After a recent discussion here on strength standards for women, I have come up with some standards using the collective wisdom of All Round Strength Training! Click to go straight to table of strength standards for women (below)
There’s not much general knowledge about what is “good” for women’s strength training. In many cases, a woman simply lifting weights at all is considered amazing. But this – even if kindly meant – is patronising. If we are to take women’s strength training seriously, women need to know what to aim for as they progress. As reader Bonnie comments:
“It’s essential for women to know what feasible long term goals are. I envy the guys who learn weightlifting lore just by growing up. They learn as teenagers that if they work they can achieve a 200lb bench press, a 1.5 body weight squat, etc. Women who come to weightlifting often have no idea what is feasible.”
Using bodyweight as a measure
It may surprise you but if you use comparison with bodyweight as a measure, women’s strength standards are not greatly different from those of men. Using bodyweight therefore levels the playing field and makes it much easier to compare people of different sexes and weights. After all, “men” can vary greatly in size so saying that xxx kg is good for a man is not particularly fair either. And as reader Darren points out,
“Lighter people will always find bodyweight goals easier to achieve.”
You can use bodyweight either as a percentage or as a multiplier. For example if you weigh 60kg and squat 60kg, you can say that you squat 100% bodyweight or that you can squat 1 x bodyweight. Reader Ross comments:
“my girlfriend and I both just keep adding the weights until it we can’t lift it, then practise until we can. To keep it competitive between us we go on % of BW, so even if she’s lifting half of what I am, she might still be kicking my butt!”
There are also “bodyweight” exercises such as press ups, pull ups and so on which are generally done with no extra weight and therefore often used as a strength standard. Again the gap between what men and women can achieve is narrower than you think. Because much of the emphasis is on the upper body in these exercises, it can take longer for women to build up to the same standard but this does not mean it is not possible to get to the same level. (In a recent episode of TV show Superstars, Kelly Holmes kicked Jason Gardener’s ass on dips!) There are also bodyweight exercises that women generally find easier than men, such as the single leg squat. Reader Dingletec says,
“My father used to say you are considered strong when you can lift your own bodyweight. I don’t think it matters how much you lift beyond that, but that everyone should have that goal in the big lifts. And obviously should be able to pull their own weight in pullups/chinups for multiple reps.”
Boris of SquatRX concurs:
“Squatting with anything close to bodyweight on the bar with good form for reps is probably a … realistic goal for most general gym-goers (men or women)”
Standards
The first point to make is that there is no “standard” standard. The second point is that it depends on whom we want to compare ourselves to. Do we want to know how good we are compared to all lifters, from beginner to elite? Or do we want to know how good we are compared to others in the gym?
I looked at a bunch of strength standards from different people or organisations. Some go from ‘untrained’ through to ‘elite’, covering every possible stage. Others go for the simpler ‘decent, good, great’ classification, comparing regular gym goers. My sources were:
- Lon Kilgore, Weightlifting Performance Standards on exrx.net (these are also available in the book Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore, which I highly recommend)
- Crossfit North Athletic Skill Standards
- Are You Strong? Find out right now with these strength standards! by Tim Henriques (from T-Nation)
I put together a side-by-side comparison of these standards based on a female of bodyweight 60kg (132 lbs) which you can see in PDF format in Strength Standards comparison. But what I really wanted was an overall figure applicable to anyone, a single standard to refer to. So I came up with a ‘middle of the pack’ figure from this comparison table. I also took into account the figures suggested by readers of this website and my own experience.
These standards should be relevant for adult women who are strength training on a regular basis so I chose three levels of Good, Very Good and Excellent. It’s important to say that Good is good compared to other gym goers, not compared to untrained people. So Good is certainly a level to be proud of. Good is a level of strength that it is possible to gain after six months of regular training but is likely to be a couple of years or more for many trainees.
Very Good can take another couple of years on top of that and requires commitment and consistency. Reaching this level would put you above the majority of gym goers, even those who do regular strength training.
Excellent is a very advanced level, where you are probably starting to compete at national or international level. At this point you want to be comparing yourself to the other athletes in your federation and weight class rather than your fellow gym goers. Here are the standards, expressed as percentage of bodyweight:
Table of strength standards for women
| Good | Very Good | Excellent | |
| Deadlift | 125 % | 175 % | 225 % |
| Squat | 100 % | 125 % | 175 % |
| Bench | 50 % | 75 % | 100 % |
| Press | 50 % | 75 % | 100 % |
| Pushups (full) | 15 | 30 | 50+ |
| Dips (full) | 5-10 | 15 | 30+ |
| Pullups (dead hang) | 1 | 10 | 20+ |
You can see from these figures that Good is pretty impressive compared to the average gym goer but it is a level I believe anyone can aim for if they are serious about their strength training.
Commentary on the standards
From what I have seen and read, there is not much controversy over the standards for the power lifts. The trickiest area I found is deciding where Very Good ends and Excellent begins; here is where your own predilections will make a difference. For example a woman with a particularly good squat but slightly weak bench might think that 175% bodyweight was a tad low to be Excellent, whereas a 100% bodyweight bench was about right.
The bodyweight exercises are more difficult to determine, partly because this is an area where many women are too weak to begin with. Often women shy away from upper body or bodyweight exercises altogether because they feel so weak in this area and think that they will remain so. This is not the case; women can get very strong in the main bodyweight exercises.
