Exercise at the right intensity
Getting the right intensity is important when exercising to get the most out of your workout, you will burn more calories, with a higher number being from fat.
If you don't use a heart rate monitor you can asses your exercise intensity based on how you feel. This is called Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE).
RPE is a self-assessment guide of measuring the intensity at which you exercise.
A good way of determining how hard you are working out is to use a scale between 1 and 10 where 1 = nothing and 10 = maximum effort and you can't go any further.
RPE SCALE
1. Nothing
2. Very Light
3. Easy
4. Comfortable
5. Fairly Difficult
6. Difficult
7. Hard
8. Very Hard
9. Extremely Hard
10. Unbearable
If you are new to exercise, your warm-up should be about 3 = comfortable.
For your main workout try to exercise between 4 and 5.
When you have been exercising for around 6 months you can increase the intensity so that you are working that little bit harder. Depending how often you exercise, one session per week should be harder than the others.
Beginners
Exercise at about RPE 3 during your warm-up, and RPE 4 to 5 during your main workout.
Intermediate (exercising for more than 6 months)
Once a week at RPE 7. Other sessions at RPE 4-6.
Advanced (exercising for more than 1 year)
Once a week at RPE 8, other sessions between RPE 4 and 9, depending on your goals.
• Higher intensity workouts maximise calorie burning.
• Higher intensities should be tackled during workouts even if they can only be sustained for 30 to 60 secs, with lower intensities in between (active rest periods).
• Higher intensity training also raises your resting metabolic rate after you have finished training, which means you will carry on burning energy at rest, above normal levels. So in addition to the energy you use during your 30-minute session, your calorie expenditure can be increased for up to 36 hours afterwards. This is unlikely to happen if you train at a lower intensity no matter how long the duration.
• High intensity exercise or a combination of high/low intensity (known as interval training) will help to improve aerobic fitness.
Becky Houghton, personal wellness coach
By Becky Houghton
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