How Strong Should a Man be Over 50

In a discussion about how strong we should be over 50, a man like Mark Felix is a genetic outlier, having in February of this year once again broken the world record for the Hercules hold. He’s such a genetic anomaly that he is nicknamed “The Miracle Man.”

Not many of us have the ability to become elite-level strongmen, but even in our 50s, we want to be able to hold our own. But what does the average 50-year-old lift in the gym?

Being strong for life entails more than gym lifts, but it’s a good place to start. They can be done in a controlled environment and are relatively safe to do. They’re very measurable, which allows for accurate comparison and goal setting.

To test our full body strength, we need a push exercise like a bench or shoulder press. Then we need a pull exercise like bent-over rows or pull-ups. Of course, a strength test wouldn’t be complete without a squat and deadlift.

I train with dumbbells, so we’ll look at dumbbell options too.

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https://strengthlevel.com/

https://youtu.be/06E-0m4bnZQ

https://youtu.be/7LDvnw9G2iA

https://youtu.be/j0NSF4mVXEs

https://www.livestrong.com/slideshow/1009383-9-essential-strength-benchmarks-men/

We’re going to look at beginner, novice, intermediate, advanced, and even elite levels for you hardcore lifters.

Mark Felix’s best squat is 770 lbs at a body weight of 310 lbs. which is almost 2.5 times his body weight. Now the general rule of thumb is you should be able to squat twice your body weight, and they give us guys over 45 a break and reduce it to 1.6 times.

But is this what the average guy can do?

I’d recommend using a weight that has you reaching failure between 5 to 10 reps and take this data to find your one-rep maximum, especially If you aren’t a powerlifter and don’t do single-repetition lifts.

I use a one-rep max conversion chart, and if I was to do 9 reps with 200 lbs, I’d times this by 1.30, giving me an estimated one-rep max of 260 lbs. When I tried this, I ended up doing 11 repetitions making my estimated max 286 lbs.

You can also use an online calculator, and the one I recommend is found at strength level dot com. One of the things I like about their site is they’ve compiled data from over 93 million lifts that we compare our results to. And this is the best way to see how we match up with the average 50-year-old.

You put in your age, weight, choose the exercise you want to compare, how much you lifted and for how many repetitions. As a side note, they have dumbbell exercises for those use the weight of one dumbbell.

So my 11 reps with a total of 200 lbs put me in the advanced level and has me lifting more than 82% of the people in my age and weight category.

To see how we measure up regardless of weight, we switch to the standards page, where they break down the squat stats by age and experience with 55-year-old beginners, one rep max being between 116 to 169 lbs.

Mark Felix’s all-time best bench press was 530 lbs. My estimated one-rep max is only 234 lbs.

A man should be able to bench 1.5 times his weight; again, guys over 45 get a break with that number dropping to 1.2.

Mark Felix benched 1.7 times his body weight, and I did 1.45, making the younger man's goal of 1.5 times their body weight a great target for me to shoot for.

beginners at the age of 55 are benching anywhere from 85 to 127 pounds for a single repetition and intermediates are doing between 179 and 240 lbs.

We can also see where we rank on bodyweight exercises; we’ll look at pull-ups because we haven’t discussed a pulling exercise yet. It shows 55-year-old beginners not being able to do a single pull-up, with intermediates doing between 7 to 16 reps before becoming advanced.