With those qualifiers in mind, an average man can properly bench press pounds without prior training. That average Joe could deadlift pounds, and generally squat pounds. Given that this is based on gym attendance, a lot of average men probably don't lift squat. Raising the barbell Shutterstock. The most advantageous method of employing human strength is in rowing a boat. This article was originally published with the title "Human Strength" in Scientific American 13, 10, 77 November Already a subscriber?
Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Both variations are great, and both allow you to lift similar amounts of weight. It just depends on your style of training and your goals. So, how much can the average man barbell row? The other thing to note is that Greg Nuckols found these numbers somewhat high.
He thought that people who were weaker may be less interested in lifting weights, less like to participate in his survey, less likely to persist. The people who are stronger, better at pushing themselves, and better at building muscle are the ones who stick with lifting and keep seeing improvements in their numbers.
Mike Israetel, PhD, has an interesting stance on this, too. He says that most fit guys who weigh in the neighbourhood of pounds, after lifting for several years, can squat pounds, bench , and deadlift It all depends on your goals.
But if you want to fight to hit those strength standards, you probably can. If you train well, you can probably become stronger than almost everyone else at your gym, outlift almost everyone you know. Instead of carrying an extra fifty pounds around, you might be fifty pounds lighter than the average man.
As a result, your legs and hips will likely be quite a bit smaller. I know that for me, at least, it took me quite a bit of training before I could squat pounds.
I remember doing my bench press with just the barbell, getting excited when I could add five pounds to either side. So 6 inches taller, 67 pounds lighter. These numbers are still realistic for you, it just might take you an extra year to reach them. For example, after lifting weights 2—3 times per week for the past eight years, I can bench press pounds for 15 touch-and-go repetitions and pounds for an awkward single.
There are a number of factors that influence our strength, including immutable ones, like our limb lengths and tendon insertions. Of the factors we can influence, though, there are only a few:. For guys who are interested in being strong in a more general sense, they can drop the strength phases, focusing on improving their rep maxes instead. Still, if we test his 1-rep maxes, the average man can lift:. With just a couple months of practice, the average man has 1-rep maxes of:.
Those numbers line up fairly well with what you can expect to see men lifting in the gym, and they represent a perfectly healthy amount of muscle mass and general strength. But with a decade of serious lifting, the average man can expect to be able to lift quite a bit more than that:. You might not see men lifting that much very often. Those numbers are quite impressive, often showing a lot of hard work under the barbell.
His specialty is helping people build muscle to improve their strength and general health, with clients including college, professional, and Olympic athletes. Hi Shane, interesting article. I think the numbers for average person shall change based on demographic or region of the world.
I mean, you mentioned numbers for average American, may be European be or Asians may have different average numbers. And definitely his numbers on key lift shall also rise as a result. So I think it is better looking physique overall. Being strong and lean tends to look good.
Guys who are overweight tend to start with more muscle and more fat, so losing fat is what makes them look great. Underweight guys tend to start with less muscle and less fat, so building muscle is what tends to make them look better.
But I hear ya. Skinny or lean people have only one challenge to focus on — mass and strength gain — whereas obese or fat people have two challenges — losing fat as well as gaining mass — and to get there without losing much strength. So lean people have an advantage in this comparison. I had to gain 60 pounds of muscle to get up to a level of muscularity that I loved. I also had a really hard time eating enough calories to gain weight. If we look at a typical overweight person, they might have 50 extra pounds of fat and 20 fewer pounds of muscle.
But is losing 50 pounds of fat and gaining 20 pounds of muscle harder than gaining 60 pounds of muscle? But I bet other people feel similarly about their own bodies. Agreed Shane.
My point was not to say that things are easy for slim people, I was just saying that they have only one thing to focus — mass gain — instead of to also deal with fat loss. I am a skinny person myself lb who has gained some muscle and strength and still working out regularly for more of it, and enjoying the journey. I hear ya. These numbers do seem a little high. Strength Level has a nice calculator that makes me feel a little better. My biggest disappointment so far is that with all this HARD work I have not grown big enough for work colleagues to notice or for people to stop considering me as skinny or thin.
Or when they do work out, in a couple months their body is very noticeably different. And I know what you mean. Having lower muscle function also results in loss of muscle tissue — and this tissue loss subsequently also leads to decreased muscle strength and the inability to do as much. Certain health conditions might also cause fatigue, which also makes us less likely to move and exercise, causing a cycle of further muscle loss and decline in strength.
Cancer, in particular, can limit how well our digestive system works, making it difficult to consume food and reducing appetite. The foods we eat — in particular protein — are especially important for maintaining muscle mass and strength. Without proper food to fuel us and give us energy, the body must draw on its internal reserves to generate energy.
One of the key things people can do to maintain health and improve — or at the very least maintain muscle strength — is to exercise. Festival of Social Science — Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom.
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