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Last time we talked about the definition of intensity; using subjective vs. objective measures; how different measures compare in terms of reliability and accuracy; and which is my preferred method for defining intensity. Today we’ll look at how intensity and volume combine to create training-stress. Training-stress is how I design and periodize the programming at CrossFit Vernon. 
Training-stress, defined simply, is the combination of intensity and volume. It’s important not to get caught up in the nomenclature. At CrossFit Vernon, we use training-stress as nothing more than a label to consistently identify the type of workout we are performing on any given day. This is relevant because different athletes will have different capacities to tolerate different physiological training-stresses. 
The ability to tolerate and adapt to different stress is a combination of genetics and previous training history. Example time: Someone coming from an endurance sport background like triathlon will be well adapted to tolerate high training loads like long AMRAP style workouts but may be less adapted to handle high-intensity workouts like heavy squat or deadlift sessions. Alternatively, a weightlifter just starting CrossFit may find it difficult to handle the number of reps we perform in a given workout but will easily handle the heavy weight-training days. 
Emphasis is placed on my use of the word ‘may’. These examples only take into account an athlete’s previous training history and not their genetics. Genetics is a huge determinant in how an athlete will tolerate training. Perhaps the best example of this is the current CrossFit Games champion, Matt Fraser. Matt started his career as a weightlifter with hopes of competing at the Olympics. When Matt’s Olympic dreams didn’t take shape, he turned to CrossFit. Many weightlifters have tried and failed to make the transition to CrossFit. Matt has done so, not just successfully, but in dominant fashion, being one of only two men to win four consecutive CrossFit games. This goes to show that there is much more to how an athlete tolerates different training stresses.
There is much in the way of emerging science that can tell us about the physiological stress that training places on the organism (organism being all the systems within an athlete). It used to be believed that high-intensity strength training of compound exercises, specifically lifts that support heavier loading would be the most ‘stressful’ to the central nervous system. Under this model, things like heavy squats and deadlifts were considered much more stressful than presses or single-joint exercises like curls. This has since been shown to be inaccurate and in fact, the inverse is true. Higher rep exercises, placing more direct stress on single muscles, seem to be the ones causing more stress to the central nervous system. I highlight this point as an example of how our understanding of the physiological stress that is placed on the organism is constantly changing and being updated. 
At CrossFit Vernon, we use a simple High, Medium, Low approach to managing training stress. Where, any high volume + high-intensity training day gets the designation HIGH; Medium volume and/or Medium intensity workouts get a MEDIUM designation; anything with a Low volume or intensity component gets a LOW designation. It’s not fancy or extensive but it creates a framework with which we can start digging into the finer points of periodization which opens up some topics for our next series within a series: Program Design.