Push-up test: Home fitness tests (2024)

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You can easily test your upper body strength yourself at home using this simple test. The push-up exercise is a common fitness exercise. How many push-ups can you do?

Technique

Use the standard "military style"push-up technique. The starting position is facing down with your weight distributed on the hands and feet, arms straight. The body is rigid and straight, and the hands are placed approximately shoulder width apart. Lower your body until your chest nears the floor at the bottom of the movement, and then return up to the starting position. This is one repetition.

Women have the additional option of using the "bent knee" technique.To do this, kneel on the floor, hands on either side of the chestand keep your back straight. Lower the chest down towards the floor, always to the same level each time, either till your elbows are at right angles or your chest touches the ground.

Do as many push-ups as possible untilexhaustion. Count the total number of push-ups performed. Use thecharts below to find out how you rate.

How did you go?

Compare your results to the table below. Remember, these scores are based on doing the testsas described, and may not be accurate if the test is modified at all. Don't worry too much about how you rate - just try and improve your ownscore, and keep doing them the same way each time.

Table: push-up test norms for MEN

Table: push-up test norms for WOMEN

Table: push-up test norms for WOMEN (modified - performed from the knees)

* Source: the orginal source for this data is unknown. The norm tables for women has been modified from the original to account for the different techniques.

Home Fitness Testing Manual

Download your free copy of the Home Fitness Testing Manual — a guide for you to plan, conduct, analyze and interpret fitness testing at home.

Related Pages

• See other home fitness tests
• Read a discussion and description of the standard push-up test
• See push-up videos for some examples of the technique used.
• Push-up exercises at the beach or at home

