How strong is strong?

How strong is strong? What is the standard by which you measure your strength in the gym and how do you stack up to other gym members?

In the previous posts I mentioned a couple ways to measure muscular development. Now some people made comments and sent me e-mails saying how they didn’t agree with what I was saying and that they didn’t want to be “that big”.

Maybe I wasn’t clear in the post because the suggestions mentioned were not how big the average gym goer or fitness enthusiast should be, it was referring to what is a realistic goal for maximum muscular development that one could strive to achieve after several years of progressive training.

If you are not at that size yet, that’s fine, few people are. However, it is a goal you can strive to acheive. And if you don’t want to take your physique to those levels then that’s ok as well. Not everyone who joins the gym has the desire to maximize their muscular potential. And that’s cool, to each their own.

With that being said I’m going to outline some guidelines that you can go by to measure your physical strength with some big basic compound lifts.

Squats & Deadlifts:
Shoot for at least 150% of your bodyweight for 12 reps.

Bench Press & Bent Over Barbell Rows:
Shoot for 125% of your bodyweight for 12 reps.

Shoulder Press:
Shoot for 75% of your bodyweight for 12 reps.

If you can perform the above lifts while maintaining good exercise form, then you’ll be among one of the strongest guys in most gyms.