Overhead Press Standards for Men and Women

A 135 lb (61.2 kg) overhead press is roughly equivalent to a 195 to 225 lb (88.5 to 102.1 kg) bench press, which would beat about 12.5% to 22.1% of male competitive powerlifters in the OpenPowerlifting dataset.

The standing barbell overhead press left competition when powerlifting settled on the squat, bench, and deadlift, so modern overhead press standards cannot come from meet results. Its relationship to the bench press, however, is one of the best-established ratios in strength coaching: a healthy press sits at roughly 60 to 70 percent of the bench.

The tables below apply that ratio to our bench press percentiles from real competition results. If your press is well below 60 percent of your bench, pressing more often usually fixes it; well above 70 percent usually means the bench is undertrained, not that the press is special.

Overhead Press 1RM (lb)

Estimated Overhead Press standards by bodyweight

Each cell is the real bench press percentile for that bodyweight class multiplied by the ratio midpoint (65%). True values vary within the 60 to 70% band.

Men (lb)

Bodyweight class	Lifters	25th	50th	75th	90th	99th
under 123 lb	8,888	55	85	110	135	215
123-140 lb	17,458	100	120	145	165	220
140-160 lb	45,811	120	145	170	190	230
160-180 lb	79,997	145	170	195	215	255
180-200 lb	84,555	160	185	210	235	285
200-220 lb	58,728	170	200	230	255	300
220-240 lb	45,150	185	215	245	270	320
240-260 lb	23,041	185	220	260	285	340
over 260 lb	34,269	200	235	275	310	370

Women (lb)

Bodyweight class	Lifters	25th	50th	75th	90th	99th
under 123 lb	29,951	55	70	85	95	130
123-140 lb	36,788	70	80	95	110	145
140-160 lb	36,704	70	85	100	120	155
160-180 lb	24,478	75	90	105	130	170
180-200 lb	13,685	75	95	110	130	180
200-220 lb	6,252	80	95	110	135	175
220-240 lb	4,134	85	95	115	135	180
240-260 lb	2,508	85	100	120	140	190
over 260 lb	3,265	90	105	135	150	210

Men (kg)

Bodyweight class	Lifters	25th	50th	75th	90th	99th
under 56 kg	8,888	25	37.5	50	62.5	97.5
56-64 kg	17,458	45	55	65	75	100
64-73 kg	45,811	55	67.5	77.5	85	105
73-82 kg	79,997	67.5	77.5	87.5	97.5	115
82-91 kg	84,555	72.5	85	95	107.5	130
91-100 kg	58,728	77.5	90	105	115	137.5
100-109 kg	45,150	82.5	97.5	110	122.5	145
109-118 kg	23,041	85	100	117.5	130	155
over 118 kg	34,269	90	107.5	125	140	167.5

Women (kg)

Bodyweight class	Lifters	25th	50th	75th	90th	99th
under 56 kg	29,951	25	30	37.5	45	57.5
56-64 kg	36,788	30	35	42.5	50	65
64-73 kg	36,704	32.5	40	45	52.5	70
73-82 kg	24,478	35	40	47.5	57.5	77.5
82-91 kg	13,685	35	42.5	50	57.5	82.5
91-100 kg	6,252	35	42.5	50	60	80
100-109 kg	4,134	37.5	45	52.5	62.5	82.5
109-118 kg	2,508	37.5	45	52.5	62.5	85
over 118 kg	3,265	40	47.5	60	70	95

Methodology

No competition data exists for the overhead press. These estimated tables are derived from real bench press competition percentiles using the disclosed 60 to 70% ratio band.

The press moves the bar through a longer path using smaller prime movers (delts and triceps) with no bench support and the whole body stabilizing the load, so it tops out around two-thirds of the bench.

The ratio comes from:

The underlying percentiles come from 397,897 men and 157,765 women with raw competition bench press results in the public domain OpenPowerlifting dataset (snapshot 2026-07-11).

Frequently asked questions

What is a good overhead press compared to bench press?

A standing barbell press around 60 to 70 percent of your bench 1RM is the widely used benchmark, stable across strength levels in both coaching literature and large lift databases. A 225 lb (102 kg) bench suggests a press around 135 to 155 lb (61 to 70 kg).

Is a bodyweight overhead press good?

Yes. Working through the ratio, a bodyweight press implies a bench around 1.4 to 1.7 times bodyweight, which real competition data places around the median competitive powerlifter. Since competitive powerlifters are far stronger than the general population, a bodyweight press is a multi-year goal for most people.

Why are there no real overhead press competition standards?

The press was dropped from Olympic weightlifting in 1972 and was never part of powerlifting, so no large modern meet dataset exists. That is why this page anchors to the bench press, the closest lift with hundreds of thousands of verified results.