What is exercise intensity?
Exercise intensity is a way of determining how hard your body is working during a specific physical activity. There a 3 “categories” regarding exercise intensity:
- Light intensity: activities containing this level of intensity require the least amount of energy. Performing everyday tasks are common examples of using light intensity.
- Moderate intensity: requires more energy than activities with light intensity, but more than activities with vigorous intensity. Examples include: biking, slow dancing, brisk walking, jogging, water aerobics and more.
- Vigorous intensity: requires the highest amount of energy. Within this intensity, individuals have more difficulty performing the task, and is often seen through difficulty/trouble breathing. Examples include: running, swimming, jumping rope, hiking uphill and more.
Measuring exercise intensity:
There are 3 major measurement methods used to determine exercise intensity:
- Talk Test
- Target heart rate
- Exertion rating scale
| Talk Test | Talk tests are a simpler, quicker method used to determine intensity level: If you can speak or sing in an easy manner, you are currently exercising at a light or low intensity level. If you can speak in a comfortable manner but are unable to sing, you are currently exercising at a moderate intensity level. Lastly, if you are unable to speak or sing without difficulty (specifically breathing troubles), you are currently exercising at a vigorous or high intensity level. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Target heart rate | Heart rate refers to the number of heart contractions or beats per minute. It is often measured in bpm. This rate will increase or decrease based on the intensity of a physical activity. An individual’s maximum heart rate correlates, for the most part, to age. For moderate intensity physical activities, a person’s heart rate should range from 50% to 70% of their maximum heart rate, and this percentage will increase or decrease when performing light or vigorous intensity activities.
You can measure your current heart rate by finding your pulse through your inner wrist or the side of your windpipe. As you perform physical activities, focus on your change in heart rate to determine your intensity level. It’s important to remember that besides intensity level, time, weather, diet, hormones, medications, stress and other factors may impact your heart rate as well. |
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| Exertion rating scale | The exertion rating scale, also known as the Rated Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale measures the intensity of your physical activity based on how easy or difficult you find the exercise to be on a scale of 1-10. An individual must analyze physical signs including heart rate, breathing rate, sweating, fatigue and more. The exertion rating scale is based off of the following table:
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