Finding Your Max

This week, in preparation for my March workouts, I found my maxes for bench press, squat, and deadlift. A max is the highest amount of weight you can lift only one time while maintaining good form. I highly recommend having a gym buddy with you or recruiting someone to spot for you when you try to figure out these weights. You are lifting the heaviest weight you possibly can. If you aren’t careful, you could get seriously injured. I also recommend talking to your doctor before doing heavy lifting, just in case.

Finding your max is important because it allows you to calculate the weights you need to lift in the future so that you can progress to more weight. If you are new to the gym, this shouldn’t be your first workout. Many sources recommend that you go to the gym for at least a week and find weight amounts that you are comfortable with before trying to max out. At first, finding your max is kind of a guessing game. You can increase the weight until you think you can’t lift anything any heavier. However, there are ways to calculate your max without actually lifting that weight. By going to the gym for at least a week prior, you can use the weight you are comfortable with to calculate your max. If you choose to try this method, do 3 sets of 8 and a final set until failure. If you look up 1 RM calculator on Google, you’ll find several calculators that can predict you max within a few pounds. Plug your weight and the number of reps from your last set into those calculators and they’ll do the work for you. Don’t worry about the numbers being small at first. Over time they will get better.

After I find my max, I lift 75% of that weight for 3 sets of 8. This is easiest for me because I only have to do the math one time that day. The last reps of the last set are usually hard but after a couple times of doing exercises at the determined weights, I will keep that weight and increase the number of reps I do. Once that gets easy, I will increase the weight I lift and go back to doing sets of less reps.

It is always important to listen to your body and do a safe amount of weight. Make sure that you can hold the correct form of the exercise you are trying to do.