How heavy can you lift? Let’s find out.
MFC 1RM Challenge 2026
How strong are you?
All gym goers are interested in finding out how heavy they can lift. In short how strong they are. A safe way to find out how strong you are is to find a weight you could push to failure with 5 repetitions. The One Rep Max.is then predicted by using a formula.
The 5RM Protocol
Your 1RM can be safely predicted by adopting a standard protocol. The MFC 1RM Protocol is designed to identify your 5 Rep Max. That is to find the weight at which you fail on the sixth repetition. An adequate warm up is required. This is also a mental exercise.
We advise gym goers to do the 5RM protocol strictly under Instructor supervision. The gym will not be responsible for injuries sustained by doing this protocol without instructor supervision.
Scoring
We used the Bench Press to assess competitor’s 5RM and adopted the Brzycki formula to predict 1RM. Your strength is reflected by the multiple of your body weight of your predicted 1RM. Scoring was done for the three age groups who participated in this 1st Edition. Each age group was scored separately based on validated norms for those age groups. Please note scores for women are different.
The One Rep Max Challenge
We conducted our first One Rep Max Challenge at our gym on 8 July 2026. Nine members between ages 28 to 48 years participated. All were men! Competitors were placed in following age groups.
Youth age group 18-29 (one competitor), Adult age group 30-39 years (six competitors), Older Adult age group 40-49 years (two competitors)
The 1RM, Strength Score and Strength Category of the competitors are as follows. Refer Table 2 below.
Table 2. MFC 1RM Challenge strength scores (men), 8 July 2026
Results
As you can see, members at the MFC are mostly in the Novice category with 56% of competitors classified at this level and 44% of competitors classified at the Intermediate level of strength.
While the Youth Group was won by a Novice, the Adult and the Older Adult groups were won by Intermediate level strength athletes.
Future editions
The challenge is open to MFC Members, and we welcome more members to participate in future editions of this challenge. We also welcome women members to join. The next two editions are scheduled as follows;
2026, Edition 2 on Wed 4 Nov in the last quarter
2027 Edition 3 on Wed 3 Feb before Ramazan.
Students of Batch 31 who assisted in the 1RM Challenge
Male’ Fitness Academy
This edition was conducted with the assistance of academy students from the Batch 31 of the National Certificate III Fitness Instructor course. This exercise was designed as a learning experience as part of their practicals. I thank all students for their excellent contribution.
Batch 32 is scheduled to start on 29 Aug 2026 and registration deadline is 20 Aug. Please click this link to register.
