Men & Women Strength Standards: How Strong Are You?

Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S

Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute

FACT CHECKED

Updated On: August 14, 2024

With the state of social media (hello Instagram and Facebook), there has been a massive influx of men and women frolicking about with crazy chiseled bodies who preach they’re “100% natty”, who only follow this “secret diet”, and definitely do not use any trick photography. If you were to compare yourself to these people, your idea of strength standards would be tragically flawed leaving you feeling helpless.

While you shouldn’t be obsessed with others anyways, knowing how strong you are compared to others real lifters is an excellent way to gauge your progress and can even give you some concrete goals. Or, if you’re lucky, you may find that you’re actually not as weak as you once thought. Today we want to go over the average strength standards for lifters to see how you stack up. However, this isn’t just for vanity. In this article, you will learn:

Where you should be with your training age.
What is “genetic” potential?
Strength standards for major barbell lifts.
Strength standards for major body weight movements.
Strength standards for men.
Strength standards for women.
How to jump to the next strength level.

how strong am I

A Reality Check For Strength Standards

Before we even get into how your strength compares to others, we first need to address that you are already in the top 95% just for asking this question. When we go over the numbers below, you need to realize that these are how you stack up to other lifters, not to society as a whole. Taking a quick look at industry standards will reveal that you’re already kicking ass and in better shape than the vast majority of the population if you go to the gym regularly. Below are some general statistics to illustrate this concept

Approximately 21% of the population belong to a health gym of some sort.
Of this 21%, 63% of the members NEVER go to the gym.
Of the members remaining, only about 18% go to the gym more than once a week.
This means approximately 4% of the population goes to a gym regularly.

If you assume that this 4% includes some elderly, group class only trainees, and those just looking for essential fitness, the percentage of the population actually engaged in strength training is very small. You belong to that group of select individuals, so that in itself is an accomplishment.

What Is “Genetic Potential”?

The first thing we need to discuss when speaking of strength standards is a thing known as “genetic potential.” In a nutshell, the genetic potential is the maximum level of strength that you can obtain naturally without pharmacological enhancement. In reality, the genetic potential also refers to other factors such as muscle hypertrophy. In other words, you will reach a limit where it doesn’t matter what you do; you are not going to get any stronger or bigger. Think of obtaining maximal strength as reaching your maximum height; it’s just that it takes quite a bit longer to reach your maximum strength, AND you have to bust your ass.

Your genetic potential can be determined by an array of things that are entirely out of your hand. For example, the insertion of your muscles can make a massive difference in how strong you are. If your insertions are farther away from a joint, you’re going to be able to generate more force with the same amount of muscle. The opposite is true if your insertions are closer to the joint. Albeit from surgically altering this, there is nothing you can do about it.

One compelling example is the MTSN gene or “Hercules Gene:. This gene has been discovered by scientists to control how much myostatin you produce, which ultimately influences how much muscle mass you can grow. This is a safety measure as your bones and joints can only handle a certain amount of muscle mass without causing injury. However, if you have a mutated MTSN gene, your body produces less myostatin, allowing your body to grow more muscle. In fact, Pro Strongman and former holder of the deadlift world record (500kg) Eddie Hall revealed that he actually has this Hercules Gene! Again, you either get it or you don’t.

So how much of a role do genetics play? It’s hard for researchers to give an exact answer, but some studies suggest 30-50% estimates. So what does this mean? It means you need to bust your ass just as hard as everyone else and reach your full potential.

To be clear, this is NOT an excuse to be lazy. While you may not have optimal genes to be a top athlete, you can still be better than you were yesterday.

strength standards for men

How Long Does It Take To Get Strong?

Getting strong doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, it will take years to start hitting advanced numbers. But how long until you start getting “decent numbers”?. Well, the good news is that when you begin lifting, you will see gains very fast. Like really fast. For instance, It’s common to see brand new trainees literally get stronger throughout a session. As a whole, the vast majority of people will be considerably stronger in just 6-12 months. In fact, some trainees will double their strength in the first year alone.

How can that be? Well, strength gains come from improving your neurological systems. In a nutshell, this means that you take the muscle you have and train it to work better together. This can happen through various mechanisms, such as increased firing rate and improving muscle fiber recruitment.

