When it comes to gauging effort during a run, not every runner wants to rely on heart rate monitors, GPS pace data, or fancy gadgets. Sometimes, the most effective tools are the simplest, and the talk test is a perfect example.
Often recommended by coaches for easy runs, the talk test is a low-tech yet highly effective way to measure how hard you’re working based on your ability to speak. While it’s commonly used by runners, it applies to any aerobic activity—whether you’re cycling, hiking, or doing a long gym cardio session.
But what exactly is the talk test, and why is it so useful?
In this guide, we’ll break down what the talk test is, how it works, and why it can be a powerful addition to your training toolkit.
You’ll learn how to apply it to different types of runs, how it compares to other effort-based methods like RPE and heart rate training, and how it can help you avoid overtraining and improve performance—no data required.
What Is the Talk Test?
The talk test is a simple, effective method for gauging your effort level during exercise.
To use the talk test, just pay attention to how easily you can speak while exercising. Your ability to talk (or not talk) gives you a reliable sense of how hard you’re working.
If you can carry on a full, fluid conversation—or even sing a song—you’re likely exercising at a low-intensity, or “easy,” pace.
At a moderate intensity, your breathing becomes more noticeable and slightly labored, but you can still speak in full sentences. Think of a brisk walk with a friend. You can chat, but you’re definitely breathing harder than if you were just sitting and talking.
And if you can only get out a few words at a time or speak in short, choppy sentences, you’re likely exercising at a vigorous intensity.
The talk test is especially useful for runners looking to manage effort without relying on heart rate monitors or GPS pace.
Why the Talk Test Works—And Why You Should Use It
The purpose and use of the talk test is to have a tangible way to try to assess the intensity level of the effort you are exerting during exercise.
The principle behind the talk test is that the harder you are working during exercise, or the more that you are exerting yourself, the more breathless you will be, so the more difficult it becomes to talk.
The talk test is helpful for two main reasons: knowing your exercise intensity and being able to assess it without the need for equipment that may be even more qualitative and arbitrary when reading effort levels.
Let’s look at each of these benefits of the talk test individually:
The Talk Test Helps You Assess Exercise Intensity
From a more general health and fitness perspective, being able to differentiate between moderate-intensity physical activity and vigorous-intensity physical activity is important in terms of determining how much exercise is needed to meet the physical activity guidelines for adults.
The guidelines for physical activity for adults, set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the British Heart Foundation, recommend accumulating either 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity cardiovascular exercise per week.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, moderate-intensity cardio exercise elevates your heart rate to 50-70% of your maximum heart rate, while vigorous-intensity exercise corresponds to an intensity that is 70-85% of your maximum heart rate.1Scheid, J. L., & O’Donnell, E. (2019). REVISITING HEART RATE TARGET ZONES THROUGH THE LENS OF WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY. ACSMʼs Health & Fitness Journal, 23(3), 21–26. https://doi.org/10.1249/fit.0000000000000477
Therefore, having a way to assess whether we are doing “moderate intensity“ or “vigorous-intensity“ aerobic exercise is important because there are different guidelines as to how much of each intensity of exercise you need to do to reduce your risk of lifestyle diseases.
If you don’t do the talk test or use any other form of measuring or estimating exercise intensity and just assume that you are exercising at a vigorous intensity, you might decide only to do a 25-minute workout three days a week to satisfy the physical activity guidelines for overall health and disease reduction.
However, if you are actually only working at a moderate intensity, you will only be doing half as much exercise per week as you should be getting to improve your health.
In this case, the talk test would be a useful tool for assessing which intensity designation you are working at.
Additionally, if you are following a training plan geared towards a specific race or fitness goal, the workouts may use qualitative terms to describe the intensity, such as “easy,” “medium,” or “hard” effort, and the talk test can help ensure you are exerting the approximate effort level prescribed in the workout.
Following a training plan as closely as possible is important for your success in reaching your goals.
