Tools
Strength calculators
Four calculators built on the arithmetic TrainDash runs inside a session: the RPE grid it prices every set off, the plate maths it rounds every load with, and the volume landmarks it reads your week against. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere — the numbers stay in your browser. The reasoning behind the first two is written out in RPE, RIR and your 1RM.
Estimated 1RM calculator
Take one hard set — the load, the reps, and how many reps you had left — and read the one-rep max it implies. The conversion is the RTS grid: RPE 10 leaves nothing in the tank, RPE 8 leaves two reps, and each point is worth about 3 % of the bar. The estimate is only as honest as the rating. A set past ten reps, or further than three or four reps from failure, tells you about work capacity, not about your max.
RPE to percentage of 1RM
The same grid, read forwards: pick a rep count and an RPE and get the share of your max that set sits at — and, if you know your max, the load. The published region is reps one to ten at RPE 6.5 to 10. The RPE 6 column and the rows past ten reps are extrapolated, and the chart marks them.
The RPE scale
| RPE | What it means | Reps in reserve |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | No more reps, and no more load | 0 |
| 9.5 | Maybe a little more load, but not another rep | 0–1 |
| 9 | One rep left | 1 |
| 8 | Two reps left | 2 |
| 7 | Three reps left | 3 |
| ≤ 6 | Four or more left — warm-up territory; nothing is read off it | 4+ |
The full chart
Percent of 1RM by reps and RPE. The shaded cells are extrapolated beyond the published grid (reps 11–12, RPE 6) and carry about a point of extra uncertainty.
| Reps | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 9 | 9.5 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 86.3 | 87.7 | 89.2 | 90.7 | 92.2 | 93.9 | 95.5 | 97.8 | 100 |
| 2 | 83.7 | 85 | 86.3 | 87.7 | 89.2 | 90.7 | 92.2 | 93.9 | 95.5 |
| 3 | 81.1 | 82.4 | 83.7 | 85 | 86.3 | 87.7 | 89.2 | 90.7 | 92.2 |
| 4 | 78.6 | 79.8 | 81.1 | 82.4 | 83.7 | 85 | 86.3 | 87.7 | 89.2 |
| 5 | 76.2 | 77.4 | 78.6 | 79.8 | 81.1 | 82.4 | 83.7 | 85 | 86.3 |
| 6 | 73.9 | 75 | 76.2 | 77.4 | 78.6 | 79.8 | 81.1 | 82.4 | 83.7 |
| 7 | 71.7 | 72.8 | 73.9 | 75 | 76.2 | 77.4 | 78.6 | 79.8 | 81.1 |
| 8 | 69.6 | 70.6 | 71.7 | 72.8 | 73.9 | 75 | 76.2 | 77.4 | 78.6 |
| 9 | 67.6 | 68.6 | 69.6 | 70.6 | 71.7 | 72.8 | 73.9 | 75 | 76.2 |
| 10 | 65.6 | 66.6 | 67.6 | 68.6 | 69.6 | 70.6 | 71.7 | 72.8 | 73.9 |
| 11 | 63.7 | 64.7 | 65.6 | 66.6 | 67.6 | 68.6 | 69.6 | 70.6 | 71.7 |
| 12 | 61.8 | 62.7 | 63.7 | 64.7 | 65.6 | 66.6 | 67.6 | 68.6 | 69.6 |
Plate calculator
A load is only real if the bar can hold it. Pick your plates, type a target, and get the closest load you can actually build and the plates to put on each side. It rounds down by default — a prescribed working weight is never exceeded — with nearest and up as the other two conventions.
MEV, MAV and MRV: the weekly volume landmarks
Weekly hard sets are the dose, and the dose has landmarks: the least that does anything (MEV), the range most people grow in (MAV), and the most they recover from (MRV). These are the numbers TrainDash opens every lifter at — per lift, in pattern sets, and per muscle, in direct sets — before their own data moves them. A block starts near MEV, adds a set or two a week, brushes MRV in its last loading week, then deloads.
Per lift
Pattern sets a week — every set that practises the lift, its variations credited fractionally. The deadlift's whole band sits below the bench's, floor included.
| Sets a week | MEV | MAV | MRV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squat | 9 | 14 | 20 |
| Bench press | 10 | 16 | 21 |
| Deadlift | 5 | 10 | 12 |
Per muscle
Direct hard sets a week, with the indirect work compounds contribute already discounted.
| Sets a week | MEV | MAV | MRV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quads | 8 | 14 | 20 |
| Glutes | 6 | 12 | 16 |
| Adductors | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Hamstrings | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| Spinal erectors | 6 | 10 | 16 |
| Lats | 8 | 14 | 20 |
| Upper back and traps | 8 | 16 | 24 |
| Chest | 8 | 14 | 22 |
| Front delts | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| Side delts | 8 | 16 | 26 |
| Rear delts | 6 | 12 | 20 |
| Triceps | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| Biceps | 8 | 14 | 20 |
| Calves | 8 | 16 | 22 |
The direction is what the evidence supports: more hard sets, more growth, with diminishing returns and no measured cliff. The specific landmark numbers are coaching convention, which is why the app keeps them wide and moves them slowly, on months of a lifter's own data.
Why these numbers
Every calculator here is a piece of the coach: the grid prices your sets, the plate maths rounds every load, the landmarks are what your week is read against. RPE, RIR and your 1RM walks through the evidence behind the first two and how the app uses them; the pricing page says what is free and what the program adds.