i was going to make a thread about something similar to this. how intensity and weight are related. people asssume that when you become stronger, its just as easy to lift the new heavier weight as it was to lift the lighter weight back when you werent as strong. heres the concept..
"relative effort"= if your stronger, you dont have to push as hard to lift a certain weight. so for ronnie to lift 800lbs, well, yeah thats a whole lot of weight, but theres weaker guys out there who dont lift as much weight as him but still put out as much effort if not more.. they just arent capable of producing as much force per unit of effort.
for ronnie to lift 800lbs, that takes 800lbs of force. that might be his 2 rep max. and your 2 rep max might be 200lbs. both of you do a single with your 2 rep max weight. that should be equal effort??? wrong. in reality, lifting more weight takes more effort, and more strength. strength capacity is just that - capacity. its a potential. you have to push yourself to realize that potential. you have to increase your effort to tap into that extra strength capacity.