RPE and RIR — Docs

Bar speed tells you how the lift moved. RPE / RIR tells you how it felt. Logging both gives you a fuller picture than either alone.

RPE vs RIR

Two scales for the same idea:

RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) — 1 to 10. 10 = max effort, no reps left.
RIR (Reps in Reserve) — how many more reps you could have done. RIR 0 = max effort, RIR 3 = could have done 3 more.

They convert: RPE 10 ≈ RIR 0, RPE 9 ≈ RIR 1, RPE 8 ≈ RIR 2. Pick whichever scale you prefer in Settings → App settings.

How the prompt works

After every recorded set:

The set summary appears.
A prompt asks for RPE or RIR.
Pick a value, or skip.
The value saves with the set.

Edit later from the set summary or history view if you skipped.

Skipping the prompt

Turn the prompt off:

App-wide: Settings → App settings → RPE prompt → Off.
Per-exercise: override in Per-exercise preferences. Useful for skipping warm-ups while keeping it on for working sets.

You can still add RPE manually to any set with the prompt off.

Where RPE shows up

Set summary, alongside bar speed and other metrics.
History view, sortable and filterable.
Performance charts — plot RPE alongside velocity over time.
Estimated 1RM calculations.
Data exports — RPE is a column in every export format.

RPE and velocity together

At a given load, RPE 9 sets should have lower mean velocity than RPE 7 sets. When they don’t, that’s signal:

High RPE + high velocity: you’re either underrating effort or having a strong day.
Low RPE + low velocity: technical issue, or readiness is poor.

Trends like this surface in Velocity trends & readiness.

RPE for autoregulation

Use RPE to pick today’s working load, then use bar speed to confirm:

RPE 8 might be 110kg or 105kg depending on the day.
If your RPE 8 set has lower mean velocity than usual at that load, the rating is probably too low.

RIR for hypertrophy

A set ending at RIR 2 should show meaningful velocity loss across reps. If velocity is flat, you may have stopped further from failure than you thought. Cross-check with the video review.

Coach use

Athletes’ RPE shows in the coach’s view of every set. Useful for spot-checking athlete self-rating against velocity data — particularly for athletes new to RPE.

RPE can be added as a comparison column in the team leaderboard.

Editing RPE later

Open any set from history → tap RPE → edit. See Editing set details.