You’re in a group exercise class, or maybe you’re working one-on-one with a personal trainer or even in physical therapy and the therapist or instructor says, “Aim for a 4-5 RPE!!” Your eyes dart around looking for clues, your brain scans through the three dozen or so acronyms it has stored. RPE? Nothing rings a bell. What is RPE?
RPE stands for “Rate of Perceived Exertion” - how hard you FEEL like you are working. Formally known as the “Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion” after Dr. Gunnar Borg (b. 1927 - d. 2020), it was originally a 6-20 scale that asks the person exercising to judge his or her own exertion based on how he or she is feeling. This emphasized the importance of a person’s self-awareness and perception of an exercise experience. It allowed therapists, coaches, trainers to understand how a hard someone is working with a given program and adjust accordingly. It is also a crucial component of cardiovascular rehab since many medications can regulate heartbeat and blood pressure so these numbers alone can often mislead medical personnel. RPE helps them know how the patient is truly feeling at a given workload.
Why does it begin at six and not a true zero? Technically, zero exertion would be a heart rate of zero … you’d be de__, well, you wouldn’t be alive. Dr. Borg classified a “6” on the 6-20 scale a level of “no exertion.” So, think of a “6” as sitting on a couch watching TV.
If a “6” is sitting on the couch, why are trainers asking us to work at a 4? Or 5? Trainers and most people who use the Borg RPE Scale are actually using the “Modified Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion” which is 0-10. The “0” on THIS scale is most definitely NOT a true zero (no heartbeat), but instead, is zero exertion – couch sitting and 10 on this scale is the most you could ever possibly do prior to collapsing or suffering a medical event.
Confused? Let’s recap. The original Borg scale was 6-20. It was brilliant and accounted for the influence other factors such as comorbidities, illness, and exercise psychology have on performance. But FORGET this one. It is rarely used.
The Modified Borg Scale is 0-10 as its name suggests – modified, just as helpful, more widely used and quantifies exercise exertion as follows:
To determine your level on the Borg RPE when performing activity, evaluate your easy or difficulty when breathing. Are you able to talk comfortably? That is about a level .5 to 1. Are you struggling to have a conversation and words are short and few and far between? You’re most likely exercising at a 5-7. At 8, 9 and definitely 10, you are not able to talk.
In my next post, I’ll talk about what level you “should” be exercising at based on your training goals.
See you soon!
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