Loading Exercises - Rate of Perceived Exertion or RPE

Figuring out how much resistance to add to each exercise is a priority for us. We’ll be using a couple of different scales to help guide this process. The first is Relative Perceived Exertion or RPE. It's a way to measure how hard you're working during exercise. It's basically a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is very easy and 10 is difficult to the point of failure.

So, let's say you're running on a treadmill. If you feel like you're barely doing any work and it's super easy, you might rate your RPE as a 1 or 2. If you're sprinting uphill really hard and can barely catch your breath and nearly fall off, you might rate your RPE as a 9 or 10.

This is important because it can help you make sure you're getting the most out of your workouts. If you're not pushing yourself hard enough, you might not see the results you want. On the other hand, if you're pushing yourself too hard, you could do more harm than good.

So, the next time you're exercising, try paying attention to your RPE. See if you can rate how hard you're working on a scale from 1 to 10. These RPE descriptions may help:

1. Very easy: You're barely doing any work at all. You could keep this up for a long time without feeling tired.

2. Easy: You're still not really feeling much effort, but you're starting to get a little bit warmer.

3. Moderate: You're starting to feel your body working a bit harder. You're breathing a little faster and starting to sweat.

4. Somewhat hard: You're definitely feeling the effort now. You're breathing harder and starting to sweat more.

5. Hard: You're really starting to feel it now. You're breathing heavily, sweating a lot, and your muscles are starting to feel tired.

6. Somewhat hard (heavy): You're working hard enough that talking is difficult. Your breathing is heavy and your muscles are working hard.

7. Very hard: You're pushing yourself to your limits. You're breathing heavily and your muscles are working as hard as they can.

8. Very hard (unable to maintain): You're working as hard as you possibly can, but you can't keep it up for very long.

9. Extremely hard: You're pushing yourself past your limits. It's very difficult to keep going and you're almost at your breaking point.

10. Maximum effort: You're giving it everything you've got. You can't keep it up for more than a few seconds, and you're completely exhausted.