Is Rating of Perceived Exertion a Valuable Tool for Monitoring Exercise Intensity During Steady-State Conditions in Elite Endurance Athletes?
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional observational laboratory study
PubMed 33831841 · doi:10.1123/ijspp.2020-0866
What was done
Researchers evaluated the relationship between Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (6–20) and physiological variables (relative heart rate [%HR], relative oxygen uptake [%VO2], and capillary blood lactate) across 160 elite endurance athletes (cycling: n = 84, 37 women; running: n = 76, 32 women). Participants completed 4 to 7 progressive 5-minute steady-state stages (50%–85% VO2max) followed by an incremental test to exhaustion to determine peak values. Between-subject variation and the effects of exercise mode and sex were analyzed.
What was found
RPE correlated strongly with %HR, %VO2, and capillary blood lactate concentrations (r = .80 to .82, all P < .05). Between-subject coefficient of variation for %HR and %VO2 declined linearly with increasing intensity, dropping from approximately 10% to 15% at RPE 8 to approximately 5% at RPE 17. At identical RPE levels, running elicited higher %HR (~2%) and %VO2 (~5%) than cycling (P < .05), with greater differences observed at lower intensities (RPE < 13). Women demonstrated significantly higher %HR and %VO2 than men at the same RPE, though the difference was under 1% (P < .05).
Why it matters
This study shows that RPE becomes more physiologically precise at higher exercise intensities in elite athletes. It also demonstrates that exercise mode influences the relationship between subjective exertion and objective metabolic load, requiring modality-specific calibration.
Limits
Testing was restricted to steady-state laboratory conditions in elite athletes, limiting direct generalization to prolonged field workouts, non-steady-state intervals, or recreational cohorts. Day-to-day perceptual variability, environmental factors, and fatigue states were not evaluated.
Cited by
- supports The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale uses a range of 6 to 20 because multiplying the rating by 10 was designed to approximate the exerciser's heart rate in beats per minute.