This improvement of the neuromuscular system gives birth to the phenomena known as “newbie gains”. This is when a trainee first begins lifting, and because the stimulus is so new, they can gain strength immediately. Going back to the concept of genetic potential, you are at the very bottom, so improving is incredibly easy.

You see, moving closer towards your max genetic potential is not consistent. In other words, it gets increasingly difficult to improve as you progress. Pretend a line is 100ft long and let it represent your genetic potential. Now, pretend that you want to travel the entire line using multiple trips, but you can only travel 50% of the distance per trip. Therefore, on your first trip, you travel 50% of the way or 50 ft. You now have 50ft left, so you travel another 50% of the distance, which is 25ft. You now have 25ft left, so you travel another 50% which is 12.5 feet...6.75 ft...3.375ft….and so on. While you could travel 50% of the entire distance on the first trip, you couldn’t cross the other 50% after 4 more trips.

That being said, the best way to think about improved neuromuscular control is learning to ride your bike. AT first, you were falling all over the palace and maybe even broke a bone or two. However, after you did it more, your muscles learned how to fire to remain balanced and then you were able to ride faster and turn without even thinking about it. This improved skill is because of your neuromuscular system. The same thing happens at the gym, except your muscles learn to lift a heavy barbell rather than balancing on two wheels.

A study from 2016 illustrated this beautifully. It examined a 20-24 week resistance training program for untrained individuals. At the end of the study, they found that while there was only a 5% increase in muscle growth, there was a 21% increase in strength. Even still, they approximated only about 2.5% of the increase in strength was attributed to muscle growth. Still, going back to genetic potential, they found that 30% of the subjects were low responders in muscle size, 7% were low responders to muscle hypertrophy, and 3% were low responders to both strength and muscle hypertrophy. Another great example to illustrate this information should be taken as a general guide.

The other lesson from the above study is the fact that muscle growth happens very slowly. This is important as there is a relationship between the cross-section area of a muscle and strength. In other words, a bigger muscle can be a stronger muscle. Therefore, you will need to accumulate more muscle to “train” to be stronger.

That being said, below is the general guideline we will use to determine where your strength levels are. To be clear, these levels refer to those who have been following a structured program with progressive overload. If you have just been going to the gym and throwing weight around, that’s great if it keeps you happy and in the gym. However, you can not expect to lift all nilly-willy and grow at the same rate (except for beginners).

Brand New: 0-3 months

The brand lifter is the person who has never been to the gym and has just begun their fitness journey. You can basically just touch a dumbbell and get stronger as any stimulus is enough to increase your strength during this stage. That being said, your main goal during this stage should be improving your form and getting used to using the equipment. At the same time, this is a great time to assess your athleticism and body control.

Beginner: 3 months- 1 year

The beginner stage is when you’re able to start loading weight on the barbell and start getting some numbers on the board. During this time frame, if you are using progressive overload correctly (making small jumps), you are still able to progress relatively easily using a simple linear progression program for progressive overload. This simply means you stay in the same rep range and place a bit heavier weight on the barbell. While you may not jump weight for every movement every session, you are able to knock out at least another rep.

Intermediate: 1-3 years

In the intermediate stage, things start to get interesting. This is where a trainee will find out if they’re the real deal or not. Two things can happen during this stage:

Drop Out: At this point, lifting stops becoming fun if you expect to progress every session. While this started to occur during the beginner stage, slowing of progression is definitely noticeable at this point. This can frustrate people, and they stop going.
Stop Progressing: Again, progressing gets much more difficult at this point. While you have likely already developed a decent amount of strength in the last year, it’s going to get considerably harder to continue. Basically, some trainees continue going to the gym but never seek out the knowledge they need to get past these plateaus, OR they just don’t put in the effort.

Well, actually three things can happen and you want the third option….keep going. This means that during this stage, you’re going to have to start taking training a bit more seriously. You’ll need to follow a structured plan with periodization, bust your ass in the gym, and have your nutrition in check. You need to start getting used to not setting PR’s in the gym every session and be willing to continue training.

Advance: 3-5 years

Advanced lifters are the ones who have stuck with the sport of lifting and have trained consistently for 3-5 years. Lifting is likely a primary goal in their life, and they have put in the time, effort, and sweat in the gym. When you get to the advanced stage, you work for months just to add a couple lbs to your PR.

