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WHITELIGHTS

Real judged lifts. Zero self-reported numbers. This is what strong actually is.

Verdict

Is a 115 lb bench press good?

Short answer: it depends entirely on your bodyweight, and here is the table that says by how much.

At 82.5–87.5 kg bodyweight, 115 lb is the 1st percentile of judged lifts — novice among people who compete.

Intermediate Advanced Elite World-class 0255075100 5080110140170200 kg lifted →
kg

Percentile

29,914 judged bench presss, men, 82.5–87.5 kg

No lift entered. The curve is every judged bench presss in this class — add yours to it.

Not your class?

115 lb is 52 kg. The chart is preloaded with it — change the number to check your own.

What 115 lb means at every bodyweight

The same lift is a different achievement at 60 kg and at 120 kg. This is the whole answer, not one row of it.

Men

BodyweightPercentileBandMedian for the class
up to 52.5 kg 53rd Advanced 50.0
52.5–57.5 kg 16th Novice 72.5
57.5–62.5 kg 6th Novice 85.0
62.5–67.5 kg 2nd Novice 100.0
67.5–72.5 kg 2nd Novice 102.5
72.5–77.5 kg <1 Novice 115.0
77.5–82.5 kg <1 Novice 122.5
82.5–87.5 kg <1 Novice 125.0
87.5–92.5 kg <1 Novice 135.0
92.5–97.5 kg <1 Novice 137.5
97.5–102.5 kg <1 Novice 145.0
102.5–107.5 kg <1 Novice 150.0
107.5–112.5 kg <1 Novice 155.0
112.5–117.5 kg <1 Novice 155.0
117.5–122.5 kg <1 Novice 162.5
122.5–127.5 kg <1 Novice 165.0
127.5–132.5 kg <1 Novice 161.0
132.5–137.5 kg <1 Novice 165.6
137.5 kg and above <1 Novice 172.5

Women

BodyweightPercentileBandMedian for the class
up to 52.5 kg 64th Advanced 46.5
52.5–57.5 kg 46th Intermediate 52.5
57.5–62.5 kg 37th Intermediate 55.0
62.5–67.5 kg 30th Intermediate 60.0
67.5–72.5 kg 27th Intermediate 60.0
72.5–77.5 kg 23rd Intermediate 62.5
77.5–82.5 kg 21st Intermediate 65.0
82.5–87.5 kg 22nd Intermediate 65.0
87.5–92.5 kg 21st Intermediate 65.0
92.5–97.5 kg 18th Novice 65.0
97.5–102.5 kg 16th Novice 67.5
102.5–107.5 kg 14th Novice 67.5
107.5–112.5 kg 13th Novice 70.0
112.5–117.5 kg 12th Novice 70.0
117.5–122.5 kg 10th Novice 72.5
122.5–127.5 kg 8th Novice 75.0
127.5–132.5 kg 8th Novice 75.0
137.5 kg and above 5th Novice 80.0

The road from here

LiftPercentileBand
52.21stNovice
62.22ndNovice
72.23rdNovice
82.26thNovice

Men at 82.5–87.5 kg bodyweight. Percentile gained per 10 kg, so you can see what the next plate is actually worth.

Who these numbers describe. Everyone in this dataset entered a powerlifting competition. They are stronger than the general gym population, so a 50th percentile here is well above an average gym-goer — we would rather tell you that than quietly flatter you. Nobody has ever published a trustworthy random sample of what people lift in commercial gyms; what exists instead is app data that people type in themselves.

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Published by

Amit Sharma

Auckland real-estate agent and marketer. Builds free, sourced data tools.