Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a disease characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation, due to airway and/ or alveolar alterations: respiratory rehabilitation is the most effective form of therapeutic intervention capable of reducing the symptom of dyspnea and improving physical performance and quality of life. However, it is not possible to draw up a personalized rehabilitation plan without first a careful evaluation of the functional characteristics of the individual patient, in order to tailor the treatment to the individual. In this article, we propose assessment tests to measure the patient’s level of exercise tolerance in the field and, in addition, to define the specific components of the rehabilitation program in the light of the clinical evaluation, instrumental examinations and results achieved on the field tests. Two clinical cases are presented here by way of example.