Low - Moderate - High-Intensity Exercise: What’s The Difference

November 25 2013

Low / Moderate / High-Intensity Exercise: What’s The Difference?

Nearly all workouts and forms of exercise are broken down into one of three different categories: low intensity, moderate intensity, or high intensity. Whether your goal is to burn away some of that unwanted belly fat, build stronger arms, or pack on more muscle mass, it’s important to know and understand the differences between each of these intensity levels. Using this information, you can make smarter decisions regarding your workout routine. To learn more about the different exercise intensity levels and which one is right for you, keep reading.

Low-Intensity Exercise

Just as the name suggests, low-intensity exercise requires minimal endurance and strength to perform. You’re probably performing low-intensity exercise in your daily life without even realizing it. Some examples include walking, gardening and performing yard work. These are all basic forms of low-intensity exercise that burn a small amount of calories without contributing much to muscle mass.

So, what benefits does low-intensity exercise offer? Unlike some of the more strenuous intensity levels, it doesn’t speed your heart and lungs to the point where you’re breathing fast; therefore, it’s an excellent choice for people who are looking to get started in an exercise routine but haven’t built up the necessary endurance for a heavy workout yet.

Moderate-Intensity Exercise

A step up from low-intensity exercise is moderate intensity. Most health and nutrition experts recommend this level of intensity for individuals looking to lose weight. It’s based around a faster, slightly more strenuous form of exercise that forces the heart to pump faster and the lungs to breathe faster. As a result, the body burns more calories in less time.

Some examples of moderate-intensity exercise includes fast walking, jogging, bicycling, dancing and yoga. If your primary goal is to lose weight, a good rule of thumb is to strive for 200-250 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. This will not only directly burn calories in your body, but it will also encourage a high, and healthy, metabolism level, which is essential for proper weight loss.

High-Intensity Exercise

High-intensity exercise is the most strenuous type of exercise. Individuals and athletes who are looking to push themselves to their physical limits should focus on this form of exercise. The fundamental purpose of high-intensity exercise is to push your body to its limits so it continues to build and grow stronger; thus, allowing you to perform better in the future.

High-intensity exercise may include cardiovascular workouts like running and bicycling, but it may also include strength training workouts like barbell chest presses and squats.