This lesson teaches you how to determine your one-rep max for each exercise safely, which is important to strategically build muscle or strength. One way to estimate your one-rep max is to perform a 10-rep max test. This test is safer than a one-rep max test, which can be risky, especially if you are new to lifting weights or not experienced in a particular exercise.
10-Rep Max Test
You will want to bring your notebook and pen when doing your 10-rep max tests.
You will want to follow the steps below to understand how to do a 10-rep max test.
1) Start by doing a 10-15 minute warm-up to increase the blood flow and oxygen throughout your body and muscles. To warm up, do some light cardio for 5-10 minutes and then do some stretching that will focus on the body parts you will be testing that day. (If you need any reminders on how to warm up, go to the Warming up before working out lesson.)
2) Use proper form and technique: Use proper form and technique during the exercise to avoid injury and get the most out of the exercise. This may involve keeping your back straight, engaging your core, and controlling your movements.
3) Breathe properly: Breathing properly can help you maintain proper form and technique and prevent injury. Inhale as you lower the weight and exhale as you lift it.
4) Use approximately 25-50% or less of your perceived one-rep max for each exercise.
If you do not know what weight to use, use little or no weight and perform that exercise to ensure you know how to properly warm up those muscles.
Complete 6-12 reps round where your weights are perceived 25%-50% or the low weight. Rest for a minute. As you rest, think about how much weight you should add to be 60-80%
Example:
I perceive my one-rep max in the bench press is 100 lbs. Therefore, I will choose a weight from 25 to 50 lbs to warm up. To do this, I would bench press the weight anywhere from 6-12 times.
The goal of the 10-rep max test is to find a weight you can lift safely BUT CANNOT LIFT MORE THAN 10 TIMES. Therefore, it would be best to hit failure on ten repetitions or less in each exercise while doing the test. As you will see below, if you can complete more than 10-reps in the exercise while testing, you must stack the heavier the next time.
5) Select a starting weight: Choose a weight that is about 60-80% of your perceived maximum weight for the exercise. For instance, if you think you can lift 100 pounds for one rep, start with 60-80 pounds.
Once you find a weight or stack the weight of your 60-80% perceived one-rep max on each exercise, lift the weight three times to feel how heavy it is to you and see if it is the right weight to use.
=> If you think this is heavy enough to lift safely more than five and less than ten times, then start with that weight.
=> If it is too heavy for you, drop the weight to find a weight you can lift adequately three times safely.
=> If you think it is too light and you can do more than ten repetitions, add 10-50 more lbs. Then lift that weight three times to see if you think it is a good weight that you can do more than five and less than ten repetitions (this will depend on your exercise).
Example:
Since I perceive my one-rep max is 100 lbs., I need to put 80% of that on the bench press. Therefore, I will put on 80 lbs. on the bench press and lift it three times to see if it is the right weight I should use for my 10-rep max test.
After I lifted the 80 lbs. three times, I decided that I thought this is a good weight that I can lift more than five times and less than ten.
7) To determine your one-rep max, complete the ten repetitions or less on your perceived 80% of your one-rep max.
If you cannot complete more than ten reps: record the date, exercise, weight, and the number of repetitions you complete out of ten.
If you can complete more than ten reps: increase the weight by another 10-50 lbs. and wait for three minutes.
Example:
At my first attempt on my 10-rep max test on the bench press, I lifted the 80 lbs. weight twelve times. Unfortunately, I didn’t use enough weight and needed to redo the test with more weight. Therefore, I need to increase my weight by 20 lbs. and wait three minutes for my body to recover from the last lift.
8) After three minutes, see if you can lift the weight that is heavy enough that you come to failure before ten reps at the same speed you did last.
If you cannot complete more than ten reps: record the date, exercise, weight, and the number of repetitions you complete out of twelve.
If you can complete more than ten reps: increase the weight by another 10-50 lbs. and wait for three minutes.
Example:
On my second attempt, I will lift the 100 lbs. to ten reps or until failure. On my second attempt, I could only lift the 100 lbs. eight times. Therefore, I completed my 10-rep max test on the bench press. I will write down the date, and I did 100 lbs. on the bench press eight times in my notebook for the next lesson to figure out my one-rep max.
If I had lifted the 100 lbs. weight ten times again, I would have moved on to the next step by increasing the weight by another 20 lbs. and waiting another three minutes.
9) After three minutes, see if you can lift the weight heavy enough that you come to failure before ten reps at the same speed you did last.
=> If you cannot complete more than ten reps: record the date, exercise, weight, and the number of repetitions you complete out of twelve.
=> If you complete more than ten reps on this set, then remember how much weight you used and try again in a few days.
Do not do more than three 12-rep tests in one exercise per day. Doing any more than that will not give you a good reading.
Sidenotes:
1) You will want to give yourself multiple days to do your 10-rep max tests in different areas.
2) I highly recommend having a spotter to ensure your safety while performing the lifts. You do not want to lose your weight or use so much you cannot get the weight back up. I want you to be safe while exercising, but these tests can be dangerous if you use them too much. You can cause serious harm to yourself using too much weight.
3) I will recommend you do your one-rep tests while working with me in-person or on Zoom. However, this lesson is applicable far after our time expires. When doing this yourself, I recommend testing on an upper-body part like your chest, such as the bench press or back, and doing a cable row. Then do the following 10-rep max test on your legs, such as doing a squat or leg extension in the same day or one muscle a day.
You will want to do a few exercises per body group per day because this is incredibly taxing.
Examples could be testing your
-
- 10-rep max on the tricep extension machine and bench press (triceps and chest day)
- 10-rep max on the cable row machine and barbell bicep curls (back and biceps day)
- 10-rep max doing standing barbell shoulder presses and the leg press (shoulder and leg day)
4) You will want to understand what each exercise requires of you to make sure you can perform it correctly. I recommend ensuring you have a full range of motion in each exercise and doing exercise with little to no weight. This will allow you to know whether or not you have a full range of motion and to know if you understand how to do each exercise properly without the risk of serious injury.
Knowing how to do each exercise correctly and your range of motion is crucial to preventing yourself from getting hurt. Unfortunately, I have seen over and over again people not knowing how to perform an exercise correctly and hurt themselves really badly.
5) I recommend a clearance from your doctor before performing any of these tests if you have previous injuries or any limitations that may prevent you from success in an exercise program.
I will ask you to perform these tests for our coaching and training after you complete the Health History Questionnaire.
6) I understand if you do not feel comfortable doing these by yourself.
It can be overwhelming to do new things and perform new exercises. My priority in my career is keeping you safe at all times. I do not want you to do anything to hurt yourself.
If you need to hire me for in-person personal training or video chat one-on-one personal training to do these safely, do it! I can be your gym partner, whether we are in person or over the phone.
It truly would break my heart if you hurt yourself performing these tests. So, I wrote this lesson to give you tips on how to do it safely, and I can be there to help you when performing these tests.
I do not want you to skip this lesson because you are not confident in doing them. These 10-rep max tests will help you successfully build muscle endurance.
Performing the 10-rep max test is a great way to figure out your one-rep max safely. In addition, it will allow you to know which weights to use to build muscle endurance.
In the next lesson, you can use the numbers you gather from your 12-rep max tests to figure out your one-rep max weights.