Do you really train hard? Just because you sweat doesn’t mean you have pushed yourself and gone through some short term discomfort so your body can adapt and become stronger and more resilient for the long term.

We all have different reasons for exercise. Whether it is to become stronger or faster for a particular sport or stronger and faster to be able to keep up with your kids, everyone has their reasons.

Everyone is different when it comes to working out and training. Depending on a multitude of factors, some of us can train harder and longer than others. If you are just starting out exercising, then you may not be able to train as hard or as long as someone who has been training for years.

The body adapts to the stresses that are placed upon it. If the body isn’t stressed enough, then it will stop adapting to said stress and plateau.

So, how do you know if you are training hard enough? Training and exercise shouldn’t be easy, but on the flip side, you shouldn’t try to crush yourself every time you enter the gym.

With that being said, how do you know? Enter the concept of RPE.

RPE stands for “Rate of Perceived Exertion”. When we work with our athletes and clients inside of Cressey Sports Performance in Hudson, MA, this is a concept we like to utilize.

In simple terms, it means how hard you are working. It uses a scale of 0-10.

10: You cannot do another repetition of an exercise or if you did another rep, technical failure would occur (your form would break down).

5: You can do 5 more reps of an exercise until you can do no more/technical failure occurs.

7: You can do 3 more reps of an exercise until you can do no more/technical failure occurs.

When we work with clients and athletes, we like them to be in the range of 7-8/10. Meaning, they could perform 2-3 more reps until their form would go from pristine to subpar.

This doesn’t mean that every single exercise and every single set has to be a 7-8/10. Warm-up sets as well as other movements in the gym do not need to be a 7-8/10.

On the flip side, you also don’t want to be working at a 10/10 every single workout of every single day.

It is a fine balance between high intensity and low intensity in a single workout session as well as throughout a week or month. Constantly working at one end of the spectrum (low) or the other end (high) doesn’t allow for progress to be made long term.

If you feel you are stalled in your training or constantly dealing with aches and pains, we can help. Take that first step to get back to moving and feeling like your best self!