There\u2019s an art to managing your client\u2019s exercise intensity.<\/p>\n
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Push too hard, and they\u2019ll cut the session short out of frustration\u2014and never return<\/span>. Push too little, on the other hand, and your client will fail to make the necessary physiological adaptations (both cardiovascular and muscular) needed to achieve their fitness goals.<\/p>\n To make things more complicated, you can’t simply look at intensity on a “session-by-session” basis.<\/p>\n You need to take on a high-level view of your client\u2019s exercise intensity spanning weeks, or possibly months, to ensure they\u2019re training in a way that gives their body the time it needs to repair and recover.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even after you\u2019ve developed a suitable workout program for your client, how do you know\u2014for sure\u2014if they\u2019re exercising at the intended intensity?<\/p>\n Answer:<\/span> By measuring their workout intensity. This article shows you how.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n First things first. Let\u2019s cover the basics of exercise intensity.<\/p>\n In the strictest sense, exercise intensity is defined by the amount of energy required<\/span> to perform the physical activity per unit of time.<\/p>\n In general, though, the easier way to think of (and explain) the concept of intensity is a measure of how hard the body is working during physical activity. Exercise intensity is usually measured as low, moderate, or vigorous. Here are a few examples of each:<\/p>\n To answer the question:<\/span> Not at all.<\/p>\n In addition to recovery and injury concerns<\/span>, there’s also the fact that there’s no one-size-fits-all intensity prescription. How hard you make your client go will depend on several factors, including their fitness goals, how they like to work out, how their body feels, etc.<\/p>\n A general rule of thumb is that you shouldn\u2019t be having your client do more than two to three high-intensity workouts per week.<\/p>\n Here are the ways to measure your client\u2019s exercise intensity\u2014in the order of least accessible to most accessible.<\/p>\n In exercise physiology, oxygen consumption is the golden standard<\/span> for measuring exercise intensity during aerobic (i.e., “needs oxygen”) exercise.<\/p>\n The higher the oxygen demand during a particular session, the higher the intensity. That said, this measure of exercise intensity isn’t practical.<\/p>\n In addition to having access to a medical facility or a lab, you’ll also need to get your client to perform the exercise while breathing into a mouthpiece that collects information on inspired and expired air. You can treat this information as “nice to know.”<\/p>\n A more accessible way of measuring your client\u2019s exercise intensity is by looking at their heart rate (e.g., if they\u2019re wearing a fitness tracker or smartwatch<\/span>).<\/p>\n Given the body would consume more oxygen as intensity increases, that\u2019d also meant that, in general, the higher your client\u2019s heart rate, the more they\u2019re challenging themselves. More specifically, you can track and guide your client\u2019s exercise intensity by calculating their Target Heart Rate (THR) range<\/span>:<\/p>\n That\u2019s great. But how would you know what your client\u2019s maximum heart rate is? Well, there\u2019s a classic formula (i.e., the \u201cFox formula\u201d) you can use for that: Simply subtract your client\u2019s age from 220.<\/p>\n For example, for a 35-year-old client, their estimated maximum age-related heart rate would be calculated as 220 \u2013 35 = 185 beats per minute (bpm). Putting it all together, that means you\u2019d want your client\u2019s heart rate to remain within the range of:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Drawbacks to Using Heart Rate<\/p>\n That said, there are a few drawbacks related to using heart rate as a measure of your client\u2019s intensity.<\/p>\n The first is that, as with most formulas used in fitness, the Fox formula isn\u2019t all that accurate. In fact, research shows that using the formula to calculate heart rate could give you numbers that are way off\u2014maybe by as much as 12 bpm up or down. That\u2019s a huge gap.<\/p>\n What about other formulas? Are they better?<\/p>\n Well, not exactly. Other formulas used for calculating the maximum heart rate, including the HUNT and Tanaka formulas, are prone to overestimating the maximum heart rate for women.<\/p>\n In the worst-case scenario, you could end up pushing your client dangerously close to their actual maximum heart rate\u2014while still believing that they\u2019re squarely in the \u201cmoderate-intensity\u201d zone.<\/p>\n Another con associated with relying on heart rate as a measure of intensity is that it fails to consider the many variables that can raise or lower your client\u2019s readings on any given day.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n Lastly, you should also be aware that some medications (e.g., beta-blockers) can alter your client\u2019s response to exercise. So, you should always advise your client to see their doctor<\/span> for a medical check-up before tweaking their exercise intensity or even before starting them on a new routine.<\/p>\n As mentioned earlier, because heart rate is an absolute number, it fails to capture how your client is truly feeling in that moment (e.g., level of fatigue).