“Intermediate” and “advanced” get thrown around a lot in gym conversation, usually without much agreement on what they mean. Strength standards exist to put a number behind the label — but it’s worth understanding what that number actually represents before you take it too seriously.
How bodyweight-ratio standards work
Rather than a flat number (“squat 140kg to be intermediate”), good strength standards express each tier as a multiple of your own bodyweight — for example, an intermediate male lifter’s squat sits around 1.5× bodyweight, while an intermediate deadlift sits closer to 2×. This scales the standard to you rather than forcing a 60kg lifter and a 120kg lifter onto the same absolute bar.
The five tiers, roughly
- Beginner — your first few weeks of barbell training; close to an untrained baseline
- Novice — 3–6 months of consistent training, still making rapid week-to-week gains
- Intermediate — roughly 1–2 years in, where most people plateau into needing real programming
- Advanced — several years of focused training, visibly stronger than most gym-goers
- Elite — the top tier of dedicated, typically drug-free lifters, reached only after years of dedicated work
What these numbers are — and aren’t
Bodyweight-ratio strength standards are built from aggregated data across large numbers of gym-going lifters, not from competition results or a controlled study. They’re a useful compass for “roughly where do I sit,” not a precise scientific instrument, and they say nothing about your training age, injury history, or which lifts you’ve actually prioritized. It’s completely normal to be advanced on deadlift and novice on overhead press — different lifts respond to different amounts of practice and different individual leverages.
Use standards as a compass, not a scoreboard
The most useful thing a strength standard does isn’t tell you what tier you’re in today — it’s show you the next milestone up, so you have a concrete target instead of an abstract “get stronger.” Chase the next number, not the label.
Check your own numbers against squat, bench, and deadlift standards individually on our Strength Standards Calculator, or check a single lift directly with the Squat, Bench, and Deadlift calculators.