Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a way of measuring the intensity of an exercises. Rate of Perceived Exertion allow an individual to turn the feeling of difficulty of an exercise into data. Furthermore, Rate of Perceived Exertion allow an individual to adjust their training based on the data collected on how there body feel during those workouts.
While many individuals use percentages of a one-rep max to determine the weight to lift during a workout, these percentages does not account for daily changes in an individual’s body. Rate of Perceived Exertion is a method that account for these daily changes in an individual’s body, allowing individuals to meet their bodies where they currently are function. There is a range of percentages from 1-10 associated with Rate of Perceived Exertion.
What RPE Means and How to Use It
An RPE of 1 indicates that an individual is experiencing complete rest, while an RPE of 10 indicate that an individual is performing maximum effort with an exercise, and is unable to perform any more repetition of that exercise. RPE is also associated with another concept known as Reps in Reserve (RIR). RIR is a measurement of the number of repetitions that an individual can perform before reaching the point of muscularly failure.
For instance, if an individual rates their effort at 8 on the RPE scale, they will have two reps in reserve. An RPE of 9 will have one rep in reserve. Because RPE and RIR are linked, an individual can utilize the Rate of Perceived Exertion to autoregulate the weights that they lift during their workouts.
Depending upon the type of strength training that an individual perform, they will require a certain level of Rate of Perceived Exertion for those workouts to be effective. For instance, strength training will require an individual to have a more higher level of Rate of Perceived Exertion than other forms of strength training. Hypertrophy training will require a slightly lower effort than strength training, as the goal of hypertrophy training is to increase metabolic tension in the muscles being trained, rather than fatigue those muscular systems completely.
Endurance training will require an individual to have a moderate Rate of Perceived Exertion during their strength training sessions. An excessive amount of training with a maximum Rate of Perceived Exertion will lead to burnout and no progress in strength gain. An individual can use Rate of Perceived Exertion to monitor their readiness to perform their workouts.
Prior to lifting weights, an individual should assess their sleep quality that night and level of muscle soreness. These two factor indicate the functioning of the body prior to the workout. Additionally, prior to beginning a strength training session, individuals should warm up, and assess the speed at which they can move the barbells during their sets.
If the speed of the barbells are slow during a strength training session, the Rate of Perceived Exertion will be higher, and the individual should lower the weight that they attempt to lift. After performing the sets, an individual should log the weights that they lifted as well as the Rate of Perceived Exertion for each strength training session. This log will allow individuals to track the performance of their workouts, and to recognize if their RPE levels are higher on certain days of the week compared to other days.
These recognition of patterns in performance will allow individuals to manage their muscular fatigue. Rate of Perceived Exertion is different than the Borg scale. The Borg scale range from 6-20, and is used to monitor performance of cardiovascular exercises.
Additionally, the Borg scale can also be used to estimate an individual’s heart rate. Rate of Perceived Exertion is utilized more often in the world of strength training, as RPE incorporate the concept of Reps in Reserve. Thus, Rate of Perceived Exertion is more precise in monitoring an individual’s performance in strength training compared to the Borg scale.
There are ways to increase an individual’s accuracy in measuring Rate of Perceived Exertion. After an individual performs their sets of strength training exercises, they should take a brief pause in their exercise routine to assess their breathing and the burn in their muscle. An individual’s Rate of Perceived Exertion will be correlated to the number of additional repetitions that they could of performed during their sets.
For instance, if an individual could have performed three more repetitions of their last set, their Rate of Perceived Exertion will be 7. If they could have performed only one more repetition, their Rate of Perceived Exertion will be a 9. With practice, individuals can increase their accuracy in determining their Rate of Perceived Exertion.
Additionally, if an individual can become accurate in measuring their Rate of Perceived Exertion, they will have more success in managing their training routine.
