Training Max
A submaximal weight used as the basis for training program percentages.
A training max is typically 85-90% of your true 1RM and is used to calculate working weights in programs like 5/3/1. Using a training max rather than true max allows for sustained progress, better technique, and reduced injury risk. It accounts for daily variations and ensures all prescribed reps can be completed with good form.
A working number, not a true maximum
A training max is a deliberately conservative figure used to calculate working weights, typically set at 85 to 90 per cent of a genuine one-rep max. Percentages are then taken from that lower number, so prescribed loads are weights you can hit for the prescribed reps on an ordinary day rather than on your best day. The point is that a programme built on a true maximum only works when you are at your best, which is most days but not all of them.
How to set and adjust it
Take a recent tested or estimated max and multiply by 0.85 to 0.9. Increase it in small fixed increments at the end of each cycle — commonly 2.5kg for pressing and 5kg for squats and deadlifts — rather than retesting constantly. If you cannot complete the prescribed work at the current number, reduce it rather than grinding: a training max that has drifted above what you can actually handle stops being a planning tool and becomes a source of missed sessions.
Common mistakes
Setting it from a personal best you hit once, two years ago, in a shirt. Raising it every cycle indefinitely on the assumption that progress is linear, which works until it very obviously does not. And confusing it with your actual max when talking about your lifts, which mostly leads to confusion in conversation rather than any real training harm.
Examples
- 85-90% of true 1RM
- Used in 5/3/1 program
- Allows room for PR attempts
Related Terms
Compound exercises
Put this into practice with exercises from the library.
Low Pulley Row To Neck
Strength · Cable
Lunge Pass Through
Strength · Kettlebells
Lunge Sprint
Strength · Machine
Lying Machine Squat
Strength · Machine
Lying T-Bar Row
Strength · Machine
Machine Bench Press
Strength · Machine
Machine Shoulder (Military) Press
Strength · Machine
Medicine Ball Chest Pass
Plyometrics · Medicine Ball