Describe the Purpose and Use of the Talk Test

The talk test is ane of the easiest means to monitor your practise intensity. Yous don’t need any equipment, like a center rate monitor. All you really need is the ability to talk and breathe.

Whether you can do both at the same fourth dimension is where your intensity comes in.

The idea behind the talk test is that the harder you lot work, the more incoherent you become and the harder it is to talk. By monitoring that, you can determine whether you’re working at a lower intensity, a moderate intensity—which is the minimum yous desire to work during cardio—and a high intensity.

Options for the Talk Exam

Selection 1: The Pledge of Allegiance

• During your workout, say the Pledge of Allegiance (or anything you like, really).
• Ask yourself if you tin speak comfortably. If the respond is yes, you’re at a low intensity. If the reply is no, yous’re at or in a higher place a Level 5 on the perceived exertion scale.

Pick 2: How High Can You Count

• Before you first your workout, count as high as you tin as you exhale
• During your conditioning, count once more during your exhale and compare those numbers. If the number counted during practise drops to almost lxx%, yous’re working at or to a higher place Level 5.

Other Options

The talk test is probably the easiest way to monitor your intensity, but there are other options likewise.

• Perceived Exertion
  — This is some other easy way to monitor your intensity without needing equipment like a heart rate monitor. This is also subjective, and then you lot have to exist honest about how hard you’re working. The thought is to rank your intensity on a scale of 1 to 10. I is like sitting around, playing Candy Crush, while 10 is like sprinting for your life from a knife-wielding maniac. You desire to stay somewhere between 5 and 9 depending on the workout you’re doing.
• Your Target Eye Charge per unit
  — Y’all tin use a heart rate monitor to make sure you’re working in your target center rate zone.

Platonic Workout Intensity

So you lot accept all these methods of tracking intensity…how hard practice you want to work?

It’southward a good idea to work at a variety of intensities:

• Low Intensity:This is about a Level iii-5 on the Perceived Exertion Scale. You might piece of work at this intensity when yous’re warming upward or if y’all’re doing a longer workout, like a long bike ride, walk, or run. This might too exist an intensity you work at if you have walks throughout the twenty-four hours. Attempt this intensity about one time a week.
• Moderate Intensity:This is most a Level 5-seven on the Perceived Exertion Scale and where well-nigh of your workouts volition fall. Think of getting on a cardio automobile or going for a run and being at that place where you can talk, but only a few words. Try this level well-nigh 1–two times a calendar week.
• High Intensity:This is about a Level 8-9 on the Perceived Exertion Scale and a level you can merely piece of work at for short periods of time. You might work at this intensity when doing high-intensity interval training. Shoot for one, maybe two times a week with lots of rest in betwixt.