Quick question for the women of the forum.

A female friend of mine at the gym has just started shifting the emphasis of her workouts to try and get stronger. Up until recently she's been one of those women who does tons of cardio, then lifts 5 and 10 lb dumbells about a million times. Recently she asked me about working out with heavier weights. She's in really good shape as it stands (5'7" and maybe 125), but says she'd like to have a more fitness model look. I helped dispel the notion that lifting heavier will "make her look like a man" and all that.

For the last couple of weeks she's been working out basically the same way I do with less weight (I do a max-ot inspired workout). Out of curiosity she asked what would be a "good" bench press, military press, curl etc for her. I, of course, told her not to fixate on numbers, just how it feels. She understood but said she was still curious: would she ever be doing sets with 135 for the flat bench? (right now she does sets with 65). I realized I had no idea. I looked up some bench press figures for female power lifters, but since she's not after a power lifting physique and generally I wouldn't want to compare anybody (male or female) to competitive power lifters I realized I was kind of stumped.

So I figured I'd ask the question here so I could allay her curiosity. What would a woman in her twenties who wants to look like a fitness model, as opposed to a bodybuilder, expect to be able to flat bench, military press, curl etc after she's been at it for awhile?

If a woman can bench her own weight for reps that is really impressive. It depends on a number of factors though, some less obvious than others. For example, I have read that shorter people are biomechanically better equipped to do bench so can lift more. Perhaps others here have a better idea about specific numbers for you, but I would not worry about comparsions. The bottom line is she will get good results if she lifts as hard as she can.

If a woman can bench her own weight for reps that is really impressive. It depends on a number of factors though, some less obvious than others. For example, I have read that shorter people are biomechanically better equipped to do bench so can lift more. Perhaps others here have a better idea about specific numbers for you, but I would not worry about comparsions. The bottom line is she will get good results if she lifts as hard as she can.


yeah i would say benching your own weight is a good mile stone for bench pressing.