Aerobic activity what counts?

Aerobic activity or "cardio" gets you breathing harder and your heart beating faster. From
pushing a lawn mower, to taking a dance class, to biking to the store all types of activities
count. As long as you're doing them at a moderate or vigorous intensity for at least 10 minutes
at a time.
Intensity is how hard your body is working during aerobic activity.
How do you know if you're doing light, moderate, or vigorous intensity aerobic activities?
For most people, light daily activities such as shopping, cooking, or doing the laundry doesn't
count toward the guidelines. Why? Your body isn't working hard enough to get your heart rate
up.
Moderate-intensity aerobic activity means you're working hard enough to raise your heart rate
and break a sweat. One way to tell is that you'll be able to talk, but not sing the words to your
favorite song. Here are some examples of activities that require moderate effort:

Walking fast

Doing water aerobics

Riding a bike on level ground or with few hills

Playing doubles tennis

Pushing a lawn mower

For more help with what counts as aerobic activity, watch this video:
Windows Media Player, 4:48
More videos
Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity means you're breathing hard and fast, and your heart rate
has gone up quite a bit. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a few
words without pausing for a breath. Here are some examples of activities that require vigorous
effort:

Jogging or running

Swimming laps

Riding a bike fast or on hills

Playing singles tennis

Playing basketball

Build up over time

If you want to do more vigorous-level activities, slowly replace those that take moderate effort
like brisk walking, with more vigorous activities like jogging.
You can do moderate- or vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or a mix of the two each week. A
rule of thumb is that 1 minute of vigorous-intensity activity is about the same as 2 minutes of
moderate-intensity activity.
Some people like to do vigorous types of activity because it gives them about the same health
benefits in half the time. If you haven't been very active lately, increase your activity level
slowly. You need to feel comfortable doing moderate-intensity activities before you move on to
more vigorous ones. The guidelines are about doing physical activity that is right for you.

What's moderate intensity exercise?

Most people are aware of the current physical activity guidelines, but many are still confused
about what moderate intensity physical activity is. Moderate intensity can be defined in absolute
or relative terms. Understanding absolute intensity is simpler, so let's start with that.
Absolute moderate intensity has been defined by public health experts as any activity that
expends 3.5 to 7 calories per minute. A classic example of moderate physical activity is walking
at a 15-20 minute mile pace. Other examples of moderate intensity activities are:

Brisk walking

Doing water aerobics

Bicycling at 5 to 9 mph on level terrain, or with few hills; or stationary

bicycling using moderate effort

Playing doubles tennis

Yoga

Golf, wheeling or carrying clubs

Playing Frisbee

Ballroom dancing

Pushing a lawn mower

General gardening, such as raking the lawn, bagging grass, digging, hoeing,
or weeding while standing or bending

Shoveling light snow

Actively playing with children

Many of these activities are not what we normally think of as exercise. This is great news
because you can accumulate your recommended moderate activity by doing housework,
gardening, recreating or other lifestyle physical activities.
Of course, people's fitness levels vary. An easy stroll in the park may raise one person's heart rate
enough to be considered moderate intensity. For another person the same stroll may not be
considered moderate intensity because it does not raise their heart rate enough. That's where
relative intensity comes in. Your heart rate will increase and you may break a sweat when
exercising at moderate intensity. A simple way of determining whether you are exercising at a
moderate level is the talk test. This test is quite easy. If you are doing moderate intensity activity
you will be able to talk, but not be able to sing.
Using relative intensity as a guideline is helpful for those who are new to physical activity, and
who may not be able to sustain an activity at the absolute moderate intensity. You can start at
whatever intensity is moderate for you using the talk test, and increase intensity as your fitness
levels improve.
Health guidelines prescribe the amount of exercise needed to maintain health and reduce health
risk. Vigorous intensity exercise is recommended for 20 minutes a day, three days a week or a
total of 1 hour and 15 minutes per week. Vigorous intensity exercise can be alternated with
moderate intensity exercise. What is vigorous intensity exercise?

How Long: At least 10 minutes at a time

What Does Vigorous Aerobic Exercise Feel Like? You are breathing rapidly and only
able to speak in short phrases. Your heart rate is substantially increased and you are likely
to be sweating.

