Gym glossary

Training max

The working number a program bases its percentages on — usually 90% of your one-rep max. Lower than the real thing, so you keep something in reserve.

The training max (TM) exists so a program's percentages don't depend on your best day. If you base the weights on your true 1RM, the heavy weeks become a grind and on a bad day they don't happen at all. At 90% the weights are lower, the technique stays clean and progress lasts longer.

The best-known program with a TM is 5/3/1: every weight in the cycle comes from it, and after a cycle it goes up by 2.5 kg on presses and 5 kg on squats and deadlifts. The 5/3/1 calculator lays out the four weeks, and the 1RM calculator estimates the max itself from a set.

If the TM is set too high, the "+" sets show it: the reps keep shrinking. Don't force it — drop the TM and run the cycle again.

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In the diary I work out all of these numbers myself — you just log the set.

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