How accurate is strengthlevel.com?

Nephelys

Hi !

Have any experienced weightlifters ever used the strengthlevel.com website?

And if so, does it seem accurate in terms of the database they provide? It seems fairly ok overall, but sometimes on certain exercises I get the impression that it's off the mark. Like hip thrust, I'm doing sets at 120kg (~265lbs) and it puts me in advanced (i.e. the category just before Elite), whereas for hip thrust I wouldn't necessarily consider to be a huge performance.

I know that it's not necessarily the most important thing to position yourself in relation to others, and that the most important is to progress at your own pace, but as I don't have anyone around me who lifts weights, I use this site to give me a rough idea of my performance and where I stand.

And there's also a sort of little feeling of satisfaction when you enter your performances and see that you've gained a star. Basically, for each exercise, the website places you in a category according to your performance, from beginner (★) to Elite (★★★★★). I know it sounds stupid and those categories are a little arbitrary - but it's the kind of thing that works pretty well for me. And it also lets you see the big picture, so I can quickly see for which muscles/exercises my performance is lower than others, and so try to balance it out.

williamsonmj1

Well... it really depends on how you define the terms.

However, if you use the definitions that would normally be used in strength sports, these standards are low. Eg for deadlift they have a 90kg lifter being elite at 256kg. That's about 550lbs. I think that powerlifters would say that at that weight, if you are training seriously you are maybe late intermediate, pushing advanced. (This is me guesstimating, I don't follow PL as much as I used to.) I'd guess a lot of others are similarly off- what is shown as advanced is kind of upper intermediate in the realm of strength athletes.

nossmf

I didn't go through every single exercise, just the ones I have as part of my routine. I consider myself intermediate upper body, advanced legs, and this website agrees almost everywhere. The parts involving bodyweight reps (pushups, situps, etc) I disagree with, and I also don't like the "compare by age" feature. Stick with the body weight comparisons (as in how much can I lift compared to others of my same body weight) and it seems to me fairly accurate.

Retroguy2000

I've looked at the site often, and I agree with nossmf it puts me where I'd expect to be, so I assume the data is quite good.

I like the option to sort by age, because it gives me better results than going by bodyweight, where I'd also be ranked against a majority of people younger than me, many of them maybe decades younger than me.

claireychn074

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

I've looked at the site often, and I agree with nossmf it puts me where I'd expect to be, so I assume the data is quite good.

I like the option to sort by age, because it gives me better results than going by bodyweight, where I'd also be ranked against a majority of people younger than me, many of them maybe decades younger than me.

Ditto. I use it occasionally and it’s where I’d expect to be. The age function allows me to compare myself with women in my age bracket rather than 30 years younger, and it does make a difference.

It’s worth noting that the data is user sourced so it bases the estimates on all the data submitted. That probably means there are more entries for bench and squat than hipthrust (at a guess).

Retroguy2000

Btw @Nephelys You may find this interesting. Dr. Mike at RP had a recent video suggesting hip thrusts are over-rated. The main reason is recent research is showing superior muscle growth from muscles stretched under load, and in the hip thrust the max load is happening with no stretch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7K-_uoyngM

herringboxes

I find it quite helpful as a tool, and more motivating than just tracking increased lifts alone.

As a beginner, I feel like it reflects what I expect. It also accurately and disappointingly reflects how much weaker I am in the lower body compared to upper.

The only thing that stood out to me was the barbell curl for women, the numbers were much lower than I expected, I’m a full level ahead in that one lift.

Nephelys

Thanks for your answers!

I'm a bit surprised to read that overall it seems accurate for you guys, I really have the impression that it puts me higher than I think I am.

williamsonmj1 wrote: »

Well... it really depends on how you define the terms.
However, if you use the definitions that would normally be used in strength sports, these standards are low. [...] I'd guess a lot of others are similarly off- what is shown as advanced is kind of upper intermediate in the realm of strength athletes.

