Whenever weightlifting is mentioned in a crowd of guys, someone will inevitably ask a question like, “How big is the bench?”
I know what the questioner wants to know from this question. What is the heaviest weight you can lift in one repetition on the bench press?
He’s asking about your one-time max rep.
It’s not the only measure of strength, but 1 rep max is a pretty good measure. This is also useful for other things. Can be used to fine-tune programming. If he plans to compete, testing the maximum weight for one rep will help him practice the skill of lifting very heavy weights in one rep. And let’s be honest, testing 1 rep max is just plain fun.
However, a max-once workout shouldn’t be done very often. Lifting as heavy an object as possible increases the chance of injury. Also, testing the maximum operating speed for a single run can be very tiring. Injuries and exhaustion are not profitable.
So how often should you test your 1 rep max to get the benefit while minimizing the drawback?
To answer that question I asked My strength coach, Matt Reynolds, for advice. Here’s what he told me
How often should one-rep max be tested?
If I decide to test one rep max, how often should I test it?
Well, it depends if you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced.
Beginner to intermediate lifter
According to Matt Beginner to intermediate lifters should test a maximum of 1 rep every 8-10 weeks..
Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced is determined not by the amount of time you spend training, but by how long it takes you to fully recover from a training session. A beginner to intermediate lifter can usually recover within 24-72 hours from a training session. Beginners and intermediates typically work on some sort of linear progression program where they increase the weight on the bar with each workout.
If that applies to you, shoot to get up to 1 rep every two months.
“Maximum 1 rep record is one of my biggest motivations as a novice lifter,” Matt told me. “They provide a nice dopamine hit and help early lifters keep training regularly.”
Matt also believes testing the one-rep max will help facilitate the adaptation of lifters new to it. In other words, it helps you get stronger.
“There is an argument that testing one rep max does nothing to help drive adaptation in the strength development process, but after coaching thousands of clients, our team believes that , we confirmed that testing 1 rep max actually helps athletes get stronger, stronger,” Matt said.
As a beginner or intermediate lifter, how do I test my 1 rep max?
Here’s what Matt recommends: Treat your max 1 workout like a regular workout. However, instead of running a scheduled working set, he would train up to a maximum of 1 rep by running a high-intensity single. Once the maximum number of reps is reached, with light weight he does his set of 5 backoffs.
The weights you use will depend on where you are in terms of intensity. But here’s a rough example: Suppose you are currently lifting a 405 in sets of 5 in your normal training. Then the set x number of reps scheme for your workup up to 1 reps would be:
warm up:
- 1×5 @ 135lbs
- 1×3 @ 225lbs
- 1×2 @ 315lbs
- 1×1 @ 415 lbs
Maximum number of attempts for one rep:
- 1 @ 425 lbs (feels very fast to lift and allows for pretty decent weight jumps)
- 1 @ 445 lbs (starts to feel a little tight, only 10 lbs to lift)
- 1 @ 455 lbs (slows down even more, but still feels like one more 10 lb jump)
- 1 @ £465 (Hard, but got it! New PR!)
As you can see, sensations dictate how to significantly increase weight. Use the Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale to help you understand how to significantly increase your weight.
RPE 1 is basically no effort, RPE 10 is all out. When a lift feels like an RPE of 10, it feels like you can’t do the next rep after that lift.
If your lift feels like an RPE 7, you can add a lot more weight. Once you reach RPE 8, gradually increase the weight.
The goal of testing 1 rep max is to reach a lift like RPE ~9.5 to 10. This is the maximum for 1 rep.
Once you have reached your maximum reps, repeat the backoff five times with a lighter weight.
For late intermediate to advanced lifters
For late-intermediate to advanced lifters, it can take a few days to a week to recover between workouts.
If you fall into this category, how often you should test your 1-rep max depends on whether you’re training for competition.
If you’re training for a competition, you’ll likely have a program designed to get you to your peak during competition time. He is expected to reach one maximum in all lifts during the competition.
Matt says that when you’re not training for a competition, it should be more intuitive when you should try PR for one rep. “If you have one day when you went to the gym and all the warm-up sets were great and the bars felt light, give me a PR,” Matt told me. “As you progress in your lifting career, you never know how many more times you’ll have the chance to hit max PR for one rep. So if you have a PR, take it.”
But Matt cautions against getting greedy with this more intuitive approach to testing your 1-rep max. Doing so will only interrupt your training. ”
If you decide to do a maximum of 1 workout, treat the day like any other workout. Work up to heavy reps and when challenged, with light weights he backs off his sets 3-5 times he does 2-3 sets.
