Basic Strength Standards

Kyle Aaron said:

I made a metric version of the strength standards sheet, men on page 1, women on page 2.

Click to expand...

thx alot for computing it into metric form

I do prefer this one however, no tables, just enter the figures, there are metric tables also if you want aswell, to see what the next level is to set a goal.


Strength level calculator: measure ability in common exercises such as the deadlift, clean and press, bench press, squat and power clean

trofius said:

I do prefer this one however, no tables, just enter the figures, there are metric tables also if you want aswell, to see what the next level is to set a goal.


Strength level calculator: measure ability in common exercises such as the deadlift, clean and press, bench press, squat and power clean

Click to expand...

Well Trofius, I tried the above calculater and I got "Better than Elite"! So the question now becomes: how accurate is this calculater?

I put BW 74kg, Squat 200kg.

Well it's interesting to say the least. Thank you for posting it.


Fadi.

Fadi there are charts on that page aswell.

But ex olympic weightlifter,-- umm better than elite probably fits well. I would assume that once you were elite thats it...You are probably in the top 0.1% of the population

trofius said:

Fadi there are charts on that page aswell.

But ex olympic weightlifter,-- umm better than elite probably fits well. I would assume that once you were elite thats it...You are probably in the top 0.1% of the population

Click to expand...

Thank you Mick, I totally missed those charts before. It's still interesting and I very much appreciate you putting it up. Wouldn't be nice if everything was as easy to work out as this.

Time for bed. Good Morning Everyone.


Fadi.

Interesting chart. It rates my best bench press as better than elite, yet I never lifted outside a gym ( 165kg @ 90kg)

It also gave me a better than elite on my clean & press (102.5kg @ 90kg). My press was done in military press fashion as well.

I think its a touch optimistic lol

It also rates the powerclean & squat of a 17yo boy as advanced to elite, what happens when he grows up?

Max C&P is better than elite, although he push presses

Surely better than Elite should mean just that, not gym lifts from hacks

Half my clientel would register Elite lifts on that. Here are a few of the BETTER THAN ELITE

Kelly 152.5kg BP @ 85kg - Better than Elite
Simon 240kg deadlift @ 79kg - Better than Elite
Max 108.5kg PC @ 68kg _ Better than Elite
Max 180kg deadlift @ 68kg - Better than Elite
Kelly 105kg C&P - Better than Elite
Nina 77.5kg BP @ 60kg - Better than Elite
Nina 105kg squat @ 60kg - Better than Elite
Nina 127.5kg deadlift @ 60kg - Better than Elite
Nina 55kg C&P @ 60kg - Better than Elite

Theres more, but I wont bore you with them.

Too optimistic

it puts alot of my lifts at intermediate to advanced which i dont think is correct

PTC said:

Half my clientel would register Elite lifts on that. Here are a few of the BETTER THAN ELITE

Click to expand...

To be fair, the one with the most "better than elite" numbers is Nina, and hasn't she won some national competitions?

The "elite" are the national competitors, the winner of a national competition is better than the elite.

Those are all damm big lifts, for their size, so you don't consider them special?

Elite is elite, it means that they have acheived a standard far above that of the normal person. MArcos how many people do you know have done a 165kg press @ 90kg, or better than 1.8 time their body weight? not a lot i am assuming.. now compare that number with how many people go to a zombie gym, and then how many people dont, how many people out of nearly 7 billion could bench 1.8 times body weight, I am just guessing here but probably less than 0.01% I would say that puts you in an elite class of lifter..

But you have high standards, and that is why you have high results... perspective plays an important part here. maybe just ignore the standards they offer, keep their calculation, and apply new standards, or just use the value, to compare against other peoples and yourself...it would not be too much different from the wilks score...bw vs lift.

I think that only Fadi would be considered to have Better than Elite lifts on here.

The guys at PTC are strong, but not Fadi strong. Advanced would be a better term I feel.

Shorty would cause the calculator to blow up lol.

Nina didnt win any National championship, she merely set a National bench press record for her weight class in the Masters division.

That does not make you better than elite in squat, deadlift and C&P.

Look, a strength calculator is not going to make you stronger, regardless what it says. The fact that it lists a heap of lifts by a 17yo soccer player as Elite is ludicrous

Marcos,

I didnt see were reading a strength guide, was going to make you stronger..If someone thought that, they have a scewed peception of what reading is capeable of acheiving, i wish it was that easy.

A 17 year old soccer player,well maybe, all but be one that gets expert coaching in probably the most dedicated performance orientated weight lifting gyms in the country.. Maybe he is rather a great weightlifter that can kick a ball, lol, so many ways to skew ones perception..

