Choosing Weights For Work Sets

[Skeptic68W]

Rip,

I recently stumbled upon your program and first want to thank you for the work you're doing. As someone who holds an undergraduate Kinesiology degree (although I have moved on to Public Health) it's very refreshing to get back to basics and focus on quality over quantity. Your videos and podcasts are also very entertaining, the askrip videos are hysterical so good job there as well.

I purchased and read your book recently but have hit a snag in determining initial work set weights. In the book, the only mention of weight selection refers to warm up weights and the per workout progression for each lift.

I have been out of lifting for several years but I went in yesterday to get ready to start the program and figure out about where I am weight and form wise.

Age - 25
Height - 5'8"
Weight - 185lbs
Squat - I used 200lbs for my work sets. It felt moderately challenging but I wasn't losing any bar speed even on the last rep.
Bench - I did my first 2 work sets with 175lbs but was at the point by rep 5 that I was very close to missing it so I dropped to 170 for the final set.
Deadlift - I used 250lbs here, challenging but doable.

Based on my previous experience I would say that my current theoretical 1RM's are somewhere in the neighborhood of 230, 200, and 275 respectively if that helps anything.


How do I know if I am starting too heavy or too light? My gut is telling me that I am about right on weight for squat if not slightly too heavy, too heavy on the bench, and slightly too heavy on the deadlift. Would you agree with that? What are your suggestions?

Thanks again,
Mitch

[Mark Rippetoe]

If your squat depth was correct, 200 was about right. Bench should have used 165, deadlift was probably fine. Plan on 115 for your presses.