One Rep Max Calculator

Estimate your one-rep max from weight, reps, and RPE, then use your e1RM as a practical starting point for strength training decisions.

Estimated 1 Rep Max

Calculate Your 1RM

Enter the weight you’ve lifted, along with the number of reps and RPE.

lb kg

Weight Lifted

lb

Repetitions Choose 1–10 reps

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

RPE Rate of perceived exertion

6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10

Calculate 1RM Reset

Weight

Enter the load you lifted for the set.

Reps

Select the number of completed repetitions, from 1 to 10.

RPE

Use RPE to refine the estimate based on how close the set was to failure.

What Does e1RM Mean Max?

Estimated 1 Rep Max, or e1RM, is a prediction of the most weight you may be able to lift for one repetition based on a submaximal set. For example, a set of 5 reps at RPE 9 can be used to estimate your current one-rep max without requiring a true maximal attempt.

e1RM values are useful for tracking strength progress over time, estimating training loads, and comparing performance across similar workouts. However, they are estimates, not guarantees. Fatigue, technique, exercise selection, equipment, range of motion, and day-to-day performance can all affect the relationship between a training set and a true 1RM.

What is a 1-Rep Max?

A 1-Rep Max (1RM) is a measurement of muscular strength in an exercise. 1RMs can be measured from compound (multi-joint) exercises like the squat or bench press, as well as isolation (single-joint) exercises like the biceps curl. In both cases, a 1RM is a measurement of strength performance in a specific context. Maximal strength can also be measured in a number of other ways that measure muscular force production such as maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), maximum isokinetic strength, and more, though these are not called 1RMs and are typically reserved for use in research settings. 

In short, a 1-Rep Max is a test of maximal muscular strength for a single repetition in a particular exercise. 

What is a Good 1-Rep Max for the Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift?

While we can’t know for sure, it’s likely that humans have wanted to know how they stack up to others when it comes to strength for as long as there have been things to lift. That said, knowing what a “good” 1-Rep Max is depends on a variety of things, such as how long someone’s been training, their body weight, sex, training history, and what sort of outcome is being discussed. Are we talking about a good 1RM for health or powerlifting performance? Similarly, is the question asking about a good 1RM for someone who doesn’t train for maximum strength or is the comparator a veteran barbell sport athlete? In this section, we’ll try to address the question from the perspective of both health and performance. It should also go without saying, if you’re lifting regularly and trying your best, you’re doing great!

Health and 1RM Performance

For health, there’s effectively no data on 1RM squat, bench press, and deadlift performance and their correlations with longevity, heart disease risk, metabolic health, and so on. Instead, we’re forced to speculate based on existing data showing a reduced risk of heart-related, cancer-related, and all-cause mortality and 1RM strength performance in the leg press and bench press. 

This data set in nearly 9000 men aged 20 to 82 showed that a leg press 1RM of 1.9-times bodyweight and bench press of 1.1-times bodyweight were associated with the lowest risk of mortality. [1] There’s no data like this for women, but if forced to extrapolate from these numbers and other data showing that, on average, women tend to be approximately 50 and 60% as strong as men in upper and lower body exercises, respectively, the strength targets for women become a leg press of 1.14-times bodyweight and a bench press of 0.55-times bodyweight. [2]

It should be noted that when corrected for total lean body mass, there are little to no differences in strength performance for men and women with similar training. Additionally, men and women respond the same to strength training, both gaining the same relative amount of strength as a result. In other words, both men and women will improve their strength by the same percentage if given the same training program. 

To summarize, a leg press 1RM of 1.9-times bodyweight for men and ~ 1.14-times bodyweight for women may represent the strength needed to maximally reduce the risk of death from heart disease, cancer, and other causes. Especially when combined with a bench press 1RM performance of 1.1-times bodyweight for men and 0.55-times bodyweight for women. Still, there are likely additional health benefits to getting a bit stronger, though how much benefit and how much stronger someone needs to be to obtain these benefits is not currently known.

Powerlifting and 1RM Performance

Powerlifting is a sport where competitors aim to get the highest possible 1RM for the squat, bench press, and deadlift.  A “good” 1RM will again vary by weight class, age, and level of competition. For example, a good 1RM for someone competing at the regional level would be much different than someone competing internationally.  

