Skip to content

Strength Standards

How strong are you? Compare your lifts against standards for 445 exercises.

Exercises

445

Muscle Groups

63

Data Points

20,000+

Data Source

2.5M+ Verified Lifts

Quick Answer: Use our strength standards to find your FitnessVolt Competition Percentile (FVCP) across 445 exercises. Standards are calculated from 2.5M+ verified competition results from OpenPowerlifting, not self-reported data.

Showing of 445 exercises

No exercises found

Try a different search term or muscle group filter.

Every exercise is scored using the FitnessVolt Competition Percentile (FVCP), derived from 2.5M+ verified competition results from OpenPowerlifting - not self-reported gym data.

What Are Strength Standards?

Strength standards tell you how your lifts compare to other people of the same bodyweight, age, and sex. They classify your performance into five levels:

  • Beginner - Stronger than 5% of lifters. Less than one month of training.
  • Novice - Stronger than 20% of lifters. 3-6 months of consistent training.
  • Intermediate - Stronger than 50% of lifters. 1-2 years of structured programming.
  • Advanced - Stronger than 80% of lifters. 3-5+ years with periodized training.
  • Elite - Stronger than 95% of lifters. Competitive at regional/national level.

Our database includes 445 exercises with strength standards for both men and women, broken down by bodyweight and age. Data is derived from 2.5M+ competition results from powerlifting, weightlifting, and strongman federations worldwide, combined with community-reported training data.

How to Use These Standards

  1. Select an exercise from the grid above (or search by name or muscle group).
  2. Find your bodyweight in the table and look across to see where your 1RM falls.
  3. Toggle between Male/Female for gender-specific standards.
  4. Switch to the Age tab to see how your strength compares within your age bracket.

Don't know your 1RM? Use the E1RM Calculator to estimate it from any rep set. Then come back here to see where you rank.

How Our Standards Are Different

Most strength standards websites rely on self-reported gym data. Users enter their best lifts, which introduces significant inflation bias - studies suggest self-reported data overestimates performance by 10-20%.

The FitnessVolt Competition Percentile (FVCP) is different. Every number comes from 2.5M+ verified competition results sourced from the OpenPowerlifting database. These are lifts performed:

  • In sanctioned competitions with certified judges
  • Under standardized rules (depth checks, pause commands, lockout criteria)
  • With verified bodyweight via official weigh-ins
  • Across 200+ federations worldwide

This means when we say your Bench Press is at the 73rd percentile, we are comparing you against real competition performance - not inflated self-reports.

Understanding Your Results

Each exercise page includes an interactive calculator that shows your FitnessVolt Competition Percentile (FVCP) - your rank among verified competition lifters at your bodyweight. The five strength levels correspond to these percentiles:

Beginner
5th percentile
Novice
20th percentile
Intermediate
50th percentile
Advanced
80th percentile
Elite
95th percentile

Your result also includes a visual gauge, a distribution chart showing where you fall among all lifters, and actionable recommendations for reaching the next level. Use the tools in the RPE Training suite - like the E1RM Calculator, Backoff Calculator, and Block Planner - to program your training for continued progress.

Powered by FitnessVolt

Part of the FitnessVolt fitness ecosystem with 10,000+ exercise guides, workout programs, and nutrition content.

Visit FitnessVolt →

Standards reviewed by the Fitness Volt Editorial Team, certified strength training analysts.

Most Popular Strength Standards

The most commonly searched exercises. Click any exercise to see full bodyweight and age standards.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Beginner: untrained or first few months. Novice: consistent training for 3-6 months. Intermediate: 1-2 years of focused training. Advanced: 3-5+ years with structured programming. Elite: competitive-level strength, top ~5% of trained lifters.
The standards are based on 2.5M+ competition results from powerlifting, weightlifting, and strongman federations worldwide, combined with community-reported training data. Standards are adjusted for bodyweight and age.
The standards default to pounds (lbs). You can use the unit toggle in the top right of any page to switch to kilograms. Both use the same underlying data.
Standards are periodically updated as new competition data becomes available. User-contributed data from RPE Training workout logs also helps refine the benchmarks over time.
Some isolation exercises or machine-based movements have limited competition data. We include standards only when we have enough data for reliable benchmarks. The database grows as more athletes contribute their training logs.