85% of the plate, or 85% of you?

On a weighted pull-up you lift yourself plus the plate. Take 85% of the plate alone and you're really at about 95% of your max, so your sets of five turn into grinders and your belt weight stalls. Strenos works from the whole load and adds one small plate at a time.

Get Strenos free Check your 85%

No ads. No paywall mid-set. Nothing you log is ever deleted.

Free on the App StoreiPhone and Apple Watch · kg or lb

On a computer? Scan with your iPhone

An athlete doing a pull-up on an orange bar, seen from behind

Strenos running nSuns on weighted dips: nine sets from 80 to 115 kg added, with the 1+ set marked

Apple Watch with Strenos: nSuns dips, plus set at +115 kg × 1+

The program says 85%. What goes on the belt?

It looks simple: take 85% of your best. Do that and you'll hang 9 kg too much on the belt and get 1 or 2 reps instead of 5. Let's run the numbers on one athlete.

01
What you're really lifting

80 kgyour bodyweight

40 kgyour best on the belt

120 kgwhat you lift at your max

On the bar, you pull up yourself and the plate. So your real max is 120 kg, even though only 40 of it hangs on the belt.
02
What 85% means in a program

about 5 reps

85% is a weight you can lift about 5 times in a row. That's how it works on a barbell, and percentage programs are built around it.
03
Two ways to do the math

The usual way
85% of 40 kg = 34 kg

+34 kgon the belt

With your bodyweight, that's 114 kg, or 95% of your max.

You get 1 or 2 reps

That's close to your limit. Instead of a working set, you get a max attempt.

Strenos
Finds the weight you can lift 5 times

+25 kgon the belt

With your bodyweight, that's 105 kg.

You get about 5 reps

Exactly what the program's author had in mind.

The Strenos 1RM calculator in Bodyweight + load mode: body 80 kg, 40 kg on the belt, pull-ups. Work scheme: +30 kg at 90%, +20 kg at 80%, +5 kg at 55%, bodyweight only at 30%. — In the Strenos appThe same athlete in the app weighs 80 kg with a best of +40 on the belt. At 90% Strenos gives him +30 kg instead of +36, and at 80% it gives +20 kg instead of +32.

The takeaway: on the belt, you can't take a percentage of the plate alone. Strenos turns the percentage into reps, the way it works on a barbell, then finds the belt weight for those reps and rounds it to the smallest plate in your gym.

Run my numbers

Why barbell apps get the belt wrong

Topic	A barbell app	StrenosOn iPhone and Apple Watch
Percentages	Taken from the plate alone, so 85% lands close to your max	Taken from you plus the plate, then turned back into a belt weight
Weight steps	Jumps of 5 kg, two plates at a time	One small plate at a time. Half the jump, so you keep moving up longer
1RM estimate	Worked out from the belt weight alone	A streetlifting formula that includes your bodyweight
Your bodyweight	Left out of the math	Pulled from your weight in the app. Change it and the numbers follow

The Strenos 1RM calculator in Bodyweight + load mode: 80 kg bodyweight, 40 kg on the belt, one pull-up. Estimated max +40 kg, with a belt weight for each zone: +30 kg at 90%, +20 kg at 80%, +5 kg at 55%, bodyweight only at 30%.

Know your max without a test day

Enter your bodyweight, the weight on the belt and the reps you got. The calculator estimates your max with a streetlifting formula and gives you a belt weight for every zone, from max strength to endurance. You can send the warm-up straight into your workout.

Streetlifting formula
Epley
Brzycki
Lander
Average
RPE

Find my max

Every kilo on the belt goes on the record

Stats and records built for the belt, so +60 means +60.

01 / 02
Totals with or without your bodyweight

Track max weight, tonnage, average RPE, reps and sets for dips and pull-ups. One toggle adds your bodyweight to the totals or takes it back out.
- Max weight
- Tonnage
- Average RPE
- Including body weight
- Including warm-up
02 / 02
Every record on video, so the rep speaks for itself

Log rep maxes at any rep count, max reps at a given weight and timed holds. Each record has its own history chart and videos of your attempts, synced through your own iCloud.
- Any rep max
- Max reps at a weight
- Timed holds
- History chart
- Attempt videos

An athlete in a white tank top on parallel bars outdoors, with palm trees behind

Free calculator Run 5/3/1 on pull-ups and dips, no spreadsheet needed. Switch the calculator to pull-ups or dips, enter your bodyweight and your best single, and get all four weeks with a belt weight for every set. Plan my belt cycle

Questions about streetlifting

Why are my numbers lower than in the original program?

Because the original percentages were written for a barbell. On the belt, the same effort comes at a lighter added weight, and that's the weight Strenos gives you.

Why +25 kg and not +22?

Take 85% of the full 120 kg, subtract your 80 kg, and you get +22. But pull-ups have their own curve: five clean reps come at about 87.5% of the full load, not 85%. Strenos matches the reps a percentage stands for on a barbell, so it gives you +25.

Where does my bodyweight come from?

From the weight you log in the app. Log a new one on the home screen and the next numbers use it.

Which programs run on the belt?

5/3/1, nSuns, GZCLP and the Texas Method. Smolov Jr is barbell only.

What's free, and what's Plus?

Free for good: logging pull-ups and dips with any weight, the Apple Watch app, records from your sets, the readiness score and the 1RM calculator. The first week of every program is free too, so you can feel how it runs on your own numbers. Full cycles, your whole history and every chart come with Plus: monthly, yearly or a one-time Lifetime purchase.

Does it work in pounds?

Yes. The belt goes up by the smallest plate in your gym, in kilos or pounds.