What a training max is, and how to set yours

A training max is the number a strength program takes its percentages from, set on purpose below the most you can lift once. In 5/3/1 it is 90 percent of your one-rep max (opens in a new tab), so a lifter who benches 300 works every bench set from 270. The lower number keeps the heavy sets heavy but repeatable, and it leaves room to add weight every cycle.

Work out yours

Why it sits below your max

Every set in the program is a percentage of the training max, so the training max decides how hard the hardest week is. The heaviest set in 5/3/1 is a single at 95 percent of the training max. With the training max at 90 percent, that single is about 86 percent of your real max.

That is heavy enough to build strength (opens in a new tab). A meta-analysis of training studies found the largest gains in maximal strength come from loads above 60 percent of a one-rep max, and every working week of the program sits above that. It is also light enough to repeat every cycle without grinding through the last rep. The original article puts it plainly: you do not need to operate at your max to increase your max.

How it is set

Start from a recent one-rep max. If you have not tested one, estimate it from a set of three to five reps. Then take a percentage of it.

• 90 percent is the figure in the original article (opens in a new tab).
• 85 or 80 percent is what the program's own site (opens in a new tab) says the later books mention. It adds that the training max should follow your goals rather than stay tied to your true max.
• 80 to 85 percent is the range in the beginner version (opens in a new tab), with the advice to err on the side of too light.

The routine builder on this site takes 90 percent of your max and, by default, 90 percent again, which is 81 percent. In our view that is the right start for most lifters. You can switch the second step off on the routine page.

How it moves each cycle

After each four-week cycle the training max goes up by a fixed step: 5 pounds for the bench press and the overhead press, 10 pounds for the squat and the deadlift (opens in a new tab). You do not retest your max to get there. The last set of each week, the one done for as many reps as you can, already tells you whether the number is right.

The beginner article sets the rule for when it should not go up. If any rep in the cycle was slow, grinding or not done with good form, you do not increase your training max (opens in a new tab).

When to reset it

A training max that rises every cycle eventually catches up with your real max. The signs are a last set that only just makes the listed reps, or misses them. At that point the number is too high, and adding to it only makes the last sets harder.

The program's own site describes a planned reset: move the training max up for five cycles, then back by three (opens in a new tab). That puts you a little below where you were, and the next cycles build back past it. If a single lift stalls sooner, reset that lift alone.