Minimum weight that every healthy adult male should be able to lift?

[JEDI]

is there a consensus?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

No. Considering force production is largely dependent on muscle physiologic cross-sectional area, what people can lift will vary greatly. It also depends on neural efficiency and coordination with given movements, which depends on experience. Anyhow, I foresee this to be a "one-upper" kind of thread, where people come in and say "The bare minimum anyone should deadlift is 450lbs." I'm not quite sure why you'd ask this unless you were straight up trolling.

 

[Plugers]

Maybe as a percentage of body weight would be a better question?

 

[JEDI]

was at the gym today and saw a couple of things that made me post this.
1) small old guy (50s?) with a beer belly was pressing more than my body weight.
(i'm barely pressing 3/4 my body weight. )

2) big tall young guy that looked like he could compete in the strongman competition could barely squat two 45lb plates. (one on each side of the bar)


after I made this thread, I realized the young guy could be recovering from an injury.

edit:
and now that I think about kimbo slice, he could have also concentrated on upper body and now just started doing lower body?

 

[deadken]

Maybe as a percentage of body weight would be a better answer?

Do you mean 'a better question'?

I'd think there are too many different possibilities.

Curl, bench press, dead lift, etc? Arms only? or should we consider legs? What body type? What age? What profession? I'd think that: Too many variables = too many possibilities.

I do wonder if there is a 'general' fitness level that we should be able to compare ourselves against. Ie: At age 20 one should be able to do X push ups, X chin ups, run X distance, etc... At age 30, what would the change be? Same number but different time allowed for completion? Lower numbers for each decade of age? I can't see how a 'benchmark' could be set.

Ooops! I started posting this before JEDI's reply. I don't know if that alters the context significantly or not.

 

[Plugers]

Do you mean 'a better question'?

Yes

 

[Zivic]

IMHO... a bare minimum for a moderately active person would be bodyweight for deads/squats/bench.

fit or active lifter
1.5x bw bench
2x bw squat
2x+ bw dead

elite
2x+ bw bench
2.5-3x bw squat
3x+ bw dead

 

[classy]

IMHO... a bare minimum for a moderately active person would be bodyweight for deads/squats/bench.

fit or active lifter
1.5x bw bench
2x bw squat
2x+ bw dead

elite
2x+ bw bench
2.5-3x bw squat
3x+ bw dead

bs nufff said

 

[Pantlegz]

you mean something like this?

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I have an entire wait staff who apparently can not lift anything over 5 pounds and can't lift that over shoulder height. They're all young enough to be my kids or grandchildren.

 

[classy]

you mean something like this?

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm

I agree with that chart. If a man can bench press his own bodyweight 2-3 times, I would say that is a good number for healthy active male.

 

[Maximilian]

Everyone and I mean everyone should be able to bench press 1.5x their own body weight from the start. I dont care if you're cripped, female, fat, whatever, if you cant do that give up and cry!

I kid ofc

 

[Zivic]

you mean something like this?

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm

didn't know I was so L33T

 

[Pray To Jesus]

A standard pushup.

 

[smackababy]

A standard pushup.

A pushup is like 70% of your BW IIRC. That is pretty low.

I think most males should be able to do at least 1RM of their body weight on the big lifts (bench, squat, dead).

If you're an athlete, or athletic in anyway, those numbers should increase.

Sadly, I've never been able to do 2x my bw, even with I was training hardcore in sports. I suppose I'll get there eventually. It might be easier if I lost some weight though.

 

[Wyndru]

IMHO... a bare minimum for a moderately active person would be bodyweight for deads/squats/bench.

fit or active lifter
1.5x bw bench
2x bw squat
2x+ bw dead

elite
2x+ bw bench
2.5-3x bw squat
3x+ bw dead

Wow, I know this is your opinion, but I'm way below the norm of what you consider bare minimum. When I was lifting regularly I think I eventually hit bodyweight (210) on squats, deads I was a little higher. Bench I wasn't even close to body weight. I think I maxed out at around 170.

