What percent of men can bench 275 lb?
Among 107,887 raw male OpenPowerlifting meet-result entries, fewer than 55% record 275 lb or more after each bodyweight class is weighted by its entry count. Keep it labelled as a competition-entry estimate: recorded meet entries form the denominator here, so it says nothing about all men or about unique people.
The meet-result answer
OpenPowerlifting — weighted meet-result share. Across n=107,887 raw male meet-result entries, fewer than 55% record 275 lb or more after each bodyweight-class share is weighted by that class's entry count. n is an entry count — not unique people — which keeps this a statement about recorded competition results instead of men in general.
275 lb bench press by male bodyweight
The same raw OpenPowerlifting entries split by competition class; each row's n is what the weighted percentage above pools.
| Bodyweight | Percentile | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 53 kg 117 lb | 99th+ | top 1% of raw meet results or stronger |
| 59 kg 130 lb | 93rd | top 7% of raw meet results |
| 66 kg 146 lb | 82nd | top 18% of raw meet results |
| 74 kg 163 lb | 71st | stronger than 71% of raw meet results |
| 83 kg 183 lb | 50th | stronger than 50% of raw meet results |
| 93 kg 205 lb | 40th | stronger than 40% of raw meet results |
| 105 kg 231 lb | 30th | stronger than 30% of raw meet results |
| 120 kg 265 lb | 23rd | stronger than 23% of raw meet results |
| 120 kg+ 265 lb+ | 22nd | stronger than 22% of raw meet results |
Reference-class read
Taking 83 kg as the anchor class, the 125 kg (275 lb) median puts 275 lb about 0.3 kg (0 lb) below it — roughly the 50th percentile across 21,716 meet results there. Rank shifts with every bodyweight class.
The bar moves the answer more than anything else. On the same weighted male denominator, roughly 77% record 225 lb or more, while fewer than 35% record 315 lb or more.
Where 275 lb stands in the field
For men, a 275 lb bench press is a top-10% lift up to the 59 kg class, top-quartile through 66 kg, at or below the field median from 83 kg up.
Weighted across 107,887 raw male meet results, fewer than 55% record 275 lb or more.
Competition bench is paused on the chest. García-Ramos, Janicijevic and Jukic (2021, Sports Health) compared touch-and-go with concentric-only bench in 113 adults (PMID 33541232); this is not a universal conversion to competition-paused bench. Compare results performed with consistent technique. These standards are raw (no bench shirt). Strength scales sub-linearly with bodyweight — heavier lifters lift more in absolute terms but less per kilo of bodyweight — Vanderburgh & Batterham 1999 (PMID 10613442) — so the most honest read of "is this good" is your percentile at your bodyweight, not the raw kilos.
FAQ
- What percent of men can bench 275 lb?
- Among 107,887 raw male OpenPowerlifting meet-result entries, fewer than 55% record 275 lb or more after bodyweight-class weighting. Because meet-result entries form the denominator, the figure describes the recorded field — not all men, and not unique people.
- Who is counted in this 275 lb percentage?
- Only recorded competition: 107,887 raw male OpenPowerlifting meet-result entries across qualifying bodyweight classes count toward it, so it excludes everyone who never entered a sanctioned meet and it never counts unique people.
- Does bodyweight change the answer for 275 lb?
- More than any other input. 275 lb on the bar is a different achievement at every bodyweight class, which is why the table above keeps them separate; the percentile calculator gives the exact sex, age, bodyweight, and equipment read.
- What math is behind this number?
- Each bodyweight class's percentile breakpoints give the share of its entries at or above the load; pooling those shares weighted by class entry count over 107,887 raw male OpenPowerlifting meet-result entries yields the headline figure. n is not a unique-person count.
Figures: OpenPowerlifting (public competition meet data (CC0), dataset date 2026-05-10). Cell n is a meet-result count, not a unique-person count. Full method at /method. Check your own lift on the percentile calculator.