Masheen

Effort

RPE

Rate of perceived exertion Also called RPE scale, rate of perceived exertion, rating of perceived exertion

RPE is a score from 1 to 10 for how hard a set felt, counted by how many more reps you could have done.

8 reps doneRPE82 left
8 reps done, 2 more reps in the tank: RPE 8. Bench press, 80 kg for 8 reps with two reps left: that set is RPE 8.

In plain words

The number comes from one question: how many more reps could you have done? None means 10. One more means 9. Two more means 8. Three more means 7. Half points are used: 8.5 means maybe two more, surely one. Two different scales carry this name. The older one, by Gunnar Borg, runs from 6 to 20 and is used for running and cycling, where the number is a general feeling of effort, not reps left. A running app's RPE 8 is not a lifter's RPE 8. Masheen uses the lifting scale: 1 to 10, counted by reps in reserve.

An example

Bench press, 80 kg. Eight reps go up and you stop knowing two more were there. That set is RPE 8. Had you stopped with one left, RPE 9; with none left, RPE 10. In a study of bodybuilders reported by Helms and colleagues, lifters' guesses at the reps they had left matched the real number closely on the bench press (r = 0.95), and were more accurate the nearer the set was to failure.

Often confused with

RIR RIR counts the reps you had left; RPE is ten minus that number. Intensity Intensity is how heavy the bar was against your max; RPE is how hard the set felt.
RIR RIR, or reps in reserve, is the number of good reps you could still have done when you stopped a set.
Failure Failure is the point in a set where you try another rep and cannot finish it.
Intensity Intensity, in lifting, usually means how heavy the weight is next to the most you could lift once: the load as a percentage of your one-rep max.
Double progression Double progression is a rule for progressing in two steps that take turns: reps go up at the same weight to the top of a range, then the weight goes up.

Go deeper

Double progression: reps first, then weight Double progression explained with numbers. Add reps to the top of your range, then add the smallest plate. The rule as a table, a worked example, and the sums. Updated

Sources

  1. Zourdos et al. 2016. Novel resistance training-specific RPE scale measuring repetitions in reserve. J Strength Cond Res 30(1):267–275 Read
  2. Helms et al. 2016. Application of the repetitions in reserve-based RPE scale for resistance training. Strength Cond J 38(4):42–49 Read
  3. Wikipedia, Rating of perceived exertion (Borg's 6–20 scale) Read

Updated . How these pages are researched and corrected: editorial policy. Every term in the glossary.