The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a scale of how hard you feel you are working when you exercise. The scale relates to the responses experienced during exercise and is based on the correlation between perceived exertion, heart rate and oxygen consumption.
|
Physical symptom |
RPE |
Heart rate training zone |
|
At rest |
1 |
Non exercise heart rates |
|
Low level activity |
2 |
Non exercise heart rates |
|
Light exertion |
3 |
Non exercise heart rates |
|
Slightly more involved activity, breathing is normal. |
4 |
Non exercise heart rates |
|
Breathing through the nose, conversation is possible in paragraph statements. |
5 |
50% of maximum heart rate |
|
Change from breathing through the nose to through the mouth. |
6 |
60% of maximum heart rate |
|
Breathing becomes more difficult, slightly out of breath, conversation is possible in sentences. |
7 |
70% of maximum heart rate |
|
Breathing is heavy; conversation is possible in short sentences. |
8 |
80% of maximum heart rate |
|
Sweating, conversation possible in one word answers. |
9 |
90% of maximum heart rate |
|
Maximum effort, hard to maintain for long, unable to hold a conversation. |
10 |
Maximum heart rate |