🎯 Today’s Mission:
To successfully complete today’s mission:
- ✅ If you are someone who exercises regularly, aim for at least 5 minutes of exercise in the Vigorous Activity (80-90%) heart rate zone OR at least 10 minutes of exercise in the Moderate Activity (70-80%) heart rate zone today.
- ✅ If you are someone who never or rarely exercises, then aim for at least 5 minutes of exercise in the Moderate Activity (70-80%) heart rate zone OR at least 10 minutes of exercise in the Light Activity (60-70%) heart rate zone.
- ✅ [OPTIONAL] Share with us, in the Sleekgeek Movement Challenge Support Group, what form of exercise you plan to do today to get your heart rate up.
- ✅ Complete the form at the bottom of the page when done.
💡 More Info:
Previously, we spoke about increasing the intensity of your exercise.
There we showed you two methods of measuring exercise intensity: The Talk Test and the Exertion Rating Scale.
Today, we want to introduce a third method: Heart Rate Zones.
❤️ Heart Rate Zones:
Your heart rate will typically increase in proportion to the intensity of your exercise.
This means using your heart rate to measure your exercise intensity is one of the most accurate methods that only requires an entry-level heart rate monitoring device.
You can also measure your heart rate manually without a device using one of these strategies.
Here’s how the Heart Rate Zones method works:
- 🟢 Light Activity: 60-70% of your maximum heart rate.
- 🟠 Moderate Activity: 70-80% of your maximum heart rate.
- 🔴 Vigorous Activity: 80-90% of your maximum heart rate.
You can determine your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.
For example: I’m 30 years old so my maximum heart rate is 191 beats per minute (220 – 30 = 190).
This means, for me:
- Light Activity (60-70%) would be 114-133 beats per minute.
- Moderate Activity (70-80%) would be 133-152 beats per minute.
- Vigorous Activity (80-90%) would be 152-171 beats per minute.
⚠️ Exercise Intensity Warning Signs:
You should seek medical advice from your doctor or a registered medical professional before beginning any new exercise program or if you haven’t exercised in a long time and would like to start.
If you notice any of these warnings signs, you should immediately stop exercising and seek medical help:
- Extreme breathlessness or breathing problems such as wheezing or coughing.
- Chest pain or unusual pressure.
- Extreme perspiration.
- Dizziness, or fainting.
- Severe muscle pain or cramps.
- Nausea.
- Severe pain in any muscles or joints.
- Extreme and long-lasting fatigue after exercising.
❓ What Exercise Should You Do?
When working to get your heart rate up with more vigorous activity, it’s a good idea to stick with exercise that you’re already familiar and comfortable with.
While doing a new form of exercise might raise your heart rate quicker because you’ll be less efficient at it, you don’t want to push hard when trying something new.
If you aren’t sure of which form of exercise to do, especially if you’re new to this, then we recommend you keep it simple and just start with brisk walking.
Be mindful of your breathing, heart rate, sweating, ability to talk and feeling of physical exertion to keep yourself in the moderate or vigorous level of activity.
✅ Mission Accomplished?
Fill in the form below once you’re done to keep track of your progress.
