Anyone who has picked up a barbell has wondered how their numbers compare. The strength charts most gyms still lean on were built in the 1990s from untrained populations.
Until recently there were no published benchmarks at all for the deadlift. A new analysis in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport has now filled the gap.
Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast and Edith Cowan University pulled 809,986 individual competition entries from drug-tested, unequipped powerlifting meets. The data spans 15 federations on five continents, from 1968 to 2022.
Every lift was performed under the same technical rules and judged by officials. The authors call it the most comprehensive dataset of trained strength ever assembled.
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Relative strength, expressed as weight lifted divided by bodyweight, peaked in the 18 to 35 age band for all three lifts. At the 90th percentile in that group, men squatted 2.83 times their bodyweight, bench pressed 1.95 times and deadlifted 3.25 times. Women hit 2.26, 1.35 and 2.66.
Where you sit at every age
The table below shows the 90th percentile, roughly the standard reached by the strongest one in ten competitive lifters in each age band.
The median lifter in the same dataset sits well below these numbers. Among 18-to-35-year-old men, the 50th percentile squat is 2.28 times bodyweight, the bench 1.56 and the deadlift 2.63. For women the medians in that age band are 1.72, 0.96 and 2.06.
Age band Also read: After 65, drinking more than 5 cups of coffee a day may be quietly thinning your bones | Squat (M / F) | Bench (M / F) | Deadlift (M / F) |
|---|---|---|---|
18-35 Also read: A skin patch that warns of a diabetes emergency hours before symptoms appear | 2.83 / 2.26 | 1.95 / 1.35 | 3.25 / 2.66 |
36-59 Also read: How you think about getting older could decide whether your body and mind actually improve | 2.58 / 2.05 | 1.92 / 1.28 | 2.98 / 2.51 |
60-79 Also read: On Jardiance or Farxiga? Three factors may sharply raise your risk of a serious complication | 2.16 / 1.65 | 1.60 / 1.04 | 2.64 / 2.19 |
80+ | 1.72 / 1.01 | 1.31 / 0.92 | 2.30 / 1.68 |
All figures are expressed as a multiple of the lifter's own bodyweight at the meet.
Why the top decile is not the average gymgoer
The authors are explicit that these are trained athletes, not the general public. In a separate comparison, they found the mean strength of Australian powerlifters typically exceeded the 90th percentile of the older reference charts drawn from non-athletes.
The 90th percentile in this dataset marks what dedicated strength training has produced, not what any healthy adult should expect to hit. The median is a fairer yardstick for a regular gym-goer.
Reaching a bodyweight bench press or a two-times-bodyweight deadlift in your thirties would already place you inside the middle of the pack for a drug-tested competitor.
Strength holds up better in trained lifters
Muscle strength typically falls by around 1 percent per year through middle age in the general population. Among the powerlifters in this analysis, the decline was closer to 0.35 percent per year.
Even at 80 and older, the strongest men in the sample were still deadlifting more than twice their bodyweight, and women were pulling 1.68 times.
That gap is why authorities keep pushing resistance training into later life. The National Strength and Conditioning Association's 2019 position statement, authored by Maren Fragala and colleagues, calls resistance training beneficial and safe for healthy older adults.
The statement links regular lifting to preserved muscle quality, higher bone density, better insulin sensitivity, and a lower risk of falls and fractures. Regular strength work in older women has also been tied to greater longevity gains than cardio alone.
The NSCA prescription is unglamorous but specific. Aim for two to three sessions per week, two to three sets per major muscle group, working at 50 to 70 percent of your one-rep maximum once your form is solid.
Beginners can start lower, around 20 to 30 percent, and add weight as technique holds. The World Health Organization's adult guideline is even simpler. Strengthen all major muscle groups at moderate or greater intensity on at least two days a week.
This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.