Built from 1,668,369 competition results · updated Sep 2026
Bench Press Strength Standards: Average, Good & Elite
Among people who compete, the median man benches about 281 lb127 kg; the median woman, about 127 lb58 kg. Here is where every number sits, by bodyweight, age and sex, on the same six-level scale Stronger uses.
Men · 180 lb82 kg bodyweight
six levels · one-rep max
- Beginner
- from the bar
- Novice
- from 13561
- Intermediate
- from 225102
- Advanced
- from 315143
- Elite
- from 360163
- World Class
- from 432196
Women · 140 lb64 kg bodyweight
The average
What is the average bench press?
Each figure below describes different people, so each one comes with whose lifts it counts.
Average bench press for men
- 281 lb127 kgOur median, among men who compete in powerlifting meetsEach lifter's best judged bench at a sanctioned meet, from the OpenPowerlifting data. People who compete are a selected group, not a sample of everyone who trains. How we calculateMeasured at meets
- Intermediate 225 lb102 kg · Advanced 315 lb143 kgStronger's scale, for a 180 lb82 kg manWhere the app's levels start, set as multiples of bodyweight. Level floors, not a measured average.Stronger's scale
- 212 lb96 kgStrength Level's average, among men who log their lifts on Strength Level“The average Bench Press is 212 lb for men and 112 lb for women (1RM).The average Bench Press is 96 kg for men and 51 kg for women (1RM).” Strength Level, read October 1, 2026. Self-reported: users type in their own lifts. The site screens out implausible and duplicate entries, but nobody verifies a lift, and the people who use it are not a random sample.Self-reported
Average bench press for women
- 127 lb58 kgOur median, among women who compete in powerlifting meetsEach lifter's best judged bench at a sanctioned meet, from the OpenPowerlifting data. People who compete are a selected group, not a sample of everyone who trains. How we calculateMeasured at meets
- Intermediate 105 lb48 kg · Advanced 140 lb64 kgStronger's scale, for a 140 lb64 kg womanWhere the app's levels start, set as multiples of bodyweight. Level floors, not a measured average.Stronger's scale
- 112 lb51 kgStrength Level's average, among women who log their lifts on Strength Level“The average Bench Press is 212 lb for men and 112 lb for women (1RM).The average Bench Press is 96 kg for men and 51 kg for women (1RM).” Strength Level, read October 1, 2026. Self-reported: users type in their own lifts. The site screens out implausible and duplicate entries, but nobody verifies a lift, and the people who use it are not a random sample.Self-reported
None of these is the average of everyone. Each one describes the people it counts, so read each figure with its population.
Average bench press by bodyweight
The median among people who compete, at each bodyweight. The standards table below gives Stronger's levels for the same brackets.
| Bodyweight | Median |
|---|---|
| under 14365 | 19287 |
| 14365–16575 | 240109 |
| 16575–18785 | 270122 |
| 18785–20995 | 292132 |
| 20995–231105 | 320145 |
| 231105–254115 | 336152 |
| 254115–276125 | 353160 |
| 276125+ | 364165 |
| Bodyweight | Median |
|---|---|
| under 12155 | 10548 |
| 12155–14365 | 12155 |
| 14365–16575 | 13561 |
| 16575–18785 | 13863 |
| 18785–20995 | 14164 |
| 20995–231105 | 14968 |
| 231105+ | 15470 |
Find your rank
Where does your bench sit?
Your bodyweight, your best set, and the level you are at right now, against lifters your size. One rep is a one-rep max; a set of up to twelve gets estimated.
1 rep counts as your one-rep max here; the app's own estimate scores a single about 3% higher. Enter a set of up to 12 reps and we estimate it (Epley).
Calculations run in your browser. We measure usage, including strength levels and broad bodyweight ranges.
Your bench
281lb
Intermediate
at or above 60% of men competing in the data at your bodyweight
A 1.56× bodyweight bench is Intermediate for a 180 lb82 kg man. Advanced starts at 315 lb143 kg, 34 lb15 kg away.
