Hardy Strength Progression Report 2026

How Many People Can Bench 225? Data From 6,500 Lifters Who Log Every Set

Published 2026-09-15 · Data through 2026-09-02 · 10,407 lifters · 368,505 workouts

This page is the bench press chapter of the Hardy Strength Progression Report, built from 6,500 lifters who logged the barbell bench press in at least 3 workouts. It shows how long the plate milestones really take, how fast the lift goes up in the first year, and what a typical lifter who tracks their training benches.

How many people can bench 225?

Of the 6,500 Hardy lifters who logged the bench press in at least 3 workouts, 61% have benched 135 lb / 60 kg for at least one rep, 12% have benched 225 lb / 100 kg, 1% have benched 315 lb / 140 kg and fewer than 1 in 200 have benched 405 lb / 180 kg. Of those who started below 225 and were still logging a year later, 10% reached it within 12 months. These are people who chose a strength tracking app and kept logging, so they are stronger than the average gym-goer, and the report knows nothing about bodyweight, age or sex. Claims like "only 1% of people can bench 225" use the whole population as the denominator; this is the share among people who actually train and track it.

How long it takes to reach each bench press milestone

1 plate (60 kg / 135 lb): of the 2,600 lifters who started below it, 42% of those still logging a year later had reached it within 12 months, and 54% of those still logging at two years had reached it by then. Among the 912 lifters who reached it, the median took 1.8 months and 6 bench sessions, most of them having started close to it.

2 plates (100 kg / 225 lb): of the 4,766 lifters who started below it, 10% of those still logging a year later had reached it within 12 months, and 15% of those still logging at two years had reached it by then. Starting at 1 plate or more, 22% got there within a year; starting below 1 plate, 1% did. Among the 429 lifters who reached it, the median took 2.6 months and 10 bench sessions, most of them having started close to it.

3 plates (140 kg / 315 lb): of the 5,042 lifters who started below it, 1% of those still logging a year later had reached it within 12 months, and 1% of those still logging at two years had reached it by then. Starting at 2 plates or more, 11% got there within a year; starting below 2 plates, 0% did.

4 plates (180 kg / 405 lb) was reached by fewer than 10 lifters in the whole dataset, too few to chart or to put a timeline on.

Reaching 2 plates depends on where you start

Reaching 3 plates depends on where you start

How fast the bench press goes up

How much a typical lifter benches

The median best estimated bench press 1RM among Hardy users is 77.4 kg (171 lb). A quarter of lifters are below 57.5 kg (127 lb), the top 10% are above 115.2 kg (254 lb) and the top 1% above 151.5 kg (334 lb). 12% have lifted 100 kg or more for at least one rep and 1% have lifted 140 kg or more.

Want to know where you stand? Estimate your max with the Bench Press 1RM calculator from any recent hard set, and read the methodology for how these numbers were produced.