Strength Standards - How Strong are You?

As I go for my 1300 lbs at BW 220 (225) this year I was happy to read this. Take a look and see where you're at. Even though it says natural...oh well. Strong is strong.


Pro Strength – The very best of the best. Superhuman. Supreme strength.

Elite Strength – You should be extremely competitive at a National level powerlifting meet.

Extremely Strong – You will be one of the top lifters at most local, natural powerlifting meets. Your strength levels land you in the top 1% of humanity.

Very Strong – In the muscle building and strength training realm, this would be considered intermediate level strength.

Strong – Your lifts are around a 200 raw bench, 300 raw squat and 400 raw deadlift. This doesn’t seem strong compared to powerlifting records, but you are still stronger than 90% of men walking the earth.


Raw Natural Strength Standards Based On Weight – Men

Pro Natural Raw Strength Standards
Men – By Weight
Weight Squats Bench Deadlifts
132 430 270 440
148 460 300 470
165 500 330 540
181 540 350 580
198 570 380 610
220 610 410 640
242 640 430 660
275 670 450 680
308 700 470 700

Elite Natural Raw Strength Standards
Men – By Weight
Weight Squats Bench Deadlift
132 400 250 410
148 425 280 435
165 465 305 500
181 500 325 535
198 530 350 565
220 565 380 595
242 595 400 610
275 620 420 630
308 650 435 650

Extremely Strong Natural Raw Strength Standards
Men – By Weight
Weight Squats Bench Deadlifts
132 325 205 330
148 345 225 355
165 375 250 405
181 405 265 435
198 430 285 460
220 460 310 480
242 480 325 495
275 505 340 510
308 525 355 525

Very Strong Natural Raw Strength Standards
Men – By Weight
Weight Squats Bench Deadlifts
132 290 185 300
148 310 210 320
165 340 225 365
181 365 240 395
198 385 260 415
220 415 280 435
242 435 290 445
275 455 305 460
308 475 320 475

Strong Natural Raw Strength Standards
Men – By Weight
Weight Squats Bench Deadlifts
132 250 155 255
148 265 175 270
165 290 190 310
181 310 205 335
198 330 220 350
220 350 235 370
242 370 250 380
275 385 260 390
308 405 270 405

I used the following multipliers to determine these numbers:
Elite = Pro x 92.5%
Extremely Strong = Pro x 75%
Very Strong = Pro x 67.5%
Strong = Pro x 57.5%


Most of you aren’t competitive powerlifters, nor do most of you have the goal of weighing 270 pounds or more. So with that in mind, I want to end by presenting you with an easy set of natural strength standards to remember.

The following goals are perfect for the lifter who wants to get big and strong, but who may never have any interesting in competing in bodybuilding or powerlifting. Reach these goals while focusing on conventional hypertrophy (muscle building) rep ranges, and you will not only add muscle to your frame, but also have the power and strength to back it up.

Bench Press – 300 pounds
Squats – 400 pounds
Deadlift – 500 pounds
Power Clean – 225 pounds
Overhead Press – 225 pounds
Barbell Row – 300 Pounds

There have been fewer than 85 men who have ever hit a 2000 raw powerlifting total. Of these men, only a very small handful accomplished this feat while competing in major drug-tested federations. I hope this helps put powerlifting numbers in perspective.

The use of bench shirts, squat suits, steroids and growth hormone has made it difficult for most natural athletes to understand just what strong means. I see far too many strong forum lifters refer to themselves as weak, simply because they do not understand what reasonable natural standards are.

They talk themselves out of competitive powerlifting because of a misguided vision that everyone is putting up 2000 pound totals. Not true at all.

A 1200 pound 3-lift total (bench press, squats and deadlifts) is more than 95% of gym rats will ever accomplish. A 1500 pound 3-lift total is a huge accomplishment, and will be hard to beat at most local, natural powerlifting meets.

For those of you who are doubting this, let me leave you with some numbers from my first powerlifting experience. In 2011 I competed at a local ADFPF meet. This was my first competition and I had no idea what to expect. I certainly had no clue that I would be the strongest lifter at the meet. My 3-lift total was 1501 that day. The second best total was approximately 200 pounds below this level.

This reveals that a 1300-1500 pound total at most local, raw and natural powerlifting meets is fairly impressive. Those that achieve these levels usually move on to national-level competitions.

I would prolly be under "Extremely Strong" @ 220. 'Cept I can pull more quite a bit more than that. Might be able to eek out a few more lbs on squat. If I shot 200mg of TNE and snorted Dbol I may be able to bench 320. Meh...my bench sucks haha.

