Unlock Your Fitness Potential:
How Much Weight Should You Lift?
Choosing the right amount of weight during your gym workouts can sometimes be tricky, especially if you are new to weight lifting. It's important, especially for beginners, to focus on mastering exercise technique before striving for maximal strength gains. By ensuring proper form and technique, you can lay a solid foundation for future progress. However, even for those who have grasped the basics of weight lifting, it's not uncommon to plateau. In such cases, it's essential to evaluate whether you are consistently challenging yourself with the appropriate amount of weight for your goals. By making adjustments and finding the optimal balance between pushing your limits and avoiding injury, you can optimize your workouts and continue making steady progress toward your fitness objectives.
Training Goals
The first thing we need to do is determine your specific training goals. Whether your aim is to pack on muscle mass also known as hypertrophy, enhance explosiveness or power, increase maximum strength, or improve muscular endurance, clearly defining your objectives is essential because there are training parameters to follow for each of these goals.
Take a look at the parameters below. Notice each goal has a specified training zone. Ok, so now I know the sets, repetitions, and rest periods between sets. But how much weight should I lift? This is where 1-repetition maximum (1RM) testing comes into play!
Choose Your Goal Here¹
To improve strength:
≥85% 1RM, 2-6 sets, ≤6 repetitions, rest 2-5 minutes
To improve power:
80-90% 1RM, 3-5 sets, 1-2 repetitions, rest 2-5 minutes
75-85% 1RM, 3-5 sets, 3-5 repetitions, rest 2-5 minutes
Build muscle bulk (hypertrophy):
67-85% 1RM, 3-6 sets, 6-12 repetitions, rest 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes
Muscular endurance:
≤67% 1RM, 2-3 sets, ≥12 repetitions, rest ≤30 seconds
Adapted from reference 1.
Repetition maximum continuum¹
You can visually see which training goals most correspond with their respective repetition maximum for each set of the exercise.
1-Repetition Maximum
1RM testing provides us with a way to appropriately dose the exercise load, or weight, for a weight lifter based on training goals which have already established above. In this article, we will cover predicted 1RM testing as these are more friendly to newer weight lifters and can generally be deemed safer to complete.
Now, if you are a beginner, it is probably a good idea to avoid predicted 1RM testing initially. Learn good technique and establish yourself as a weight lifter who consistently lifts weights 2-3 days per week.¹ For the more experienced lifters, usually lifting anywhere between 3-4 (intermediate) and 4-7 (advanced) days per week, it is a good idea to use an experienced spotter any time you are lifting weights at or near your failure point for safety.¹
There are a couple ways to go about testing your predicted 1RM. First, we will use a 10-repetition maximum (10RM) protocol to predict the 1RM. Usually, it is a good idea to start with large muscle groups. Each muscle group does not necessarily need to be tested in one session. Tests can also be repeated periodically as you improve technique and adapt to your training program.
Sample Protocol
10-Repetition Maximum Protocol²:
Warm up with light resistance that easily allows completion of 10 repetitions (50% of what you think your maximum could be).
Rest for 3-5 minutes
Estimate a weight you can lift for 10 repetitions, but no more (60-80% of what you think your maximum could be).
Able to perform more than 10 repetitions? Great! Add a small amount of weight.
Rest for 3-5 minutes
Repeat another set of 10 repetitions. Continue with steps 4 and 5 until you achieve, with good form, 10 repetitions and no more at the selected weight. Use this weight in the training load chart below to predict your 1RM.
With 10RM testing, fatigue can greatly influence testing performance. Ideally, you will have determined the maximal weight you can perform for 10 repetitions within a total of 3 sets including your warm-up set.
Adapted from reference 2.
Predicting Your 1RM
Look at the top row of the chart. Find how many repetitions you are able to perform.
Then follow that column down until you get as close to the amount of weight you lifted for your predicted 1RM test.
Once at the amount of weight you lifted for that set, follow that row over to the furthest left column. This is your predicted 1RM.
Special note: There are a bunch of formulas to predict 1RM. This chart is derived from the Landers equation as follows³: (100 × Weight) ÷ (101.3 - (2.67123 × Number of repetitions))
Multiple-RM Testing
An alternative to 10RM testing is multiple-RM testing based on goal repetitions. If our goal is to improve muscle hypertrophy, the number of repetitions performed during predicted 1RM testing will be somewhere between 6-12 repetitions because this range is associated with increased muscle size.¹ For example, a weight lifter plans to complete sets of 8 repetitions for bench press to build pectoral mass. The weight lifter will complete the above protocol using 8 repetitions instead of 10 for each set. Then, the weight lifter can use the training load chart to predict what the 1RM would be based on completing 8 repetitions during testing. Let’s say our weight lifter is super strong and completed 325 lbs during the 8RM test. The predicted 1RM would be about 410 lbs.
Consider This
Predicted 1RM testing tends to be more accurate the more trained an individual is.¹
Accuracy improves with fewer repetitions used per set during testing.¹
Smaller, single-joint exercises, like the biceps curl, should be tested using 8 or more repetitions per set due to the isolated stresses on the joint and surrounding tissues.¹
Multiple repetition max testing with repetitions greater than 5 is not well suited to establish training parameters for power training due to the technicality of the exercise and typical training volumes that are used (1-5 repetitions per set).¹
One Final Example
I want to get a big chest, so I did a multiple-repetition maximum test (8RM) because that is how I plan to train for the next few weeks. During testing, I completed 8 repetitions at 175 lbs and could not complete any more repetitions. It took me 3 sets to do this. Using the training load chart above my predicted 1RM for bench press is around 220 lbs (there will be some rounding error). For my next workout session, I will lift about 75% of my predicted 1RM (about 165 lbs) for 4 sets of 8 repetitions. These parameters will place me in the hypertrophy training zone where I should expect to see an increase in muscle size (be patient this takes months of training).
Happy flexing!
Dr. Greg Alban, PT, DPT
Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist
Sheppard JM, Triplett NT. Chapter 17: Program design for resistance training. In: Haff GG, Triplett NT, eds. Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. 4th ed. Human Kinetics; 2016:439-469.
Mayo JJ, Kravitz L. Methods of Muscular Fitness Assessment. The University of New Mexico. Accessed November 3, 2023. Methods of Muscular Fitness Assessment.
Landers J. Maximum based on reps. National Strength & Conditioning Association Journal, 1985; 6(6): 60-61.
