OnionPatchRPE guide
Understand what RPE means, how it relates to reps in reserve, and how to use it to judge training effort.
What RPE means
RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. It is a simple way to describe how hard a set felt.
In lifting, RPE is commonly tied to reps in reserve, which means how many more good reps you could have performed before hitting failure.
A higher RPE means the set was harder. A lower RPE means you had more room left in the tank.
RPE scale based on reps in reserve
| RPE | What it means | Practical guide |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Max effort | You could not complete another rep or use more load with good form. |
| 9.5 | Near-max effort | You likely could not do another rep, but you may have had a tiny load increase available. |
| 9 | 1 rep in reserve | You could have completed about 1 more repetition. |
| 8.5 | 1-2 reps in reserve | You definitely had 1 more rep and may have had 2. |
| 8 | 2 reps in reserve | You could have completed about 2 more repetitions. |
| 7.5 | 2-3 reps in reserve | You definitely had 2 more reps and may have had 3. |
| 7 | 3 reps in reserve | You could have completed about 3 more repetitions. |
| 5-6 | Moderate effort | You likely had 4 to 6 more repetitions available. |
| 1-4 | Very light effort | The set was easy and far from failure. |
Most training plans work best when you stay a little shy of failure on most sets. For many exercises, that means living around RPE 7-9 rather than pushing every set to a 10.
How to use RPE in your workouts
- Use lower RPE ranges for warmups and easier volume work.
- Use moderate-to-high RPE ranges for harder working sets.
- Reduce load if your form breaks down before the target RPE.
- Increase load gradually when sets feel clearly easier than the target effort.