Philip Pape 0:00

Do you think you're strong , are you not sure ? And let's put that strength into perspective . And today we're going to dive into relative strength standards . We're going to look at some of the numbers and what exactly they mean for you . On today's quick wits , welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast . I'm your host , phillip Pape , and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self mastery by getting stronger , optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition . We'll uncover science backed strategies for movement , metabolism , muscle and mindset , with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry , so you can look and feel your absolute best . Let's dive right in . Welcome back to another quick wits . And today's episode is dedicated to my man , my brother , carl Berryman , who sent me a message and he was asking about the relative strength standards .

Philip Pape 0:58

Some of you may have heard of these , some may have no idea what I'm talking about , but it tries to answer a question that kind of gnaws at many of us in the gym is how strong am I really ? Not just in absolute terms , which is what a lot of people think , and that's where we get into trouble comparing our numbers between each other but relative terms , particularly to your body weight . It could also be to your age and gender , but body weight is the big one , because that's how the different scores , like the Wilkscore , are based . That's when you look at weight classes . It's based on body weight , and so we're going to talk about relative strength . Now , this isn't just production of force in isolation , this isn't just the number right . It's how much you lift and proportion your body weight . And there are things that could change this in the short term . For example , when you're in fat loss and you're losing weight , if you're able to maintain your numbers , but you're getting lighter , in a way , you're getting stronger even if your numbers aren't going up . Or let's say , you're starting to learn how to chin up and you are gaining weight while you're learning the chin up because you're trying to get stronger and you get three reps . And then the next time you only get three reps but you're five pounds heavier . Well , that could still mean that you're stronger relative to your body weight . So it's pretty complex in that sense . Now , does it matter ? It only matters in the terms of like , I guess , bragging rights . But also if you're competing or you simply want to compare apples to apples , when you're a 130 pound female comparing against , you know a 225 pound male , let's say .

Philip Pape 2:35

Now , as to the actual numbers , there are a lot of different standards , so I would just recommend googling it and browsing around . There are some good articles online that will try to aggregate them , and I'm just going to refer to one here . It's at simplyfastercom , where he talks about how he combined his personal experience along with the evidence , along with a bunch of scores that are online , and I'm going to give you a minimum and kind of a goal strength and I'm not going to go to the extreme like super strong level here . This is for most people . What would be a minimum to say that , yeah , I'm strong , and then a number to say like I'm pretty strong or very strong , right , and I'm just going to stick with the big lifts . So back squat this is for men . Back squat would be one and a half your body weight to two times your body weight . So I'm 180 , that would mean 270 to 360 , right , bench press one and a quarter to one point , around 1.4 times your body weight . A deadlift would be one and a half to two and see , like for me personally , I'm definitely much stronger with my deadlift than my squat , so it can vary lift to lift . And then I'm just gonna stick to the big three For women back squat a little over one like 1.2 to 1.5 times your body weight , a bench press about half your body weight to three quarters of your body weight , and then a deadlift would be one and a quarter to one and a half times your body weight .

Philip Pape 4:09

So I don't want to bore you with all these numbers , but anyway , these are benchmarks that if you do the math on your own , you might say , hey , my relative strength is in the ball park , where I expected , or that's a weak spot for me . Let me work on that and you work on that with a balanced approach . Focus on progressive overload , proximity to failure , good technique , all of those things , but also your body composition , because losing a bunch of weight is gonna affect it . Gaining a bunch of weight is gonna affect it . And in fact , some people have heard the idea that mass moves mass . When you get bigger and bigger and bigger , you get stronger , but it's in absolute terms , beyond a point , meaning if you gain too much weight too quickly , your lifts will go up . But it is not relative strength that's going up , it's only absolute strength .

Philip Pape 4:55

So hope I didn't confuse you . I hope that was a good overview of what we mean by relative strength , as well as some numbers to shoot for . Go back and listen to that where I talked about the numbers and , before you load your next barbell , ask yourself am I just getting stronger or am I getting heavier , or am I getting lighter without the weight going up ? But I'm still getting stronger , and that can transform your mindset with your training right . And also let you focus on the right sort of progression , given your phase , your periodization and your body composition . All right , that's it for today's Quick Quits . Talk to you next time . Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights . If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up their wits or weights , please take a moment to share this episode with them and make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode . Until then , stay strong .