensity is %1RM, huh? Except for cyrusseven, no one has a fucking clue around here so far.
And now we need an article to teach you what intensity is??? LOL.
Here’s a question for you noobs:
Whats more intense? 12 reps with your 12RM or 6 reps with your 6RM or 3 reps with your 3RM.
Answer this correctly.
[/quote]
You’d better read that article. What your getting at is intensiveness. The OP asked about intensity. And the correct definition is load relative to your max. So if someone says 5 reps with 80% intensity, that means 80% of your 1rm. Not 80% of your 5rm.
OP im not sure if someone else answered this, but i’ll give it a shot.
Intensity - Load relative to max. For resistance training this is % of 1rm. For aerobic stuff its % of HR max.
Volume - Generally refers to total number of repetitions for a given exercise or body part. (Sets x reps) But sometimes people mention (sets x reps x weight) which is workload, but pretty much the same thing.
It really depends what you are trying to define. Because if your do 5x5 this is 25 reps. But if the weight changes is set, then the volume is different than if you used the same weight each set.
As for your original question. There isn’t really a set understanding of what is an intensity workout and what is a volume workout. But IMO:
Intensity focused: Will likely be 85%+ for loads, possibly 90%+
Volume: Will probably be 75-85% maybe as low as 60%. The reps will be much higher, and usually so will the number of sets. For me, 1-15 would be low volume, and about 40+ would be high volume.
Also, in general intensity and volume are inversely related, so when one goes up the other goes down. (You cant do 50 total reps with 90% of your 1rm.
Lastly, this is entirely individual and doesn’t really matter. You probably will get the best results by taking a middle path and maximizing intensity and volume the best you can.