{"id":806,"date":"2019-06-19T19:48:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T00:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liverealfit.com\/?p=806"},"modified":"2019-06-19T19:48:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T00:48:10","slug":"find-your-1-rep-max","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liverealfit.com\/find-your-1-rep-max\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find Your 1 Rep Max the Right Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question of how much weight to use for a particular lift comes up a lot when I talk to clients.\u00a0 It can be hard, at times, to gauge how heavy of a weight to select for a given exercise, especially for beginners.\u00a0 Even if you’re not a beginner, it’s tempting to just stay at a certain weight because it’s easier and comfortable.\u00a0 But are you really making any progress?\u00a0 Nope!\u00a0 When I mention finding the 1 rep max for various lifts I am often met with blank stares or furrowed brows.\u00a0 Don’t worry.\u00a0 I am going to take you step-by-step through exactly how to test and find your 1 rep max.\u00a0 \u00a0 It can seem intimidating but I promise there is a safe and easy way to find your 1 rep max.<\/p>\n

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What is a 1 rep max and why is it useful?<\/h2>\n

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When you\u2019re new to strength training a lot of the terminology can leave you feeling a little confused.\u00a0 Put simply, a 1 rep max is the most amount of weight that can be lifted for a single rep on any given lift.\u00a0 This may seem like unnecessary information for a beginner or really for anyone not competing in a powerlifting meet.\u00a0 However, it is a great way to objectively measure your strength.\u00a0 Knowing your 1 rep max for a lift allows you to effectively build a workout program using percentages of your 1 rep max when selecting the weight for an exercise.\u00a0 This essentially takes the guesswork out of what weight you should be using for a particular lift.<\/p>\n

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Selecting the right weight for a particular exercise or lift is important to make sure that we are properly challenging the muscle to see change.\u00a0 As the body adapts to a particular weight (load) we need to increase the weight to continue to stimulate the muscle to grow.\u00a0 This concept is called progressive overload<\/a>.\u00a0 By using percentages of your 1 rm and progressively increasing that percentage over the course of 4-6 weeks you can be more accurate in properly challenging (overloading) the muscle.\u00a0 This will create the proper stimulus causing those muscles to grow (hypertrophy) and get stronger!<\/p>\n

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Do you need to know your 1 rep max to effectively strength train?<\/h2>\n

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It is not ABSOLUTELY necessary that you test your 1 rep max.\u00a0 In fact, often times I won\u2019t test it with anyone who is new to strength training or a particular lift.\u00a0 It is more important to me that we start with a good foundation; establishing the proper mechanics of the lift before we start working on adding a ton of weight.\u00a0 This is mostly related to compound lifts.\u00a0 These lifts require a certain amount of skill and can pose an injury risk if not properly learned before loading up the bar to a near max effort.\u00a0 In these circumstances, I will focus more on using the RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion)<\/a> as a means self-regulated weight selection to continually challenge the muscles.\u00a0 Often times the RPE scale correlates with percentages of 1 RM.\u00a0 Meaning if someone stated they were at a 7\/10 after a particular set that usually correlates well to working at about 70% of that persons 1 rep max.<\/p>\n

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Preparing to test your 1 rep max<\/h2>\n

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As I mentioned above, finding your 1 rep max is most realistic and useful when referring to compound lifts.\u00a0 Testing your true 1 rep max can be challenging and require a certain level of skill in performing the lift.<\/p>\n

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For beginners and those new to testing, a safe and easier way to test your 1 rep max is to find your estimated 1 rep max.\u00a0 Start by using a 1 rep max calculator (such as this one from bodybuilding.com<\/a>).\u00a0 Type in a weight you know you can lift and the number of reps you can do.\u00a0 This will then display an initial estimated 1 rep max as well as various percentages based on that number.\u00a0 These percentages are what you will use to perform the warm-up described below as well as actually test.<\/p>\n

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Before you test or estimate your 1 rep max for any lift you want to make sure you are properly warmed up.\u00a0 Start your warm up with the following sets and reps:<\/p>\n

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