By Nadia Popescu, Strength & Conditioning Writer · Updated 3 November 2026
A good leg press weight for a woman who has trained for a few months is around her own bodyweight for one rep on a 45 degree sled, so roughly 60kg to 75kg of plates at 60kg bodyweight. For men the equivalent marker is about 1.25 to 1.75 times bodyweight. Intermediate lifters press roughly double that, and the numbers climb fast because the leg press is one of the easiest lifts to add weight to.
The catch is the machine. A 45 degree sled, a horizontal stack machine and a vertical press can give three very different numbers for the same pair of legs, so every figure below assumes a 45 degree plate loaded sled, plates only, with knees bending to about 90 degrees or deeper. If you train on something else, use the bands as a loose guide and compare yourself with your own log.
These bands come from strength coaching norms and large online lift databases, the same approach sites like Strength Level take, where thousands of users log their one-rep maxes (1RM). We haven't run a study and nobody has published a controlled one for the general population. People who log lifts online also tend to be keen gym-goers, which drags the "average" upwards.
| Level | Women (x bodyweight) | Men (x bodyweight) | Typical training age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Untrained | 0.5 to 0.75 | 0.75 to 1 | First few sessions |
| Novice | 1 to 1.25 | 1.25 to 1.75 | Up to about 6 months |
| Intermediate | 1.5 to 2 | 2 to 2.5 | Roughly 1 to 3 years |
| Advanced | 2.5 to 3 | 3 to 3.5 | Several years of focused leg training |
The gaps between levels are wider than on a deadlift or squat. That's normal: the machine removes the technical and balance limits, so leg strength alone decides the number, and legs respond to training quickly.
Here are the same bands converted to kilograms and rounded to the nearest 5kg. All figures are a one-rep max, plates only, on a 45 degree sled.
| Bodyweight | Untrained | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55kg | 30 to 40kg | 55 to 70kg | 80 to 110kg | 140 to 165kg |
| 60kg | 30 to 45kg | 60 to 75kg | 90 to 120kg | 150 to 180kg |
| 70kg | 35 to 55kg | 70 to 90kg | 105 to 140kg | 175 to 210kg |
| 80kg | 40 to 60kg | 80 to 100kg | 120 to 160kg | 200 to 240kg |
| Bodyweight | Untrained | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70kg | 55 to 70kg | 90 to 120kg | 140 to 175kg | 210 to 245kg |
| 80kg | 60 to 80kg | 100 to 140kg | 160 to 200kg | 240 to 280kg |
| 90kg | 70 to 90kg | 115 to 160kg | 180 to 225kg | 270 to 315kg |
| 100kg | 75 to 100kg | 125 to 175kg | 200 to 250kg | 300 to 350kg |
Most people never test a leg press max, and you don't need to. Your working sets of 10 will typically sit around 70 to 75 percent of your 1RM, so a 60kg woman with a 70kg max would expect to use roughly 50kg for sets of 10.
If you've ever moved gyms and suddenly "lost" 40kg on the leg press, this is why.
The angle. On a 45 degree sled you only push the share of the load that acts along the rails, about 71 percent of the total. A vertical press makes you move close to all of it. Our plate loaded leg press guide walks through the maths with a worked example.
The sled. The empty carriage weighs something, anywhere from under 30kg on a home machine to 70kg or more on a commercial one, and gyms rarely label it. Standards like the ones above count plates only, so do the same if you want to compare.
Stack machines. Horizontal seated presses use pulleys and linkages, so the number on the pin isn't the force at your feet. A 68kg stack can feel light or heavy depending on a ratio the manufacturer may not publish.
Range of motion. This is the big one. A quarter rep with 200kg is a different exercise from a deep rep with 120kg, and gyms are full of the first kind. A fair rep brings your knees to at least 90 degrees while your lower back and hips stay pressed into the pad.
The honest comparison
Leg press numbers are only comparable on the same machine with the same depth and foot position. Record the machine, where your feet sit on the platform and if you're counting the sled, then measure yourself against that log rather than the person next to you.
You want a load you can press for 8 to 12 controlled reps with two or three left in the tank.
Expect your number to move fast at first, and some of that is simply learning the machine. In a small study of middle-aged women, leg press 1RM rose by about 9kg across three test sessions before they'd done any training, while after eight weeks of training a single test was enough to get a reliable figure. So if you're new, your first "max" almost certainly undersells you. Among people with a few months of lifting behind them, a standard warm-up and familiarisation protocol makes the leg press as reliable to test as any other lift, with test-retest agreement above 0.91 across all twelve exercises measured in that study.
Double progression works brilliantly here. Pick a rep range, say 8 to 12, and stay at one weight until you hit 12 clean reps on every set. Then add 5kg to 10kg (plate loaded) or one pin (stack) and work back up from 8.
Beginners often add weight every session for the first couple of months. After that, weekly or fortnightly jumps are normal, and an intermediate lifter adding 20kg to their working sets over a whole training block is doing well. The ACSM position stand on resistance training progression recommends novices train with moderate loads around 8 to 12 reps while they learn a movement, which suits the leg press perfectly.
Once two-legged sets stall or you run out of weight, switch emphasis instead of piling on plates:
That last option matters most on home machines with a capped stack.
Foot placement changes how much you can press, so keep it the same when you track progress. Our full leg press technique guide covers each position in detail, but in short:
Whichever you pick, stop lowering the moment your tailbone starts to curl off the pad. That's your real depth, and going past it is where lower backs get irritated. Never lock your knees hard at the top either; stop just short of straight.
Most home leg press machines are either compact plate loaded sleds or stack gyms with a press station. The stack versions are convenient but capped. The SPORTSROYALS multi gym we reviewed has a genuine sled-style leg press on a 68kg stack, which covers a novice woman for a good while and most beginners for their first year, but stronger lifters will reach the top pin quickly. Our full SPORTSROYALS home gym review covers the space it needs and where it falls short.
Check the SPORTSROYALS home gym price on AmazonIf you've already outgrown a stack, a plate loaded sled or a hack squat and leg press combo gives you room to keep adding weight for years. For the wider picture of what each lower-body machine does, see our guide to leg machines.
On a 45 degree plate loaded sled, a woman who's trained consistently for six months or so can usually press around her own bodyweight for one rep, so roughly 60kg to 75kg at 60kg bodyweight. Pressing 1.5 to 2 times bodyweight (90kg to 120kg at 60kg) is a good intermediate number. These are coaching norms and crowd-sourced figures for plates only, not results from a study.
An untrained 80kg man typically presses about 60kg to 80kg for one rep on a 45 degree sled, not counting the sled itself. With six months of regular training that tends to reach 100kg to 140kg, and intermediate lifters at the same bodyweight sit around 160kg to 200kg.
Start with the empty sled, or the lightest pin on a stack machine, and do a set of 10. Add 10kg to 20kg per set until 10 reps feels like you could do two or three more with good depth. For most beginners that lands somewhere between 20kg and 60kg of plates, depending on the machine.
For a woman, a 100kg leg press for one clean, deep rep is a solid intermediate number at most bodyweights. For a man, 100kg is a typical novice figure. On a horizontal or vertical machine the same 100kg means something quite different, so only compare it with numbers from the same type of machine.
Most people and most online standards count the plates only, because sled weights vary from under 30kg on home machines to 70kg or more on commercial ones, and many aren't labelled. Whatever you choose, be consistent so your own log stays meaningful.
The machine takes balance and back strength out of the lift, the 45 degree angle means you're only pushing about 71 percent of the load along the rails, and many people cut the depth short. All three inflate the number, which is why leg press and squat weights shouldn't be compared directly.
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