strenos
Your 1RM is the most weight you can lift for one rep. A training max is a lighter number the program does all its math from. In 5/3/1 and nSuns it's 90% of your 1RM, so a lifter with a 315 lb squat runs every set off 285. The gap is there on purpose: it leaves reps in the tank, so your plus sets turn into rep PRs instead of grinders.
Jim Wendler calls it the training max. Strenos calls it the working max, and so does this guide.
Two numbers with different jobs
Your 1RM is a result. You hit it on one good day, maybe with the whole gym watching. A week later, after bad sleep, it might be 10 lb lower. You don't have to test it, either: a heavy set of 3–5 in the 1RM calculator gives a solid estimate.
The working max is a planning number. It stays put for a whole cycle in 5/3/1 or a whole week in nSuns, and only the program's rule changes it.
Here's what the gap does to your sets. The week 1 top set in 5/3/1 is 85% of the working max for 5+. That's 76.5% of your 1RM, which the Epley formula puts at about nine reps. The week 3 top set, 95% for 1+, is 85.5% of your 1RM, or about five reps. So the "1+" isn't asking for a single. With an honest working max you have around five reps there, and every rep past that shows you got stronger.
Why 90%, and when 85% makes sense
Wendler's original 5/3/1 sets the training max at 90% of your max, and the r/Fitness wiki treats 90% as the default whenever a template doesn't say otherwise. In several of his later templates he goes lighter. His "5/3/1 for Hardgainers" runs every main lift at 85%, and in "Building the Monolith" he tells you to start with a "lower than you think TM (85%)".
Strenos uses 90%. To start at 85%, enter a 1RM about 5% lower than your real one. That's worth doing if:
- your max is more than a few months old;
- it was a grinder you're not sure you could repeat;
- you're coming back after a layoff or an injury.
Too heavy hurts more than too light. A light working max costs you a few weeks of easy sets. A heavy one fails your plus sets from the first cycle and drags you into resets.
The short answerYour 1RM is a result, and the working max is a plan set 10% lower so plus sets turn into rep PRs. When in doubt, start lighter: too light costs a few easy weeks, too heavy costs resets.
What each program runs on
Not every program uses a working max, but each takes a base number from your 1RM. Here's what Strenos sets for a 315 lb squat in a gym with 5 lb plates. The bar moves in 10 lb jumps from 45, so 90% of 315, which is 283.5, shows up as 285.
| Program | Base number | % of 1RM | At 315 lb | What it drives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/3/1 | Working max | 90% | 285 lb | Every set. Week 3 top set: 275 × 1+ |
| nSuns | Working max | 90% | 285 lb | Nine sets a day, 1+ set at 275 |
| GZCLP | T1 working weight | 72.8% | 225 lb | T1 5×3+ at 225, T2 3×10 at 175 |
| Texas Method | Reference 5RM | 85.7% | 265 lb | 5×5 at 235, 2×5 at 195, 1×5 at 265 |
| Smolov Jr | Block max | 90% by default, or 100% | 275 or 315 lb | Day 1: 6×6 at 185 (or 215) |
Three rows need a note:
- GZCLP doesn't keep a training max. It stores the T1 weight itself, which starts at 85% of your 5-rep max. By Epley a 5RM is 85.7% of your 1RM, so T1 lands at 72.8%. T2 starts at about 55%.
- The Texas Method runs off a reference 5RM, the weight you can lift five times, which Strenos sets at 85.7% of your 1RM. Volume day runs at 90% of it, light day at 72%, and intensity day is a set of five at the full number.
- Smolov Jr runs off a block max, and Strenos starts the block 10% lighter by default. It matters most on day 4 of week 3, which is 10 sets of 3. Off the full 315 that's 295 lb, 94% of your 1RM. Off 275 it's 255 lb, 81%. Smolov Jr for bench covers the block.
Which strength program should you run compares all five side by side.
How the working max moves
Classic 5/3/1 adds a fixed amount after each cycle: 5 lb on the bench and overhead press, 10 lb on the squat and deadlift. The original nSuns spreadsheet adds weight in rep brackets based on your 1+ set. Neither checks whether your numbers have fallen behind you or run ahead.
Strenos uses one rule for both programs:
- It turns your plus set into a max with the Epley formula: weight × (1 + reps / 30).
- It compares that with the max your working max stands for: the working max divided by 0.9, so 317 lb for 285.
- Below 95% of that, the working max drops 10%. From 95% to 100%, it holds. Above 100%, it becomes 90% of the proved max, and never lower than it already is.
In 5/3/1 the plus set of week 3 decides, once per cycle. In nSuns the 1+ set at 95% decides every week. If you don't log the plus set, the working max doesn't go up.
Here's where each rep count on the week 3 top set, 275 × 1+, leaves the working max:
| Reps | Max the set proves | Share of 317 lb | Next working max |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 275 lb | 87% | 255 lb, reset |
| 2 | 293 lb | 93% | 255 lb, reset |
| 3 | 303 lb | 96% | 285 lb, holds |
| 4 | 312 lb | 98% | 285 lb, holds |
| 5 | 321 lb | 101% | 285 lb, since 90% is 289 and rounds to 285 |
| 6 | 330 lb | 104% | 295 lb |
| 8 | 348 lb | 110% | 315 lb |
| 10 | 367 lb | 116% | 335 lb |
So one or two reps on a "1+" set is a miss, because the weight was set up for about five. And a big set catches you up fast: eight reps add 30 lb to the working max in one cycle.
Signs your working max is off
Too high:
- The week 1 top set, 85% for 5+, is a fight to get five. At the right working max, that's about a 9-rep weight.
- You get one or two reps at 95%, whether that's week 3 of 5/3/1 or the nSuns 1+ set.
- The same lift resets two cycles in a row.
- You fail the test week from the r/Fitness wiki's 5/3/1 primer, which works up to 100% of the working max for 3–5 reps. Fewer than three means it should come down.
Too low:
- Week 1 top sets go well past 10 reps and week 3 top sets past 8, cycle after cycle.
- The whole session feels like a warm-up.
A little low is the safer mistake. In Strenos one big plus set lifts the working max to 90% of what you proved, so it catches up on its own.
How Strenos handles the working max
You enter each lift's 1RM once, or let the 1RM calculator in the app estimate it from a recent set. Strenos sets each program's base number from it, as in the table above, and rounds every weight to the smallest plate in your gym.
After the plus set, Apple Watch asks how many reps you got, and you dial in the number with the Digital Crown. Strenos runs it through the rule above at the end of the cycle in 5/3/1, or at the end of the week in nSuns. If you retest your max mid-cycle, Strenos holds the new number until the next cycle in 5/3/1, or the next week in nSuns and the Texas Method, so the weights you've already seen stay put.
On weighted pull-ups and dips, Strenos counts your bodyweight in every percentage, and weighted pull-up percentages explains why.
