Track Your Aerobic-Activity Intensity to Help Reverse Prediabetes and Prevent Diabetes — While Launching Your New Fitness Lifestyle

On our jam-packed “Exercise to Prevent Diabetes” page, we outlined weekly exercise regimens that included “moderate-intensity” aerobic activities and “vigorous-intensity” aerobic activities. Following, are some ways to understand and measure the intensity of aerobic activity: relative intensity vs. absolute intensity.

Relative Intensity

This is the level of effort required by a person to do an activity. When using relative intensity, people pay attention to how physical activity affects their heart rate and breathing.

The talk test is a very simple way to measure relative intensity. Suffice to say, if you’re doing moderate-intensity activity, you can talk — but not sing — during the activity. If you’re doing vigorous-intensity activity, you will not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.

Absolute Intensity

This is the amount of energy used by the body per minute of activity. Following, are examples of activities classified as moderate-intensity or vigorous-intensity, based upon the amount of energy used by the body while doing the activity.

Moderate-Intensity Activities

Here’s a short list of physical activities that yield aerobic benefits:

Walking briskly [3 miles per hour or faster, but not race-walking]

Water aerobics

Bicycling slower than 10 miles per hour

Tennis [doubles]

Ballroom dancing

General gardening

Vigorous-Intensity Activities

Race-walking, jogging or running

Swimming laps

Tennis [singles]

Aerobic dancing

Bicycling 10 miles per hour or faster

Jumping rope

Heavy gardening [continuous digging or hoeing]

Hiking uphill or with a heavy backpack

Target Heart Rate, Estimated Maximum Heart Rate

One way of monitoring physical-activity intensity is to determine whether a person’s pulse or heart rate is within the target zone during physical activity.

For moderate-intensity physical activity, a person’s target heart rate should be 50% to 70% of his or her maximum heart rate. This maximum rate is based on the person’s age. An estimate of a person’s maximum age-related heart rate can be obtained by subtracting the person’s age from 220. For example, for a 50-year-old person, the estimated maximum age-related heart rate would be calculated as 220 – 50 years = 170 beats per minute [bpm]. The 50% and 70% levels would be:

50% level: 170 x 0.50 = 85 bpm, and

70% level: 170 x 0.70 = 119 bpm

Thus, moderate-intensity physical activity for a 50-year-old person will require that the heart rate remains between 85 and 119 bpm during physical activity.

For vigorous-intensity physical activity, a person’s target heart rate should be 70% to 85% of his or her maximum heart rate. To calculate this range, follow the same formula as used above, except change “50% and 70%” to “70% and 85%.” For example, for a 35-year-old person, the estimated maximum age-related heart rate would be calculated as 220 – 35 years = 185 beats per minute [bpm]. The 70% and 85% levels would be:

70% level: 185 x 0.70 = 130 bpm, and

85% level: 185 x 0.85 = 157 bpm

Thus, vigorous-intensity physical activity for a 35-year-old person will require that the heart rate remains between 130 and 157 bpm during physical activity.

How to Check Your Heart Rate

Generally, to determine whether you are exercising within the heart-rate target zone, you must stop exercising briefly to take your pulse. You can take the pulse at the neck, the wrist or the chest.

We recommend the wrist. You can feel the radial pulse on the artery of the wrist in line with the thumb. Place the tips of the index and middle fingers over the artery and press lightly. Do not use the thumb.

Take a full, 60-second count of the heartbeats — or take for 30 seconds, then multiply by 2. [Start the count on a beat, which is counted as “zero.”] If this number falls between 85 and 119 bpm — in the case of the 50-year-old person — he or she is active within the target range for moderate-intensity activity.

Activity Tracker = Your New Best Friend?

To simplify the process of measuring your heart rate, you might consider using an activity tracker. Fitbit, for example, offers an entire line of activity trackers that can be worn in or on your pocket, on your wrist, clipped to your waistband, etc.

Fitbit tracks your full day’s steps, calories burned, distance and active minutes — allowing you to see how active you are, and inspiring you to walk more and do more. Some Fitbit products also measure the number of floors climbed, continuous heart rate, how long and how well you sleep, etc. In toto, all of those small changes can add up to big results.

With free, easy-to-use online tools at Fitbit.com plus new mobile apps, Fitbit lets you set goals, track your progress, and log food, weight and other activities. You can even be part of Fitbit’s growing online community and/or compete with other Fitbit users from around the globe.

Simply put: Fitbit can help you get the results you’re after as you embark on incorporating physical activities into your daily life — to not only help reverse prediabetes and prevent diabetes altogether, but to launch an entirely new fitness lifestyle.

If you’re ready to make a change and change your life, click here to try a Fitbit tracker.

Last edited on September 22, 2015