A production trial of the omnibus ratings of perceived exertion scale in treadmill exercise

Purpose: To establish variability for measures of absolute and relative intensity during treadmill exercise produced for each of three prescribed ratings of perceived exertion (RPEP), and differences among RPEP conditions. Secondarily, to evaluate how age, sex, fitness level and exercise mode affect produced intensities and reported ratings of perceived exertion (RPER). Methods: Healthy adults (n = 40; 18 – 58 years) exercised for three bouts of 5-min bouts at RPEP 5, 7 and 8 (OMNI RPE walk/run scale), in randomised, counterbalanced sequence. A submaximal graded exercise test followed 24 h to one week later to estimate maximal oxygen uptake. Results: A wide range of relative heart-rates were reported, where the +1 SD range spanned from 66 – 89% maximum heart-rate (HRmax) for RPEP of 5, 76 – 97% for PEP 7, and 80 – 100% for RPEP 8. An effect of intensity was demonstrated for all outcome measures, %HRmax, treadmill speed and RPER, (P < 0.001), with differences between each RPEP level (P < 0.05). At RPEP 5 males reported higher RPER values than females (P < 0.05), and age was inversely related to %HRmax and RPER (r = -0.5, P < 0.01). Participants’ choices to walk or run (mode) for each RPEP demonstrated association with %HRmax at all RPEP values (P < 0.05 – 0.001). Regression analysis determined that mode accounted for the majority of variance demonstrated for %HRmax, explaining 29 to 37% of its variability at different RPEP levels. Conclusion: Participants demonstrated the ability to produce relative and absolute workloads that increased with each RPEP increment, however there was large variability of HRmax with the current sample. This indicates that perceptual based prescription has limitations and may produce variable results