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sRPE Basics for Coaches: How to Monitor Training Load

A practical guide to using sRPE and session load to monitor training load without GPS, spreadsheets, or a sports science department.

Updated first published

sRPE basics guide cover for coaches monitoring session training load.

Quick answer

Session load is the athlete’s RPE multiplied by session duration in minutes. A 75-minute session rated 7 gives 525 arbitrary units. The method comes from Foster et al. (2001) and needs no GPS: the review by Haddad et al. (2017) reports correlations of 0.56 to 0.97 against heart-rate-based methods in soccer. Collect around ten minutes after the session, total the week, and treat any increase above 10% on the previous week as the point to look closer. That is the limit Gabbett (2016) recommends, and it is far lower than most plans assume.

sRPE basics

Give players a shared language for session intensity

sRPE stands for session rating of perceived exertion. It asks athletes to rate how hard the whole session felt.

sRPE basics guide cover for coaches monitoring session training load.
sRPE turns athlete perception into a consistent coaching signal.

sRPE

The athlete's rating of how hard a session felt, usually on a 0-10 scale.

Example: 0 means rest, 5 means hard but controlled, 7 means very hard, and 10 means maximal.

sRPEDescriptionExample feeling
0RestNo effort.
3ModerateComfortable and sustainable.
5HardWorking but controlled.
7Very hardStrong effort required.
10MaximalAll-out and unsustainable.

sRPE

Multiply effort by duration to create internal load

sRPE alone tells you intensity. Session load combines that intensity with how long the athlete worked.

sRPE

Perceived intensity

How hard the session felt.

min

Duration

How long the athlete worked.

AU

Session load

RPE x minutes.

Example

A 75-minute football session at RPE 7 produces 525 arbitrary units: 7 x 75 = 525 AU.
Foster et al. proposed the method in 2001 as a simple way to monitor load across different training modes. The review by Haddad et al. (2017) collected the validation: in soccer, correlations against Edwards’ heart-rate-based TRIMP run from 0.56 to 0.97. That is a wide range and worth saying, because one of those soccer studies found negligible correlations for some high-intensity metrics. sRPE is good at capturing the overall cost of a session, not at replacing everything a heart-rate monitor sees. If you want software to collect and analyze that workflow automatically, compare the best training load monitoring software for team sports. And if your players already quote a Garmin, Apple Watch or Polar training load score, that guide explains how those numbers relate to sRPE.

Estimate session load

Change duration and sRPE to see how session load changes.

Estimated weekly load

1800

Want to see team session load update live? Try the free training load calculator.

Implementation

Make sRPE a repeatable coaching habit

sRPE works when the scale, timing, education, and weekly review stay consistent.

  1. 1

    Choose a 0-10 scale

    Use simple descriptors and keep them visible during the first weeks.

  2. 2

    Collect around ten minutes after the session

    Uchida et al. (2014) found no significant difference between collecting at 10 and at 30 minutes, across easy, moderate and hard sessions. Waiting half an hour is impractical for most squads, and it is not necessary.

  3. 3

    Educate athletes

    Explain that sRPE is not a toughness score. Honest answers make training safer and smarter.

  4. 4

    Record duration and sRPE

    Calculate session load for every athlete and main session.

  5. 5

    Review weekly totals

    Look for spikes, drops, and differences between planned and perceived intensity.

Record every session

  • Date.
  • Session type.
  • Duration in minutes.
  • Athlete sRPE.
  • Calculated session load.
  • Weekly load total.

Use cases

Turn sRPE trends into coaching decisions

The value is not the number by itself. It is the pattern across days, players, and weeks.

Use caseWhat to compareCoach response
MD-3 vs MD-1Main loading day against pre-match taper.Reduce MD-1 if it starts looking like a main load day.
Week on weekAn increase above 10% on the previous week.Look closer before adding more. That is the limit Gabbett recommends.
Unexpected sRPEA normal session rated much harder or easier than usual.Check sleep, stress, soreness, motivation, or session design.
The 10% limit is Gabbett’s (2016) explicit recommendation. In the data he reports, load held between 5% below and 10% above the previous week was associated with under 10% injury risk; at 15% or more above, risk rose to between 21% and 49%. Those figures are unpublished observations from professional rugby league players, flagged as such in the review itself. The published finding alongside them is from Piggott et al.: 40% of injuries in Australian football players were associated with a rapid change, above 10%, in the previous week’s load.
If you want to go past week-on-week change, the next step is the ratio of acute to chronic load. Gabbett puts the comfortable range between 0.8 and 1.3 and treats 1.5 or above as the danger zone, drawn from cricket, Australian football and rugby league data. Treat it as a warning light rather than a verdict: Lolli et al. (2017) showed the acute window sits inside the chronic one, which can produce spurious correlation, and Impellizzeri et al. (2020) questioned whether the ratio supports injury-prevention decisions at all. The detail is on the ACWR page.
Use sRPE trends, not single values. Patterns over weeks tell you who is coping, who needs protection, and whether session design matches the plan.

