Bench press calculator

How your bench press 1RM is calculated

The calculator projects a submaximal bench press set forward to an estimated one rep max, using the fairly predictable relationship between reps and the percentage of your max they represent.

Feed in the weight and reps from a set that was hard but not a grind, choose a formula, and the calculator extrapolates where that set would land as a single rep.

Worked example, Epley

You bench 80 kg for 6 reps and use Epley: 80 × (1 + 6 ÷ 30) = 80 × 1.2 = 96 kg estimated 1RM. Get 4 reps instead of 6 at the same weight and the estimate drops, because fewer reps at a given weight means you were closer to your true max already.

Push the same 80 kg out to 10 reps instead and Epley returns 80 × (1 + 10 ÷ 30) = 106.7 kg. Epley adds a flat 2.7 kg per rep here, so the number keeps climbing steadily while the quality of the evidence behind it falls, since a 10 rep set tells you far less about a true single than a 6 rep set does. That is why a hard set of 3 to 6 reps is the sweet spot for this calculator: it is heavy enough to closely resemble a true single, but light enough that fatigue has not started to break down your bar path or touch point by the last rep. A 10 rep set can still be fed in, but treat the resulting number as a rough ceiling rather than a figure to load precise percentages from.

Why bench press estimates are usually the most consistent of the three lifts

The bench press is a shorter, single-plane movement than the squat or deadlift, with less total body mass involved and fewer places for technique to drift between reps. Research comparing prediction formulas against tested maxes has generally found the closest agreement for the bench press of the three main lifts, which is part of why it is a common lift to test or estimate regularly.

Reps in reserve and RPE

The formulas assume the input set stopped a rep or two short of failure, roughly RPE 8 or 9 in coaching shorthand. The bench press makes that line easier to read than the squat or deadlift, since there is no brace under a bar on your back or grip fatigue in your hands to account for, just whether the bar was still moving at a normal speed on the last rep or grinding. A set where the final rep matched the speed of the ones before it gives the formula clean information to work with. A set where the last rep noticeably slowed, or needed a slight pause off the chest to get moving again, was closer to failure than the rep count alone suggests, and the resulting estimate should be read as an upper bound rather than a precise figure.

If you train with a spotter calling out how many reps you likely had left, use that read rather than your own sense of effort. Lifters reliably underestimate how many reps they had in the tank on a set that still felt hard in the moment.

Which formula to use for the bench press

All five formulas here, Epley, Brzycki, Lombardi, Wathan and O'Conner, were validated against tested bench press 1RMs by LeSuer and colleagues in 1997, alongside the squat and deadlift, so any of them is a reasonable starting point for the bench.

Epley (default)

Weight × (1 + reps ÷ 30). The most familiar formula, which is why it is the calculator's default for all three main lifts, though LeSuer et al. found only the Mayhew and Wathan equations predicted a tested bench max without a significant error. Cross-check with Wathan before setting a training max from an Epley estimate.

Brzycki

Weight × 36 ÷ (37 minus reps). More conservative than Epley up to about 10 reps, which fits a lift where the two formulas already track closely, but its denominator collapses past that point and overtakes every other formula here, so it should never be used on a high rep bench AMRAP.

Lombardi and Wathan

Lombardi (weight × reps to the power of 0.10) sits slightly higher than Epley at low reps and crosses below it from around 6 reps upward. Wathan's exponential curve stays close to Epley through the 3 to 8 rep range most bench programming uses.

O'Conner

Weight × (1 + 0.025 × reps). The most conservative of the five from about 6 to 10 reps, useful if you would rather set a slightly lower training max and build up than start too aggressive.

Why the five formulas disagree

Run the same 80 kg set through all five formulas and the gap widens with reps. At 3 reps, Brzycki gives 84.7 kg and Lombardi gives 89.3 kg, a spread of about 4.6 kg. At 6 reps the range runs from O'Conner's 92 kg to Wathan's 96.3 kg, roughly 4 kg, or about 4 to 5 percent of the estimate. By 10 reps the gap widens to nearly 8 kg, from O'Conner's 100 kg to Wathan's 107.8 kg, about 7.5 percent of the estimate. The formulas themselves spread the same proportionally on every lift; what makes the bench the most predictable of the three is the validation data, where LeSuer et al. found bench predictions off by 0.8 to 6 percent against 2 to 8 percent for the squat and 9 to 14 percent for the deadlift.

The pattern holds across every lift on this page: the formulas agree closely near the rep ranges most lifters actually train and pull apart the further out you push the input set. On the bench specifically, a spread under 5 kg at 6 reps is normal and not a sign anything is wrong with your numbers. Treat a spread meaningfully wider than that as a cue the input set was less clean than it felt.

Bench press percentages at a glance

Once you have an estimated max, this is the loading range bench press programmes actually train in. The table assumes an 80 kg estimated 1RM; the calculator above works from your own number.

Bench press technique standards

The number only means something if the reps behind it were legitimate. These are the standards most coaches and federations judge a bench press against.

