RPE is one of the most useful tools in online coaching. It lets one program flex with a client's sleep, stress and progress without retesting a max every block. But a target only helps if the client answers it. So we read what clients actually typed into their logs on QuickCoach in September 2026, all 229,713 logged exercises, to see how often anyone wrote an effort score back.
The answer surprised us. If you coach one-to-one or run a group program, it's worth knowing before you write your next RPE target.
The short answer
Rarely. Coaches attach an RPE or reps-in-reserve target to about 14% of the exercises they assign, but clients on QuickCoach named either scale on just 0.7% of the 229,713 exercises they logged in September 2026. Only 1.6% of logged sessions included an effort score at all.
What this is, in one paragraph
When a client finishes an exercise in the QuickCoach app, they can type a result: a weight, a set count, a note. We read that free-text result on every exercise logged in September 2026, 229,713 logged exercises across 24,518 sessions, and counted what clients wrote. The coach-side figures come from our earlier reports on rep ranges and written coaching cues. The full method sits at the foot of the page.
Do clients actually use RPE when they log a workout?
Almost never. Of the 229,713 exercises clients logged in September 2026, 1,252 mentioned RPE and 455 mentioned reps in reserve. Together that's 1,702 logs, or 0.7%. Count only the logs where a client typed something and effort scores still appear on just 1.6% of them.
Compare that with what coaches ask for. In our rep ranges report, about 14% of assigned exercises carried an effort cue such as RPE or reps in reserve. So coaches ask for effort on roughly one exercise in seven, and clients report it on about one in 135. Most effort targets never make it back as a number.
It isn't that clients ignore the log. Just under half of logged exercises (46.7%) carry a typed result, and the rest were ticked off with a dash or left blank. When clients do type, they type something specific. It just isn't how hard the set felt.
What do clients log instead of RPE?
Weights and sets. About 52% of typed results record a load or a sets-and-reps pattern such as 3x10, and 94% contain at least one number. Kilograms appear in 20% of typed results and pounds in 7.5%. RPE, at 1.2%, sits far below either, and reps in reserve lower still.
What clients type when they log an exercise
Share of typed results containing each element, September 2026
Shares are of logs where a client typed a result (46.7% of all logged exercises). Categories overlap, since one entry can carry a weight, a set count and an RPE.
Read the chart as a picture of what clients think the log is for. To most of them it's a record of what they lifted, so they know what to load next time. That's useful. It also answers a different question from "how close to failure was that?", and clients rarely answer a question nobody made easy to answer.
Coaches write reps in reserve. Why do clients answer in RPE?
Because RPE is the term clients already know. When coaches set effort in writing, reps in reserve leads at 46% of effort cues against 27% for RPE. Clients flip it. Of the logs that name a scale, about three in four use RPE (1,252 logs) and one in four use reps in reserve (455).
| Who wrote it | Reps in reserve | RPE |
|---|---|---|
| Coaches, effort cues on assigned exercises | 46% | 27% |
| Clients, logs naming an effort scale | 27% | 74% |
Coach row from our written coaching cues report (the rest of coaches' effort cues use plain English or "to failure"). Client row from September 2026 logs; a handful of logs name both scales. The two rows come from different windows, so read them as directions.
Our read, and it's an interpretation rather than a measured fact, is that RPE simply travels further. It turns up in gym apps, forums and strength content, so a client who has heard of any effort scale has usually heard of RPE. Reps in reserve is easier to explain ("how many more could you have done?"), which is probably why coaches prefer to write it. The practical catch: if you cue in RIR and your client answers in RPE, you're reading two different scales. Agree on one before the first session.
When clients do log RPE, do they keep it up?
Yes, within the session. Effort scores are rare, but they cluster. Only 381 of 24,518 logged sessions (1.6%) included one, yet inside those sessions 65% of typed results carried an effort score, about four per session. When effort logging happens, it usually covers the whole workout rather than a single set.
That pattern says something. Effort logging isn't a random extra a client adds now and then. It looks like a routine, which is what you'd expect if it depends on a coach asking for it and a client who has been taught it. Where both happen, it sticks. Where neither happens, it never starts.
Should I prescribe RPE to my online clients?
Yes, if you'll teach it and read it. RPE lets a single program adjust to a client's sleep, stress and progress. But a target the client never reports gives you nothing back. Keep it for the main lifts, explain the scale in the first week and check the answers every week.
That's coaching guidance rather than a data point, and the full definition sits in our RPE explainer for coaches. The data adds one thing: an effort cue on its own doesn't produce effort data. If you want the number back, ask for it in one place, on one set, and show the client you used it. For the wider idea of matching load to the day, see autoregulation.
