Form Check: Squat 285 x 5 RPE 8.5?

[Ligurio]

So this is supposed to be a [email protected] but it *felt* closer to a [email protected] or 8.5, which is surprising because last week's [email protected] 280x5 really did feel like a 9.

For those of you with lots of experience with. RPE, what do you think the bar speed and overall formal integrity of this set looks more like, in your experience, an RPE 8 or 9?

Thanks very much in advance.

https://vimeo.com/363449829

[Pat Hughes]

I am by not means an expert in RPE, and maybe I have unrealistic expectations, but given that the speed on the bar stayed pretty much the same for all reps, and you form didn't break down I would be tempted to rate this an RPE 7, maybe 7.5...

If you skip to the last rep of the set, you can see that this is a strong, fast lift - based on just this last rep alone, I think you had a few more in the tank.

[JoshA]

Yeah i think you are right that it looked closer to an 8 than a 9. Without knowing how you as a lifter react to higher intensity work, I would trust your word more than any other person. It is also very reasonable that your strength will vary 5% or so on any given day and in the grand scheme of things it probably all shakes out evenly. From a programming standpoint, if you enter your percieved RPE (as opposed to the planned RPE) to calculate your e1RM then it will still tell you to progress up in weight so whether this particular lift is a RPE 7.5 vs 8.5 you will still be adding weight to your e1RM and progressing.

[Ligurio]

Thanks. This is helpful.