<\/p>\n Thankfully, there’s a better way to judge your client’s exercise intensity. Bonus: It also happens to be one of the most user-friendly ways to measure workout intensity. And it’s none other than something called the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale.<\/p>\n The RPE scale ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 being resting and 10 being maximum effort.<\/p>\n So, the idea with the RPE scale is to regularly check in with your client\u2014and get them to rate how hard they\u2019re working on a scale of 0 to 10. To help you get a sense of what the numbers mean:<\/p>\n That said, do note that RPE can be tough to judge accurately when your client is new to exercise.<\/p>\n If they\u2019re not familiar with how their body responds to exercise\u2014in terms of how different intensity levels make them feel physically and mentally\u2014then it\u2019s hard to make an accurate assessment.<\/p>\n When You Should Use the Talk Test Instead<\/p>\n You could help a client new to fitness get a better grasp of what the RPE numbers look and feel like for them through something called the talk test.<\/p>\n With the talk test, all your client needs to do is pay attention to how breathless they are.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how their breathlessness \u201ctranslates\u201d into the RPE scale and, in turn, exercise intensity:<\/p>\n Unfortunately, RPE\u2019s greatest strength\u2014i.e., subjectivity\u2014also happens to be its weakness. That means your client\u2019s perceived effort won\u2019t always be an accurate representation of how hard their body\u2019s actually working.<\/p>\n If they find a particular exercise (e.g., Bulgarian split squats) uncomfortable, they\u2019ll probably give it a higher RPE rating even if their effort isn\u2019t equal to that tolerance level.<\/p>\n Plus, other factors like whether your client enjoys a particular training method or workout routine and how well they tolerate discomfort can influence how hard a workout feels to them on any given day.<\/p>\n A good way to get around this would be to establish a “baseline” of your client’s tolerance.<\/p>\n For instance:<\/span> Maybe they always rate power sled pulls as an eight on the RPE scale\u2014even though you know the intensity corresponds to a moderate jog on the treadmill, which they report as a 5. In this case, you know that you can still afford to push up their intensity on the power sled pulls (at least just a little).\u00a0<\/p>\n Thus far, all the intensity measurement methods we\u2019ve mentioned are better suited for conditioning exercise. What if your client primarily does strength training?<\/p>\n Then you can use something called \u201cReps in Reserve\u201d (RIR)\u2014which refers to the number of reps your client has left in the tank after completing a working set. Or, in other words, how many reps they feel they could have done before reaching technical failure, where they\u2019re unable to do another rep with proper form.<\/p>\n So, how would you know the ideal RIR for your client?<\/p>\n Well, based on research<\/span>, there appears to be an effective\u2014yet safe\u2014RIR range for gaining muscle and strength: between 1 to 3 reps.<\/p>\n Studies show that this is a “sweet spot” of sorts. This is where your client would be able to train with the intensity needed for muscle hypertrophy without going to failure too often, which limits the total volume they can do in their workouts and increases their risk of sustaining injuries.<\/p>\n Meaning? You should have your client end most of their working sets 1 to 3 reps shy of failure.\u00a0<\/p>\n That said, you should be extra careful when using this method of measuring exercise intensity with clients who\u2019re new to strength training. That\u2019s because beginner lifters tend to underestimate their true failure point\u2014often by as much as five reps (or more).<\/p>\n Of course, there\u2019s no better way to help your client familiarize themselves with their true failure point than to let them go to failure.<\/p>\n Just note that your top priority should always be safety (e.g., set up the safety bars on the squat rack in case they lose control).<\/p>\n While measuring your exercise intensity isn\u2019t as straightforward or well-defined as it sounds, it\u2019s still a great way to help your clients assess just how hard they\u2019re training. This can be invaluable when they\u2019re trying to track their progress.<\/p>\n For clients just starting out<\/span>, remind them to view these exercise intensity measurements in a holistic way. Consider other factors, especially ones they can’t quantify such as stress levels, so they can better appreciate how everything is linked.<\/p>\n And most importantly, remember that many of these methods are subjective, which means arriving at more “accurate” measurements will take time and experience. So, they’ll need to be patient and keep practicing.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nWhat Is Exercise Intensity?<\/h2>\n
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Is More Intensity Always Better?<\/h2>\n
How to Measure Exercise Intensity<\/h2>\n
Oxygen Consumption<\/h3>\n
Heart Rate<\/h3>\n
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Rate of Perceived Exertion<\/h3>\n
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Drawbacks of RPE<\/h3>\n
Repetitions in Reserve (RIR)<\/h3>\n
Takeaway<\/h2>\n
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<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nReferences<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n