How much should a 20-year-old man squat?

A 20-year-old man of average bodyweight (200 lb) who squats 290 lb (131.5 kg) is stronger than about 51% of men his age, right at the general-population median. Among lifters who track their training the same lift sits at the 37th percentile, Novice on the Strength Level scale. The strength age it implies is 25.

The ladder

Each weight a 20-year-old man of average bodyweight (200 lb) might squat, ranked two ways, with the strength age the general-population ranking implies. Weights are total bar weight, plates plus bar.

Quick answers

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 man 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 woman squat?

Other lifts

• Bench press standards for men, age 20
• Romanian deadlift standards for men, age 20
• Deadlift standards for men, age 20
• Incline bench press standards for men, age 20
• Close-grip bench press standards for men, age 20
• Front squat standards for men, age 20
• Hip thrust standards for men, age 20
• Overhead press standards for men, age 20
• Barbell row standards for men, age 20
• Bulgarian split squat standards for men, age 20
• Goblet squat standards for men, age 20
• Incline dumbbell press standards for men, age 20
• Dumbbell bench press standards for men, age 20
• Dumbbell shoulder press standards for men, age 20
• Dumbbell row standards for men, age 20
• Dumbbell Romanian deadlift standards for men, age 20
• Dumbbell lunge standards for men, age 20
• Hammer curl standards for men, age 20
• Dumbbell curl standards for men, age 20