Sellected Comments

• I admit to feeling shamed but at 71 with a degenerative lower back I am happy to do the modified push ups. I churn out sets of 31 (always have to do 1 extra) in a bit over 30 seconds. Yes, I think I could try harder, but what's the point? As long as I can still do 5 sets of 30 modified when I hit 80, I will be a happy camper. (from JB, Sept 2021)
• I was using this as an assessment to see where my sedatary bottom lay after 3 years of loafing, not surprised I am in the higher areas, but wanted to state that I am not any where near what I would consider my average.I will be using this as a baseline and counter motivation (from Anth, May 2021)
• I'm a 58 yo male, I can pop-out 50 perfect push-ups in under a minute. I had likely another 20-25 in the tank slowing down. (Michael, March 2021)
• Your assessment only goes to ages 60-65. What about those of us in our 70s that plan to be doing exercises past the age of 100? Thomas (Feb 2020) -
  • good on you for exercising past 65 years of age. Just use the 60-65 table. At that age, you should not be too worried about how you compare to others your age, just focus on keeping yourself fit and healthy and try to improve your own score. (Rob, Admin)
• Does regular pushups weaken bones as age increases for men GV Ramakrishna Rao (2014)
  • AL E Cat GV Ramakrishna Rao (2019)
    No, exercise strengthens bones as long as proper form is used and good nutrition is eaten
  • Melonie mcflinn GV Ramakrishna Rao (2020)
    no, push ups are a form of free weight resistance training using body weight. this means that they increase the strength of your bones based on the resistance placed on them
• Hulk Hogan (2013)
  Women want equal rights. They should do the same push ups as men.
  • Ginny Hulk Hogan (2013)
    I agree! I'm a woman and I do standard push ups. None of that "on the knees" junk for me. It's a sad society we live in when people are so out of shape and sedentary that there needs to be a modification for a basic body weight exercise.
• Why is there only a modified chart for woman? It doesn't make any sense, how am I supposed to know how many push-ups I should be able to do, Norah (The page has been updated, a new chart has been added - ed)
• Inazuma ginny (2013)
  it's genetics and the role of testosterone which makes males have a body structure for larger upper body and shoulders. the muscles are almost the same for men and women but men will get bigger muscles for the reasons above. leg strength, however, has almost no difference between men and women.
• B.J. Inazuma (2014)
  Sorry but this is far from true. Males lower bodies are approx 30% stronger, upper is about 70% stronger. Have a look at squat records, or sprinting times. They'd be the same if men and women had the same leg strength.
• I've seen girls squat more than most guys. Pick another excuse haha (from Drew B.J., 2016)
• B.J. Drew (2016)
  Of course some trained women squat more than some men, including me and you. We're talking about the average person on a bell curve not picking out single examples and pointing to them as representative of all people in that group.
• Andre Eminyan B.J. (2017)
  GUYS THIS IS A NORM SO NOT TRAINED JUST NORM
• GrumpyHighlander Andre Eminyan (2020)
  I don't care if this is an old post I'm replying to let everyone know this guy has absolutely no idea what he's talking about.
• GrumpyHighlander Andre Eminyan (2020)
  The all-time squat record for a woman is 600 pounds; for a man, it is 1,000 pounds.
• Praxis Andre Eminyan (2017)
  Well, the thing is most guys will have trained for push ups at some point, most women never have. And also most women will just call a guy to lift anything remotely heavy for them. In one month my 'weak' female body went from being able to perform ten regular strict form push ups (not bent knees) to 30. I've always moved, lifted and carried my stuff by myself.
• Robert Czikall Drew (2017)
  Must be really weak guys.
• Larrisa Inazuma (2014)
  Women have testosterone too. Women are only weaker then men because women don't do any thing to make them self stronger. If women start trying then yes women will be as strong or maybe one day stronger.
• G larrisa (2014)
  actual the level of testosterone in women is extremely low. the average adult male has 270-1,070 ng/dL, whereas the average female has 15-70 ng/dL of testosterone in their blood. thus making it much more difficult for women to build muscle
• Powerhouse g (2016)
  I was military and I bet all the women would whoop your ass and out "strength" you! What is the source of your ridiculous science?! I don't feel like there are enough participants studied to draw such conclusions. There are strong and weak between both genders.
• Gav powerhouse (2018)
  yeah there are strong and weak in both genders but the point is that men are generally stronger.
• GrumpyHighlander powerhouse (2020)
  I was military, too. If you really were military you must have had the lowest ASVAB score in the world and be blind.
  Are you 12? He posted established medical facts.
• Michael Nova GrumpyHighlander (2020)
  ahahaha bingo!
• GrumpyHighlander powerhouse (2020)
  I truly can't believe how uneducated you people are.
• NeegahPulize g (2016)
  These are Duh_murrikants. Don't confuse them with science !
• Nick larrisa (2014)
  No you won't. Your women you will never be stronger. At your peak almost as strong but hardly ever as strong. We have more testosterone.
• George :) nick (2014)
  Then what do you say if a woman is stronger... nothing because you just looked at the mirror and realized everything with you was wrong.
• Robert Czikall nick (2017)
  The will only be stronger if you compare a fit woman to an unfit or average man. Comparing a fit man to a fit woman who both do power lifting they cannot compete.
• Derpy01 larrisa (2014)
  not really, if women do, they do not have anywhere near as much testosterone as men, so they can't get as strong as men without trying harder or some form of testosterone implant or pill or something to give them the lacking testosterone
• Bookwizard derpy01 (2020)
  I'm 11 and I can do 35 push-ups. Also I am a girl
• Ashbear derpy01 (2016)
  see that's the thing, you said it yourself. TRYING HARDER, that is what female athletes do. personally i am a female football player. I've been playing sense i was 8 and i am now fifteen. I've been told by nearly all of my coaches that i put in a lot more effort than the boys do and that is because i need to in order to keep up. no its not easy, no its not fun and no most females don't do such things. now if you say most females are not as strong as men i will agree with you however your testosterone level does not determine your strength, your determination and work ethic do. so while as in most females are not as strong as males that doesn't mean that we CAN'T be.
• B.J. ashbear (2016)
  Sure you can be as strong as some males, but the strongest men will always be stronger than the strongest women, that is the point.
• Usiedne ashbear (2019)
  No really the strongest person in the world will always be a man that is a fact it does not matter who works harder it is scientifically proven that men are physically superior and that may sound demeaning but it is a fact.
• Stephen Geiger larrisa (2014)
  There is a significant difference in the amount of testosterone in women compared to the same difference in estrogen between the two. Men have way more testosterone so pound for pound men will always be stronger all things being equal.
• Nodis larrisa (2018)
  Actually, that is INCORRECT! Women typically have at best about 6% of the testosterone a man has. In fact the easiest natural way for a woman to have high testosterone is to have extreme PCOS! THAT would give a woman a level of testosterone that could be as high as about 33% of what is low normal for a man. OH, and PCOS isn't a good thing for a woman to have.