Standards by bodyweight
Bench Press standards for men and women
| Bodyweight | Beginner | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced | Elite | World Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 14365 | 45201% | 99453% | 1657530% | 23110578% | 26512092% | 31714499% |
| 14365–16575 | 4520<1% | 116531% | 1938820% | 27012272% | 30914090% | 37016899% |
| 16575–18785reference bodyweight | 4520<1% | 132601% | 22010020% | 30914075% | 35316093% | 42319299% |
| 18785–20995 | 4520<1% | 149681% | 24811223% | 34715782% | 39718095% | 476216100% |
| 20995–231105 | 4520<1% | 165752% | 27612525% | 38617585% | 44120096% | 529240100% |
| 231105–254115 | 4520<1% | 182832% | 30313732% | 42419287% | 48522097% | 582264100% |
| 254115–276125 | 4520<1% | 198903% | 33115038% | 46321091% | 52924099% | 635288100% |
| 276125+ | 4520<1% | 219995% | 36516652% | 51123296% | 58426599% | 701318100% |
| Bodyweight | Beginner | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced | Elite | World Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 12155 | 45202% | 55252% | 833820% | 1105055% | 1657596% | 1989099% |
| 12155–14365reference bodyweight | 45201% | 66302% | 994520% | 1326060% | 1989097% | 238108100% |
| 14365–16575 | 45201% | 77353% | 1165330% | 1547070% | 23110598% | 278126100% |
| 16575–18785 | 45201% | 88405% | 1326040% | 1768080% | 26512099% | 317144100% |
| 18785–20995 | 45201% | 994510% | 1496860% | 1989090% | 298135100% | 357162100% |
| 20995–231105 | 45201% | 1105015% | 1657565% | 22010094% | 331150100% | 397180100% |
| 231105+ | 45201% | 1245622% | 1868477% | 24811296% | 372169100% | 446202100% |
Each cell is the floor of its level for a lifter in the middle of that bodyweight bracket. The app works from your exact bodyweight, so a 180 lb82 kg man who benches 315 lb143 kg is Advanced, and stays Advanced until 360 lb163 kg. Beginner starts at the empty bar, because everyone starts there. Find your row by bodyweight (the top bracket is open-ended), read across, and the column your best single sits under is roughly your level; the Find-your-rank tool above gives the exact answer for your bodyweight.
Distribution
How rare is a good bench?
Every tested one-rep max in the data, men, all bodyweights. 78% of them have benched 225 lb; 33% have benched 315.
By age
Average bench press by age
The teenage years are where the number changes fastest. Nobody has measured a representative teen average, so we show the median among boys who compete in our data instead: 121 lb55 kg at 13, 248 lb112 kg at 18, a competition benchmark for each age. Each age has its own page, with the same six floors by bodyweight and the competitor percentile for that age.
boys, median competitor girls, median competitorage · lbkg · among lifters of that age who compete in our data
Milestones
The plates, and who gets there
Bench milestones are counted in 45s. One plate a side is 135; two is 225. Here is what each rung means for a 180 lb82 kg man, and how many men in the data have reached it.
- 13561Novice97% of men have lifted it · most lifters
- 18584Novice90% of men have lifted it · most lifters
- 225102Intermediate78% of men have lifted it · most lifters
- 275125Intermediate55% of men have lifted it · 1 in 2
- 315143Advanced33% of men have lifted it · 1 in 3
- 405184Elite7% of men have lifted it · 1 in 14
How we calculate
Where these numbers come from
Percentiles are built from 1,668,369 bench press competition results (one per lifter per meet) by 556,880 lifters, updated September 2026. We show the method so you can judge it.
The distribution. Our percentiles come from competition results in the OpenPowerlifting open dataset: each lifter's best successful raw bench, with sex, bodyweight and age recorded at the meet. These numbers describe competitive powerlifters, people who entered a sanctioned meet and trained for it. They are stronger than the general gym population, and far stronger than the general public. We say so wherever a percentile appears. Drug-tested divisions bench less at the median than untested ones (men: 276 lb vs 305 lb); the headline numbers pool both.
