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You live and learn. Usually by raw experience 
So, for many a year, I've been the kind of lifter who can do multiple singles with 90-95% of my 1 rep max. However, simple aging combined with wear, tear and the occasional injury seems to have changed that recently.
Just last week I was pulling - double over hand and thumbless grip on a 2-inch thick bar - multiple singles with 205-kilos / 451lbs. This week I started getting back spasms. A warning sign for a full blown injury I can ill afford with a competition in 4 weeks time.
I upped the stretching I need to do. Then I went online and used one of the more popular 1 rep max calculators. Now there's two ways of using one:
Working out your 1 rep max when you use a volume approach.
Or
Putting in your 1 rep max and seeing what reps you need to do without hitting too high a percentage. And, as above, that's what I needed to do.
So, I'd like to hit at least 215-kilos/473lbs for a single (maybe as much as 235-kilos/517lbs). I put in the numbers and it threw up that to hit 215-kilos (so 100% or my 1RM target) I'd need to pull 180-kilos/396lbs or so x 5 reps.
Following stretching after some close grip bench and a set or three of pulldowns I did a LOT of stretching. Then I warmed up and all the intermediate sets were 5's. 170-kilos x 5 reps, 175-kilos x 5 reps and then a final balls out set of 180-kilos x 7 (nice) reps. Given I'd been worried about putting my sorry ass on my back for a week I was well happy. Pushing my belly out against my belt and holding my breath between reps as well as setting the weight down between each seemed to help a lot (I'd noticed that when I last hurt my back it had been too much time under tension and I'd been doing that recently).
BTW: 180-kilos x 7 reps = 217-kilos And I've three weeks to go. Sweet!
So, for many a year, I've been the kind of lifter who can do multiple singles with 90-95% of my 1 rep max. However, simple aging combined with wear, tear and the occasional injury seems to have changed that recently.
Just last week I was pulling - double over hand and thumbless grip on a 2-inch thick bar - multiple singles with 205-kilos / 451lbs. This week I started getting back spasms. A warning sign for a full blown injury I can ill afford with a competition in 4 weeks time.
I upped the stretching I need to do. Then I went online and used one of the more popular 1 rep max calculators. Now there's two ways of using one:
Working out your 1 rep max when you use a volume approach.
Or
Putting in your 1 rep max and seeing what reps you need to do without hitting too high a percentage. And, as above, that's what I needed to do.
So, I'd like to hit at least 215-kilos/473lbs for a single (maybe as much as 235-kilos/517lbs). I put in the numbers and it threw up that to hit 215-kilos (so 100% or my 1RM target) I'd need to pull 180-kilos/396lbs or so x 5 reps.
Following stretching after some close grip bench and a set or three of pulldowns I did a LOT of stretching. Then I warmed up and all the intermediate sets were 5's. 170-kilos x 5 reps, 175-kilos x 5 reps and then a final balls out set of 180-kilos x 7 (nice) reps. Given I'd been worried about putting my sorry ass on my back for a week I was well happy. Pushing my belly out against my belt and holding my breath between reps as well as setting the weight down between each seemed to help a lot (I'd noticed that when I last hurt my back it had been too much time under tension and I'd been doing that recently).
BTW: 180-kilos x 7 reps = 217-kilos And I've three weeks to go. Sweet!
