Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale: Why RPE Is The Best Running Metric

Have you heard of the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) chart but aren’t quite sure how it works—or whether it’s even useful for your running workouts?

Welcome to my mega-guide on all things RPE: what it is, why every runner should know about it, and how to actually use it to shape smarter training routines.

The RPE scale holds a special place in my heart. It’s like the secret decoder ring of running—simple, adaptable, and shockingly effective once you know how to use it.

Grading your effort on a 1–10 scale gives you a universal language for understanding your workouts—without obsessing over numbers or trying to factor in things like heat, sleep, stress or elevation.

Because let’s face it, even the fanciest GPS watch can’t tell you how you feel. It can’t measure your willpower, fatigue, or how much you’re dragging from that long week at work. But RPE can.

And one of the best parts? It helps you break free from being glued to a certain pace. Some days your legs will fly, other days they’ll feel like bricks—and that’s normal. RPE encourages you to train with intention, not ego.

By tuning into effort instead of obsessing over outcomes—like your 10K time or that elusive Strava crown—you start focusing on the process. And in running, that’s where the real magic happens.

What is The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)?

Rate of Perceived Exertion, (often shortened to RPE), is a simple tool that can help you tune into your body more and still reach your fitness and running goals.

At its simplest, RPE is a scale of 1 to 10, measuring the intensity of your effort – 1 being extremely light activity like a stroll, 10 being an all-out sprint that you can only maintain for a few seconds.

There are a variety of scales and ways to measure RPE, which we’ll get into – but generally these days a scale of 1-10 is regarded as the simplest and also the most widely used.

Depending on which scale you use, you can even use it to estimate your heart rate during exercise without needing a heart rate monitor.

Here’s our RPE chart; feel free to grab it, print it, pin it, or refer to it wherever you need to:

What Are The Training Benefits of Using RPE?

Using RPE is a great way to monitor the intensity of your workouts and stay in tune with your body without relying on technology or tracking your metrics too closely.

Perhaps the most compelling argument for adopting RPE is recognizing that no two runs are identical: many factors affect the amount of effort required for a workout, both external and internal – both physical and physiological factors affect RPE.

These can include:

• Weather (especially wind and temperature)
• Terrain (a 6-minute mile on trails takes more effort than the same distance on the road)
• Running shoes (springy vs minimal support)
• Level of fatigue (more tired = harder effort)
• Whether you’ve eaten recently (fuel vs running on empty)
• Willpower/motivation

When you consider all the varying factors, it makes less sense to compare your performance based purely on speed, distance, or time. Given all the factors, a subjective measure can be a much better guide to the level of intensity.

For example, if you are scheduled for a 4-mile moderate run and you had a stressful week and lack of sleep, your moderate-intensity run might be at a slower pace than during a previous week when you were feeling better.

Your intensity level feels the same, but your pace might be slower, which is perfectly okay. If your body is feeling run down and needs rest, it is important to listen to it.

That’s why RPE is such a powerful tool: it prioritizes how you feel, your effort, and doing the workout over the result.

Running based on RPE is an excellent tool for both beginners and experienced runners, although beginners should spend some time familiarizing themselves with the scale and practicing their runs at different efforts to get used to the feel of RPE.

Another reason I love running based on RPE is that I no longer look at my GPS watch every 30 seconds to check if I’m on track: instead, I listen to my body and check the exercise intensity.

Using RPE is also great for tuning in and listening to your body better. Setting your workout intensity with RPE can be friendlier to your body than adhering to specified heart rate zones or paces.

Your workouts should be flexible to your body’s needs. You can stick to your desired intensity during your run instead of pushing for certain times or paces.

What Are The Differences Between RPE and Heart Rate Zones?

RPE has a close cousin in the activity metrics world: heart rate.

Heart Rate Zone (HRZ) training involves calibrating the athlete’s heart rate at various exertion levels and defining various training zones: the athlete then uses a heart rate monitor device to track their heart rate during workouts.

HRZ training shares many of the advantages of RPE training in that it accounts for many of the external and internal factors listed above an athlete’s heart rate generally correlates quite well with their RPE.

