How much relative strength you have
Relative strength is the total lifted divided by body weight: relative strength = (squat + bench press + deadlift) ÷ body weight. A 360 kg total on an 80 kg body gives 4.5, which is the figure that lets two people of different sizes be compared. Competition coefficients such as Wilks and DOTS solve the same problem with a curve fitted by weight class rather than with a plain division.
The formula
Relative strength = Total ÷ Body weight, where Total = Squat + Bench press + Deadlift. Wilks and DOTS instead apply a coefficient over body weight, Points = Total × coefficient(weight), with a different polynomial curve per sex: which is why an identical total scores differently across two weight classes.
What each variable means
- Body weight
- Body weight on the day of the test, not the fasted morning reading if the test happened in the afternoon. A 2% difference moves the ratio in the third digit.
- Squat, bench press and deadlift
- The best valid lift in each, in the same unit. If they are 1RM estimates rather than real maxes, the total inherits the error of all three estimates at once.
Precomputed values
| Total ÷ weight | What it is usually called | Total at 80 kg body weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5× | Primeros meses | 120 kg |
| 2.5× | Base construida | 200 kg |
| 3.5× | Intermedio | 280 kg |
| 4.5× | Avanzado | 360 kg |
| 6.0× | Nivel competitivo | 480 kg |
These bands are convention, not data. They place you in an order of magnitude and label nobody: two people with the same ratio can be at opposite points of a training life, one climbing and one stalled for six months. The useful question is not where you land on the table but which way you moved since your last measurement.
Run it on your numbers
How to read the result
The ratio is for tracking one person over time and for comparing clients of different sizes. It rises in two ways: lifting more, or weighing less — and the second is not a strength gain. Which is why the absolute total belongs next to the ratio rather than either one alone.
Assumptions and limits
- The reference bands in the table are gym convention, not measured data. The only measured progression figures Kaizer publishes live on the progression benchmark.
- The ratio favours lighter people: strength scales closer to the 2/3 power of body weight rather than proportionally. Wilks and DOTS exist for exactly that reason.
- A total built from estimated 1RMs is not comparable with one built from real competition maxes.
- Squat depth, the pause on the chest and the use of a belt or knee sleeves change the numbers without changing the strength.
