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Comment by ndriscoll | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure what the 352 is supposed to be. strengthlevel.com claims a 352 lb bench is ~95th percentile for a 180 lb male, but I've never seen anyone in a gym that can bench anywhere near that. IME even a 225 lb squat feels like 95th percentile. I don't think I've ever seen someone else do a 100 lb shoulder press (~20th percentile on SL). Usually I see something like 75 lb (doing fixed barbells), and once I saw 95 lbs.

The idea is most people who participate are probably closer to what you see at the YMCA or Planet Fitness, not a powerlifting gym. They could do a lot more with basic advice like "add weight".

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This thread is truly bizarre.

A 352 pound bench at 180 pounds is bordering on being an elite lift. I would wager that it's unattainable for most guys, even if they worked at it and did everything right (in terms of training, nutrition, etc). Success in athletics/strength-based activities is, in large part, determined by genetics.

I'm sure there are domains where being in the 95th percentile just takes "some work." If we're using video games to make this point though, then I'm at a loss for words.

Sorry I was originally quoting a deadlift number. There’s a typo in the post.

I can squat 315, DL 425, bench about 230. Done 100-115 strict overhead press. I train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Plenty of guys stronger than me that I train with. I also go to a gym once in a while. I am solidly middle of the pack, especially considering I weigh 200 lbs. maybe if you are at planet fitness or something. Otherwise these numbers only take a bit of dedicated work to achieve. You would not look at me and think much based in my build and appearance.

That's pretty much agreeing with the article.

> Note that when I say 95%-ile, I mean 95%-ile among people who participate, not all people... I'm also not referring to 95%-ile among people who practice regularly. The "one weird trick" is that, for a lot of activities, being something like 10%-ile among people who practice can make you something like 90%-ile or 99%-ile among people who participate.

Someone who even calls it "training" and has specifically put in effort to be better is probably in the 95th percentile of people who do the activity.

> Otherwise these numbers only take a bit of dedicated work to achieve

I think you may be underselling that a bit. I got to something like 370-80lb DL while weighing 185 some years ago, and it took nearly 3 years of dedicated work, eating tons of boring chicken, and a lot of lifestyle changes. It was pretty hard work and a of hours in total. I still lift weights, but don't have the focus and dedication to maintain that kind of lifting routine. Even at my max I was probably only edging into the "advanced" category.

That’s wild to me, many high schools across the country have people that can do 370lb DL at 185lb.

I can understand the struggle at an older age, but age matters a lot here.

I mean sure, but they're pretty much in the top 5 ish percentage points of lifters.

My numbers were similar to yours, but I agree with OP that it wasn’t really “difficult”. Sure, you have to turn up to the gym regularly and put in the hours, but there’s no real skill or practice involved. It’s not like tennis/judo/your_sport where you actually have to focus to get good.

I guess saying a “bit” is dismissive. I had periods of regular training. Periods of no lifting. Running was a big part of my life. I have never been a very dedicated lifter. Did some 12 week cycles here and there. Probably took me a decade to hit those numbers. Someone with more focus could get there quickly. It was hard work here and there but nothing anyone would look at and say wow, I can’t do that. My T is a avg too, I have had it tested many times. Just solidly middle of the pack.

> claims a 352 lb bench is ~95th percentile for a 180 lb male

Surely you mean 353lb dead lift.

That's kind of the point: people online will say that's the 95 %ile level[0], and either they're taking the piss or they're self-selecting into a group that actually tries, so it's the 95 %ile of the 95%ile, or the 99.75 %ile. Meanwhile your average gymgoer that sometimes wanders into the free weight room thinks putting the big plates on the bar (i.e. 135) is a lot. There's obviously no way 1 in 20 dudes at the gym have a ~350 bench.

[0] https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/bench-press

And not to distract from the point (which you made well), but weight lifting in general is tricky to compare since you generally want to take body weight into account. Benching 225 lbs is a different prospect for a 125 lbs individual vs. a 250 lbs individual.

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