Borg found that his RPE scale correlated very highly with heartrate, ventilation, oxygen consumption, and blood lactate concentration. Psychophysical Bases of Physical Exertion. Used with permission. ETL corresponds well with heart rate, maximal aerobic power, VO2max, and Borg s RPE, at least in low and moderate exercise intensity. In therapeutic exercise the respiration rate can be characterized by using the dyspnea scale.
Dyspnea is defined as shortness of breath or labored breathing.
Mild noticeable to exerciser but not to observer 2. Some difficulty noticeable to observer 3. Moderate difficulty exerciser can still continue 4. Severe difficulty exerciser cannot continue Using respiration rate to determine exercise intensity is normally done in conjunction with another method, such as heartrate or RPE, for monitoring intensity. Participants should be able to breathe comfortably and deeply during the entire workout.