You can use your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) to measure and adapt the intensity level of your strength workouts. At StrongFast, we use a modified version of Michael Tuchscherer's RPE scale as follows:
- 10 - Max effort
- 9 - Could you have MAYBE done 1 more rep?
- 8 - Could you have DEFINITELY done 1 more rep?
- 7 - Weight is too heavy to maintain fast bar speed but isn’t a struggle; 2–4 reps left
- 6 - Did the bar speed slow down only on the last rep?
- 5 - Weight moves quickly when maximal force is applied to the weight; “speed weight
- 4 - Was the bar speed on the last rep the same as the first?
- 3 - Light speed work; moves quickly with moderate force
- 2 - Most warm-up weights
It takes some experience to make this work: most beginners tend to underestimate how much they can lift, and some overestimate. Experienced lifters generally know their limits and reach (and exceed) them regularly, making this a useful measure of intensity. Of course, there are always some who will overestimate how much more they had left; for them, this is useless. But that's not us, right?