Elite 5+ years

Elite is advanced just further along. You are nearing or at your genetic potential. There’s a good chance you’ll never lift more than you are at this point. You may work an entire year just to 5lbs to your bench press. Very few people reach this level, even the dedicated.

strength standards for women

What Lifts Should You Measure?

There are a lot of lifts that you can measure, but it can get a bit silly measuring every single movement. Therefore, we are going to rely on 4 major barbell movements and 4 bodyweight movements. Together these 8 lifts will give you a great overall picture of how you compare in terms of both strength and fitness when compared to others. Not only should you focus on getting strong, you should also aim to improve athleticism and your body composition.

Absolute Strength Vs Relative Strength

When examining the different movements, you need to know the difference between absolute strength and relative strength. Absolute strength is simply the max amount of weight that you can move on the barbell. On the other hand, relative strength is the weight you move compared to your body weight.

For example, let’s say you’re 150lbs and can squat 150lbs. Your absolute strength would measure the pounds you lift i.e. 150lbs. Relative strength would compare that weight to your body weight meaning 150/150= 1.0. Therefore you have a squat of 1X bodyweight. Therefore, when the consequences are given, we will list the relative body weight % as well.

In addition, the bodyweight movements by themselves are excellent indicators of relative strength, except they will start creeping into endurance rather than absolute strength, especially the push ups and bodyweight squats. Regardless, when examining your performance, take everything into account, not just your best lift or your worst lift.

BENCH PRESS

The bench press is the best movement to measure your upper body pushing strength. Not only does it use a lot of muscle mass, anybody who has been lifting for any length of time should be very familiar with this movement. This means you can’t blame “I never do this movement” to explain a low score.

OVERHEAD PRESS

The overhead press is going to demonstrate your vertical pressing power. It’s still essential to gauge yourself, but many people don’t train this movement properly or give it the necessary time to get advanced. For example, on the website Strenthlevel.com, the bench press has over 13 million entries, while the overhead press only has 1.9 million. That being said, if you do practice the overhead press regularly, there’s a good chance you will score higher than other movements.

SQUAT

There’s an obvious reason why we will be comparing squats. It’s the king of lower body exercises, and performance on the squat indicates your overall training style.

DEADLIFT

The last barbell movement we will measure is the deadlift. Similar to the squat, there’s an obvious choice as to why we want to compare this movement. Everyone does it, and it is generally considered the best indicator of overall body strength.

PUSH UPS

We will also compare bodyweight exercises starting with pushups for upper body muscular endurance.

PULL UPS

Pull-ups are the ideal body weight movement to test your upper body pulling strength. Again, everyone does them, and they are a great indicator of strength and muscular endurance.

DIPS

Another great upper body pushing movement to test your pushing strength is the dip. However, these differ from pushups as you actually need to lift your entire body weight. Plus, we listed them because if you’re not doing them, you need to start.

BODYWEIGHT SQUATS

Bodyweight squats will test your lower body endurance. This will allow you to compare your lower body muscular endurance and compare to your deadlift and squat strength.

How To Test Your 1RM?

Before you judge where you stand compared to others, you first need to know your approximate 1RM for these movements. Here’s how you’re going to do that.

Testing 1RM For Barbell Lifts:

You have two options when testing your 1RM; performing a true 1RM test or using a rep calculator.

Testing Your True 1RM

Testing your true 1RM merely has you work up to your max lift. While some will suggest this is dangerous, it’s perfectly safe as long as you use your brain. Regardless, even using a rep calculator, like below, you will still require you to work to a max lift meaning there’s still a risk of injury as you’ll be fatigued. That being said, if you choose to find your true 1RM, you need to be sure you have experience lifting heavy weights and should be reserved for those with at least 1 year of training. The process will look like this. set 1- set 4 rest 2:00. From set 4 on, rest 3:00 or longer if needed.

Set 1: 10 reps with only the bar
Set 2: 10-reps with approx 50% 1RM
Set 3: 5 reps with approx 70% 1RM
Set 4: 5 reps with approx 80% 1RM
Set 5: 2 reps with approx 90% 1RM
Set 6: Dependent on how set 5 felt, add weight for 1 rep
Set 7: Don’t this process until you find your 1RM

Using A Rep Calculator

The same principles apply as above, it’s just the method changes. Instead of finding your true 1RM, you will use a rep calculator that will give you an approximate 1 rep max based on how many reps you can lift a weight. We suggest using one of these 1RM calculations.

