Rating of Perceived Exertion - Breathing During Exercise

Generally, if you can't talk during exercise, you're training too hard. However, a more accurate method of measuring exercise intensity is the Rating of Perceived Exertion. To put it simply, imagine a scale of 6 to 20 and try to determine where your intensity level is on that scale. That number will be very close to your heart rate. To simplify further, you can narrow the scale down when exercising to a scale of 10 to 18. This would correspond to a heart rate of 100 to 180. It is beneficial to become familiar with this method so that you are always aware of your heart rate when exercising. This allows you to constantly monitor your heart rate and adjust the intensity of your exercise to remain within the target zone. This method should not replace direct heart rate measurement due to inherent inaccuracy but serve as an adjunct to it.

<< Back To Fitness Guide & Training Manual >>