How Often Should I Max Out?

Answer:

The answer to your question about maxing out is that it can be either good or bad, depending on your goals and/or training level.

I would not recommend it for you if you are a beginning trainer. Maxing out should be reserved for when you have more training experience under your belt, e.g. 6 months to a year.

Without building yourself up to it through regular training, you can injure yourself trying to do a max rep, especially on the bench press.

Maxing out is appropriate for when you are trying to gain strength in your lifts. It teaches your muscles how to fire most efficiently to lift the most weight at once.

For training purposes, you actually will get better strength gains by staying a bit short of your true max so you don't burn out your nervous system or risk injury.

And I would never recommend maxing out every training session.

Find out your One Rep Max here.