BUt anyways I am really interested in your professional opinion here, the advance intermediate crap,are just qualitative, and could be applied randomly to any level. I like quantitative facts myself.

In your opinion, at what levels would you class lifts at based on a bw : lifted weight ratio, what ratio would you call advanced, elite etc for each lift...?

Thats a tough question, I'll have a bit of a think about it and post up later.

Okay, I've thought about it, and this is purely my opinion from my observations in gyms over the last 30 years. I'm not talking about competing lifters with assistance gear, I'm talking about gym lifts by regular lifters.Those that compete and specialize have their own standards.

To be what I consider strong, you should be able to do ALL these lifts, not just one. I'm not a fan of one dimensional lifters or one lift specialists.

Squat double bodyweight
Squat 1.5 times bodyweight x 20
Bench press 1.5 times bodyweight
Bench press bodyweight x 10
Deadlift 2.5 times bodyweight
Standing strict military press bodyweight
Clean & push press bodyweight x 5
15 dead hang wide grip chins
Powerclean 1.2 times bodyweight

These CHALLENGES are on white boards in my gym. No lifter has been able to tick all the boxes yet. I dont believe anyone should be able to do these within 2 years of lifting, and PTC is less than 2 years old.

Those lifters that have been training elsewhere for any ammount of time and now lift at PTC cant come close to these lifts.

Max and Kelly come closest to ticking all the boxes

MAX

Squat 155kg @ 68kg..............tick
Squat 100kg x 20 @ 66kg........tick
Bench press 85kg @ 68kg.......cross
Bench press 68kg x 7.............cross
Deadlift 180kg @ 68kg............tick
Military press 65kg @ 68kg......cross
C&PP 68kg x infinity................tick
WG chins x 15.......................tick
Powerclean 108.5kg @ 68kg.....tick

KELLY

Squat 160kg @ 85kg..............cross
Squat 120kg x 20..................cross
Bench press 152.5kg @ 85kg....tick
Bench press 85kg x infinity.......tick
Deadlift 220kg @ 85kg.............tick
Military press 90kg @ 85kg.......tick
C&PP 85kg x 5........................tick
WG chins x 15........................tick
Powerclean 105kg @ 85kg........tick

These guys are close to being described as strong. It may seem harsh, but I think the term STRONG is too loosely thrown around.

Use this as inspiration, rather than frustration.

I definitely agree that someone who could do that could call themselves "STRONG"! But as you say those are goals which would take 2 or more years to achieve - and it's possible some people might never achieve them.

Because if you're (say) 80kg and can only military press 20kg, then doing 80kg seems a loooooooooooong way away. If goals seem too far away, then to some people they'll seem impossible. And why pursue impossible goals? Closer up you realise they're possible, so far away they seem impossible though.

It's hard to focus on things years away. But if you can say (for example), "after 6 months I should be able to bench 3/4 BW for reps, squat BW for reps, deadlift 1.25 BW for reps, do 8 full chins" and then say, "and after 12 I should be be able to -" then that's good. Gives you something within sight to aim at.

So I think it'd be useful to have some more goals along the way. Thus the untrained, novice, intermediate etc categories, and the rough times and amount of effort (eg, workouts per week and food eaten) taken to achieve them.

I didnt bother with a rating for good, average or untrained, just what I consider strong.
Its not to set your goals with, its just that when you can do all that, you can train where you like, and you'll be considered strong.

Goal setting is a whole other area, thats not what this is about. I used to set goals every year, very important.

They are what I consider the minimum requirement if I was to call somebody STRONG.

Start a thread on goal setting Kyle, and I'll post in there.

That is a pretty nice chart Markos. I am going to try and incorporate those goals among others for the coming year (or two). 3 I have achieved, the rest..... I haven't even tried some of them.

It seems bench press is focused on too much these days in the average gym.

Remember its only my opinion, not gospel. Others may place more emphasis in other areas, dont take it too heart.

PTC said:

Start a thread on goal setting Kyle, and I'll post in there.

Click to expand...

Okay, done. I rabbitted on as usual

Another thing, NOBODY is going to tell Kelly he's not strong with a 152.5kg bench press.........except me. I need to keep these guys on their toes, I dont like complacency.

Same goes with Max. Nobody else can double bodyweight squat at PTC, he does it for 5 reps, I still tell him he's not strong lol

The fact he will obliterate every lift I ever did before he hits 20 is irrelevant, he's not strong lol