I’ve never tried my 1RM bench. I currently can do 195x5 or 190x6. I’ll try to get 225 x1. What would be a good protocol for warming up?
That’s actually the exact same as me. I’m a bit curious as well now. I generally just keep sets of 85% never pushing it.
Before I just did the One RM without warming up though.
Do a couple singles building your way up to 225. The last time I tested my 1RM was for Uni football and I found that doing heavy rows (on the hammer machine) helped increase my score.
Are you testing it for a specific reason or just to see what you can do?
C
You could try something like:
95x5
135x3
155x3
185x1
205x1
225x1
or 50%x3, 75%x3, 85%x1, PR set.
Snipdog’s advice looks good!
If you are used to working out with 195, then start with a warmup set with the bar (45 x 6), 95 x 4, 135 x 3.
Those are warm ups.
Then 155 x 2,
175 x 2,
195 x 2
Now that you are leaving familiar territory, go
205 x 1
215 x 1
225 x 1
etc
You will go through stages of difficulty. 195 is heavy but always doable. higher weights will transition through do-able to hard to extreme strain.
If this is your first time 1RMaxing, leave something in the tank. Given that you want 225, don’t go past 225 UNLESS it goes up so easy you KNOW you have a for-sure 235 in you. better to get the higher weight the next time if you are not sure and have already reached your goal.
A method I’ve used and the Westsiders sometimes do is to do speed work at 50% - 55% then work up to a 1RM.
In your case, 9 sets of 3 at 105, done for max speed.
THen work up to your 1RM. The speed will carry over AND you will be very warmed up.
You will also notice when the speed starts to disappear - usually around 95% of what you will 1RM, the bar slows down noticably from previous lifts. After that, you will be straining to the max but work hard to keep whatever bar speed you can.
Old Mental trick that has worked well for me on the past (especially on squats but also for bench). Do singles as mentioned above building up to say 85-90% of your 1RM. Then before you attempt your max, load the bar up with an extra amount of weight and just unrack it and “feel” it (make sure you have a good spotter or 2). Maybe if your up for it do a 1/4 partial rep. Then get in a good rest and then try for your new PR on bench.
Here is an example I give for squats. I worked up to 405 for 1 rep. Then I loaded the Bar up with something like 510 and just unracked it and stood there for a sec. A few minutes later when I tried for a new record I smoked 445. That was 30 lbs heavier than my previous max squat.
Weightlifting is all mind over matter - If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.