• By the way, the bones are generally smaller(Width) and more brittle, so you probably DON'T want to be even as strong as some men have been,. You couldn't be any stronger than some men have been because the average woman wouldn't be able to handle that.
• BTW MEN have estrogen also! Luckily, it generally doesn't get very high, and is only a small fraction of what women have, That isn't something a man wants either!
• Queenbeetv Queenbeetv larrisa (2017)
  Men are built differently and have more compact and stronger muscle. I used to do massage and even flabby men on average have more toned muscles than women. Women are just naturally softer. And if they are not, there's some hypodermics or pill ingestion involved. Men are built to fight competitors for sexual rights and women are built to survive pregnancy and childbirth. It is sexist, but it is a physical fact. Now people as human beings/ souls should not be constricted by how their bodies are built and they should do whatever they want, but in general, that's just the way things seem to work physiologically.
• Paulalovescats larrisa (2020)
  Themself? There are some women who are stronger than some men, but generally speaking men are stronger than women. It's physical. It's biological. There is an overlap but it's physical. It's biological. If you don't know this then you probably think the Earth is 6000 years old too.
• Guess larrisa (2014)
  Women should not have to alter their body chemistry period.
• Ruby Desu Guess (2016)
  What is with this feminism in the comment of a push-up sites? The numbers aren't made by 12 years old. They exist for a reason. And the site it's on is Push-up, not Feminism.
• Pete M ginny (2015)
  It has nothing to do with society, its biology. While there are plenty of women who have a strong upper body, on average, women's upper body strength is about 70% of men. That's the reason for the modification with assessments. The protocol for any physical assessment needs to be followed if you want to make comparisons between you and other people in your age/sex grouping. If you do "standard" push-ups and score 20, there is no way to compare yourself with other women your age. When you work out on your own, do whatever push-ups you like.
• Melonie mcflinn Pete M (2020)
  modifications are not made gender specific. modifications are made for anyone that can't do the traditional version. just because it's traditional, doesn't make it gender specific. there are many reasons for modifications, rehabilitation being a common one.
• Queenbeetv Queenbeetv ginny (2017)
  I'm glad there is the modification. I was not able to do any guy pushups and could barely do the girl ones, but I did the girl ones and kept working at it, and now i can do 20 guy pushups.
  So the knee pushups are a great way to start off for anyone needing to develop strength.
  IMO, if something is too difficult, a person might not keep up with it... esp at the start of an exercise program, so its good to have something a bit easier to do that is still exercising.
  Constant light exercise is better than occasional bouts of heavy exercise and the exercise burnout that comes with it.
• Allie ginny (2015)
  I strongly agree with you I do regular push-ups as well and I'm a women and have no problem with it. People that strugle just need to shut up stop whining. I can do 90 push-ups in a minute..
• Liftinggirl Allie (2015)
  if you're a woman and can do 90 push ups in a freakin minute then you must have been working out for like years and must have very good upper body genetics -and/or- must be on steroids. I'm not saying it's impossible but it is VERY unlikely and it requires a great deal of dedication and hard work to get to the point you're at. If what you wrote reflects the truth I would love to hear what you did to get there.
• Robert Czikall liftinggirl (2017)
  Or her form is horrible and she's not doing them correctly and way too fast so they are not effective.
• Amy Hulk Hogan (2013)
  Women do not have the same body as most men do. I am a woman myself, and I know that generally, women do not have bodies capable of doing so many push ups, but it is COMPLETELY POSSIBLE for a woman to be stronger than a man. Btw, this doesnt apply to rights. Chill. Its ok. They r just suggesting it, and not saying that all women are terrible.
• Svipper Amy (2013)
  On top level woman cannot be stronger than a man. But of couse top level woman is way stronger than all mediocre couch potato males. :P
• Female amazonian fighter who kicks males asses (Xena, Tomb Raider etc.etc. fantasy, sci-fi and action stuff) ) is politically correct (anatomically incorrect) hollywood myth
• Blade svipper (2014)
  See its nothing like men are stronger and women are less... Human beings have their own limits whether its him or her.. And if one is set to be the strongest, well then nobody can stop you..
• Derpy01 Blade (2014)
  men will always be stronger because of the difference in the build of their bodies and testosterone levels, men have way more testosterone, and a body more built for lifting, doing push ups, etc.
• CaptainObvious svipper (2014)
  Wow, that's deep. So your point is that men have a biological advantage in terms of strength. (Everybody knows that, and serious feminists don't disagree)
• Svipper CaptainObvious (2014)
  "Everybody knows that, and serious feminists don't disagree"
• Yet they act like we should close the eye regarding this.
• Davesandbrook Amy (2015)
  Approximately 7% of the women have the upper body strength of the average male. With training women can get stronger, but will not reach the same level as men for the same amount of effort.
• The ladies have the advantage in other areas. Women are for more flexible and have better balance, and maintain those skills into later age than men. Women have a higher pain tolerance (Sorry, guys. The ladies beat us in that category.) Women should have the same aerobic capabilities. The reasons they don't are social and cultural, not physiological.
• Yoamama Davesandbrook (2015)
  lol women have higher pain tolerance tell that to all the soldiers who have had their legs blown off.
• DellNell yoamama (2015)
  Tell that to the women who give birth.
• Danielle Merrygold Mullen yoamama (2015)
  Haha there are woman soldier as well
• Cristian yoamama (2015)
  Whatever!!!! those men help keep us alive tho
• Alice Hulk Hogan (2013)
  Oh what a ridiculous comment. Why does physicality have anything to do with equal rights? The biological make up of women means it is no easier for women to have the same forms of physical fitness as men, than it is for a man to give birth. The whole point of equal rights is that these biological differences are irrelevant to the political and cultural equality of human beings.
• Grant Kitahata Alice (2014)
  My dad is a firefighter and he says that they often come under heat because they do not employ enough women composed to men. Why should women be held to different standards when they are expected to perform the same tasks in a real scenario?
• Davesandbrook Hulk Hogan (2014)
  About 7% of women have the upper body strength of the average male. So it is possible for women to equal men in upper body strength, with a lot of work. Women have the advantage in flexibility, and (sorry guys) pain tolerance. The women have guys handily beat in these areas. Anatomically and physiologically there is no reason women cannot equal or better than men in cardio fitness.
• B.J. Davesandbrook (2014)
  Again, completely untrue. In fact, males have a higher pain threshold. Research it before quoting urban myths as fact.
• Ash B.J. (2014)
  Same to you. I did some research, and it turns out that scientists in general believe that women do have higher pain thresholds, but they are more willing to share there pain.
