Programming as a percentage of 1RM is the most common way to prescribe load in strength work. It scales one plan to many athletes, makes progression explicit and makes it easy to compare blocks.
Pick the intensity for the goal
- Around 65–75%: hypertrophy and work capacity, in sets of roughly 6–12.
- Around 75–85%: general strength, in sets of roughly 3–6.
- Around 85–95%: maximal strength, in sets of 1–3.
- Around 30–60% moved fast: speed and power work.
These are guidelines, not laws. Reps achievable at a given percentage vary between athletes and between lifts, and lower-body lifts usually allow more reps than upper-body lifts.
Set the volume
Prilepin’s chart, built from data on Olympic weightlifters, is still a useful starting point for how many total reps to do at each intensity:
- 55–65%: 3–6 reps per set, 18–30 total reps (around 24 is a good target).
- 70–80%: 3–6 reps per set, 12–24 total reps (around 18).
- 80–90%: 2–4 reps per set, 10–20 total reps (around 15).
- 90% and above: 1–2 reps per set, 4–10 total reps (around 7).
For non-weightlifting strength work, many coaches treat these totals as a lower bound and add accessory work around them.
Progress across the block
A simple, reliable pattern for a 4-week block: add 2.5–5% to the main lift each week while trimming a set or a few reps, then deload. For example, a squat could go 4×6 at 72%, 4×5 at 77%, 4×4 at 82%, then a deload week.
Keep the max honest
Percentages are only as good as the 1RM underneath them. If an athlete’s max is out of date, every prescription is off. Update it from fresh tests or estimates at the start of each block, and if the target reps are too easy or impossible on week one, adjust the max rather than fighting the plan for four weeks.
In PeakPlan, set an exercise’s load to percentage-based and the weight for each athlete is calculated automatically from their latest 1RM or e1RM for that exercise.