{"id":345,"date":"2026-04-02T09:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/?p=345"},"modified":"2026-04-02T09:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:31:00","slug":"what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-try-to-reach-your-absolute-maximum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/?p=345","title":{"rendered":"What happens to your body when you try to reach your absolute maximum?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>The &#8220;1 rep max&#8221; has long been the gym&#8217;s gold standard, but new research suggests it&#8217;s inaccurate, risky, and unnecessary. This is why traditional methods of measuring strength are flawed, and there are better ways to track your progress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"border-border-light border-t py-base-tight\">\n<div class=\"flex h-4 justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex gap-x-base-tight\">\n<div class=\"\"><button class=\"inline-flex shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full hover:cursor-pointer bg-bg-surface hover:bg-bg-light focus:bg-bg-dark text-primary border border-solid border-border-light aria-pressed:bg-brand-primary aria-pressed:text-text-surface py-very-tight px-base-tight gap-tight font-semibold font-utility-2 opacity-50\" aria-label=\"Loading audio\" aria-pressed=\"false\" id=\"article-listen-button\" disabled=\"\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 18\" fill=\"none\" class=\"\"><title>listen to this article<\/title><path d=\"M12.5265 16.2C12.2326 16.2 12.0122 16.1265 11.7184 16.053C11.2775 15.9061 10.9102 15.6122 10.6898 15.2449C10.4694 14.8775 10.3959 14.4367 10.5428 13.9959L11.5714 10.3959C11.6449 10.1755 11.7184 9.95509 11.8653 9.80815C12.0122 9.66121 12.1592 9.51427 12.3796 9.36733C12.6 9.29386 12.8204 9.2204 13.0408 9.14693C13.2612 9.14693 13.4816 9.14693 13.702 9.2204H13.7755C14.2163 9.36733 14.5837 9.58774 14.951 9.95509C14.951 9.66121 14.951 9.29386 14.951 8.99999C14.951 7.38366 14.2898 5.8408 13.1877 4.73876C12.0122 3.56325 10.5428 2.9755 8.92652 2.9755C7.31019 2.9755 5.76733 3.63672 4.66529 4.73876C3.48978 5.8408 2.82856 7.38366 2.82856 8.99999C2.82856 9.29386 2.82856 9.66121 2.82856 9.95509C3.12244 9.66121 3.56325 9.36733 4.00407 9.2204H4.07754C4.29795 9.14693 4.51835 9.14693 4.73876 9.14693C4.95917 9.14693 5.17958 9.2204 5.39999 9.36733C5.6204 9.4408 5.76733 9.58774 5.91427 9.80815C6.06121 9.95509 6.13468 10.1755 6.20815 10.3959L7.23672 13.9959C7.38366 14.4367 7.31019 14.8775 7.08978 15.2449C6.86938 15.6122 6.50203 15.9061 6.13468 16.053C5.76733 16.2 5.39999 16.2 5.03264 16.2C4.66529 16.1265 4.29795 16.053 4.00407 15.9061C3.63672 15.6122 3.41631 15.3918 3.12244 15.0979C2.90203 14.8775 2.75509 14.5102 2.68162 14.1428L2.38774 13.0408L2.2408 12.6735C2.2408 12.6 2.16733 12.453 2.16733 12.3796C1.87346 11.2775 1.79999 10.1755 1.79999 8.99999C1.79999 7.08978 2.53468 5.25305 3.9306 3.9306C5.25305 2.60815 7.08978 1.79999 8.99999 1.79999C10.9102 1.79999 12.7469 2.53468 14.0694 3.9306C15.3918 5.25305 16.2 7.08978 16.2 8.99999C16.2 10.102 16.053 11.2775 15.8326 12.3796C15.8326 12.453 15.7592 12.6 15.7592 12.6735L15.6857 12.9673V13.0408L15.1714 14.1428C15.0979 14.5102 14.8775 14.8041 14.6571 15.0979C14.4367 15.3918 14.1428 15.6122 13.849 15.7592C13.5551 15.9061 13.1877 16.053 12.8204 16.053C12.7469 16.1265 12.6735 16.2 12.5265 16.2ZM3.71019 13.849C3.78366 14.0694 3.85713 14.2163 4.00407 14.4367C4.15101 14.6571 4.29795 14.7306 4.51835 14.8775C4.73876 14.951 4.8857 15.0245 5.10611 15.0979C5.32652 15.0979 5.54693 15.0979 5.76733 15.0245C5.98774 14.951 6.06121 14.8775 6.13468 14.7306C6.20815 14.5837 6.20815 14.4367 6.20815 14.2898L5.17958 10.6898C5.17958 10.6163 5.10611 10.5428 5.10611 10.4694C5.03264 10.4694 4.95917 10.3959 4.8857 10.3224C4.81223 10.3224 4.73876 10.249 4.66529 10.249C4.59182 10.249 4.51836 10.249 4.44489 10.249H4.37142C3.9306 10.3959 3.63672 10.6898 3.41631 11.0571C3.26938 11.351 3.19591 11.7184 3.26938 12.0857C3.34285 12.3061 3.34284 12.5265 3.41631 12.6735L3.71019 13.849ZM13.2612 10.3224C13.1877 10.3224 13.1877 10.3224 13.2612 10.3224C13.1143 10.3224 13.0408 10.3224 12.9673 10.3959C12.8939 10.4694 12.8204 10.4694 12.8204 10.4694C12.7469 10.5428 12.7469 10.6163 12.7469 10.6898L11.7184 14.2898C11.6449 14.4367 