If you are habitually running too easy or slow—assuming you are working at a harder level than you are—you might not improve your fitness enough to achieve your goals or be prepared for your race.
This could occur in instances where a training plan might say to run at a “hard” effort level during fartlek intervals, which should correspond to vigorous-intensity exercise as determined by heart rate, but you actually only run at an effort level that ultimately corresponds to moderate-intensity exercise.
The converse can also occur. Habitually overexerting yourself and running your easy runs too hard can result in overtraining syndrome, which occurs when you push yourself too hard without allowing your body adequate recovery time.
You might think you’re running at an easy effort, but if you actually do the talk test, you might find that it’s pretty difficult to speak in full sentences, and you’re really exercising at a vigorous intensity.
Also of note, many running coaches often prescribe runs at a “conversational effort,“ or “conversation pace.” The talk test is a perfect tool to use in these cases to ensure that you are indeed running at a pace where you can comfortably sustain a conversation.
The Talk Test Doesn’t Require Equipment
The other significant benefit of doing the talk test during exercise is that, unlike some different methods of measuring exercise intensity, the talk test doesn’t require equipment.
Although certainly more accurate, the other primary way to assess intensity level while running or doing cardio exercise is to wear a heart rate monitor.
A chest strap heart rate monitor or even a slightly less accurate wrist-based heart rate monitor will still give you a much more accurate and precise measurement of your relative intensity because you can actually see physiological data.
Research has shown that your heart rate during exercise is strongly correlated with your effort level in terms of the percentage of your VO2 max that you are working at.
Furthermore, the physical activity guidelines set forth by the government for the minimum amount of exercise you should be doing to reduce your risk of disease are based on intensity level designations that have defined, correlated heart rate zones.
Therefore, wearing a heart rate monitor will help you directly see what relative intensity level you are working at and how much exercise you need to be doing as a result.
The talk test is also arguably more useful than a basic rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale because it is slightly less subjective.
Though it’s definitely not an exact science, you should indeed be getting more breathless the harder you are working, so performing the talk test will help you base your assessment of exercise intensity on a little more than a completely subjective RPE evaluation.
Using the Talk Test to Gauge Effort in Real Time
There isn’t a specific protocol for conducting the talk test. The general idea is that you want to assess how easily you can speak in full sentences.
If you’re running with a friend or exercising side by side with a partner, you can simply see how easy it is to carry on a normal conversation fluidly.
If you are running by yourself, you can still do the talk test, as long as you aren’t too self-conscious to talk aloud to yourself. Good options include telling yourself a story, singing a song, or counting up to 100.
- As a general rule of thumb, if you can sing or really comfortably talk in long, diatribe-like paragraphs, you’re exercising at a low intensity, below 50% of your maximum heart rate.
- If you can speak in full sentences, but it’s more difficult, and are breathing a bit harder, you are in the moderate-intensity exercise zone, somewhere between 50 to 75% of your maximum heart rate.
- If you’re struggling to string together a full sentence without having to grab breaths in between words, you are doing high-intensity exercise at or above 75% of your maximum heart rate.
How the Talk Test Matches Up with RPE
The talk test aligns closely with the 1–10 Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale, providing a straightforward way to match your perceived effort level with a corresponding numerical value.
For example, if you can speak easily in full sentences or even sing, you’re likely in the RPE 2–3 range, indicating light effort.
If you can talk but your breathing is more labored, steady running, you’re probably in the RPE 4–6 range, reflecting moderate effort.
And if speaking is difficult or limited to just a few words at a time, you’re likely in the RPE 7–9 range, which signals a high to very high intensity.
Using both tools together can help runners better tune into their body’s signals and train more effectively, especially when external metrics like pace or heart rate are unavailable or unreliable.
Ultimately, even though the talk test isn’t an exact science, it could be a useful method for assessing exercise intensity without requiring the use of a heart rate monitor.
To refer to the Rate of Perceived Exertion mentioned, take a look at our chart and article to go into more detail.
