Smarter Way to Train for Sports Rehab - RPE?

If you've ever been given a rehab exercise program, chances are it said something like "3 sets of 10-12 reps." A default prescription that has been handed out for decades. However, it is rarely the best approach for actually achieving your goals.

The Three Principles That Actually Matter

Forget the complicated science for a moment. Effective strength training comes down to three simple principles:

1. Specificity - You get what you train for. Want to build maximum strength? Train heavy. Need endurance? Train light with high reps.

2. Overload - You have to challenge your body beyond what it's used to. If it feels easy, you're wasting your time.

3. Progression - As you improve, you must increase the challenge. If you're still lifting the same weight three months later, you stopped progressing weeks ago.

Simple, right? Yet most rehab programs ignore these basics.

There's no magic exercise that does everything!

Why "3 Sets of 10" Fails Most People

The 3×10 prescription became popular because it's easy to remember and works okay for beginners. But it has major flaws:

• It doesn't account for individual differences - the same prescription does different things for different people

• It rarely includes guidance on how hard you should be working

• It doesn't tell you how to progress

• It falls in the "middle ground" where you're not optimizing for any specific goal

Think about it: doing 10 reps at 50% effort will produce very different results than 10 reps at maximum effort. Yet most programs don't specify intensity.

Enter RPE: Your New Best Friend

RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. It's a simple 1-10 scale that measures how hard an exercise feels:

• RPE 10 = Maximum effort, couldn't do another rep

• RPE 9 = Could do 1 more rep

• RPE 8 = Could do 2-3 more reps

• RPE 7 = Could do 4-6 more reps

• RPE 5-6 = Moderate effort

Why is this better than just counting reps? Because it accounts for everything - how you slept, your stress level, whether you're having a good or bad day.

DISCLAIMER These guidelines apply when it's clinically appropriate to load tissue maximally. Always consider your individual condition and consult with healthcare providers about what's safe for you.

In the next blog we will dive deeper into the concept of RPE.

References:

1. Schoenfeld et al. (2017) - Meta-analysis on load ranges for strength and hypertrophy

2. Zourdos et al. (2016) - Novel RPE scale specific to resistance training