The median best-ever competition total for a 160 lb woman is 694 lb — among 16,349 female raw powerlifters aged 20–45 who competed at a bodyweight of 155–165 lb. The 25th percentile is 562 lb and the 90th is 904 lb.
Best-ever competition total, female raw powerlifters, age 20–45, bodyweight 155–165 lb. n = 16,349.
| Percentile | Lift | × bodyweight |
|---|---|---|
| 5th | 176 lb (80 kg) | 1.10× |
| 10th | 276 lb (125 kg) | 1.73× |
| 25th | 562 lb (255 kg) | 3.51× |
| 50th (median) | 694 lb (315 kg) | 4.34× |
| 75th | 805 lb (365 kg) | 5.03× |
| 90th | 904 lb (410 kg) | 5.65× |
| 95th | 970 lb (440 kg) | 6.06× |
Source: OpenPowerlifting database, build 2026-07-25-606a59af (public domain). Percentiles computed by Motus. Method.
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Everyone in this table entered a judged powerlifting meet. They are not a sample of gym-goers and they are not a sample of the general population. People who compete in powerlifting have self-selected for being strong, have usually trained specifically for a one-rep max, and lift under competition commands — which is typically harder than the same lift performed in a gym.
If you have never competed, your comparison point is not the 50th percentile here. A more honest reading: this tells you what strong, specifically-trained women at your bodyweight actually do.
We publish no figure for the average woman in the general population, because no comparable dataset of measured one-rep maxes among non-competitors exists. Numbers of that kind circulating online generally come from user-submitted app data, from estimated rather than measured maxes, or from tables with no stated sample. Full method and limitations.
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