Determining 1 RM's

Jim Wendler’s warm up method works awesome. If your going for a max you probably don’t want to jump more than 30 pounds when reaching your 1RM. Also, how many exercises are there? If you wanna find like a 1RM for tricep kickback…then maybe I’d find a new program haha. But yeah, maybe a little bit of dynamic mobility, skipping or such, (not too much), and then use jim wendler’s…probably be your best bet. IF YOU HAVE no clue. Just keep jumping 30 pounds, you’ll have a time when you feel like you really strain and you realize that, well if I put another 30 pounds on I dont think its going up! lol

[quote]chicanerous wrote:
I use basically the same thing as that Jim Wendler thing.

new2training wrote:

I’m sure it is a little different for everyone but how long do you rest between attempts?

Thanks

Personally, at least 3-5 minutes when it gets close to your expected maximum. 5-10 past that.

The muscles themselves recover fast but it takes longer for the nervous system to completely recharge.[/quote]

5 - 10 minutes rest seems excessive to me. I feel like my body would relax too much after that long. That’s just my opinion based on personal experience, though.

[quote]disciplined wrote:
chicanerous wrote:
I use basically the same thing as that Jim Wendler thing.

new2training wrote:

I’m sure it is a little different for everyone but how long do you rest between attempts?

Thanks

Personally, at least 3-5 minutes when it gets close to your expected maximum. 5-10 past that.

The muscles themselves recover fast but it takes longer for the nervous system to completely recharge.

5 - 10 minutes rest seems excessive to me. I feel like my body would relax too much after that long. That’s just my opinion based on personal experience, though.
[/quote]

I agree. I don’t think there is much benefit to resting more than 5 minutes. I would only rest about 2 minutes between submaximal attempts and 3-5 minutes on true max efforts.

Thanks again, I’ll experiment next time I have a spotter.

awesome dude…thanks

[quote]disciplined wrote:
I did a 1RM test today for bench and hit 325. That’s big news for me just coming off a huge hiatus from training due to illness. Damn Crohn’s disease.

Go me.[/quote]

Totally missed this post, nice job disciplined. It’s always fun to put the third plate on and then keep adding.

I just hit 355 two weeks ago. I was hoping for 340 but it went up so easy that I went to 350. That went up alright, so I tried 355. That was slower than molasses. I don’t think I could have done a pound more at that point, but I wonder if I had skipped the 350…

[quote]disciplined wrote:
I did a 1RM test today for bench and hit 325. That’s big news for me just coming off a huge hiatus from training due to illness. Damn Crohn’s disease.

Go me.[/quote]

Good job on the 1RM. Good luck with the illness.

[quote]Modi wrote:
disciplined wrote:
I did a 1RM test today for bench and hit 325. That’s big news for me just coming off a huge hiatus from training due to illness. Damn Crohn’s disease.

Go me.

Totally missed this post, nice job disciplined. It’s always fun to put the third plate on and then keep adding.

I just hit 355 two weeks ago. I was hoping for 340 but it went up so easy that I went to 350. That went up alright, so I tried 355. That was slower than molasses. I don’t think I could have done a pound more at that point, but I wonder if I had skipped the 350…[/quote]

Shit man, that is badass. How much do you weight? Also, do you weigh more now than when you benching around the low 300s? I can’t wait to hit 365. My 6-month goal is to get close to 365 and maybe drop my weight down to around 190-ish. I’m right now around 205, I think.

[quote]new2training wrote:
disciplined wrote:
I did a 1RM test today for bench and hit 325. That’s big news for me just coming off a huge hiatus from training due to illness. Damn Crohn’s disease.

Go me.

Good job on the 1RM. Good luck with the illness.[/quote]

Thanks man.

I agree with what’s already been said. 2-3 minutes on earlier attempts and 3-5 on later attempts.

When I’m alternating with a partner sometimes I end up taking longer because I have to wait for him to put in his IPod and get jacked up, do his set, and then I have to do the same. As long as you can keep up the mental intensity and not drain yourself, it should be fine.

-MAtt

[quote]new2training wrote:
Matgic wrote:
FFB4Life wrote:
the real question is, what would be the best way to warm up before attempting your 1RM

I prefer Jim Wendler’s percentage technique of working up to a max. This is what I do if I’m trying to work up to a max bench of 300.

50%x5 (150x5)
60%x3 (180x3)
70%x2 (210x2)
80%x1 (240x1)
90%x1 (270x1)
95%x1 (285x1)
100%x1 (300x1)

Adjust according to your own numbers and start at 50% of your max, making 10% jumps until you hit 100%. Or you can hit 95% before 100%, which I tend to like better.

-MAtt

Matt,

I’m sure it is a little different for everyone but how long do you rest between attempts?

Thanks[/quote]

Shit man, you rarely hear of people with Crohn’s purposefully cutting weight.

If I understand the nature of it, you must have to eat a fucking ton to keep your weight up.

Great benching and good luck with everything.

-MAtt

[quote]disciplined wrote:
Modi wrote:
disciplined wrote:
I did a 1RM test today for bench and hit 325. That’s big news for me just coming off a huge hiatus from training due to illness. Damn Crohn’s disease.

