Rating of Perceived Exertion

Rating of perceived exertion, or RPE — also commonly, if less precisely, called 'rate of perceived exertion' — is a method of quantifying how hard exercise feels to the person doing it. The original Borg scale runs from 6 to 20, while a simpler 0-to-10 category-ratio scale is common in strength and conditioning, where a rating can reflect how many repetitions were left in reserve. It captures the athlete's integrated sense of effort, combining breathing, muscle fatigue, and strain into a single number.

Coaches use RPE to prescribe and monitor intensity without relying solely on fixed paces or loads, which lets training flex with fatigue, illness, and conditions on the day. It complements objective markers such as heart rate, power, or percentage of one-rep max. Because it is subjective, its value grows as an athlete becomes practised at rating effort consistently.