RPE stands for rate of perceived excursion it is what some workouts are guided by, when we work on progressive overload along with reps the RPE or % of max effort will change depending on your plan.
However, this feel can change from session to session. Most people can see this by the weight they lift or the reps they get, some changes can be 1kg extra in months or 2 reps more in a similar time.
Yet we can get consistent effort pushed back by a bad workout or even just one lift. For example one week you get clean reps on dumbbell incline bench and the last set you can even rep out 3 more, then put them away easy. Two week later that same weight is hard to move, you have to force it up and down, the reps are not so clean and its hard to put back.
Now there are in-betweens for this, the simple of being the weight moved but not as clean, or the weight moved but not through the range or it didnt give you the same feeling as that first lift a few weeks ago as its not new.
Many things can affect this as we will go over what can, and how to navigate these feeling when working out.
The basics ones to watch out for is, the order the exercises are done in. You basically might not have the right energy to do the same lift as it has not been set up like the other one, equal to this you might have not warmed up the same as the other week, to even have the same pump/mobility as that day. Things like that can lead to a poor workout after getting down about that one lift, you need to know there are many things can be out of your control but there are also many things in your control.
One thing you can do is.
You can also move down a weight for the first set and then do the next sets at the original weight or similarly, have a warm up set, this can be fast/pause/slow
Are you locked in?
The original weight you wanted to move clean, right, when you set up to move this did you want the same as last time or just to pump out the reps and move on. Focus/intention will count for a lot in the moment. As you may focus your energy on a different part of the workout instead of that one lift.
There are many other factors that effect any lift or whole workout, lets list a few here. Hours of sleep, time of workout, minutes sat in traffic, hydration level, kcals level, pain/doms, machine settings and more. These can all lead to harder workout because they place a toll on the body and mind. In the moment they can feel harder and in some cases them sessions can be chalked up to life. In them situations you can get as much as you can done and maybe add something different for what you missed to keep going through your session, which can often make you more resilient.
Something else that can help
Is reflecting back on that day before you pass judgment on yourself, knowing the general situation was better. Something that follows this is knowing if you follow a plan or not, that smooth lift could be random or was it something you do week in week out and part of the schedule, then you can think about changing the order around, going heavier with a better warm up or looking at other muscles around the main one.
Your grip could be a little worse from something that happened in the week, your supporting muscles could be weaker because of the other workouts you do, the weaker side leads to you being off balance and you need more concentration.
This means taking a minute.
That weight can move, I just have to cue and talk myself through this. Notice what is wrong that isn’t a strength issue and try and get as many reps out of it as possible. That not to say if you feel injured or a joint isn’t moving right push through, as in that situation you might do more worse than good but you can essentially coach yourself through the motion by internally talking or thinking about what you need to do.
Come back to it
push day or chest and triceps ect . . . go do a different exercise, breathe then come back to it.
More work
Stress, weather, illness and caffeine levels are more things that can affect the workout, it may also be the case that certain muscles are weaker or joints not as mobile, meaning low flexibility or longer times for recovery for certain parts of the body down to past injuries or general weakness.
This can be breaking through another level which takes time to recover from and you will need to make sure to be doing cool downs and rehab, while not injured some soreness/weakness maybe longer due to accumulated workouts/stress.
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