The Problem with RPE…
You pull up to the gym, it’s early, real early.
You’re still tired from waking up, the rain is pouring outside, the clouds are hanging low.
Something feels off, you know it’s time to lift, but you really don’t want too.
You walk into the gym, set up your rack and it’s time to go.
You do your reps with the empty bar, even that feels like crap.
You build up, one blue plate aside… crap.
Two blues… not much better.
Then eventually, you get to your top set for the day, and nothing felt good at all.
You set up your camera and press record so you can watch it back.
You get under the bar, dig in and get tight.
You walk the weight away from the rack and squat.
The first rep moved okay.
The second rep, not bad.
The third rep, not the best.
The fourth rep, like all the others that preceded it.
Finally, the fifth rep, felt like a real grinder.
You rack the bar, that’s job done for that segment of the workout.
You go over to the camera and watch the set back.
Only to find out, that every rep flew up, without what appeared to be, not much effort at all.
How many times has this happened to you?
On another note, how many times have you walked into the gym, feeling like this was going to be the worst session of your life, only for it to be one of the best?
If you have lifted for long enough, guaranteed you will be able to resonate with the scenario that I have just described.
This phenomenon happens all the time, across gyms all over the planet.
Why?
Your perception of reality is inherently… unreliable.
What you perceive to be true, is very different from what is actually true.
This is what leads me into my argument today as to why I think RPE is a sub-optimal tool for training, and why I think that actual weight on the bar is a superior method to get strong.
I want to make it very clear, there are in fact many strength coaches that use RPE and get people strong.
But that’s not my argument, my argument is specifically that RPE is a sub-optimal method for strength training.
Many people have got very strong off the back of sub-optimal programs because they had the work ethic, desire, and adherence to make it work.
This is not a complete denial that RPE cannot work, because it quite literally has.
This is to lay out a logical rationale as to why I don’t think it’s the best tool to do the job.
A Case for RPE?
RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. It is a system that relies entirely on your perception to measure how hard something feels.
There’s a scale to measure effort, that starts at one (effortless) and ends at ten (maximum effort)
10: Maximal, no reps left.
9: Last rep is tough but still one rep left.
8: Weight is too heavy to maintain fast bar speed but isn’t a struggle; 2–4 reps left.
7: Weight moves quickly when maximal force is applied to the weight; “speed weight”.
6: Light speed work; moves quickly with moderate force.
5: Most warm-up weights
4: Recovery; usually 20 plus rep sets; not hard but intended to flush the muscle
Anything below RPE 4 isn’t important and is not typically used.
One of the claimed benefits to RPE style training is that it leaves more room for flexibility.
For instance, Matt Wenning once told me that there is a 10% variance in how much weight an advanced lifter can express on any given day.
Factors can include how well you slept, your nutrition/supplementation leading up to the session, hydration, psychological preparation, and stress.
RPE then, can adapt to how you are feeling for that day, by altering the perceived effort and tailor it to the individual session.
Basically, life happens and RPE is a tool that allows you to adjust based on how you feel.
This is typically the argument against percentage-based training, or even just adding a little more weight from the previous session, because it does not allow for this flexibility.
It’s often discussed how RPE can become more detrimental for progress as the lifter advanced in their training career.
Loads get heavier, fatigue gets bigger, in so it is important to have this variance to judge whether “it’s there or not” for that day.
Well, I have some issues with this…
Addressing the Elephant in the Room…
The problem is the following…
Our perception could be right, but it could also be wrong. The only way you find out is if you TRY.
Perception refers to the way sensory information is organised, interpreted, and consciously experienced.
There is such a thing called perception bias, the actively prevents us from seeing situations, people, or circumstances objectively.
Rather, our expectations, beliefs or emotions interfere with how we interpret reality and this in turn can cause us to misjudge ourselves or situations.
I’ve been doing this for some time, I started squatting when I was 14 and made this whole thing into a career.
Even me, I can’t accurately gauge what my body can lift on any given day, so I certainly know that most people that use RPE encounter the same problem.
To take this up a notch, your perception is also affected by your self-esteem, so what if you have low self-worth and confidence in the gym?
In my experience, most people underappreciate what they can achieve anyway, let alone if you have self-esteem issues.
You can imagine then, that if you rely entirely on your perception to make decisions for you, it’s going to be an issue.
The way you build confidence, resilience and character in the gym is by trying difficult things.
The last session felt heavy, you don’t really want to do it.
But despite how you feel, you get into the gym and you give it a go.
In doing this, you either succeed, and learn that you are capable.
Or you fail, of which this is also valuable information to inform your training decisions moving forward.
But unless you try, you will never know the outcome.
Please don’t misinterpret this, I’m not saying that you should max out every session.
The program should be tailored to your training abilities, fatigue should be accounted for and the amount of weight your progress will be dependent on your level of advancement.
My argument precisely, is that no matter who you are and how long you have been lifting, even you cannot rely on your own perception, which makes RPE an inherently flawed system.
It is true, that not any system is perfect, every system has its drawbacks.
However, this is a big flaw and one worth talking about.
Next time you turn up for a big session and you are not feeling it, do you try it, or do you wait?
None of this is meant to be easy, and breaking news, it only gets harder as you advance.
Strength must be earned, you will fail, you will succeed.
A non-negotiable however, is that you must try and attempt challenging things, even when you don’t want too…
