5RM Percentage

[David Sanders]

I have never tested my 5 RM. I am 44 yo, 6'2" tall. My current numbers are: Squat 280 for sets across, BP 225 for sets across, Press 135 for sets across. What is a good percentage to attempt a 5RM based on these numbers?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Bodyweight?

[Michael Wolf]

The real Q is why do you want to attempt a 5RM? If you stick with the program, you'll work your way to 5, 3, 2, and eventually 1RMs when the time is appropriate and you've worked up to them. Arbitrarily inserting a random 5RM into things when it seems like you're still on LP won't help anything.

The direct answer to your Q is it depends both on your physiological make-up (are you better at fives or ones?), your psychological make-up (can you grind, or have you learned to yet?), and how hard those sets of 5 across are. If your 280x5 sets across are all 6-7 seconds to complete the fifth rep, your 5RM probably isn't much more. If they're a breeze with the last rep looking no involuntarily slower than the first, there's probably a sizable gap. Also depends how many sets across - I've been assuming you're doing 3x5 on an NLP, but what do I know? Maybe that's for 10 sets of 5 in which case your actual 5RM must be a bunch more.

That's where my first paragraph comes in - you'll get there anyway, if you just stick with things. So don't mess with your program and engage in potentially wildly off base guesswork. Finish the LP, move into intermediate and pick one that allows you to "run it out" and you'll find approximations of your 5,3,2, and 1RM when appropriate. Then you won't have to guess.

[David Sanders]

250

[David Sanders]

Thanks coach. Good advice!