Go me.

Totally missed this post, nice job disciplined. It’s always fun to put the third plate on and then keep adding.

I just hit 355 two weeks ago. I was hoping for 340 but it went up so easy that I went to 350. That went up alright, so I tried 355. That was slower than molasses. I don’t think I could have done a pound more at that point, but I wonder if I had skipped the 350…

Shit man, that is badass. How much do you weight? Also, do you weigh more now than when you benching around the low 300s? I can’t wait to hit 365. My 6-month goal is to get close to 365 and maybe drop my weight down to around 190-ish. I’m right now around 205, I think.
[/quote]

[quote]disciplined wrote:
Modi wrote:
disciplined wrote:
I did a 1RM test today for bench and hit 325. That’s big news for me just coming off a huge hiatus from training due to illness. Damn Crohn’s disease.

Go me.

Totally missed this post, nice job disciplined. It’s always fun to put the third plate on and then keep adding.

I just hit 355 two weeks ago. I was hoping for 340 but it went up so easy that I went to 350. That went up alright, so I tried 355. That was slower than molasses. I don’t think I could have done a pound more at that point, but I wonder if I had skipped the 350…

Shit man, that is badass. How much do you weight? Also, do you weigh more now than when you benching around the low 300s? I can’t wait to hit 365. My 6-month goal is to get close to 365 and maybe drop my weight down to around 190-ish. I’m right now around 205, I think.
[/quote]

Thanks man, nice to hear that compliment.

I’m hovering around 240 right now. I did a 6 month bulk from about 218-220. I’m maintaining my new weight for 8 weeks and then starting to cut, just to get rid of the bulk belly.

I did a month of wave loading on my compounds, then used CT’s HSS-100 for shoulders for a month. The last 4 months have been HSS-100 for full body. The consistency of 5 days/week, having a definite plan, and changing my reps around with the program was very helpful.

Only downside is I was pressing 3 days/week (one day was arm day and it started with heavy close grip pressing) and only pulling 1 day (horizontal pull/vertical pull/deads/hammies). 2 months into the program I switched over to 2 days pulling, 2 days pushing. I’m getting some ART done right now for my shoulders, and focusing almost exclusively one legs and back with only 8 working sets of pressing until I’m pain free.

My old split was:

Mon: Shoulders & Tri’s
Tues: Quad Dom Legs and Bi’s
Wed: Chest and shoulders
Thurs: Back and Hip Dom Legs
Fri: Bi’s and Tris

I would do HSS-100 for the first muscle group and then just 2 exercises, 3 sets of 6-8 or 8-10 for the second muscle group each day.

I realized I was overtraining and switched it to:

Mon: Horizontal Pull
Tues: Quad Dom Legs
Wed: Chest & Shoulder prehab
Thurs: Vertical Pull and Hip Dom Legs
Fri: Bi’s and Tri’s

Now (god this is yet another epic post) I’m done with HSS and my program looks like:

Mon: Quad Dom legs, Vertical Pull (low rep)
Tues: Hip Dom legs, horizontal pull (high rep)
Wed: Chest & shoulder prehab
Thurs: same as monday (high rep)
Fri: same as tues (low rep)

[quote]disciplined wrote:
Also, do you weigh more now than when you benching around the low 300s? I can’t wait to hit 365. My 6-month goal is to get close to 365 and maybe drop my weight down to around 190-ish. I’m right now around 205, I think.
[/quote]

Err, sorry, got sidetracked there with my life story…

Short answer. Yes, I was benching around 285lbs at 220lbs (had been in lazy mode for a while) and strength just kept climbing with the new weight. Hit 355lb bench at 240lbs. That was a personal best by 20lbs and hadn’t done that in YEARS.

[quote]Matgic wrote:
Shit man, you rarely hear of people with Crohn’s purposefully cutting weight.

If I understand the nature of it, you must have to eat a fucking ton to keep your weight up.

Great benching and good luck with everything.

-MAtt

[/quote]

I don’t really know how to explain it. 99.9% of people I’ve met who had crohn’s or ulcerative colitis LOST weight when they had flare ups of symtptoms. I didn’t lose weight when it happened to me.

Modi: Those are some interesting routines. They definitely seem well thought-out. I’ve never looked at splits that way before. I think my training philosophy/structure is looser and simpler. Very cool though and good story with the gains.

If I remember I’ll get a small video of myself benching 335+ in the near future.

[quote]disciplined wrote:
Modi: Those are some interesting routines. They definitely seem well thought-out. I’ve never looked at splits that way before. I think my training philosophy/structure is looser and simpler. Very cool though and good story with the gains.

If I remember I’ll get a small video of myself benching 335+ in the near future.

[/quote]

I’d love to see it…soon followed by the 350 video right? Keep up the good work. Last one to 405 buys the other a can of Surge? (just kidding)

As far as the structure goes, I’ve just found that I need it to keep the consistency. If I don’t have a plan, then I don’t track my weights, and it seems like I don’t make much progress.