5 min readWHAT DOES IS take to be considered strong? Scroll through social media long enough, and you’re bound to stumble upon fitfluencers making bold claims about how many people (or more importantly for this case, how few) can lift this or press that. Take the 225-pound bench press, for example. The number, which is equal to two 45 pound plates on each side of a conventional 45-pound barbell, has long been held as a strength standard—and for some reason, posters are all but convinced that less than one percent of the population can hit that benchmark. And while that idea isn’t exactly backed up by science, the 225-pound bench press is a well-known and respectable strength goal.
It’s also the lightest lift you have to hit to join the “2-3-4 Club,” which proves you have well-rounded gym strength.
“When I'm thinking about a strong guy—it's a very basic place to start—is a ‘2-3-4’ guy,” exercise physiologist Dr. Pat Davidson said on a recent episode of the MH Strong Talk podcast. “What I mean by that is two plates on the bench, three plates on the squat, four plates on the deadlift. If you can do that, I'm like, "Hey, you're strong." You can obviously go way beyond that. But a 2-3-4 guy is kind of where my mind has started as being like, you check that box.”
Therein lies the beauty of a yardstick like the 225-pound bench press: Unlike complicated strength charts and percentile rankings, it’s simple, easy to remember, and remarkably effective. The bench press, squat, and deadlift make up a trinity of exercises known as powerlifting’s “Big 3,” which are all exemplary expressions of strength. If you want to answer the strength question, this is a club you want to be in. Here’s how to get your membership.
What Is the 2-3-4 Club?
SPEND ANY TIME around the weight rack, and you’re bound to hear someone mention "pressing two," "squatting three," or "pulling four" plates. Those aren't random numbers—they're all part of a widely used, gym-verified system of strength benchmarks. Part of this is just due to plate math. Since the heaviest weight plates at most gyms are 45 pounds, each time you add a new one to the bar, it creates another key threshold: 225, 315, 405 (and so on).
The weights themselves are meant to represent one-rep maxes—pulling 405 pounds once with solid form in the deadlift, for example. The logic behind their hierarchy is straightforward: They’re arranged to the areas where your body needs the most strength. If you have a big bench press, for example, your deadlift and squat, driven by larger lower-body muscles, should be stronger. Thus pushing to be a 2-3-4 guy will not only help you gauge your strength, but also help balance the distribution of it across your body.
“That’s one of the great things about the 2-3-4 rule—it essentially maps how and where you want the bulk of your strength to be, especially when it comes to longevity [and strengthspan],” says MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., explaining that the deadlift should generally be your strongest lift, as it lights up four muscle groups that are key to lower (and total) body strength (hamstrings, glutes, and back, and core). “Pushing power is also important, but it should generally not be as strong as your lower-body lifts.”
Different Types of Strength
IT’S IMPORTANT TO keep in mind that chasing the 2-3-4 goal focuses on a very specific type of strength: absolute, or how much weight you can lift, period. The other type of strength is relative strength, or how strong you are for your height and weight (i.e., body size).
This latter characteristic represents how well you handle your own heft, which is especially important in bodyweight exercises such as the pullup and pistol squat, but also comes in handy if you ever have to, say, haul yourself over a ledge or climb a rope to safety. As a result, some trainers consider relative strength the more important of the two because it translates more directly to the real world.
You can also gauge relative strength using the same big three lifts in the 2-3-4 rule by shifting the numbers to relate more directly to your own body. “You should be able to bench press the equivalent of your bodyweight, squat one and a quarter to one and a half times your bodyweight, and deadlift one and a half times to two times your bodyweight,” says Samuel.
Joining the 2-3-4 Club
YOU WON’T FIND the 2-3-4 rule in any textbook—it emerged organically from gym culture because it works as a clear, meaningful, easy-to-remember standard. Achieving 2-3-4 status is more a badge of experience and honor than a concrete physical characteristic. Coaches and veteran lifters have long recognized those benchmarks as the dividing line between "training casually" and "lifting seriously,” not to mention as a shorthand for respect.
That’s all to say that for most people, hitting all those marks won’t come quicky. “When you pursue something like the 2-3-4 club, the biggest thing is to understand that it’s difficult to improve all lifts simultaneously,” says Samuel. “You may need to spend several months focusing on progressive overload in your bench press, making it the first day of your weekly training split so you're fresh and can go all out,” he adds. “Then you might spend a few months working similarly hard on your deadlift while ‘maintaining’ your bench press before going after your squat.”
Bench Press
45-pound bar + two 45-pound plates per side = 225 pounds
The bench press is an expression of upper body pushing strength, using your chest, shoulders, and triceps. (You’re also subtly challenging lats and core muscles too.) For more form details, check here.
Back Squat
45-pound bar + three 45-pound plates per side = 315 pounds
The back squat is all about leg strength, putting your quads and glutes under a maximal load. Learn more about how to do it here.
Deadlift
45-pound bar + four 45-pound plates per side = 405 pounds
The deadlift is the ultimate test of the posterior chain, featuring the biggest muscles in your body working together to pull as much weight as you can off the floor. Learn more about proper form here.
Do You Really Need a Barbell for the 2-3-4 Club?
DON’T GET TOO caught up in the equipment you use to achieve the 2-3-4 strength standards. Yes, the classic variations of the bench press, squat, and deadlift use an Olympic bar, but they don’t have to. “It’s fine to use a trap bar for deadlifts, for example,” says Samuel. “You might also use a safety bar for the squat, or switch things up with a Zercher squat.”
In short, focus on the goal more than the vehicle that gets you there. And remember that the best strength standard isn't how much you can lift relative to others or your own bodyweight—it’s whether you’re stronger now than you were yesterday, or six months ago. Consistent effort will be your ultimate benchmark for success.
Trevor Thieme is a Los Angeles-based writer and strength coach, and a former fitness editor at Men’s Health. When not helping others get in shape, he splits his time between surfing, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and trying to keep up with his 10-year-old daughter.
