ExRx.net

The first thing people who know me and haven't seen me in awhile ask when they see me is, " Wow how much do you bench?" I tend to not care since 1 rep maxes usually don't concern me much.

I can tell you I am stronger now than I have ever been even when I was powerlifting years ago and was a fatty doing the 5x5 full body routines.

Should I max out every exercise I do to see what my 1 rep max is?

I know with powerlifting competitions its the big three, deadlifting squatting and benchpress.

When it comes to the strength standards listed on this site if we are in everything advanced and some elite does that mean we are a step below being elite? Cause if so I have a new goal.

I have read others on here saying Oh I lift on a BB Routine or SS or SL....who cares?

Lift to get big lift to get strong? Thats how its always worked for me. If I wanted to lose fat diet or cardio.

When should you do the one rep max? Thats another question of mine once a month once every six months? I could do it monthly but I feel I would lose a day of actual quality lifting.

Any and all opinions or "facts" are welcomed. Thanks.

John

_________________
"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door"

Kyle Chandler

I have never ever found my true 1 RM on anything
And look how sexy I am?
For me, I got a real good idea of what I can lift 5 or 3 times. And that good enough for trending

It comes down to personal choice, imo

Listen I know im good looking have the body and what not lol but I was wondering if I should do one rep maxes for everything.

For example incline bench press decline bench press squats upright rows over head press cleans etc etc etc
Does it even matter?

_________________
"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door"

Kyle Chandler

matter to whom and for what?

Well, for a weightlifter like me your training maxes are the second most important thing after what you've achieved in comps. It's no different from 100m sprint or hammer throws, really. But of course people disagree about how often you can lift to max, but generally, once a month is the accepted minimal amount.

Each people have to decide for themselves how important lifting to max obviously.

Does a max attempt interfere with your recovery? Actually I don't know but from what I've done (just squats and olympic lifts), I don't think it does.

It's important for a competing powerlifter or a competing weightlifter. For anyone else it may or may not be helpful. I don't think you would ever have to actually test it. However, some of us are just curious and competitive, at least with ourselves, and derive some satisfaction from testing ourselves. Even more satisfaction from new PR 1RMs.

That being said, if you choose to test maxes, I think there are several arguments for not doing it too often, like the reason John gave--you may lose, at least to some extent, a regular lifting day. However, if you can fit it into your routine where you would ordinarily do a near-max single, it may not interfere too much. Also, a max implies that you are near failure, or that you may attempt and fail one or more lifts, and that can be more difficult to recover from than your ordinary lifts.

Remember that a PR and 1RM may or may not be the same. If you are doing 5/3/1, for instance, your lift on the third set on the third minicycle may be the heaviest you have ever lifted, and thus be a PR. But, your calculated 1RM (based on the last set of the 3s day) may be more. It may be that if you tested it, you could get a bit more than the PR. If you're doing 5/3/1 faithfully, you probably set new PRs every cycle without ever truly lifting a 1RM. So you could theoretically go months of new PRs without actually testing a 1RM.

I only test a 1RM every few months, and I do it on the 5/3/1 day. When I do, I usually warm up, then do 1 rep at 75, 1 at 85 and 1 at 95, and then try 5 pounds more than the 95% lift. This is assuming that 95% of my current training max is more than I have ever actually lifted. Then I go ahead and do 3 reps at 85 and 5 at 75. I've thought about doing 1x80, 1x90, 1x100%, then 3x85 and 5x75, but have never actually done that.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

If you are training for Maximal Strength then you need to know what you can do for 1 rep - and that too on lifts you care about: for example, if your goal is to have a big Overhead Press, then yes: you need to train singles and such and work up to a big number.

If you are training to look good then you have to train to look good.

All these things are tools and dependent on what YOU want.

Going for a 1 rep max is fun. But it takes out a training day, which I don't like to do.

I tend to do a 1RM every 3-5 months on bench, press, deadlift, and squat.

_________________
The Angels have the phone box.

Ken, in 5/3/1, the third week can be a time to go for a max without losing a training day. Once you have been doing it for a while, the last set will always be a new max, for practical purposes. If you are worried about getting it, just go up with singles, then do your 85% and 75% sets on the "way down". I think I got that from Wendler somewhere. If you think your true 1RM is higher than the 95% rep on that day, do singles at 80, 90, 100% (or more), then go back down to 3x85 and 5x75.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

The traditional Westside program calls for a 1RM or 3RM every ME training day. If you feel good, go for 1RM. If not, go for 3RM. John Broz does something similiar with squats and snatches. I started pulling heavy singles (not the same as maxing) on my deadlift for every deadlift workout and put about 25lbs on my deadlift in about 3 months, which is huge for me.

Ever since I typed that in last night about missing a training day I've been thinking, "Well, hmmm, you could just do the regular workout on the way down...."

I'm not sure Wendler ever said to do that, but once you've been using 5/3/1 awhile, you tend toward certain lines of thinking. It's possible you worked that one out yourself.

Well anyway, wandering around a bit and heading back to the OP, my attitude towards 1RM's has been:

1) Beginning: what else is there, isn't that why we lift?

2) Later: Oh, right, do the sets, test it once in awhile

3) Now: Maybe try a 1RM every 2nd cycle for the fun of it, do the regular sets on the way down.

Which all just goes to show Wendler seems to have gotten through to me and I don't worry about it anymore -- if I'm making the progression during the cycle I know I'm gaining. To be sure, if I'm going to do one I want it to be the highest number I could possibly reach, but when/how often, doesn't seem to bother me much anymore.

_________________
The Angels have the phone box.

Awesome thanks for all the replies guys.

So it's pretty much pointless for me to do one rep max at all unless i feel like bragging about how much stronger I am then other people.

I am constantly getting stronger bigger etc and well I guess thats normal.

Once again thanks guys.

John Corless

_________________
"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door"

Kyle Chandler