The Italian Talk Test: A Simple Tool For Determining Exercise Intensity In Young Adults

PURPOSE: Few studies have used the Talk Test (TT) in languages other than English and Spanish to assess exercise intensity. This study aimed to determine whether the Italian version of the TT (ITT) is a valid measure of exercise intensity in healthy young Italian adults. METHODS: 14 subjects (24.6 ± 2.9 yrs) performed one submaximal incremental treadmill exercise test (SITE) with respiratory gas analysis to evaluate the subjects’ ventilatory threshold (VT), and one ITT with the same protocol. Both tests included a 3-min warm-up at 1% slope, followed by a 1 km/h speed increase every 2 min. In the last 30 sec of each stage, heart rate (HR), Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) (Borg CR10), and speed were recorded. In the ITT, subjects recited the Italian Olympic Oath, followed by the question “can you speak comfortably?” with 3 possible answers: yes, not sure, no. The last “yes” stage was the last positive (LP), the first “not sure” stage was the equivocal (EQ), and the first “no” stage was the negative (NEG). Paired T-Tests compared %HRmax, RPE, and speed at LP, EQ and, NEG during ITT with the same variables at VT during SITE. RESULTS: The results are showed in Table 1. CONCLUSIONS: The EQ stage of the ITT is a practical and valid surrogate for VT in prescribing exercise for healthy young adult Italians. When subjects could speak comfortably, they were exercising below their VT, while discomfort in speech indicated they were above their VT. The conflicting RPE results may be due to a timing discrepancy, as RPE is a subjective measure recorded at the end of each stage, reflecting accumulated effort, while HR and speed are physiological variables that begin increasing at the start of each stage. This suggests a potential lag in how participants perceive exertion compared to the immediate physiological changes, leading to a slight misalignment between RPE and the other variables. Supported by: Emanuel Festino’s and Olga Papale's Ph.D. scholarships are funded by the National Reform for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR) and Pegaso University, CUP: H36E22000130001