The other day I thought I'd try doing a 1RM deadlift. I normally train for the deadlift with 3 sets of 9 reps, once a week, 60s between sets, and the previous week I did it at 62.5kg. From this, I went and used a normal 1RM calculator, and got 80kg.

So I went and did a few warmup sets, 30kg, 50, 60, 70. Then 80, 90, 95, 100. At first I was surprised, but in retrospect it's obvious why I'd underestimated my true 1RM. My question is whether there's a way of calculating the 1RM from multi-set workouts?

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=18

Try this calculator from Jeremy's site.

If you were doing 3 sets of 9 reps I'm assuming you entered 9 reps of 62.5 Kg in the calculator?

Since you can do 3 sets of that weight with minimal rest between then it's not a good indication of your limits. What you want to do is use a load that you can get more than 1 rep with but less than 10, then use number of reps you were able to get out before failure in the 1RM calculation.

You may be fatigued by your final deadlift set at 62.5 but it's more because you're not giving yourself much recovery time than from any challenge the load is posing. There's nothing wrong with training this way. You'll build endurance. You'll get better strength gains and growth with more rest between sets and a more challenging load.

To answer your specific question: I don't know of a way to calculate 1RM from multi-set workouts. I'd devote a workout to determining 1RM for whatever lift you want to check.

If someone ask me what does the average lifter use for a 3 set workout, I would say 60% of 1rmax. So I would suggest he add 35-40% to that weight. We are so much stronger than we think we are.

Of course, if he isn't completing with someone. I would have to ask what difference does it make? Today, you can lift X, tommorow you can lift Y. Next year you might be back at X.:cool:

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=18

Try this calculator from Jeremy's site.

My used-to-be site. :)

Or, better yet, add it as a Google Gadget to your home page:

http://www.google.com/ig/directory?hl=en&dpos=top&num=24&url=http://www.goldensummitinc.com/gadgets/onerepmax.xml

Jeremy

You can also use a calculator like this: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html

Make sure you input a real n-RM for a single set with adequate recovery prior to the set and without accumulated fatigue. Also, the closer the n-RM is to your 1-RM, the better; for example, it would be better to calculate a 1-RM based off a 3-RM than a 10-RM as this should give a better estimation of your actual 1-RM. In the end, the only way to know a 1-RM for certain is to test it and only tested maxes should be given as an answer to the question "What is your max?" If you are going to give a calculated 1-RM, be sure to specify that it is so and from what n-RM it is calculated from.

Thanks for all the responses!

One quick note for Jeremy: your google gadget doesn't accept decimals, which is something those of us working in kilos tend to use; 2.5k is my normal increment. Not a deal-breaker, and it doesn't change the results much, but just in case you didn't know about it, consider this a bug report.

Thanks for all the responses!

One quick note for Jeremy: your google gadget doesn't accept decimals, which is something those of us working in kilos tend to use; 2.5k is my normal increment. Not a deal-breaker, and it doesn't change the results much, but just in case you didn't know about it, consider this a bug report.

Great feedback! I'll see what I can do!

Thanks,

Jeremy