Autoregulate Your Training without Percentages, RPE, or RIR

Autoregulation is a way to self-monitor your training based on daily performance and has become a common tool in many weight training programs in recent years.  Auto regulation can help to factor in training variables like pre-programming and performing the desired intensity of an exercise and mitigating day-to-day differences in performance capabilities due to a variety of factors like stress, sleep, arousal, nutrition, fatigue, etc. 

Autoregulation techniques such as Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Repetitions in Reserve (RIR) are very commonly used in many programs.  The RPE and RIR methods are very similar and use a 1-10 scale to measure the difficulty of a set.  An 8 RPE means that an individual could have performed only 2 more repetitions until failure.  An RIR of 2 means the exact same thing, an individual could have performed only 2 more repetitions until failure.  These methods can be a great tool especially for single joint exercises like a bicep curl or machine based exercises like a leg press or chest press where you typically don’t have a 1RM to go off of to create percentages.  RPE and RIR are also very good methods to allow for flexibility from day to day based on an athlete's capabilities on that specific day.  However, if athletes are given too much free reign to autoregulate their training based on how they are feeling that day, there is a tendency to become lazy with their training.  While it is true, there will be variance in performance from day to day based on a variety of factors, one cannot wait forever to push themselves or results will never be obtained.  You cannot wait for the perfect day to train hard.  Another issue with the RPE or RIR methods is the lack of awareness of what TRUE failure is and feels like.  It is easy and common to make the mistake of thinking, “That set was very difficult.  I probably would have only completed 2 more reps before failure.”  However, most people don’t have a real sense of true and complete failure to go off of because they haven’t gone into those deep waters often enough to know and experience the feeling and pain of failure.  This is obviously problematic when you are basing your system off of that feeling of failure.  

Another common tool to use to regulate training is percentage based training.  Percentages have long been used as a method to regulate the intensity of a set for those looking to increase strength and power.  Using percentages along with certain rep and set schemes, programmed over time has produced amazing results in many lifters over many years.  If used correctly, it is a proven method to achieve increased strength and power over time.  One of the major drawbacks to percentages is its inability to be flexible.  Anyone who has trained long enough knows that your strength varies at different time periods throughout the year and even from week to week due to a variety of factors.  Because percentages are based off a 1RM at a specific moment in time, what is 85% today might not be 85% next week, which can be problematic if you are using this as a method to achieve progressive overload.  It is also not realistic or beneficial to test your 1RM often because that takes away from your training and recovery.  For these reasons, it is easy to see that percentages can become inflexible and inaccurate in many situations.  This is not a problem for those with experience as there are many work-arounds for this situation but the fact remains, percentages themselves are not a perfect solution.   

What if there was another way to measure week to week performance and create progressive overload on a regular basis?  Well there is and I’ve personally been using this method for a while now with great success.  This method involves a journal and a system.  I cannot give you a journal but I will give you the method.  

Choose a main exercise for the day.  Choose a rep range to stay in for that exercise.  Train as close to failure as possible without actually failing.  Then change the weight for next week based on the results of the previous week.  

Sounds easy right?  It is.  

Training doesn’t need to be extremely complicated percentages and schemes.  Simple can be effective.  Here’s how this works.  

Let’s say your chosen exercise is the back squat and you want to perform 6-8 reps.  You will warm up to a weight that you feel will put you in that 6-8 rep range when you reach technical failure (failure with good technique).  In the early stages, this may be a little bit of a guessing game but that’s ok.  You will quickly adjust to a weight that fits perfectly for your desired rep range.  

The following week you will change the weight of your main exercise(s) based on your performance from the following week.  For example:

If your goal is to perform 6-8 reps on a back squat and you believe the best weight to achieve that is 200 lbs.  However, after reaching technical failure, you were able to complete 10 reps.  This is obviously more than the 6-8 reps you desired so you will increase the weight by 10 lbs for next week.  Use the chart below to adjust your training from week to week:

Using the chart above, if the athlete would have completed 9 reps when the goal was 6-8 reps, he/she would increase the weight by 5 lbs. the following week.  If 6-8 reps were completed, do not increase or decrease the weight for the following week.  If the athlete only performed 5 reps, decrease the weight by 5 lbs. and if the athlete only completed 4 reps, decrease the weight by 10 lbs. for the following week.  

This method is not an exact science and will not work for every population of lifters but neither is any other method a perfect solution.  This is just another tool in the tool belt to be used when desired.  There is some thought that needs to be applied to this method to make it as effective as possible.  One thing to consider is the percentage change of increasing or decreasing 5 lbs.  For example, increasing an exercise from 200 lbs. to 205 lbs. is a 2.5% increase.  However, increasing from 500 lbs. to 505 lbs. is only a 1% change.  This is just another example of training being not only a science but also an art.  

Having more tools in the tool belt is a good thing.  There are many seasons of training.  A time to push towards personal records, a time to pull back and give the body additional rest, and other times where you're in cruise control.  Use and experiment with these tools to regulate your training for the season you’re currently in to help make your training as effective as possible for you.