Objectively measured absolute and relative physical activity intensity levels in postmenopausal women

Objectives: To investigate how objectively measured physical activity (PA) levels differ according to absolute moderate intensity recommendation (3-6 METs) and relative to individual lactate thresholds (LT1 and LT2), and to verify if high-fit women record higher PA levels compared to women with lower aerobic fitness. Methods: Seventy-five postmenopausal women performed an incremental exercise test and several constant-velocity tests wearing an accelerometer to identify the activity counts (ct min −1 ) corresponding to LT1 and LT2. Individual linear regression determined activity counts cut-points for each intensity: (1) sedentary ( LT2). Participants then wore an accelerometer during a week to measure the time spent at each PA intensity level. Results: According to absolute intensity categorisation, high-fit postmenopausal women recorded twice as much time at moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (P