Last updated: October 17, 2026
At what age are you strongest? In OpenPowerlifting data from 344,428 competitive raw lifters, the median man is strongest at 27 and the median woman at 23, measured by Dots (a score that adjusts total strength for body weight). Neither curve is a sharp peak. Men stay within 1% of their best from 22 to 31, and strength falls slowly afterwards: the median man at 50 scores 11.9% below his peak, and the median woman at 50 scores 14.5% below hers.
Who this is about: competitive raw (unequipped) powerlifters who have entered a meet since 2015, not average gym-goers. These are also cross-sectional results: each age is a snapshot of who competed at that age, so this is not a record of one lifter getting older. Sample sizes shrink with age, and we show them in every table.
Key findings: strength by age, competitive raw lifters
- Men's median Dots peaks at age 27 (387.2). Women's peaks at age 23 (347.7).
- Men stay within 1% of their peak from age 22 to 31. Women are within 1% from 22 to 25.
- The median man's bench press is highest from 30 to 38: 314 lb (142.5 kg).
- The median 50-year-old man scores 11.9% below the male peak; the median 50-year-old woman, 14.5% below the female peak.
- From 40 to 50, median Dots is 7.4% lower for men and 8.1% lower for women.
- From 60 to 70 the drop is 16.6% for men and 10.4% for women.
- The median man at 45 (Dots 354.1) still scores above the median 18-year-old man (352.5).
- The median 70-year-old man deadlifts 353 lb (160 kg); the median 70-year-old woman, 237 lb (107.5 kg).
All figures: OpenPowerlifting, raw full-power meets since 2015, lifters 18+, analysed by GymGod. Percentages are derived from the medians shown.
At What Age Are You Strongest? Men Peak at 27
For men, the median Dots score rises from 352.5 at 18 to a high of 387.2 at age 27. Most of the climb happens before 22, when the median reaches 385.0. From 22 to 31 the median stays between 383.9 and 387.2, so the honest answer to the question is a range: the late 20s, with little to separate 22 from 31. Reading it as a single magic birthday overstates what the data shows.
Dots adjusts for body weight, so it lets us compare lifters of different sizes. By 40 the median man scores 368.6, which is 4.8% below his peak. By 50 it is 341.2 (11.9% below), and by 60 it is 308.1 (20.4% below).
The peak should not scare you. The rise before 27 probably includes lifters still developing, though this data cannot say why. What it does show is that the median man at 45 scores 354.1, which is still above the median 18-year-old at 352.5.
Peak Strength Age for Women: 23
Women's median Dots peaks at 347.7 at age 23, up from 317.6 at 18. After that the median is 335.9 at 30, 323.4 at 40 and 297.3 at 50, which is 14.5% below the peak. Women's median Dots is within 1% of the peak only from 22 to 25, so the plateau is shorter than the men's.
The women's squat median is flat at 265 lb (120 kg) from 22 to 33, and the women's bench median sits at 143 lb (65 kg) for every age from 21 to 44.
| Age | Men median Dots | Men (n) | Women median Dots | Women (n) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 352.5 | 31,139 | 317.6 | 10,534 |
| 20 | 372.3 | 36,044 | 336.5 | 13,909 |
| 22 | 385.0 | 37,861 | 347.1 | 16,903 |
| 23 | 385.4 | 32,791 | 347.7 | 14,932 |
| 25 | 385.4 | 23,757 | 345.1 | 11,955 |
| 27 | 387.2 | 20,333 | 341.8 | 10,846 |
| 30 | 385.3 | 15,051 | 335.9 | 8,677 |
| 35 | 377.1 | 8,921 | 329.8 | 6,332 |
| 40 | 368.6 | 6,682 | 323.4 | 5,416 |
| 45 | 354.1 | 4,041 | 312.4 | 3,527 |
| 50 | 341.2 | 3,343 | 297.3 | 2,599 |
| 55 | 324.0 | 2,156 | 283.9 | 1,531 |
| 60 | 308.1 | 1,996 | 264.0 | 1,068 |
| 65 | 283.4 | 1,047 | 250.1 | 631 |
| 70 | 257.0 | 823 | 236.6 | 326 |
Source: OpenPowerlifting (public domain), analysed by GymGod, built October 9, 2026. Raw full-power meets since 2015, lifters 18+, all meet entries at each age. Cross-sectional: each age is a snapshot, not a tracked group.
