RPE help please

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi guys,

I have a question around RPE that I’m a bit confused about. I’m currently doing the new Hypertrophy 3 day template. This morning I did bench press. For the sets at RPE 8, for each set I got to the last rep and felt like I would not like to try to do another rep… but I was able to do 3 sets of 6 with the same weight (77.5kg). From following the BBM content I had the idea that RPE 8 would be a weight that I could do for sets across (like today) but also I should feel like I have at least 1 but maybe 2 reps in the tank (which I definitely didn’t feel today!).

Are you able to give any guidance on which signal to listen to more in order to get the right intensity?

Thanks and sorry if you’ve covered this already to death - searching the forums for RPE help yields too many results to display!

Cheers,
Dace

2

Hi Dace,
At RPE 8, you should have 2 reps left in the tank, for sure. If you had none left, that was too high. Now since you were able to repeat the weight, it’s possible you are not quite adapted to the feeling of 6 reps. Also if you didn’t have a spotter, maybe you really felt like that was all you had in you due to the knowledge that it was ALL YOU, for real. Anyway, I’d probably use that weight again and see if you’re close to a true 8.

3

Thanks Leah! I will box on and see how it goes.