Attempt selection
Nine attempts from three numbers. Enter a recent best single for each lift and get an opener you will make, a second worth counting on, and a third worth trying. Then run it backwards from a total you are chasing.
Recent bests
A set you have actually hit in the last few weeks. A single at RPE 10 is a true max; anything else is estimated from it, so a comfortable triple and a grinding one stop counting the same.
For the score (optional)
Your attempts
Three brackets per lift. Take the bold third if the second flew, the cautious one if it ground. “Plan around” on the left picks which column the projected total assumes.
Chasing a total
How these are picked
These percentages are coaching convention, not measurement. No study fixes an opener at 90%. What everyone agrees on is the shape:
- Opener: a weight you would make on your worst day. It exists to get you on the board, not to score.
- Second: roughly today's realistic max. This is usually the attempt that decides your total.
- Third: the weight you are actually trying to add. Missing it costs nothing you had already banked.
The deadlift opens relatively lower than the squat, because a missed or ground-out deadlift costs more than either of the others. Attempts always rise by at least your chosen increment. That part is a rule, not a preference.