Nice post man. Kinda cool when it's put into perspective like that.

I gotta enter a competition soon. Have to. Or at least some gay bench only comp cus I've heard guys winning them around here with a 405 bench. I'd demolish that. Not so much with squat though but getting up there.

ECKSRATED said:

Nice post man. Kinda cool when it's put into perspective like that.

I gotta enter a competition soon. Have to. Or at least some gay bench only comp cus I've heard guys winning them around here with a 405 bench. I'd demolish that. Not so much with squat though but getting up there.

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Thanks and you should man. Damn dude a 405 bench is no BS. That blows me away. Let us know if you enter something and how it goes.

Write ups like this perplex me. I'm not even exaggerating when I say I see guys on a daily basis at the gym pumping out 405 for reps on bench easier than I can order a pizza.

widehips71 said:

Write ups like this perplex me. I'm not even exaggerating when I say I see guys on a daily basis at the gym pumping out 405 for reps on bench easier than I can order a pizza.

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It takes me like 2 hours to order a pizza. The fact that I rarely eat it means I obsess over making the optimal choice in toppings, and the guilt of the impending gluttony drag the process out.

Nice post man

I've always thought of myself as weak since I usually train with pro athletes so it's nice to see I'm actually right in the mix at somewhere between strong and very strong!

Nope im weak! Fawk gotta focus on size and strength, and maybe enhance these lil muskles!

ECKSRATED said:

Nice post man. Kinda cool when it's put into perspective like that.

I gotta enter a competition soon. Have to. Or at least some gay bench only comp cus I've heard guys winning them around here with a 405 bench. I'd demolish that. Not so much with squat though but getting up there.

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your gay Italian ass should even if it is a bench only meet. I know with some prep work and training for it you could hit 495. btw, I hit a 405 easy the other day on chest day. I know my skinny underwear model ass still has 425 in the tank.

Nope im weak! Fawk gotta focus on size and strength, and maybe enhance these lil muskles!

I will also say this for anyone considering a meet. Doing all three lifts in one time frame, even if it is spread out over the length of a larger meet, is wayyyyyyy harded than hitting them on individual days. At least for me it was. And mine wasn't even a real 'meet'. So i give mad props to anyone who competes, but especially PLing meets.

RJ said:

your gay Italian ass should even if it is a bench only meet. I know with some prep work and training for it you could hit 495. btw, I hit a 405 easy the other day on chest day. I know my skinny underwear model ass still has 425 in the tank.

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well I'm focusing purely on strength right now and will see how it works in a few more weeks. My goal is still to bench 500 and I know I can with the right training cus that day I threw up 485 it went up like nothin. Was taking more than a measly hrt dose of test though too.

When my mmock meet day comes up in the cube I'm definitely not doing all 3 lifts that day. **** that. If i plan for a comp then yes but not right now. Mlp

I didn't see a choice for retard strength. I'm out.

Thank you for this, was always kinda curious. Squats are my weakness apparently. At 198 I push 1100 not sure where that puts me but I will keep referring to this thread

widehips71 said:

Write ups like this perplex me. I'm not even exaggerating when I say I see guys on a daily basis at the gym pumping out 405 for reps on bench easier than I can order a pizza.

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Do you see those same individuals squatting 405 for reps or 500+ deadlifts? If so tell me where your gym is because that's the place I want to be...

Dtownry said:

Do you see those same individuals squatting 405 for reps or 500+ deadlifts? If so tell me where your gym is because that's the place I want to be...

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A definite yes to the squats. I don't see a lot of guys doing deadlifts. Though I did watch a guy the other day, that I woulda never thought could, walk up to and pull 600 like he was toying around with it.

I truly have to believe some of the strongest men on the planet never step foot on a platform to compete.

I've been around a lot of strong dudes though. My weightlifting team workout partner in high school, Mike, weighed 150lbs and benched 340 on many occasions at meets. 18yrs old, natural and raw? That's just ****in freakish to me.

As far as my gym goes, we have a couple IFBB pros, a couple guys on the verge of their card, and several PL'ers in the pro to elite totals. But the guys that really stand out to me are the ones I see putting up huge weight and don't compete in anything. They do it just to do it.

I did 110 lb incline dumbell press today. I was quite happy with that. Haven't hit those numbers in at least ten years

This just popped up on my recents feed for some reason. Pretty cool though

I don't know, I always looked up Fed's and based that on my goals or what I worked towards.

You want to bust your ass to be the best, so work like the best and achieve what the best have put up.