
When you’re out for a run, or doing some kind of cardiovascular exercise, it’s important to train at the right intensity.
Heart rate monitors provide a well known marker of effort, but there’s another easy and inexpensive measure of exercise intensity. It’s called rate of perceived exertion (RPE), a numbered scale where you rate the current level of effort performed during a workout, and how fast and deeply you are breathing.
There are a number of variations on this scale, one of which is listed below.
Exertion cues | Type of conditioning | |
0 | Sleep or complete rest, no exertion | |
1 | Extremely easy and light | |
2 | Very easy | |
3 | Somewhat easy | Warm Up / Cool Down |
4 | Moderate | Mild Fat Burning |
5 | Somewhat strong | Fat Burning / Mild Aerobic Conditioning |
6 | Strong | Aerobic Conditioning / Mild Fat Burning |
7 | Hard | Aerobic Conditioning / Minor Fat Burning |
8 | Very hard | Anaerobic / Mild Aerobic Conditioning |
9 | Extremely hard | Anaerobic |
10 | Maximum exertion | Advanced Anaerobic Conditioning |
Levels 4 - 6 are ideal for fat burning, while levels 5 - 7 and more suitable for aerobic conditioning to boost your cardiovascular endurance. Levels 8 – 10 are suitable for anaerobic training, which is an advanced form of training involving near maximal effort. There are some advantages and disadvantages of the RPE scale compared to heart rate monitors:
Advantages of RPE
Advantages of a heart rate monitor
Do you think the RPE scale is a valuable exercise tool? How do you measure your workout intensity?