By: Dr. Trey Martin PT, DPT
One of the most challenging aspects of beginning a workout routine is knowing just how much effort you need to put forth to get good results, without going overboard and ending up hurt. You could just blindly lift weights with no plan, no goals, and no logic, but if you are on my site, I already know you care about your health and want to learn more. One of my favorite ways to plan a good workout is by using the ratings of perceived exertion scale. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) is a subjective scale that assesses how hard you're working during your workouts. The RPE scale is pretty easy to use. Its a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the intensity of sitting at rest and 10 being the intensity of fighting off 3 angry grizzly bears while running up hill. Let's go through what each tier of the RPE scale looks like with a few examples of activities.
RPE 1: This is base camp. Netflix, riding on a luxury yacht, chewing gum, all on this level. This is quintessential just being alive level, no effort added.
RPE 2-3: Work has begun. This is a fine level to begin with on your fitness routine or, if you are experienced, a good level to train at for active recovery. This level involves activities that you could maintain for hours. Examples: walking at a leisurely pace, light house chores, or shopping
RPE 4-6: Hello sweat! This level involves activities that you could barely maintain conversation with. Noticeably tiring, but something like a moderate jog, dancing, or bodyweight exercises that could be performed for a sustained amount of time. This is the workout level that I call "just enough". You probably won't be able to be an elite athlete at this level of effort, but you will feel good, improve heart health, and lose some pounds if you work out at this level consistently. This level is crucial for a well rounded fitness routine. It is good to have weeks of training (or at least days) that you program in RPE 4-6 exercises. This is a great effort level to work on new exercises or activities.
RPE 7-8: This a good place for weight training sets to be. This RPE requires enough effort that speaking in sentences is not possible, but 2-5 reps will still be in the tank. Think doing an activity that you are at about 75% of your effort levels, you aren't exhausting yourself, but you are definitely feeling it. This is my favorite RPE level to train at personally on most days.
RPE 9-10: giving it almost all you have. 1 to 2 reps left over at most. Perhaps able to eek out a bit more running at this level. Think max effort sprints, max lifts, or max distance running. This RPE level is fun to see what you are made of. But, I wouldn't recommend this level for beginners. You need to have excellent technique, good fitness levels, and a grasp on your limits before training at this level. Frankly, save this level of effort for special occasions, unless you are a competitive fitness athlete or you are okay with the risks. Constantly cranking out RPE 9-10 sets during your workouts and you'll wind up seeing a physical therapist like me. On second thought, RPE 9-10 cures most diseases and will make you into a real life greek statue, full of vitality and gorgeous features. Do it frequently (and go ahead and sign up for treatment with me ha!)
We won't dive much into how to specifically use these ratings in your own programming. But, a general rule of thumb would look like this. If you have 3 sets of 10 reps planned and you want to be at a RPE of 7, you should pick a weight that you can do for 12-15 reps if you were giving all of your effort. If you have 5 sets of 5 reps planned and want to be at a RPE of 9, you should pick a weight that you can do for 6 or 7 reps for these sets.
If you want to use RPE for cardio, it is a similar concept. Say you have a 10 minute jog planned and you want to run it at an RPE 7. Run at a pace that you could keep up for 12-15 minutes. See how the variables all play together. We have three variables in play: rating of perceived exertion, repetitions/time performed, and repetitions/time left in the reserve.
To sum up, RPE is a good way to track the difficulty of your workout sets or your run. Its an easy way to track progress over time too. For instance, if an 8-minute mile is an RPE 9 at first, and then two months later it is an RPE 6, it is easy to see the progress of your fitness journey. The RPE scale gives you way to say "hey, this was once brutally hard, now its not so bad, I am making progress!"
If you have direct questions or need further help contact me on here, or shoot me a direct message on instagram @athletedocrehab or join my facebook page Athletedocrehab. Until next time, here is an RPE chart with emojis if you'd like.
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