Moderate Versus Strenuous
oonga
Posts: 336 Member
Hi guys,
Ok so i understand the hours spent exercising. 3-5 or 5-7.
However what seems to be throwing me right out is how do we define what is moderate and what is strenuous??
What is the factor that makes a workout moderate or strenuous?
Is it the amount of calories burnt?
Would you class anything above say 300 calories for 45 min to and hour strenuous??
I mean technically i could do 7 hours of walking a week at a stroll, or a pace that wouldn't raise my HR up much, but i have still spent 7 hours walking, so would both workouts still fit into strenuous??
Or do say 1 hour twice a week of lifting, that raises the heart rate but not so much out of breath as running does for 1 hour at a time, several times a week? So do both of those workouts count towards the strenuous activity level? Or only the one that gets me truly out of breath? Mind you the lifting gets me out of breath too but in a very different way to cardio LOL
I think i have finally worked out what is baffling me or throwing me with deciding on the moderate Versus strenuous activity level.
Ok so i understand the hours spent exercising. 3-5 or 5-7.
However what seems to be throwing me right out is how do we define what is moderate and what is strenuous??
What is the factor that makes a workout moderate or strenuous?
Is it the amount of calories burnt?
Would you class anything above say 300 calories for 45 min to and hour strenuous??
I mean technically i could do 7 hours of walking a week at a stroll, or a pace that wouldn't raise my HR up much, but i have still spent 7 hours walking, so would both workouts still fit into strenuous??
Or do say 1 hour twice a week of lifting, that raises the heart rate but not so much out of breath as running does for 1 hour at a time, several times a week? So do both of those workouts count towards the strenuous activity level? Or only the one that gets me truly out of breath? Mind you the lifting gets me out of breath too but in a very different way to cardio LOL
I think i have finally worked out what is baffling me or throwing me with deciding on the moderate Versus strenuous activity level.
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You know how I have struggled with this question so I'm going to bump for someone else. I've put myself at strenuous now....well @ the moment
These were my burns
Mon 1hr weights 400
Tue 1hr weights 400
We'd 1hr spin 500
Thurs 1hr pt 400-500
Sat 400 burn
And maybe another 400/500 burn as I think I'm now a self confessed junkie....lol.
I guess it depends maybe on yr age & size as that effects your burns too but your only little. But weights are strenuous and do require lots go energy & we need cals to build that muscle. I know when I check my hrm I can be in high 160s for metabolic weights.
You know me have a juggle with the numbers, average it a bit for a while if you feel better with it or jump on in. I had a wee look @ your diary and I'd say up em girl!0 -
Bump - I'd like to see what responses you get. I do well over 7 hours per week but 5 of those are cycling to/from work which I've been doing for years and it certainly doesn't feel like strenuous exercise. So in total hours I'd come into 'strenuous' but based on when I feel I'm really exercising it adds up to 4 or 5 hrs per week so I'd be in the bracket below.
My view is that I should probably aim for somewhere between the two. I hope to get a Fitbit or similar when funds allow so this ought to give me a better idea.0 -
Rach yeh i lowered them because i was higher on 1800 and my weight stagnated and my BF% increased
I got a bit desperate so dropped them again, this week.
I am not that little hahaha, i still have a tyre around my belly that needs to go damnit! LOL
Oh yes i totally remember your struggle with the numbers!
Crocatilla you make an interesting point about your bike ride to work! It's kind of like at work some days we are flat out running around, some days we hang more with the people we support, but even the busy days i wouldn't really count as exercise.
Same as i cant bring myself to consider house cleaning as exercise, because its something i have done always, even used to help my mum clean houses for a living when i was still living at home and it never stopped me getting fat in the first place LOL
So I don't know the answer to your bike riding question, but i do understand where you are coming from 0 -
I've just been going by the hours. It seems to me that if intensity of workout was really relevant then there would be choices like 1-3 light, 1-3 moderate, 1-3 strenuous, 3-5 light, 3-5 moderate, 3-5 strenuous, etc. Maybe it would even be multi select. For example, 1-3 strenuous and 1-3 light for those that do 2-6 hours, but some are walking and others are higher intensity.0
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This may help:
What is Physical Activity?
Physical activity simply means movement of the body that uses energy. Walking, gardening, briskly pushing a baby stroller, climbing the stairs, playing soccer, or dancing the night away are all good examples of being active. For health benefits, physical activity should be moderate or vigorous intensity.
Moderate physical activities include:
Walking briskly (about 3 ½ miles per hour)
Bicycling (less than 10 miles per hour)
General gardening (raking, trimming shrubs)
Dancing
Golf (walking and carrying clubs)
Water aerobics
Canoeing
Tennis (doubles)
Vigorous physical activities include:
Running/jogging (5 miles per hour)
Walking very fast (4 ½ miles per hour)
Bicycling (more than 10 miles per hour)
Heavy yard work, such as chopping wood
Swimming (freestyle laps)
Aerobics
Basketball (competitive)
Tennis (singles)
You can choose moderate or vigorous intensity activities, or a mix of both each week. Activities can be considered vigorous, moderate, or light in intensity. This depends on the extent to which they make you breathe harder and your heart beat faster.
