Background: The purpose of this study was to identify a normalized RPE response at ventilatory breakpoint (V<inf>pt</inf>) for male adolescents 13-17 years old, and whether these adolescents could self-regulate at target RPEs of 4 and 6.
Methods: Twenty healthy males participated in the study, with 10 males in each of the cycling and walking/running groups. Participants performed orientation and V̇O<inf>2peak</inf> trials before performing a perceptual estimation exercise trial to obtain RPE V<inf>pt</inf>, and two production trials to assess self-regulation ability.
Results: V<inf>pt</inf> corresponded to 67.7% V̇O<inf>2peak</inf> for the cycling group and 70.4% V̇O<inf>2peak</inf> for the walking/running group. There were no group differences on RPE-Overall V<inf>pt</inf> (cycling: 4.6; walking/running: 4.4), RPE-Legs V<inf>pt</inf> (cycling: 5.4; walking/running: 4.6), and RPE-Chest V<inf>pt</inf> (cycling: 4.0; walking/running: 4.8). A normalized RPE-Overall V<inf>pt</inf> response was identified at five. V̇O<inf>2</inf> did not differ between the estimation and production trials at targets RPE of 4 (1.59 vs. 1.57 L·min-1) and 6 (1.87 vs. 1.79 L·min-1). Similarly, heart rate (HR) did not differ between estimation and production trials at targets RPE 4 (152.4 vs. 151.1 beats·min-1) and 6 (167.1 vs. 162.4 beats·min-1). Both V̇O<inf>2</inf> and HR were significantly higher at RPE 6 compared to RPE 4. Responses were not affected by exercise mode or production sequence.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated that undifferentiated and differentiated RPE V<inf>pt</inf> were similar between cycling and walking/running participants. Male adolescents between 13- and 17-year-olds were able to use the OMNI scale to self-regulate exercise intensities that would be useful in field settings.