Rating of perceived exertion, or RPE, is a method used to assess how hard something believes to be working. The original purpose was used more for aerobic training and testing to assess someone's capacity for work as it aligned with physiological measurements such as heart rate, VO2, blood lactate, etc. The scale used in this scenario ranges from 6 - 20 (6 being minimal effort and 20 being max effort. The same strategy can also be used in resistance training, often with a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being max effort), to prescribe workloads for a given program. The main reason I use this style of tracking effort is the continuous brain-to-body connection that is utilized to assess and perceive effort over a given workload. Checking in with your ability with your effort, rep after rep, allows for continual improvement of an exercise and a better awareness of your body and its capacity.