Common mistakes

Simple does not mean careless

sRPE is easy to collect, but the data quality depends on timing, education, context, and review.

Inconsistent timing

Collect at a stable point after sessions instead of switching between immediate, late, and next-day reporting.

Poor athlete education

Teach the scale and reinforce that 7 is not better than 5.

Ignoring context

Heat, travel, stress, illness, and recent matches explain unusual sRPE values.

Never reviewing the data

A weekly 15-minute review is what turns collection into coaching action.
It is worth knowing what moves a rating before you interpret one. The review by Haddad et al. (2017) lists sleep, caffeine, environmental conditions, music, feedback received, age, fitness level, expertise and personality traits among the factors that shift reported RPE. The same review documents gaps between the intensity a coach prescribed and the intensity the athlete perceived, harder to control in team sport. None of this invalidates the method. It means an odd value is a question to ask the athlete, not an error to correct in the sheet.
The context most often missing is wellness. An sRPE of 8 on a session you planned as moderate means one thing if the athlete slept well, and another if they reported poor sleep and soreness three days ago. Collecting both in one place is what makes that comparison possible, which is what wellness monitoring is for.
The method above is sport-agnostic, but the schedule you’re reading it against isn’t. If you coach basketball, our sRPE for basketball guide covers the sport-specific research and how to read load through a congested, multi-game week.

Fractall workflow

Scale sRPE beyond a spreadsheet

As squads grow, manually collecting sRPE, wellness, pain reports, and weekly load trends becomes difficult to sustain.

sRPE monitoring in Fractall

1

Athletes submit sRPE and wellness after training and matches.

2

Fractall calculates session load, weekly load, ACWR, monotony, and strain.

3

Coaches review trends, spikes, and readiness signals in shared dashboards.

Make sRPE useful every week

Use Fractall to collect sRPE, calculate load metrics, and combine training load with wellness context. No hardware required.

See how sRPE monitoring works in Fractall

Start tomorrow

  • Choose a 0-10 RPE scale.
  • Explain the scale at the next session.
  • Collect around ten minutes post-session.
  • Record date, type, duration, player, and sRPE.
  • Calculate session load and weekly load.
  • Adjust next week's plan based on the trends.

FAQs

Common questions about sRPE and training load

The questions that come up in the first few weeks of collecting.

How do you calculate training load from sRPE?

Multiply the athlete's perceived exertion by the session duration in minutes. A 75-minute session rated 7 gives 525 arbitrary units. Foster et al. proposed the method in 2001, and it works the same way in any sport. What changes is the context you read it against.

How long after a session should you collect RPE?

Sooner than the usual advice suggests. Uchida et al. (2014) compared collection at 10 and 30 minutes post-exercise across easy, moderate and hard sessions and found no statistically significant difference. Ten minutes after the whistle is enough, which in practice is the difference between collecting and not collecting. That study used eight boxers, so treat it as the current evidence rather than a universal rule.

How big a weekly load increase is worth acting on?

Smaller than most plans assume. Gabbett (2016) recommends limiting weekly training load increases to under 10%. In the data he reports, load held between 5% below and 10% above the previous week was associated with under 10% injury risk, and at 15% or more above the previous week that rose to between 21% and 49%. Those last figures are unpublished observations from professional rugby league players, flagged as such in the review itself, so read them as a direction rather than a fixed number. The published finding alongside them is from Piggott et al.: 40% of injuries in Australian football players were associated with a rapid change, above 10%, in the previous week's load.

Is sRPE reliable if athletes answer dishonestly?

It is the method's main weakness and no software fixes it. Perceived exertion shifts with sleep, caffeine, heat, music, the feedback an athlete receives, age and experience, according to the review by Haddad et al. (2017). Two things help: explaining that the number is not a toughness score, and always collecting at the same point after a session. If an athlete rates every session an 8, that is a trust and education problem rather than a scale problem.

Do you need GPS to monitor training load?

No. sRPE measures internal load and needs one number and a stopwatch. The review by Haddad et al. (2017) reports correlations between 0.56 and 0.97 against Edwards' heart-rate-based TRIMP method in soccer. GPS measures something different, external load, and answers different questions. Starting with sRPE is the right call for a club with no hardware budget.

What is the difference between RPE and sRPE?

RPE is perceived intensity, a number from 0 to 10. sRPE is that intensity multiplied by session duration, which gives a load. Two sessions both rated 5 are not equivalent if one lasted 45 minutes and the other 120. Duration is what turns a perception into a load you can compare across athletes and across weeks.

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