I took another day off from triathlon specific training today. Instead of swimming, biking or running, I went for a walk at the lake with the family, and also did another weightlifting session.

I have been lifting for several weeks now, and I am starting to get into a groove.  It is now time to start lifting some heavier weights, so I can build strength.  The key question is however … how much weight should I lift for each exercise that I am doing?

Most lifting programs are based around doing several sets of lifts, each with a certain number of repetitions within each set.  Something like 3 sets of 6 repetitions (reps), is very typical, and this is what I have been doing up until now.  These lifting programs also recommend lifting a certain percentage of your ‘one rep max’.  A ‘one rep max’ weight, is the theoretical maximum weight that you can lift just once.

Determining your ‘one rep max’, by trying to lift a very heavy weight just once, is quite dangerous from an injury potential perspective.  Fortunately however, there are tests you can do, that do a good job of estimating a ‘one rep max’ for you.  These tests involve doing repetitions until failure.  You repeatedly lift a weight that is slightly below your theoretical maximum, until you cannot lift it anymore. As long as you reach your failure point before completing ten repetitions, then you can calculate your theoretical ‘one rep max’.

So for my lifting session today, I did this repetition test for each exercise that I typically do.  I was very surprised at how much weight I was able to lift.  This means that I did the right thing in doing these tests.  My future weight sessions, will now be much more demanding but also will be optimized for building strength.

The thing I am not surprised about is how sore my muscles are this evening.  This was the hardest lift session, that I have ever done.  It was tough but enjoyable.  I can’t wait to start my next period of lifting, later this week.