With brand-new clients, start simpler. Ask them to log weight and reps first. Once that's a habit, add one effort score on the last set of the main lift. Two new habits in week one usually means neither sticks.
Does RPE work for group coaching programs?
It works, but expect even less of it back. In a group program one plan serves clients of very different strength, so an effort target is what lets the same session suit everyone. The catch is follow-up. You can't chase twenty people for a number on every set, so ask for one score per session instead.
Pick the session's main lift and ask every member for an RPE on the last set. That's one number per person per session, which is easy to scan across a whole group. If a few members sit at RPE 9 or 10 week after week while the rest report 6, you know who needs a lighter block. Our guides to group coaching at scale and coaching a squad online cover running one program across many clients.
How do I get clients to log RPE or effort?
Make it one number, in one place, on one scale. Ask for an RPE on the last set of the main lift only, put a one-line reminder of the scale in the exercise note, teach it in the first week and mention the answers in your weekly check-in. Clients log what they can see their coach reading.
- Pick one scale and stick to it. RPE or reps in reserve, not both. If you choose RIR, write it the same way every time ("2 RIR" means two reps left).
- Ask for one number, not one per set. The last set of the main lift is enough to steer next week's load.
- Put the scale in the exercise note. "RPE 8 = two reps left" beats a long explainer nobody rereads. Our guide to writing coaching cues has more on short notes that land.
- Teach it in week one. Show an example of a good log during client onboarding, while the client is still learning how you work.
- Read it back. Mention the number in your weekly check-in: "your squat RPE dropped from 9 to 7, so we're adding load." That one line does more for logging than any reminder.
- Keep a fallback. If a client won't log effort, ask one check-in question instead: "Which session felt hardest this week, and why?"
Methodology and limitations
How we got these numbers
Source. We sampled September 2026 logging data anonymously: 229,713 logged exercises across 24,518 sessions on QuickCoach, a platform used by more than 40,000 coaches and fitness businesses worldwide. September runs on Australian Eastern Standard Time. No individual coach, client or plan is identifiable in anything published here.
Definitions. We read the free-text result a client types when logging an exercise. A log counts as RPE if it names RPE, and as reps in reserve if it names RIR, "reps in reserve" or "in the tank". A typed result is any entry other than a dash, a blank or a bare tick. A weight is a number followed by kg or lb (or common variants), and a sets-and-reps pattern is an entry such as 3x10. Categories overlap. Entries that describe effort without naming a scale, such as "felt heavy", are not counted as RPE.
Coach-side figures. The 14% effort-cue share comes from our rep ranges report and the 46% and 27% split from our written coaching cues report, both published July 2026. They describe what coaches prescribe, on a different window, so we compare them as directions rather than a matched pair.
Scope. This describes logs on QuickCoach. A client may track effort elsewhere, in a notebook or another app, and we can't see that. Pattern matching on free text is directional, and figures are rounded.
Privacy. Everything is aggregated and reported as shares or counts of logs. No personal data, client information or individual plan is exposed.
Frequently asked questions
Do clients actually use RPE?
Rarely. In September 2026, clients on QuickCoach named RPE or reps in reserve on 0.7% of 229,713 logged exercises, and only 1.6% of logged sessions included either scale. Coaches put an effort cue on about 14% of assigned exercises, so most of those targets never come back as a number.
Should I use RPE or RIR with online clients?
Use the one your client will answer. Coaches write reps in reserve more often, but clients who log effort use RPE about three times as often as RIR. RIR is easier to explain and RPE is more familiar. Pick one, define it in the exercise note and keep it consistent.
Do online clients log their weights?
Many do. Just under half of logged exercises on QuickCoach carry a typed result, and about 52% of those record a weight or a sets-and-reps pattern. Kilograms appear in 20% of typed results and pounds in 7.5%, based on logs from September 2026.
Is RPE too complicated for beginners?
Often, at first. A beginner hasn't felt enough hard sets to rate one accurately. Start with weight and reps, then add one effort score on the last set of the main lift after a few weeks. This is general coaching guidance, not a QuickCoach data figure.
How was this RPE data measured?
We read the free-text results on 229,713 exercises logged across 24,518 sessions on QuickCoach in September 2026, sampled anonymously, and counted entries naming RPE or reps in reserve. Coach-side figures come from earlier QuickCoach reports.
Published October 2026 from September 2026 logs. For the prescribing side, read the rep ranges report. For what coaches track beyond the workout, see what online coaches actually track. The movements behind these logs are tracked monthly on what coaches program. Questions about the data? Reach us at support@quickcoach.fit.
