🎯 Today’s Mission:

To successfully complete today’s mission:

✅ If you are someone who exercises regularly, aim for at least 10 minutes of vigorous activity today.

✅ If you are someone who never or rarely exercises, then aim for at least 10 minutes of moderate activity today.

✅ [OPTIONAL] Share with us, in the Sleekgeek Movement Challenge Support Group, what type of exercise you plan to do today – bonus points if you snap a selfie!

✅ Complete the form at the bottom of the page when done.

💡 More Info:

Previously, we spoke about the benefits of sitting less and being more active.

Today, we want to focus on ramping up the intensity of your physical activity in order to actually build your fitness.

While there are many benefits to being lightly or moderately active throughout the day, it has its limits.

For today’s task, we want you to stretch yourself towards more vigorous exercise that’s more challenging than what you would normally do.

Only when you challenge your body in this way will your level of muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness significantly improve.

⚖️ Measuring Exercise Intensity

Measuring VO₂ max is the most widely used measure of cardiorespiratory fitness. It’s a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise.

Some smartwatches, such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 seen below, and various fitness trackers allow you to measure your VO₂ max and heart rate zones while working out.

But there are also other less high-tech ways to measure exercise intensity.

The two that we’ll be looking at today are:

The Talk Test.
Exertion Rating Scale.

Method 1 – The 💬 Talk Test:

The Talk Test is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to measure exercise intensity.

Here’s how it works:

🟢 Light Activity: You can talk and even sing quite comfortably without feeling out of breath.

🟠 Moderate Activity: You can talk but are too winded to sing.

🔴 Vigorous Activity: You have difficulty speaking in full sentences without gasping for breath.

Method 2 – 🥵 Exertion Rating Scale:

Using an exertion rating scale is another way to measure exercise intensity that doesn’t require any special devices.

It’s similar to the Talk Test, but a little bit more accurate because it involves multiple factors to consider.

Here’s how it works:

Rating:	Exertion:
0	None – could be sleeping or watching TV.
1	Very light activity – hardly any exertion, but doing more than sleeping or watching TV.
2-3	🟢 Light activity – feels like something you could maintain for hours if need be, easy to breathe, talk, and even sing.
4-6	🟠 Moderate activity – light sweating, breathing heavily, can talk but are too winded to sing, still a somewhat comfortable level of activity but becoming more challenging to maintain.
7-8	🔴 Vigorous activity – moderate sweating, difficulty speaking in full sentences without gasping for breath, getting uncomfortable and difficult to maintain.
9	Very hard activity – heavy sweating, can barely breathe or speak more than a few words at a time, extremely uncomfortable and very difficult to maintain.
10	Maximum effort activity – heavy ~~swearing~~ sweating, completely out of breath and unable to talk, cannot maintain for more than a very short time.

⚠️ 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 pushing for more vigorous activity, it’s a good idea to stick with exercise that you’re already familiar and comfortable with.

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.