Guide 12 of 12
See how strong you are
Your strength map scores eight muscle groups against lifters of your sex, bodyweight and age, using the sets you already log.
Your training log already knows how strong you are. Trainings → Strength turns it into a map: a score from 0 to 100 for each of eight muscle groups, compared with other lifters of your sex, bodyweight and age. The Strength card on your Profile opens the same view.
Nothing extra to log. If you’ve been tracking your sets, your map is already there. Curious before you start? Score a few lifts in your browser, with the same maths and no sign-up.
2 What the numbers mean
Every score lands on one of five levels, from red through orange to green:
- Untrained (0–24): below where most lifters start
- Novice (25–49): stronger than roughly 1 in 6 lifters
- Intermediate (50–74): around the middle, and stronger than about half
- Advanced (75–99): stronger than about 85%
- Elite (100): the top few percent
The comparison is with people who lift, not everyone. Intermediate is the middle of the gym, not the middle of the population. Plenty of people who have trained for years sit there, especially if they train for fitness rather than chasing heavy numbers.
The big number at the top is your overall: a weighted average of your muscle groups, where legs and back count most and arms and core least.
How a score is built
Each muscle group takes your best recent set and runs it through four steps:
- Estimate a one-rep max from the weight and reps. Sets of up to 12 reps give a solid estimate, and 13–20 reps a rough one. Past 20 reps a set doesn’t count.
- Divide by your bodyweight, then adjust for body size. Strength doesn’t grow in step with body mass, so a plain ratio would undersell heavier lifters and flatter lighter ones. It’s the same idea behind powerlifting’s bodyweight formulas.
- Credit your age. From 35 on, each year adds a little.
- Place it on the scale for your sex.
In the example above, 37.5 kg dumbbells for 8 reps is an estimated max of 47.5 kg per hand, or 0.58× bodyweight at 82 kg. After body size and age it’s 0.60, which puts Chest at 63, Intermediate.
What counts
- Barbell and dumbbell lifts: bench, incline, squat, deadlift, overhead press, rows, curls, hip thrusts and their dumbbell versions. For dumbbells, log the weight of one dumbbell. The logger labels the field that way.
- Variations: Smith machine and decline bench count, with a small discount because both let you move more.
- Push-ups count toward Chest, at low confidence, since an everyday set is rarely your max.
- Machines and cables still log, but don’t score. The same number on two different machines isn’t the same weight.
A lift also gives partial credit to the muscles it helps with. Bench press counts a little toward triceps and shoulders, and marks that score low confidence until you train those directly.
Current or all-time
Two switches sit above the map.
Current is the default: what you can do now, from sets in the last eight weeks and tests in the last three months. A muscle group you haven’t trained in that window shows your last level, dimmed, and is left out of your overall. All-time shows your best ever instead.
My age compares you within your age group. Absolute compares you with all adult lifters.
2 you
Every score shows its evidence
Tap any muscle group, on the figure or in the list below it, and the card shows exactly which set produced the number, when, and what the next level takes in weight on the bar. If a number looks wrong, you can see straight away which session caused it.
The card also says how much to trust the score:
- High: a test, or a heavy set of six reps or fewer on the main lift for that muscle group
- Medium: a main lift at 7–12 reps, or a timed hold like the plank
- Low: a set of 13–20 reps, only credit from another lift, logged push-ups, or nothing recent
Test a muscle group
Some muscles barely show up in a training log. Core is the usual one: a plank is time, not weight and reps. When a score is low or medium confidence, the card offers a short test. The button goes straight to the suggested test, and or choose from… lists the rest.
Tests come in three kinds: a timed hold, max reps, or a rep max of 3–8 reps after a guided warm-up. None ask for a true one-rep max, and every live screen has Stop — something hurts, which ends the test and saves nothing.
2 2 A test counts toward your current score for three months. A measured result beats a guess even when it’s lower, so your overall can dip after a test. In the example, Core now counts at 63, just under the average, and the overall moves from 70 to 69. The aim is an accurate number, not just a bigger one.
Test results are private. They feed your own map and never a leaderboard.
New to Ratz? When three or more muscle groups have no score, the map offers the Baseline: eight bodyweight tests in about twenty minutes, with a pull-up bar and a wall. It fills in every muscle group on day one.
Progress over time
Each muscle group’s card ends with a progress graph: your current score week by week, as it stood on each date, with your overall as a dashed line behind it. Switch between 3M, 6M, 1Y and All. To graph your overall on its own, tap the overall number, or the Overall row at the top of the list.
The history is rebuilt from your log, so it goes back to your first workout. It also always uses today’s standards, so old and new points compare fairly.
Good to know
- These are estimates, measured against published strength standards for people who lift. Not a fitness or health assessment.
- Keep your bodyweight current in Profile, since every score divides by it. Past points on the graph use today’s bodyweight.
- Strength standards are published separately for men and women. If your profile gender is other or unset, Ratz asks which to compare you against. It never guesses.
- Your scores are yours. Nobody else sees your map or your test results.
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