Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a method that can be used to measure the amount of effort that a person puts into performing there exercise routine during a training session. RPE is a form of autoregulation, which is a method by which an athlete adjust the training loads that they implement according to how they feel on that specific day. While many lifter utilize percentages of their one-rep max (1RM) to determine the amount of weight that they will lift during their training routine, this method dont account for the fact that fatigue and sleep quality can vary from day to day.
As a result, an individual may find themselfs either too tired or too energized during a training session that is supposed to be of even difficulty. By using the concept of Rate of Perceived Exertion, an athlete can adjust the amount of weight that they lift according to the level of effort that they feel during their workout. RPE can be calculated by determining the amount of repetitions that an individual can complete in addition to the amount that they have just completed during a set.
How to Use RPE in Weight Training
An individual can grade sets as an RPE 10 if an individual feel that they could of performed zero additional repetitions during that set. An individual can grade sets as an RPE 9 if an individual feels that they could have performed one additional repetition during that set. An individual can grade sets as an RPE 8 if an individual feels that they could have performed two additional repetitions during that set.
Thus, RPE is a way of grading the amount of repetitions that an individual can complete before they reach muscular failure in relation to the amount of repetitions that they have just performed. By utilizing RPE, an individual can determine the amount of weight that they should load onto the bar for their lifting routine. For instance, if the individual determines that their 1RM for a given exercise is 100 kilograms, they can determine that if they want to perform five repetitions at an RPE 8, they should load the bar with an amount of weight that allows them to perform five repetitions and leave two repetitions in the tank for the set.
If they feel particularly fresh, they can lift a heavier weight to reach that RPE of 8. If, however, they feel particularly tired, they will have to lift a lighter weight to reach that same RPE of 8. Thus, by utilizing RPE, an individual can adjust the amount of weight that they lift according to there level of fatigue on any given day.
Rates of Perceived Exertion of 8 is considered to be a sustainable level for most lifter to use for the development of strength. Although an RPE of 8 is a challenging level for an individual to push to the limit of muscular failure, it does not lead to muscular exhaustion as often as an RPE of 9 or 10 may. Beginners to weight training, however, may struggle with the use of RPE.
A beginner may not be able to accurately label a level of exertion of 8 as an RPE of 8. Instead, they may label that exertion as an RPE of 9. Thus, beginners should focus on logging the sets that they lift in order to gain an understanding of their muscular strength and exertion levels.
Additionally, an individual should standardize the rest periods for each set so that an individual does not find a set to be more difficult than another. For instance, resting for three minutes between sets is more challenging than resting for five minutes between sets. RPE differs from percentage-based training methods in that RPE accounts for the differences in an individual’s performance levels from day to day.
An individual who utilizes percentages without consideration for fatigue or muscular strength may find themselfs lifting too much weight during a training session. By utilizing RPE, however, an individual can adjust the load that they lift to account for there fatigue. Thus, RPE allows an individual to maintain the same training stimulus but without forcing the body to exercise when their body may be too tired to exercise effective.
Finally, an individual should use a training log to record the rate of perceived exertion for each set that they lift. Such a log will allow an individual to build a database regarding their RPE for different loads. Over time, as an individual tracks their rate of perceived exertion for each lifting routine, they will be able to accurately predict the weights that they should load on the bar for specific repetition ranges.
Thus, by tracking RPE, an individual can increase the efficiency of their lifting routine.
