Overview
Strength standards is a surprisingly controversial topic. There are many respected coaches and content creators out there who argue against strength standards.
Similar to our philosophy on logbooking, I believe numbers and data are never the problem. How you interpret the data is the real point of discussion. It’s absolutely agree that in the wrong hands, fitness standards can be skewed, taken out of perspective and context and used incorrectly. However, with the right caveats and context in place it’s simply another piece of the puzzle.
It’s a useful general heuristics for 80% of folks 80% of the time.
- You may be reach all the ‘standards’, but still need to work on movement quality and form.
- You may not be hitting some specific numbers, and it may be perfectly be fine for your particular individual situation.
As a general rule of thumb for folks not enmeshed in gym culture, you are likely wildly underestimating what you’re capable of – even if you’re ‘only’ looking to train for health and longevity.
Description
First up, we’re going to divide this for guys and for girls for fairly clear physiological reasons.
For ease of discussion and practical purposes, this will be broken down into beginner, intermediate and advanced. Novices don’t have standards (because they will be aiming to reach the beginner standards) and if you’re an elite athlete by that point general heuristics will not be useful.
Some principles we will apply on fitness standards:
- Keep it simple – it’s an approximate heuristic anyway, we aren’t going to go into decimal points of percentages of bodyweight ratios.
- Equipment – bodyweight, barbell or dumbbell exercises.
- Absolute vs relative weight. Earlier standards use relative bodyweight scaling. Later standards will dispense with this as it’s less useful.
- We can’t cater to every outlier – this generally assumes healthy adults in their 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s. Beyond that you will want to drop 10% or so per decade.
For guys
Beginners
The big three
- 5 strict dips
- 3 strict pull-ups
- Barbell deadlift 1 rep of your bodyweight
Intermediate
The first major milestone is what we’re calling the big three.
If you’re solely interested in a minimalist, health and longevity approach, then you’re done! If you can hit these three metrics, simply continue to train two or three times a week and focus on making the routines efficient and enjoyable.
If you have slightly more serious fitness goals, then this is going to be your first major checkpoint. Approximate as it is, it’s a reasonable indication that you’ve progressed beyond a novice to a solid beginner stage.
Beginner to intermediate
As we progress beyond the basics, the complexity of standards has to increase to make it more useful. Here it’s probably easier to conceptualise standards by muscle groups.
We also want to expand our standards to other variables. As a simple metric it’s useful to have a baseline level of cardio and locomotion.
Full body standards
- DB Bench 30kg for 10 reps
- DB Seated Press 20kg for 10 reps
- DB Incline Row 25kg for 10 reps
- Pull-up for 10 reps
- EZ Bar Standing Curl 20kg for 10 reps
- EZ Bar Standing Extension 20kg for 10 reps
- Hanging Leg Raise for 10 reps
- Barbell Deadlift 100kg for 5 reps
- Barbell Squat 90kg for 5 reps
- Barbell Hip Thrust 80kg for 5 reps
Advanced
Just as with the progression to beginner to intermediate, the line to intermediate to advanced becomes even more murky.
At this point, this truly is not a list of ‘standards’ but rather a list of ideas and heuristics that could serve as a fun checkpoint. The metrics here become increasingly qualitative rather than quantitative.
We also dispense with any strict rep numbers on some exercises; as these are more suggestions it’s at your own discretion.
For example, for an untrained male we can confidently say slowly and steadily building up to a 60kg deadlift for a set of 5 is a good target to reach. It’s fair to say going from 60kg to 100kg will still fairly directly correlate with muscle growth. On the other hand, chasing a 180kg to 220kg is starting to become questionable as to whether it’s the most efficient way to grow your hamstrings.
Upper body standards
- Pull-up 120kg total weight for ~5 reps
- Dip 120kg total weight for ~5 reps
- BW Pull-up for 20 reps
- BW Dip for 20 reps
Back standards
- Deadlift ~180kg for 10 reps
- Jefferson Curl ~100kg for 10 reps
- Hold a bridge for ~10 seconds
Shoulder standards
- HSPU for strict reps
- BTN OHP 60kg for ~10 reps
- OHP 80kg for ~10 reps
Arm standards
- EZ Bar Preacher Curl 40kg for 5-10 reps
- EZ Bar Lying Extension 40kg for 5-10 reps
- DB 1-arm Curl 15-20kg for 10 reps
- DB 1-arm Extension 15-20kg for 10 reps
Core standards
- Toe to Bar Leg Raise for strict reps
- Dragon Flag for strict reps
- Decline Sit-up for strict reps
- Ab Wheel for strict reps
Lower body standards
- Barbell Squat ~140kg for 10 reps
- Barbell Squat ~120kg for 20 reps
- Barbell Romanian Deadlift ~160kg for 5 reps
- Barbell Romanian Deadlift ~140kg for 10 reps
- DB Split Squat ~20kg for 10 reps
- DB B-stance RDL ~40kg for 10 reps
Leg standards
- Reverse Nordic Leg Curl for strict reps
- Nordic Leg Curl for strict reps
Relative ratios
- DB and EZ Bar curls and extensions should be about equal
- Barbell Squat and Deadlift should be about equal
- DB B-stance RDL should be about double DB Split Squat
For girls
Beginner
These are for lifestyle folks; those only training for health or others who are still relatively new and continuing their fitness journey.
If you’re solely interested in a minimalist, health and longevity approach, then you’re done! If you can hit these three metrics, simply continue to train two or three times a week and focus on making the routines efficient and enjoyable.
If you have slightly more serious fitness goals, then this is going to be your first major checkpoint. Approximate as it is, it’s a reasonable indication that you’ve progressed beyond a novice to a solid beginner stage.
The big three
- 5 strict push-ups
- 1 strict pull-up
- Barbell squat 1 rep of your bodyweight
Intermediate
- DB Bench 15kg for 10 reps
- DB Seated Press 10kg for 10 reps
- DB Incline Row 12.5kg for 10 reps
- Pull-up for 5 reps
- EZ Bar Standing Curl 10kg for 10 reps
- EZ Bar Standing Extension 10kg for 10 reps
- Hanging Leg Raise for 10 reps
- Barbell Deadlift 60kg for 5 reps
- Barbell Squat 50kg for 5 reps
- Barbell Hip Thrust 40kg for 5 reps
Advanced
Upper body checkpoints
- Pull-up for strict reps
- Dip for strict reps
- Toe to Bar Leg Raise for strict reps
- Dragon Flag for strict reps
- Ab Wheel for strict reps
Dumbbell checkpoints
- DB Incline Bench 20kg for reps
- DB 1-arm Press 17.5kg for reps
- DB Seated Press 15kg for reps
Barbell checkpoints
- High Bar Squat 1 plate for 20 reps
- Romanian Deadlift 2 plates for 10 reps
- Hip Thrust 2 plates for 10 reps