The 90% rule can be applied to almost anything.
One of the best examples, with particular emphasis on health and well -being, comes from Dr. John Berardi and the crew on Precision diet.
It is simply stated, if you eat “clean” or Follow the rules 90% of the timeGood things tend to happen.
Focusing on most of your diet or nutrition plan on things such as lean meats, vegetables, fruits, “healthy” fat, set, minimally processed foods, “from the grid” 10% of the time and the food you enjoy-free cookies! – It won’t really make such a big difference in the big plan of things.
Life will continue, you will remain more consistent with your plan (and maintain your logic).
The 90% rule can also be applied to Condensation (put the toilet seat below 90% of the time and your spouse or the important other will not want to stab you in the throat) Power and preparation, though in a different context.
I wrote an article on t-ration.com what looks like centuries ago (2006!) With title, quite coincidentally, The 90% rule. Catchy, right?
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In this I discuss how, if your goal is to improve the maximum power, it is important to incorporate lifts into or over 90% of the maximum 1-rep.
Cliff notes version: Lifting of maximum weight (90%+) has some results:
1. The maximum number of engines is hired.
2. The fastest MUs are activated (high -sided engine units).
3. The frequency of discharge (rhythm coding) increases.
4. The activity is modern.
5. Potential for future hypertrophy gains (especially when you return to a particular “hypertrophy” training phase).
6 While some argue if the research is effective – both ways are going – lifting heavy things helps increase serum testosterone levels.
7. Finally, girls (or boys!) Will want to be with you (<=== is science)
How is it applied (weakened version as many)
Let’s say that the Max bench is 275 pounds and the goal for a specific workout is to hit four singles at or over 90%. It may seem something like this:
Bar x anything else
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
250 x 1
265 x 1 (you feel good!
280 x 1 (it was a mill but you got it).
From here, it is important to note that any lift at 90% or above (275 pounds) counts. By doing mathematics, this means every lift that was heavier than 247.5 pounds.
So now we have another left. I would like to choose a clean rep with good speed bar.
260 x 1 (the nailed! Let’s go pound a protein shake).

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The Rule of 90%: 2.0
Hitting lifts that are 90% or above 1RM is not something I would like to recommend for beginners or even most intermediate lifters. It takes a lot of experience and “time under the bar” to get to the point where handling this heavy weight is safe.
To this end, this approach IS NOT Something I support for those who have little training experience (let’s say less than a year of consistent training).
However, this does not mean that we cannot yet apply the authorities to a great impact.
Something I often apply (because I don’t get out of my way to try 1RM from the bat) is the idea of accelerating up to 3 RM (rep max) – for that day – And then using the same approach as above, hitting a certain set of sets at or about 90%.
There is a fair part of self -regulation and “feeling” involved and the results will vary according to the way one feels any day (a) such as the Randy Macho Man Savage after eating 9000 mg of caffeine or b) a bag of pugs), but gets the job.
I will just have someone to work in a provocative triple (set 3) for that dayand then, once they hit it, they aim at the number of sets in “x” in or slightly over 90% of THAT number.
Let them get stuck with the bench. The goal is to hit four sets at or over 90% of 3rm.
Bar x anything else
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3 (the speed of the rod is still good)
245 x 3 (begins to slow down but still passable)
265 x 3 (the last representative was a piece of a mill. We will use it as an indicator or “top set” for the day).
Making mathematics, 90% of 265 is 238.5. Thus, each lift above it counts (245 and 265, respectively).
As always, I would choose for clean, quick repetitions from here and encourage someone to stick to the area 245-255 for the last two sets.
And that is, that
Hopefully this makes sense and, of course, this is a strategy that could be applied to all “big lifts” (squat, deadlift, bench press, chin-up, series). Sorry, Tricep’s clicks are off the list.
Also, I would be conservative with how often it is applied. 1-2 sessions a week would be enough (you might use it for a lower body motion and a moving upper body), but once a week it would be a nice choice for most.
Week 1: Ramp up to 3RM Deadlift, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+
Week 2: Ramp up to a 3rm bench, press 3-5 sets at 90%+
Week 3: Ramp up to 3rm Squat, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+
Week 4: Ramp up to 3RM Deadlift (try to beat your previous number), press 3-5 sets at 90%+
So so on.
Overall, I think this is a much more “user -friendly” way to apply the 90% rule and something that most trainees could easily apply to their training.
Try it and let me know how it goes!
