One Rep Max

Firstly, to explain, a “one-rep max” is the maximum amount of weight you can shift, only once and no more, through a particular exercise. There is nothing wrong with this, everybody has a one-rep max, but for the majority of us we will realistically never find out what that is.

Yet so often I see programs designed using the “one-rep max” as a base for calculating the desired weights. The most recent I read was where an instructor was advising people to use a weight that was 50% of their one-rep max for 2 sets of 12 reps. From reading what he had written, the plan was designed for average people just wanting to achieve a all-around general level of health & fitness – non-specific. Performing a one-rep max requires perfect technique, a solid and strong muscular base of not only the desired muscles for the exercise, but also the deeper stabilising muscles. For this demographic of people, their fitness levels are nowhere near high enough to ever perform a one-rep max without a good chance of injury. How is such a person then supposed to calculate the right weight to use, if they need to know their “one-rep max” to start that equation?

Knowing your one-rep max is only useful if you are interested in performing it. A far better way to ascertain the right weight to use is as follows: If you are performing 12 reps, choose a weight that you can perform correctly 12 times. If you can do 14 or 15, the weight is too light. If you can’t manage 12 clean reps, the weight is too heavy.
So forget about your one-rep max, unless you are training specifically to perform such an optimal feat of strength.