11.7184 14.5837 11.7918 14.7306C11.8653 14.8775 12.0122 14.951 12.0857 15.0245C12.3796 15.0979 12.5265 15.0979 12.7469 15.0979C12.9673 15.0979 13.1877 15.0245 13.3347 14.8775C13.5551 14.8041 13.702 14.6571 13.849 14.4367C13.9959 14.2898 14.0694 14.0694 14.1428 13.849L14.5102 12.6735C14.5837 12.5265 14.5837 12.3061 14.6571 12.1592C14.7306 11.7918 14.6571 11.4245 14.5102 11.1306C14.2898 10.7633 13.9959 10.4694 13.5551 10.3224H13.4816C13.3347 10.3224 13.2612 10.3224 13.2612 10.3224Z\" fill=\"currentColor\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"hidden sm:inline\">listen<\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/p>\n<p class=\"fp-leadCaption py-tight text-left font-utility text-utility3-size leading-utility3-line-height text-secondary\">    (Photo: O2O Creative\/Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Published April 2, 2026 at 3:27 AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>If there&#8217;s one strength training concept that even an endurance guy like me is familiar with, it&#8217;s the one-rep max. This is the heaviest weight you can lift in a single effort for a particular exercise. This is important for two reasons. One is how strength training is normally prescribed. For example, aim for 10 reps at 70% of your 1 rep max. The other thing is that it&#8217;s a way to track your progress. At the end of the day, the ultimate goal of weightlifting is to be able to lift heavier objects.<\/p>\n<p>However, a new explanation <i>International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance<\/i>A team led by Brazilian researcher Irineu LoTurco argues that one-rep maximums are overestimated. Measuring muscle strength is inaccurate, inconvenient, and even dangerous, but the authors argue that there are better ways to prescribe training and track strength gains. Here&#8217;s why:<\/p>\n<h2>What&#8217;s wrong with One-Rep Max?<\/h2>\n<p>The main argument against a 1-rep max is that it&#8217;s difficult or even fundamentally impossible to measure accurately. Once you lift the weight, you know you can lift it <i>at least<\/i> That amount. But if you add weight and fail, you won&#8217;t know if you added too much weight or if you&#8217;re just tired from the previous lift.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, there is a standardized way to assess a one-rep max of five or fewer ascending lifts in a row with a three- to five-minute break between attempts after a structured warm-up. This should give you a good estimate, but it takes time and effort, and it&#8217;s just a one-time exercise. Tracking your progress and readjusting the load each time you do a lift can&#8217;t be done every week since you&#8217;re essentially replacing one of your workouts. Lifting such heavy loads also increases the risk of injury.<\/p>\n<p>Still, in theory, if you&#8217;re planning your workouts based on a one-rep max, you&#8217;d want updated values \u200b\u200bevery day. Strength will (hopefully) increase over time, and baseline fatigue will vary from workout to workout, as it fluctuates depending on yesterday&#8217;s workout, last night&#8217;s sleep, today&#8217;s stress in life, etc. You can&#8217;t expect to know exactly how many reps you need to do today based on your one-rep max that you measured a month ago.<\/p>\n<h2>use velocity instead<\/h2>\n<p>The main alternative proposed by LoTurco and his colleagues is &#8220;velocity-based training.&#8221; It&#8217;s an idea that&#8217;s obviously been around since the 1970s, but advances in technology have made it more feasible. If you&#8217;re doing barbell exercises like bench presses or squats, velocity-based training simply tracks how fast the bar is rising. Initially, this is done by wearing an accelerometer or attaching a transducer to the bar. These days, if you download an app, you can use your phone&#8217;s camera to measure the speed of the bar.