Is 500 a Good Deadlift? How Rare It Really Is
For a 180 lb82 kg man, 500 lb227 kg is
Advanced
- Men competing in our data who have deadlifted it
- 43%
- Rarity
- 1 in 2
- On the bar
- five plates a side plus a 2.5
At your bodyweight
Where 500 lands, by bodyweight
The same 500 lb227 kg is World Class at 132 lb60 kg and Novice at 292 lb132 kg+. Drag the slider and watch the bands move under the bar.
- Beginner
- from the bar
- Novice
- from 270122
- Intermediate
- from 360163
- Advanced
- from 450204
- Elite
- from 540245
- World Class
- from 648294
At 180 lb82 kg, a 500 lb227 kg deadlift is Advanced for a man. 34% of men competing in this bodyweight bracket in the data have lifted it, about 1 in 3. That is 2.78× bodyweight.
Percentile by bodyweight
Who deadlifts 500, by bodyweight
| Bodyweight | Level | Have lifted it | Rarity | Ratio to bodyweight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 14365 | World Class | 3% | 1 in 29 | 3.79× |
| 14365–16575 | Elite | 19% | 1 in 5 | 3.25× |
| 16575–18785 | Advanced | 34% | 1 in 3 | 2.84× |
| 18785–20995 | Advanced | 50% | 1 in 2 | 2.53× |
| 20995–231105 | Intermediate | 62% | 1 in 2 | 2.27× |
| 231105–254115 | Intermediate | 66% | 1 in 2 | 2.06× |
| 254115–276125 | Novice | 73% | most lifters | 1.89× |
| 276125+ | Novice | 70% | most lifters | 1.71× |
| Bodyweight | Level | Have lifted it | Rarity | Ratio to bodyweight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 12155 | World Class | 0% | under 1 in 1,000 | 4.55× |
| 12155–14365 | World Class | <1% | under 1 in 1,000 | 3.79× |
| 14365–16575 | World Class | <1% | 1 in 417 | 3.25× |
| 16575–18785 | Elite | <1% | 1 in 169 | 2.84× |
| 18785–20995 | Elite | <1% | 1 in 115 | 2.53× |
| 20995–231105 | Advanced | <1% | 1 in 137 | 2.27× |
| 231105+ | Advanced | 2% | 1 in 67 | 2.02× |
Percentile by age
Who deadlifts 500, by age
| Age | Have lifted it | Rarity | Median at this age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 years old | <1% | under 1 in 1,000 | 243 lb110 kg |
| 14 years old | 1% | 1 in 100 | 290 lb132 kg |
| 15 years old | 4% | 1 in 23 | 347 lb157 kg |
| 16 years old | 11% | 1 in 9 | 397 lb180 kg |
| 17 years old | 19% | 1 in 5 | 421 lb191 kg |
| 18 years old | 29% | 1 in 3 | 452 lb205 kg |
| 19 years old | 39% | 1 in 3 | 474 lb215 kg |
| 20–24 | 52% | 1 in 2 | 502 lb228 kg |
| 25–29 | 60% | 1 in 2 | 518 lb235 kg |
| 30–34 | 61% | 1 in 2 | 524 lb238 kg |
| 35–39 | 58% | 1 in 2 | 513 lb233 kg |
| 40–44 | 52% | 1 in 2 | 502 lb228 kg |
| 45–49 | 43% | 1 in 2 | 485 lb220 kg |
| 50–54 | 34% | 1 in 3 | 455 lb206 kg |
| 55–59 | 26% | 1 in 4 | 441 lb200 kg |
| 60–64 | 14% | 1 in 7 | 405 lb184 kg |
| 65–69 | 8% | 1 in 13 | 375 lb170 kg |
| 70+ | 2% | 1 in 56 | 315 lb143 kg |
| Age | Have lifted it | Rarity | Median at this age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 years old | 0% | under 1 in 1,000 | 187 lb85 kg |
| 14 years old | 0% | under 1 in 1,000 | 209 lb95 kg |
| 15 years old | 0% | under 1 in 1,000 | 231 lb105 kg |
| 16 years old | <1% | under 1 in 1,000 | 243 lb110 kg |
| 17 years old | <1% | under 1 in 1,000 | 254 lb115 kg |
| 18 years old | <1% | under 1 in 1,000 | 270 lb122 kg |
| 19 years old | <1% | under 1 in 1,000 | 276 lb125 kg |
| 20–24 | <1% | 1 in 400 | 298 lb135 kg |
