How do I find my 5 rep max?
christianteach
Posts: 595 Member
Do I warm-up and then just guess how much I think I can handle? If I can do more than 5 reps how long do I wait before trying more weight? And I assume this is how much weight I can handle with good form and with squats hitting parallel?
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Replies
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You can look up x-rep max calculators online, such as this one: http://www.chaosreigns.com/gym/nrepmax.html
It's always assumed that you do each rep with solid form and squats at least parallel.
If/when your form breaks down then you would need to deload anyway.
I really highly recommend you do the Stronglifts program as designed, and start with the starting weights recommended. You'll be surprised how quickly you will make gains and how heavy things will become. Seriously. Don't let the low starting weights fool you. You're going to want to laugh at it for about the first week or two until you'll get to a point where it will start to smack you in the face and you'll be working your butt off pretty quick here. You're basically going to be trading off the volume from AllPro for straight-up strength gains, but the amount of work and effort is going to be very similar. Minus the deload days. Because there aren't any.
Having done AllPro's for a few cycles should put you in a good place though because you'll be coming into the game with a solid amount of base/core strength, so you should be able to go quite a bit before you get to the point of having to deload (which will more than likely not be a matter of "if" but of "when", so don't get discouraged and just follow the deload structure).
Expect to stall out on OHP first.
And pack a lot of patience because if you're lifting on a deficit, you will probably make slower strength gains than someone eating at maintenance or a surplus. Don't be scared of modifying things a little and getting less aggressive if you have to.
Just speaking from personal experience and everyone else's 2 cents.
Looking forward to seeing all those personal records from you coming down the pike! Lift on!
I've done both programs long enough to know the differences between them, and they're both very fun (to me) for different reasons. I'll probably revisit Stronglifts at some point next year after I get what I'm after out of my modified AllPro's which will be several more months (about to finish the first cycle next week).0 -
I read you could use his suggested weights or 50% of your 5 rep max. I assume 50% of my 5RM would be less...0
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The best way to find out your 5RM is to start the program with just the bar and start stalling at 1 x 5.0