There are two ways you can do this but for either method, keep in mind that using a lower rep range will be more accurate than a higher rep range. This means that to get the most suitable number, find a max for no more than 5 reps.

Find a max for a specific rep range: This has you follow the same exact process as the 1RM process, except you will use a specified rep number such as 3 reps or 4 reps.
Choose a weight and see how many times you can rep it: This method has several advantages over using a specific rep range as it can seriously cut down on fatigue. Instead of using a rep scheme, you will warm up and choose a weight you think you can perform 2-5 reps with. As you have more reps to play with, you will likely find your max with fewer tries. One great tip for this is judging the first rep. If it feels light and you think you could do more than 5, stop right there rather than fatigue yourself. You can then rest and approximate a suitable weight.

Remember that this is not a competition for either method, so you don’t need to find your “do or die” true 1RM max. You know how much difference just 5lbs can make if you have lifted before, even on a heavy deadlift. However, when looking at the strength standards, 5lbs isn’t going to make or break you. For example, let’s say a strength standard for your bench press is 200lbs. Whether you lift 195lbs or 205lbs, you’re still going to say you’re about even with the average. Plus, in your head, you know that you probably could have lifted a little bit more. The main point is to not stress too much about finding an exact number and hurting yourself.

Testing 1RM For Body Weight Lifts:

This is a lot more straightforward. After you do your warm-up, you will see how many reps you can do in one set. While you can rest, you cannot let go of the bar or put your knees on the ground.

weight lifting strength chart

Strength Standards: How Strong Am I? (See Charts Below For How You Compare)

As there are no standards for strength standards (a bit of an oxymoron), different sites will report other numbers. For these strength numbers, we are using information from strengthlevel.com. This is an excellent source as they allow regular lifters to upload their data. Assuming no one is lying, this takes information from real lifters and creates a database. These are the strength standards for men and women for the above 8 exercises. You will also see the barbell movements have a relative strength score using their bodyweight.

Strength Standards For Bench Press Strength (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
130	71 x0.54	106 x0.82	151 x1.17	205 x1.57	263 x2.02
140	80 x0.57	118 x0.84	166 x1.18	221 x1.58	281 x2.01
150	90 x0.6	130 x0.87	179 x1.2	237 x1.58	299 x1.99
160	100 x0.62	141 x0.88	193 x1.2	252 x1.57	316 x1.98
170	109 x0.64	152 x0.9	206 x1.21	267 x1.57	333 x1.96
180	118 x0.66	163 x0.91	218 x1.21	281 x1.56	348 x1.94
190	127 x0.67	174 x0.91	230 x1.21	295 x1.55	364 x1.92
200	136 x0.68	184 x0.92	242 x1.21	308 x1.54	379 x1.89
210	145 x0.69	194 x0.93	254 x1.21	321 x1.53	393 x1.87
220	153 x0.7	204 x0.93	265 x1.21	334 x1.52	407 x1.85
230	162 x0.7	214 x0.93	276 x1.2	347 x1.51	421 x1.83
240	170 x0.71	223 x0.93	287 x1.2	359 x1.49	434 x1.81
250	178 x0.71	233 x0.93	298 x1.19	370 x1.48	447 x1.79

Strength Standards For Bench Press Strength (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
90	19 x0.21	40 x0.44	70 x0.78	109 x1.21	154 x1.71
100	23 x0.23	46 x0.46	78 x0.78	119 x1.19	166 x1.66
110	27 x0.25	52 x0.47	86 x0.78	128 x1.17	177 x1.61
120	32 x0.26	58 x0.48	93 x0.78	137 x1.14	187 x1.56
130	36 x0.27	63 x0.49	100 x0.77	145 x1.12	197 x1.51
140	40 x0.28	68 x0.49	107 x0.76	153 x1.1	206 x1.47
150	44 x0.29	73 x0.49	113 x0.75	161 x1.07	215 x1.43
160	47 x0.3	78 x0.49	119 x0.74	168 x1.05	223 x1.39
170	51 x0.3	83 x0.49	125 x0.74	175 x1.03	231 x1.36
180	55 x0.3	88 x0.49	131 x0.73	182 x1.01	239 x1.33
190	58 x0.31	92 x0.49	136 x0.72	188 x0.99	246 x1.3
200	62 x0.31	97 x0.48	141 x0.71	195 x0.97	253 x1.27
210	65 x0.31	101 x0.48	147 x0.7	201 x0.96	260 x1.24
220	69 x0.31	105 x0.48	152 x0.69	207 x0.94	267 x1.21