The bodyweight exercises standards from the T-Nation chart in particular were quite low – reinforcing the idea that women are rubbish at these exercises (I don’t exactly blame the T-Nation author; he is probably reflecting what he sees in the gym). Conversely the standards from Crossfit North are very high and while I admire their ambition (and it should be noted that the numbers are for men as well as women), many women might look at those numbers and think them impossible.
So the aim was to strike a balance and reflect women’s true potential without going completely out of range.
Setting goals
Don’t be disheartened if you feel that Good is a long way away – it is attainable!
Setting small, achievable goals is often more motivating than one far-off overarching goal unless you are the rare type of person who is not intimidated by that. So use these standards as background information but set goals that are relevant to you, your training history and your own ambitions. As reader Zoey observes:
“I really don’t know what the baseline is for women, but I do think it’s often set by what we see at the gym. For better or for worse. This time last year I was benching 25lb dumbells, thinking I was doing great. No other women were benching dumbells at all that I could see. Then this ripped young female trainer worked out one day and I saw her bench 35lbs, then 40lbs for about 8 reps each. I was astonished, and got right to work, and in a few weeks, there I was.”
Most people are naturally better at some lifts than others. It is a rare person who is consistently good across all exercises. So while it is good to work on your weaknesses (and essential if you are aiming for the top), don’t panic if one or two exercises seem to be falling behind. Over the long term you can work to even out these imbalances.
Further information
Women of Power – profiles of top female powerlifters
Lon Kilgore, Weightlifting Performance Standards on exrx.net
Crossfit North Athletic Skill Standards
Are You Strong? Find out right now with these strength standards! by Tim Henriques
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I approve of your standards: it appears I’m not doing too badly
Nice work lelak!
There are one or two I have spent a while dithering over. Even this morning in the shower I was thinking ‘is 225% too high for an ‘excellent’ deadlift – should it be 200%’?
However, I don’t mind erring on the high side as performance levels are going up all the time.
Thats pretty cool actually! I fair excellent at everything bar the pullups and the press…which I am in v.good standard.
Good to see, not often you can compare yourself to anything
Nah, 225% is good for the deadlift. You gotta give us something to work towards!
I appreciate that you think about these things–there’s a real dearth of information for and about women who train, and there’s even less that’s written by women–and that’s the information I tend to trust the most. So, thanks!
Glad they seem to be about right.
@ Heather: I think a lot of the women who train seriously are too busy out training to spend much time writing about it so I’m happy to do my bit
@ Littleredhead: well that doesn’t surprise me! I’m the other way round – ‘very good’ on most and only ‘excellent’ on a couple (bench and pushups). So, work to do.
How timely, I was looking for something to use as a goal! Love your site, been doing crossfit for about six month and though much better today then before …I gotta work towards that excellent.
Cheers Laura, good to hear from women with real ambition!
This is really helpful — I am pretty much the only woman working out with free weights at my gym, so it’s hard to know what to aim for. After about 8 months of training,I’m at or near “Good” for everything, except that my shoulder doesn’t like dips or overhead presses, so I don’t do them (and I sub dumbells for barbells on the bench).
Not to make things trickier, but had you thought about age as a factor? Or did any of your sources address this question? As a 50-year-old novice, I’m curious!
Squatting 100% bodyweight?
well.. I guess squatting 10% is a better start than no start at all?
Well indeed!
Also I think it is better to start at 10% of where you want to get to and working to get there, than picking a weight that is 10% of who knows what and never progressing.
[...] solidly into the advanced category. (And speaking of strength standards, gubernatrix published her own set…yay for strong (and articulate) ladies!) Oh, and I got a job, teaching MCAT prep courses. [...]
Fantastic article! I really like the PDF comparison you make between the three standards.
Question: Does anyone know of a woman who can actually do 40 deadhang pullups? I’m only at 10, so 40 inspires awe.
Thanks Bonnie! The highest number of deadhang pullups by a woman that I have come across is 16. But I reckon 20 is possible with a bit of work. 40 though…..that I would like to see! It looks like it is up to you, girl, to lead the way
Good article. Regarding 40 dead hang pullups while that would be exceptional for anyone it is not a strength standard, in the same way that increasing your pushups from say 20 to 50 is not going to improve your strength. Once you can do 15 pullups its time to start adding weight!
Good point Darren.
Finally got my 100% bodyweight squat! A nice thing to start the new year with.
Congratulations lelak! Great work.
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[...] Strength standards for women [...]
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Nice read. I often find myself referring people to the Riptoe/Killgore strength standards, especially since it seems most women lack any real frame of reference about what reasonable or good values are.
I may start referring them to this same page…
Thanks Chris. The interesting thing about these standards is that they were a collaborative effort, not just my opinion, so they are reasonably sound.
[...] Strength standards for women [...]
[...] Strength standards for women [...]
This information is great. It gives me something to aspire to. I know that the number of reps & sets in each individual’s routine can vary quite a bit. What would you consider to be a reasonable amount of reps to be able to perform when considering these standards?
In the table, where percentage of bodyweight is given, this is for one rep (your one rep max). For the bodyweight exercises like pull ups, number of reps is given.
Thanks for this info. I think it helps to have goals and benchmarks(no pun intended)because most women have no idea how strong they can really get. I started training this past year and now fall into the very good for deadlift,squats and bench. At 118lbs, I never would have believed I could lift this much weight and I am still training for more….
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This is really helpful and is exactly the information I have been trying to find for ages. Thank you very much for all your research and for sharing your findings.