What Is RPE and How Do Coaches Use It to Measure Training Load?
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Introduction
How hard was that session? The answer seems subjective — a difficult question for a sport scientist to put a number on. Yet for the past three decades, one simple question asked of every player after every session has become one of the most validated and widely used monitoring tools in professional football: “How hard was that, from 1 to 10?” That number — the Rating of Perceived Exertion — has turned player self-report into a scientifically credible, practically powerful training load management tool.
The Science
Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) was originally developed by Swedish psychophysiologist Gunnar Borg in the 1960s. His 15-point scale (6–20, where 6 = no exertion and 20 = maximal) correlated reliably with heart rate: multiply the Borg scale number by 10 to estimate heart rate in beats per minute. This gave coaches and physiologists a verbal shorthand for exercise intensity.
Carl Foster modified this concept in 1998 into the session-RPE (sRPE) method: ask the player for a single whole-body RPE rating (on a 1–10 CR10 scale) 30 minutes after a training session, then multiply it by session duration in minutes.
Session RPE = CR10 rating × duration (minutes)
A 70-minute session rated 6/10 = a training load of 420 arbitrary units (AU). A 90-minute match rated 8/10 = 720 AU. This allows:
- Comparison of training load across sessions with different durations
- Tracking of weekly load accumulation (acute load)
- Calculation of 4-week rolling average (chronic load)
- Computation of the Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR) — the key injury-risk metric
An ACWR between 0.8 and 1.3 is considered the “sweet spot” — players are working at loads their bodies are prepared for. Above 1.5 (sudden spike in acute load) injury risk rises significantly. Below 0.8 (undertraining) players are not adapted to match demands.
What Research Says
Foster et al. (2001) validated the sRPE method against criterion physiological measures (heart rate zones, blood lactate) across a range of exercise types and intensities in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. The correlation between sRPE and physiological load was strong (r = 0.89) — confirming that players are accurate judges of their own effort when asked properly.
Impellizzeri et al. (2004) specifically validated sRPE in elite youth football players in Journal of Sports Sciences, comparing it against heart rate-based training impulse (TRIMP) calculations. The correlation across 10 weeks of training was r = 0.86 — essentially equivalent for load monitoring purposes, while being vastly simpler to implement.
Gabbett (2016) published the landmark ACWR paper in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, analysing injury data from 28 studies across multiple sports including football. The key finding: players with an ACWR above 1.5 had significantly elevated injury risk; players whose chronic load was high (well-conditioned) could tolerate higher acute spikes without increased injury risk. The conclusion: fitness protects against spikes in load; the ratio matters more than raw numbers.
Did You Know? Elite clubs now ask players for sRPE ratings after every session through smartphone apps — some systems aggregate 100+ data points per player per week (sRPE, sleep quality, soreness, mood). The correlation between declining sRPE trends and upcoming illness or injury has become one of the most reliable early-warning signals in sports medicine.
Applied to Football
sRPE is cheap, valid, and immediately implementable at any level:
- Ask 30 minutes post-session, not during. The 30-minute delay allows acute physiological effects to settle, giving a more accurate whole-body assessment. Questions asked mid-session reflect momentary intensity, not session load.
- Calculate weekly load and 4-week average. Track trends over time. Spikes during pre-season, tournament congestion, or after injury return are the highest-risk periods.
- Respect individual perception. The same session will produce different sRPE in different players. A session rated 5/10 by a senior midfielder and 8/10 by a youth player represents genuinely different physiological loads relative to their current fitness.
- Use ACWR to guide recovery decisions. When the ACWR approaches 1.5, reduce training volume or intensity before the next match — not after an injury occurs.
- Combine with objective data when available. sRPE performs best when supplemented with GPS data. If a player’s sRPE is 8 but GPS shows low distance, investigate: illness, fatigue, or motivation issues may explain the disconnect.
- Session-RPE = CR10 rating × session duration in minutes; a validated, simple training load measure
- ACWR (acute:chronic workload ratio) predicts injury risk; the safe zone is 0.8–1.3
- sRPE correlates as strongly with physiological load as heart rate-based methods
- Ask 30 minutes post-session; individual perception differences are real and important
- RPE monitoring is implementable at any level with no equipment or cost
- Foster, C., Florhaug, J. A., Franklin, J., Gottschall, L., Hrovatin, L. A., Parker, S., … & Dodge, C. (2001). A new approach to monitoring exercise training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 15(1), 109–115.
- Impellizzeri, F. M., Rampinini, E., Coutts, A. J., Sassi, A., & Marcora, S. M. (2004). Use of RPE-based training load in soccer. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(6), 1042–1047.
- Gabbett, T. J. (2016). The training-injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(5), 273–280.
Key Takeaways
References
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Introduction
How hard was that session? The answer seems subjective — a difficult question for a sport scientist to put a number on. Yet for the past three decades, one simple question asked of every player after every session has become one of the most validated…
The Science
Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) was originally developed by Swedish psychophysiologist Gunnar Borg in the 1960s. His 15-point scale (6–20, where 6 = no exertion and 20 = maximal) correlated reliably with heart rate: multiply the Borg scale number by 10 to estimate heart rate…
What Research Says
Foster et al. (2001) validated the sRPE method against criterion physiological measures (heart rate zones, blood lactate) across a range of exercise types and intensities in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. The correlation between sRPE and physiological load was strong (r = 0.89) —…
Applied to Football
sRPE is cheap, valid, and immediately implementable at any level:
