Testing your Strength, instead of Building it

There is a BIG difference between testing your strength and building strength.
One of the biggest mistakes I see - especially among high school and college kids - is that they test their strength each week, instead of focussing on building it. I used to see this scene every Monday when I worked in the health club setting -- A bunch of skinny high school kids walk in the gym (wearing wife beaters); they do the classic "triceps stretch" for about 2 seconds each arm, then they throw 135 pounds on the bench. On average, they bang out 4-6 reps each. Then they throw on 185. The bar free-falls down onto their concaved chests as their legs flop around like fish out of water; by the grace of God, many of the kids are able to squeeze out one painful-looking rep. Then, every single week, 225 pounds gets thrown on the bar. Most of you probably know how the story ends. Every single kid gets crushed by the weight, then they repeat the process one or two more times - (while getting crushed worse each time) - before moving onto the next exercise. This takes place, week after week, month after month, year after year... with the exact same weights! In other words; kids who "test" their strength in this fashion always end up with the same "test results"!
Building strength requires more volume than just one "set" in which you get buried! Generally speaking, you want to perform multiple sets of low reps with 75% - 95% of your 1RM. Make sure you have a plan before heading to the gym and you're progressing each week. And make sure you're being honest regarding your 1RM when working with percentages! If you base your weights on a false 1RM, your training weights are going to be too heavy, which will lead to forced reps...and hopefully you now know how I feel about forced reps!