Women's Simple Strength Standards
After my post the other day about a simple, but slightly different, take on strength standards - one based more on how much you train, how long you’ve trained for, how much it’s a full lifestyle vs just something you fit into your busy life - I thought I’d do one for women as well.
As with the previous one, there will never be enough caveats to make this perfectly individual, so just take it in the general spirit in which it’s intended. Not perfectly applicable to any one specific individual, but a rough sketch of population level averages. Here the assumptions are a healthy woman of about 150 lbs, in the ‘open’ age group of 23-39. Weights are for 1 rep max. Make reasonable adjustments for differences in age, size, and health status.
Basic Lack of 1st World Frailty
An average person will achieve this quickly, with ~a few months of proper and consistent training. Those with less fortunate genetics will take longer, but just about everyone will eventually achieve approximately these numbers if she trains consistently. This is about enough to tackle any normal task that living in the first world will throw at you, and to have a basic level of robust health.
Squat: 150
Bench: 95
Deadlift 185
Press: 65
Regular Person Strong
This means what it implies: Strong for a regular person. Not a serious lifter, but strong for a regular person. This is achievable for people with around the average genetic potential with very consistent and proper training and nutrition/recovery, in something like 60-90 minutes, 3 days per week. No need to organize your whole life around lifting. It can be something you fit into your life, rather than something you bend your whole life around, and an ~average person should still be able to achieve this in a few years or less.
Squat: 200
Bench: 125
Deadlift: 225
Press: 85
Really Strong
This level is still in the realm of regular person and not competitive lifter, but represents a well above average achievement for a regular person who fits training into life, rather than organizes her life around his training. So we’re still talking someone who trains something like 3 days a week for 60-90 mins, not a gym rat who spends hours upon hours in the gym.
Squat: 225
Bench: 155
Deadlift: 275
Press: 100
Recreational Lifter
This level represents someone who dedicates a little more time and effort, who is a bit more into training as a lifestyle rather than something she just fits into his life. Someone who competes in powerlifting meets for fun. Lifting is still not the absolute center of her life, but this typically represents a higher level commitment than any of the previous levels. Typically spends a little more weekly training time than the 3-4.5 hours of the previous levels, more like 5-7 hours, perhaps spread over 4 days instead of 3.
Squat: 275
Bench: 185
Deadlift: 315
Press: 115
Competitive Lifter
This level represents someone who is competitive at local meets and might place or even win them. Lifting isn’t necessarily her whole life, but she definitely organizes much of her life around it, to ensure she can train and eat properly no matter what. She plans travel around places that have fully equipped gyms, not skipping or even “doing whatever is in the hotel gym.” Typically spends more time in the gym than any of the previous levels, moving towards something like 7-10 hours over, usually, 4 days per week. Is into lifting as a whole lifestyle.
Squat: 315
Bench: 200
Deadlift: 365
Press: 135
Elite Lifter
This typically represents someone for whom lifting is at the center of her life. Not necessarily to the exclusion of anything else, but that everything else is organized around being able to train, eat, and recover as optimally as possible. She likely spends upwards of 10 hours a week training, and probably brings a big ol’ gym bag with more gear in it than the average person even knows exists. These numbers aren’t among the very best in the world, but for a ~150 lb woman, would put her in an elite tier of competitive lifters at this size, who are already a self selected group much stronger than your average casual lifter.
Squat: 350+
Bench: 225+
Deadlift: 400+
Press: 150+