Using How You Feel To Get the Most Out of Your Workouts - Beginner to Advanced
As exercise and sports enthusiasts, but also people with busy lives, we like to get the most out of our workouts. On the days we are kept up late by a sick child or pet, or we just want to spend more of our time and energy outside as the weather is getting nicer, it is helpful to have some general guidelines in the form of systems to get the best results possible. The problem is that time and energy are always in flux. Even with a similar workout the following week(s) ahead we may have more or less energy to devote to what may have been near identical the week before. What if you feel super fresh and energetic one week and then walk into the gym on the same day 3 weeks later and feel like you have nothing to give? How do you know how to push appropriately to get the most out of your workout? What if you are within your first few years of working out versus a decade in to your training experience? How do you modify certain parameters to match your level of experience to still drive substantial results while avoiding plateau or injury?
The answer to all of these questions may be a now more and more common type of training using how you feel on any given day to determine how hard or not to push yourself (AKA your level of exertion). Of course, there are some caveats with this as with anything health and fitness related.
The Borg scale– the first real rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale- was used to quantify exertion on a larger scale range as it was used for heart rate equivalents in cyclical conditioning training like running or cycling (6-20 scale = 60-200 BPM heart rate). It was first developed by Gunnar Borg and then later Mike Tuchscherer adapted this for powerlifting using a 1-10 scale. That 1-10 RPE scale was also adapted to determine how many more repetitions on an exercise you think you could have done somewhat retrospectively. For instance, asking someone to do 5 repetitions of a deadlift with an RPE of 8 would mean that this person could have done 2 more before failure. This is referred to as repetitions in reserve (RIR). Therefore, an RPE 8 = RIR 2. This would be until either technical failure where technique breaks down or to momentary muscular failure. Often times the research in these areas does not use the same definition for what failure is, but we like to use the former and not have too much technique/form breakdown especially with folks newer to training. For a more through explanation, see this article https://www.resilient-body.com/lessons-tips/rpe-rir.
Why Use RPE or RIR? + Caveats
We find this to be the one of the best ways to train for quite a few reasons even though how we use this scale may change a bit based upon how new or experienced to training you are.
It does a fantastic job of managing overall stress/allostatic load and promotes allostasis. This is the sum total of all your stressors both good and bad (remember that exercise is a stress too even though it’s typically a good one AKA eustress). Too much stress and your body isn’t so happy and dysfunction can occur. Training past what your body is ready for and can recover from can sometimes be a not good thing, especially when done constantly. Using an RPE scale can help you match what today’s 8/10 difficulty is for you whether you’re fresh or maybe feeling a little burnt. You match with what you have and stress the body accordingly. This can help avoid burnout and plateaus.
You can for the most part use this whether a newbie or a pro!... with caveats we will explain. Since judging how you are feeling for the day isn’t rocket science (yes - some of the RPE purists may disagree), most any person with a noggin and feelings that likes to workout can determine how much they have to give that day. Those who have more experience training or pushing their limits may just have more of a refined sense of their levels
It scales well enough to percentage based efforts and well to other metrics like discomfort during an exercise or effort. Most people are familiar with using a 1-10 scale at some point to identify pain or how pleased they are with something etc. This tracks well with how levels of discomfort can be evaluated and used to search for “feels” during an exercise or practice to find the right amount to push for what is intended that day. It can also be used to know if you’re going too hard on the gas or brake moment to moment since it’s easy to check in on. It does tend to approximate only decently to percentages of max efforts like a 5/10 RPE being similar to a 50% but the RIR system does not always line up the same.
It helps you have better days training regardless of whether you come in feeling 100% or are having a crappy day. Your effort will scale according to the RPE or RIR target for the day and that will make your session far more productive. You can effectively give it more and truly outperform to find new heights on a great feeling day, or you can still get the intended stimulus on a day when you’re not at your best and progress.
The Caveats…
How can you know your boundaries if you haven’t had the opportunity to push them?