• B.J. Ash (2014)
  I can find dozens of articles that support my conclusion. I am reading one right now.
• Melonie mcflinn B.J. (2020)
  articles are not reliable resources, try academic and peer reviewed jounrals as well as scholarly journals
• GrumpyHighlander melonie mcflinn (2020)
  Yes. Please do. They have literally done an experiment where they inflicted pain on volunteers.
  Men outperformed women in both pain tolerance and threshold. It is the only known experiment of its kind.So...again, please do research the subject. Personally, I could care less who can take more pain. I just don't like seeing people talking out their ***.
• Guess Hulk Hogan (2014)
  Women should have equal rights period. That doesn't mean they need to have equal strength. Not to mention some are top heavy so that needs to be accounted for too.
• Blueorange30 Hulk Hogan (2020)
  its just statistics they aren't trying to be sexist.
• M r Hulk Hogan (2020)
  the whole point is do as many as you can and keep getting better! male female regardless who you can just keep trying to improve every day.
• Ian Worthington Hulk Hogan (2020)
  Yea which is why in the article it says "Don't worry too much about how you rate - just try and improve your own score, and keep doing them the same way each time." Because it's not a competition against others.
• Bunny Hulk Hogan (2018)
  Ok. This is dumb.Women are not physically built like men. It takes a lot more work to get to the same level of pushups simply because we are not equipped with the form needed to so them so easily.Demanding us the same pushups for equality is like racing a fish and hawk in a race. Different genders have different strengths.
• Melonie mcflinn Bunny (2020)
  this is incorrect, unfortunately for you. form is not an excuse. both men and women should be able to perform proper form.
• D N Hulk Hogan (2018)
  Equal rights is not equal strength lol. I don't think you understand what a "right" is.
• Amish Hustle Hulk Hogan (2017)
  Wonderwoman pushups
• Chris Kossnar Hulk Hogan (2017)
  Equal rights & equal bodies are 2 different things. When boys go through puberty they experience an explosion of lean muscle mass, more than 50% greater than that of girls. Of all mammals, humans have by far the largest discrepancy between males/females in terms of strength, muscle mass, & agility. In other mammals, females are basically smaller versions of males, for all intents & purposes.
• Me Hulk Hogan (2014)
  Yay I can do 41 men's push ups in one minute...im 17,female... crossfit works great ..
• Declan Blade Hulk Hogan (2014)
  If you want to work out more, go ahead i personally don't care, but with some things men are physically more fit than women and its not a question of equal rights
• 13jerimybyrd13 Hulk Hogan (2014)
  Who are equal but not in natural body structure ! That's a no brainer
• Tony (2013)
  I'm 66 years old and can do 210 consecutive push ups; I didn't think it was anything special. I use the perfect push-up handles with perfect form. I generally wait a few minutes and knock-out another 180.
• PatriotEngineerAnalystUSA Tony (2014)
  As a retired member of the armed forces, I was required to do pushups as a standard part of my semi-annual fitness test. I was also required to supervise testing, and I estimate I watched well over 1,000 armed-forces members perform the test for pushups.
• Even for the most-fit members of the military, I never witnessed a person, young or old, do more than 87 consecutive pushups. Granted, our test was limited to the total performed in two minutes. However, judging from the amount of muscular failure I witnessed, it is doubtful any of the top-scorers could have exceeded more than 120 CONSECUTIVE pushups.
• Hence, with all due respect, I find your assertion of 200+ pushups, at 66 years of age, to be extremely hard to believe.
• Currently, I am 50+, and according to the scale, my score is in the "excellent" category. But, to retain this level of fitness, I must constantly perform pushups and other weight-lifting exercises. Even with a machine (as you describe) to assist with training, I doubt I could ever do more than 90 consecutive pushups.
• I want to assure our readers that your claim of 200+ consecutive pushups is nothing short of miraculous, and if any reader can perform at the "excellent" category of your age group, you are in very good condition!
• Dee Jay Adams PatriotEngineerAnalystUSA (2014)
  I've done 100 push ups in 44 seconds before and i just stopped. I did 2014 pushups in 2 hours and 14 minutes just last year. I did them normal,i did them on dumbbells, I did them on a bosu. Never underestimate what the elite fitness folks can do. BTW I'm 43 years old 205lbs at 5'7".I've been involved in training for 30 years. I've had women hit 85+ full pushups in 2 min and 6-9 full pull ups(no swinging or kipping garbage either). Those where ones wanting to perform well for their NAVY PRT. My father who is in his 60's would routinely do 500-700 pushups without stopping 2-3 days in a row until i harped on him about overuse repetitive injuries.
• B.J. Dee Jay Adams (2016)
  Yes being short at 5'7" with short arms totally helps with push ups. At 205lbs you probably have a large rib cage as well, so combining that with short arms you probably only have a an 8 inch range of motion. Short range of motion = much, much easier. You're built for push-ups / bench press / squats.
• Trump PatriotEngineerAnalystUSA (2020)
  I've personally done 100 straight... so I find it damn near impossible that you never saw a military member do more than 87... seriously? Maybe ya'll are all over trained or something...
• BTW Stop with the short arguments.. I'm am 6'1"
• Dazi (2013)
  does doin push ups every single day stops growth for teenagers?..
• Vaughn Chung dazi (2013)
  Nope, you can do as many body weight exercises as you want.
• Joe dazi (2013)
  working out will never stunt your growth. it is a myth. the only way it can stunt a persons growth is if the person has poor form and can hurt your growth.
• Fitness Instructor dazi (2013)
  You can never stunt your growth. However, if you do the same workout everyday and never change it, you will reach a plateau and not gain any more muscle. This is why it is important to mix up your routine from time to time.
• Constantine (2013)
  i was feeling pretty good about myself, until i realised i was looking at the women's norms...
• Ryan Fahey (2013)
  'men' push-ups should not be labelled differently than 'women' push-ups. I would say 'pushups' and 'modified pushups'.
• Zedd Ryan Fahey (2013)
  There is no shame in the fact that women commonly have to do a different form of pushup, the biological differences between the genders often means that women have proportionally less upper body strength and must do an easier form of pushup. People need to stop being so sensitive as to be offended by simple facts of biomechanics.
• Amy Zedd (2013)
  Thank you! Being a woman myself, sometimes i feel like men dominate the world, but in this case ITS JUST A BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCE!!! Chill people!
• Zaron Zedd (2014)
  There are plenty of men that can't do full push ups and plenty of women that can't. It's about strength, not gender, it's just that there's a correlation.
• Adam Zedd (2019)
  The only thing i have to say about this is this. Coming from the military where the women wanted to be in the Infantry side but still wanted to test on the modified version. These women need to compete at the male level in order to fill the infantry roles. That is all.
• Larrisa Zedd (2014)
  Men make it to be offended.
• Teresa (2013)
  I'm 33 year old female and I just started exercising on a regular basis about 2 weeks ago. At first I could barely do one push up now I'm able to do 15 :-)
