1 Rep Max test - advice

sancho

sancho

Cathlete
Okay, I've resolved to tackle this thing. I printed out the list of exercises with the pictures. This morning, I did the first page after a run. I thought I would get through more than that, but I was getting tired and I was afraid it was affecting (effecting?) my results. Those that have completed a lot of the testing, how did you do it? Did you do 5 exercises a day or all of it at once? Did you go in a certain order to mix up the body parts? I'm really just going in the order of the list they gave. Any suggestions ????? When did you find the time to get this done in addition to your workouts?

Thanks,

Lauren
 
Hi Lauren,

I completed mine in about 5 or 6 sessions. I made sure they were on days that I had time to spend at least 2 hours. I just counted them as a weight workout, and I think I only did one of those in any given week. I started mine before the pdf came out, but I would just keep alternating upper and lower exercises to try and speed things up, and not have to rest for so long in between each test.

What is great about the pdf, is you can focus on the more important exercises first, indicated by the stars. So maybe try completing all the fours and fives first, then go to the threes, many of the similar exercises for me ended up testing just about the same, so I started just filling in similar weights from the 3,4,5's into some of the two's and one's.

I did not get hung up on having the perfect test (maxing out between 6 and 10), sometimes if it was way too light, I would retest, but if I maxed out at 12 or so with a particular weight, I kept it. It will be close enough, my range of weights is only so big, especially for upper body.

Good luck with your tests, HTH!
 
I started mine two days ago, and I'm actually a bit sore! We're kind of snowed in today so I've just been doing other things, then running downstairs to test. I've been trying to do two back to back - but one upper and one lower body. The lower body 1RM tests have even made me break a sweat! I'm a runner also and have only done two this week because this is my focus. Just finished page four. I'd say on average it's realistic to do one page a day - but not necessarily the SAME page because of the upper/lower body thing. I've been putting this off but now figure if I'm putting this much money into the system (I'll need new weights too) I'm gonna do it right.
 
I am copying and pasting one of my own posts from another thread that describes how I'm doing the testing. It's working out well for me, and I agree that you need to plan on it taking more than just a few sessions for it to be worthwhile. Note that in this post I commented on how hard I expected the legs testing to be. I did that yesterday which was after this original post (got started anyway) and it was not as wearing as I thought it would be. I used the same method of three muscle group sets, then treadmill, and then back for more. I counted up and I have 16 tests left that are for those with 3 or more stars, with about 40 total left to do. Biting it off in pieces like this has made it much more manageable for me. Oh, and I also am using these days as weights days. I'm definitely sore the next day.

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1/8/09
Hi, all! I'm checking in with another 1RM day. I did mostly chest and triceps today with some more shoulder work thrown in to make each round a three-muscle-group set.

I am starting each session on the treadmill for five minutes, just walking, to get a bit warmed up. Then I started on page 1 of the PDF list and found the first exercise for one of the muscle groups I'm testing that day. Then I looked for the first exercise in the second muscle group, then the third. After those were done I got on the treadmill again for five minutes to give everything a chance to rest up. So with setting up everything and finding the right weights, and the treadmill break, there is a pretty good amount of time between tests on each muscle group. I started to try to get organized enough to do, say, just stability ball exercises, but that was taking me too much time and energy to organize, especially with the small pictures on the printout, so I just decided to go in order as best I can.

I figured out that I'm 1/3 the way through the list. I'm doing legs tomorrow, so that is going to be hard. It's going to really give me a chance to use my squat racks, that's for sure. I'll fill in the rounds with exercises from other muscle groups. I know legs will take quite awhile days-wise to finish up because there are so many. I'm not trying to push too hard with these tests, as I don't think trying to do them all of any group in any one day -- or even two -- is worth it. I feel myself getting fatigued and suspect that the results would be skewed if I continue to work through the list any more that day. I also think there is more potential for injury by overworking the muscles. That's my take on it, anyway.
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Nancy
 
I did a bunch today and pretty much alternated body parts as I went, making sure I didn't do the same part back to back. I got maybe 15 done in a 1 1/2 or 2 hour time span. It is going to take awhile... Oh, and I did focus on the higher rated exercises. I do think that a few results may have been affected by fatigue...
 
I finally decided to get started on my 1RMs today. This is what I'm doing: I'm using Gym Styles and recording my results for each of the exercises on the One Rep Max Chart I printed off. I only did back and shoulders only today since I was using heavier weights than I usually do. I then did HIS from 4 Day Split (cardio only). Another day I will finish BSB with biceps. Then on to Chest and Triceps and finally Legs. I'm only doing the four and five star exercises.
 
An order rotation to complete the 1RM

Doing the 1RM was taking a long time, mainly trying to figure out an order so I created a spreadsheet. I orderred the excercises by test day and then by excercise so as to not overwork any one body part so to get a good 1RM. I you would like I could email this spreadsheet but below is a cut and past of a portion to give you an idea of what I did. Sorry abouth the format of the cut and paste.



Body PartExercise Stars 1RM Test Day Day Order
Tricep 717 4 Flat Bench Tricep Extensions 1 1
Back 140 4 Pullovers 1 2
Shoulder 621 5 Alternating Seated Overhead Shoulder Press 1 3
Legs 516 5 Squats 1 4
Chest 326 5 Incline Chest Flys 1 5
Bicep 252 5 Standing Dumbbell Curl 1 6
Tricep 716 5 Flat Bench Barbell triceps extensions 1 7
Back 113 4 Dumbbell Rows Both Arms 1 8
Chest 324 5 Incline Bench Press 2 1
Legs 404 5 Front Squat 2 2
Bicep 196 5 Hammer Curl Double Arm 2 2
Back 134 5 One Arm Row 2 3
Shoulder 618 5 Seated Lateral Raise Both Arms 2 4
Tricep 712 5 Cross Body Kickbacks 2 5
Chest 319 5 Flat Bench Press 2 6
Bicep 178 5 Barbell Curl 2 7
Back 108 5 Deadlifts 2 8
Legs 531 5 Stiff Legged Deadlift 3 1
Back 83 5 Barbell Rows 3 2
 
This looks like a good idea. I've been working on this since the post and I'm almost done. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be.
 
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