How much should a 20-year-old woman squat?
245 lb (111 kg) is a good squat for a 20-year-old woman: it beats about 94% of women her age and sits at the 79th percentile of lifters who track their training (Intermediate). The median woman squats 170 lb (77 kg); Elite starts around 320 lb (145 kg).
A 20-year-old woman of average bodyweight (171 lb) who squats 170 lb (77 kg) is stronger than about 52% of women her age, right at the general-population median. Among lifters who track their training the same lift sits at the 42nd percentile, Novice on the Strength Level scale. The strength age it implies is 25.
The ladder
Each weight a 20-year-old woman of average bodyweight (171 lb) might squat, ranked two ways, with the strength age the general-population ranking implies. Weights are total bar weight, plates plus bar.
| Weight (lb) | kg | Stronger than (general population) | Strength age | Percentile (lifters who track) | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | 38.5 | 4% | 80+ | 5th | BEGINNER |
| 105 | 47.5 | 5% | 80+ | 11th | BEGINNER |
| 125 | 56.5 | 8% | 54 | 18th | BEGINNER |
| 145 | 66 | 28% | 39 | 28th | NOVICE |
| 170MEDIAN | 77 | 52% | 25 | 42nd | NOVICE |
| 175 | 79.5 | 56% | 25 | 44th | NOVICE |
| 205 | 93 | 81% | 25 | 60th | INTERMEDIATE |
| 245 | 111 | 94% | 25 | 79th | INTERMEDIATE |
| 295 | 134 | 98% | 25 | 90th | ADVANCED |
| 345 | 156.5 | 99% | 25 | 97th | ELITE |
This page assumes average bodyweight (171 lb) and a single lift. The calculator uses your bodyweight and your best bench and squat set, in your browser, and gives you the Weyt Age the app would show.
Quick answers
What is a good squat for a 20-year-old woman?
Among lifters who track their training, a 20-year-old woman at average bodyweight (171 lb) reaches Intermediate (the 50th percentile) at about 190 lb (86 kg), Advanced (the 80th percentile) at about 250 lb (113.5 kg), and Elite (the 95th percentile) at about 320 lb (145 kg). Against the general population the median is lower, about 170 lb (77 kg), because people who log their lifts are a strong, self-selected crowd.
Is 245 lb a good squat for a 20-year-old woman?
245 lb (111 kg) puts a 20-year-old woman of average bodyweight at the 79th percentile of lifters who track their training, Intermediate on the Strength Level scale. Against the general population it is stronger than 94% of women her age, a strength age of 25.
How this is computed
vs general population uses the Cooper Institute one-repetition-maximum bench press norms (weight pushed divided by bodyweight, by sex and age bracket) as published in the ACSM Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. No credible general-population squat norms exist, so each squat weight is first translated into the bench press that sits at the same Strength Level percentile for this sex and bodyweight, and that bench equivalent is scored against the same Cooper table. The two lifts stay on one calibrated scale. vs lifters who track uses Strength Level community standards (one-rep-max thresholds by sex and bodyweight, with their age adjustment), a self-selected crowd of people who log their training, which is why its median sits well above the general population's. Strength age is the age whose median general-population woman of this sex lifts that weight at average bodyweight; the published curves bottom out at 25 and we stop at 80. Weights are one-rep maxes or estimated one-rep maxes (Epley, from any set of one to ten reps). The general-population table’s youngest bracket is ages 20 to 29, so the general-population columns here use that bracket.
Sources: The Cooper Institute, Physical Fitness Assessments and Norms for Adults and Law Enforcement, as reprinted in ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 8th ed., Table 4.9; Strength Level strength standards, strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/squat/lb. This is the same math the weyt.ai app runs on your logged sets. Not medical advice.
Other ages
How much should a 20-year-old man squat?
Other lifts
- Bench press standards for women, age 20
- Romanian deadlift standards for women, age 20
- Deadlift standards for women, age 20
- Incline bench press standards for women, age 20
- Close-grip bench press standards for women, age 20
- Front squat standards for women, age 20
- Hip thrust standards for women, age 20
- Overhead press standards for women, age 20
- Barbell row standards for women, age 20
- Bulgarian split squat standards for women, age 20
- Goblet squat standards for women, age 20
- Incline dumbbell press standards for women, age 20
- Dumbbell bench press standards for women, age 20
- Dumbbell shoulder press standards for women, age 20
- Dumbbell row standards for women, age 20
- Dumbbell Romanian deadlift standards for women, age 20
- Dumbbell lunge standards for women, age 20
- Hammer curl standards for women, age 20
- Dumbbell curl standards for women, age 20