So I started the Boring but Big 5/3/1 with 350lbs set as my 1RM for deadlift, roughly 2 months ago.
I’m on the start of my third cycle and on my 3x5 deadlift day I repped 285 for 15 reps (had at least 1 more rep in the tank). This puts me at a projected 1RM 100+lbs higher than the 1RM I have plugged into the equation from 2 months ago.
I’m wondering if hitting this high a number of reps on the “leave 1-2 reps in the tank” set means I should be re-testing to figure out a new training max?
No. Your TM and 1RM are entirely different things. 5/3/1 is based on the TM. The point of this is to prevent stalling early.
If you’ve had such a big jump then that means the programme is working perfectly. Why mess with it?
Keep the normal TM progress, enjoy your gains, avoid the stall. Congrats, your hard work is paying off.
Don’t recalculate. When you can no longer get 5 reps on the 5/3/1 week, recalculate.
Jim has said 10000000 times that when guys are in the position you describe (because it happens all the time, especially with young or newer lifters), when they just patiently progress +10lbs lower body / 5+lbs upper (or less) every cycle they make way more progress than the guys who get impatient and try to increase the weight faster.
He’s seen it so many times that he now recommends Training Maxes at 85%, sometimes 80% (and I think he’s even had guys on 75%) of their estimated 1RM - just because he’s seen guys who start WAY TOO LIGHT consistently make bigger progress than the guys who overestimate their 1RM… then round it up to the nearest 5lbs, then calculate 90%… then round it up 5lbs… and then round it up again 5lbs for good measure.