Maxing Out

Maxing out is a very fun day and is the reason why many people lift weights for a hobby. Some people max out every other week or every other month, but I do not max out until I feel like I have really improved which is usually about two or three months. It is a very upsetting and frustrating feeling when the max out day has arrived and you do not improve at all no matter what lift it is like bench press, curl, squat, dead lift, military press, or any other lift. Maxing out takes a lot of preparation and should be focused on the week before your max out day. I usually like to lift very light the week before the max out day because I like to be fully charged and ready to break a personal record. It is important to eat a nice meal prior to maxing out; I like to eat a lot of chicken cutlets a few hours before, a protein bar later in the day, and I am will drink a lot of water throughout the day. When I get to the gym I like to warm up with a three or four light sets than put on a heavy weight. After I warm up every set is for one repetition so I do not tire myself out. After completing one set I add 10 to 20 pounds for the next set and hopefully will break my personal record. Adding too much weight every set will result in failure because you have to work your way up to the weight. Sometimes I do really well when maxing out and some days I do not do really well. A lot of people do not even bother maxing out they just use a max out chart instead as an estimation of their one rep max. The chart is an estimation chart which uses a certain amount of weight for a certain amount of repetitions and gives you an idea of what the max what be. For example it may say 225 pounds for 8 repetitions would equal a 275 pound max. People use this chart because they are not one hundred percent serious about knowing what their max would be and they would rather not risk injury by actually lifting that amount of weight when they can just use a chart that gives them an idea of where they are.