Autoregulating Strength Training With Effort and Bar Speed
Not sure how heavy to lift today? Explore ways to use subjective effort ratings and objective bar speed when choosing and adjusting your training weights.
Adjusting weights for daily readiness
Following a strict percentage of your maximum lift—often written as a percentage of your one-repetition maximum, or %1RM—is a traditional way to program strength training. However, this fixed approach assumes you are equally rested, fueled, and capable every time you step into the gym. Autoregulation is an alternative method that adjusts the weight or repetitions based on your performance on any given day. A 2025 trial compared four different ways of prescribing exercise intensity: a strict percentage of 1RM, a rating of perceived exertion (RPE), leaving a set number of repetitions in reserve (RIR), and velocity-based training (VBT) using a device to measure bar speed. Fifteen subjects completed a fatiguing protocol followed by five sets of the free-weight back squat and bench press at 70% of 1RM across different conditions.
The researchers found that strictly following the %1RM prescription caused sets to be regularly taken to failure, resulting in the smallest volume loads alongside %1RM. In contrast, using RIR or VBT allowed lifters to maintain their intended training volume more effectively. Velocity-based training demonstrated the most accurate training prescription, with all sets within 5% of the intended starting velocity, whereas RPE and %1RM caused loads to become increasingly inaccurate Cowley et-al., 2025. At no point were there between-group differences in measures of neuromuscular fatigue or perceived soreness at 24 hours [Cowley et al., 2025](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39787033/].
Speed tracking versus perceived exertion
If adjusting your training on the fly works, does it matter whether you use subjective feelings or objective data to make the call? A 2022 trial compared objective velocity-based training with perceived exertion programming over six-week training blocks in players. Both training programs induced practically meaningful improvements in countermovement jump, back squat, and bench press performance. However, objective autoregulatory programming resulted in larger improvements in countermovement jump and squat performance. Changes in sprint test performance were very likely trivial for both programs. Tracking the speed of a lift or estimating effort via RIR provides structured ways to manage fatigue and maintain volume without defaulting to failure.