Am I Working Out Hard Enough?

A common question people ask is “am I working out hard enough? How do I know what zone I’m in?” If you have a heart monitor or chest strap, you may be able to calculate your numbers easily, but what if you’re not wearing a device? While everyone is different, there is a way to answer this question. It’s called “perceived exertion” and it has everything to do with the intensity of your workout. It can finally answer the question “am I working out hard enough?” for good.

Follow along in this short video to learn how to determine your perceived exertion and what it means for your workouts. Chris will walk you through guidelines for determining your perceived exertion, beginning with the difference between low-aerobic exercise, aerobic exercise, and anaerobic exercise.

Ideally during exercise you want to be doing aerobic work; you should be able to utter a couple words to a sentence in a row, but at that point you should need to take a breath. This is a great zone to be in to burn calories and feel good. When you want to push yourself in interval workouts, you want to take your heart rate so high that you occasionally become anaerobic—without oxygen—and you start to feel a little bit like it’s too much or you can no longer talk.

You can use your talking ability as a gauge to see “am I working out hard enough?”—if you want to get into that anaerobic zone for intervals, you only need to go there for a short amount of time to get your heart pumping before you recover. It’s important that your mind be connected to your body when you exercise and to focus on how you feel. Learn how to answer the question “am I working out hard enough?” with ease.

All exercises you perform are your own responsibility and you perform them at your own risk. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider before starting any physical exercise, fitness or wellness regiments of any kind.