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Eavesdrop on a conversation between a powerlifter and an average Joe talking about their lifting PR’s…and you’ll see disbelief on the face of the average guy, regarding the numbers that get moved around by the strength athlete.

1,000lb squats and 800lb bench presses aren’t uncommon to find on YouTube, in an era where men are seemingly trying to become a modern-day Hulk.

However, many of these people are taking anabolic steroids, giving them a superficial advantage. Thus this article is dedicated to the lifter who wants to know the benchmarks for natural strength (outside of the steroid realm).

What is strong?

We know what strong is in natural powerlifting, because we have charts for each weight class that define state/provincial/national standards, see such charts below:

Record-Breaking Strong

Squats National Raw Records for Men Weight Class USAPL 100% Raw NASA ADFPF UPA-AD 132 479.50 530.90 275.58 247.50 None 148 473.75 550.90 473.99 445.50 220 165 534.50 530 512.57 447.70 529 181 562 601.10 540.13 500.50 529 198 573 610 644.85 550 600 220 650.25 650.30 699.96 583 633 242 705.25 700.70 650.36 621.50 705 275 766 850 755.08 599.50 640 308 854.25 826.70 766.10 599.50 704

Bench Press National Raw Records for Men Weight Class USAPL 100% Raw NASA ADFPF UPA-AD 132 314 330.40 231.48 187 None 148 337.25 360.40 294.31 302.50 165 165 402.25 400 363.76 374 314 181 385.75 385 363.76 385 364 198 443 425 418.87 374 412 220 523.50 490 451.94 423.50 425 242 462.75 485.60 415.57 451 457 275 501.50 585 507.06 511.50 440 308 546.50 520 476.19 484 501

Deadlifts National Raw Records for Men Weight Class USAPL 100% Raw NASA ADFPF UPA-AD 132 578.50 450 358.25 341 None 148 523.50 540 567.68 473 353 165 661.25 630 567.68 535.70 567 181 677.75 641.10 617.29 638 600 198 706.50 661.30 661.38 671 630 220 727.50 672.40 677.91 654.50 677 242 699.75 760.50 722.01 704 645 275 832.00 800 705.47 632.50 650 308 843.25 760.50 810.19 665.50 744

How Strong Are You?

Thus by taking the above records into consideration, we can work out what strong is by natural standards (via doing some quick maths):

Elite strong = Raw record x 92.5%

= Raw record x 92.5% Extremely Strong = Raw record x 75%

= Raw record x 75% Very Strong = Raw record x 67.5%

= Raw record x 67.5% Strong = Raw record x 57.5%