RPE? WTH?

After being sick for two weeks straight, I finally felt okay enough to get my derriere back to the gym. I took a 2 month vacation from exercise and the consequences are unfortunately, quite apparent. And so, I'm back with all those other resolutionists, jamming up the treadmill, elliptical, bike and weight benches. Except that I have been pretty die-hard about the gym (with the exception of those two ill-fated months) so I have no fear about sticking it out past February when all those other people decide that sleeping in is really preferable.

I've been using PodFitness, which is actually pretty cool. You choose from over 80 professional trainers (many of them are celebrity fitness trainers...people who have trained Britney, Paris, Hilary Swank, Heidi Klum, etc), then you select your own music for the music playlist (needs to be unprotected MP3 files...so get thee to a converter if you buy all your tunes from iTunes) and they mix a track for your iPod that has your trainer's program set to your own music. You can choose from a ton of different activities, from the treadmill, bike, elliptical, weights, running, etc--either at home or the gym.  I have found that I really like it and I can get a very good workout--better than if I just went and did my standard cardio or weight routine.   (In looking at the website, I see you can get Danny Bonaduce as a trainer--WTH? Might have to check that out for the laugh factor at least!)

But one thing that always cracks me up is the idea of RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion. You'll be listening to your trainer and they will say "work at a lvl 3, which should feel somewhat challenging (for a beginner)." Now, they have explained a little about RPE at the beginning of the workout, but I mean really...for me, just getting ON the machine is a lvl 5. I've really had to exert myself to get there in the first place!

I know, I know, there is actually a comparison scale that defines it more specifically:

The RPE scale is used to measure the intensity of your exercise. The RPE scale runs from 0-10. The numbers below relate to phrases used to rate how easy or difficult you find an activity. For example, 0 (nothing at all) would be how you feel when sitting in a chair; 10 (very, very heavy) is how you feel at the end of an exercise stress test or after a very difficult activity.

0	Nothing at all
0.5	Just noticeable
1	Very light
2	Light
3	Moderate
4	Somewhat heavy
5	Heavy
6
7	Very heavy
8
9
10	Very, very heavy

In most cases, you should exercise at a level that feels 3 (moderate) to 4 (somewhat heavy). When using this ratingscale, remember to include feelings of shortness of breath, as well as how tired you feel in your legs and overall.

I just wonder how many people can really accurately figure out where they are working on that scale? I know that my energy and mood drastically effect how much work I might do. I could be capable of more but don't push myself. We humans are extremely good at tricking ourselves. My mind might be saying, "oh wow, I'm working hard! Definitely a 4 today!" when in reality my body is working at a realistic 2 on the scale.

So in my mind, RPE is sort of a joke when it comes to figuring out how hard you are working. I think that a heart rate monitor would be a better indicator but damn they are expensive. So I end up relying on the monitors on the machines I use, which I'm not sure are terribly accurate. They always tell me I'm working at 85-90% of my capacity but I don't feel like I'm exerting THAT much energy--working hard, yes, but not to any sort of exhaustion. For the most part I don't worry too much--I figure the fact that I'm in there at all is good enough for now, but it would be nice to better accurately gauge how hard my body is working from day to day.