Traditionally RPE is logged on a 1 to 10 scale, but I like my father’s method better: percentage of an all-out effort. Throughout the training cycle — before the meet in which he pulled his personal record 380 — his RPE readings for the light day [always the same weight] read:
60%, 50%, 49%, 48%, 47%, 46%, 44%, 43%, 42%
You might say, “You have got to be kidding! 42%?! No one can define their perceived effort with such accuracy.”
True. In my father’s system, such increments simply mean that the weight felt a hair lighter than the last time. And I was very pleased to see the pattern as the light workout stayed the same for the duration of the cycle, and apples could be compared to apples. He was obviously getting stronger.