Strength by Age: Median Squat, Bench and Deadlift
Each lift peaks at a slightly different age. For men, the median squat is highest at 26 to 35 (463 lb (210 kg)), the median deadlift at 24 to 35 (529 lb (240 kg)), and the median bench at 30 to 38 (314 lb (142.5 kg)). That makes the bench the lift that holds its peak latest, which matches what many lifters notice in their 30s. For women, the squat peaks at 22 to 33 and the bench holds from 21 to 44. For the full squat and deadlift breakdown, see our average squat and deadlift article.
Medians are rounded to what lifters actually load, so small year-to-year wiggles are noise. Here are the medians at five-year steps.
| Age | Men squat | Men bench | Men deadlift | Men (n) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 435 lb / 197.5 kg | 276 lb / 125 kg | 502 lb / 227.5 kg | 36,044 |
| 25 | 461 lb / 209 kg | 303 lb / 137.5 kg | 529 lb / 240 kg | 23,757 |
| 30 | 463 lb / 210 kg | 314 lb / 142.5 kg | 529 lb / 240 kg | 15,051 |
| 35 | 463 lb / 210 kg | 314 lb / 142.5 kg | 529 lb / 240 kg | 8,921 |
| 40 | 446 lb / 202.5 kg | 309 lb / 140 kg | 514 lb / 233 kg | 6,682 |
| 45 | 430 lb / 195 kg | 298 lb / 135 kg | 496 lb / 225 kg | 4,041 |
| 50 | 408 lb / 185 kg | 287 lb / 130 kg | 474 lb / 215 kg | 3,343 |
| 55 | 380 lb / 172.5 kg | 270 lb / 122.5 kg | 445 lb / 201.8 kg | 2,156 |
| 60 | 353 lb / 160 kg | 252 lb / 114.4 kg | 424 lb / 192.5 kg | 1,996 |
| 65 | 314 lb / 142.5 kg | 220 lb / 100 kg | 397 lb / 180 kg | 1,047 |
| 70 | 276 lb / 125 kg | 198 lb / 90 kg | 353 lb / 160 kg | 823 |
| Age | Women squat | Women bench | Women deadlift | Women (n) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 254 lb / 115 kg | 138 lb / 62.5 kg | 303 lb / 137.5 kg | 13,909 |
| 25 | 265 lb / 120 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg | 316 lb / 143.5 kg | 11,955 |
| 30 | 265 lb / 120 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg | 314 lb / 142.5 kg | 8,677 |
| 35 | 259 lb / 117.5 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg | 314 lb / 142.5 kg | 6,332 |
| 40 | 254 lb / 115 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg | 309 lb / 140 kg | 5,416 |
| 45 | 243 lb / 110 kg | 138 lb / 62.5 kg | 303 lb / 137.5 kg | 3,527 |
| 50 | 226 lb / 102.5 kg | 132 lb / 60 kg | 287 lb / 130 kg | 2,599 |
| 55 | 215 lb / 97.5 kg | 127 lb / 57.5 kg | 276 lb / 125 kg | 1,531 |
| 60 | 187 lb / 85 kg | 116 lb / 52.5 kg | 254 lb / 115 kg | 1,068 |
| 65 | 176 lb / 80 kg | 105 lb / 47.5 kg | 248 lb / 112.5 kg | 631 |
| 70 | 157 lb / 71.2 kg | 94 lb / 42.5 kg | 237 lb / 107.5 kg | 326 |
Source: OpenPowerlifting (public domain), analysed by GymGod, built October 9, 2026. Raw full-power meets since 2015, lifters 18+, all meet entries at each age. Cross-sectional: each age is a snapshot, not a tracked group.
Average Bench Press by Age
The average bench press by age follows the same arc. The median man benches 276 lb (125 kg) at 20, reaches 314 lb (142.5 kg) between 30 and 38, then 287 lb (130 kg) at 50, 252 lb (114.4 kg) at 60 and 198 lb (90 kg) at 70. The median woman benches 138 lb (62.5 kg) at 20, 143 lb (65 kg) at 30, 132 lb (60 kg) at 50 and 94 lb (42.5 kg) at 70. Pounds are converted from kilograms (x 2.20462) and rounded to the nearest pound. For percentiles, weight classes and body weight multiples, see average bench press for men and women, and learn the lift on the bench press exercise page.