• Jacks Daily (2013)
  "anyone saying they can do more than 60 push ups in under a minute is a liar, im very physically active and do cage fighting and can only just get to 60."
• I did 59 strict, full extension push-ups (otherwise they were not counted) in one minute for my Police Physical Agility Test and that was with three rest breaks after I reached 50 push-ups (And during your rest breaks if your body or knees touched the ground you failed the test). I went down for my 60th rep, but time ran out before I could press myself back up. If I was more conditioned for higher reps, and did not take those rest breaks, I could have easily hit 70+. And I am 6'1 and 210lbs.
• Ricky Jacks Daily (2013)
  I'll have to disagree with you there. I had my intial Pt test with my Army recruiter on Wednesday and me and the other recruits were messing around, saying we could do more than him in 1 minute. Well he took us up on our challenge and he did 130 in a minute. I barely did 55, and some other recruits got up to 73 but no one got close to him. He said to keep doing push ups within a certain time and when you feel like you reached the max that you can do within that time limit to increase the time by 10 secs and redo the process with that new time limit.
• Willis James Ricky (2013)
  Simply don't believe he did 130 in 60 seconds.
• I've seen the lame videos of those claiming similar results.
  Without exception they either don't go very far down or they fail to fully extend their arms. Never seen one legit example of 130 push ups in 60 seconds. On the other hand, about 19 out of 20 youtube videos show partial push ups.. with mini movement counted as a full push up.
• Svipper Willis James (2014)
  all those who are talking about being nearly 70 and doing almost 300 pushups, or doing 130 in 60 sec are simply senile or trolls.
• Pmag Ricky (2013)
  I think that Jacks Daily is talking about proper form pushups not military pushup they're way different.
• Scouts-out pmag (2013)
  pmag, you are ignorant. Military pushups require you to place your hands approximately shoulder width apart with your feet no more than 12 inches apart. While keeping your body (head to toe) in a generally straight line, you lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the ground. By any fitness guru's account (not counting modified versions of the pushup), the military standard meets the criteria of a proper pushup.
• RJthebass man Jacks Daily (2013)
  "Do as many push ups as possible until exhaustion." it didn't say in one minute. It said till exhaustion.
• Zaron Jacks Daily (2014)
  "If I was more conditioned for higher reps, and did not take those rest breaks, I could have easily hit 70+" Yes, and if I was stronger I could easily bench press 300kg.
• Guest (2013)
  Doing the same compound exercise every day is not good for muscle growth.
• Jal (2013)
  "Women pushups"? I call them, "sissy pushups". Yeah, I'm a girl!
• Sharon (2014)
  I'm a 72 year old woman. I never did a military pushup until I was 68 years old because "girls can't do full body pushups." At 72 without doing them regularly I can still do 15 before exhaustion. I think girls are brainwashed into thinking themselves weaker than they need to be.
• Doc JeanO Sharon (2014)
  I've always done regular military pushups, not the modified women's pushup. I'm 70 and I did 30 regular pushups yesterday. Women can do them - start slow and build up.
• Strive (2013)
  Am 56. I started doing push ups about a year ago and 1st day I did 10. I am now up to my personal best of 540 in approx 45 minutes. I start out with 50, 40,40,40,40, then the balance are all 30 until my last 5 sets which are 20 reps. I try to increase by 5 reps each week (this keeps me in the mind game). After that I super-set bicep dumb bell curls with Zotman curls with no more than 9 set for the biceps as it is a small muscle and can't grow with high sets & reps. At the end of the workout I do 75 close stance full squats at once. And 1 x month I do double steps sep ups (very hard but good for the heart!). I do this 1 X/wk all in less then 55 minutes. This is the greatest workout of all time. PS when I was younger as a bodybuilder lifting weights (benched 410 lbs, etc.) I could never do this many push ups! Looking forward to when I get to a gym and try my bench again!
  Oh yea, eat health and as Arnold says, milk is for babies, you ddrink beaar when you get oldear...LOL!!
• Vexand (2018)
  Got into Strongest age for females in Excellent tier first time. The did the average for the strongest age for the females.No sweat
• Robert Czikall (2017)
  I'm 51 and did 30 the other day and 40 today. Getting stronger!
• Rowan (2014)
  Men generally have stronger than women but if they train they could whip many men's butts
• Eric Cramer (2014)
  Geez looks like everyone in high school was in terrible shape. I never saw anyone get to 20.
• CJ Baldwin (2020)
  I'm 12 and did 46 in one minute. I'm assuming that is OK?
• Blindman123 (2020)
  60 years old. 4 sets of 60 3 times a week plus ab work and walk my dog 2 miles a day. I also lift weights 3 days a week. Get started at whatever level you are at and keep at it. DO NOT JUDGE YOURSELF. We are all different. Slowly increase the number of reps. If you have a day where you don't really feel like working out do a very light and short workout instead. Soon it will become a habit and you will miss NOT working out. Enjoy!
• Zxcks_-_ (2019)
  Can it solve my skinnyness problem
• Fk the six braves Zxcks_-_ (2020)
  weight training at a gym will be the fastest method of gaining muscle. It's hard to build muscle with calisthenics, because you're just using your own body weight the whole time.
• Larrisa (2014)
  I got excellent on the males test. This test really under estimates women strengths.
• Will6969 (2013)
  Im 15 years of age, 6 ft and 10 stone and just completed 60 push ups... Is that good?
• Donald Sams will6969 (2013)
  terrible man. Should do at least 150, male 15 year old
• Jón Tór (2013)
  this is wierd then i'm way above excellent i can do 80 pushups with one arm for each arm. if an average man actually tries i think he should be able to do way more
• Anoop (2020)
  When I started doing push ups at home, I was able to do hardly 10 push ups. But with the time I increased my numbers, and now i can go above 25 in a single go. And I am still increasing them. Last i had 29 in a single go. I love to do push ups and i practice them twice or thrice a day.
• Keshav Kadan (2020)
  I m 1 minutes and 135 push-up open challenge
• Viviana (2020)
  I'm a 15 year old girl and I can do 30+ regular pushups and 25 clap push ups... why is there no non-modified table for women
• Micaela (2020)
  Why can't there be a chart for women doing regular pushups? (No knees)
• the six braves (2020)
  For any normal guy who goes to the gym and does weight training regularly, I think good/excellent is easy to attain. I'm 19, 179cm, 61kg (used to be 56kg before gymming), so I'm a skinny dude who managed to put on a bit of muscle, and I can scrape 50 fast pushups (proper form, but doing pushups quicker is less tiring than doing it slowly for better muscle development which isn't what we're trying to do here). If I were to regularly practice pushups, I think I could get into the excellent range. So moral of the day is that you should regularly exercise. Nothing surprising here.
• Omelet (2020)
  How about indicating whether the numbers given for women are real pushups or the modified sort?
  • Rob Admin (2020)
    I have updated the text. The female rating table now clearly labelled to be for the modified technique.
    • Omelet (2020)
      Guess I'll have to settle for being "above average" for a 65 year old man, even though I'm a 74 year old woman. I'm at 22; maybe I can add 2 and move up to "good."
