RPE questions

[Gina M]

#16143

About to start Powerlifting Beginner acclimation Block 1A on Sunday so I’m looking ahead and have questions since RPE training is totally new to me. (Yes, I read the article about RPE.)

1.) I’m envisioning it’s going to take several sets for me to get the RPE in the right ballpark while this is so new to me. On my first deadlift day I have 6sets of 3 reps at RPE7. If it takes me 4 sets just to get to what I feel like is an accurate RPE7 (so either over, under, or some combo), do I count those as part of my 6? I’m concerned that I’ll be overshooting or undershooting the total work you intended for me to do on any given day depending on if I count such sets or not.

2.) does RPE training mean that people also adjust the weight during their working sets to stay at that same RPE for each set? E.g., I’m looking at week 3 where there’s 10sets of 3reps at RPE7 and thinking that the weight that feels like a RPE7 on set 1 might feel like a heavier RPE as sets go on. So you just adjust each set down if needed to stay at that same RPE? That’s my understanding but I want to confirm.

3.) By any chance is there another training block posted that has the same sets, reps, and RPE used as the acclimation blocks that I can pull starting percentages from? I can use the numbers in my training log to calculate some estimated 1RMs.

Thanks for your guidance. I’m feeling super out of my element with this.

-Gina

[Matt]

#16147

Gina,

This Article Murph posted on EliteFTS has a table that can help you make rough % estimations for the RPE. Keep in mind these relationships are already not linear and you are going off estimated maxes.
Normally I would say that a set does not “count” until it is at the correct RPE, however, if you took the bar, 95, 135, 185 then 195 and you weren’t sure so you got to 200 but you weren’t sure so you go to 205, but you weren’t sure so you go to 210 then you think it might be a work set but you were only supposed to do 3×5 RPE 8 that would be bad. Once you are in the ballpark you are in the ball park. Since you are concerned here use the table to get a relative weight range to use and adjust from there based on feeling. Once you do it for a couple weeks you will get a feeling for what a 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 all feel like.
Things to keep in mind: being out of breath does not mean the set was a 10, consider more how the reps feel not how you feel after the reps to determine the effort level. If you are doing a set of 3 at a 9 I would guess, unless you are a super explosive person, that the last rep would be much slower than the first.
Hopefully this helps.

[Gina M]

#16148

Thanks Matt. I used the chart you mentioned to get some rough starting percentages for that first RPE set.

It’s also good to know that you count it as a set even if it’s just in the approximate wheelhouse.

This is definitely going to take some getting used to. 🙂

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