| Age | Men median bench | Women median bench |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 276 lb / 125 kg | 138 lb / 62.5 kg |
| 25 | 303 lb / 137.5 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg |
| 30 | 314 lb / 142.5 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg |
| 35 | 314 lb / 142.5 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg |
| 40 | 309 lb / 140 kg | 143 lb / 65 kg |
| 45 | 298 lb / 135 kg | 138 lb / 62.5 kg |
| 50 | 287 lb / 130 kg | 132 lb / 60 kg |
| 55 | 270 lb / 122.5 kg | 127 lb / 57.5 kg |
| 60 | 252 lb / 114.4 kg | 116 lb / 52.5 kg |
| 65 | 220 lb / 100 kg | 105 lb / 47.5 kg |
| 70 | 198 lb / 90 kg | 94 lb / 42.5 kg |
Source: OpenPowerlifting (public domain), analysed by GymGod, built October 9, 2026. Raw full-power meets since 2015, lifters 18+, all meet entries at each age. Cross-sectional: each age is a snapshot, not a tracked group.
Strength Loss After 40: Change Per Decade
To measure change per decade, we compare the median Dots at the start of a decade with the median ten years later. From 40 to 50, men lose 7.4% and women 8.1%. From 50 to 60 the figures are 9.7% and 11.2%. From 60 to 70 men drop 16.6% and women 10.4%.
| Ages | Men Dots | Men change | Women Dots | Women change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 to 50 | 368.6 to 341.2 | -7.4% | 323.4 to 297.3 | -8.1% |
| 50 to 60 | 341.2 to 308.1 | -9.7% | 297.3 to 264.0 | -11.2% |
| 60 to 70 | 308.1 to 257.0 | -16.6% | 264.0 to 236.6 | -10.4% |
Source: OpenPowerlifting (public domain), analysed by GymGod, built October 9, 2026. Raw full-power meets since 2015, lifters 18+, all meet entries at each age. Cross-sectional: each age is a snapshot, not a tracked group.
Men's decline speeds up with each decade, while women's is steadier. Be careful with the 60 to 70 comparison: it rests on 1,394 women at the two ages used (1,068 at 60 and 326 at 70), a much smaller group than in their 40s. Compared with the peak, the median Dots is lower by:
| Age | Men vs peak Dots | Women vs peak Dots |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | -0.5% | -3.4% |
| 40 | -4.8% | -7.0% |
| 50 | -11.9% | -14.5% |
| 60 | -20.4% | -24.1% |
| 70 | -33.6% | -32.0% |
The sample behind these medians is large enough to trust the overall shape: 81,664 men and 61,897 women aged 40 or older, summed across all ages (a lifter can appear at more than one age, which is why the sums exceed the lifter counts). It is the single-age medians past 70 that get thin. At 70 there are 823 men and 326 women.
Lifting After 50: What the Data Does and Does Not Say
The encouraging reading is real. The median man competing at 50 still has a Dots score of 341.2, and the median woman 297.3. A median 50-year-old man squats 408 lb (185 kg), benches 287 lb (130 kg) and deadlifts 474 lb (215 kg). The median 60-year-old man deadlifts 424 lb (192.5 kg). The median 60-year-old woman deadlifts 254 lb (115 kg). Counting every age from 60 up, the data holds 14,954 men and 7,370 women (summed across single ages). People keep lifting heavy for a very long time.
The honest caveats cut both ways. These lifters chose to train and compete, so they are a selected group, and the ones who stopped lifting are missing. That could make older ages look better than the general population. Because the data is cross-sectional, it also cannot tell you whether a given 50-year-old can still improve; follow-up studies of the same people are the right evidence for that. We cover them in muscle loss with age.
The practical read: the decline in this data is gradual, not a cliff, and the decade after 40 costs less than the first impression of a long downward line suggests. Training keeps you on the high side of the curve, and what happens next depends on how consistently you train and recover. Heavy basics like the squat and deadlift are a sensible place to keep adding load slowly (see progressive overload), and a gradual approach matters more with age.
How We Got These Numbers
We used the public-domain OpenPowerlifting dataset (openpowerlifting-latest.zip), built on October 9, 2026. We read 4,043,255 meet entries and kept raw full-power (squat, bench, deadlift) meets since 2015, lifters aged 18 and over. That left 344,428 lifters: 229,361 men and 115,067 women. So the "4 million" in the data is meet entries, and the 344,428 lifters are the people behind them.
