Rating your effort (RPE)

What is RPE?

RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion: a 1–10 rating of how hard a session felt — not how hard the numbers say it was, but how hard it actually felt to you.

The scale

Norvin uses the session-RPE scale. When you finish a row, Norvin asks How hard was it? and names each number as you choose it:

• 1Very easy. Barely working: a recovery paddle or cool-down.
• 2Easy. You could chat in full sentences all row.
• 3Comfortable. Easy, but you know you're rowing.
• 4Steady. Settled and sustainable.
• 5Moderate. Focused but in control. Long easy rows often end here.
• 6Moderately hard. You had to concentrate to hold it.
• 7Hard. You had to work to finish it.
• 8Very hard. You were counting it down.
• 9Near max. A hard test you could barely have rowed faster.
• 10Max. An all-out 2k. Nothing left.

Rate the whole row, not the last piece. Think back over all of it, warm-up to cool-down. A hard finish is easy to remember, but one minute is not the row.

The words help you pick a number; they don't grade the row. A long easy row is often rated 4 or 5, and that is fine: one either side of what the plan expected is normal. Norvin takes notice at two or more above it, or when an easy or steady row is rated above it at 6 or more.

When Norvin asks

• When you finish a live row, before it's saved. Tap a number, add a note if you like, then Finish workout. In a hurry? Skip and finish, and rate it later.
• For rows that come in from elsewhere or that you skipped rating, Home shows How hard was …? under Needs you.
• When you log a past row, rating is optional.

You can change a rating, or its note, from the session's analysis.

Why Norvin asks

Objective data — Power, Pace, heart rate — tells Norvin what your body did. RPE tells Norvin how your body experienced it.

The two are more useful together than either alone. A session completed at target Power but rated 9 suggests something is off: fatigue, poor sleep, illness, or accumulated stress. The same session rated 4 suggests you have room to progress.

How it shapes your plan

Norvin reads your ratings alongside the numbers over time:

• Consistently high ratings for the work done can point to fatigue — the plan may ease off.
• Consistently low ratings at planned intensities suggest you're ready to progress.

How your plan adapts

Be honest

There are no wrong answers. Rating a hard session as easy doesn't protect your plan — it just gives Norvin the wrong picture. Your plan works best when you're straight about how sessions felt.