Stronger
Units

Age 15 · boys and girls · the scale by bodyweight, not a guessed average

Average Bench Press for a 15 Year Old

Among 15-year-old boys who compete, the median bench is 187 lb85 kg; among girls who compete, it is 99 lb45 kg. Those are competition benchmarks. No general-population average exists: nobody has measured a representative sample of 15-year-olds, and the numbers that circulate are guesses. Below is the six-level scale by bodyweight, the same six levels Stronger scores every lift on, and beside each level how rare it is among 15-year-olds who actually compete.

Boys · 18785–20995 lbkg · Intermediate from
248 lb112 kg
Novice from 149 lb68 kg · Advanced from 347 lb157 kg · Elite from 397 lb180 kg
Girls · 12155–14365 lbkg · Intermediate from
99 lb45 kg
Novice from 66 lb30 kg · Advanced from 132 lb60 kg · Elite from 198 lb90 kg

Boys · 198 lb90 kg bodyweight · age 15

median 15-year-old competitor · 187 lb85 kg
Beginner
from the bar
Novice
from 14968
Intermediate
from 248112
Advanced
from 347157
Elite
from 397180
World Class
from 476216

Girls · 132 lb60 kg bodyweight · age 15

median 15-year-old competitor · 99 lb45 kg

The markers are the median among 15-year-olds who compete in our data: 187 lb85 kg for boys, 99 lb45 kg for girls. Treat them as a competition benchmark, not a general-population average; the lifters who enter a meet are its strong end.

Find your rank

Where does your bench sit at 15?

Your level comes from Stronger's scale at your bodyweight. Your percentile compares you with 15-year-olds who compete. Enter a set of up to twelve reps and we estimate the max; you do not need to test one.

Sex
age 15 data

248 × 3 ≈ 273 lb one-rep max (Epley). Up to 12 reps keeps the estimate honest.

Calculations run in your browser. We measure usage, including strength levels and broad bodyweight ranges.

Your bench

273lb

Intermediate

at or above 89% of boys competing in the data aged 15 at your bodyweight

NOVINTADVELITEWC
273 lb124 kg

A 1.38× bodyweight bench is Intermediate for a 198 lb90 kg boy at 15. Advanced starts at 347 lb157 kg, 74 lb34 kg away.

Standards at 15

Bench press standards for 15 year olds, by bodyweight

Sex
Units
Boys, 15 · six levels by bodyweight · one-rep max in lbkg, bodyweight in lbkg · small figure: share of 15-year-old men competing in our data who bench less than that floor
BodyweightBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteWorld Class
under 1436545201%99454%1657560%23110596%265120100%317144100%
14365–1657545201%116534%1938858%27012297%309140100%370168100%
16575–1878545201%132605%22010065%30914099%353160100%423192100%
18785–20995rail row45201%149689%24811275%34715799%397180100%476216100%
20995–23110545201%1657515%27612585%386175100%441200100%529240100%
231105+45201%1828325%30313789%424192100%485220100%582264100%

These are not the adult standards scaled down by a guess, and we do not invent a separate teenage scale either. The floors are the same six Stronger uses at any age, so a number means the same thing on the app and on this page. What changes with age is the small figure under each floor, the share of 15-year-olds who compete in our data and bench less than it. Reaching 248 lb112 kg at 18785–20995 is Intermediate on the scale, and the figure beneath it tells you how rare that is at 15. Only brackets with at least a hundred 15-year-old competitors are shown; the top one is open-ended.

13 to 18

How 15 compares to the ages around it

Among competitors in our data, the median 16-year-old boy benches 22 lb10 kg more than the median 15-year-old; the median girl 9 lb4 kg more. Every point is a link.

All ages, 13 to 70+
  1. 13121558338
  2. 14154709242
  3. 15187859945
  4. 162099510849
  5. 1723110511653
  6. 1824811212155

boys, median competitor girls, median competitorage · lbkg · among lifters of that age who compete in our data

Training at this age

Benching at 15: what matters more than the number

We publish these numbers because teenagers search for them, and we would rather they found a page that takes their training seriously than a forum thread. So here is the part the forum leaves out.

  • Supervised, progressive resistance training is safe for adolescents. The NSCA's position stand finds no evidence that it harms growth or maturation, and the injuries in the research come from unsupervised lifting and poor technique.
  • Testing a one-rep max is a coach's call, not a max-out with friends. The NSCA says youth strength can be safely evaluated with 1RM procedures under qualified supervision, while the American Academy of Pediatrics' handout for parents advises no one-rep maximums before skeletal maturity.
  • Technique first, then load in the smallest jumps the gym has, with attentive spotting on every bench set; the guidance agrees on gradual progression under qualified instruction.
  • “no evidence to suggest that resistance training will negatively impact growth and maturation”NSCA, Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning Association (2009), Printed S62, growth-cartilage discussion (PDF p. 3)
  • “can be safely evaluated by 1RM testing procedures”NSCA, Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning Association (2009), Printed S64, section on strength testing (PDF p. 5)
  • “gradual progression under qualified instruction and supervision”Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology position paper: resistance training in children and adolescents (2008), Author abstract, final paragraph
  • “attentive spotting must be provided”NSCA, NSCA Strength and Conditioning Professional Standards and Guidelines (2017), Standard 3.2, printed p. 11 / PDF page 11

In practice: a coach, PE teacher or experienced adult checks the setup before load goes on; the bar goes up in the smallest jumps the gym has; and the Find-your-rank module above is the way to know your max, not a spotter and a prayer. The Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning Association is the reference we build on.

