Mastering the Intensity Equation

Ever pushed yourself to the brink during a workout only to realize, too late, that you might have overdone it? You're not alone. Many of us have been there – whether it's lifting more than we should or skipping essential warm-ups. But why does this happen? And how can we better manage our efforts to avoid burnout and injury?

Enter the "Intensity Equation": Constantly vary your material + Singularly focus on objective fundamentals + Always operate at your “intensity threshold” = Musical improvement and enjoyment!

In plain English: To experience maximum improvement and enjoyment as a musician, play constantly varied material, with a single fundamental focus, at the best intensity for you. 

 Let’s walk through an ‘intensity thought process’ together. Let’s say today our goal is to make ourselves stronger by picking up a heavy barbell one time from the ground up over our head. For an average person, what would be the best weight to pick up, to make us stronger?

500 pounds (230 kilograms) would obviously be too heavy. If we could even move the weight, trying to lift it over our heads would be highly unlikely at best, and at worst it would cause a major injury.

Meanwhile, a five-pound weight (~2 kilograms) would be too light. It would be easy to pick it up and raise it over our heads, and we could probably do it 20 times before our heart-rate started to rise.

To get stronger, the best weight is somewhere in between those two extremes. But how do we figure out what that ideal weight is?

Simple, in theory. The heaviest weight we can lift while maintaining safe, correct form. Obviously, the exact weight will vary from person to person. It’s all relative to their current level of strength. In other words, the point where intensity and form are balanced, is the ideal number you should try to hit.

Maximizing intensity while minimizing bad form applies universally to all types of learning. When kids learn to read, their teachers should increase their reading level until their understanding of the material suffers. Each subsequent level has more challenging words, to stretch their recognition of letters and words and build their vocabulary – but at the right frequency; otherwise if they're unable to extract what the text means, the ‘big words’ will have impeded their learning, not aided it.

The same goes for increasing intensity for bagpiping. For example, when trying to improve at fingerwork, a piper should play at the fastest tempo possible while maintaining correct technique. If you notice your technique is suffering – perhaps the timing becomes inconsistent, or the steps of embellishments lose their clarity, or perhaps you just have trouble reading the music as quickly as the metronome demands you play to keep up – that tells you that the intensity is too high and you need to dial the tempo back a bit. For this reason, the best tempo for most developing pipers will never be at the ‘full speed’ you would see top pipers playing at. 

Similarly, for reed strength, the intensity should match your fitness and comfort at the blowing level you’re at. Traditional thinking was that the hardest reed possible was the best one – many have joked in the past about how players should strive to play ‘two fence posts tied together’ – but realistically, you should aim to play a reed that allows you to maintain great posture, sweet spot pressure, blowing mechanics, and mental acuity. For this reason, the best reeds for most pipers should never be objectively ‘hard’ in strength.

As your form gets better, you’ll be able to play with higher intensity if you wish to. You’ll be able to play tunes faster, and you’ll be able to play a bigger, badder bagpipe. However, at any given time, you should always be asking yourself a few key questions. 

“Am I playing at the best possible tempo right now?”

“Is the strength of my reed affecting my posture, blowing pressure, or other elements of essential form?”

If you’re not sure, ask, “If I slowed this down a tad (or if my reed were easier), would I be able to achieve better technique?”

If your technique is going great, risk a bit more intensity (tempo). Then a bit more. If in doing so, any aspects of your technique fall apart, dial things back until they are in great shape again. 

For rapid improvement, make sure you’re at the correct intensity for you at all times. Try to always stay in that perfect notch where the intensity intersects with your current technical ability. 

Isn't it time you started using the Intensity Equation to your advantage?

Check out the Dojo Conversations podcast as Jim and I discuss the Intensity Equation in more detail!