Part 2 Deload: RPE - An Evaluation of Performance

Last week we talk about the importance of deloading – taking a break from lifting or reducing weight/reps for a week or two to allow your body to recover from overtraining. Lifting to the max number of reps each set sounds good on paper. Many will tell you that it’s the only way to make progress – they are wrong. 

 

Lifting to your max number of reps all the time does indeed produce results; however, it also over taxes your system and can hinder progress. Your muscles, bones, joints, ligaments, even your CNS take a beating from lifting alone. To demand 100% from your body all the time is asking for disaster – well the need for a deload. It can also put you in situations where you injure yourself. If you had 2-3 reps left in the tank, do you think you would have gotten trapped under that bar? – probably not. 

 

RPE - Rate of perceive exertion – is a style of training that is gaining popularity on the web. The idea of RPE training is to establish your rep max (rm) for any given weight and leave a rep or two in the tank. 

 

But why? 

 

You can make strength gains without taking it to 100%. Granted your nutrition is on point, if you were to train to 90-95% each workout, you would still make those gains. You could actually take that percentage lower but it get’s too difficult to calculate weights/reps and there is a point of diminishing returns. 85-95% of your rm is the sweet spot. 

 

RPE is measured on a scale of 1-10. On this scale, 6-10 are the only numbers you need to pay attention to; anything below is considered warmup weight. Your intensity is based on a percentage of your 1rm or a rm of another rep at a given weight, e.g., 225x10 – 10 being the rm with 225.  

 

RPE 10 is your true max effort. RPE 9 means you 1 more rep in the tank. RPE 8 means you can do 2 more reps. You can see where this is going. If you could do 225x1 and you had 1 more rep, that set was a RPE 9. If you maxed out 225x10 and you had 1 more rep, it’s still RPE 9. 

 

RPE is a reflection on performance. RPE can be very useful in measuring effort and intensity, in addition to number of reps. Your goal is to always put in high effort – this ensures you are working at the correct intensity each working set.

 

Your bench strength on week 1 may appear lower on week 2 but if the RPE is the same throughout, you are still progressing based on your set goals.

 

RPE is not an exact science. There is no way to know for sure if you have 1 or more reps in the tank. No form of training can be this precise. Even in events of maximal effort sets, there is still a chance you had 1 more rep in you. For these reasons, RPE is not recommended for beginners. Those that have been training long enough and/or have followed programs are finer tuned in reading their body’s signals, i.e., reps left in the tank. 

 

Linear progression should be 5lbs each workout until you find your desired RPE. Don’t worry – you probably won’t pick it up right away. It takes time to learn any new skill. Learning to read your body (and listening) is an acquired skill and, with it, come many benefits - improved joint health, less stress on CNS, and healthy progress. 

 

Keep your ego in check.