1 rep max chart

Reading the chart for your max

Four lifters, four maxes. The chart is the same; what each of them does with it is not.

• Example 1

  Sets of 8 on the overhead press

  Six months in, with an estimated overhead press max of 50 kg and a plan for sets of 8.

  Your 1RM

  50 kg

  • Your max50 kg
  • 80% for working sets40 kg

  40 kg is about 8 reps to failure, so three sets of 8 there means grinding out the last reps of every set. Start one row lower, at 37.5 kg, where 8 reps leave 2 or 3 in reserve, and add 2.5 kg once every set feels that way.

  Open with these numbers

• Example 2

  A powerlifter eight weeks out

  A competitive lifter with a 500 lb squat, planning the heavy part of a meet block.

  Your 1RM

  500 lb

  • Your max500 lb
  • 80% for working sets400 lb

  400 lb is the volume work early in the block. Heavy triples come from the 90% row, 450 lb, which the chart puts at about 4 reps to failure: a triple there leaves about 1 in the tank.

  Open with these numbers

• Example 3

  An older lifter who prefers tens

  A 61-year-old with a 70 kg deadlift who would rather do sets of 10 than heavy singles.

  Your 1RM

  70 kg

  • Your max70 kg
  • 80% for working sets55 kg

  At 55 kg, about 8 reps is all there is, so sets of 10 belong further down: the 70% row, 50 kg, allows about 13 to failure and leaves about 3 in reserve after 10.

  Open with these numbers

• Example 4

  Hip thrusts for size

  A lifter whose hip thrust max is 245 lb, training glutes with longer sets.

  Your 1RM

  245 lb

  • Your max245 lb
  • 80% for working sets195 lb

  195 lb is a set of 8 at most, which is heavy for glute work. Sets of 15 with 2 left fit the 65% row, 160 lb; move up a row when 15 starts to feel easy.

  Open with these numbers

This chart next to the NSCA chart

The NSCA's training load chart pairs each rep max with a percentage. This chart is calculated from Epley's formula, the same one the RIRLift app uses, so its percentages run up to 3 points higher at the same reps.

The two agree within about 2 points up to 10 reps. Past that, use your own logged sets rather than either chart.

Why your reps may not match the chart

A meta-analysis summarized by Stronger By Science found that the exercise moves the numbers most: at 70% of max, lifters averaged about 14 reps on the bench press and about 19 on the leg press. Sex, age and training status mattered far less. Lifters also spread widely: in one study of trained lifters squatting 70% of their max, results ran from 6 to 28 reps.

So correct each lift's chart with your own sets. If the 80% row gives you 10 reps, your max is higher than the one you entered; the RIR calculator shows how many reps a set really left.

Load = max × percentage
Reps to failure = 30 × (1 ÷ percentage − 1) + 1, rounded down

At 80% of 100 kg: 100 × 0.80 = 80 kg
30 × (1 ÷ 0.80 − 1) + 1 = 8.5, shown as 8 reps

Make it fit you

• Choose the set, then the row

  Decide the set first, say 5 reps with 2 left (7 to failure), then find the rows that allow it: here, between 80% and 85%.

• Use an estimated max

  Most charts assume a tested max. An estimate from a recent hard set, from the one-rep max calculator, is safer to get and reflects where you are this week.

• Train from the reserve column

  For sets you want to finish with reps left, read the reps with 2 in reserve, not the reps to failure.

• Load exact percentages

  With fractional plates you can skip the rounding: work out the exact load and put it on the bar with the plate calculator.

• Update the max when the rows get easy

  When the 80% row gives you 10 reps, enter a new max. A chart built on an old max undershoots every row.

Questions

Related calculators and templates

• One-rep max calculator

  Get the max this chart needs from any recent set.

• RPE chart

  The same loads, set by how hard the set should feel.

• RIR calculator (reps in reserve)

  Check how many reps a set at a percentage really left.

• Sets and reps chart

  Pick the sets and reps before you pick the row.

• Reps in reserve guide

  How to rate the reps you had left.

Sources

• NSCA training load chart
• Stronger By Science, how many reps people can do at a given percentage of 1RM (summary of Nuzzo et al. and Cooke et al.)