Fortunately, a recent paper has described average strength performance of over 800,000 powerlifting competition results from raw (without supportive equipment), drug-tested meets. The sample included men and women, young and older competitors, and a wide range of training histories. [3] We’ll use this data to provide some insight into what a good 1RM is for the squat, bench press and deadlift. By definition, having a 1RM squat, bench press, or deadlift that is better than the average of this data set would be considered a “good” 1RM for a powerlifter, and especially good for someone who is a recreational strength training enthusiast. 

For squat 1RM performance:

• Men: 2.17-times bodyweight
• Women: 1.64-times bodyweight 

For bench press 1RM performance:

• Men: 1.5-times bodyweight
• Women: 0.95-times bodyweight 

For deadlift 1RM performance:

• Men: 2.51-times bodyweight
• Women: 1.98-times bodyweight 

In general, lighter, younger (<18), and older (>35) lifters tend to have reduced 1RM performance comparatively. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be outliers, but that may be helpful for putting one’s own 1RM performance into context.

How-To Improve Your 1-Rep Max

Improving your 1RM requires improvements across multiple areas, including the nervous system, muscle size, mechanical properties of the muscle itself, tendon changes, and more.  Changes in 1RM strength performance are associated with a wide range of inputs, some modifiable and some non-modifiable.

Non-modifiable factors affect the trainee in ways that cannot be changed. For example, things like genetics, anthropometry, muscle fiber type, and some elements of musculoskeletal architecture all fall into these categories, as these are the biological qualities of an individual that can’t be readily altered to achieve better results. 

Modifiable factors, however, are aspects that we can change, and we mainly do this via training, adjusting programming variables, dietary planning, supplementation, and more. We will further detail how we could utilize these modifiable factors specifically in the realm of programming, to maximize 1RM strength. 

The Specificity of Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID) Principle asserts that the adaptations achieved by exercise will be specific to the training performed by the individual. Several factors have an effect on the specificity of exercises, such as range of motion, intensity, joint angles, movement velocity, contraction type, energy systems, and so on. 

For 1RM performance, the most obvious implication of the SAID Principle is that we need to train the lifts we’re trying to improve. In other words, to get a better squat, bench press, or deadlift 1RM, we’re going to need to train these lifts regularly. 

Additionally, we need to make sure that when we train the squat, bench press, deadlift, and variations thereof, we’re loading them in a way that improves 1RM strength.  The current evidence suggests that there is a minimum threshold for weight (e.g., intensity) that is needed to improve performance. We can therefore generate a minimum threshold for strength training of approximately 65-75% 1RM for multiple-repetition sets and greater than approximately 85-90% 1RM for single-repetition sets.

Next, we need to pair these intensity minimums with a rep scheme that is similar to the desired outcome, e.g., maximal strength/1RM and not strength endurance/20RM. Practically speaking, this means regularly doing sets of 1-rep at 85-95% to improve skills specific to 1RM performance, and sets of ~ 2- to 6-reps at 65-75% or more for multi-rep sets to complement these skills. 

Regarding proximity to failure, most sets for compound exercises focused on strength development should maintain relatively high proximity to failure, e.g., 2-4 RIR or RPE 6-8, which coincides with a small decrease in barbell velocity during the effort. Doing higher-intensity sets and taking them closer to failure, like RIR 0-2 or RPE 8-10, are appropriate for isolation work aimed at increasing muscular hypertrophy and in short-term, peaking phases when you’re working up to competitions or 1RM testing.

Programming variables aside, progressive loading is an extremely important component of training necessary for continual improvements in strength. It refers to the implementation of the Progressive Overload Principle, which suggests that to encourage fitness adaptations over a period, the muscles must be challenged by gradually increasing the training stimuli as an individual becomes more fit. In this case, the weight on the bar must go up as you get stronger in order to match the new level of fitness. 

To put all these variables together in the quest for improving your 1RM squat, bench press, and deadlift, we recommend one of our powerlifting programs—the Strength I for newer lifters, Strength II for intermediate lifters, as well as the Strength III and Low Fatigue Strength for more advanced lifters.

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