How to Adjust Exercise Intensity for Better Results

What is Exercise Intensity?

Exercise intensity refers to the effort your body exerts during physical activity within a given timeframe. The ease or difficulty of an exercise is subjective to each person. As exercise intensity increases, so does the amount of exertion required to perform an exercise. It’s important to understand what exercise intensity is and how you can incorporate it into your fitness routine.

Why does it matter?

Varying the intensity of workouts helps you stay motivated and energized and boosts your athletic performance. Adjusting exercise intensity also helps reduce the risk of injury, improve cardiovascular health, and aid in weight loss. For the best results, Snap Fitness members should strive to exercise at an intensity level that supports their health and fitness goals while avoiding overexertion.

Measuring Exercise Intensity

Exercise intensity can be evaluated using two relative measurements. The first is using perceived exertion—for instance, if an activity causes you to sweat more or breathe more heavily compared to other workouts. Additionally, the ability to talk or sing while exercising, known as the talk test, can indicate the intensity of the workout.

Target Heart Rate

Your heart rate can also be a key indicator of exercise intensity. Calculating your target heart rate (THR) range will help you track and guide the intensity of your workouts. The THR range is the level at which you're exercising and conditioning the heart but not overworking it.

To find out your THR range, you need to determine your maximum heart rate. An individual's estimated maximum heart rate is calculated by subtracting their age from 220 beats per minute (bpm). Once you find out the maximum heart rate number, you can estimate your THR range.

Maximum Heart Rate:
220 bpm – [Age] = Maximum heart rate

Target Heart Rate:
Maximum heart rate x 0.65 = lower end of your target heart rate range
Maximum heart rate x 0.85 = higher end of your target heart rate range

Target Heart Rate Chart: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/exercise-intensity

If you are a gym newbie at Snap Fitness, you should strive to keep your heart rate at the lower level of your THR range. As you improve and seek to challenge yourself, you can gradually increase the intensity of your workouts, which will help you reach a higher level in your THR range.

If you are a regular gym goer or fitness enthusiast, you may choose more physical activities that require greater exercise intensity to hit the higher level in your THR range.

Exercise Intensity Categories
Exercise Intensity can be broken down into three categories: low, moderate, and vigorous.

Low Exercise Intensity
These types of low-impact workouts will minimize stress on joints and muscles.

Talk Test: If you can talk and sing continuously throughout the exercise, it means your exercise intensity is low.

THR Range: An individual’s THR should be 50% of their maximum heart rate.

Examples of Low-Intensity Exercises:

• Walking

• Yoga

• Swimming

• Hiking

• Cycling

Moderate Exercise Intensity
These types of workouts will increase your breathing but aren’t all out exhausting.

Talk Test: If you can talk continuously but not sing while exercising, you are engaging in a moderate-intensity activity.

THR Range: An individual’s THR should be 50 - 70% of their maximum heart rate.

Examples of Moderate-Intensity Exercises:

• Brisk Walking

• Walking up stairs

• Water Aerobics

• Cycling (moderate pace)

• Dancing  

• Sports

Vigorous Exercise Intensity
These high-intensity workouts are designed to get your heart racing and blood pumping.

Talk Test: During these workouts, you won't be able to speak in full sentences without gasping or pausing to take a breath.

THR Range: An individual’s THR should be 70 – 85% of their maximum heart rate.

Examples of Vigorous-Intensity Exercises:

• Jogging or Running

• Strength Training

• Martial Arts

• Court Sports

• Step Aerobics

• Lap Swimming

Recommendations

It’s recommended that adults, ages 19 – 64, should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activities per week. These workouts can be spread out throughout the week. Adults can also engage in 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activities per week in place of this.

How to Vary Exercise Intensity

If you are exercising at home with Snap Fitness’ On-Demand workouts on the Snap App, you can add in weights or resistance bands to increase the intensity of any exercise. You could also stream a HIIT or cardio dance class to challenge yourself.

Risks of Overexerting

Although incorporating exercise intensity into your workouts offers many benefits, these types of exercises could lead to an increased risk of muscle and joint injury and burnout. Depending on various health-related factors, performing intense exercises might not be safe or realistic for every Snap Fitness member. If you experience extreme breathlessness, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, or severe pain, you should stop immediately and seek medical attention. We encourage everyone to choose the level of intensity for each workout that best suits them and aids them in reaching their fitness goals.