Newbie Q's Help!!!!

[chickenmonkey05]

Here's my situation: I haven't worked out in a month and the strength that I had to do 150'sx10 easily is no longer in my body and I struggle to do 115'sx10. I decided to do this program and found my maxes for 15's, 10's and 5's. Since i didn't workout for a month isn't that sort of a SD? And won't the maxes that i found be useless since I'm bound to regain my strength back while on the program?
And when finding maxes, say your maxes for db military press for 15's were 37.5lbs, and you tried 45lbs for 10 reps but couldn't do it, does that mean i'll have to use 40lbs which i can do more than 10 times since the increment doesn't allow me to do so? Sorry for the long post and questions. but i just want to do this right!

 

[baby a]

You need to SD again after finding your maxes. If you think you will regain some strenght, then you may want to make your maxes one increment higher than you tested. But remember, failure is not necessary for growth.

 

[chickenmonkey05]

So i'll need to rest 9-14 days right? and the maxes that i found won't be useless even though i'll regain my strength right? and can someone answer the question about the max?

 

[baby a]

What question about the max?

 

[Old and Grey]

If, for instance, when you get to your 4th workout in any given rep scheme, you find you understimated your rep max, simply adjust it higher over the next two workouts.

 

[chickenmonkey05]

One more question. How accurate does your maxes have to be? For example, I attempted to use 45lbs for db militar press for 10 reps, but i failed at around 8 reps, so my max will be 40lbs for 10 reps since the next lower weight to 45lbs is 40lbs but i can do more the 10 reps with 40lbs. I'm confused??

 

[baby a]

Quote[/b] (chickenmonkey05 @ July 18 2005,2:23)]One more question. How accurate does your maxes have to be? For example, I attempted to use 45lbs for db militar press for 10 reps, but i failed at around 8 reps, so my max will be 40lbs for 10 reps since the next lower weight to 45lbs is 40lbs but i can do more the 10 reps with 40lbs. I'm confused??  

Didn't you say that you anticipate gaining back some previous strength? Either way, like I said above, it isn't necessary to go to failure to induce growth response so don't worry about it so much. It's ok to use lighter weights, especailly if you use proper form.

 

[jvroig]

Heya chickenmonkey05

Quote[/b] ] One more question. How accurate does your maxes have to be?

The good news is: it doesn't have to be pinpoint perfectly accurate! And much better, you don't have to punish yourself by erring heavier - the best thing is to err on lighter weights (I mean, if you had to choose between a weight you can't seem to handle perfectly (like your 45 lbs) and a weight you seem to be able to lift more than needed (40 lbs in your example), just use the lighter weight (40 lbs&#33.
But what if things start to get so easy because you really underestimated your rep maxes? Simple, just increase them a tad. Or if that isn't possible, increase the volume a tad.
Don't worry, after a few weeks of experience, you'll have it nailed down.  
Hope this helps. Good luck!  
- JV