    • Omelet (2020)
      No data on the real sort for women? Too bad -- tht's what I do and I would have liked a comparison.
• ALPHA MALE (2020)
  35 years old.10 pushups in a row is a big deal.
• Edicius4 (2020)
  Dude these charts are complete BS. I doubt there was actually any real study behind this. This appears to just be someone's made up guess. The average woman CANNOT do 17 real pushups.
• Rob Admin edicius4 (2020)
  Yep, the tables are just a guide. Also, as per the description, "Women have the additional option of using the 'bent knee' position"
• Nathan Graham (2020)
  I do 200 a night, 65 in the first set in under a minute, 50 in the next set, 45 in the next, then 40. I have been trying to get to 100 in a set without stopping but I seem to be stuck at 65. Then I saw this chart and realized that for a man of 59 I am doing more than twice as many in one set than someone my age is supposed to be able to do. I use the perfect pushup bars, my left wrist was broken so I can do them with my hands flat on the ground, but I get a deeper pushup and a better burn with the perfect pushups.
• Trump Nathan Graham (2020)
  You can get to 100 non stop. Starting taking each set to total failure instead of stopping at 1 minute and take longer rests periods. If you are at 65 now I bet you will hit 75 in a month and 100 in 2-3 months.
• Mark Serio (2020)
  I'm 62 and just did 52 push-ups. Yay for me! (at least according to that chart, lol)
• Fk the six braves Mark Serio (2020)
  that's impressive. you must work out a lot.
• GOKU DRAGNEAL (2020)
  So , if I can do about 60 push ups (I am 18) , does that mean I can join a boxing or martial arts gym ?
• MAK (2020)
  Hey, congrats on being the #1 result when searching for "# of push ups, based on age"
  ... I'm in my mid 30s and just did 60 pushups in 51 seconds... although I was too tired to talk afterwards, still, i didn't expect the bar would be so low
• Someone (2020)
  I am a 13 year old girl and i can do 40 push ups in under 1 min is that good for my age?
• GOKU DRAGNEAL Someone (2020)
  Excellent even , I am Male 18 and max is just 60 push ups a little over a minute , just be careful not to build too much muscle....
• Omelet GOKU DRAGNEAL (2020)
  "Too much muscle"? What does tht mean?
• GOKU DRAGNEAL Omelet (2020)
  Exactly what it sounds , I'd imagine no girl would want the body of Brock Lesner .....
• Omelet GOKU DRAGNEAL (2020)
  Without steroids, most woman just don't bulk up like Lesner no matter how strong they are. BTW - can't imagine anyone wanting that body. No definition, simply looks gross.
• GOKU DRAGNEAL Omelet (2020)
  Well then I guess the phrase "too much muscle" is clear now .......
• Michael A (2020)
  62 in a row let's go boys
• Weird Weeb (2020)
  I'm super sad there's no 17 and under category :(
• Fk the six braves Weird Weeb (2020)
  I don't think people 17 and under should worry about how many pushups they can do. I think doing any serious weight training below that age will impede height growth. I started gymming when I was 17 years and 9 months old, and by then I already gave up on growing any taller lol.
• James R Phillips (2020)
  The chart only goes to age 65, Do the assessment numbers change much when I am 75? For example I can do 21 pushups, normally 30, but had surgery on my L. arm.
• Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez (2020)
  I'm over 60, bmi is around 23-24 most of the time. In addition to 30 minutes of daily cardio (elliptical) I do 2 sets of 30 and one set of 40 push ups , 3 sets of 80 crunches and a vast array of other exercises 3x per week but I can't even do one "sit up". I think this may have to do with my L4 and L5 being fused together after a nasty spine infection ate the disk and part of the vertebrae.
• Sgt_Bilko (2019)
  I am 52 and I can do 50 pushups. The first 40 are are fine and then the last 10 are quite hard. Honestly I feel like I should be doing more and I've started doing planks recently to help with that. Sometimes it feels like breaking 50 is a psychological barrier that I need to push through if I want to do better.
• Bryan (2019)
  Hi I'm 13 and I train a lot and usually everyday I do 100 push-ups but sometimes like two times a week when I'm in a mood I will do dips and close to a thousand push-ups .but since I got serious about workout,1.5year ago, my push-ups increased only from 1-50 When I compared to my Freinds progression I realized I was quite slow . And I train slightly harder than them. Is increasing 50 push-ups in 1.5 years good? Or quite slow like what everyone's says:(
• Melodic (2019)
  I have a hard time believing the "average" 40-49 year old woman can do 8-17 pushups. I'm up to 7 after practicing a month, and the vast majority of women my age are fat and out of shape. I just don't buy this is an "average" but rather what would be considered healthy.
• Anonymous (2018)
  I do 50 push ups as I am 15 yrs old it is good or normal
• Samuel Lane (2018)
  All of this who is stronger men and women stuff has been dealt with by science a long time ago. Men have more potential for strength than women. A man and woman who work out the exact same amount the man will always end up significantly stronger. It's not sexist to state a fact. Frankly those who disagree need to spend more time in research.
• Seth Chapman (2018)
  im 13 and i would like to know if 11 push ups is not good at all
• Leroi (2017)
  pushups are based on how well you can carry your body weight. so technically, it doesn't matter who is stronger in the long run since men are usually heavier than women. it's who can carry themselves. for the guys saying women will never be as strong/stronger than men, mate there's already millions of females who are stronger than you yourself.
• Abby (2017)
  I'm 12 years old. I can do 47 push ups, and that's in a MINUTE. Untimed I can probably do 55, say 60 push ups. Either I'm super strong or all you women are weak. No offense. Btw I'm not very athletic and am actually average when it comes to PE (except for hockey and basketball surprisingly despite me being short. But on the mile I place 12 mins. and 45 secs to 13 mins and 15 secs. Anything else involving a ball I'm not good at) and I haven't trained since a young age. I couldn't even do a proper push up at 8, and did stink-bugs (butt sticking up in the air). However, in 5th grade on the fitness test I manage 26 push ups.
• Abby (2017)
  I'm 12 years old. I can do 47 push-ups, and that's in a minute. Untimed, I can probably go 55, say 60 push ups. Either I'm super strong, or you women are weak. No offense. Btw I'm not very athletic but more average.
• Matthew Degracia (2017)
  "Do as many push ups as possible until
  exhaustion" does it continuous or not?
  • Rob Admin (2017)
    The description for this home fitness test does not make it clear whether you need to do it continuously. The important thing is to be consistent, if you are doing the test to monitor changes in fitness, you should use the same technique and follow the same procedures each time. You may choose to include a rest as in the Army Physical Fitness Test protocol, resting with the arms in the straight position.
• Why are u ppl comparing strength between man and women. Women are not naturally built for strength. They are soft, cuddly and adorable. I love u women. God (2017)
• I agree that women should have to do the same amount of push-ups. The on knees stuff is for beginners who cant do a push-up yet. Rebecca (2017)
• Chris Kossnar (2017)
  When I 1st started I did...I think it was 17 or 18 pushups, probably sloppily & incorrectly. After about 6 months I broke 100, & maxed out at 189, although I changed my technique to make it more challenging amid suspicion that I was doing them improperly. I did them S L O W L Y, so as the accentuate the difficulty & stress on my muscles, also tried putting 25lbs on my back, both ways I maxed out at around 75-90. Now I've moved on to weights.
