Establishing or estimating the 1 maximum lift?
Greetings team,
Thank you for your visit and please enjoy the tutorial today. We are going to examine the method i use to track relative intensity on a given lift until an actual 100% intensity is established. This may help you, and if you desire an extension of this idea, please come train at our studio in Paoli or drop a comment.
1 Rep Maximum= the absolute most weight you can lift with a quality movement for most exercises [kettlebell ballistics have a muddy definition of intensity, stand-by on that].
Quality Movement
Quality Movement = the absence of effort
Elements of effort are yellow and red lights, decreases in speed, increases in tension, changes in breathing, loss of alignment established at the beginning of the set.
This single-rep poundage represents 100% Intensity. Percentages relative to 100% are referred to, commonly, as low-moderate-high intensity. What number represents each range is, well, relative!
So when the DA showed up today for his 12Pm appointment, we went beyond the estimation of a 1RM and trained a movement that tested well until we hit the end of the lesson. He had more in the bank.
But we were out of time! Until today we had been logging his training range for intensity as the % of his bodyweight reflected on the bar for deadlifts. Deadlifts using poundage above his bodyweight were not testing well, so we did not train them.
<Read more about “testing” your movements before you train them, but beware of strong language>
Today, the DA ‘stepped into the realm’. We used his 214 pounds of bodyweight to gauge where to begin testing his deadlifts. This is how it went down on paper:
We tested all of his sets and reps with range of motion and used them as guidance. What we call ‘biofeedback’.
52% of 214lbs. = 113lbs. x 14 reps
79/80/97% = 171-173-208 lbs. for singles, all sets tested better than the previous set. This meant that we could either increase the weight or do more reps with any of those poundages and based the workout off those results. Since our goal was to establish his 100% intensity, we just added more weight!
218 x 1 was great.
218 x7 reps tested awesome.
135% of his bodyweight is 289, so 289lbs. x 1, 295 x 1, and then 300 x 1, all testing better than the previous set. Once we went above 218 i did not tell him how much he was lifting. His 300 x 3 was an intensity Personal Record. I am projecting his safe 1Rep Max as 315. This is the weight i will use to guage relative intensity while testing. All the while, not using any feed-forward tension or power breathing.
So, when the movement you are training is not testing well for high intensity, or a heavy-duty weight, i will track the relative intensity as what % of your bodyweight the poundage is. Once we can establish a 1rep max, then we have your 100%, or your 1RM.
Intensity vs. Effort
Kids, i should not list anything vs. anything, unless it can be quantified, like tonight’s Flyers vs. Predators NHL match-up. So what i can tell you is that we will examine intensity compared to effort.
Intensity is relative. 55% intensity relative to 100%. 100% is relative to the elements of effort that force you to stop and recover. Elements of effort are relative to each other, in succession andimportance to the user. Lastly, the user is relative to their self. How awesome do you feel today, or, like me, do you deal with an old injury in new ways almost all the time?
Effort, or ‘exertion’, is commonly mistaken for intensity when defined in popular American exercise culture. “High intensity” workouts are marketed here as a sweat and grunt extravaganza, yet if you apply the details i listed for you, a sweat and grunt session could be marketed as high-output, or training at a high rate of perceived exertion. A high intensity training session could be drawn from lifting at 80% of your 1 rep max. An example would be when my client Dr. B can press 70 pounds on a barbell overhead, training at 80% of that would be 56 pounds.
I feel it is important to differentiate those two, intensity and effort, since they are not necessarily intertwined. And if you are just joining me here on the AST reports, you may not know that i changed nearly everything i use to teach movement and measure progress in the last year.
If i can help you in anyway, you may be a candidate for my personal training program. I am available Monday-Saturday at our studio in Paoli, Pa. 13 miles from West Philly and about 4 miles from West Chester University. Contact me using kettlebelltrainer@gmail.com
And make it a strong day.
Will
My new class at Lower Merion High School is open for enrollment 
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