For each sex and each single year of age from 18 to 77 for men and 18 to 71 for women (the oldest ages with data), we computed the median Dots score and the median squat, bench and deadlift across every meet entry at that age. Kilograms are as recorded at meets; pounds are kilograms x 2.20462 rounded to the nearest pound. Peak age is the age with the highest median Dots. Percent changes are derived by us from the medians shown (median at the later age divided by median at the earlier age, minus 1). Dots is a body-weight-adjusted strength score; we did not recompute it. Nothing here comes from outside that dataset.
The same lifter can show up at more than one age (the age counts add up to more than the number of lifters), so each age is a snapshot of who competed at that age, not a tracked group. We kept lifters 18 and over only, so we cannot say when strength peaks before that. You can compare your own lifts with the same data in our How Strong Am I? calculator.
Limits
- Competitive lifters only. They are stronger and more committed than the typical gym-goer.
- Cross-sectional. Each age is a snapshot, not a tracked group. Older lifters who kept competing are a selected group, and generations differ in training history.
- Sample sizes shrink with age. Single-age medians in the 70s rest on a few hundred lifters or fewer.
- No equipment, federation or drug-testing adjustment. Raw meets only, but rules and testing vary.
- Medians are coarse. They move in plate-sized steps, so small differences between neighbouring ages are noise.
Keep Your Own Strength Curve
Population curves tell you the shape; your own log tells you where you stand on it. Tracking the same lifts over the years is how you notice whether you are holding steady or slipping, and it is easier to keep lifting when you can see progress. In GymGod, new personal records are detected automatically, with full PR history, and auto-progression sets your next weight from what you actually lifted. Printable options are on the weight training log template page if you prefer paper.
Frequently Asked Questions
At what age are you strongest?
Among competitive raw powerlifters in OpenPowerlifting data, the median Dots score peaks at age 27 for men and age 23 for women. Both curves are flat near the top: men stay within 1% of their peak from 22 to 31, women from 22 to 25. Each age is a snapshot of who competed at that age, not a record of the same people tracked over time.
What is the peak strength age for the squat, bench and deadlift?
For men, the median squat is highest from 26 to 35 (463 lb (210 kg)), the median deadlift from 24 to 35 (529 lb (240 kg)) and the median bench from 30 to 38 (314 lb (142.5 kg)). For women the median squat peaks from 22 to 33 (265 lb (120 kg)) and the median bench stays at 143 lb (65 kg) from 21 to 44.
How much strength do you lose after 40?
Comparing the median lifter at 40 with the median at 50, Dots is 7.4% lower for men and 8.1% lower for women. From 50 to 60 it is 9.7% lower for men and 11.2% for women, and from 60 to 70 it is 16.6% and 10.4%. This compares snapshots at each age, not one person aging.
Can you still get stronger after 50?
This data cannot answer that, because it does not follow individuals. It does show that lifters in their 50s and 60s are still competing, and that the median 50-year-old man (Dots 341.2) sits 11.9% below the male peak and the median 50-year-old woman (297.3) sits 14.5% below the female peak. For research that follows people over time, see our muscle loss with age article.
What is the average bench press by age?
For men, the median bench is 276 lb (125 kg) at 20, 314 lb (142.5 kg) at 30 to 38, 287 lb (130 kg) at 50, 252 lb (114.4 kg) at 60 and 198 lb (90 kg) at 70. For women it is 138 lb (62.5 kg) at 20, 143 lb (65 kg) at 30, 132 lb (60 kg) at 50, 116 lb (52.5 kg) at 60 and 94 lb (42.5 kg) at 70.
Do these numbers apply to people who do not compete?
Not directly. Everyone here entered a full-power raw meet, so they are stronger and more motivated than the typical gym-goer. Take the shape of the curve (rise, plateau, gradual decline) from this data, not the exact weights.
Cite this page
Feel free to quote any number on this page. Please link back:
Source: GymGod, "At What Age Are You Strongest? Men Peak at 27, Women at 23", https://gymgod.app/blog/strength-by-age.html (October 12, 2026)
<a href="https://gymgod.app/blog/strength-by-age.html">GymGod: At What Age Are You Strongest? Men Peak at 27, Women at 23</a>
Please also credit the original dataset below, and say these are competitive raw lifters and that the comparison is cross-sectional.
Sources
- OpenPowerlifting, public-domain dataset of powerlifting meet results (openpowerlifting-latest.zip), accessed and analysed October 9, 2026. https://www.openpowerlifting.org/
- GymGod, How Strong Am I? calculator, which uses the same data.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Figures come from the OpenPowerlifting dataset as built on October 9, 2026 and describe competitive raw powerlifters, not the general public. If you spot an error, please contact us.