The levels. Six bands, the same six Stronger uses to score every lift in the app, and read the same way. The app divides your best estimated one-rep max by your bodyweight and compares it with a set of multipliers for each lift, so each cutoff is the floor of its band for that bodyweight, and crossing it puts you in. World Class starts at 1.2 times the Elite floor. We do not redraw the scale from the competition data; we put the competition percentile beside every floor so you can see how rare each level is among people who compete.
Testing a one-rep max. Warm up to it in jumps that get smaller as the bar gets heavier, take three to five minutes between the last attempts, and use a spotter or safeties. If you would rather not max out, take a set of two to six clean reps and let the calculator estimate it; the Epley formula we use is accurate to within a few percent under ten reps.
- Beginner
- The lowest band on Stronger’s scale, from the empty bar up to the Novice floor.
- Novice
- The second band on Stronger’s scale, from the Novice floor up to the Intermediate floor.
- Intermediate
- The third band on Stronger’s scale, from the Intermediate floor up to the Advanced floor.
- Advanced
- The fourth band on Stronger’s scale, from the Advanced floor up to the Elite floor.
- Elite
- The second-highest band on Stronger’s scale. Competition rankings are shown separately.
- World Class
- The highest band on Stronger’s scale, not a claim of a federation record or qualification.
Sources
- OpenPowerlifting open datasetOpenPowerlifting project2026-09-05CC0Percentile curves, milestone shares, age curves and population counts: 556,880 raw lifters (best successful competition bench each), sanctioned meets only, para and equipped divisions excluded.
- Stronger's Strength Score scale for the bench pressStrongerThe app's six levels per sex, as multiples of bodyweight. Each table floor is worked out for the middle of its bodyweight bracket, and the app scores a single rep about 3% above the weight lifted, so near a floor the app's level can differ from the table's.
- Strength TrainingAmerican Academy of Pediatrics / HealthyChildren.org2011-07-08American Academy of Pediatrics: Strength Training
All 17 cited sources
- Strength Level bench press standardsStrength LevelA published table we compare our six levels against (self-submitted user data).
- ACSM Unveils Landmark 2026 Resistance Training Guidelines — First Update in 17 YearsAmerican College of Sports Medicine2026-03-17Resistance-training frequency guideline for healthy adults.
- Bench Press Standards for Men and Women (kg)Strength LevelStrength Level published standards
- Bench Press Strength Standards for Men and Women (kg)StrengthLogPublished standards table: Bench Press Strength Standards by Body Weight
- Bench Press Strength Standards for Men and Women (lb)StrengthLogStrengthLog / Styrkelabbet published standards
- 2023 STRENGTH STANDARDS — Snatch – Clean & Jerk – Back Squat – Bench Press – Deadlift – PressLon Kilgore / Kilgore Academy2023Published standards table: BENCH PRESS (MEN) / BENCH PRESS (WOMEN)
- Basic Strength StandardsThe Aasgaard Company2012Published standards table: Bench Press - Adult Men / Bench Press - Adult Women
- Bench Press StandardsExRx.netPublished standards table: Bench Press Standards
- Bench Press Strength StandardsGravitus, Inc.Published standards table: Bench Press Standards by Bodyweight (lb)
- Max Bench Press CalculatorGravitus, Inc.Women's standards table: Bench Press Standards for Women (lbs)
- Bench Press StandardsStrength OriginsPublished standards table: Competitive Bench Press Standards
- Profiling the absolute and relative strength of a special operations police unitBMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation / Springer Nature2022-06-20Published standards table: Table 2. Bodyweight, strength data and overall change (Mean ± SD) for five TPs over 18 months — Bench Press Absolute Strength (kg)
- Bench Press TestBrianMac Sports CoachPublished standards table: A good 1RM for the bench press
- 1RM Bench Press Calculator - Test Your Upper Body StrengthTopend Sports / Robert WoodPublished standards table: 1 Rep Max Bench Press Table for adults (weight lifted per bodyweight)
- How Much Can the Average Person Bench Press?Healthline2019-06-14Published standards table: Bench press average by weight — Men / Women
- Lifter Classifications100% RAW Powerlifting Federation2012-01-01Women's standards table: Women’s Bench Press
- Triage Ultimate Health Targets Assessment ToolTriageMethodWomen's standards table: Bench Press (1RM) – (Weight: 1.5)
How our scale compares
Our six levels are Stronger's own scale, and the percentages beside them come from competition results. Below is a summary of the published tables people actually copy: whose numbers they are, whom they describe and how they were made, so you can see how a “good” bench on this page compares to what other sources call good. None of them measures the general population either.