While HRZ training is arguably easier to quantify, measure, and document than RPE, it is not without its limitations.

#1: HRZ Training Doesn’t Work For De-conditioned Athletes

Deconditioned athletes typically have a higher resting/starting heart rate and their heart rate climbs faster and more intensely than a conditioned athlete; this HR surging often does not correspond to the deconditioned athlete’s RPE.

They feel they are performing a medium-intensity activity, whereas their heart rate data would suggest they are going at high intensity. The more conditioned the athlete, the closer the correlation between HR and RPE typically is.

While someone’s breathing rate may be far from maximal exertion, their actual heart rate is near the maximum level of exertion.

In these scenarios, being able to perform something like a talk test may be more telling than looking at your watch to check your target heart rate.

Related: Why Is My Heart Rate High On Easy Runs?

#2: HRZ Training Has Issues With Hot Weather and Cardiac Drift

Secondly, even conditioned athletes can find their heart rates drifting higher than their predetermined HRZs tell them they should be – due to either running in the heat or a phenomenon known as cardiac drift, which occurs during prolonged endurance activity.

These inherent limitations of HRZ training (deconditioned athletes, heat, and cardiac drift) are not faced when training based on RPE.

#3: HRZ Requires a Gadget

Training in heart rate zones requires a GPS watch with an HR monitor.

One of the benefits of running by RPE is that you don’t even need to use a GPS watch (although I still recommend running with one to log your actual performance), and you don’t need to rely on the output of a device when measuring physical activity intensity.

#4: Your Heart Rate Is Affected By External Factors Too

Is heart rate an accurate way of measuring stress?

Did you know your heart rate is elevated by lack of sleep, stress, caffeine, warm temperatures, and dehydration?

In that way, HR is similar to RPE – factors that wear you out will make your running tougher.

Your HR can also be affected by medication. Rate of Perceived Exertion scales are also excellent tools for people using beta-blocker medications.

Certain beta-blockers reduce the heart rate response to exercise, so rather than relying on heart rate measurements, people on certain beta blockers are encouraged to measure their exercise with an RPE scale.

Why We Ditched the 6–20 Borg Scale for the Simpler (and Smarter) 1–10 RPE Chart

There are two standardized RPE scales: the classic 15-point Borg RPE scale¹Williams, N. (2017). The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. Occupational Medicine, 67(5), 404–405. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqx063(6-20 scale) and the revised Borg scale (or Category Ratio Scale, 1-10 scale).

We favor the 1-10 scale, but first, let’s discuss the original RPE scale: the Gunnar Borg RPE scale.

What is the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale?

Borg’s 15-point scale is more difficult to use than the classic ratio 0-10 scale. The original Borg scale starts at six, where six is no activity or complete rest (like sitting on the couch).

The original Borg RPE scale begins at a six since it was designed to correspond with average heart rates.

According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)²CDC. (2019, December 21). Perceived Exertion (Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale) | Physical Activity | CDC. Www.cdc.gov. :

• Borg score 6 corresponds to a heart rate of 60 beats per minute (BPM).
• Borg score 12 corresponds to a heart rate of 120 BPM
• Borg score 20 corresponds to a heart rate of 200 BPM

So, whatever your RPE number is on the classic Borg scale, add a 0 to the end of that number, and you will have an estimate of your heart rate during that activity.

Since these are estimates, you can create your own heart rate notes on the RPE chart or scale by measuring your RPE while wearing a heart rate monitor.

The other popular RPE Scale, the classic ratio 1-10 scale, detaches RPE from Heart Rate altogether.

So, why do we favor the 1-10 scale?

The Borg scale is the original Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale and was developed to allow athletes to grade their PE from a scale of 6-20. While this scale helps peg effort to heart rate, there are a couple of reasons it’s not so widely used these days:

1. Asking athletes to grade their effort on a 15-point scale is probably too many data points. While you’re running, how do you discern between running at a 14 or a 15 out of 20?

2. The 15-point scale is tied to heart rates; as we’ve seen, heart rate zones vary widely from runner to runner depending on a multitude of factors, and we’re often drawn to RPE in order to not be reliant on HR data.

