In partnership with
Part 2: Maximum Lifting Strength
1. Get a spotter before preparing for your one-rep max. A one-rep max refers to the maximum weight you can lift in any given exercise for a single repetition. Since this involves lifting a heavy weight and testing your limits, enlist a friend or fellow gym member to spot for you and help you raise the weight if you start struggling. This is incredibly dangerous to do on your own, since the weight can seriously injure you if nobody is there to help you out.
You should not do this if you don’t regularly lift weights or exercise. Your body will not be used to the heavy weight, and you’re extremely likely to tear a ligament, drop a weight, or tear a muscle.
Warning: You should never lift free weights without a spotter, but it’s especially important here. In addition, do not start out trying to lift a heavy weight without building up to it first.
2. Choose the weightlifting exercise you want to test. You can do this for any free-weight or machine exercise. The most common choices are the bench press, leg press, and the barbell squat. However, you can really use any lifting exercise so long as it isn’t your first time doing it.
If you’re on a specific workout regimen, this is an important part of establishing benchmarks and determining what goal you’re working towards. If you’re doing this for more than one exercise, don’t do them on the same day. Wait 3 days between one-rep max lifts to give your body time to heal.
3. Set your target based on your previous experience with lighter weights. If you know what your limits generally are, base your one-rep target on what you know you can achieve and add 10 pounds (4.5 kg) to start. If you aren’t sure, determine your maximum number of reps at any given weight and plug it into a one-rep max calculator online. There’s a formula for determining your one-rep max based on how many reps you can do at a given rate, but it’s kind of hard to calculate on your own.
Alternatively, you can start at a comfortable weight and work your way up, but you may wear yourself down before you figure out what your one-rep max actually is. This is a good way to find a baseline for when you re-test in 2-3 days, though.
There are plenty of one-rep max calculators online. You can find a basic one at https://strengthlevel.com/one-rep-max-calculator.
Ad break
1440 is a Chicago-based media company that publishes a free daily news newsletter. It aggregates information from over 100 sources and provides a concise, neutral, and factual overview of major events in politics, business, culture, and other fields—all in a five-minute read. The tagline "Daily news for curious minds" and the call to "Be the smartest person in the room" accurately reflect its positioning: no clickbait, no bias, completely free.
Smart starts here.
You don't have to read everything — just the right thing. 1440's daily newsletter distills the day's biggest stories from 100+ sources into one quick, 5-minute read. It's the fastest way to stay sharp, sound informed, and actually understand what's happening in the world. Join 4.5 million readers who start their day the smart way.
… back to the articleу 👇🏻
4. Do a 15-minute warm-up on a treadmill or bike before lifting anything. To activate your muscles and get ready for the heavy weight, spend 15 minutes doing some cardio. You can jog, run on a treadmill, ride an exercise bike, or do calisthenic exercises. So long as you get your blood flowing and work up a light sweat, it doesn’t necessarily matter what warm-up you choose.
This is a key part of preventing injuries. Your body needs to work its way up to heavy lifting.
5. Do 3-5 repetitions at 50% of your target rate to warm up. To start preparing for your one-rep max, do 3-5 reps at half of the target weight. Use the same lifting exercise that you’re using for the one-rep max. In other words, if you’re preparing for a one-rep max on a bench press, do 3-5 reps on a bench with a barbell like you normally do.
This should be very easy for you. If you struggle with 3-5 reps at half of the weight of your target, lower your one-rep max target.
For example, if your target weight is 300 pounds (140 kg), do 3-5 reps at 150 pounds (68 kg).
And the last advertising pause
The advertising campaign promotes a daily newsletter about artificial intelligence under the slogan "Wake Up Smarter About AI." It positions the product as a short morning update (approximately five minutes) featuring insights from key market players—the president of OpenAI, the CEO of Google, the founder of LinkedIn, and others. The creatives actively utilize social proof ("Join 75K Readers") and emphasize exclusivity: "what they really care about, what they're betting on, and what's next."
Wake Up Smarter About AI.
The president of OpenAI. The CEO of Google. The founder of LinkedIn. We talk to the people building AI. Every morning, we put what they told us in your inbox.
What they're actually worried about. What they're betting on. What's coming next. Delivered in five minutes, before your first meeting.
With one email, and only five minutes, you can stay ahead of 99% of the world.
… back to the articleу 👇🏻
6. Wait 3-5 minutes before doing 2-3 reps at 75% of the target weight. Once you’ve completed your first set at a lower weight, stand up and take a rest. Wait a few minutes to give your body time to reset and do another 2-3 reps at 75-80% of your target weight.
It’s okay if this is a little hard to do. This shouldn’t be extremely difficult, though. If you’re barely getting 75% of the target, lower the number you’re shooting for.
If you’re getting ready to lift 300 pounds (140 kg), do 2-3 reps at 225 pounds (102 kg).
7. Take another 3-4 minutes of rest before testing your one-rep max. Stand back up and rest for another 3-4 minutes to give your body a break. Then, load the weight for your one-rep max. Take a deep breath, make sure that the spotter is ready, and attempt to lift or move the weight. If at any point you find your body buckling or the weight starts moving down, yell “spot” or “help” to let the spotter know you need assistance.
There’s no shame in asking for help from a spotter. Do not risk letting the weight go without asking for help.
If you can’t hit your target but you get close, treat this as your new one-rep max target and give it another shot in 2-3 days.
8. Add another 10–30 lb (4.5–13.6 kg) if you can comfortably keep going. If the one rep max wasn’t a major struggle for you, keep adding weight to see if you can lift more. Add an additional 10–30 pounds (4.5–13.6 kg) and see if you can lift it. Only do this 2-3 times, though, since adding a lot of weight that you aren’t used to lifting can become dangerous and you’re getting worn out with each rep.
Use your one-rep max as a baseline to determine how much weight to use for your exercises in the future.
In this second method, I talked about maximal lift and how to develop it without fear of appearing weak. Read to the end, and you'll learn a lot.
Artemus Vazhui