<\/p>\n<p>Velocity-based training is a big topic, and there are endless papers discussing how to analyze and utilize the data collected. For our purposes, there are two important metrics to consider. One is how fast you do your first rep when you &#8220;lift with intent&#8221;, meaning you lift as quickly as possible. This is an indicator of overall progress. If you used to lift 100 pounds at 1.5 meters per second and now you lift it at 1.6 meters per second, that means you&#8217;re getting stronger. This increase in &#8220;average propulsion velocity&#8221; (average velocity of the active part of the lift) means more force can be exerted. This is essentially the same trait you&#8217;re trying to measure with a single rep max. The difference is that it&#8217;s an improvement that can be measured immediately, objectively, and non-invasively.<\/p>\n<p>Another important metric used to guide decision-making within a particular workout is how much your average velocity decreases during a set. Once it falls below a critical threshold, it must be stopped. What that threshold should be is a difficult question. One study compared reductions of 0, 10, 20, and 40 percent. This means if your first rep is 1.0 meters per second, continue lifting until your speed is below 1.0 (or 0.9, 0.8, or 0.6) meters per second. The study found that while 20 percent and 40 percent built more muscle, 40 percent had a negative impact on the contractile properties of the muscle, leaving an apparent sweet spot of around 20 to 30 percent.<\/p>\n<h2>takeout<\/h2>\n<p>Uncertainty about exactly which velocity threshold to use is not a problem unique to velocity-based training. Instead, it reflects a broader debate about the best methods of strength training. In an old-school mindset, you don&#8217;t have to worry about setting bar speed or rep goals. Continue with each set until you can complete no more reps.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, research suggests that always lifting to failure isn&#8217;t necessarily the best approach, as the last few reps create a ton of extra fatigue and risk of injury without providing any significant training benefit. A study I wrote last year found that lifters performed about as well on each set when they stopped each set with two &#8220;preliminary reps&#8221; &#8212; that is, when they felt like they could do two more reps before failing &#8212; as when they actually failed on each set. This suggests that you don&#8217;t need to choose a very aggressive threshold for speed loss, but it may depend on your goals and experience.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, LoTurco&#8217;s point that most of us don&#8217;t need to formally measure our one-rep max makes sense. Hey, I&#8217;ve never measured it anyway. Velocity-based training also seems logical. In fact, I already do a version when I try to leave 1-2 reps in each set. Seeing the bar slow down is one of the key signals that you are approaching failure. A more sophisticated speed-tracking smartphone app sounds to me like the equivalent of a GPS watch for runners. It&#8217;s fun, data-rich, and potentially informative, but ultimately optional.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><i>If you want to know more about the science of sweat, <\/i><i>Mail magazine<\/i><i>    and check out my new book <\/i>The explorer gene: Why we seek big challenges, new flavors, and blank spaces on the map<i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><\/div>\n<p>#body #reach #absolute #maximum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;1 rep max&#8221; has long been the gym&#8217;s gold standard, but new research suggests it&#8217;s inaccurate, risky, and unnecessary. This is why traditional methods of measuring strength are flawed, and there are better ways to track your progress. listen to this articlelisten (Photo: O2O Creative\/Getty) Published April 2, 2026 at 3:27 AM If there&#8217;s &#8230; <a title=\"What happens to your body when you try to reach your absolute maximum?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/golliza.com\/?p=345\" aria-label=\"Read more about What happens to your body when you try to reach your absolute maximum?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[1459,1457,149,1455,1460,1452,1458,1453,1454,1456],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","category-general","tag-absolute","tag-audio-true","tag-body","tag-editor-wise","tag-maximum","tag-parent-category-health","tag-reach","tag-tag-science-of-sweat","tag-tag-weight-training","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golliza.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}