| 25–29 | <1% | 1 in 164 | 303 lb137 kg |
| 30–34 | <1% | 1 in 152 | 303 lb137 kg |
| 35–39 | <1% | 1 in 159 | 302 lb137 kg |
| 40–44 | <1% | 1 in 185 | 292 lb132 kg |
| 45–49 | <1% | 1 in 238 | 281 lb127 kg |
| 50–54 | <1% | 1 in 345 | 270 lb122 kg |
| 55–59 | <1% | 1 in 556 | 259 lb117 kg |
| 60–64 | <1% | under 1 in 1,000 | 243 lb110 kg |
| 65–69 | 0% | under 1 in 1,000 | 226 lb103 kg |
| 70+ | 0% | under 1 in 1,000 | 198 lb90 kg |
What it takes
How long it takes to deadlift 500
Nobody has measured how long it typically takes to get here from a first session, so we would rather say nothing than guess.
For women, 500 lb is World Class territory, reached by <1% of women competing in our data; nobody has measured a typical timeline for women either.
500 lb227 kg is Advanced for a 180 lb82 kg man on Stronger's scale. Use the bodyweight table above to find the level for your size; a strength level does not predict how long reaching it will take.
The path
- 405184The rung belowIntermediate76% of men competing in our data
- 455206HalfwayAdvanced59% of men competing in our data
- 500227HereAdvanced43% of men competing in our data
- 600272The rung aboveElite13% of men competing in our data
Rep equivalents
Sets that equal a 500 deadlift
By the Epley formula, these sets predict the same one-rep max. Past ten reps the estimate gets loose, so the shorter sets are the ones to trust.
| Weight | Reps needed | Predicted max |
|---|---|---|
| 470 lb213 kg | 2 | 501 lb227 kg |
| 455 lb206 kg | 3 | 501 lb227 kg |
| 440 lb200 kg | 4 | 499 lb226 kg |
| 430 lb195 kg | 5 | 502 lb228 kg |
| 415 lb188 kg | 6 | 498 lb226 kg |
| 395 lb179 kg | 8 | 500 lb227 kg |
| 375 lb170 kg | 10 | 500 lb227 kg |
Read it the other way too: if you can deadlift 430 lb195 kg for a clean five, you almost certainly have 500 in you for a single, and it is worth finding out. Most lifters hit their first 500 this way, chasing a rep PR at a lighter weight until the calculator says the single is there.
Plate math
How many plates is 500?
Five plates a side plus a 2.5 on a 45 lb20 kg bar. Here is the arithmetic in both units.
Pounds
45 lb bar + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 2.5 per side = 500 lb
5 45s per side, plus 2.5. Gym slang counts the 45s: this is “5 plates”.
Kilograms
20 kg bar + 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 + 2.5 + 1.25 per side = 227.5 kg
500 lb is 226.8 kg. In a kg gym the closest loading is 227.5 kg, about 502 lb.
For women
500 for women
For a 140 lb64 kg woman, 500 lb227 kg is World Class, which is to say competitive-lifter territory. <1% of women competing in our data have lifted it, about 1 in 303. The women's standards are their own table for a reason. The deadlift is the lift where women sit closest to men, but a number that is ordinary for a man is still a serious pull for a woman, and the level it earns her is the honest way to say so.
Deadlift standards for women, by age and weightHow we calculate
Where these numbers come from
Percentiles are built from 1,366,901 verified deadlift attempts by 480,472 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 deadlift, 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 deadlift less at the median than untested ones (men: 474 lb vs 496 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.
