So.. about that activity points chart.
 

I don't seem to fall into place on the chart.

I've been taking kickboxing at the Y & it's a 55-minute class. I've been giving it my 90-100%, the entire class period, but the chart has me confused as to what points I should allot myself.

I can talk and sing= low.

My breathing is deep= medium.

Hardcore sweating starts at 3-5 minutes= high.

Where would you rate me? L/M/H?

Same with bodyflex, which is a weight-lifting class:

I can talk and sing= low

My breathing is regular= low

Sweating at 3-5 minutes- high

Do I just go for the median and allot myself medium points? The fact that I'm sweating so quickly into the workout indicates a high workout, and I don't want to cheat myself out of points, but maybe I'm just a sweaty person? I start 3-5 minutes, and am seriously dripping wet from the top of my head a good 10 minutes into the workout. Fun! lol

From what I know about kickboxing and bodyflex, those are tough classes. Defiintely not low. Maybe go with medium as the norm, and on days when it feels like a tougher workout, go with high. I think how you feel during and after your workout will tell you better than any charts.

I imagine body flex is a lot like body pump and I tend to put it at medium. I think the talking thing is a bit confusing. Even when I'm dying in spin I can still talk and my heart rate is well into high intensity level. :) If you can get a heart rate monitor that would make things easier!

I agree with patchy, I don't like the talking/singing thingy. I usually use more the breathing to know where I'm at...

I'd probably say medium to both of you workout!

The talking singing thing bugs me, too. I go with breathing. I find it to be a better indicator.

Personally I have found that it is better to count just about anything as low. Part of this is that most of us tend to overestimate. We will exercise for 30 minutes and count the entire time as medium or high forgetting that the warmup and cooldown wasn't that intense, for example. Also, for people who aren't in that great a shape they may be sweating and exhausted but not actually burning all that many calories. The other thing is that if, say, I exercise and put down medium and earn points and eat them all then I've gotten very little weight loss benefit out of exercising (there are other benefits, of course). To help with weight loss, you would ideally like to exercise and burn more calories and not have it cause you to eat any more calories at all so all the exercise goes to weight loss. Now, of course, if you exercise it does make you hungrier so you probably will eat more. Still I basically count everything as low so that I minimize the amount that I'm tempted to eat.

BTW, my leader said that any a meeting the leaders were told to count any strength training as low intensity. I mentioned to her that the list of activities in etools does have a listing for vigorous that is more points but she said that basically they were told not to use that except for people who were competitive athletes.

I would count the kicking boxing as high, and the other thing as medium.

I don't agree with counting everything as low. If I'm biking a lot and hiking or cross country skiing I need to know if I'm earning a lot of APs because at some point I need to eat some of them.

Agreed seagirl, tho I think its probably something that varies by person. I tend to choose moderate when I know I'm doing high but I never choose low unless I'm walking. I know that works for my body because when I burn 30+ points in a week and don't eat them... I don't lose. Once I go over 20 points I have to eat half of them back.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It helped put things in better perspective.

Does anyone know if those cheaper wrist-watch style heart rate monitors are as effective as the fancy kind that you strap around your chest? I've been noticing my heart rate all over the place in these cardio workouts, and I just want to make sure I'm at the right rate to be in fat loss mode.

I tried spinning for the first time today. NEVER. AGAIN. Ohmyfrig I thought my heart was going to shoot out of my chest. I gave up after 20 minutes. Great sweat & thigh workout tho! :dizzy: lol

oh gosh girlsenberry, I adore spinning! I love the power climbs and mountains, hate sprinting tho.

Hey, Patchy! :) Well, I can certainly see the appeal.. I think people sweat fat in that class, not actual sweat. LOL. I might try it again after I get in better shape cardio-wise, but I can't handle it when my heart thumps that hard and fast, right now. Kickboxing and Zumba gets me going good, without going overboard. :D