- Strength Level Limited · 18 tables (lb, ratio, kg)Male and female Strength Level usersOriginally based on fixed Kilgore/ExRx tables in 2007. Publisher says July 2015 replaced that model with community-data regressions; May 2016 incorporated joint lift/bodyweight modelling. Current table belongs to the 2026 refresh. These are not independent probability estimates for all adults.
- StrengthLog · 12 tables (kg, lb)Men and women who use StrengthLogStrengthLog says the standards are calculated from user training logs; no Kilgore derivation is claimed. Sample date, age distribution, lift-verification protocol and detailed statistical construction are not supplied on the inspected page.
- Lon Kilgore / Kilgore Academy · 1 table (kg)Men and women, ages 15–89Author combines scientific literature, published drug-tested classic/raw lifting results and coaching observation. The author resource page explicitly says the 2023 revision supersedes prior tables. No cell-level dataset or reproducible estimation code is provided.
- The Aasgaard Company · 2 tables (lb)Adult Men / Adult WomenSource specifies Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition techniques. Every bench numeric cell matches the inspected 2007 ExRx table, but level names differ. This is documented numerical identity, not proof of an unpublished licensing or authorship history.
- ExRx.net · 1 table (lb)Adult men and womenExplanatory source credits Dr. Lon Kilgore, the training definitions in Practical Programming (Kilgore, Rippetoe, Pendlay), Starting Strength exercise technique and published lifting-performance standards. Numeric identity with the publisher-hosted 2012 Starting Strength sheet is directly established.
- Gravitus, Inc. · 5 tables (lb)Male / Female Gravitus usersPublisher-owned app logs; best estimated 1RM per lifter, Brzycki formula, extreme outliers excluded. Asterisks designate weight points with fewer than 50 lifters, estimated by the publisher through allometric scaling.
- Strength Origins · 2 tables (lb)Men / Women; raw, drug-tested, sanctioned full-power competitors, ages 16–65Publisher, not this inventory, processed OpenPowerlifting using Power Query; best-total performance per lifter-year, valid nonzero full SBD results, raw and drug-tested, weight classes rebinned to IPF style. No underlying data were downloaded or recomputed for this job.
- BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation / Springer Nature · 2 tables (kg, ratio)47 male Australian elite police officersPrimary retrospective cohort measurements; barbell touches chest, full extension, bench contact maintained. Same lead coach across tests.
- BrianMac Sports Coach · 1 table (ratio)men / womenAuthor-published coaching judgment; no cell-level dataset or derivation is given. A separate McArdle citation is used by the page’s assessment machinery, but the source does not prove these two good thresholds are that table.
- Topend Sports / Robert Wood · 1 table (ratio)adults; both sexes as stated by the publisherThe author explicitly attributes the scores to personal experience, not a federation, research sample or ACSM norm.
- Healthline · 1 table (lb)Men / Women, ages 18–59; page explains sex as assigned at birthThe page links ExRx for these standards. Unlike the fixed numerical 2007 ExRx/2012 Starting Strength cells, this page prints ranges. No inspected evidence establishes how those range endpoints were constructed.
