The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion scale, or an RPE scale, is a way to measure the effort that a person feel that they are putting into the exercise that they are performing. RPE scales allow for a person to turn that feeling of effort into a measurable number; however, it dont require the use of electronic device, such as heart rate monitors. A persons perception of there exertion can be used to provide an RPE score, and that RPE score will be reliable for both beginners as well than professional athletes.
While heart rate monitors may provide inaccurate numbers for tired individuals or individuals who are taking certain medication, the RPE scale rely upon the individual’s perception of the effort that their body is feeling. The original RPE scale proposed by Borg utilize a number range of 6 to 20. Borg designed this scale so that if an individual was multiply the RPE number by 10, the number of heartbeats per minute that the individual was having would be approximately that number.
Rate Your Exercise Effort with the Borg RPE Scale
Thus, if an individual was scoring their exercise effort as a 13 on the RPE scale, their heart rate would be approximately 130 beats per minute. The RPE scale begins at a 6 because 6 is the resting heart rate. Borg felt that the RPE scale was appropriate for endurance type workout because it allowed for individuals to rate the sensations that they were feeling during exercise into a single number for exertion.
Another scale that is used is the CR10 scale. The CR10 scale range from 0 to 10. This scale is used to identify the specific sensation that the body is experiencing.
For instance, 0 indicates no sensation at all, 5 indicates a strong sensation, and 10 indicates that the individual is reaching their absolute maximum in relation to the exertion that they are performing. The CR10 scale allows for individuals to recognize and rate specific physical symptom that they are experiencing. The RPE scale is effective in that the brain is able to collect the many sensations from the body to determine the exertion that the body feels.
The brain is able to recieve signal from the lungs to determine if an individual is breathing deep or rapidly, the signals from the muscles to indicate lactate level in the muscles, and the heart rate to determine heart rate. Because the brain can determine all of these, the RPE scale is more stable than a heart rate monitor when determining exertion when the individual is fatigued. Research on heart rate monitor indicates that the RPE scale correlate to the oxygen that is taken up by the bodys cells.
Additionally, medical professional use the RPE scale for those who are in rehabilitation to determine exertion because even if they are unable to adequately increase their heart rate due to medication, the RPE can still provide accurate measurement of their exertion. An individual can use the RPE scale for many types of exercise. For instance, individuals can use the RPE scale to determine when they should reach a moderate level of exertion for cardio exercise so that they can still speak in sentence.
For high-intensity exercise such as HIIT, an individual can use the RPE scale to determine effort for both the intense intervals as well as the low-intensity phase of recovery. For weightlifting exercises, an individual can use the RPE scale to determine how many repetitions they will be able to perform without becoming incorrect in the performance of that exercise. Another means of determining the effort of an exercise is through the “talk test.” If an individual can speak in full sentence, they are performing the exercise at a light intensity.
If an individual can only gasp out word, they are performing at a high intensity. However, there can be variation in how exertion feels from day to day. For instance, if an individual had poor sleep the previous night, they may feel exertion at a higher level during an exercise that is normally easy.
In these case, it is important to log the exertion of the body following exercise to track exertion for the day, and to prevent overtraining. There are various scale that can be utilized, each with different benefit. For instance, the 6 to 20 scale is beneficial in the study of cardiovascular physiology, while the 0 to 10 scale is beneficial in the measurement of physical sensation like pain.
Additionally, many weightlifting exercise use a 10-point scale that focuses upon the number of repetition that an individual has left for the exercise. Thus, individuals of any age can utilize the RPE scale to target their specific goal for exertion; either for weight loss with moderate effort, or increased exertion for cardiovascular benefit. Additionally, as individuals use the RPE scale more, they will have more developed intuition of their body and how those body feel during exercise.
