Q: Hello Mike, there's a section on the website which asks you to put in your one rep. max. and from this, you can calculate reps etc you need. My question is, does the one rep poundage you should select include weight of the bar as well?

A: Yes, always include the weight of the bar! The standard olympic or powerlifting 7-foot bar which is almost always used in standard bench press and squat/deadlift setups should weigh 45 pounds, though unfortunately I've seen 'light' versions of it as well which makes things confusing. Other bars, such as those used for bicep and tricep exercises weigh less and can vary a lot, typically between 10 to 25 pounds.

If you want to keep accurate track of your weights I recommend you weigh every bar you use by using the scale which almost every gym has. Just weigh yourself, then weigh yourself holding the bar with arms fully extendeded down (so the bar is at the waist level) and subtract one from the other to find the weight of the bar alone.