Strength Standards For Overhead Press Strength (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
130	44 x0.34	68 x0.52	99 x0.76	136 x1.04	176 x1.35
140	50 x0.36	76 x0.54	108 x0.77	146 x1.04	188 x1.34
150	56 x0.37	83 x0.55	117 x0.78	156 x1.04	199 x1.33
160	62 x0.39	90 x0.56	125 x0.78	166 x1.04	210 x1.32
170	68 x0.4	97 x0.57	134 x0.79	176 x1.03	221 x1.3
180	74 x0.41	104 x0.58	142 x0.79	185 x1.03	231 x1.29
190	79 x0.42	111 x0.58	150 x0.79	194 x1.02	241 x1.27
200	85 x0.43	118 x0.59	157 x0.79	202 x1.01	251 x1.26
210	91 x0.43	124 x0.59	165 x0.78	211 x1.00	260 x1.24
220	96 x0.44	130 x0.59	172 x0.78	219 x1.00	270 x1.23
230	101 x0.44	136 x0.59	179 x0.78	227 x0.99	278 x1.21
240	106 x0.44	142 x0.59	186 x0.77	235 x0.98	287 x1.2
250	112 x0.45	148 x0.59	193 x0.77	242 x0.97	295 x1.18

Strength Standards For Overhead Press Strength (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
90	17 x0.19	31 x0.35	51 x0.57	76 x0.85	104 x1.16
100	20 x0.2	35 x0.35	56 x0.56	82 x0.82	111 x1.11
110	22 x0.2	38 x0.35	60 x0.55	87 x0.79	117 x1.07
120	25 x0.21	42 x0.35	65 x0.54	92 x0.77	123 x1.03
130	27 x0.21	45 x0.35	68 x0.53	97 x0.74	128 x0.99
140	30 x0.21	48 x0.34	72 x0.52	101 x0.72	134 x0.95
150	32 x0.21	51 x0.34	76 x0.51	106 x0.7	139 x0.92
160	34 x0.21	54 x0.34	79 x0.5	110 x0.69	143 x0.89
170	36 x0.21	57 x0.33	83 x0.49	114 x0.67	148 x0.87
180	39 x0.21	59 x0.33	86 x0.48	117 x0.65	152 x0.84
190	41 x0.21	62 x0.33	89 x0.47	121 x0.64	156 x0.82
200	43 x0.21	64 x0.32	92 x0.46	124 x0.62	160 x0.8
210	45 x0.21	67 x0.32	95 x0.45	128 x0.61	164 x0.78
220	46 x0.21	69 x0.31	98 x0.44	131 x0.59	167 x0.76

Strength Standards For Deadlift Strength (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
130	123 x0.95	177 x1.36	243 x1.87	321 x2.47	404 x3.11
140	138 x0.98	194 x1.39	264 x1.88	344 x2.46	430 x3.07
150	152 x1.01	211 x1.41	283 x1.89	366 x2.44	455 x3.04
160	166 x1.04	228 x1.42	302 x1.89	388 x2.42	479 x3
170	180 x1.06	244 x1.43	321 x1.89	409 x2.4	502 x2.96
180	193 x1.07	259 x1.44	339 x1.88	429 x2.38	525 x2.92
190	206 x1.09	274 x1.44	356 x1.87	448 x2.36	546 x2.88
200	219 x1.1	289 x1.45	373 x1.86	467 x2.34	567 x2.84
210	232 x1.1	303 x1.45	389 x1.85	485 x2.31	587 x2.8
220	244 x1.11	318 x1.44	405 x1.84	503 x2.29	607 x2.76
230	256 x1.11	331 x1.44	421 x1.83	520 x2.26	626 x2.72
240	268 x1.12	345 x1.44	436 x1.82	537 x2.24	644 x2.68
250	280 x1.12	358 x1.43	451 x1.8	554 x2.21	662 x2.65

