No Velocity Tracker? Use This RPE Number Instead

For power-focused squat sessions: training back squats at a moderate load (around 65% of 1RM) for speed, use an RPE of about 3.8 out of 10 as your stopping point. That lines up with a 10% velocity loss, the threshold most velocity-based programs use to end a set before power output drops too much.

This works because RPE tracks fatigue-driven velocity loss closely enough to serve as a stand-in when you don't have a bar-speed tracker. Once a set crosses that point, extra reps mostly build fatigue rather than power.

What the Research Found

A 2026 study in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living (n=17 trained males) found RPE reliably predicted velocity loss during moderate-load back squats, meaning perceived effort can substitute for expensive velocity-tracking hardware without losing the accuracy that makes velocity-based training useful in the first place.

How to Use It

Load the bar to roughly 65% of 1RM, move it as fast as you can on every rep, and rack the set once the effort starts feeling like a 4 out of 10 rather than continuing to grind. No app, linear position transducer or velocity tracker required, just an honest read on when the bar stops moving the way it did on rep one.

Sources and references

• "Rating of perceived exertion as a predictor of velocity loss during moderate-load back squats in trained males (n=17)." Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2026. PubMed PMID: 42761242

Based on a small trained-male sample (n=17); individual RPE calibration can vary, especially for lifters newer to autoregulated training.