How Strong Are You - A Guide to Testing
What Is Strong? How Do Professionals Measure It for Health and Wellbeing?
Read Time - 5 minutes
Summary - There are a few tests that we routinely use. What are you testing and what will you do with the information? Will it give you the information you need to make a balanced and objective opinion over your progress? Testing is a useful guideline but should go hand in hand with showing up, staying consistent and understanding that progress is more 'grey' than 'black and white'
So...What does it mean to be strong?
Is it lifting your own body weight? Running a fast 5K? Completing 30 press-ups? Carrying the shopping without difficulty? Or being able to get up from a chair confidently as you grow older?
The honest answer is that strength is not one number.
It includes the force your muscles can produce, the number of times they can repeat an effort, your ability to move your own body and the physical capacity to cope with everyday life. Cardiovascular fitness matters too. After all, being able to lift something heavy is useful—but so is being able to walk uphill, run for a bus or complete a parkrun without feeling completely exhausted.
The approach used by qualified fitness professionals is to select tests that are relevant to the individual, establish a baseline and repeat those tests consistently over time. The NSCA describes assessment as a way of gathering baseline information, setting appropriate goals and designing a more effective exercise programme.
In other words, testing is not supposed to be a judgement. It is supposed to give us useful information.
Strength is specific
Someone can have a strong back squat but relatively poor grip strength. Another person may be able to complete 40 press-ups but struggle to run 5K. A regular runner could have excellent cardiovascular fitness while lacking the lower-body strength required to control a heavy squat.
Each test tells us something slightly different.
No test tells us the complete story but they can give us a picture. And there are plenty more that we haven't discussed..
Percentiles, health cut-offs and performance standards are not the same thing
Before looking at individual tests, it helps to understand the numbers used to interpret them.
A percentile tells you how your score compares with a particular reference group. If you are in the 70th percentile, you performed better than approximately 70% of the people in that reference group.
A health cut-off identifies a score associated with increased risk or reduced function. It is not necessarily an ideal target.
A performance standard is usually an aspirational benchmark based on a particular population, sport or level of training. Generally athletes would use this. As you will see most of the research too is done with athletes which muddies the water a little! After all college guys and girls have more time to pop into a lab and get tested. A little harder with Mary with 3 kids....
These numbers are helpful, but they are not interchangeable.
A percentile based on university students may not be relevant to a 55-year-old beginner.
A strength standard developed from competitive powerlifters should not be applied to somebody who has only recently learned to squat. Even apparently simple differences—such as chair height, squat depth, running terrain or press-up technique—can change a result considerably.
This is why good coaches use normative data as context, not as a verdict. Here are some tests that you may have done.
1. The 30-second squat-to-stand test
The squat-to-stand is often called the 30-second chair stand or 30-second sit-to-stand test.
It assesses functional lower-body strength and muscular endurance. It is particularly useful for older adults because standing from a chair is directly related to everyday tasks such as getting out of a car, using the toilet and maintaining independence.
How the test is performed
The standard CDC protocol uses a firm chair approximately 43 centimetres or 17 inches high, without armrests.
The person:
Sits in the middle of the chair.
Places both feet flat on the floor.
Crosses their arms over their chest.
Stands fully upright.
Sits back down under control.
Completes as many full repetitions as possible in 30 seconds.
The chair, footwear, technique and use of the arms should remain consistent every time the test is repeated. The CDC recommends having someone stand nearby when testing anyone who may be at risk of losing balance.
How can you interpret the result?
The following are the commonly used reference ranges for "community-dwelling" adults aged 60–94:
Scores below these ranges may indicate reduced lower-body strength and a greater risk of falling, although the result should be considered alongside balance, mobility, medical history and confidence.
For younger or fitter adults, the test may have a ceiling effect: they may score well without necessarily possessing high levels of maximum leg strength. In that situation, a loaded squat, split squat or back-squat assessment may provide more useful information.
The important question is not simply, “How many can I do?” It is also:
Can I stand without using my hands?
Can I control the lowering phase?
Is my movement balanced from side to side?
Has my score improved since my previous assessment?
Moving from 10 repetitions to 14 may be far more meaningful to someone’s life than moving from a 120kg squat to a 125kg squat. Often observing HOW you do it tells more of the picture.
2. The 5K run or parkrun
A 5K is not technically a strength test, but it measures another important type of physical capacity: your ability to sustain movement.
Cardiorespiratory fitness reflects how effectively the heart, lungs, circulation and muscles work together during exercise. The American Heart Association considers cardiorespiratory fitness a powerful marker of health and recommends treating it almost like a clinical vital sign.
A 5K time is influenced by:
Cardiovascular fitness
Running economy
Pacing
Body mass
Running experience
Terrain and weather
Motivation and familiarity with the course
It is therefore a useful field test, but it is not a direct laboratory measurement of VO₂ max.
How should a 5K be assessed?
