[squat] + [press] + [deadlift] -- feelings
Most people at the gym are *exercising* — trying to catch a pump, feel the burn, or complete a random workout of the day. This obviously leads nowhere. A small minority are *training* — structuring their workouts as component parts of a long term goal. A person who is training may catch a pump or feel the burn accidentally, but that is not the main objective. His plan is determined before he even sets foot in the gym. He succeeds if he completes the assigned task. Whether it was easy or hard is irrelevant.
The difference between the two paradigms is that the exerciser is listening to his feelings while the trainee is not. Unfortunately, this feeling based approach has begun to infect serious lifters as well. At the best of times, emotions are fleeting and unreliable. A person under the bar is a particularly terrible judge of his inner state because he is under duress. He is incapable of objectively evaluating his efforts. Nevertheless, many methods encourage the lifter to rate his perceived exertion (RPE) and program workouts based on this “data”. This is popular two reasons.
(1) It has an aura of sophistication. “Listening to the body” is more intelligent than being a caveman and just doing a little more than last time.
(2) It gives us an intellectual and “scientific” justification for avoiding hard work.
In short, RPE turns training into exercise.
Effective trainees learn to ignore their feelings and focus on what needs to be done. Since all worthwhile tasks in life require us to operate in this way, people who actually train have a distinct advantage over those who merely exercise with RPE.