Pound for Pound

The “pound for pound” metric does a fine job of comparing two peoples’ relative strength. It accounts for the difference between someone weighing in at 175 who deadlifts 585, and me weighing in at 220 who deadlifts the same. I have a lot of respect for that other guy. This metric does not trump absolute numbers, though. Argue all you want, but the pound for pound “stronger” person, who maxes out with weights someone else uses to warm up, is far weaker; that other guy’s max would break him. You may convince yourself that an arbitrary ratio makes them comparable, but the iron will crush that argument, too.