The MOBSTER III
from the 3/16/24 newsletter . . .
Listen to this excellent interview about Ageism if you’re new to the topic and want a general overview.
What is 1RM Living?
In strength training, a one rep max -- or 1RM -- is the highest load at which you can do only one repetition of an exercise. For example, if the 1RM of my goblet squat is 50lb, that means I can only do one squat while holding 50lb at my chest. If I can do 2 of them, 50lb is not my 1RM anymore. There are formulas for this I won't get into, but say you can do 10 squats holding 15lb, but not a single one more. That means, after a small math calculation, your 1RM would be 20-22lb -- as in you should be able to perform a squat with 20-22lb, one time. When applied to daily life, One Rep Max Living is defined as "When demands of life are near or exceeding one's capacity" (source). That means that you're only strong enough to do one rep of a common life task. For example, let's take lifting a 30lb box of books off the floor. You may not encounter this everyday but it's a task likely enough to show up in life. If you're One Rep Max Living, that means your strength capacity is such that you can only pick that box up and move it one time. If you have to do that multiple times with multiple boxes, you are at risk of engaging in physical activity that's beyond your capacity (which means potential injury, pain, or soreness). What if the box is 40lb? You may not be able to pick it up at all, or if you can, again, you may be at risk because it's above your 1RM trained capacity of 30lb.
Take home message: We want to train BEYOND what our daily life tasks ask of us, not just enough to complete one rep of something. You want to be able to lift 30lb off the floor several times in training so that when you have to do it once or twice at home, it's comfortable and you're not close to your edge.
EXAMPLES OF HOW TO TRAIN AND LIVE BEYOND YOUR ONE REP MAX
I asked a couple of our coaches to demonstrate a 1RM example and how it applies to daily life.
Video 1: Caitlin Casella performs a kettlebell clean. She's performing it with a weight that's very comfortable for her with one hand, that she can do many times. So, when she performs a very similar movement one time with both hands to replace the water jug at her studio, it's no problem.
Video 2: Macklen Mayse, in the second video, performs her 1RM of a pull up -- her bodyweight + 15lb. Imagine she needed to pull herself out of a ditch (hopefully that won't happen) or pull herself out of the pool. If she can pull her bodyweight + 15lb, then pulling up her body weight in a real-life scenario won't be a problem. Her 1RM in training is higher than what she would need in daily life. I don't have a real life example of Macklen but I do of my sister! You'll see her pulling herself up a wall after reaching down to find a key that I accidentally dropped on our downstairs neighbor's roof below. My sister is a climber, so she can easily perform multiple pull-ups or one heavy weighted pull up. Therefore this "daily life" activity was a breeze for her.
Video 3: I'm doing weighted step ups. They're HARD. I did 3 reps holding 40lb on a pretty high step. Then you see me lifting a 40lb jug of water up smaller steps as I carry it from the shed to my apartment. Clunky but totally doable for my legs because my 1RM is a higher load than the physical demand of this daily task.