Strength Standards For Deadlift Strength (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
90	54 x0.6	91 x1.01	139 x1.55	199 x2.21	265 x2.94
100	61 x0.61	100 x1	151 x1.51	212 x2.12	280 x2.8
110	68 x0.62	109 x0.99	161 x1.47	225 x2.04	295 x2.68
120	74 x0.62	117 x0.97	171 x1.43	237 x1.97	308 x2.57
130	81 x0.62	125 x0.96	181 x1.39	248 x1.91	321 x2.47
140	87 x0.62	132 x0.94	190 x1.36	258 x1.84	333 x2.38
150	93 x0.62	139 x0.93	199 x1.32	268 x1.79	344 x2.3
160	98 x0.62	146 x0.92	207 x1.29	278 x1.74	355 x2.22
170	104 x0.61	153 x0.9	215 x1.26	287 x1.69	366 x2.15
180	109 x0.61	159 x0.89	222 x1.24	296 x1.64	375 x2.09
190	114 x0.6	166 x0.87	230 x1.21	304 x1.6	385 x2.03
200	119 x0.6	172 x0.86	237 x1.18	312 x1.56	394 x1.97
210	124 x0.59	177 x0.84	243 x1.16	320 x1.52	403 x1.92
220	129 x0.59	183 x0.83	250 x1.14	327 x1.49	411 x1.87

Strength Standards For Squat Strength (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
130	98 x0.75	144 x1.11	203 x1.56	271 x2.09	346 x2.66
140	110 x0.79	160 x1.14	221 x1.58	293 x2.09	370 x2.64
150	123 x0.82	175 x1.17	239 x1.59	313 x2.09	393 x2.62
160	136 x0.85	190 x1.19	256 x1.6	333 x2.08	415 x2.60
170	148 x0.87	204 x1.20	273 x1.61	352 x2.07	437 x2.57
180	160 x0.89	219 x1.21	290 x1.61	371 x2.06	457 x2.54
190	172 x0.91	233 x1.22	306 x1.61	389 x2.05	477 x2.51
200	184 x0.92	246 x1.23	321 x1.61	406 x2.03	497 x2.48
210	195 x0.93	259 x1.24	336 x1.6	423 x2.02	515 x2.45
220	207 x0.94	272 x1.24	351 x1.6	440 x2.00	534 x2.43
230	218 x0.95	285 x1.24	365 x1.59	456 x1.98	551 x2.40
240	229 x0.95	297 x1.24	379 x1.58	471 x1.96	569 x2.37
250	239 x0.96	310 x1.24	393 x1.57	487 x1.95	585 x2.34

Strength Standards For Squat Strength (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (LB x BW%)	Level 2 (LB x BW%)	Level 3 (LB x BW%)	Level 4 (LB x BW%)	Level 5 (LB x BW%)
90	40 x0.44	71 x0.79	114 x1.27	167 x1.85	226 x2.51
100	46 x0.46	79 x0.79	124 x1.24	179 x1.79	241 x2.41
110	52 x0.47	87 x0.79	134 x1.22	191 x1.73	254 x2.31
120	58 x0.48	95 x0.79	143 x1.19	202 x1.68	267 x2.22
130	63 x0.49	102 x0.78	152 x1.17	212 x1.63	278 x2.14
140	69 x0.49	109 x0.78	160 x1.14	222 x1.58	290 x2.07
150	74 x0.49	115 x0.77	168 x1.12	231 x1.54	300 x2.00
160	79 x0.49	121 x0.76	175 x1.10	240 x1.50	310 x1.94
170	84 x0.49	127 x0.75	183 x1.07	248 x1.46	320 x1.88
180	89 x0.49	133 x0.74	190 x1.05	256 x1.42	329 x1.83
190	93 x0.49	139 x0.73	196 x1.03	264 x1.39	338 x1.78
200	98 x0.49	144 x0.72	203 x1.01	271 x1.36	346 x1.73
210	102 x0.49	150 x0.71	209 x1.00	279 x1.33	354 x1.69
220	106 x0.48	155 x0.70	215 x0.98	286 x1.3	362 x1.65

Strength Standards For Pullup (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
130	< 1	5	14	25	37
140	< 1	6	14	24	36
150	< 1	6	14	24	35
160	< 1	6	13	23	33
170	< 1	6	13	23	32
180	< 1	6	13	22	31
190	< 1	6	12	21	30
200	< 1	5	12	21	29
210	< 1	5	12	20	29
220	< 1	5	11	19	28
230	< 1	5	11	19	27
240	< 1	5	10	18	26
250	< 1	4	10	17	25