Measuring Vigorous Intensity: The CDC defines this as 70% to 80% of maximum heart
rate. This varies by age and fitness level and can be found by using our Heart Rate Zone
Calculator

Kinds of Vigorous Aerobic Exercise:

o racewalking
o hiking uphill
o jogging or running
o cycling more than 10 miles per hour
o swimming fast or lap swimming
o aerobic dancing, fast dancing
o heavy gardening - digging, hoeing
o martial arts
o playing sports with lots of running: basketball, hockey, soccer
o singles tennis

How Often: Different guidelines give different levels. The American Heart Association
Guidelines 2007 recommends 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. The U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services recommends a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes per week.

ovided as a guide only and will vary between individuals.


Light

Moderate

Vigorous

<3.0 METs

3.06.0 METs

>6.0 METS

Walkingslowly

Sittingusing
computer

Standinglight work
(cooking, washing
dishes)

Fishingsitting

Playing most

Walkingvery brisk (4
mph)
Cleaningheavy (washing
windows, vacuuming,
mopping)

Mowing lawn (power

mower)

Bicyclinglight effort
(1012 mph)

Hiking

Jogging at 6 mph

Shoveling

Carrying heavy
loads

Bicycling fast
(1416 mph)

instruments

Badmintonrecreational

Basketball game

Tennisdoubles

Soccer game

To improve overall cardiovascular health, the American Heart Association recommends at least
150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week or a
combination of the two for adults.
But what exactly do moderate and vigorous exercise mean and how do you know if youre
working out at the right intensity?
There are a couple different ways to measure the level of intensity at which you are exercising
and that level is based on your individual fitness level and overall health.
The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE)

As defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, this is a way of measuring physical
activity intensity level. Perceived exertion is how hard you feel like your body is working. The
RPE is based on the physical sensations you experience during physical activity, including:

increased heart rate,

increased respiration or breathing rate,

increased sweating, and

muscle fatigue.

Moderate-intensity physical activity is defined as - physical activity

done on a scale relative to an individual's personal capacity, moderateintensity physical activity is usually 11-14 on a scale of 1 to 20.

Vigorous-intensity physical activity is defined as - physical activity

done on a scale relative to an individual's personal capacity, vigorousintensity physical activity is usually 17-19 on a scale of 1 to 20.

Examples of Moderate Intensity:

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

Examples of Vigorous Intensity:

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

For example, if you are a walker and you want to get moderate-intensity activity, you would aim
for a RPE level of 12-13 to get the recommended level of activity by the AHA. If your muscle
fatigue and breathing seems about an 8, then you would want to increase your intensity. On the
other hand, if your exertion was about a 15, you would need to slow down to achieve the
moderate-to-vigorous intensity range.
Ratings are on a scale from 0 to 20. Zero (0) expresses how hard youd be working if you were
lying in bed and 20 relates to sprinting as fast as you possibly can. You can also use the talk
test to estimate your relative intensity. In general, most people are able to talk or hold a
conversation during moderately intense activities. By comparison, holding a conversation or
saying more than a few words before stopping to take a breath is more difficult during vigorous
activities.
Ratings of Perceived Exertion:
6 No exertion at all
7 Extremely light (7.5)
8

9 Very light
10
11 Light
12
13 Somewhat hard
14
15 Hard (heavy)
16
17 Very hard
18

What is moderate and vigorous exercise?

The words "moderate" and "vigorous" describe the intensity of exercise. Whether an exercise or
physical activity is moderate or vigorous depends on how hard you're working to carry it out and
how much energy you're using.
To keep healthy or improve your health, follow the guidelines on how much physical activity
you need to do each week, depending on your age.
Physical activity guidelines

It's recommended that adults aged 19-64 should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes)
of moderate intensity aerobic activity, such as cycling or fast walking, every week.
Adults aged 65 and over should also do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of
moderate intensity aerobic activity every week.
All adults should also do muscle strengthening exercises on two or more days a week.
See the links below for more information about physical activity guidelines, including examples
of aerobic and muscle strengthening activities.

Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19-64

Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 65 and over

The links below provide information and advice about physical activity for children.

How much exercise should my child do?

Physical activity guidelines for children and young people aged 5-18

Physical activity guidelines for children under five

How do I know if I'm exercising moderately or vigorously?

Moderate intensity aerobic exercise is where you're working hard enough to raise your heart rate
and break into a sweat. You're working at a moderate intensity if you're able to talk but unable to
sing the words to a song.
Vigorous intensity aerobic exercise is where you're breathing hard and fast and your heart rate
has increased significantly. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a
few words without pausing for a breath.
Physical activity and being overweight or obese

Overweight adults can improve their health by meeting the physical activity guidelines, even if
they don't lose weight. To lose weight, it's likely that you'll need to do more than 150 minutes of
physical activity a week and make changes to your diet.