Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a subjective measure of how hard you feel like you're working. It's an easy way to quantify how intense your exercise feels and can be used to determine the intensity at which you should be working out.
What is Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)?
Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a scale that measures how hard you are working during exercise. It's subjective, meaning you have to self-assess your effort.
RPE is independent of heart rate and other measures of fitness, so it can be used by anyone at any fitness level or age.
How to Use RPE
RPE is a subjective measure of how hard you are working. It can be used in conjunction with the target heart rate zone, or as a standalone method.
Suppose you're using RPE for the first time. In that case, it's best to use it when doing an exercise or workout that is unfamiliar to you--a new exercise or routine will help provide additional context into what level of intensity feels like so that when performing similar exercises in future workouts (or even at home), there won't be any confusion about how hard each movement should feel like from one day to another!
RPE and Assessment of Work Capacity
Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a subjective measure of how hard you are working during exercise. The RPE scale ranges from 6 to 20, with 6 being very light and 20 being maximum intensity.
When you're doing an activity that requires more effort than usual, like running faster or lifting heavier weights, your body will tell you if it needs more oxygen by making breathing more difficult. This feeling is called a respiratory sensation or dyspnea; it makes us feel winded after running up a flight of stairs or doing pushups against gravity for too long.
The relationship between respiratory sensations and heart rate can help us understand what our bodies are telling us about our level of exertion: as exertion increases beyond 70% HRmax (or about 80% VO2 max), there's no longer any correlation between these two markers; instead, we rely solely on respiratory sensation--or RPE--to gauge our effort level during exercise.
Rate of perceived exertion can help you quantify the intensity of your workout.
Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a subjective measure of physical exertion. RPE is used to quantify the intensity of your workout, and it can help determine if you're working out at the right intensity.
RPE is not as accurate as heart rate or other objective measures, but it's a good way to get an idea of how hard you're working out and whether or not your body needs more rest between sets.
How is RPE used during exercise?
RPE is a valuable tool, but it's not a perfect one. The scale is subjective, so it's important to use the same scale consistently and know how your body responds to different levels of perceived exertion. For example, if you've never used RPE before and decide to start using an 8 as "somewhat hard" during your first workout with this method, then next time you try it out on another day or with another exercise or intensity level--or even just at home when you're doing sit-ups--you may find that an 8 feels like a 6 or even 5.
The best way around this issue is by gradually building up your ability to gauge RPE over time accurately; this way, when something changes about how much effort something requires (like adding weight), then you have some reference points from which you can conclude whether things feel harder or easier than usual.
Differences between heart rate and RPE
While heart rate is a more objective measure of exertion, RPE is more useful for workouts that don't last longer than an hour and have a lot of variation in intensity. Heart rates can be difficult to interpret if you're unfamiliar with them; if your heart rate rises steadily during an exercise, it's hard to tell how much harder your body feels like it's working compared to the previous set or rep. However, RPE scales have less room for interpretation because they include words like "somewhat hard" or "extremely hard".
Since RPE measures how hard you feel like you're working out based on how much effort goes into each movement or repetition (rather than just measuring how fast your heart beats), it can be used as an indicator for determining when it's time for rest periods between sets in strength training routines where there isn't much variation in intensity throughout each workout session.
Understanding how to use RPE when exercising can help you make adjustments to your workouts.
RPE is a subjective measure of exercise intensity. It's a good way to monitor your progress and keep track of your workouts, but heart rate and power output are more accurate.
Heart rate monitors (HRMs) measure how many times your heart beats per minute (bpm). Heart rate is an objective measurement that can calculate the amount of oxygen that working muscles consume to produce energy for movement. HRMs are useful for monitoring training intensity because they provide real-time feedback about how hard you're working out at any given time during exercise--and, therefore, how much stress you're putting on your body at any given moment.
Conclusion
Rate of perceived exertion is a great way to measure your intensity of exercise. It can be helpful for both beginners and advanced athletes alike, as well as coaches and trainers who want their clients to know exactly how hard they work during their workouts. RPE is also useful for making adjustments during a workout so that you don't overdo it or underperform because you didn't realize how strenuous the activity would be!
