Amit's data tools
WHITELIGHTS

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

Verdict

Is a 120 kg 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, 120 kg is the 43rd percentile of judged lifts — intermediate 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?

120 kg is 265 lb. The chart is preloaded with it — change the number to check your own.

What 120 kg 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 97th World-class 50.0
52.5–57.5 kg 95th World-class 72.5
57.5–62.5 kg 92nd Elite 85.0
62.5–67.5 kg 82nd Elite 100.0
67.5–72.5 kg 78th Advanced 102.5
72.5–77.5 kg 61st Advanced 115.0
77.5–82.5 kg 48th Intermediate 122.5
82.5–87.5 kg 43rd Intermediate 125.0
87.5–92.5 kg 31st Intermediate 135.0
92.5–97.5 kg 28th Intermediate 137.5
97.5–102.5 kg 21st Intermediate 145.0
102.5–107.5 kg 18th Novice 150.0
107.5–112.5 kg 16th Novice 155.0
112.5–117.5 kg 17th Novice 155.0
117.5–122.5 kg 13th Novice 162.5
122.5–127.5 kg 13th Novice 165.0
127.5–132.5 kg 15th Novice 161.0
132.5–137.5 kg 13th Novice 165.6
137.5 kg and above 12th Novice 172.5

Women

BodyweightPercentileBandMedian for the class
up to 52.5 kg 99+ World-class 46.5
52.5–57.5 kg 99+ World-class 52.5
57.5–62.5 kg 99+ World-class 55.0
62.5–67.5 kg 99+ World-class 60.0
67.5–72.5 kg 99+ World-class 60.0
72.5–77.5 kg 99+ World-class 62.5
77.5–82.5 kg 99+ World-class 65.0
82.5–87.5 kg 98th World-class 65.0
87.5–92.5 kg 99th World-class 65.0
92.5–97.5 kg 99th World-class 65.0
97.5–102.5 kg 98th World-class 67.5
102.5–107.5 kg 98th World-class 67.5
107.5–112.5 kg 98th World-class 70.0
112.5–117.5 kg 97th World-class 70.0
117.5–122.5 kg 97th World-class 72.5
122.5–127.5 kg 96th World-class 75.0
127.5–132.5 kg 96th World-class 75.0
137.5 kg and above 93rd Elite 80.0

The road from here

LiftPercentileBand
120.043rdIntermediate
130.058thAdvanced
140.071stAdvanced
150.082ndElite

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.

One family of free data tools

See all 9 sites in this family, with what each one answers

Published by

Amit Sharma

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