More meets are lost to a missed opener than to a missed third attempt. Picking your three attempts well is a skill in itself, separate from how strong you actually are on the day.
The classic percentage bands
A common starting framework, built around your best current estimate of your true 1RM on meet day:
- Opener: ~90–91% — a weight you are essentially certain to make even on an off day. Its only job is to get a number on the board and build confidence for what follows.
- 2nd attempt: ~95–96% — a solid, competition-tested weight, typically close to or matching a recent training PR.
- 3rd attempt: ~100–103% — your PR attempt, chosen based on how the first two attempts actually felt, not just the plan you walked in with.
Why the opener matters more than it seems
A missed opener doesn’t just cost you a lift — it forces your 2nd attempt to also serve as an opener, compressing your whole meet and usually costing you a shot at a real 3rd-attempt PR. Conservative openers feel unsatisfying in the warm-up room but consistently produce better meets than aggressive ones.
Reading the room (and the bar)
Your attempt plan should be a starting point, not a contract. If your opener moved noticeably faster than expected, there’s room to push the 2nd attempt harder than planned. If it grinded, that’s real information — a conservative 2nd attempt that you make is worth more than an aggressive one you miss, both for your total and for your third-attempt confidence.
Different strategies for different goals
If you’re chasing qualifying totals or need every kilogram, a more aggressive attempt selection makes sense. If you’re newer to competition or your main goal is a clean, confidence-building meet, banking conservative, makeable lifts and building from there will usually serve you better long-term.
Plan your attempts against your own estimated max with our Attempt Selection Calculator, which lets you toggle between conservative, standard, and aggressive strategies.