Use the same course—or a course with similar terrain—where possible. Record the total time, how hard the effort felt and whether you were able to maintain a reasonably even pace.
NB For many recreational runners, completing the distance continuously is the first meaningful achievement. The next goal may be improving the time, feeling more comfortable or recovering more quickly afterwards.
Using parkrun age grading
Parkrun provides an age-graded percentage that adjusts a finishing time for age and sex. This can be more informative than comparing the raw time of a 25-year-old with that of a 65-year-old.
Parkrun describes the scores approximately as follows:
These are running-performance classifications, not health categories. A score below 60% does not mean that someone is unhealthy or unfit. It simply means they have not reached the performance level labelled “local class” within that age-grading system.
Parkrun itself advises that age grading should not be taken too seriously because it cannot account for hills, surfaces, weather or other differences between events.
For a beginner, progressing from walking 5K to completing a walk-jog may be a major improvement. For an experienced runner, improving an age grade from 58% to 61% could be a useful goal.
Both count.
3. Grip strength
Grip strength is measured using a hand-held dynamometer. You squeeze the device as hard as possible, and the result is normally recorded in kilograms.
Although the test looks very simple, grip strength has become an important marker in research into ageing, function and general health. It is easy to measure, relatively inexpensive and associated with a wide range of health outcomes.
Large population studies show that grip strength tends to peak in early adulthood, remain relatively stable through midlife and then gradually decline. In a major British analysis, median peak grip strength was approximately 51kg for men and 31kg for women.
Those figures are averages from particular populations—not targets that everyone must reach.
Clinical cut-offs
The European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People uses the following thresholds when screening for low muscle strength:
These are clinical screening cut-offs for possible sarcopenia, not definitions of “good” or “excellent” strength.
Someone scoring above the cut-off is not automatically strong, just as someone below it should not be diagnosed from one gym assessment. Low results may warrant further investigation by an appropriate healthcare professional, particularly when accompanied by unexplained weight loss, reduced walking speed or difficulty completing normal daily activities.
Why testing consistency matters
Grip scores can change according to:
The dynamometer used
Handle position
Whether the person is sitting or standing
Elbow and wrist position
Which hand is tested
Encouragement and effort
Pain or injury
Use the same device and position each time. Complete two or three attempts per hand, allowing recovery between efforts, and record the best result according to the chosen protocol.
Most importantly, compare like with like.
4. Press-ups
Press-ups assess upper-body muscular endurance, trunk control and relative strength—the ability to move your own body.
Unlike a bench press, the resistance is not a fixed number. A taller or heavier person may be moving considerably more load than a smaller person. Arm length, hand position and technique also influence the result.
A consistent press-up standard
A repetition should generally include:
A stable body position
Controlled lowering
A consistent depth
Full elbow extension at the top
No resting on the floor
No loss of trunk or hip position
The test ends when the person chooses to stop or can no longer maintain the agreed technique.
Traditional professional testing protocols often use standard press-ups for men and modified press-ups from the knees for women. This makes historical normative tables difficult to compare directly. A more individual approach is to choose the most appropriate version—wall, elevated, knees or floor—and then keep that version consistent.
If you want to compare your score with published norms, however, you must use the exact protocol on which those norms were based.
For example, the ACE protocol, using standard press-ups for men and modified press-ups for women, provides the following selected ratings: [9]
Treat these as reference points rather than prescriptions.
One frequently quoted study found that active adult men capable of completing more than 40 press-ups had fewer cardiovascular events than those who completed fewer than 10. However, the participants were male firefighters, so the findings should not be turned into a universal rule for women, older adults or the general population.
Your first genuinely strong press-up might be your first controlled repetition from the floor. Someone else’s might be 30 repetitions. The starting point and the quality of movement matter.
5. The back squat
The back squat is commonly used to assess maximum lower-body strength. In athletic testing, a one-repetition maximum—or 1RM—represents the greatest load a person can squat once with an agreed technique and depth.
The NSCA recognises the 1RM back squat as a useful test because coaches can use it to rank strength, monitor progress and prescribe training loads.
However, a back squat is also a skill. The result is affected by:
Training experience
Squat depth
Bar position
Foot position
Body proportions
Mobility
Bracing technique
Confidence under heavy load
Equipment and judging standards
This makes it a good test for someone who regularly back squats, but potentially a poor test for a beginner who is still learning the movement.
Absolute and relative strength..you can't compare apples and oranges
Suppose two people both squat 100kg.
Person A weighs 70kg.
Person B weighs 100kg.
Their absolute strength is the same, but their relative strength is different.
Relative strength is calculated as:
Weight lifted ÷ body weight
Person A has squatted approximately 1.43 times body weight. Person B has squatted 1.0 times body weight.
Relative strength can make comparisons more meaningful, but even this does not account for age, sex, limb lengths, training history or squat depth.
