Here’s an easy way to asses your exercise intensity without fitness trackers

If you want to test the intensity of your workout and hit the physical activity requirement guidelines, then you can do so without the use of a fitness band, an app, or a software. The ‘talk test’ is the easiest tool available to everyone which relies on understanding the effects of physical activity on your heart rate and breathing.
“In general, if you’re doing moderate-intensity activity, you can talk but not sing during the activity,” states a study published on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site. Such an activity could be a brisk walk (3 miles per hour), water aerobics, bicycling slower than 10 miles per hour (on primarily flat terrain), tennis, ballroom dancing, or gardening. Your breath will be labored but you will be able to converse when performing such activities.

Activities like gardening is counted as moderate intensity activity. (Photo: Pexels)
On the other hand, if you’re doing vigorous-intensity activity, you will not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath. Such activities may include race walking, jogging, or running, swimming laps, tennis (singles), aerobic dancing, bicycling 10 miles per hour or faster that may include hills, jumping ropes, heavy gardening, hiking uphill or with a heavy backpack.
The World Health Organization recommends a weekly accumulation of 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity that can reduce the risk of hypertension, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and early death.
For children under 18, the requirement is that of 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous exercise daily.
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