The lift. The standards assume a barbell deadlift from the floor on a standard bar, conventional or sumo, no straps, pulled in one movement, locked out and held. That is the lift a meet judges and the one the competition percentiles come from. Trap-bar pulls, rack pulls and strapped maxes are different lifts.
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 keep the back set and put the bar down the moment the position goes; a deadlift needs no spotter. 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
- Can perform the movement with the empty bar or light weight; strength is still mostly a skill and nervous-system story.
- Novice
- Ahead of most people who do not train. Typically a few months of consistent, progressive work.
- Intermediate
- Ahead of the majority of regular gym-goers. Usually one to two years of structured training.
- Advanced
- Rare in a commercial gym. Years of programming, technique and bodyweight management.
- 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: 480,472 raw lifters (best successful competition deadlift each), sanctioned meets only, para and equipped divisions excluded.
- Stronger's Strength Score scale for the deadliftStrongerThe six level floors per sex and bodyweight bracket, exactly as the app scores a lift.
- Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning AssociationNational Strength and Conditioning Association / Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research2009-08NSCA: Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning Association
- Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology position paper: resistance training in children and adolescentsCanadian Society for Exercise Physiology / Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism; abstract hosted by NLM2008-06Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology: Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology position paper: resistance training in children and adolescents
- Strength TrainingAmerican Academy of Pediatrics / HealthyChildren.org2011-07-08American Academy of Pediatrics: Strength Training
1 more cited source
- Strength Level deadlift standardsStrength LevelA published table we compare our six levels against (self-submitted user data).
Questions people ask
500, answered
How many people can deadlift 500?
43% of men competing in our data have deadlifted 500 lb, about 1 in 2. Among women competing it is <1%. These are people who train and test the lift; in the general population the share is much smaller, and nobody has measured it.
Is 500 a good deadlift?
For a 180 lb82 kg man, 500 lb is Advanced. Whether that is “good” depends on your bodyweight: at 132 lb60 kg it is World Class; at 292 lb132 kg it is Novice. These are Stronger app levels, not measured ranks among all gym-goers.
How many plates is 500?
500 lb is five plates a side plus a 2.5 on a 45 lb bar: 45 lb bar + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 2.5 per side = 500 lb. In kilograms the closest loading is 20 kg bar + 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 + 2.5 + 1.25 per side = 227.5 kg.
How long does it take to deadlift 500 lb?
We do not have enough data to give an honest estimate yet. Individual progress varies with training history, consistency and recovery.
Is 500 a good deadlift for a woman?
For a 140 lb64 kg woman, 500 lb is World Class; <1% of women competing in our data have lifted it. The women's standards
How many reps of 405 equals a 500 deadlift?
By the Epley formula, 7 reps. Rep-max estimates are least reliable past ten reps, so treat it as a target, not a certificate.
How many reps of 500 does it take to deadlift 600?
By the Epley formula, 6 reps at 500 lb predicts a 600 lb single. Estimates under ten reps hold up well, so a clean set like that is a fair sign the single is there. The 1RM calculator does the arithmetic for any weight and rep count.
Does 500 include the bar?
Yes. A deadlift is always counted as the total on the bar, and that is how every number on this page is recorded. 500 lb on a 45 lb bar is five plates a side plus a 2.5; the nearest kilogram loading is 227.5 kg (20 kg bar + 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 + 2.5 + 1.25 per side = 227.5 kg), which is why the kilogram figure and 500 are close cousins, not the same lift.
Does 500 lb with straps or a hitch count?
In a training log, people count what they like; on a platform it does not. A meet allows no straps, no hitching the bar up the thighs and no downward movement, and the lift has to be locked out and held, and our percentiles come from meets judged that way, so a clean 500 lb is what the 43% figure describes. Straps take the grip out of the lift and a hitch takes the lockout out of it; Stronger's scale does not distinguish either. Log how you pulled it and compare like with like.
Track your strength level as you work toward 500.
Stronger scores every deadlift set you log against these standards, adjusted for your bodyweight and sex, and tells you which of back, hamstrings and glutes is the one holding the number back. That is the Strength Score.
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500 lb deadlift: Advanced for a 180 lb man. 43% of men competing in our data have lifted it.