- 100% RAW Powerlifting Federation · 1 table (lb)Women competing in 100% RAW; ranking-informed performance classes, not population normsFAQ identifies PowerliftingWatch rankings, primarily 2008–2010, as the backbone of Elite standards, with formulas, federation input and judgment. Other classes are related to Elite. The female FAQ explicitly discusses limited participation and hypothetical stronger fields. No uniform male×factor derivation is stated.
- TriageMethod · 1 table (ratio)Women using the publisher’s health-targets assessment; no sampled population disclosedPublisher explicitly sets female standards at approximately 60–75% of male standards, varying by movement. This is a stated coaching method; no fixed 0.6 factor is applied or inferred here.
What apps publish about their own users
- Strength Level: average bench of 212 lb among male Strength Level cohort; no fixed bodyweightMethod: Self-submitted lifts feed fitted strength/bodyweight distributions. Rep sets can be converted to estimated 1RM. Not a general-population figure.
- Strength Level: average bench of 112 lb among female Strength Level cohort; no fixed bodyweightMethod: Self-submitted lifts feed fitted strength/bodyweight distributions. Rep sets can be converted to estimated 1RM. Not a general-population figure.
- StrengthLog / Styrkelabbet: average bench of 100 kg among male users in the 24,408-user bench standards cohortMethod: Public standards cite users’ training logs, but do not fully disclose selection, deduplication or fitting. Not a general-population figure.
- StrengthLog / Styrkelabbet: average bench of 47 kg among female users in the 24,408-user bench standards cohortMethod: Public standards cite users’ training logs, but do not fully disclose selection, deduplication or fitting. Not a general-population figure.
Our own figure, for comparison: the median competitor in the data benches 281 lb127 kg (men) and 127 lb58 kg (women).
What moves the number
Why your bench is where it is
Four things explain most of the gap between any two lifters. In order of how much they matter.
Bodyweight
The single biggest predictor. Read the table again. The Advanced line for men runs from 231 lb105 kg at 132 lb60 kg to 511 lb232 kg at 292 lb132 kg+. More mass means more muscle, shorter range of motion and a steadier base on the bench. It is why powerlifting has weight classes and why a raw number without a bodyweight next to it tells you very little.
Training age
Not your age, your years of consistent, progressive pressing. Two lifters at the same bodyweight can sit several levels apart because of the training behind them.
Technique
A bench press is a full-body lift that happens to end at the chest. Leg drive, an arched and braced upper back, shoulder blades pinned, a bar path that touches low and presses back toward the rack. Each one is worth pounds, and together they are often the difference between two levels. Our bench press guide walks through the setup.
Frequency
The bench responds to practice. Lifters who press twice a week progress faster than lifters who press once, at the same weekly volume, because the skill part of the lift gets rehearsed. Once a week is enough to maintain. It is rarely enough to climb.
Men and women
Bench press standards for women
The gap between men's and women's bench numbers is the largest of the three powerlifts, because the bench leans hardest on upper-body muscle mass. At the same bodyweight, the women's Intermediate line sits at the men's Novice line; the women's Elite line sits between the men's Intermediate and Advanced lines. That is not a comment on effort or training. It is why the women's table is its own table and why we never score a woman's lift against the men's standards.
For a 140 lb64 kg woman: Novice from 70 lb32 kg, Intermediate from 105 lb48 kg, Advanced from 140 lb64 kg, Elite from 210 lb95 kg. Among women who compete in our data, 30% have benched their own bodyweight and 43% have benched 135 lb.
The full women's standards, by age and weightWomen · all tested lifts
The questions everyone asks
Is 135, 185, 225 or 315 a good bench?
Short answers, for the reference lifter. Each number has its own page with the answer by bodyweight and age.
Is 135 lb61 kg a good bench?
Novice for a 180 lb82 kg man
97% of men in the data have lifted it, which is most lifters.
Full answer
Is 185 lb84 kg a good bench?
