How Are You Feeling Today?

Written by: Lisa L.

Rate of Perceived Exertion: RPE ‘How are you feeling today?’ 

In a perfect world, we arrive at the gym, fuelled to perfection by the best foods, we have had ample sleep, in the best mood with zero stresses and our Whoop has our recovery ‘in the green’.

HAPPY DAYS, ATHLETE!!

When does this happen though… hardly ever! Slightly less happy athlete….

We already know, all these factors are massive contributors to our workout, but coach wants our top squat set of 3 at 85%. You do the maths in your head, and you already want to pass out at the thought of squatting that weight for 3 reps.

This is where RPE comes in. RPE is defined as ‘a tool for measuring an individual’s effort and exertion, breathlessness and fatigue during physical work’.

In other words, working to your rated capacity ON THE DAY. If coach wants 85% that translates over to an RPE rating of 7-8 out of 10 for your energy and effort level TODAY.

If your technical 85% is for eg 85kgs, but the kids had you up at 4am, or you missed a meal, and you know 85kgs will fold you like a deckchair (yes, there is being confident and positive, but there is also being realistic and safe) working off the RPE method, you could top out with 3 solid, stunningly techy reps at 75kgs (but it would FEEL like 85kgs!)

This also applies to endurance, or metcons… We all have an overall base level of fitness, but ‘day to day’ is what we are discussing here. How hard you were able to work last time you had burpee box jumps in a workout unfortunately has no bearing on the result you will get today.

Pulling 1300 on the rower on Monday and feeling fine (RPE4-5) could have you gassed today (RPE7-8)

We always want to give our best, but sometimes our best is literally showing up and moving, and that’s ok. RPE training will provide the feeling of accomplishment, when you know you aren’t at your best. Athlete life is up and down, and we need to accept that we wont always get what we want, but a factor we CAN control is our effort TODAY!

RPE SCALE

1                Nothing (literally awake)

2-3         Light Activity (easy to breathe/could maintain for ages)

4-6         Moderate Activity (still comfortable but getting challenging)

7-8         Vigorous Activity (Getting uncomfortable/short of breath)

9             Very Hard Activity (difficult to maintain activity/super spicy)

10           Max Effort (Feels impossible to continue/Full send/30sec max!)