Bench press standards for men

How I build these standards

This is my scale, not someone else's table. It's built on DOTS: a formula that puts results on a common footing across bodyweight and sex (coefficients as used by OpenPowerlifting). The thresholds are a DOTS equivalent of a powerlifting total: Beginner 150 · Novice 225 · Intermediate 300 · Advanced 375 · Elite 450. 450 is roughly the top 5% of men in classic powerlifting meets, 300 is first-meet level.

DOTS is for a total, and this is a single lift. So I make an assumption: your result in one lift is its usual share of a total. The shares are medians from classic powerlifting results in OpenPowerlifting open data (USAPL, about 17 thousand entries): for men squat 35.5%, bench 23.5%, deadlift 41%; for women 36%, 20% and 44%.

Your proportions may differ — some people bench strong, others pull strong — and then a single-lift table shifts. Treat it as a guide to where to grow, not a verdict.