Strength Standards For Pullup (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
90	< 1	< 1	6	14	24
100	< 1	< 1	6	14	23
110	< 1	< 1	6	14	23
120	< 1	< 1	6	13	22
130	< 1	< 1	6	13	21
140	< 1	< 1	6	12	20
150	< 1	< 1	6	12	19
160	< 1	< 1	6	11	19
170	< 1	< 1	5	11	18
180	< 1	< 1	5	10	17
190	< 1	< 1	5	10	16
200	< 1	< 1	4	9	15
210	< 1	< 1	4	9	15
220	< 1	< 1	4	9	14

Strength Standards For Pushup (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
130	< 1	16	41	71	105
140	< 1	17	41	70	102
150	< 1	17	41	68	99
160	1	18	40	67	97
170	2	18	40	66	94
180	3	18	39	64	92
190	3	18	39	63	89
200	3	18	38	61	87
210	4	18	37	60	85
220	4	18	37	59	83
230	4	18	36	57	81
240	4	17	35	56	79
250	4	17	35	55	77

Strength Standards For Pushup (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
90	< 1	5	20	40	62
100	< 1	6	20	38	59
110	< 1	6	20	37	56
120	< 1	6	19	36	54
130	< 1	6	19	34	52
140	< 1	6	18	33	50
150	< 1	6	17	32	48
160	< 1	6	17	31	46
170	< 1	6	16	29	44
180	< 1	5	15	28	42
190	< 1	5	15	27	40
200	< 1	5	14	26	39
210	< 1	4	13	25	38
220	< 1	4	13	24	36

Strength Standards For Dip (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
130	< 1	8	19	33	48
140	< 1	8	19	33	47
150	< 1	9	19	32	46
160	< 1	9	19	32	45
170	1	9	19	31	44
180	1	9	19	31	43
190	1	9	19	30	42
200	1	9	19	29	41
210	2	9	18	29	40
220	2	9	18	28	39
230	2	9	18	28	38
240	2	9	17	27	37
250	2	9	17	26	36

Strength Standards For Dip (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
90	< 1	< 1	10	22	36
100	< 1	< 1	10	22	35
110	< 1	1	10	22	34
120	< 1	1	10	21	33
130	< 1	1	10	20	32
140	< 1	1	10	20	31
150	< 1	1	10	19	29
160	< 1	1	9	18	28
170	< 1	1	9	18	27
180	< 1	1	9	17	26
190	< 1	1	8	16	25
200	< 1	1	8	16	24
210	< 1	< 1	8	15	23
220	< 1	< 1	7	14	22

Strength Standards For Body Squat (Men):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
130	< 1	17	56	106	165
140	< 1	18	55	103	159
150	< 1	19	55	101	154
160	< 1	19	54	98	149
170	< 1	19	53	95	144
180	< 1	19	52	93	140
190	< 1	19	51	91	136
200	< 1	19	50	88	132
210	< 1	19	49	86	128
220	< 1	19	48	84	125
230	< 1	19	47	82	122
240	< 1	19	46	80	118
250	< 1	18	45	78	116

Strength Standards For Bodyweight Squat (Women):

Bodyweight (lbs)	Level 1 (Reps)	Level 2 (Reps)	Level 3 (Reps)	Level 4 (Reps)	Level 5 (Reps)
90	< 1	6	40	88	145
100	< 1	7	40	85	139
110	< 1	8	40	82	133
120	< 1	9	39	80	127
130	< 1	9	39	77	122
140	< 1	10	38	75	117
150	< 1	10	37	72	113
160	< 1	10	36	70	109
170	< 1	10	35	68	105
180	< 1	10	35	66	102
190	< 1	10	34	64	98
200	< 1	10	33	62	95
210	< 1	10	32	60	92
220	< 1	9	31	59	90

How To Get Stronger As A Level 1 (Brand New) Or Level 2 (Beginner Lifter):

Good news for your group is it’s relatively easy to get stronger as long as you follow a basic progressive overload program. At this stage of lifting, you do not need to be doing any isolation work. And yes, we mean zero. Multiple studies have shown that adding single-joint exercises offer no benefit in increasing strength or building muscle at the beginner stage. The only time you should use isolation exercises at this time is if you have issues with posture, mobility, or severe muscle deficiencies.

