As an athlete in my mid-40s, I recognize that I have to be more cautious about my training than when I was younger. It takes quite a bit longer to recover from a hard workout or an injury than it did twenty years ago. But that doesn’t mean I want to back down from goals of getting stronger. While working towards those goals, I want to be careful about pushing too hard and I often workout alone and have to rely on whoever happens to be in the gym to act as a spotter. This isn’t conducive to attempting a true one-rep max lift. However, regularly testing for a one-rep max using this calculator allows me to measure progress in a safe manner that reduces the risk of injury and the associated lengthy recover.