Suggestions on how to find 15 RMs

R

Randy

New Member
Any suggestions on how to go about finding one's 15 rep maximums? Doing this for 10 exercises or so could take a long time considering you would have to spread this experimentation out over several days to ensure fatigue doesn't skew the numbers. If this has been covered already, please provide a pointer and sorry to be redundant.

Thanks,
Randy
 
Just do it all in one day. You can usually tell within a few reps if you'll hit somewhere in the ballpark of 15. Basically the first few reps should feel easy. Just go til you hit failure, and if it's anywhere from 10-15, call the next lighter increment your 15RM. If it's anywhere from 15-20, that's fine. There's no need to be super-precise with the 15RM's.

-Calkid
 
If I were to go until failure on something like the standing row then sometime later do the same for the barbell curl, the numbers for the barbell curl will be considerably lower at that point than if I would have started with the barbell curl. Maybe I'm splitting hairs here and maybe being as precise as I'm thinking is not necessary.

Thanks,
Randy
 
No, you're right. The way you nullify that is by finding the RM's in the same order that you plan to do the exercises. So yes, your biceps will be fatigued after rows, but the RM is still accurate as long as you're consistent in the order.

-Calkid
 
I guess that makes sense, as long as you keep the same order for the entire cycle segment. Is that the official recommendation of the HST program?
The RMs for all 3 rep ranges are supposed to be established prior to beginning the entire cycle so I need to somehow determine all this at the same time. I think I'll take a week off and do this in 3 different sessions...these discovery sessions will serve as a workout themselves, I believe.
For the next cycle I just add 5-10lbs for each exercise and rep range? Is that fixed or is it ok to add a little more if you feel you've gained enough strength to do so?
Also, if you choose to do 2 more weeks of 5s rather than doing negatives (I'll will probably do a mix of eccentrics and concentrics), should you keep the additional 2 weeks of 5s at the same weight as the last workout of 5s (the 5 rep max established at the beginning of the cycle) and possibly rep out on drop sets or increase the weight a little if strength has increased?
Thanks,
Randy
 
Don't worry. You won't need the number within 1 pound. You need to find the target zone, and you'll find that well enough.

The progression is more important than the end point, as long as your progressing through the right zone.
 
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