Initially I wanted to stay away from the computer this weekend, as it’s the Thanksgiving holiday here in Canada. But after posting a few videos, I’ve been getting a few great and important questions. One of them that have continually come up has been…
“How do I know I’m working at the right intensity?”
It’s a really great questions because for the past couple months the fitness industry has actually been changing in trends from eliminating longer bouts of exercise with shorter and more intense sessions.
I can see where it can get a bit confusing since there’s so much info out there, its hard to know what intensity you should be working at and how to gauge your sessions correctly.
There are a couple simple and effective ways for you to track your intensity levels properly. I’ll start with the more complex one and then move to other strategies you can easily use on the fly when you exercise.
Lactic Acid Accumulation
The first way to know that you are working at a good level of intensity is when lactate acid starts to accumulate in your blood, carbon dioxide production increases and your heart rate and depth of breathing increases. This short-term discomfort is a surefire sign that you have indeed stepped across your comfort level and are working at a higher intensity.
Borg’s RPE scale
The Borg’s RPE scale is another intensity-based tool that you can put to use immediately. It’s basically a 20-point rating scale designed to help you provide an estimate of your exercise intensity. The scale is also related to your exercise heart rate. So a 15 on the scale can be said to be a 150 BPM heart rate (just add zeros to the rating).
Talk Test
Simple, yet effective. This test of intensity is quite simple to do. If you can talk during your session then your can safely say you’re working at a moderate intensity. If you can’t carry on a conversation when working out, then that’s a good sign that your intensity level is in the high range.
There are a few more ways to check your intensity levels but I’ll save those for another post. Try and use some of the signs and strategies mentioned above to help acknowledge that you’re working at the right intensity.
P.S That’ll be all for this weekend, I’m going to go spend some time with my family, relax and enjoy some of this fall weather! I’ll post another awesome workout in about two days. Talk to yah then and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
