How to Determine 1RM?

[2Shy]

I enlisted my buddy to help me establish my 1RMs this Sunday, so I finally have a spotter (and a slave to slap those plates on for me).

I've never done this before.

After warm-ups should I jump up to what I have been doing (i.e., my 3x8 weight)? From there do I add 5 lbs. at a time (the smallest plates my gym has are 2.5s) and keep doing 1x3s until they start to feel heavy, then switch to 1 rep sets? Am I understanding the procedure correctly?

Should I try to jump up a bit more the first increase? I don't want to tire myself out too soon by doing more sets than needed, but I don't want to kill myself either.

Spatts told me she seldom does full ROM 1RM deads. I must be dense since I can't figure out how to avoid doing a full ROM.

Also, I normally use the Smith for bench pressing since I work out alone and am paranoid about getting into trouble. Should I stick to that for my 1 RM attempts? I would like to do a regular bench for my DE days. I imagine that the Smith allows me to lift a bit more than I would with just a barbell. Any ideas about how much less I would do without the "aid" I get from the machine?

Thanks for the input!

 

[TheOak84]

theres already 2 or 3 threads about 1RM....

 

[jeremys]

use free weights.

an example max day would look like this:

bar x 5, 135x5, 185x5, 205x3, 225x3, 245x1, 260x1

 

[jeremys]

yes, there are a couple threads very similar.

to not do full ROM movements, you have to do partials. some partials would be board presses with various # boards, floor presses, lockouts, etc

 

[spatts]

Reverse band deads and rack pulls are partial dead options. It's not so much that I don't do a full ROM, it's that I don't do the "1 rep max" part of that statement much.

 

[2Shy]

Sorry. Didn't want to hijack anyone's thread. The ones I read today mentioned tables to calculate the numbers, and another wanted to know what his max bench was. I wanted to verify procedure (unless the links to the tables also discussed that).

lol Jeremy, I am puny! Your first 5x5 will probably be higher than my max.

I guess I'm just nervous since I haven't done this before and there's no one at my gym who I consider reliable as reliable help.

 

[jeremys]

even if your spotter is a 105 pound cardio bunny, it could work