Somewhat unrelated but is there any SOTA for what “vigorous cardiovascular exercise” should be to optimize benefits? Should I just exercise flat out and try to sustain that as long as I can, or is there a level of vigorous exertion below flat out that leads to better results because of the longer duration?
Do you stop afterwards and catch your breath? It was vigorous. Bonus if you broke a sweat.
There's no need to be more qualitative than that for most folk (a "suboptimal" schedule consistently applied being vastly preferable to an "optimal" one inconsistently), but if you absolutely insist on getting quantitative, see: https://pacompendium.com
[in particular, see https://pacompendium.com/sexual-activity/ : a light pash might be twice as much activity as just sitting on the couch, while "scaring the horses" can be six times]