Is a 185 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, 185 lb is the 7th percentile of judged lifts — novice among people who compete.
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?
185 lb is 84 kg. The chart is preloaded with it — change the number to check your own.
What 185 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
| Bodyweight | Percentile | Band | Median for the class |
|---|---|---|---|
| up to 52.5 kg | 87th | Elite | 50.0 |
| 52.5–57.5 kg | 67th | Advanced | 72.5 |
| 57.5–62.5 kg | 46th | Intermediate | 85.0 |
| 62.5–67.5 kg | 25th | Intermediate | 100.0 |
| 67.5–72.5 kg | 21st | Intermediate | 102.5 |
| 72.5–77.5 kg | 10th | Novice | 115.0 |
| 77.5–82.5 kg | 6th | Novice | 122.5 |
| 82.5–87.5 kg | 7th | Novice | 125.0 |
| 87.5–92.5 kg | 4th | Novice | 135.0 |
| 92.5–97.5 kg | 4th | Novice | 137.5 |
| 97.5–102.5 kg | 3rd | Novice | 145.0 |
| 102.5–107.5 kg | 2nd | Novice | 150.0 |
| 107.5–112.5 kg | 3rd | Novice | 155.0 |
| 112.5–117.5 kg | 3rd | Novice | 155.0 |
| 117.5–122.5 kg | 2nd | Novice | 162.5 |
| 122.5–127.5 kg | 2nd | Novice | 165.0 |
| 127.5–132.5 kg | 3rd | Novice | 161.0 |
| 132.5–137.5 kg | 2nd | Novice | 165.6 |
| 137.5 kg and above | 2nd | Novice | 172.5 |
Women
| Bodyweight | Percentile | Band | Median for the class |
|---|---|---|---|
| up to 52.5 kg | 98th | World-class | 46.5 |
| 52.5–57.5 kg | 97th | World-class | 52.5 |
| 57.5–62.5 kg | 95th | Elite | 55.0 |
| 62.5–67.5 kg | 92nd | Elite | 60.0 |
| 67.5–72.5 kg | 90th | Elite | 60.0 |
| 72.5–77.5 kg | 85th | Elite | 62.5 |
| 77.5–82.5 kg | 85th | Elite | 65.0 |
| 82.5–87.5 kg | 84th | Elite | 65.0 |
| 87.5–92.5 kg | 85th | Elite | 65.0 |
| 92.5–97.5 kg | 85th | Elite | 65.0 |
| 97.5–102.5 kg | 79th | Advanced | 67.5 |
| 102.5–107.5 kg | 79th | Advanced | 67.5 |
| 107.5–112.5 kg | 76th | Advanced | 70.0 |
| 112.5–117.5 kg | 76th | Advanced | 70.0 |
| 117.5–122.5 kg | 68th | Advanced | 72.5 |
| 122.5–127.5 kg | 67th | Advanced | 75.0 |
| 127.5–132.5 kg | 66th | Advanced | 75.0 |
| 137.5 kg and above | 56th | Advanced | 80.0 |
The road from here
| Lift | Percentile | Band |
|---|---|---|
| 83.9 | 7th | Novice |
| 93.9 | 12th | Novice |
| 103.9 | 21st | Intermediate |
| 113.9 | 33rd | Intermediate |
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.