You need to keep things simple and concentrate on your big and basic compound lifts. Further, stick to a rep range of 5-8 for your lifts. For progressive overload, you just need to add a little bit of weight to each movement.

How To Get Stronger As A Level 3 (Intermediate) Lifter:

At this stage in your lifting career, you can start adding in isolation movements. Further, linear progression will have slowed down and caused you to stall. This means you’ll need to start using a periodized program and using loads throughout the entire rep scheme.

Periodization is a method of progressive overload in which you will change your training focus. For example, you may concentrate on training for strength for a period of 3 months and then focus on training for hypertrophy.

There are different periodization styles out there, but a method known as Daily Undulating Periodization, also known as DUP, seems to stick out. DUP simply means that you will focus on a different rep scheme daily and has shown to be extremely effective as well as adds variety to your training. There are many ways to run it but here’s an example. Let’s say you follow a push, pull, legs split (PPL). In this instance, you could rotate through these sessions with training for power, strength, and hypertrophy like so:

Push: Power
Pull: Hypertrophy
Legs: Strength
Push: Hypertrophy
Pull: Strength
Legs: Power
and so on...

At this point, you would also do well by swapping out movements periodically such as swapping out the bench press for a dumbbell press. Or you can also simply alter the exercise order. For example, if you usually perform the bench press before the shoulder press, you can start performing the shoulder press first.

Basically, you need to start using tactics to create different types of stimulus. Later in the intermediate stage, this may even mean you give training a rest for a couple weeks or only do calisthenics. You may also start using special sets such as working to failure, drop sets, and forced reps.

How To Get Stronger As A Level 4 (Advanced) Or Level 5 (Elite) Lifter:

At this point, you are most likely closing in on your genetic potential max. This means you need to work extra hard to get stronger and the best way to do this is to prioritize a lift. As you are an advanced lifter, you’re not going to be able to grow every muscle and improve every lift at the same time anymore. However, while you can’t increase every muscle at the same time anymore or improve every lift, you can definitely improve one. This means you’re going to prioritize one lift to concentrate on while the rest of the lifts will be put on more of a maintenance schedule.

For example, let’s pretend you want to deadlift. You would then want to alter your program to focus on improving your deadlift performance. This can be done by several means:

Increase the training frequency for that movement (see below)
Include more variations for that lift (deficit deadlifts, paused deadlifts)
Choose exercises that complement it better

Above, we just mentioned how you can increase your training frequency for a muscle group. While studies have shown that training a muscle twice a week is optimal for most people, that same study suggests that those closing in on their genetic potential could benefit from training a muscle group three times a week. That may mean simply adding in a big set of weighted pull ups into your leg training.

How Strong Do You Need To Be?

Another thing to consider is how strong do you really need to be? In other words, at what point does getting stronger serve no purpose other than being stronger than everyone else? Well, that’s a hard question to answer as there haven’t really been any studies that look at when does being stronger stop providing health benefits.

However, a good benchmark would be that everyone who lifts should aspire to reach level 3 (intermediate) for all lifts. Why level 3? Because it’s a goal that will not come easy and requires work, but everyone can achieve it after a couple of years of training, assuming they’re following a structured program. You’ll notice that at level 3, you’re about twice as strong as you were when you first started and significantly fitter when comparing your bodyweight exercises. While we encourage you to constantly push yourself, unless you thoroughly enjoy lifting just because you like lifting, getting stronger probably won’t provide any additional benefits after this stage.

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The Only Real Opponent Is You

These strength standards are great to show you where you stand today. Competition is always a good thing and it’s what drives us to be better. In fact, friendly competition is what made Crossfit so successful and there’s a reason they say “Hang around with people who are (smarter, stronger, better with money) than you”. Therefore, use these strength standards to create a little competition for yourself.

At the same time, constantly comparing yourself to everyone else will destroy your mental state and can lead to serious clinical issues such as body dysmorphia. Taking these two facts together, you should always strive to be better AFTER you pat yourself on the back for your new PR and maybe even brag a bit (nothing wrong with that once in while). Remember, these strength standards are where you’re at now, not where you’re always be so keep pushing hard and keep your goals in mine.

Garett Reid

Author

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