“I don’t think I can go any heavier.”
Something us coaches here all the time! Sometimes it’s true… Sometimes, though, it’s simply because the weight feels heavy.
The interesting thing is that feeling heavy and being close to your maximum aren’t always the same thing.
Learning to judge your effort is one of the hardest skills in strength training. It takes time to develop, and even experienced lifters can misjudge how close they are to their true limit. That’s one of the reasons we use RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) in our programming. It helps you choose the right weight for the goal of the workout, not just the heaviest weight you can lift.
To make things even more confusing, a warm-up set can sometimes feel surprisingly heavy. That’s true whether you’ve been lifting for two weeks or twenty years. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re having a bad day or that you’re close to your maximum. As your body warms up and your nervous system becomes more engaged, that same weight often starts moving much better. That’s why we encourage you not to judge your strength based on your first few sets.
So how do you learn where your true limit is? Part of it is simply learning to try a little harder.
I know that sounds almost too simple, maybe even a little silly, but I’ve seen it happen countless times. Someone unracks a weight, it feels heavier than they expected, and as soon as they reach the hardest part of the lift… they give up. Sometimes they’re right, and the weight is simply too heavy. But many times, they haven’t actually reached their limit. They’ve reached the point where the lift became uncomfortable.
The reality is that lifting heavy things is hard. Sometimes you have to keep pushing through that sticking point to find out what you’re truly capable of.
Every once in a while, that also means experiencing your true limit. That doesn’t mean every workout should end with a failed lift, but occasionally attempting one more rep and discovering you can’t complete it is part of the learning process. In our gym, we do this in a controlled way, using movements where it’s safe to fail and with a coach nearby when appropriate. A failed rep might simply mean the bar stops moving, or you realize you can’t complete another rep without your technique breaking down and safely end the set.
How do we use RPE in the gym? A simple way to think about RPE is by asking yourself, “How many good reps did I have left?”
- RPE 7: You could have done about 3 more quality reps.
- RPE 8: About 2 more quality reps.
- RPE 9: Maybe 1 more good rep.
- RPE 10: Nothing left. No more reps without failing or losing good technique.
One important note: RPE isn’t just about how heavy the weight feels. It’s about how many good reps you have left. If your technique starts to break down, or you know the next rep would require compensating to finish it, you’ve likely gone beyond the intended effort for that day.
Learning to judge effort takes time, and almost everyone underestimates what they’re capable of when they first start lifting. If you’re ever unsure whether to add weight or stay where you are, ask a coach. Helping you learn that difference is just as important as teaching the movement itself.