• Chris Waymeyer (2017)
  Also I try to do a set of 50 push-ups a few times a week...for maintenance...I'm 38, five feet eleven inches tall..189 pounds...perhaps my range of motion could be better as I shorten to it to reach the fifty mark....with full range of motion I can get something over thirty... although when I weighed 165 I had no problem doing 50 with good form.And got in the high 70s the few times I maxed out like 77,78...one of my favorite push-up routines is to do 8 sets of 25.
• Chris Waymeyer (2017)
  Everyone knows women are not as strong or fast as men..that's y there are separate divisions for men's and women's sports. Of individual women can surpass expectations..ten women in a hundred will be stronger than the other 90 percent...some trained women will out perform untrained men..even in fighting men have thicker skulls meaning if a woman we're to fight a man n she would greater risk of fractured skull
• Jeffrey Dean (2017)
  Congratulations this table makes no sense at all, learn organisation Skills
• Megan (2016)
  I'm a 13-year-old girl and can do between 50 and 60 proper pushups in 1 minute.
• Emmanuel (2016)
  I do 50 push ups a day as a 12 years old
• Anonymous (2016)
  At school, us girls have to do actual push ups. I ince beat all the boys! LOL.
• Conner (2016)
  what about for kids. I mean I am just 12 years old
• Wayne Zahra (2016)
  Im 36 Years old im hitting 52 im target in 100x 3 of course with a 30second rest period.
• Hobo (2016)
  Hulk Hogan still I mean bruh even if they want ( equal rights ) the standard is the standard and the fact that the average amount of pushups women can do is less than the average mens have. Believe in what u want to but I am telling u that is no true
• Alaric Khan (2016)
  130 pushups is more than 2 per second. I don't see how this is possible if they are being done correctly. I can do 40 in a minute but I am over 60 lbs overweight and 52 years old. I am impressed with myself.
• Mejo (2016)
  i do 84 now morning and 70 in noon plus jogging situps jumps and wing like exercises at 54 honest to say its purely genetical plus your will power
• C-sense (2015)
  Strength vs. quantity............I did. ....one push up today......and the earth moved away.....how much weight is that...?
• Ally (2015)
  I'm in cross country and we don't even do push ups! .-.
• José Pablo Bolaños Rigioni (2015)
  If I were in the 17 through 29 years-old age group, I would score above average. But, being 43 years-old currently, I score excellent.
• Yaz (2015)
  I am a female and I build muscle and strength rather easily. I have not trained for years and my biceps have a low fat percentage but measure 13 inches in circumference which is the figure for the average mans bicep. I am one of those way stronger than average females naturally.
• ARMAN (2015)
  Well i am arman, I can do about 60-100 pushups per set.
• Leland (2015)
  I Have a 65 year old teacher at my school that can do 90 in a row no joke
• Hulk hogan is a melon (2015)
  stop talking about legal rights, it's just a chart
• MYSELF (2014)
  I can do 44 in 30 seconds and i'm 14,I've never tried max but according to the table what would I be?
• Jake (2014)
  Any of you wanting to try a much more difficult push up - get a set of rings ( olympic style) and suspend a few inches above the floor. You'll be lucky if you can do a quarter of your usual count.
• Raging bone*r (2014)
  I am a 16 teen year old teen dad stuggling with three kids and I can do 180 puchups with my woman on my D.
• James Mitchell (2014)
  I'm 13 last October and I did 57 chest to the floor not break push ups. My arms are dead but I think the excellent mark for both men and women should be higher and equil standards for girls. It's rediculous that women's exelent is >37
• A (2014)
  I'm almost 11 and did 50 push-ups in 42 seconds. And I didn't train... Maybe it's because I'm a gymnast or something.. (I'm a girl)
• Glenn Marks (2014)
  It's been reported that the average 65 year old man has more estrogen in his body than the average 55 year old woman. That's how much we change with age, which is probably one reason older men and women resemble one another. Also, drinking decreases bodily testosterone significantly, which is why male drinkers often develop female breasts. It's estimated each drink (glass of wine) decreases testosterone by 10%, which is the same percentage increase in women's breast cancer due to alcohol consumption.
• ChuckUnderscore (2014)
  I am 66 yrs old. My 'high water mark' is 146 pushups, done in 5 sets, about a minute between sets. My 'single set high' is 46. I am sure huffing and puffing after that, I'll tell you :-)
• Shawn (2014)
  Women have lower strength criteria based on their higher percentage of body fat and lower proportional muscle mass. These differences are based on differences in hormones, not social construction.
• Yakov (2013)
  Push ups performance have to be measured by time interval, best is 30 sec., with 45+ per 30 sec is excellent for all under age 50.
  For best performance foot have to be elevated for 8-10 inches (20-25cm). In such case push ups much more useful and healthier, and can be best judged at competitions.
• Gabe Vialpando (2013)
  I just did 75 in a minute. Has anybody else
• Zaron Gabe Vialpando (2014)
  I could only do 67, I was too slow :(
  I did 75 in just over a minute though.
• Brandon (2013)
  That myth is just from steroids steroids stunt groth not lifting
• NAAAAAAAAAAAAAME (2013)
  I can do 150 military style but i can't run very far without getting out of breath?
• Wanttobe Fit NAAAAAAAAAAAAAME (2014)
  your heart and your arms are totally different muscles, you probably just have weak cardio, but extremely good arm strength. :)
• Jane (2013)
  Which type of push ups are on the women's table, the bent knee or the standard push ups? I can do 16 "normal" push ups, but with my knees bent I can go over 35... But i'm not very strong, so I suppose the numbers on the table refer to the standard push ups... Am I right?
• Caleb (2013)
  My best is 75 under a minute and I am going to train to beat that score and I am 18
• Lisa (2013)
  I'm a fitness enthusiastic girl who's 18 years old, and my personal goal is to be able to do 100 consecutive pushups (military style ofc). I have been doing 25x4 pushups every day for a week now (with longer rests,10-20min), and I wonder if this is a good way for me to reach my goal, or should I try to do more sets (with fewer reps) with less rest in between?
• Zaron Lisa (2014)
  Do more reps. Do as many as you can on each set, keep a record of how many you can do and try to beat that. On top of this, try "greasing the grove" which is where you do push ups throughout the day whenever and as often as you can.
• Kevin Jones Lisa (2013)
  Jon Tor was right. You need to rest. If you take a day in between, your body will be able to super compensate and you'll start doing more in each set. You should try to increase the number you're doing each day that you do pushups. So if you do 25 on the first set on Monday, then on Wednesday you should try to beat that. Eventually you'll build up to doing 100 on the first set. But you need to rest. On off days do cardio activity.
• Jón Tór Lisa (2013)
  it's also important to rest your muscle instead of only doing push ups you should make variation in your practice take a days rest between your push up routine and run in between or do some other workouts :)
• Bballer (2013)
  im 13 and i did 35 consecutive push ups thats okay i guess
• Better than the last guy bballer (2013)
  im 13 and i did 60 consecutive push ups damn im tank, lol.

