# Strength Standards - How Strong are You?



## Dtownry

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.*


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## Azog

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.


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## ECKSRATED

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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## Dtownry

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.



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.


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## widehips71

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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## Azog

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.



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.


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## Gt500face

Nice post man


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## event462

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!


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## j2048b

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


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## RJ

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.



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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## j2048b

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


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## RJ

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.


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## ECKSRATED

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.


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


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## Big Worm

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


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## Malevolence

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


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## Dtownry

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.



 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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## widehips71

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...



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.


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## ProteinFarts

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


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## Trump

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


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## BrotherIron

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.


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