Only moderate and vigorous intensity activities count toward meeting your physical activity needs. With vigorous activities, you get similar health benefits in half the time it takes you with moderate ones. You can replace some or all of your moderate activity with vigorous activity. Although you are moving, light intensity activities do not increase your heart rate, so you should not count these towards meeting the physical activity recommendations. These activities include walking at a casual pace, such as while grocery shopping, and doing light household chores.
From ChooseMyPlate.gov http://www.choosemyplate.gov/physical-activity/what.html0 -
See, for me, because I am still obese, my burns are higher than average. Even though my time exercising puts me into the "light" category, my actual burns bump me up into the "moderate" category....and rather than half to worry about netting below my BMR as I was doing on the "light" (and having to figure out how many more cals to eat), I am leaving myself at "moderate" until my burns drop as I get more fit. I hope that made sense. :blushing:0
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Nutritionwhizz: that is an interesting list! I will have to go through my running logs and see what sort of miles i am running, i have it set on km so will work it out
I just came back from doing a circuit workout and although there were things like lunges, burpees, etc in it, i have to admit that even the walking push ups had me quite breathless and I think it would be fair to say it was a strenuous workout
Nettasaura: Yep what you say makes total sense to me!! See when i first started getting fit and weighed 30kg more, walking burnt more calories than it does now!! So the 2km walk around the block would leave me reasonably breathless. Now that same walk even at a faster pace than back then, doesn't burn many calories :frown:
Same goes for running! I have to run faster or longer to get the same calorie burns :frown:
Its kind of bittersweet really :laugh:
I wanted to get fitter but I hate seeing the calorie burns drop!! i kind of felt a bit ripped off to be honest :blushing: :laugh:0 -
This thread has just answered a major question for me!! Thank you so much!! Turns out I've been underestimating my physical activity quite a bit :blushing:0
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I get very confused with the last one for Scooby. I workout probably 7-8 times a week...but how can that be the same as 21 hours! I always did the highest one...but maybe I should back it off to the second to last?0
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I get very confused with the last one for Scooby. I workout probably 7-8 times a week...but how can that be the same as 21 hours! I always did the highest one...but maybe I should back it off to the second to last?
How many hours are you working out for? I'm pretty sure you're in the strenuous, scooby is based on hours not number of times working out.
how are the weights going?0 -
I get very confused with the last one for Scooby. I workout probably 7-8 times a week...but how can that be the same as 21 hours! I always did the highest one...but maybe I should back it off to the second to last?
How many hours are you working out for? I'm pretty sure you're in the strenuous, scooby is based on hours not number of times working out.
how are the weights going?
aren't most classes usually an hour? so if she teaches 7-8, she's probably easily working out 7+ hours week. i do agree though, it seems like 7 to 21 is SUCH a range!0 -
I'm bumping this, also, because I'd really like to know. When I was doing P90X regularly recently, several people suggested it was a strenuous workout, but not all of them felt strenuous to me -- partly because some of the exercises I just couldn't do to the level that some people could, so they weren't a strain on me. My muscles fatigued long before my heart rate either got super high or I gave out right as my heart rate got up there. And my calorie burns came nowhere close to the estimated 600 the books said. Yet when I was doing 30 Day Shred, it felt highly strenuous but someone else told me that the calorie burn and time involved only bumped me from sedentary (due to my day job) into lightly active.
However, it should be noted that I went from from doing Just Dance/Zumba 4-5 times a week for 30-60 minutes each burning over 300 calories each time and losing weight to doing 30 Day Shred 6x/ wk and my weight loss halted; and I had been eating the same amount during both kinds of exercises. So, maybe 30 Day Shred was indeed more strenuous than the time or calorie burn made it appear on the surface. (Note, I did lose a few inches during P90X, so there was some loss.)
I'd love to see more responses on this thread because I'm trying to figure out what kind of exercise to pursue now, and that will affect my activity level and subsequent calorie intake.
The list someone provided earlier does help a good bit but these activity levels on these calculators have baffled me for months.0 -
these activity levels on these calculators have baffled me for months.
Me too! I have a very sedentry lifestyle - I work out in the mornings before work so I can sit around in the evenings LOL I have a desk job - other than getting up for a print job, I'm pretty much sitting on my butt all day!
I work out 45 min in the morning and my burns as per my HRM are typically in the 400 range. I'd say that's strenuous but at only 4 times a week that puts me at more of a moderate level when you add up the hours.
So I have no idea what my activity level should be.0
