30-year-old Hafthor Bjornsson wins 2019 Arnold Strongman Classic / Dave Emery

It happens to all of us. Barring a major injury, we don’t know exactly when it occurs. But there is a moment when we’re at our strongest, and for years afterward we may hang tantalizingly close to that mark, but we’ll never top it. We peaked. When, on average, does it happen for men and women who train with weights? We looked at elite weightlifters, powerlifters, and strongmen to reveal answers.

PEAK STRENGTH AGE: POWERLIFTERS AND WEIGHTLIFTERS

A study in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, computed the lifts of elite powerlifters (competitors in World Championships from 2003-17) and weightlifters (competitors in the World Championships and Olympic Games from 1998-2017) to determine when they were at their best.

The average peak age for powerlifters is 35.

The average peak age of weightlifters is 26.

The differences between men and women were small. The nine-year gap between the two barbell sports is likely because of the greater emphasis on reflexes and athleticism in weightlifting, with powerlifting being a better overall test of one-rep strength.

The researchers also computed the competitors’ five-year improvements prior to their peak strength. For powerlifters the average was 12%. For weightlifters it was just under 3%. These gains may seem minute for a half-decade of toil, but they can make the difference between bronze and gold, and they underscore how difficult it is to improve at an elite level.

age when strongest
32-year-old Jay Williams squatting a raw world record 1080 lbs. / YouTube

PEAK STRENGTH AGE: STRONGMAN

We at The Barbell conducted our own survey of the 45 annual World’s Strongest Man contests (1977-2022, none in 1987) looking at the top three finishers each year.

The average age of World’s Strongest Man medalists is 29 years and seven months.

The youngest W.S.M. champion was 24, the oldest was 38. A greater likelihood of injuries in strongman than powerlifting, as one study shows, may explain the nearly 5-year difference in strength peaks between strongman and powerlifting. Also, most strongman events involve more athleticism and endurance than the three powerlifts, and this may favor younger men.

PEAK STRENGTH AGE: CONCLUSION

Let’s combine the peak strength numbers for weightlifting, powerlifting, and strongman.

The average peak for the three strength sports is 30 years and two months.

Not coincidentally, a man’s natural testosterone and GH levels are still at or near their peak around 30 but decrease approximately 1.5% annually thereafter.

Finally, if cresting at 30 has you depressed, we’ll leave you with two final thoughts and a brief video. First, the standard deviation was plus or minus seven years for powerlifting’s 35, meaning some elite competitors peaked at 42 (and some at 28). Second, even if you’re as strong as you’ll ever be at 30, you can stay near that level for another decade or so by continuing to train and eat right—and, if you choose, by replacing or increasing testosterone and/or GH.

Still bummed? We’ve got some video Prozac. Check out 182-pound Janos Fabri pulling a 574-pound (260.5 kg), beltless deadlift (3.14 x bodyweight) at 72 and then mean-mugging. No limits, grandpa, no limits!


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PEAK MUSCLE: Ideal Age for Bodybuilding Success

Most Weight Ever Lifted: Man’s Greatest Strength Feats