As this website's data base is based on user input, I think we can exclude high-level athletes. So inevitably the stats are low compared to the performances of these athletes.
I take it more as an average of people who practice regularly but aren't necessarily top-level athletes or professionals.
But for comparison's sake, I'll keep in mind "what is shown as advanced is kind of upper intermediate in the realm of strength athletes", which is still good to have in mind.

nossmf wrote: »

The parts involving bodyweight reps (pushups, situps, etc) I disagree with

Why do you disagree with that?
I think I only entered dips for bodyweight exercises and I still need the assisted machine since my triceps are made of cotton which means I have to be like 7% when I enter this exercise which is a bit humiliating to read haha !

@Retroguy2000 Thanks for the video but I'd already seen it (Renaissance Periodization it's a youtube channel I follow).

I must admit I'm always confused when it comes to hip thrust, I hear everything and its opposite about it... And every year I have the impression that there are new study that either validate this exercise as top notch or on the contrary toss it in the trash...
But I don't see it as a miracle exercise, it's just part of my lower body workout. And I can't even rely on my sensation when doing it because I think I'm very quad dominant which means that no matter what exercise I do and is supposed to target the glutes, I never feel in my butt (and this sentence should not be taken out of context! ) And I do the front foot elevated lunge on the smith machine like he suggested and ... still nothing. At this point I think my butt is broken !!

herringboxes wrote: »

I find it quite helpful as a tool, and more motivating than just tracking increased lifts alone.
As a beginner, I feel like it reflects what I expect. It also accurately and disappointingly reflects how much weaker I am in the lower body compared to upper.
The only thing that stood out to me was the barbell curl for women, the numbers were much lower than I expected, I’m a full level ahead in that one lift.

Yes; I love tracking everything ! It's almost obsessional, one of my favorite moments after training is to enter all my workouts meticulously on this website.
Yeah, exactly there are some exercises that seem to be totally off the mark. I mentioned the hip thrust but the same goes for the seated crunch machine, which almost puts me in the Elite category with my 45kg sets... I mean c'mon !

springlering62

That’s a really interesting (and reassuring) site.

There’s no other women I’ve met at my gym who lift as “much” as me, but having come from a serious powerlifting gym, I understand I’m not even in that league. So I had no idea how I compare.

I’m a solid intermediate on most, advanced on a couple, and apparently an epic fail on assisted chin-up. 😂

As someone above said, I’m kinda surprised at the low numbers needed for a few of these. I would’ve expected higher.

Then again, this is age based so….

I’ll take what I can get.

williamsonmj1

Nephelys wrote: »

But for comparison's sake, I'll keep in mind "what is shown as advanced is kind of upper intermediate in the realm of strength athletes", which is still good to have in mind.

nossmf wrote: »

The parts involving bodyweight reps (pushups, situps, etc) I disagree with

Glad this is helpful!

BTW, it was "what is shown as elite is kind of upper intermediate in the realm of strength athletes", not advanced!

nossmf

Nephelys wrote: »

["nossmf"]The parts involving bodyweight reps (pushups, situps, etc) I disagree with

Why do you disagree with that?
I think I only entered dips for bodyweight exercises and I still need the assisted machine since my triceps are made of cotton which means I have to be like 7% when I enter this exercise which is a bit humiliating to read haha !

As I stated above, I'm intermediate for most upper body stats. But for the bodyweight exercises, I would qualify as elite. A single level difference (intermediate to advanced) is understandable, but two? I think the standards should be higher.

Nephelys wrote: »

I must admit I'm always confused when it comes to hip thrust, I hear everything and its opposite about it... And every year I have the impression that there are new study that either validate this exercise as top notch or on the contrary toss it in the trash...

Whether it's the ideal exercise or not, my other lifts have improved dramatically after I added hip thrusts to my routine. I'm talking deadlifts increasing by 20% dramatic.