Some might argue that if you don’t know what failure is then it will be hard to know what an RPE of 8 or RIR of 2 is. If Jack is a novice and has never pushed for a 5-rep max deadlift or 1 repetition for that movement, how will he know whether he could have done 1 more or 6 more when asked to evaluate his 5-repetition attempt? Without the feeling of absolute maximal effort to true form/mechanical failure then it might be very hard. Meanwhile if Jill is a nationally ranked powerlifter and knows everything from her heaviest 5-rep 6 years ago to her heaviest single (1RM) in sumo stance which happens to be slightly heavier than when she pulls from a conventional set-up, one might argue she will be way better at judging how many more she could have done. She may indeed nail what her RPE 8/ RIR 2 is like a bullseye.
For this reason, it makes sense to argue that in the beginning it may benefit novices to push closer to failure safely. This may garner someone more experience and better ability to be in touch with their body’s limits. However, it could also be argued that in training for longevity and health this is not necessary. Even if your goals are performance, in the beginning of your training career you may not actually need to push as hard to have some incredible progress. Basically newbie gains kind of happen regardless of how hard you push as long as you give it some effort and consistency; and the research is starting to support that at least for muscle size gains (hypertrophy) more and more. Strength you may need to push a little closer to failure with but still likely not fully. More to comer soon with this. Therefore should you want to, by the time you are ready to explore limits more, you won’t be as inaccurate with using this introspective system.
One may also argue that advanced athletes and exercise enthusiasts may only need to push maximally circumstantially based on goals since it can be very fatiguing, create burnout or plateau, and perhaps unnecessary to push as hard for nearly identical results. Therefore, it makes sense to conserve that energy and push efforts only when necessary while still using RPE. We tend to agree with this unless you are competitive and need to actually test yourself more often.
The research is a bit mixed but it is starting to look like training to failure has little to no difference between training just shy of failure and maybe even less depending on the circumstances.
Here is what we think and use currently:
It’s a little bit of “it depends” to much of what we stated above based on who is in front of us and it can even change depending on that person’s day
We like to use RPE and RIR for beginners and advanced alike. People are pretty good at judging how they feel even if they can’t know EXACTLY how many more reps they could have done. With the current state of research suggesting you may actually be able to train further away from failure to see similar results than previously thought, it may not matter that someone’s RPE 9 was actually a 7 or 8. Especially if in the next week or block when asked to push harder they know how the previous effort felt. AKA this person is progressing, getting stronger, more muscle, more mobile, more XY or Z.
Also, why we like it for our clients..
As mentioned, training to failure often can generate a lot (and sometimes too much fatigue) which will impact subsequent sets/efforts as well as sessions; AND possibly your life outside the gym if done too often. If you’re at the gym or play sports to enjoy your life more then that’s what your training should help you do
If you’re experienced with exercise or sport you may not be seeing linear week to week progress like you did as a beginner, so RPE and RIR work can help keep you motivated, match efforts appropriately, and keep you progressing
It works well for lifts that are not common ones to know your max efforts on or ones you may not need to. How many people know their max goblet split squat?
It can make for a less fun experience and be demotivating if constantly nitpicking exact numbers and instead just push effort for that day and make that a win. You’ll still make great progress over time.
FINAL Caveats:
Close to competition it may make sense to try a final max effort push to know where you stand if you’re an athlete
Pushing a 1 rep max or trying to max out in the actual sport or competition. That’s the whole point. Plus, it can be fun to push and experiment to find new levels of potential!
Fatigue matters and is necessary and sometimes you do indeed want to overtax the system to make it respond (central and local muscular). RPE based introspective check-in systems tend to work well for managing this too within a workout and between sets; but also work great for finding an overall effort or pace for things outside of the gym as you may need to experience this.
It’s also not necessary for all things, and even counterproductive for things like speed or power training though you can still use it. Lots of rest so fresh and powerful as possible. Ever seen Olympic weightlifters?
Use it if you like it, it’s for you, as long as you feel like it keeps things fun as well as keeps those personal goals and preferences on track
Remember that like the lift or activity you are tracking, being introspective and accurate with your RPE/RIR ratings is a skill to be developed. You will get things wrong by under and overshooting your targets often at the beginning, but it will get better with practice and the more you use it. All of our online training tracks currently use it.
NEW LOCATION!
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