RPE, or rate of perceived exertion, is a personalized measurement of how difficult something is.
It is often used in the therapy and aerobic exercise realm, but since 2008 has been used more in weightlifting to help adjust for the changes that happen naturally during a day or week.
You may be familiar with using a percentage of someone’s one rep max to determine how much weight to use for a particular exercise. However, that doesn’t always work the best.
For example- someone may not be comfortable with or even at a stage where taking an exercise to a 1 rep max is safe (do not have a spotter or just not something they wish to do). Which means you are left with using an estimate based on a higher rep value (2-4 rep max) you can find calculators for these online.
However, I find the biggest advantage of using RPE is for individual day differences - you are going to be strong on days you had a good night’s rest, less stress, and well hydrated – but that doesn’t always happen and it is not always something you can control. RPE gives you that flexibility to adjust your weights based on how your body is feeling exactly at that moment.
Using an RPE + RIR (reps in reserve) method of programing looks like this:
Zourdos MC, Klemp A, Dolan C, Quiles JM, Schau KA, Jo E, Helms E, Esgro B, Duncan S, Garcia Merino S, Blanco R. Novel Resistance Training-Specific Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale Measuring Repetitions in Reserve. J Strength Cond Res. 2016 Jan;30(1):267-75. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001049. PMID: 26049792.
For example:
Doing 4 sets of 3 reps at an RPE 7 means— whatever weight you can do 3 reps but still have 3 more reps at that same weight left in the tank before you would fail.
Or 3 sets of 1 rep RPE 8 means— you can do 1 rep at that weight with having 2 reps left in the tank at that same weight
While this requires a bit of a learning curve to be sure you are being truthful about how many reps you actually have left (I lie to myself and cheat myself every so often by not going heavy enough) but with time and practice this method can allows you to achieve your wellness goals while adjusting for LIFE
Do you use RPE in your workouts?
If you would like to try training that allows for the normal changes life throws at you– set up a discovery call today or sign up for coaching!
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