Grip width

Competition federations cap grip width at 81 cm between the index fingers, which is what bench press research treats as a wide grip. Research comparing wide, medium and narrow grips found a narrow grip produced roughly 7 to 8 percent lower 6 rep max loads than a medium or wide grip, in both resistance-trained and novice lifters, with no meaningful difference between medium and wide. Muscle activation told a different story: pectoralis major activity was similar across all three grips, biceps activation rose with grip width, and a wide grip showed about 10.6 percent lower triceps activation than a medium grip. Grip is more about what feels stable and pain-free on your shoulders and which muscles you want to emphasise than a fixed rule everyone should follow, but do not expect a wider grip to move more weight.

Arch, leg drive and bar path

A moderate arch through the upper back, shoulder blades pulled together and down, shortens the range of motion and creates a stable base to press from. Feet planted flat and pushing into the floor, not floating or on the toes, adds leg drive that transfers force through a braced torso into the bar. The bar should travel in a slight curve, down toward the lower chest and back up over the shoulders, not a straight vertical line.

Touch point and lockout

Federations require the bar to touch the chest, typically around the lower sternum or nipple line depending on individual proportions, and the rep to finish with elbows fully locked. A bounced or partial rep will let you move more weight for the same reps, which inflates an estimate compared with a rep performed to standard.

Pause and command

Competition bench press requires a visible pause on the chest before the press command, with no downward movement during the pause. Training a brief pause into your input set, rather than only touch-and-go reps, gives an estimate that better reflects what you could actually lift under contest rules.

Bench press strength standards by body weight

Strength standards let you see how your bench compares to other lifters at your body weight, though they are approximate and vary by dataset. The figures below are drawn from Strength Level, which aggregates millions of user-submitted lifts, and sit broadly in line with the categories Symmetric Strength derives from competition results (both cited in Sources below). Treat them as a compass, not a target: limb length, grip choice and training age all move the number.

How to use your bench press max

Set a training max around 90 to 95 percent of your estimated 1RM and build working sets off that instead of the raw number, so there is room to progress across a block rather than starting near the ceiling.

Programming around the bench

Strength-focused blocks spend most working sets at 75 to 90 percent for 3 to 6 reps, with heavier singles and doubles saved for peaking close to a test. Hypertrophy work for chest, shoulders and triceps sits lower, around 65 to 80 percent, across more sets.

Retesting

Recalculate every 4 to 8 weeks from a fresh hard set. The bench press often progresses more slowly than the squat or deadlift once past the beginner stage, so patience between retests matters more here than on the bigger lifts.

Accessory work that moves this number

A bench press 1RM rarely moves from bench days alone. Close grip bench and dips build the triceps lockout strength that is often the specific limiter on a heavy single even when the chest and shoulders have plenty left. Paused bench press, holding the bar on the chest for a full second before pressing, removes the stretch reflex you get from a touch and go rep and builds the raw strength to start the bar moving from a dead stop, which is exactly what a competition bench press or a true 1RM test requires.

Rows and other upper back pulling work stabilise the shoulder blades under a heavy bar, since a set-up that shifts mid-rep bleeds force that should be going into the bar. Overhead press and shoulder accessory work fill in pressing strength a bench-only programme tends to leave underbuilt. None of these lifts appear in the calculator, but a block that trains the bench in isolation for months often shows an estimate that plateaus even as the input sets stay technically the same, a sign the bottleneck has moved to the triceps, upper back or shoulders rather than the chest itself.

Common bench press mistakes

Bouncing the bar off the chest. It uses the chest as a spring to add extra weight to the lift, which inflates the estimate compared with a controlled touch and press.

Feet floating or up on the toes. Losing contact with the floor removes leg drive and destabilises the whole set-up, which usually means the true effort behind the reps was lower than the numbers suggest.

Uneven bar path or grip. A bar that drifts to one side or a grip that is not symmetrical changes the leverage on each side and can mask a real strength imbalance behind an otherwise normal-looking set.

Flaring the elbows too wide. A very wide elbow flare can shift stress onto the front of the shoulder joint. Most lifters do better keeping the upper arm somewhere between fully flared and tucked tight to the body.

Skipping full lockout. Stopping a few centimetres short of full elbow extension on the input set is an easy way to move more weight than a strict rep would allow, which overstates the estimate.

Letting the hips lift off the bench. Driving the hips up to add leg power changes the lift into something closer to an incline press with a shortened range, and most gyms and all federations require the hips to stay in contact with the bench throughout.

How coaches use a bench press calculator

For a coach, a bench press calculator turns one logged set into a full week of percentages without reworking the maths for every client individually.

A practical routine: have clients log a hard triple or set of 5 on the bench every 4 to 6 weeks, recalculate the estimated max, and let the block's working percentages update from the new number automatically.

Scraler's workout builder does this for you: set percentages on a template once, and each client's bench press working weight recalculates from their own logged numbers instead of you rebuilding plans by hand. See workout programming.