To retain a degree of measurability, you could rate your level of exertion on a scale 1-10 after each set, and time your rest based on the result. Early on in the session, particularly during your warm-ups you’ll want to take shorter rests than at the end when you’ll need more time to recover between sets. Agree your rest periods with your coach and keep them consistent to ensure a fair test.Īnother effective approach - and my personal preference - is to take increasingly longer rests as you progress through the test. It can work well for some individuals to rest as little as 1-2mins between heavy lifts, but in general longer rests allow your body time to replenish energy in the muscles. In general, these are the lifts that would provide you with useful information for your training:Īs with your usual weight training, you’ll want to rest somewhere between 1-5 minutes or more after each set. There might be some special cases where I’d test with an exercise not on this list, but that would be very specific to the client.

This list sums up all of the exercises I would use to test 1RM with most clients. You also can’t test a one rep max for any old exercise. Testing anything above a 10RM wouldn’t have much useful application in a strength training programme for most people. There are also such things as the 2RM, 5RM, and 10RM (and everything in between, really), but you’d only use these in specific circumstances that required it. This type of test is considered the fitness industry gold standard in measuring a person’s physical strength. To work out your 1RM, you have to perform a one rep max test, which I’ll give you a protocol for in just a moment. For example, if the maximum weight I can lift for one rep in a squat is 50kg, then my one rep max squat would be 50kg. Your one rep max, or 1RM, is the maximum weight you can lift for a single rep in any given exercise.

Overhead press 1 rep max calculator