Your training age will influence many things throughout your
years lifting things, and how well you know your body is one of them. This
knowledge of what your body can handle is something that comes with time. Other
factors such as sleep, nutrition, and workload at school/work have an influence
on how we think and function throughout the day, and will carry over to
training as well. As a result, your readiness for each workout changes from day
to day. For example, if you go to the gym and plan to bench 225 pounds, this
weight will not feel the same every day. 225 may feel like a million pounds
some days, and light as a feather other days. To gauge what percentage of your
maximal effort this weight feels like to you, you can use a Rate of Perceived
Exertion scale (RPE). This scale is based on a range from 1-10, 1 being
practically so easy you could do it in your sleep, and 10 being 100% of your
effort that you can exert for that day (figure 1).
Figure 1:
RPE scale, describing what each numeric value will feel like, respectively.
The RPE scale, in my opinion, is best used by more
experienced lifters. These are lifters who know their bodies very well, and
understand what they can handle. When I talk about knowing your body, I’m
talking about knowing exactly what 90%, 95%, 98%, 99%, and 100% of your maximal
effort for that day feels like when lifting a weight. This knowledge is only
gained with time and experience under the bar. Experienced lifters will know
how their bodies feel and what they are capable
of doing, considering the amount of sleep they’ve had and other stressors that
are going on in their lives. They adjust their lifts/weights on the fly, based
on how the weight feels that day.
On the other hand there are beginners, or novice lifters.
Novice lifters do not know their bodies and capabilities like the more advanced
lifters do. They are still learning to coordinate movements well and move more
efficiently. Therefore their weights can fluctuate greatly and they do not have
a good understanding of what certain percentages feel like when lifting a given
weight. I therefore believe a percentage-based program works well for beginners,
to give them a better idea of what percentages feel like when lifting a given
weight. This program gives them the time and ability to work on technique,
learn their bodies, and still progress. In
addition, your form will change when increasing the percentage of the weight
being used, moving closer towards your one rep maximum (1RM). This means that
your form may be good up to 85% and then fall apart at 85%+ (figure 2).
Figure 2: A
novice lifter increasing his % max. At 85% of his “potential max,” because he
can do this weight for reps, he is able to perform the lift competently. When
lifting heavier weights, 85+%, his form falls apart and he is unable to
complete the lift/set.
In summary, more advanced lifters can, and will, benefit
from working off their RPE, since they know their bodies well. That is not
saying that they won’t benefit from using percentages, but it gives them the
option to use RPE effectively. Novice lifters, on the other hand, will benefit
from a more structured program based off of percentages, in order to learn
movement competency and develop the skill of learning what certain percentages
of their maximum effort feels like.
Ryan Goodell, CSCS
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