RPE

Rate of Perceived Exertion (or RPE) is a scale which we use to measure physical activity intensity level. Perceived exertion is how hard you feel like your body is working when exercising. It’s based on the physical sensations that you experience during exercise - things like increased heart rate and breathing rate, sweating and muscle fatigue. As it is a fairly standard 1-10 scale, it can be used for both aerobic and strength-based exercises.
Let’s discuss the scale a bit more.
An RPE of 1 indicates very light activity - something that isn’t sleeping or sitting still.
An RPE of 2-3 indicates light activity. This is something you can maintain for a few hours where you can breathe easily and maintain a conversation.
An RPE of 4-6 indicates moderate activity. You will feel your breathing rate increase, and it becomes more challenging to hold a conversation. For strength training, an RPE 4-6 would indicate that you could do another 4-6 repetitions of an exercise.
An RPE 7-8 is considered vigorous activity. This intensity indicates that your breathing rate is significantly faster than normal and you can only speak a few words a time before needing to take a breath. For strength training, an RPE 7-8 would indicate that you could do another 2-3 repetitions of an exercise.
An RPE of 9 indicates an intensity that you can only do for a short time and can only speak a few words, or only complete one more repetition when doing strength training.
And finally, an RPE of 10 indicates maximal effort. You feel out of breath and it is impossible to continue, and you cannot lift any more weight when doing strength training.
If you have any more questions about the RPE scale, feel free to ask your practitioner.