Hello,
Tried incorporating RPE into my training a while ago. Quite soon after, I have found out that it’s a bit tricky.
The reason we use RPE (if I understood you correct), is to control the internal loading.
The problem I have found is that, for example, doing a single squat at RPE 6 is way less “internally heavy” for me, related to doing a set of 16 squat reps at RPE 6.
Both had (by my assumption) 4 reps left in the tank, but for a single at RPE 6 I wouldn’t need that much of a mental preparation, rather than the 16 reps @ 6, which is a totally brutal event which can make me even scared doing.
Both are 6, but the internal load is way diferrent I think. Probably because at the 16 reps set, it’s closer to the maximum abillity in terms of percentage?
I guess if I was somehow doing sets of 100, than a set of 100 with a weight I can do 104 times, would be way, way more challenging to do (and easy to fail) than a single at RPE 6.
What do you think about it?
Thanks in advance.
A set of 1 and a set of 16 are fundamentally different tasks, with very different demands - and I suspect you are also more well-trained/practiced with one compared to the other.
There is no reason to expect that an RPE 6 load is going to result in an identical psychological and physical experience between a set of 1 and a set of 16, just as we would not expect a 100 meter run at RPE 6 to result in the same experience as a 10 mile run at RPE 6. However, if you are programmed to perform a set of 1 (or a set of 16) at two different times, performing them with a target RPE of 6 (or 4-5 RIR, if you prefer) may result in different loads being used for a variety of reasons including your strength adaptations, readiness, nutritional status, fatigue state, level of psychological arousal, etc. etc., which is the idea here.
Our thoughts on this topic are outlined here: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog…nd-rpe-part-i/
I am aware of the diferrences in the type of stress between a 16 rep set and a single, but I do think that RPE 6 in a set of 16 is higher % of the maximum abillity, related to a RPE 6 in a single.
In a single you do 20% of the total reps you can do with that weight, and in a 16 rep set you do 80% of your maximum reps in that weight.
So I think that RPE 6 in diferrent rep ranges would translate to diferrent % of maximum, would you agree?
Also, if my 1RM is 500lb, than a single at 500lb would be RPE 10. It’s likely that my 2RM is, say, 480lb. If this is the case, than 481lb and 500lb would both be RPE 10. Isn’t it problematic?