I haven't lifted in about a year now so I'm sure I'm nowhere close to these numbers any longer.

 

[Zivic]

Wow, I know this is your opinion, but I'm way below the norm of what you consider bare minimum. When I was lifting regularly I think I eventually hit bodyweight (210) on squats, deads I was a little higher. Bench I wasn't even close to body weight. I think I maxed out at around 170.

I haven't lifted in about a year now so I'm sure I'm nowhere close to these numbers any longer.

so let's take my middle group. I'd say that is a person that worked out for 2-4 yrs. @ 200 lbs you think a 300 lb max bench is too much after training for a couple yrs? I would say that is plenty reasonable

so now you don't workout so you fall into the first group. if you can't push your own bodyweight, your bodweight is too high more so than your strength level being too low

 

[sushiwarrior]

so let's take my middle group. I'd say that is a person that worked out for 2-4 yrs. @ 200 lbs you think a 300 lb max bench is too much after training for a couple yrs? I would say that is plenty reasonable

so now you don't workout so you fall into the first group. if you can't push your own bodyweight, your bodweight is too high more so than your strength level being too low

I'm reasonably fit (165-170, 6') and workout 5 days a week, but I still don't think I could rep my bodyweight in bench. I definitely have strength, I'm just poor at 1RM's in particular (I go 4x8 at ~80% of my 1RM, so maybe I just don't have "fast twitch" muscles or whatever).

 

[smackababy]

I'm reasonably fit (165-170, 6') and workout 5 days a week, but I still don't think I could rep my bodyweight in bench. I definitely have strength, I'm just poor at 1RM's in particular (I go 4x8 at ~80% of my 1RM, so maybe I just don't have "fast twitch" muscles or whatever).

I'm sorry, but if you can't 1RM 165-170, you're definitely don't have strength, at least, not chest strength. 165 isn't a lot of weight, at all. Your 4x8 ~80% is like the equivalent of doing 4 sets of 8 push ups.

 

[sushiwarrior]

I'm sorry, but if you can't 1RM 165-170, you're definitely don't have strength, at least, not chest strength. 165 isn't a lot of weight, at all. Your 4x8 ~80% is like the equivalent of doing 4 sets of 8 push ups.

I can do 4 sets of 25 pushups easier than I bench 120lbs 4x8... Maybe I can do my BW, I just don't try 1RM's unless I have a spotter and I go to the gym too early for any of my friends

 

[pauldun170]

At the very least, a healthy adult male should be able lift their bodyweight off the floor (deadlift, squat) for a workout set , or pull themselves off the floor 10 times (pullups).
They should also be able to make it through Army PFT

That's minimum.

 

[Xcobra]

I'm 168lbs and at the moment, I'm at 265 on dead, no idea on bench as I don't have an actual bench (can do 65s on dumbell though), no idea on squats as I don't have a rack (last time I did, I was at around 200)... I guess I'm not leet yet, sigh.

 

[killster1]

so let's take my middle group. I'd say that is a person that worked out for 2-4 yrs. @ 200 lbs you think a 300 lb max bench is too much after training for a couple yrs? I would say that is plenty reasonable

so now you don't workout so you fall into the first group. if you can't push your own bodyweight, your bodweight is too high more so than your strength level being too low

lulz 300 bench for a few years training? on steroids? what is this magical few year work out plan that you suggest someone is able to attain a 300 bench after? please do share.

 

[smackababy]

lulz 300 bench for a few years training? on steroids? what is this magical few year work out plan that you suggest someone is able to attain a 300 bench after? please do share.

The magical few year workout is called lifting weights. Someone who is 200lbs should, with proper training, be able to easily lift 300 1RM.

If you start at 150lb 1RM, maintain your 200lb, and go up 5lbs a week, that is 30 weeks. Let's say an additional 50% to account for plateaus and rest weeks, that is 45 weeks. Less than a year. There is really no reason a dedicated person couldn't do that. Steroids not required.

 

[schmuckley]

220Lbs