In competitive lifting sports, there is a strategy called "peaking" for the day of the event. It takes weeks to cultivate the skill of a "one rep max" ("1RM") output and prepare your body for it's ultimate performance. However, this event is a short lived "peak" and very quickly the ability to display strength in this way disappears.
Translating this for everyday gym-goers who lift means that no, you probably won't be able to hit a new 1RM on a random day. You have to spend a few weeks preparing to do so, unless you've built considerable amounts more strength than before. This is why it's really difficult for more seasoned lifters to hit frequent 1RMs, they haven't gotten so significantly stronger that they can display that on a random given day. In fact, trying to can actually put you into such a recovery deficit that it can throw off your lifting for several days.
When you are training, you are engaging in activity that you hope builds muscle. Taking a 1RM attempt is a display of strength, but does not build strength. Typically, building more strength requires a few sets of 3-5 reps at a weight that is heavy for the lifter. When going through the training process, many people erroneously prescribe a percentage of their lifetime personal record (PR) 1RM to their work sets. Usually, this PR will have taken place after weeks of peaking, which makes the training fall apart, but your lifetime PR 1RM and your current 1RM are different.
Your 1RM in the middle of your training block is not the same as your 1RM on the day of your peak. It's helpful to knock a bit off of your top number when prescribing percentages to your working sets. So what percentage should you use if you are going off a percentage-based program? Usually, around 95% is good. For example, if you squatted 400 pounds for the first time in your life six weeks ago, treat 380-385 pounds as your current 1RM and train based on that. This will prevent you from falling into an awful training cycle and allow progress to continue.
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