Is a 205 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, 205 lb is the 11th 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?
205 lb is 93 kg. The chart is preloaded with it — change the number to check your own.
What 205 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 | 91st | Elite | 50.0 |
| 52.5–57.5 kg | 79th | Advanced | 72.5 |
| 57.5–62.5 kg | 61st | Advanced | 85.0 |
| 62.5–67.5 kg | 39th | Intermediate | 100.0 |
| 67.5–72.5 kg | 34th | Intermediate | 102.5 |
| 72.5–77.5 kg | 18th | Novice | 115.0 |
| 77.5–82.5 kg | 11th | Novice | 122.5 |
| 82.5–87.5 kg | 11th | Novice | 125.0 |
| 87.5–92.5 kg | 6th | Novice | 135.0 |
| 92.5–97.5 kg | 6th | Novice | 137.5 |
| 97.5–102.5 kg | 5th | Novice | 145.0 |
| 102.5–107.5 kg | 4th | Novice | 150.0 |
| 107.5–112.5 kg | 4th | Novice | 155.0 |
| 112.5–117.5 kg | 5th | Novice | 155.0 |
| 117.5–122.5 kg | 3rd | Novice | 162.5 |
| 122.5–127.5 kg | 4th | Novice | 165.0 |
| 127.5–132.5 kg | 4th | Novice | 161.0 |
| 132.5–137.5 kg | 3rd | Novice | 165.6 |
| 137.5 kg and above | 4th | Novice | 172.5 |
Women
| Bodyweight | Percentile | Band | Median for the class |
|---|---|---|---|
| up to 52.5 kg | 99+ | World-class | 46.5 |
| 52.5–57.5 kg | 99th | World-class | 52.5 |
| 57.5–62.5 kg | 98th | World-class | 55.0 |
| 62.5–67.5 kg | 96th | World-class | 60.0 |
| 67.5–72.5 kg | 95th | World-class | 60.0 |
| 72.5–77.5 kg | 92nd | Elite | 62.5 |
| 77.5–82.5 kg | 92nd | Elite | 65.0 |
| 82.5–87.5 kg | 91st | Elite | 65.0 |
| 87.5–92.5 kg | 92nd | Elite | 65.0 |
| 92.5–97.5 kg | 92nd | Elite | 65.0 |
| 97.5–102.5 kg | 89th | Elite | 67.5 |
| 102.5–107.5 kg | 89th | Elite | 67.5 |
| 107.5–112.5 kg | 87th | Elite | 70.0 |
| 112.5–117.5 kg | 86th | Elite | 70.0 |
| 117.5–122.5 kg | 81st | Elite | 72.5 |
| 122.5–127.5 kg | 80th | Elite | 75.0 |
| 127.5–132.5 kg | 81st | Elite | 75.0 |
| 137.5 kg and above | 70th | Advanced | 80.0 |
The road from here
| Lift | Percentile | Band |
|---|---|---|
| 93.0 | 11th | Novice |
| 103.0 | 20th | Intermediate |
| 113.0 | 32nd | Intermediate |
| 123.0 | 46th | 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.
The same weight, other lifts
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.