In patients with chronic heart failure (CHI) exercise testing is condu
cted to assess functional capacity and symptoms related to physical pe
rformance, for determination of prognosis, and for determination of ef
fects of medical treatment and exercise training. Considerations disti
nguishing CHI patients in subgroups of good or poor short-term prognos
is based on fixed peak oxygen uptake and control of therapeutic interv
ention ape significantly influenced by test routine. Exercise testing
is a prerequisite of exercise prescription. Training is prescribed by
the mode or type of exercise, frequency of participation, duration and
intensity of exercise bout. Low intensive workloads of long duration
or repetitive bouts of high intensive short duration exercise have bee
n an effective tool to enhance exercise capacity in CHI patients. Most
studies have used moderate training intensity between 50 and 75% of p
eak oxygen uptake during 60 to 90 min of net exercise time per week. H
eart rate, lactate, and rating of perceived exertion serve as measures
for determination of training intensity. However, reliability and val
idity of given methods for monitoring may be reduced because of impair
ment of exercise response characteristic for CHI. More studies are nee
ded to elucidate the mechanisms involved in exercise induced adaptatio
ns in CHI patients and to evaluate the utility of given training progr
ams associated with beneficial effects on exercise capacity and progno
sis.