HOW TO MEASURE YOUR INTENSITY?
Intensity is key to getting results, and I have a useful scale that means you can be sure that you are working out to the right intensity to get your desired results.
I cannot stress this enough, INTENSITY is more effective than DURATION. Many people feel that the longer they spend working out, the more effective it will be! But this is not the case as it is actually more important to focus on pushing yourself to your maximin as this is how you get results.
As with any exercise, you get out what you put in. You want to be feeling slightly out of breath, but not to a point of utter exhaustion; equally, don’t let it be too easy. Hitting the right intensity is what gives you incredible results. Here are two examples of duration over intensity, and below is a scale of 1-10 that you can use to assess your intensity when you workout.
Example 1 Anna spends longer but doesn’t get any results
Anna is at the gym on the treadmill, lightly jogging, for 45 minutes. She burns off calories, but she spends the entire workout at a moderate intensity. And in total it takes a long time (more than an hour, when you add the time to get to the gym and back). Plus she paid a lot for her gym membership. Yet she could get a better result in a shorter time at home for free, just like Chloe.
Example 2 – Chloe gets better results with shorter workouts
Chloe lives a super-busy life, and so keeps in tip-top shape by doing 7-minute workouts at home. These quick doable workouts focus on intensity so Chloe burns more calories. The benefit of these shorter workouts at home is that you can push yourself to the calorie-burning zone ( see below on chart) and you can always find 7 minutes in a day. So if you want better results always focus more on the intensity of the workout than the duration.
This is an easy way to assess the level of intensity you are working out at. Tip why not take a screengrab of this and always have it to hand to make sure you are within the right zone. MEASURE YOUR INTENSITY GUIDE
1 Not exhausted at all (as if you are seated)
2 Very, very light (as if you are walking around at home)
3 Very light gentle exercise
4 Moderate (easily able to hold a conversation)
5 Somewhat hard (feeling a little out of breath)
6 Feeling challenged and out of breath, (so it would be hard to hold a full conversation)
7 Very hard
8 Very, very hard
9 Near exhaustion
10 Maximal
To get the best results for healthy weight loss you should be aiming for between levels 5 and 7.