There is no single scientifically accepted back-squat number that every adult must achieve for health. Lifting your body weight is a popular recreational milestone, but it is not a medical threshold.
For many clients, a better progression might be:
Squat to a box safely.
Complete controlled body-weight squats.
Add external resistance.
Build towards a technically sound set of five.
Estimate or test maximum strength only if it is relevant.
A submaximal three-to-five-repetition test is often more suitable than a true 1RM. It still gives the coach useful information while reducing the technical and psychological demands of a maximal attempt.
6. The bench press
The bench press measures upper-body pushing strength, involving the chest, shoulders and triceps.
As with the back squat, it can be assessed using a true 1RM, a multiple-repetition maximum or a submaximal set from which the 1RM is estimated.
What should count as a valid repetition?
The exact standard should be agreed before the test. It will normally include:
Feet remaining in the agreed position
Hips and upper back staying in contact with the bench
The bar lowering to a consistent point on the chest
No bouncing
Full elbow extension
A spotter present
The same grip width on retesting
Someone who presses 80kg through a short range of motion has not completed the same test as someone who lowers the bar under control to the chest.
What is a good bench press?
Once again, there is no universal health requirement.
A bench press equal to body weight is a well-known strength-training milestone, but it is not necessary for good health. It may represent a strong recreational performance for one person, a modest performance for a competitive strength athlete and an inappropriate target for someone with a shoulder condition.
The most meaningful comparisons are usually:
Your current result versus your previous result
Your strength relative to your body weight
Your performance against people of similar age, sex and training background
Whether the improvement transfers to your goals and daily life
A technically sound 50kg bench press may be more impressive—and more useful—than an uncontrolled 60kg attempt.
7. The YMCA bench press repetition test
The YMCA bench press test measures muscular endurance rather than maximum strength.
The traditional protocol uses:
36.3kg or 80lb for men
15.9kg or 35lb for women
A pace of 30 repetitions per minute
A metronome set at 60 beats per minute, with one beat for the lowering phase and one for the lifting phase
The participant continues until they can no longer maintain the cadence or complete the repetitions correctly.
Because everyone within each test category uses the same absolute load, the YMCA test can be easier to standardise than press-ups. However, the fixed load represents very different relative challenges for people of different body sizes and strength levels.
A 2020 study of healthy, college-aged adults reported average results of approximately 34 repetitions for men and 25 for women. The researchers were careful to point out that norms are only useful when the reference group resembles the person being assessed.
A result from a group of 18-to-29-year-old university students should not be treated as the expected score for every adult.
The YMCA test is useful when:
Maximum lifting is not appropriate
Upper-body endurance is the main interest
The same equipment and cadence can be reproduced
The standard load is suitable for the individual
It is less useful when the prescribed load is already close to someone’s maximum or so light that the test becomes extremely long.
So, which test is best?
The best test is the one that answers a useful question.
A professional would not normally choose every test for every client. Testing should reflect the person’s goals, ability, health, training experience and confidence.
Build your own strength scorecard
Rather than looking for one magic number, consider tracking a small group of measures:
Functional strength: 30-second chair stand
Cardiovascular fitness: 5K time, walk test or another repeatable aerobic test
General strength marker: grip strength
Relative upper-body endurance: press-ups
Lower-body strength: squat variation
Upper-body strength or endurance: bench press or YMCA bench press
Retest under similar conditions every eight to twelve weeks. Record the result, technique used and how the effort felt.
Progress could mean:
Performing more repetitions
Lifting a heavier load with the same technique
Completing the same task with less discomfort
Running the same 5K at a lower effort
Maintaining strength while getting older
Becoming confident enough to attempt a harder exercise variation
Recovering more quickly afterwards
Not every score needs to improve at the same time. Training for a 5K may temporarily take priority over improving a maximum squat. During a stressful period, maintaining your current capacity may itself be a win.
Test safely
Maximal or exhausting tests are not appropriate for everyone.
Seek professional or medical guidance before testing if you have unexplained chest pain, dizziness, uncontrolled blood pressure, a recent operation, a significant injury or a medical condition that may be affected by intense exercise.
Heavy squat and bench-press tests should be supervised by someone who understands correct technique, spotting and load selection. Beginners can usually obtain all the information they need from submaximal tests.
Testing should leave you informed—not injured.
The real answer: strong enough for what?
Strong enough to play with your children?
Strong enough to carry your shopping?
Strong enough to complete your first parkrun?
Strong enough to stay independent as you grow older?
Strong enough to return after an injury or a difficult period?
Those goals are every bit as valid as a particular weight on a barbell.
Percentiles and performance standards can provide useful direction. They can show what might be possible and give us something aspirational to work towards. But they remain guidelines, not prescriptions.
Your test result is not your identity. It is simply a snapshot of what you could do on that day, using that particular test.
Use the numbers to guide your training, not to define your worth.
Run your own race. Decide what strong means for you—and then work patiently towards becoming a little stronger than you were before.
