Set the dose. Build the capacity.

Define the capacity you want to build

A longer walk, a heavier carry, and a faster sprint require different adaptations. “Make the exercise harder” is too vague to guide a programme. Name the activity, the limiting demand, and the outcome you intend to measure. For a walk, duration might matter. For lifting a suitcase, force and position matter. For running, repeated impact and the rate of loading enter the picture.

Choose an exercise that can expose the relevant demand at a level you can currently manage. The exercise can then change with the goal. A chair rise may become a lower chair, a weighted rise, or a more demanding single-leg task; those changes are useful only if they serve the intended activity.

Make the dose visible

Changing one variable at a time makes a log easier to interpret. It is a practical tracking strategy, not a law requiring every programme to change in that order. Daily work, sport, sleep, and other exercise also affect what you can recover from.

Separate effort from pain

Repetitions in reserve, or RIR, estimates how many additional repetitions you could complete to a defined task standard. If you stop because pain worries you, that does not mean the muscles reached their force limit. Record the reason the set ended alongside the effort rating.

One resistance-training RPE scale links 10 to zero repetitions remaining and 9 to about one. Other scales use different anchors. Name the scale instead of assuming that “RPE 7” means the same thing to everyone. The original RIR scale study involved squat performance in a small group; it did not establish a universal rehabilitation intensity.[1]

RIR estimates contain error. A review found substantial variation in predictions of remaining repetitions; experience did not remove all uncertainty. “Not sure” is a useful entry. A person managing pain does not need to train to failure to make a log legitimate.[2]

Use the next exposure as a decision

Suppose a familiar exercise feels manageable and daily function remains stable. You could repeat the dose to establish consistency, or increase the demand that matters most. If the session was easy because you used less range or rested much longer, the same repetition count hides a different task.

If symptoms or fatigue increase, examine the whole exposure before blaming one exercise. Did walking, work, sport, or a second workout rise too? Reduce a relevant demand and discuss persistent or worsening problems with your clinician. A comfortable next morning provides information; it does not certify healing or clear a post-operative restriction.

Keep a record that changes a decision

Use the movement log to record the setup, dose, reason for stopping, later function, and intended next step. Review a pattern across several exposures instead of reacting to every isolated sensation. Choose the review interval with the goal, diagnosis, and pace of adaptation in mind.