How To Measure Intensity Without Putting Too Much Strain On Your Body

It’s meant to measure intensity without putting too much strain on your body.

RPE stands for “rate of perceived exertion,” and, in short, it’s a scale system that lifters can use to regulate their intensity without maxing out too quickly.

Here’s how it works: Using three sets of three reps of squats at 115kg as an example, you’d perform each set and rate it on a scale of difficulty from 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest. If you rate the sets at an average of 8 or 9, you’d multiply those numbers by 10. That essentially means that it took 80 or 90% of your perceived exertion to do the exercise—so 8 or 9 would be your RPE.