Weightlifting Percentage Chart: % of 1RM to Reps
A percentage chart converting your one rep max into a working weight: 100% for 1 rep, 89% for 5, 81% for 8 and 75% for 10. Includes worked examples in kg and lb, and where percentage-based loading stops working.
As a rule of thumb, you can lift roughly 89% of your one rep max for 5 reps, 81% for 8 reps and 75% for 10 reps. The chart below gives the full mapping, with worked examples for a 100 kg and a 200 lb max.
| Reps | % of 1RM | If your 1RM is 100 kg | If your 1RM is 200 lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100% | 100 kg | 200 lb |
| 2 | 97% | 97 kg | 194 lb |
| 3 | 94% | 94 kg | 189 lb |
| 4 | 92% | 92 kg | 183 lb |
| 5 | 89% | 89 kg | 178 lb |
| 6 | 86% | 86 kg | 172 lb |
| 7 | 83% | 83 kg | 167 lb |
| 8 | 81% | 81 kg | 161 lb |
| 9 | 78% | 78 kg | 156 lb |
| 10 | 75% | 75 kg | 150 lb |
| 11 | 72% | 72 kg | 144 lb |
| 12 | 69% | 69 kg | 139 lb |
These figures come from the Brzycki equation, % of 1RM = 102.78 − 2.78 × reps. It is the same formula the calculator below uses, so the chart and the tool will always agree with each other.
Percentages are an estimate. RPE adjusts for the day.
A percentage chart assumes your 1RM is a fixed number. It is not. Your true maximum on any given day moves with sleep, food, stress, how far into a training block you are and what you did yesterday. The chart gives you a starting point; how the set actually feels tells you whether that starting point was right today.
That is what the calculator below adds. Enter your one rep max and the reps you are doing, then set the effort you are aiming for — and it scales the load accordingly, rather than assuming every session is a good one.
Hard — 1 rep left in reserve
Lift this
64kg
≈ 80% of your 1RM · 5 reps @ RPE 90
Estimates are a starting point — adjust to how the bar actually moves on the day. Not medical advice.
Set the effort to 100% and it returns the chart figures above. Dial the effort down and it returns a lighter load for the same rep count, which is what a deload or an off day actually calls for.
How to use percentages in a program
Establish a max you trust. Either a tested single, or one estimated from a heavy set of 3–5 reps. An estimate from a set of 10 will be much less reliable — see below.
Work backwards from the reps. If the session calls for 4 sets of 6, look up 6 reps (86%), apply it to your max, and round to what your plates allow. That rounding is not a rounding error; it is the number you will actually lift, so log it.
Leave headroom on working sets. The chart shows the load you could lift for that many reps at a genuinely maximal effort — the last rep being the last rep you had. Most programmed work should sit below that. A common approach is to take the chart figure for two or three reps more than you are actually doing: for a set of 5, load the 7-rep number (83%) rather than the 5-rep number (89%).
Re-test rather than extrapolate. When the weights start feeling easy across a whole block, update the max instead of nudging percentages up.
Where percentage-based loading breaks down
It is a useful model, not a law of physics. Four situations where it misleads:
- High rep counts. The formula is at its most accurate from 1 to about 6 reps. Past 10 or 12 it drifts, and it drifts differently for different people and different lifts — rep capacity at a given percentage varies a lot with muscle fibre makeup and with how much the lift is limited by technique or by conditioning rather than by strength.
- Novice lifters. If you are still adding weight to the bar every session, your 1RM is out of date within a fortnight. Percentages computed from a max you set a month ago will be too light. Autoregulating by effort works far better here.
- Lift-dependent differences. Most people can do more reps at a given percentage on a leg press or a squat than on a deadlift or an overhead press. One chart across every exercise is a simplification.
- Daily readiness. The single largest source of error. A bad night's sleep can move what 85% feels like by a full RPE point or more, and no chart knows that.
Estimating a 1RM you have never tested
You do not need to attempt a true maximum to use the chart. Run it backwards instead: take a set you took close to failure, look up its rep count, and divide.
If you got 5 solid reps at 80 kg and had essentially nothing left, the chart says that set was about 89% of your max — so your estimated 1RM is 80 ÷ 0.89, or roughly 90 kg.
Two caveats. Use a set of 5 reps or fewer for a reliable estimate; the further out you go, the more the formula drifts. And the set has to have genuinely been near-maximal — an estimate from a set you had three reps left in will substantially understate your max.
Related
- RPE weight calculator — the calculator above, with the full explanation of the RPE scale
- How long should you rest between sets? — the other half of prescribing a working set
- Barbell plate calculator — turn the number into plates on the bar