So it’s truly time to wrap this nonsense up. Last time I finished all the blathering and theory to address three currently in use tools to gauge intensity: RPE, RIR, RTF. The main takeaway from that part was that they are all useful but ONLY IF someone knows what a true limit effort is.
You can’t know what an RPE 9 is if you haven’t experienced a true 10. And you can’t know that you have 2 reps to failure/2 reps in reserve if you’ve never reached true physiological muscular failure which I define as:
The inability to complete another full repetition despite providing a maximum effort.
Muscular failure isn’t when you stop pushing. It’s not when you decide it hurts to much. It’s when you can’t complete a rep despite giving a maximal effort. Yes, yes, form failure in free weight exercises adds another wrinkle. We’ve been over this.
I finished that part by asserting that most people training have never experienced a true 10 RPE or a true set to actual physiological muscular failure.… Keep Reading