One Rep Max Chart

How do you use the percentages?

Pick the percent your plan asks for, round to plates, and lift. Most weekly work sits under 90 percent. 100 percent is a single you might miss, not a Tuesday assignment.

If the percent feels wildly off, the max is wrong or you are having a bad day. Change the load. Do not change the definition of percent.

What is a rep max chart?

It estimates a 2RM, 3RM, and so on from the 1RM, using the inverse of a formula. Epley and Brzycki will not agree at 10 reps. The rep max calculator lets you see that split.

A rep-max row is a forecast. Leave a rep in the tank the first time you try it.

When is the chart stale?

When you have added weight for a month and never updated the max. Re-estimate from a recent set of 3–6. When you are in a deload, do not rebuild your identity around the light week.

Worked example: percents of 200 kg

Example only. A max of 200 kilograms makes the arithmetic obvious. Sixty percent is 120. Eighty percent is 160. Ninety percent is 180. One hundred percent is the max, which is a single you might miss, not a Tuesday plan. Most weekly work lives under 90 percent if the max is honest.

The rep column is a second chart. Using Epley backwards, weight for a given rep count is the max divided by (1 + reps / 30). Five reps is 200 / (1 + 5 / 30), about 171 kilograms, near 85 percent. Ten reps is 200 / (1 + 10 / 30), 150 kilograms. Brzycki will not land on those same loads. The formula page is where that split is written out.

Round 171 to a load you can make. If the gym steps by 2.5 kilograms, 170 is the set. The leftover kilogram is not a moral failure. How to load the bar is the per-side math once the target exists.

How do you round the chart to real plates?

Decide the increment before you look at the chart. 2.5 kilograms, or 5 pounds, is the usual step. Smaller plates are optional and they make a mess if you only own them sometimes. The percentage calculator will give you the raw product. You still have to own the plates.

Round down when the set is a first attempt at that percent. Round to the nearest plate when you already know the percent is easy. Do not round up every cell because the chart looks timid. A chart that is always rounded up is a heavier program than the one you wrote.

Stay in one unit. A 200 kilogram chart converted to pounds mid-workout is how 180 kilograms becomes the wrong pair of plates. Convert the max once, rebuild the chart, and load that.

When should you ignore the chart?

When the warm-up already moves like a max. The chart does not know you slept four hours. Change the work set. When the max is from a sloppy high-rep set, the top of the chart is fiction. Rebuild it from a stricter set before you obey 90 percent.

When the lift changed. A chart for a paused bench does not govern a touch-and-go bench. A chart for a high squat does not govern a deeper one. Recalculate from the lift you are actually doing.

When you are in a light week. 5/3/1's fourth week is supposed to look easy next to the chart you use in week 3. Do not 'fix' the light week by picking a hotter percent. The chart is a tool. It is not the session.

How do you build the chart from a normal set?

You need a max before you have a chart. Take a hard set you would repeat, something in the range of 3 to 6 reps, and run it through one rule. The average of the seven formulas is the default on the homepage. Write the rule in the corner of the page so next month's chart is the same kind of chart.

Then list the percents you actually use. Many people only need 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, and 90. A chart from 50 to 100 in 2.5 percent steps looks complete and mostly goes unread. Put the working numbers in big type. Put the rest in a drawer. If you train with a partner, do not share the chart unless you share the max. Their 80 percent is a different bar.

Check one cell in the gym before you trust the page. If 80 percent was supposed to be a smooth set of five and it was a grind of three, the max is high or the day is bad. Fix the max or fix the day. Do not 'correct' the definition of 80 percent. Warm-up sets will tell you the truth earlier than the work set does, if you pay attention to the last jump. A chart you rebuild from a new mood every Monday is not a chart. It is a diary of anxiety. Leave it alone for a few weeks unless the work sets have clearly moved.

Print or save one version and take that to the gym. A chart on a phone that you edit between sets will drift toward whatever you feel like loading. The discipline is boring: same max, same percents, same plates, for long enough that a change in the bar means something. When the sets start moving, then you earn a new page. Until then the old page is the program.

Example percentages of a 200 kg max

Example only. The rep column is the Epley inverse, rounded, not a promise. Brzycki will not match it at the high reps.

Key takeaways

• A chart is a max multiplied by percents.
• Round the result to the plates you own.
• A rep-max row is a forecast, not a promise.
• Rebuild the chart when the training sets have moved.

FAQ

Sources

1. Brzycki (1993). Predicting a one-rep max from reps-to-fatigue. JOPERD, 64(1), 88–90.
2. Mayhew et al. (1992). Relative muscular endurance performance as a predictor of bench press strength. JSCR, 6(4), 200–206.

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