The Secret To Making Your One Rep Max Your Warmup

I remember it clear as day…

Just over 10 years ago, I went to a high end fitness center (aka a really expensive gym) with a friend and wanted to show off my progress.

We used to go to this same spot here and there, but I had virtually zero strength until I started… you know… taking the gym seriously instead of hitting it for a week then taking months off.

So after I was lifting consistently for a number of months, I build a decent strength base, at least by comparison to where I started.

Back to that day… We had some deadlifts on the menu.

At that time, I had only recently hit 225lbs for what I now know was a sloppy rep or two.

But of course, being 23… I had to show off and pretend I was cool.

Starting off with 135lbs… Check.

Then we went for 185lbs… Check.

Then we attempted 225lbs…

My friend got it, but me?

Abysmal failure.

As I started to pull the weight, I got to about shin height then heard an audible and tactile “POP!” in my lower back…

And that was that.