When you’re tight on time, adding more sets, exercises and training days isn’t always an option.
That’s where density training comes in.
Instead of making your workouts longer, the aim is to gradually squeeze more work into the time you already have.
Strength coach Steven Coyne describes it as doing ‘more work in the same amount of time’, using timed blocks and measurable targets to develop strength, build muscle and improve conditioning without letting sessions drag on.
It’s an approach Coyne says was also used by three-time World’s Strongest Man Bill Kazmaier, who emphasised the importance of timing rest periods to improve work capacity.
What Is Density Training?
Training density refers to how much work you complete within a given period of time.
‘Density training is doing more work in the same amount of time,’ says Coyne.
Rather than completing a prescribed number of sets with loosely defined rest periods, you put the clock on your training and record how much work you complete. From there, the goal is to gradually improve that result.
Coyne explains: ‘Set the clock. Log your total. Beat it next time, even by 1%. Full reps only. Half reps don’t count.’
Small improvements count, whether that means completing another rep or round, covering slightly more distance, lifting more weight or completing the same amount of work faster.
What Are the Benefits?
The biggest advantage of density training is efficiency. You can continue progressing without making your workouts any longer.
Coyne describes it as ‘brutally effective for building strength, size, and an engine at the same time’.
He credits the approach in part to Bill Kazmaier, saying: ‘Kaz said the biggest mistake lifters make is not timing their rest. He believed that’s why most strength athletes have poor work capacity.’
Coyne says he discovered the method himself after a disappointing powerlifting meet.
‘I bombed out of a powerlifting meet and swore off heavy lifting. So I trained prison-style bodyweight workouts instead. Fourteen months later I was stronger, fitter and moved better.’
‘I’ve used it with every client since. It just flat out works,’ he says.
How to Use Density Training
There are several ways to increase training density. For example, you can:
Perform more reps or lift more weight within the same time.Complete the same amount of work faster.Choose a harder exercise variation.Combine movements into a circuit.
One example is Coyne’s 100-rep challenge. Choose a squat, log or axle deadlift and set a 20-minute timer.
‘Load a bar. Start the clock. Stop at 100 reps or when time runs out,’ he says.
Fall short and aim for more reps next time.
‘Hit 100? Add weight.’
Other options include covering as much distance as possible with a farmer’s carry in 10 minutes, completing 20 sandbag loads progressively faster, or beating your calorie score during a five-minute air bike effort.
Just remember that every session doesn’t need to be a PB. Coyne recommends a deload ‘every 4 to 6 weeks’, dropping to ’60 to 70% of your normal volume’.
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