Novice for a 180 lb82 kg man
90% of men in the data have lifted it, which is most lifters.
Full answer
Is 225 lb102 kg a good bench?
Intermediate for a 180 lb82 kg man
78% of men in the data have lifted it, which is most lifters.
Full answer
Is 315 lb143 kg a good bench?
Advanced for a 180 lb82 kg man
33% of men in the data have lifted it, about 1 in 3.
Full answer
One-rep max
How to estimate your bench max
You do not need to max out to know your max. Take a set you are sure of, somewhere between two and six reps, and multiply the weight by one plus the reps over thirty. That is Epley's formula, and under ten reps it is accurate to within a few percent for the bench. Five reps at 185 lb predicts 216 lb; three reps at 225 predicts 248.
The estimate drifts as reps climb, because a twelve-rep set tests endurance as much as strength, so we cap the Find-your-rank module at twelve. Test the estimate every couple of months with a heavy single if you like.
| Reps | Weight | Predicted max |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 225 lb102 kg | 225 lb102 kg |
| 2 | 210 lb95 kg | 224 lb102 kg |
| 3 | 205 lb93 kg | 226 lb103 kg |
| 5 | 195 lb88 kg | 228 lb103 kg |
| 8 | 180 lb82 kg | 228 lb103 kg |
| 10 | 170 lb77 kg | 227 lb103 kg |
Getting stronger
How to add twenty pounds to your bench
If you are below the line you want to be on, this is the order we would fix things in.
Press twice a week
One heavy day (sets of three to five) and one lighter day (sets of six to ten) beats one big day. The second session is where the technique gets rehearsed and the volume accumulates.
Own the setup
Feet planted, upper back arched and pinned, shoulder blades pulled down and together, grip just outside shoulder width. The bar should touch the same spot on your sternum every rep. Most stalled benches are setup problems wearing a strength costume.
Train the lockout
If the bar stalls a few inches off the chest, you need chest and shoulders: pause reps and dumbbell presses. If it stalls near the top, you need triceps: close-grip bench, dips, board presses. Diagnose the sticking point before you add assistance work.
Eat and sleep like you mean it
The bench is the lift most sensitive to bodyweight. A lifter who gains five pounds of muscle over a training block almost always benches more at the end of it. Protein around 0.7 to 1 g per pound, and sleep that is not negotiable.
In competition
Powerlifting bench standards
A competition bench is stricter than a gym bench: a pause on the chest until the referee's press command, no bouncing, no lifting the hips, and a full lockout. A touch-and-go gym lift is not directly interchangeable with a paused competition result. Our percentiles describe competition results; the six strength levels belong to Stronger’s scale.
Elite and World Class are labels on Stronger's scale, not federation qualifications or record predictions. The competition percentiles show how those thresholds compare with measured lifts.
Safety
Bench press safely
Use correctly adjusted safeties or a competent spotter for heavy bench presses. Learn the setup with a qualified coach and follow your gym’s equipment instructions.
Stop the exercise if it hurts. Persistent or sudden pain needs assessment rather than a technique diagnosis from a benchmark page. Young lifters should train with qualified supervision; see the AAP’s strength-training guidance.
Questions people ask
Bench press standards, answered
What is the average bench press?
Among people who compete in our data, the median man benches about 281 lb127 kg for one rep and the median woman about 127 lb58 kg. Those are competition results, not the general population, and they move a lot with bodyweight. The tables above give the number for your weight.
What is a good bench press?
For a 180 lb82 kg man, Intermediate starts at 225 lb102 kg and Advanced at 315 lb143 kg; for a 140 lb64 kg woman, Intermediate starts at 105 lb48 kg and Advanced at 140 lb64 kg. We would call anything Intermediate or above a good bench. Among men who compete at around 180 lb82 kg in our data, 79% bench at least the Intermediate floor.
How many people can bench 225?
