Gymgoers could be overestimating how hard they actually workout, leading them to potentially fall foul of governmental guidelines on physical activity (PA), according to research published by the Public Library of Science.

Exercise guidelines from across the world suggest exercise can be undertaken in moderate or vigorous workouts to obtain health benefits, however, little research has been done on what people believe moderate exercise actually feels like.

To test whether people understand exercise in action, researchers at York University in Toronto, Canada put together a scheme featuring 129 sedentary adults between the ages of 18 and 64, to find out what they knew about levels and measures of exercise.

The participants were informed of recommended exercise guidelines and then asked to use a treadmill, allowing the researchers to record the participants moving alternately from levels of exercise they deemed to be light, moderate and vigorous.

As a final test, the researchers then asked the participants to move at what they considered to be the slowest pace that could be viewed as moderate.

The results showed that only a few people maintained a required heart rate above 65 percent of their maximum resting rate to obtain health benefits when they were supposedly exercising moderately.

Meanwhile, only 25 per cent were able to raise their heart rate into the moderate range when asked to move at the lowest intensity they considered to be moderate.

Another interesting find showed that middle-aged people had been able to understand moderate and vigorous intensity more accurately than younger individuals.

“The findings from this study suggest that the majority of young and middle-aged to old adults underestimate the intensity of physical activity that is required to attain health benefits,” reads part of the report.

“Participants accurately estimated light effort PA and underestimated moderate and vigorous effort PA.”

A report published earlier this year found that men were more likely to exaggerate the time they spent exercising when compared to women, with age and education also having an impact on findings too.