The Study
Accuracy in Estimating Repetitions to Failure During Resistance Exercise
This study is like taking a single photo of people guessing how many more pushups they can do. It shows some patterns in their guesses but can't prove what causes better or worse guesses because it didn't test different conditions properly.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
People tried to guess how many more times they could lift weights before getting too tired, and scientists checked if they were right.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 529 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes, it shows people are decent at sensing muscle fatigue up close, which could help in training.
- 2Guesses were off by about 1 rep when close to failure (0-5 reps left) and over 2 reps when not close (7-10 left).
- 3Chest guesses were better than leg guesses.
- 4Men guessed legs better than women.
- 5Experience didn't help guessing.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Year
2017
Authors
D. Hackett, S. Cobley, T. Davies, Scott Michael, M. Halaki
Related Content
Claims (5)
When people are lifting weights and getting really tired, they're pretty good at guessing how many more reps they can do if they're almost done—only off by about one rep. But if they could do a few more, their guess is less accurate, off by more than two reps.
People are better at guessing how many chest press reps they can do before getting tired compared to leg press reps, with guesses being off by only about one rep for chest press but more for leg press.
When doing leg press exercises, men are better at guessing how many reps they can do before getting tired compared to women, but for chest press exercises, there's no difference between men and women in guessing this.
Whether you're new to lifting weights or have been doing it for years, you're just as good at guessing how many more reps you can do before your muscles give out.
People aren't very good at guessing how close they are to muscle failure when doing many reps of weightlifting.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.