How do you guys get your 1 RM (besides the obvious)? I remember back when I perused FLEX, that there was some equation using like a 3 RM or 4 RM or something like that to find the Theoretical 1RM, which is pretty close tot he actual. Second, do you guys widely use percentages when building your training cycles? Like, for strength cycle, will you use 85-95% of your 1 RM to build your sets? Help please
bump
I don’t think much of it, but here’s the ACSM’s equation:
1RM=[(weight lifted x .03)x numer of reps)] + weight lifted
I think it’s most useful when you’re working with old ladies and you have to estimate a 1RM from a 12-15 rep max. I’d stick with actual 1RM tests…
Add 11% to your 3-rep max and that’ll give you a pretty good approximation.
I really use percentages when training. It may not be for everyone, but all my lifts went up considerably when I actually paid attention to bumping up the weights.
Percentages are useful for experienced athletes, and yes strength cycles usually use 85%-140%of 1RM. However, fatigue as well as other factors can change your 1RM from day to day. You might have tested on a day when you were totally recovered, feeling great and set a new PR. However using 90% of that load on a day when you are overtrained a little, had very little sleep the night before, ect…can make that weight feel like your max and you might not be able to get the reps you want. Rep ranges are better for this and allow a slight fluctuation in the program due to the fatigue curve.
Check out the article ‘Big Numbers’ in online issue #195.
I do informal 1RM tests simply by warming
up with light weight and sets of perhaps
five reps and fast negatives; then I do
singles starting from about 60% estimated
1RM (in other words a weight I could do
probably 9 or more reps with, with 4 second
negatives), increasing perhaps 5% per
set, allowing 40 seconds rest between these
singles but then slowing down to 2 minutes
as they become hard, and then five minutes
if the next rep is expected to be very
challenging. Quite often I will wind up
feeling like “that was not quite maximal,
I could have done another 10 pounds but
that probably would be maximal” and then
use this estimated value rather than actually performing that rep. But I certainly get close, say within 5%, of any value I come
up with as estimated 1RM.
This approach of working up gradually is
absolutely necessary for me in some exercises to come up with a good value, e.g. leg extensions, whereas in others I can do a near maximal effort right off the bat, or if I overestimate weight there’s no problem and I can then simply try again with less, e.g. with rows. So for some exercises obtaining estimated 1RM need not be all that elaborate.
In any case, the value needs to be one
that’s representivie of smooth explosive
effort on the positive with correct form, rather than heaving with poor form.
I noticed it was unclear in my post: the singles are performed with fast negatives,
minimizing muscle fatigue from them. (The reference to 4 second negatives is in point of how many reps COULD be achieved with slow negatives and that weight but that is not what is being done.)
I found it varied from lift to lift. I use a standard of a loss of 2.5% per rep. 4 reps, divide that 4rep weight by .9, 6 reps? divide your 6 rep weight by .85. You may be different, but expect that. Test your relative max at low reps, 2 or 3 and a 5 or 6. take the difference between the two and divide by the nmber of reps difference. (if using a 2 rep and a 5 rep, 2 rep total minus 5 rep total, divide by three) with that lbs/rep loss, if two, multiply that total by 2 and add it to the 2RM. when you get that number, take your 2 or 5 rep max and divide it by your presumed 1rm. for simplicity sake, say you did 180lbs with pink plates for 2, (lol, sorry) and your theoretical 1rm is 195, that # is a percentage, subtract that from 100%, for instance 100% or 1 - .95 = .05, since you did a 2 presumably, that .05/2 = .025 or 2.5%. purely a guess, all things affect all things, so keep it all in perspective. I tested myself and after a year went from a .028 to a .025 loss per rep.
Percents can be useful in a training cycle. I don’t use them for the usual thing (ok, now I’m going to do 90% of 1RM for 3), instead I have a scale where 2 reps = 93.5%, 3 = 91%, each additional rep subtract 2.5%. I got this from the NSCA textbook, and find it to be very accurate for all but beginners and very experienced powerlifters. Then if I notice that my max bench is 400, but my five rep max is only 80% of 400=320, then I will train with fives for a week or two, because this will be an easy place to set PRs.
This scale does not work for beginners because a beginner might be able to do 10 reps with 85% of 1 RM, which would crush someone using heavy weights. Advanced powerlifters might spend so much of the training cycle using 1-5 reps that the percentage for 8 reps, for example might be way too high.