About 78% of the men in our data have benched 225 lb, which is most lifters. Among men who do not train it is far rarer. The 225 page has the number by bodyweight and age.
Should I be able to bench my bodyweight?
For men, a bodyweight bench is Novice on Stronger's scale; Intermediate starts at 1.25 times bodyweight. For women a bodyweight bench is Advanced. It is a good first milestone, not a requirement. How rare a bodyweight bench is.
What are the bench press standards in kg?
Every number on this page switches to kilograms with the lb/kg toggle. For a 82 kg man the cutoffs are Novice 61 kg, Intermediate 102 kg, Advanced 143 kg, Elite 163 kg and World Class 196 kg.
How does age change the standards?
In our data the median competitor's bench rises through the teens and, for men, is highest at 35–39; at 60–64 it is about 21% lower than at 40–44. Nobody has measured a representative teen average, so we do not print one; among 15-year-old boys who compete in our data the median is 187 lb85 kg, a competition benchmark for that age. The by-age page has the median for every age from 13 up, and each teen age has a page with the same six floors by bodyweight and the competitor percentile for that age.
How do I find my one-rep max without maxing out?
Take a set of two to six clean reps with a weight you are sure of and use the Epley estimate: weight × (1 + reps ÷ 30). Five reps at 185 lb predicts about 216 lb. Our 1RM calculator does the arithmetic, and the Find-your-rank module above accepts a set instead of a max.
Does the bench press weight include the bar?
Yes. Every number on this page is the total on the bar, bar included, which is how a lift is recorded at a meet and how Stronger logs it. A standard barbell weighs 45 lb20 kg, so a 45 lb plate on each side is 135 lb61 kg, the “one plate” bench, and two plates a side is 225 lb102 kg. If your gym's bar is lighter or a machine adds its own resistance, the number is not comparable.
Are these numbers averages of everyone, gym members or powerlifters?
Competitors. The percentiles come from 1,668,369 bench competition results (one per lifter per meet) by 556,880 lifters in the OpenPowerlifting open dataset, so every “% of men” on this page means men who entered a powerlifting meet. These numbers describe competitive powerlifters, people who entered a sanctioned meet and trained for it. They are stronger than the general gym population, and far stronger than the general public. The six levels are a different thing. They are Stronger's scale, the same one the app scores every lift on, and we put the competition percentile beside each level so the two never blur.
Why do different strength-standard sites give different answers?
Because they measure different people in different ways. Strength Level's tables are built from lifts its users log; ours are competition results with a judge watching; some older charts trace back to a machine test, not a barbell. None of them is wrong about its own population, and none of them is the average of everyone. The Methodology section on this page summarises the published tables we compared, with whose numbers each one is.
Sources: Strength Level bench press standards (Strength Level)
How often should I train to improve my bench?
The ACSM's 2026 resistance-training guidelines put the floor for healthy adults at every major muscle group at least twice a week. For the bench specifically we would program two to three sessions a week, one heavy and one lighter, with the pressing volume spread across them; once a week is usually enough to hold a number and rarely enough to move one. Add the rows and rear-delt work that keep the shoulders healthy under the bar.
Sources: ACSM Unveils Landmark 2026 Resistance Training Guidelines — First Update in 17 Years (American College of Sports Medicine, 2026)
Track your strength level, every lift, every workout.
The tables above are a snapshot. Stronger scores every set you log on its strength scale, adjusted for your bodyweight and sex, and shows a strength level for each muscle group on a colour-coded body map. This is the Strength Score, and it is the reason the app exists.
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Keep going
- Average Bench Press by Age: 13 to 70+ (Chart)By age
- Average Bench Press for Women: Standards by Age & WeightWomen
- Squat Strength Standards: Average, Good & EliteSibling standards
- Deadlift Strength Standards: Average, Good & EliteSibling standards
- How to bench pressExercise
- One-rep max calculatorTool
- Barbell plate calculatorTool
- The Strength ScoreStronger
Levels: Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Elite, World Class. Median competitor, men: 281 lb.