Forbidden Strength Standards

[muntz]

So, I know you say you hate them and wish you'd never created them. I also understand how using terms such as "novice" and "intermediate" can cause confusion. But....it does seem to me that some real thought went into these. I recently noticed that if you calculate Wilks and Mccullough scores, there's an internal logic to the tables - a 55yr old and 35 year old "Advanced" lifter have comparable scores (Wilks vs. Mccullough).

So, this is just me saying that I love these charts. I know everyone is different, that the goal is to just get strong, but these standards help me to set goals and think about which lifts I need to focus on. (Example: According to this chart, my bench is weaker than my other lifts, something which I sorta knew already, but is helpful to see in black and white.)

Just my 2c.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Thanks for the kind words, and a lot of thought did in fact go into them, but they just cause too many problems for the general public to sort out.

[muntz]

Thanks for the kind words, and a lot of thought did in fact go into them, but they just cause to many problems for the general public to sort out.

i've read enough of this board and seen the repetitive ill-informed messages to recognize that you have the patience of a saint. (a grumpy saint, but a saint nonetheless)

I really do feel the charts to be helpful. Thanks.

[VNV]

(a grumpy saint, but a saint nonetheless)

Cue Jerome


Editing the Third Edition. Against the Heretics.

[TommyGun]

Thanks for the kind words, and a lot of thought did in fact go into them, but they just cause too many problems for the general public to sort out.

Interesting statement Coach. I notiiced you have backtracked from these over the last few years because of the unwashed masses could not fully grasp them. Don’t give the masses what they want. These are pearls for the swine.
Your statement here is well timed, I will go back and look at the charts a little more carefully.

[Nicholas Rega]

What’s Mccullough? Google search failed to turn up relevant info.

[muntz]

google “wilks mccullough call”. Wilks is a way to compare lifters of different body weight. Mccullough the. allows you to compare lifters of different ages.

[AndrewLewis]

At the end of the day, the stronger athlete is the stronger athlete. Any attempt to normalize for controllable variables (weight) instead of non-controllable variables, in my opinion, is silly. I understand the need to normalize to make competition fun, but it should really be for non-controllable variables (height, sex, age). Whether this is in for the form of a score modifier or class partitioning I don't think is particularly relevant.

[Mark E. Hurling]

There are a couple of ready answers to this often asked question.

There are male/female, weight, and age adjusted standards on the five lifts in several sources to be found on the internet.

One can also look at the results of the top finishers in raw division powerlifting meets for some goals and standards. Although I recognize that there a few federations out there that are a little shaky on the quality of their judging the integrity of what the lifts are supposed to be.