Strength standards calculator: compare your lifts by bodyweight

What the strength levels mean (Beginner to Elite)

Each level is a fixed multiple of your bodyweight for that lift. The six levels — Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, Proficient, Advanced and Elite — come from Symmetric Strength's published lift-ratio tables. They are reference points: Intermediate does not mean you are stronger than half of all lifters, and none of the levels is a pass mark.

Most people who train consistently move through the first levels fastest. Higher levels take longer because each step needs more strength relative to your size.

Strength standards by bodyweight table (men and women)

Estimated one-rep max needed for each level, rounded to the nearest kilogram. Use the calculator above for your exact bodyweight, or switch to pounds at the top of the page.

Why body proportions and leverage affect your lifts

Two people of the same weight can sit at different levels for reasons that have nothing to do with effort. Longer arms add distance to a bench press but shorten a deadlift; a longer thigh changes how upright you can squat. That is why one lift can sit a level above or below the others — it does not by itself mean something is wrong.

To compare your lifts with each other rather than with a level, try the lift ratio calculator. For plain bodyweight multiples with no levels, use the strength to bodyweight calculator.

How to progress safely to the next strength level

Train each lift regularly, keep most sets a few reps short of failure, and add weight or reps gradually when every set feels solid. The double progression calculator shows when to add weight, and the Workout Builder gives you a full week that trains all four lifts. For a fuller picture of getting stronger, read how to get stronger.

How the calculation works

Your set is turned into an estimated one-rep max with the Epley equation, load × (1 + reps ÷ 30), the same as our 1RM calculator. That figure is divided by your bodyweight and compared with six fixed bodyweight multiples per lift, from Beginner to Elite, taken from Symmetric Strength's published lift-ratio tables. Female levels use Symmetric Strength's multiplier for each movement type.

Worked example

An 80 kg man who benches 80 kg for 5 reps has an estimated one-rep max of 93.3 kg, 1.17× bodyweight. That is the Intermediate level; Proficient starts at 100 kg, 6.7 kg away.

What the result cannot tell you

Levels are reference points, not percentiles, grades, competition standards or targets. They do not account for age, limb length, technique or training history. An estimate from a set of more than one rep is not a tested maximum, and sets above 12 reps are not used. Symmetric Strength estimates maxima with the Wathan formula, so its own figure for the same set can differ slightly.

Common questions