Training Max: Why 90% of Your 1RM and How to Calculate It

What is a training max?

The Training Max is the number every percentage in a percentage-based program comes from. It is deliberately not your real max. Jim Wendler sets it at 90% of your true or estimated 1RM for 5/3/1, and most percentage programs since have copied the idea.

It is the most misunderstood part of 5/3/1. Lifters plug their best gym lift into the spreadsheet and wonder why week 3 buries them. They decide the program is too hard, when it was never meant to run off the 1RM at all.

Training max vs 1RM: why 90%

Your 1RM is what you can lift once on a good day. The training max is the number you plan from. The 10% buffer between them is the engine of the program.

The top sets come from a number below your max. So you can add reps to the AMRAP sets week after week, and add weight to the TM cycle after cycle, without grinding. Bar speed stays crisp and technique holds under fatigue.

The PRs come from beating rep records, not from testing maxes. Wendler's reasoning is that strength is built over years. A program you can progress on for 12 months beats one that feels heavy for six weeks and stalls.

How to calculate your training max: five steps

1. Step 1: Find your 1RM, tested or estimated

   Use a recent clean single, not an old ground-out PR. If you have not tested, take any hard set of 2-10 reps and use Wendler's formula: weight x reps x 0.0333 + weight. The estimate is usually the better choice, and the 1RM calculator does the math for you.

2. Step 2: Take 90% of it

   Multiply the 1RM by 0.9 and round down. A 100 kg (220 lbs) bench gives a 90 kg (200 lbs) Training Max. A 180 kg (400 lbs) deadlift gives 162 kg (360 lbs), and the training max calculator rounds each lift to your plates.

3. Step 3: Check it against a rep test

   A correct Training Max is a weight you can lift for 3-5 fast, clean reps, so lower it if you cannot. Too light costs nothing, because the AMRAP sets let you show your strength. Too heavy costs the next three months of progress.

4. Step 4: Enter it in your routine

   Set the Training Max once per lift and let the program calculate every set from it. In Hardy the 5/3/1 Boring But Big routine takes a 1RM you enter, or estimates it from a logged AMRAP set. It then derives the TM and every working weight, rounded to your plates.

5. Step 5: Raise it after each cycle

   After every cycle, add 2.5 kg (5 lbs) to the bench and press TMs and 5 kg (10 lbs) to the squat and deadlift TMs. Follow that increase even after a great AMRAP set. The extra reps are the progress, and the TM catches up over the next cycles.

The 5/3/1 training max: worked example

The week 3 top set is 85.5 kg (190 lbs). A 100 kg (220 lbs) bencher can press that for 3-5 reps. That is the design working, so the "1+" set should give several reps, not a max-effort single.

The full wave, warm-ups included, is in 5/3/1 percentages by week.

How the training max moves: increments and resets

After each cycle, add 2.5 kg (5 lbs) to your press and bench TMs and 5 kg (10 lbs) to your squat and deadlift TMs. That is the whole progression model. Small, patient increments add up to big totals over a year of progressive overload.

When a lift stalls, with repeated missed reps or grinding AMRAP sets, reset its TM to 90% of its current value. Or recalculate it from a recent AMRAP-estimated 1RM, then rebuild. Stalls and resets are covered in depth in 5/3/1 common mistakes.

Common mistakes

• Using your true 1RM instead of a training max. Week 3 turns into grinding singles and progress stalls within a cycle.
• Setting the TM from an old or ugly PR because your ego wants bigger numbers.
• Skipping the 3-5 rep check before starting a program.
• Raising the TM by more than prescribed after a good AMRAP set instead of banking the reps.
• Never resetting a stalled lift. Sometimes two steps back are what make the next three possible.
• Recalculating the TM from a new 1RM test every cycle. The TM should climb by increments, not jump.