Should You Really Care About How Much You Max?
How much do you max, bro?
Unless you work out exclusively in your cabin gym in the middle of the wilderness separated from all civilization, chances are you’ve heard this question on more than one occasion.
It is THE question.
The question that’ll make or break you.
It’s the question that has been lifted up as the true measure of your gym success.
All around the world, lifters looking to get jacked squeal in delight from the dopamine rush flooding their brains when the likes pour in from their latest video upload of their maxes. NEW PR!
It is the end all be all!
But should it be?
No.
If your goal is muscle growth or stepping on stage, the reality is:
It’s stupid to care about your maxes.
Let’s look at why.
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?
Every single move you make in the gym (or life) needs to support the goal that you’ve set out for yourself. The same applies to you if you’re doing 1 rep maxes (1RMs).
You see, 1 rep maxes rely heavily on neural factors and your skills in that particular exercise. Muscle size is only ONE part of the picture.
A bigger muscle has the potential to move more weight, but according to the Principle of Specificity, the optimal training approach for maximal size and maximal strength are different despite the inherent overlap of lifting weights. Heavy weights may look alpha and give you an ego boost, but the research is crystal clear that they’re far from necessary or even remotely superior when it comes to optimizing muscle growth.
In this classic study from the lab of Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, one group performed a more powerlifting style routine of 7 sets of 3 whereas another performed a more body-building style routine of 3 sets of 10 repetitions such that volume was equated (both groups moved about the same amount of weight).
The results?
There were no significant differences between the groups with regards to increases in muscle thickness.
Strength gains were higher in the high-load powerlifting style group, but:
- Strength gains were also considerable in the moderate load bodybuilding style group (so much for bodybuilding leads to “non-functional” muscle)
- The high load group took 90 minutes to complete their workouts while the bodybuilding style group took 10 minutes
- The powerlifting style group had dropouts due to injury and felt overtrained by the end of the study while the bodybuilding style group was twiddling their thumbs ready for more
Now volume was equated in this study for the sake of making research comparisons, but it’s quite reasonable to assume that if this was in the real world, the bodybuilding style group would have made FAR better gains for by being able to pack in more volume into their training session and target other muscle groups more specifically to create a well-rounded aesthetic physique. We know that volume is the #1 determinant for muscle hypertrophy (growth), so this is no small point.
Therefore, right off the bat, caring how much you max out on a particular exercise when your goal is muscle growth is incongruent with your goal in the first place, and that’s the most important thing that your entire training program is based upon.
Pretty much, 1RMs are useless unless you’re a powerlifter, and there are better ways of going about your workouts which I’ll touch on at the end of this post.
And even so, I think powerlifters would be better off training more like bodybuilders, but that’s a topic for a different day…
Not to mention, a great physique is the culmination of numerous well-developed muscle groups. The logic behind 1 rep maxes crumbles if you push it too far…
- Are you going to max out on calves?
- Lateral raises or rear delt flyes?
- Biceps curls?
Not if you know what’s good for you.
WHAT ARE YOUR PHYSICAL STATS?
Secondly, 1 rep maxes don’t tell you the whole story.
- How tall are you?
- How much do you weigh?
- How lean are you?
All of these things will change how impressive a 1RM looks, but when you just rifle off your best lifts, these get lost in the smoke.
For example:
6’1, 200lbs benching 250lbs vs. 5’7, 160lbs benching 250lbs
Which one is more impressive? Clearly, the 5’7 guy benching 250lbs, but if you look at the raw lifts alone, that doesn’t tell you much.
Of course, you could add some nice dressing to the number with a little explanation of your physical stats, but that just makes it look like you’re trying too hard to justify a lift that’s actually impressive in its own right just to look good in a stupid contest anyways.
Let your physique do the talking.
INJURY HISTORY AND BIOMECHANICS
Next in line, you have to look at the injury history and biomechanics of the person performing the lifts.
When someone asks how much you max, they’re typically talking about the big 3:
- Bench
- Squats
- Deadlifts
This may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone should even be doing these lifts in the first place.
Throw that “you must squat to be a man” bullshit right out the window. Squats are a great exercise, but only if they’re right for you. You can build great legs without them.
Truth is, we’re all jacked up in one way or another.
You’ve got to look at someone’s posture, their movement patterns, their battle scars, and so on before you run around throwing them under the bar and judging them by how much they can lift for a maximal effort lift. If you don’t, you’ll do more damage than good, and sustainability reigns supreme when it comes to your approach to training and nutrition.
Muscle growth is more of a function of working the muscle efficiently and effectively as opposed to moving the maximum amount of weight for a single repetition, and there are several exercises that you can do that with to custom-fit the program to the person looking to build muscle.
BETTER SOLUTION: AMRAP SETS
So then what should you do?
You should be more focused on progression of your chosen exercises over time as you march towards your goals.
To get a better gauge of your progress, use AMRAP sets instead. This stands for:
As Many Reps As Possible
Simply put, these are sets where you put the maximum weight you can do for ~6-10 reps. I recommend doing them in the rep range you perform most of your regular lifting in to serve as a better mark of progress. Any more or less and things get tricky.
If you want, you can go ahead and plug these into a fancy little 1RM calculator to get an idea of what your max would be although note: the stronger you get, the less accurate these are and there is a wide variation depending on the lift and the person doing it.
Finally, I should also note that if you’re still in the beginner or intermediate stages where progress is still relatively smooth and linear, you will likely not even have to go out of your way to do AMRAP sets because your weekly progress in your workouts will already show the proof in the pudding that you are making progress and putting on size.
So Should Care About How Much You Can Max?
No. You shouldn’t.
The bottom line is this:
The exercises and the weights that you do are nothing more than tools that you use to bring about the changes that you want on your physique.
Judge your progress based on your goal, and stop getting stressed or determining your success by the numbers. They’re only markers along the way to gauge progress.
For more on the art and science of building the aesthetic physique, check out my book, Architect of Aesthetics.
For personalized 1 on 1 coaching, hire me here.
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