Social Workout

Poet Laureate

Hypothetical Muscle Math for Poets

Often, I find my workouts inhibited by how much I think I can press, curl, squat, or what have you. I’ll be on the bench, staring at the stack of plates tucked on either end of the Olympic bar, wondering a.) Why the hell I put so much weight on? b.) Who am I trying to impress? And c.) Who am I kidding.? The truth is, I have no clue just how much I can bench press. I haven’t "maxed out" since high school, over ten years ago.

Well, no more! After some Hulk Hogan sleuthing, I found a little reference to "one rep max," a simple equation used by body builders and athletes to determine what their hypothetical max bench press. As an aside: The average guy benches 135lbs, and Hulk Hogan in his — steroidal? — prime was at 555 lbs. Anyway, here’s the equation:

((Number of Reps / 30) + 1) x Weight Used = One Rep Max

Cool, right? FYI: My hypothetical 1RM is hovering around 250-275 lbs. What's yours?