I’ve spent thirty-five years watching coaches chase the latest shiny gadget, convinced that a £500 GPS vest strapped to a teenager’s back is going to tell them something their own eyes can’t. They’ll show you a graph with red spikes and call it “data,” but they completely miss the point of what’s actually happening on the pitch. If you want to know how rate of perceived exertion works, stop looking at a computer screen and start looking at the boy who’s gasping for air while his heart rate monitor claims he’s cruising. The truth is, those expensive metrics don’t account for a heavy pitch, a biting wind, or a kid who didn’t sleep because he was up studying. Real intensity is a feeling, not a digital readout.
I’m not here to sell you on some high-tech revolution or drown you in academic jargon that belongs in a lecture hall. I’m going to tell you how to use RPE to actually manage your sessions so you aren’t running your players into the ground before the final whistle. We’ll strip away the nonsense and focus on how you can use a simple scale to judge whether your squad is truly pushing or just going through the motions in a freezing puddle.
The Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion and the Truth About Effort
Now, you’ll see people in the professional game obsessing over GPS vests and heart rate monitors, acting like a little dot on a screen tells the whole story. But if you’ve ever stood on a touchline watching a player’s legs turn to lead in the 70th minute, you know a computer can’t tell you if a lad is actually struggling or if he’s just lost his mental focus. That’s where the Borg scale of perceived exertion comes in. It isn’t some complex mathematical formula; it’s a simple, subjective intensity measurement that asks the player one blunt question: “How hard are you actually working?”
I prefer this approach because it’s a form of autoregulatory training that actually accounts for reality. If a player had a late night or a heavy week at school, his body won’t respond to a pre-planned drill the same way it did on a sunny Tuesday in August. By using the Borg scale, you aren’t just following a rigid script; you’re adjusting the load based on how they feel in the moment. It’s about managing exercise fatigue before it turns into a hamstring tear that keeps them on the sidelines for a month.
Why Subjective Intensity Measurement Beats a Plastic Heart Rate Monitor
I’ve seen enough coaches walk around with a chest strap and a tablet, looking like they’re preparing for a moon landing, to know that technology often lies to you. You can watch a heart rate monitor tell you a player is at 170 beats per minute, but that number won’t tell you if they’re actually working hard or if they’re just panicking because they’ve lost their man. A sensor can’t account for a kid who didn’t sleep because of exams, or the player who’s fighting off a heavy cold.
That is where subjective intensity measurement earns its keep. Unlike a plastic device, RPE accounts for the human element—the actual internal cost of the effort. When we talk about training load management, we aren’t just managing numbers on a screen; we are managing people. If a player tells you a drill felt like a ten out of ten, but their heart rate says a six, you listen to the player. They are the ones feeling the fatigue, not the silicon chip. Relying on a sensor alone is a quick way to burn a squad out before the festive fixtures even arrive.
Five Ways to Use RPE Without Making a Mess of Your Session
- Stop treating it like a maths exam. If you ask a lad for his RPE and he stares at you like you’ve just asked him to solve a quadratic equation, you’ve failed. Keep it simple: ask him if he’s at a ‘steady jog’, a ‘hard run’, or if he feels like his lungs are about to burst. The number is just a way to track it later; the conversation is where the real coaching happens.
- Watch for the ‘Liar’s Gap’. You’ll get players who say they’re at a 4 when you can see they’re gasping for air, and others who claim a 9 when they’ve barely broken a sweat. Don’t just take their word for it—cross-reference their answer with what their legs are actually doing. If the RPE doesn’t match the reality on the pitch, they’re either being lazy or they don’t understand the scale.
- Context is everything, especially on a Tuesday in November. A player might give a drill an RPE of 7, but if they’ve had six hours of sleep and a heavy lunch, that 7 feels like a 10. Use RPE to gauge how they are coping with the load, not just the movement. It tells you if the training is actually hitting the mark or if you’re just running them into the ground for the sake of it.
- Use it to find your ‘Red Zone’. If you’re running a high-intensity interval session, you want to see those RPE numbers climb steadily. If they hit an 8 or 9 and stay there for too long, you’re looking at a session that will leave them cooked for the weekend. If they can’t get past a 5 during a ‘hard’ set, you aren’t training them; you’re just playing tag in a car park.
- Don’t ignore the downward trend. If a player’s RPE for a standard drill starts dropping week after week, they aren’t just getting fitter—they might be getting bored or checked out. Conversely, if their RPE for the exact same drill is climbing every session, they aren’t getting ‘stronger’, they’re likely carrying fatigue from something else. Use the numbers to spot the cracks before the player actually breaks.
The Bottom Line: What to Actually Do on Monday Morning
Stop obsessing over the numbers on a screen and start asking your players how they actually feel; a heart rate monitor can tell you how fast their pulse is, but it won’t tell you if they’re mentally checked out or physically spent.
Use the Borg Scale as a conversation tool, not a math equation, to ensure that when you say a session is “high intensity,” the lads are actually pushing their limits rather than just running in circles to please you.
Remember that RPE is your best defense against burnout; if a player reports a ten on a day when they’ve barely moved, you’ve got a recovery problem or a lifestyle problem, not a fitness problem.
Get Out of the Data and Back Into the Game
At the end of the day, RPE isn’t some complicated scientific theory you need a degree to grasp; it’s just about listening to the reality of the session. We’ve covered why the Borg Scale works, why a player’s own voice matters more than a blinking LED on a wristband, and why you can’t coach a number on a spreadsheet. If you stop chasing the perfect data point and start asking your players how they actually feel, you’ll stop overtraining the ones who are exhausted and stop wasting time on the ones who are merely coasting. It’s about matching the load to the human being standing in front of you, not the athlete you wish they were on paper.
I’ve spent thirty-five years on sidelines where the wind was biting and the equipment was sub-standard, and I can tell you this: the best coaches aren’t the ones with the most expensive gadgets, but the ones who actually understand the effort being given. Don’t let the fear of being “unscientific” stop you from using the most practical tool in your kit. Use RPE to bridge the gap between what you see and what they feel. If you do that, you won’t just be running drills; you’ll be building players who know their own limits, and that is a lesson that stays with them long after they’ve hung up their boots.
Frequently Asked Questions
If a player says they’re at a 7 but they’re barely breaking a sweat, how do I know if they're lying or just having an off day?
Look, if they’re claiming a 7 while standing there looking like they’ve just finished a stroll through the park, don’t call them a liar—call them a mystery. First, check their recent history. Did they pull an all-nighter or spend the last seventy-two hours running marathons? If they’re healthy, they might just be mentally checked out. Sometimes the head is tired before the legs are. Watch their movement, not just their words.
Does this work for a full squad, or am I going to lose ten minutes of my session just asking every kid how they feel?
If you try to poll twenty kids individually mid-drill, you’ve already lost the session. You’ll spend ten minutes listening to excuses about why they’re tired instead of actually coaching. Don’t do it. Instead, use the “group pulse.” At the end of a high-intensity block, ask for a show of hands: “Who’s at a seven? Who’s at a nine?” It takes thirty seconds, keeps the momentum, and tells you exactly who’s ready for more and who’s about to snap.
How do I use these numbers to actually change a drill mid-session instead of just recording them in a notebook?
Listen, if you’re just scribbling numbers in a notebook to show your chairman at the end of the month, you’re wasting your time. Use them in the moment. If you ask the lads for an RPE and they’re all hitting an 8 during a simple passing drill, stop. They aren’t “working hard”; they’re redlining because the drill is too complex or the pitch is a swamp. Drop the intensity, simplify the movement, and get them back to a 5 or 6 before they burn out by halftime.
