Free Tool
Weightlifting Percentage Chart
Enter your one-rep max and get every working weight from 100% down to 30%, with the reps and training zone for each row. Run one lift or all four big lifts at once.
Your training max
Every row below scales off the number you entered. When your training moves, come back and update it, or the chart quietly drifts away from your real strength.
Loads from 100% to 30%
Rounded to the nearest 5 lb. The reps column shows what an all-out set at that percentage usually costs.
| % | Reps | Zone | Load (lb) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | 1 | Max strength | 315 |
| 95% | 2 | Max strength | 300 |
| 90% | 3-4 | Max strength | 285 |
| 85% | 5-6 | Strength | 270 |
| 80% | 7-8 | Strength | 250 |
| 75% | 8-10 | Strength + size | 235 |
| 70% | 10-12 | Strength + size | 220 |
| 65% | 12-15 | Size | 205 |
| 60% | 15-20 | Size | 190 |
| 55% | 20+ | Endurance | 175 |
| 50% | 20+ | Endurance | 160 |
| 45% | 25+ | Endurance | 140 |
| 40% | 25+ | Endurance | 125 |
| 35% | 30+ | Endurance | 110 |
| 30% | 30+ | Endurance | 95 |
Methodology: each load is your entered max multiplied by the row percentage and rounded to the nearest 5 lb or 2.5 kg. The reps column uses widely accepted landmarks, with 100% as a true single, 85% costing about 5 to 6 reps, and 70% costing about 10 to 12. Zones follow standard coaching practice for the dominant adaptation at each intensity. Real rep performance varies by lift and by lifter, so treat the reps and zones as guides and adjust by what the bar gives you.
What each zone trains
Work above 90% is practice at producing maximum force. The sets are short, the rest periods are long, and the adaptation lives mostly in your nervous system recruiting more muscle at once. Drop into the 80 to 85% range and the sets stretch to 5 to 8 reps, which still builds serious strength while adding enough volume to grow the muscle doing the work.
Between 60 and 75% the weight stays meaningful and the reps climb into double digits, the territory where most muscle building happens. Below 60% the load gets light enough that sets run past 15 or 20 reps, and the training effect shifts toward work capacity and local endurance. Most productive programs spend the week moving through several of these zones rather than camping in one.
Percentages age faster than you think
A percentage chart is a snapshot of one day. Strength you tested eight weeks ago has already moved if your training is working, so every row computed from that old max quietly underloads you. The reverse happens after a layoff or a hard diet, where the chart overreaches and grinds your sets to a halt.
Refresh the max behind the chart on a regular rhythm, monthly for newer lifters who gain fast, and every couple of months once progress slows. A heavy set of 3 to 5 gives you a fresh estimate without the cost of a true max attempt. Between updates, let bar speed and reps in reserve tell you whether the printed numbers still match reality.
FAQ
Percentage Chart Questions
Common questions about training off your max
The reps column follows the consensus relationship between percentage of one-rep max and reps to failure, the same landmarks behind the charts strength coaches have used for decades. Your 85% load should cost most lifters 5 or 6 all-out reps. The zones describe the adaptation each intensity drives best, drawn from standard exercise science practice.
Because lifters differ. Muscle fiber mix, training age, and the lift itself all shift how many reps you can squeeze from a given percentage. One lifter grinds out 3 reps at 90% while another manages 5. Use the ranges as a sanity check for your own bar, and pay attention to where you personally land over a few weeks of training.
Most growth work lives between 60% and 80%, where sets can run long enough to accumulate real volume while the weight stays heavy enough to demand effort. Take those sets within a few reps of failure and the muscle gets the message. Heavier strength work above 85% still builds muscle, it just costs more recovery per set, so programs sprinkle it in rather than lean on it.
The chart calibrates best for the squat and bench. Deadlifts usually produce fewer reps at a given percentage because each rep starts from a dead stop with no stretch to help you. Overhead pressing fades fast above 85% since the smaller musculature has less reserve. Expect those two lifts to sit a rep or two under the chart values.
Every four to eight weeks for most lifters. Your chart is only as good as the max behind it, and a max from three months ago quietly makes every row too light. You can estimate a fresh max from any hard set of 3 to 5 reps with our 1RM calculator, which saves you a fatiguing true test.
RPE and percentages describe the same thing from opposite directions. A percentage tells you the weight and implies the effort, while RPE tells you the effort and lets the weight follow. Many programs blend them, prescribing a top set by RPE and back-off work by percentage. Our RPE calculator converts between the two systems.
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