Is a 405 lb deadlift good?
Short answer: for a 25-year-old man of median US size, a 405 lb deadlift is the 94th percentile of the general population and the 57th percentile against NCAA Division I athletes. For a 25-year-old woman it is above the 99th percentile of the general population.
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Those two numbers are the whole point. Against everybody — including the majority of adults who never train — a 405 lb deadlift is genuinely rare. Against people whose job is to be athletic, it is ordinary. A percentile means nothing until you name the population.
Where a 405 lb deadlift lands
Percentile of an average-size adult at each age, computed with the same code the calculator runs. "General" is all adults of that sex and age; "D1" is NCAA Division I athletes of that sex, pooled across sports by head-count, with no age or size adjustment.
| Who | vs. general population | vs. D1 athletes |
|---|---|---|
| Man, age 25 | 94th | 57th |
| Man, age 40 | 96th | 57th |
| Woman, age 25 | 99+ | 99+ |
| Woman, age 40 | 99+ | 99+ |
Modeled — estimated from indirect evidence; treat every number here as an informed estimate, not a measurement. Modeled as a blend of untrained, recreationally trained and serious lifters, anchored to deadlift studies of untrained adults and cross-checked against US Army deadlift testing.
Bodyweight changes it — less than you'd think
For a 25-year-old man, a 405 lb deadlift is the 98th percentile at 150 lb and the 91st percentile at 230 lb. Strength rises with body mass at roughly the two-thirds power, not in proportion to it, so a bodyweight-multiple rule of thumb overstates how much size should change the standard. Above the median bodyweight the credit is halved, because in the general population most extra mass is not muscle. See the full table by bodyweight.
Questions
Is a 405 lb deadlift good for a man?
For a 25-year-old man of median US size (179 lb), a 405 lb deadlift is the 94th percentile of the general population — and the 57th percentile against pooled NCAA Division I athletes. By 40 the same result is the 96th percentile of the general population, because the norms fall with age.
Is a 405 lb deadlift good for a woman?
For a 25-year-old woman of median US size (153 lb), a 405 lb deadlift is above the 99th percentile of the general population and above the 99th percentile against D1 athletes.
Does bodyweight change the answer?
Yes. For a 25-year-old man, a 405 lb deadlift is the 98th percentile at 150 lb and the 91st percentile at 230 lb. Strength is compared after scaling by bodyweight at roughly the two-thirds power, with the credit for being heavy halved above the median bodyweight.
How much would I need for the 90th percentile?
A 25-year-old man of median size reaches the 90th percentile of the general population at 365 lb, and a 25-year-old woman at 215 lb.
How reliable is this number?
Modeled — estimated from indirect evidence; treat every number here as an informed estimate, not a measurement. Modeled as a blend of untrained, recreationally trained and serious lifters, anchored to deadlift studies of untrained adults and cross-checked against US Army deadlift testing.
One result is one result — any single test can be gamed by specializing. Get your overall rank across all fifteen tests, or read the methodology behind the deadlift norms.