Starting Next Week

baxgilter

Im wrapping up a second round of stage 7 of New Rules and my weights on all the SL excercises are higher then the recommended start. Should I start off where the program recommends or start where I am at now? Dropping weight seems at odds with my goal.

My current stats

Squat 115lbs 2x8
Incline Bench 65lbs 2x7
DB row 50lbs 4x17
Overhead Press 35lbs 4x15
Deadlift 135lbs 2x8

- JoAnna

tameko2

STart at 50% of your 1rep max.

So, roughly 145 for your squat, (so start at 70 - or well do 65 if you like, that lets you start with the 10lb plates on either side)
but go ahead with the starting numbers for all the rest of them because 50% of your 1rm on those isn't more than those numbers.

That's pretty much exactly where I started.

baxgilter

People talk about 1rm, Ive never actually tried to lift as heavy as I can for 1 rep. How do you find a 1rm?

tameko2

People talk about 1rm, Ive never actually tried to lift as heavy as I can for 1 rep. How do you find a 1rm?

The way I just calculated it for you was just using a calculation that's commonly applied.

The way to test it for real is to warmup that movement, and then work your way up.

So for your squat, for example, I'd do something like this:

70 x 5
90x5
105 x 3
135x3
150x2
170x1
then if you hit 170, go to 180 (roughly 5% up, you could go 10% if you feel confident) and do it again. PLENTY of rest between those last few sets by the way. 3 minutes at least. Don't let yourself fail because you're fatigued.

You shouldn't test any movement you haven't got a lot of experience in though - say at least a year BARE minimum. and obviously you can't test multiple things on multiple days, etc.

But I don't think you should bother, really. Its not worth doing just to get your start weights for this, you have a good enough estimate now and the weights ramp fast.