We are told that brisk walking is the best way to raise the heart rate and reap the physical and mental benefits of our daily lockdown activity. But what exactly is brisk?

Credible sources give a pace range of anything 13 to 20 minutes to walk a mile as being a useful guide. However, the definition of brisk is all relative and depends on many individual factors like current level of fitness, age and level of mobility. Our perception can also vary from day to day, a night of poor sleep may impact on how hard we believe we are working on any particular day.

The RPE scale (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a good guide to judging your level of effort at any given moment and is a great tool to determine whether you are walking “briskly”. It also helps gauge when you may be pushing things a little too hard.

In summary, maintaining an RPE of around 6 to 7 as shown in the infographic offers a good guide to defining brisk FOR YOU, TODAY.