How Well Can People Guess Their Bench Press Reps Left?
Accuracy of Intraset Repetitions-in-Reserve Predictions During the Bench Press Exercise in Resistance-Trained Male and Female Subjects
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
No relationship between prediction accuracy and sex, training experience, or strength
This contradicts common assumptions that more experienced or stronger lifters would be better at gauging their limits
Practical Takeaways
Consider using RIR (repetitions in reserve) for autoregulating your bench press training
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
No relationship between prediction accuracy and sex, training experience, or strength
This contradicts common assumptions that more experienced or stronger lifters would be better at gauging their limits
Practical Takeaways
Consider using RIR (repetitions in reserve) for autoregulating your bench press training
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Year
2023
Authors
Martin C. Refalo, Jacob F. Remmert, Joshua C. Pelland, Zac P Robinson, Michael C. Zourdos, D. L. Hamilton, J. Fyfe, Eric R. Helms
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Claims (4)
People aren't very good at guessing how close they are to muscle failure when doing many reps of weightlifting.
People who lift weights regularly are pretty good at guessing how many more reps they could do during bench press, usually only off by less than one rep, and they tend to guess a bit too low.
When trained lifters guess how many more reps they could do during bench press, their guesses are equally accurate whether they're guessing 1 rep left or 3 reps left, and this stays the same across different sets and sessions.
This claim says that how well people can guess how many more reps they have left in a workout doesn't depend on whether they're male or female, how long they've been training, or how strong they are at bench pressing relative to their body weight.