Deadlift Standards: What’s a Good Deadlift for Your Age and Bodyweight?

Last updated: May 2026

A good deadlift depends almost entirely on your bodyweight, not the raw number on the bar. A 150-pound lifter pulling 300 pounds is hitting the exact same relative standard as a 200-pound lifter pulling 400 pounds. That context is what makes flat-number comparisons useless — and why serious strength coaches use bodyweight multipliers instead.

Below you’ll find deadlift standards for men and women across five experience levels, sorted by bodyweight. These are based on data from over 50,000 competitive performances and real-world gym benchmarks that have held up across different training populations.

Deadlift Standards at a Glance

The fastest way to gauge your deadlift is to divide your 1RM by your bodyweight. Here’s what each multiplier means:

Level	Men (× bodyweight)	Women (× bodyweight)
Beginner	1.0×	0.75×
Novice	1.35×	1.0×
Intermediate	2.0×	1.5×
Advanced	2.4×	1.85×
Elite	2.8×	2.2×

Level definitions:

• Beginner: Under 6 months of consistent training. Still ingraining the movement pattern.
• Novice: 6 months to 2 years. Solid technique, adding weight regularly with linear progression.
• Intermediate: 2–4 years. Progress has slowed and requires structured weekly programming.
• Advanced: 4+ years of dedicated training. Approaching genetic ceiling.
• Elite: Competitive-level. Top 5–10% of trained lifters.

Men’s Deadlift Standards by Bodyweight

These numbers assume a conventional or sumo deadlift from the floor with a lockout — no straps, no hitching. All figures are one-rep max (1RM).

Bodyweight	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite
130 lbs	130 lbs	175 lbs	260 lbs	310 lbs	365 lbs
150 lbs	150 lbs	200 lbs	300 lbs	360 lbs	420 lbs
170 lbs	170 lbs	230 lbs	340 lbs	410 lbs	475 lbs
190 lbs	190 lbs	255 lbs	380 lbs	455 lbs	530 lbs
210 lbs	210 lbs	285 lbs	420 lbs	505 lbs	590 lbs
230 lbs	230 lbs	310 lbs	460 lbs	550 lbs	645 lbs
250 lbs	250 lbs	340 lbs	500 lbs	600 lbs	700 lbs

The intermediate column — a 2× bodyweight deadlift — is the standard most serious gym-goers are working toward. A 190-pound man hitting 380 pounds has cleared it. Most trained men who haven’t specifically focused on the deadlift tend to sit somewhere in the novice range.

Women’s Deadlift Standards by Bodyweight

Women’s absolute numbers are lower, but the progression curve is identical. Hitting 1.5× bodyweight as an intermediate woman is a genuine achievement that puts you well above the recreational average.

Bodyweight	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite
100 lbs	75 lbs	100 lbs	150 lbs	185 lbs	220 lbs
115 lbs	85 lbs	115 lbs	175 lbs	215 lbs	255 lbs
130 lbs	100 lbs	130 lbs	195 lbs	240 lbs	285 lbs
150 lbs	115 lbs	150 lbs	225 lbs	278 lbs	330 lbs
165 lbs	125 lbs	165 lbs	250 lbs	305 lbs	363 lbs
185 lbs	140 lbs	185 lbs	278 lbs	342 lbs	407 lbs

Where You Rank Among Competitive Lifters

Data from over 50,000 competitive deadlift performances shows where trained athletes actually cluster. These numbers come from meet results, so they skew meaningfully higher than the average gym population — only people who specifically train for the deadlift enter competitions.

Men’s competition deadlift percentiles (all weight classes combined):

• 90th percentile: 635 lbs
• 75th percentile: 573 lbs
• 50th percentile: 507 lbs
• 25th percentile: 452 lbs
• 10th percentile: 397 lbs

Women’s competition deadlift percentiles:

• 90th percentile: 402 lbs
• 75th percentile: 358 lbs
• 50th percentile: 314 lbs
• 25th percentile: 276 lbs
• 10th percentile: 237 lbs

Hitting the 50th percentile in competition data puts you in the top tier among recreational gym-goers. Most people who lift but don’t specifically train the deadlift will fall well below these numbers.

Deadlift Standards by Age

Strength peaks in your late 20s to mid-30s. The standards above assume you’re between 18 and 35. After that, peak force production declines — but trained older lifters often outperform untrained younger ones because the skill and structural adaptation from years of training compounds.

Age Range	Approximate Adjustment
18–35	Baseline — no adjustment needed
36–45	~95% of peak
46–55	~85% of peak
56–65	~75% of peak
65+	~65% of peak

Example: a 52-year-old man at 190 lbs should target 85% × 380 = 323 lbs for intermediate. That’s not a concession — maintaining a 323-pound deadlift at 52 is a serious achievement. Competing in masters divisions, you’d stack up very well.

Why the Deadlift Is the Best Strength Test

Every other major lift has a significant learning curve that can mask true strength. The squat requires mobility and positional awareness. The bench press has a technique component that changes how much weight moves. The deadlift is different — everyone can pick a bar off the floor on their first attempt, which makes the numbers more honestly comparable across people.

It also loads more muscle mass than any other single lift. Hamstrings, glutes, erector spinae, traps, lats, and grip all contribute meaningfully to a max deadlift. That breadth is why it’s one of the most useful single-number proxies for total-body strength.

Common Sticking Points

Below the knee: Usually hamstring weakness. The bar breaks off the floor but stalls before the knee. Romanian deadlifts and stiff-leg variations directly target this range.

At the knee: Often a positioning issue — the bar drifts away from the legs as it passes the knee, increasing the moment arm and multiplying the load. Keep the bar dragging your shins the whole way up.

Lockout: Hip extension is the limiting factor here. Heavy hip thrusts and rack pulls from just above the knee will train this specifically without the fatigue of a full-range pull.

How to Progress to the Next Standard

At beginner and novice, add weight every session. Linear progression — 3 sets of 5 with 10 pounds added each session — works until it doesn’t. Most people can run this for 3 to 6 months before stalling.

At intermediate, weekly progress replaces session-to-session gains. You need a program that periodizes volume and intensity — 5/3/1, Texas Method, or a dedicated powerlifting template. The deadlift is demanding on the nervous system and recovers more slowly than the squat or bench, so most intermediates do well pulling heavy once per week and doing speed or volume work on a second session.

The single highest-return change for most intermediates isn’t programming — it’s pulling more consistently. Missing sessions slows deadlift progress faster than any programming mistake.