Strength standards.

Standards are directional. Limb length, sport background, and technique all move the goalposts. Use the table to spot lagging muscles, not to crown a champion.

In the app, height calibrates a personal ceiling so the same engine can answer “how close to your frame” instead of only population rank. Tables here use the world-standard path (bodyweight + sex).

Strength standards are reference thresholds that make lifting numbers easier to compare. A 150 lb lift means something different across exercises, and an absolute weight does not tell the whole story for lifters of different sizes. This table uses bodyweight and sex to display the reference lift needed to enter each SET level band for each muscle group.

The bands are SET’s scoring framework. They are not competition qualifying totals, verified population percentiles, or a diagnosis of physical ability. A label is useful when it helps you track the same measure consistently. It becomes misleading when you treat it as proof that you are stronger than a particular percentage of everyone your age.

Use the table to understand what the calculator is comparing, choose a performance target, and see which muscle groups look relatively ahead or behind under the same framework. Your own previous sessions remain the most direct comparison for your progress because they involve your equipment, technique, and training history.

Enter bodyweight in your selected unit and choose the sex setting used for the comparison. Read across the row for the muscle group you want to inspect. The yardstick column names the reference lift; the numbers in the band columns are one-rep max thresholds on that lift. They are not the weights you should automatically use for every set of a workout.

A threshold of 150 lb describes a reference one-rep maximum, not a prescription for 150 lb across eight or twelve repetitions. If you have a recent working set, use the level calculator to estimate the one-rep maximum from its load and reps. This lets you inspect a standard without attempting a maximum single just to obtain a score.

Changing bodyweight changes the reference comparison. For a meaningful trend, use a consistent bodyweight input and update it when your actual bodyweight changes. An altered score after editing your profile is not necessarily a sudden change in your lifting ability. It may reflect a new comparison baseline.

An estimated one-rep maximum translates a multiple-repetition set into an approximate single-repetition load. SET uses Brzycki up to 10 reps and Epley beyond, capped past 15, and treats one repetition as the entered load. The number is a convenient common unit for scoring. It is not a guarantee that you could lift that load for a clean single today.

The estimate depends on the set you enter. A deliberately easy set with many repetitions left available is different evidence from a demanding working set. Inconsistent range of motion, a changed exercise variation, or a different machine can also change the meaning of a number even when the written load and repetitions look similar.

Do not schedule a maximal attempt just to validate a web result. The calculator is useful precisely because it can work from normal recorded sets. Compare like-for-like exercise performances and treat small changes in the estimate as a reason to review the underlying sets, rather than as an exact measurement of a physical change.

For externally loaded exercises, the entered weight is the full external load under the exercise’s logging convention. On a barbell lift, include the bar and the plates. For a dumbbell exercise, verify whether the entry represents one dumbbell or the combined load and keep that convention consistent. A switch between the two can make progress appear to double overnight.

Bodyweight exercises need a different interpretation. Added weight increases effective load; assistance reduces it. Do not enter assistance as positive added weight. SET’s training calculations also use the bodyweight snapshot associated with bodyweight sets, so historical entries retain context instead of silently being treated as today’s bodyweight.

The standards table explicitly describes total-load one-rep max on its named reference lifts. Do not directly compare a cable stack label, a machine resistance number, and a free-weight lift merely because they use the same unit. The exercise and its load convention matter as much as the number.

This public table uses bodyweight and sex through the world-standard path. The app can also use height to calibrate a personal frame ceiling. Those two questions are related but different: one compares a lift with a general reference, while the other incorporates an additional profile input. Check your profile before assuming a mismatch is an error.

A muscle’s training history may also involve more than the one reference lift printed here. Exercise selection and the app’s scoring rules affect how saved sets contribute. Use the reference table to understand the bands; use the calculator for a particular lift and the app for the history actually saved to your account.

If a result looks unexpectedly high or low, check units, repetitions, exercise variation, bodyweight, and the difference between added and total load first. Then compare the underlying saved set with what you intended to enter. Fixing an input error is more useful than trying to reinterpret an implausible score.

Pick a reference lift you can perform and log consistently. Write down the recent set you are using as a baseline, including repetitions and load. Your next goal can be a comparable set with an additional repetition or a modest load increase; it does not need to be the next entire band immediately.

Review progress across a training block. A standard can provide direction, but daily performance varies and the table does not know your sleep, schedule, technique, or exercise experience. The readiness guide explains the app’s separate model of training timing, while the forecast guide explains how estimates differ from observed results.

Keep balanced context. A single high bench estimate does not describe every muscle group, and a lower result on an unfamiliar movement may reflect practice as well as strength. Use the six rows to ask better questions about your training, then answer those questions with consistent sessions rather than chasing labels in isolation.