(Borg and Noble [4], Eston et al. [7]; ACSM [1]) showed that the use of this rating scale was a good indicator of physical stress and physical working capacity.
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si. 1i.
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Training and Testing
40
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t:
A New Rating Scale of Perceived Exertion Based on Subjective Estimation of Exhaustion Time: A Preliminary Study M. Carcinl'2, H. Vandewallel'3, H. Monodl rLaboratoire de Physiologie du Travail et du Sport, La Pitié Salpêtrière' trance 2 Département des Activités Physlques et Sportives, Université Paris 6' France 3 Département des Sciences du Sport, lnstitut Nationêl du Sport et de I Education Physique, France
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çarcin M, Vandewalle H, Monod H. A New Rating Scale of Perceived Exertion Based on Subjective Estimation of Exhaustion Time: A Preliminary Study. IntJ Sports Med 1999; 20: 40-43 Accepted after revision: August 18,1998
E
Perceived exertion has been investigated during incremental exercise to exhaustion with athletes, according to the 6-20 scale proposed by Borg (RPE,1970) and a new scale based on the estimation of exhaustion time (t1,-) (Estimated Time Limit or ETL, from 1 to 20; ETL= 21 - 2 n, with n = log2t1;-). ETL increased linearly with the Percentage of maximal aerobic power (%MAP) up to the ventilatory threshold (W). Beyond VT' an inflection of the ETL-%MAP relationship was observed. RPE
and ETL calculated at VT were equal to 15 t 1.7, i.e. an exercise intensi§ perceived as 'hard", and 10 + 2.3, i.e. an estimated exhaustion time equal approximately to 45 minutes. Standard deviations for RPE and ETL at VTwere too large for an accurate estimation of this threshold. The results of the present study suggest that RPE and ETL should be used in addition to physiological data, but not replace them in the prescription of a training pro-
able to maintain for one hour, whereas the same rating corresponded to an exhaustion time equal to approximately 15 minutes in other subjects. This observation suggested the use of a rating scale based on subjective estimation of exhaustion time (ETL, subjective Estimation of Time Limit) in addition to RPE. According to Peronnet and Thibault [11], the logarithm of exhaustion time decreases as a linear function of power (P). Consequently, the ETL rating scale (Table 1) was designed as a
function of the logarithm of the estimated exhaustion time (trim) . ETL= a
- b log
(t11*). ETL was expected
to increase linearly
with power expressed as percentage of maximal aerobic power (%MAP). Similarly, a linear relationship between ETL and heart rate (HR) can also be expected, as HR is linearly related to P (Astrand and Rodahl [2].
Key words: Exercise, perceived exertion, exhaustion time, heart rate, ventilatory threshold.
cle ergometer. Linear relationships between ETL and P or HR were expected when the subjects were able to estimate the exhaustion time corresponding to the exercise intensity at each stage. Moreover, the interest of ETL rating in the detection of the ventilatory anaerobic threshold was studied by measuring respiratory parameter during this incrementaI exercise.
Methods Subjects
Fifty-one male athletes lntroduction The Rating Scale of Perceived Exertion ( RPE, from 6 to 20) was described by G.V. Borg in 1970, and thereafter a lot of studies (Borg and Noble [4], Eston et al. [7]; ACSM [1]) showed that the use of this rating scale was a good indicator of physical stress and physical working capacity. However, there is a large variabiliry in the RPE values for subjects performing the same
relative constant workload (percentage of maximal oxygen consumption). Moreover, in a study (Vautier [15]) on exhaustion time at different constant loads (60, 73, 86, 100 and 120% of maximal aerobic power, MAP) at the 5th of these exercises, some subjects rate "hard" an exercise intensity that they were
lnrJ Sporrs Med 1999; 20:40-43 @ Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart.New York tssN 0172-4622
l
The purpose ofthe present investigation was to study the feasibili§ of ETL rating during an incremental stress test on â cy-
gram.
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t
11.7 years),
(70.1
t
8.0
kg; 176.016.5 cm:
25.9
t
participated in the study.
Moterials Cycling exercise was performed on a Monark cycle ergometer. Heart rate (HR) was recorded with a cardiotachometer (Sport Tester PE 3000). Ventilatory rate (Ve )and oxygen consumption (VOr) were measured with a computerised ergospirometer (Mijnhardt-Jaeger Oxycon). Ventilatory equivalent for oxygen (EqO2) was calculated as equal to VfTVOr. Ventilatory threshold (VT) was automatically calculated by the computer from the inflection of the Eqo2-time relationship during the incre-
mental exercise. The perception of exertion was studied according to two scales, which were written on a board: a French translation (Shephard et al. [14]) of the rating scale of perceived exertion (RPE, Borg
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A New Rating Scale of Perceived Exertion
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Table ETL scale brased on the estimation of exhaustion time mated Time Limit) 20 19
2 minutes
9
4 minutes
7
.l
8 minutes
1
Results
5
f
was linearly related with %MAP (ETL= 0.157%MAP- 1.085;
ETL
4 hours
P