Median competitor, 15 to 18

Age 15
18785 / 9945
Age 16
20995 / 10849
Age 17
231105 / 11653
Age 18
248112 / 12155

Boys / girls, lbkg: the median bench among lifters of each age who compete in our data. A competition benchmark, not a general-population average; it shows how much the strong end of each year moves, not what every 15-year-old should expect.

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

All 16 cited sources

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).

For lifters, parents and coaches

Benching at 15, answered

What is the average bench press for a 15 year old?

Among 15-year-old boys who compete in our data, the median bench is 187 lb85 kg; among girls who compete, it is 99 lb45 kg. That is a competition benchmark, not a general-population average: the lifters who enter a meet are the strong end of their age group. No study has measured a representative sample of 15-year-olds on the barbell bench press, and the figures that circulate online are guesses copied between sites, so no general-population average exists. The table on this page gives the level for a 15-year-old at each bodyweight.

What is a good bench press for a 15 year old?

For a 198 lb90 kg 15-year-old boy, Intermediate starts at 248 lb112 kg and Advanced at 347 lb157 kg. For a 132 lb60 kg girl, Intermediate starts at 99 lb45 kg and Advanced at 132 lb60 kg. Among 15-year-old boys who compete at that bodyweight, 25% bench at least the Intermediate floor; among girls at theirs, 50%.

Is it safe for a 15 year old to bench press?

Yes, with supervision and technique first. The NSCA position stand on youth resistance training finds that properly supervised, progressive training is safe for adolescents, with no evidence to suggest that resistance training will negatively impact growth and maturation. The injuries in the research come from unsupervised lifting, ego loads and poor technique, not from the barbell.

Should a 15 year old test a one-rep max?

Not casually. A true max is the one set where technique is most likely to break. Estimate the max from a set of three to five reps instead; it is within a few percent, and the number on this page is exactly as useful. A qualified coach can supervise a max test when there is a reason for one.

Is 15 old enough to start bench pressing?

Yes, with a qualified adult watching. The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology's position paper says there is no minimum age for resistance training in children, and the NSCA's position stand lands in the same place: what matters is qualified instruction and supervision, technique before load, and gradual progression. An empty bar and a coach's eye is the right start at 15; a max attempt is not.

Sources: Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology position paper: resistance training in children and adolescents (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, 2008) · Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning Association (National Strength and Conditioning Association, 2009)

Will bench pressing at 15 stunt growth or damage growth plates?

Not when it is supervised and progressive. The NSCA's position stand found no evidence that resistance training harms growth or maturation. The injuries in the research come from unsupervised lifting and poor technique, which is exactly why the rule at 15 is technique first and small jumps.

Sources: Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning Association (National Strength and Conditioning Association, 2009)

Does a 15 year old need a spotter?

Yes, on every bench set. The NSCA's professional standards say attentive spotting must be provided on the bench press, and the American Academy of Pediatrics' guidance for parents asks for proper supervision and spotting. In a power rack, set the safeties just below chest height as well: a spotter plus safeties is how the bar never pins a 15-year-old.

Sources: NSCA Strength and Conditioning Professional Standards and Guidelines (National Strength and Conditioning Association, 2017) · Strength Training (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2011)

Should a 15 year old be able to bench their bodyweight?

It is a milestone, not a requirement. For a 198 lb90 kg 15-year-old boy, a bodyweight bench is Novice on the scale, and 35% of 15-year-old competitors in our data at that bodyweight bench less than it. For a 132 lb60 kg girl it is Advanced, and 85% of 15-year-old competitors at that bodyweight bench less. Nobody has measured how many 15-year-olds in general can do it, and we would not guess.

How much should a 15 year old bench in kg?

The same scale, in kilograms. For a 90 kg 15-year-old boy, Intermediate starts at 112 kg and Advanced at 157 kg; for a 60 kg girl, Intermediate starts at 45 kg and Advanced at 60 kg. The lb/kg toggle at the top of the page switches every number, including the table.

My 15 year old wants a bigger bench. What should I know?

Three things. Technique before load: a coach or an experienced adult should watch the setup before any weight goes on. Progression in small steps: five pounds a week is fast at this age. And sleep, food and patience beat any program. Most of the strength a 15-year-old will ever have has not arrived yet, and the goal is to still be lifting at 25.

Stronger · Strength Score

Track the number as it climbs, scored for your bodyweight and sex.

Stronger scores every set against standards adjusted for your bodyweight and sex, shows a strength level for each muscle group on a colour-coded body map, and keeps the log so the progress is visible week to week. Technique first; the app keeps the score.

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Keep going

Bench press standards at 15: Intermediate from 248 lb for a 198 lb boy and from 99 lb for a 132 lb girl. Median among 15-year-old competitors in our data: boys 187 lb, girls 99 lb. Previous: Average Bench Press for a 14 Year Old. Next: Average Bench Press for a 16 Year Old.