Training status tells us something about how close you are to your genetic potential. You could also call it “level of advancedness”, but it’s clear why I’d rather keep it at training status instead.

It is muscle-group specific. For example, your chest could be training status intermediate, while your legs could still be lagging behind at training status beginner (because you never trained them before).

Training status has multiple consequences. For example, a muscle group with higher training status can recover faster and therefore be trained more often. More on this in my previous article.

To get a quick estimate of your training status for various muscle group, we can take your strength in a ‘proxy’ exercise for that muscle group and compare it to what’s genetically possible, given the ExRx Strength Standards, Bret Contreras strength standards, and my own.

 

image_anatomy-training-status-difference

First, you can estimate your 1-rep max in various exercises with this calculator, based on Epley’s formula.

Now take your 1-rep max in a given exercise, and estimate your training status for the corresponding muscle group.

Female training status calculator

Chest

 

Lats

 

Quads

 

Glutes

 

Male training status calculators

Chest

 

Lats

 

Quads

 

Glutes

 

Finally, if you want to convert back to kg, use the following calculator.

 

There will be an update in the future which takes note of your genetic indicators (wrist, ankle, and finger sizes).