Brutality

You'll see the word Intensity tossed around pretty often, and it has a pretty well-established definition:

Intensity is how difficult a rep is, as measured by the percentage of a 1-rep max.

Brutality is similar:

Brutality is how difficult a set is, as measured by the Epley formula applied to the 1-rep max.

The Epley formula is a common way to estimate your 1-rep max from a higher rep-set.  Each rep you do adds +3.33% to your total.  So if you benched 200 lbs for 3 reps (+10%), the Epley formula would estimate your 1-rep maximum to be 220 lbs.

Similarly, if you bench 80% of your 1-rep max for 3 reps, the Brutality is 88%, because 80% * 1.1 is 88%. 

If you bench 80% for 6 reps, the Brutality is 96%.

If you bench 80% for 9 reps, the Brutality is 104%, and it is has a good chance of being a rep PR for you.

Rep PRs tend to have a Brutality very close to 100%.  That's maximum effort.

For reference. 5 reps at 80% has a Brutality of 93%, which I find to be very doable for 5 sets (as long as I take long enough breaks).  Something around 90% Brutality is more comfortable for 5 sets--you can move through them faster.

Although the Intensity and the Reps change throughout the program, I've tried to keep the Brutality around a comfortable 90% throughout (except for the last two weeks).  The idea is that I won't accumulate too much fatigue by staying at 90%.

The Brutality listed at the bottom of the week is actually in reference to the Heavy sets (although the Light and Medium sets should be similar).

I tried to come up with a formula that would describe how difficult a exercise is (e.g. 5x5x80%) but it ended up being too variable, probably because I never standardized my rests.  Which is too bad--I was going to call it Beastiality.