For these reasons, many coaches and runners, including myself, now use a modified RPE scale of 1-10 over the Borg scale.

It’s much easier to ask someone, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how hard are you pushing right now?”.

Fewer data points and a more intuitive range (1 to 10, not 6 to 20) make it an easier system for athletes to become conversant in.

How to use a Rate of Perceived Exertion chart

We created an RPE chart you can use that combines the Borg 15-point scale, the category ratio scale, and examples of activities for each training intensity:

The activity examples in this chart are just estimates and examples and may not be reflective of every person’s training or activities with respect to their RPE. Especially depending on a person’s level of conditioning (which we explain a bit further down in the post).

RPE can be used for strength training programs, too, and will match the number of repetitions you do. For example, your 5 rep max would be RPE 10, and your 1 rep max would also be RPE 10.

How to Build Smarter Training Plans with RPE (No Pace Tracking Required!)

When creating your workout or training plans using the rate of perceived exertion, you’ll need to establish a few things:

• Your fitness level: beginning exercisers will want to start at lower RPEs during workouts than conditioned exercisers. Stick with lower RPE workouts at first as you build your endurance/cardiovascular base.

• Your goals: if you are building endurance for long-distance runs, more of your workouts will be spent in the lower RPE ranges (easier endurance runs). If you’re training for speed or short-distance sprinting, you’ll likely have a few more high RPE sessions in your schedule.

Good running plans already have RPE built alongside paces/times designed for the runner and based on their recent running times.

For example, long runs should feel pretty easy on the RPE scale; tempo runs should feel moderate to hard, sprints should feel very hard, etc.

So, if runners don’t want to worry about tracking their pace, they can still stick to an effective running plan by paying attention to their RPE.

Here is an example of a weekly routine:

• Sunday: rest day or yoga, RPE 0-2
• Monday: 4-mile tempo run, RPE 6
• Tuesday: cross training/strength training, RPE 4-5
• Wednesday: 5-mile run, RPE 4, last mile strides, vigorous-intensity, RPE 9
• Thursday: cross training/strength training or another moderate-intensity activity, RPE 4-5
• Friday: yoga, RPE 3
• Saturday: 10-mile easy aerobic long run, RPE 3-4,

How to Plug RPE into Your Half or Full Marathon Training Plan

We’re often asked how to incorporate the Rate of Perceived Exertion into a half marathon training plan or a marathon training plan; here is how to approach each workout:

• Regular training runs should be done at 4-5 RPE
• Long runs should be done at 2-3 RPE
• Any short speed work (like interval training) should be done at 8-10 RPE (maximum effort fast intervals), then 1-2 RPE (recovery)
• Longer speed work (like tempo runs) should be done at 6-7 RPE (effort fast intervals), then 1-2 RPE (recovery)
• Cross-training activities will vary depending on their nature: ensure you don’t do any high-RPE activities following a high-RPE running workout. Allow for peaks and troughs, and listen to your body.

Are There Drawbacks to Using RPE?

There aren’t many drawbacks to using RPE for workouts, and they are great for most people because they help them gauge the intensity of their own workouts without monitoring equipment.

However, there are a few things to consider when using an RPE scale and when using RPE might not be adequate:

• Very deconditioned and sedentary people may not be able to use an RPE chart very well initially since even very light cardio can cause breathlessness. Once they begin to improve their exercise tolerance over time, they can use an RPE chart more effectively.
• RPE is subjective, so it can be swayed by mood, perceptions about exercise, etc.
• Sometimes, conditioned or fit people underestimate their perceived exertion if they focus on the muscles’ workload rather than cardiovascular effort.

Now, if you really want to compare RPE to heart rate training zones, check our this next article:

Running Heart Rate Guide + How To Calculate Your Heart Rate Zones

References

• 1
  Williams, N. (2017). The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. Occupational Medicine, 67(5), 404–405. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqx063
• 2
  CDC. (2019, December 21). Perceived Exertion (Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale) | Physical Activity | CDC. Www.cdc.gov.