Exercise Intensity Levels
What are Exercise Intensity Levels?
For the most part, as we age, the likelihood of us performing frequent bouts of high-intensity exercise tends to decline. Generally, as we age we perform more low to moderate-intensity exercise for many reasons such as current level of fitness, injury prevention/rehabilitation/management and current level of health.
Unfortunately, due to the slower nature of low-intensity exercise, many people begin to question why they should perform slow physical activity, as the trusty tape or scales don’t seem to budge in alignment with their expectations of reduced body circumference or a significant reduction in the kilograms.
While exercise is one of several tools that can be used to manage body composition, it is not the only way to go about doing so. There may be many other factors at play, especially as we age. Nutrition is a fundamental piece to this puzzle - examining how many calories you are consuming and burning, getting enough sleep and at the right time is important, reducing your exposure to stress and participating in strength training all contribute to shifting those kilograms in a healthy, holistic approach.
The type of physical activity that you participate in will make a difference, which is why the type of exercise and the intensity with which it is performed is important. So let’s go ahead and examine the varying intensities of physical activity, what they look like in terms of suggested activity and how to gauge what intensity you are doing yours at.
Understand your Exercise Intensity Level
In order for Intensity to make sense, we need a reference - Rate of Perceived Exertion - RPE. This scale can be used by any individual as it pertains to the effort (breathlessness) being exerted by that person given their current health. RPE is a scale of 0-10 with 0 being sitting in a chair and 10 as hard as you can possibly go! The beauty of RPE is that if you’re starting out and walking 15 stairs is your 10, it is your 10. For someone else, it may be their 7 and could be another's 2 and so on. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is great because as time goes on, your activity will become easier (your perceived exertion rate).
Low-Intensity
True to the nature of the title, low-intensity physical activities include activities like slow walking or an easy bike ride.
RPE - 3
Perceived Effort - Easily hold a conversation whilst moving.
Benefits the immune system, improve your insulin sensitivity, appears to be beneficial in clearing the bad cholesterol - LDL from the blood vessels. It can also enhance the elasticity of the blood vessels (which is a good thing) and working at this intensity will burn fat (not like high-intensity). It will also build muscle tissue and strengthen your ligaments/tendons, balance and coordination while decreasing the time necessary to recover compared to high-intensity activities.
Moderate-Intensity
Moderate-Intensity physical activities may include swimming, brisk walking, bicycle riding, cross country skiing or ballroom dancing.
RPE - 5
Perceived Effort - Breathing will be heavy and you may only be able to talk a few words before breathing. You can not sing.
Benefits the immune system, improve your insulin sensitivity, appears to be beneficial in clearing the bad cholesterol - LDL from the blood vessels. It can also enhance the elasticity of the blood vessels (which is a good thing) and working at this intensity will burn fat (not like high-intensity). It will also build muscle tissue and strengthen your ligaments/tendons, balance and coordination much like low-intensity exercise. Usually, after 5minutes you will experience an enhancement in your mood .
High-Intensity
High-Intensity physical activities may include running, fast bicycle riding, cross country skiing, hiking uphill with a heavy pack, HIIT (high-intensity interval training).
RPE - > 7
Perceived Effort - Breathing is the main focus as you may not be able to utter a word!
Now if your body is up to it, High-Intensity Interval Training or HIIT can be amazing! It is great if you are crunched for time as workouts are of a short duration and In a recent systematic review, evidence suggested HIIT improves cardiorespiratory fitness, anthropometric (body) measures, blood glucose and glycemic control, arterial compliance and vascular function, cardiac function, heart rate, some inflammatory markers, exercise capacity and muscle mass Improvements in anxiety and depression were also and injury rates appear to be low. Plus, during most structures HIIT sessions you can get your strength workout done also.
Training at this level has the biggest effect on influencing a positive mood.
Strength Training
While there are different levels of intensity of strength training, we will look at light to moderate strength training. The type where you may not be sore for days yet feel as though you have done a work-out. This level of intensity can yield huge benefits such as increasing your muscle and bone mass, regulating your insulin sensitivity, help you burn more calories and enhance your mood.
One research article highlighted that 90-year-olds, who perform short duration light-moderate strengthening exercises can increase strength and reduce their risk of falls. You’re never too old to exercise!
The American College of Sports Medicine:
The ACSM recommends that most adults engage in:
Moderate-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise training for a minimum of 30min/day on more than 5days /week for a total of 150 min/week,
Vigorous-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise training for 20 min/day for a minimum of 3 days/week (≥75 min/week)
On 2-3 days/week, adults should also perform resistance exercises for each of the major muscle groups, and neuro-motor exercise involving balance, agility, and coordination. Crucial to maintaining joint range of movement, completing a series of flexibility exercises for each the major muscle-tendon groups (a total of 60 sets per exercise) on ≥2 days/week is recommended.
Important note:
Most benefits occur when you participate at levels meeting or exceeding the aforementioned recommendations.
If you have been directed to exercise at a certain level of physical activity, there will be a good reason why.
Get your minutes in and whatever the intensity that you are working at, rest assured that you are not wasting your time - your heart and cardiovascular system sing the longest song here.