Even Older Comments

• Hey I'm 15 guys and I do about 200-250 push-ups a day. However I do not do them all at once I do 25 and then take a break and so on. If I really crank the push-ups I can do like 60 but then I would be to tired to do 200 for my workout so I try to just do about 25 each circuit. :) (from nicholas liu, Apr 2013)
• I am 17 and a girl I did full press ups till exhaustion and got 52, any good? As i know most girls my age can barely do 1
• How does body weight affect these numbers, though? A 300lb. man would need pretty big arms to do 20 pushups, the middle of average. A 150lb. man can undoubtedly do more because he has less resistance.For the record, I'm a "muscle chub" and did 33 today, with minute breaks in between sets of 10/9/8/6. In a row, I could probably do 14. I have weight to fight, but all things considered pretty good. (from T, Apr 2013)
• So we meet again push-up test. how you have tormented me since 5th grade (from snappy, Apr 2013)
• Yea right, why don't you guys instead say ''hey I'm 19 and can do 10000 pushups in a sec?'' (from dimsworth, Mar 2013)
• It's all about what you train your body to do. If you practice anyone can achieve any number of pushups in a minute ( realistically numbers of course ). I believe with proper practice and form 100 can be reached in under a minute easily. (from Evan, Mar 2013)
• I'm 29, looks like I'm less than 1 year away from being able to get away with doing 6 less pushups. Nice (from Almost 30, Mar 2013)
• I don't get it...i find push-ups easier than sit ups...i don't know if its because all of my fat is in my belly area or what...anyways good to know i don't have that many push-ups to go to be considered average. I should be able to go to above average within a reasonable time. Now if only my shoulder could stop hurting within 2-3 situps i would be able to do that workout more regularly. (from J Rock, Mar 2013)
• I am thirteen years old and can do 100 pushups in 2.5 minutes. No lie.I can do 25 chinups
  625 situps is my max,I can bench one hundred and fifty (one rep),I run a 5.1 40 yard dash
  Trying to play running back.I also run track and get 12seconds in the hundred meter.And one minute flat in the 400m. (from Austin Koch,7th grade, Mar 2013)
• But on a side note saying you do 100 or more good ones in under a minute is just unrealistic. Unless you're Chuck Norris. (from Berg, Mar 2013)
• Anyone saying they can do more than 60 push-ups in under a minute is a liar, I'm very physically active and do cage fighting and can only just get to 60 (from mtindale, Mar 2013)
  • To the person who said that people who say they can do more than 60 pushups in a minute are liars. Your way off on your logic. In my branch of the military in order to get the max points for pushups in a fitness test you need to be able to do 67 or more in a minute. And I know plenty of people who get max points. So if someone says they can do it its entirely possible. (from Berg, Mar 2013)
  • This guy who says that saying you can do 60+ pushups a minute makes you a liar is a total muppet. Im a 17 year old guy, I have both polands and sprengels deformities, yet my pushup max in a minute is 92 (correct form). Yeah, I spend alot of time in the gym but at 60+ its purely psychological. If you are a cage fighter, then you should have the physique to get alot more than 60, you just arent putting your mind to it. So dont ever just slag someone else off as a liar just cos they trained themselves to a point of physical and mental fortitude that you dont appear to be using. (from Alex, Apr 2013)
• What if a 13-year old kid does 18? That's frankly bad... (from George, Mar 2013)
• I'm 16 years old and always do my pushups before my weight workout, i lift like a beast .. and i can do no more than 250 pushupsstraight. nokidding ive been practicing since i was twelve ... and know i have a pretty big ass back Do your pushups punks* :-) (from javier, Mar 2013)
• Some people on here commenting that they can do 100> pushups a minute. What a load of rubbish! that's half a second for a whole pushup and a quarter of a second per up or down. Anyway, I managed 50 military pushups yesterday, which i'm quite proud of because 2 months ago, before I started training, I could only do 9. (from Not telling, Mar 2013)
• I am 15 (almost 16) and can do 36 military style push-ups (chin touches the ground and the only things in contact with the ground throughout is my hands and toes). I am working on getting this higher. Honestly before I could only do 25 but I'm sure push-ups are as psychologically demanding as physically. This is because I set my goal at 36 because I wanted to get in the above average band for 17-19 y/ olds and I managed 36 push-ups first time whereas when I set my target at 25, I could barely manage 25... I aim to be in the excellent band one day :) (from Owen, Feb 2013)
• I can perform at least 60-80 pushups and I'm 21 years young but I have an advantage. I have survived severe Boys Town athleteic training that made gave me strength mentally, physically, and Spiritually! (from Trenton Wallace, Feb 2013)
• I'm about to crank out pushups No stop ... I'm a marine disabled veteran..back injury..I don't excersize but lets see how I do..hold a sec ... ok Whee a lil winded..I did 50 straight continuous up and down standard marine corporation pushups..I probally could have did 10 to 15 breakyouhardly workout will start soon (from smitty, Feb 2013)
• How far you surpossed to go down? (from Theresa, Feb 2013) - it doesn't really matter, as long as you areconsistent.
• I can regally do 100 pushups ( good ones ) in under 50 seconds at age 66 months ago I did 130 in about 1 min ( good ones ) just need pace ,relaxation and the ability to let your body drop with minimal resistance before pushing back up ,( don't tense ) R E L AX X. !!!!! (from DES Lu, Feb 2013)
• Really all these people saying they crank so many i bet their all fat or arnald swasnegger if thats how you spell it (from stfu, 1 Feb 2013)
• I am 16. I am highly athleatic and for the past 6 weeks i have been doing pushups every night. I started at 31 pushups consecutivly and now I do 60-75 consecutive pushups. I beleave if everyone simply did as many pushups as they could each night our world be be a healther place :) (from Austin, Jan 2013)
• I just timed myself and I did 80 military style in 1 minute, I'm in the navy and I'm trying to go spec war I have never seen a girl do more than 40 pushups in my 3 years in the navy . Half of the people here are lying .. Props to all the older guys that are still cranking them out ... Hooyah (from Os2, Jan 2013)
• It's all about the 2 minute test, anything under 2 minutes forces people to cut form for time. just did my personal best on a Navy PST with 92 (from Aaron, Jan 2013)
• It is funny how competitive the responses are. My 15 year-old soon is also good at exaggerating his accomplishments. I've seen how a lot of people do push-ups and most are far from military style form. If done in correct form, I'd say that the data in the table sound correct from my observations. For most of my life (59 years) I've been in the below average category. I am encouraged that my recent dedication to fitness has lifted me to the good category with improvement well within my capacity. Thanks for the chart. Most of the user comments belong to fantasy fiction. (from Rich, Jan 2013)
• I can easily crank out 180 military style pushups! and I'm only 19.. its seriously embarrassing for all you weak people!!!p.s. im acting like all of these dummys who think they can easily crank out 80 push-ups, you obviously aren't doing them correct. (from Dumb, Jan 2013)
• Apparently all of the readers of this site are super amazing pushup people! I manage a fitness facility and these norms are not that far off from reality. Keep in mind that people have a very wide variety on what they consider to be "good form" on a pushup. To count, the pushup needs to be perfect -- body from head to toes coming down together with no break in the core, back flat and with upper arms parallel to the floor at the bottom (or chest coming about a fist width from floor), coming back to top with elbows locked out. I think at least some of your comments most likely contain some interesting versions of pushups (from John, Jan 2013)
• I'll be 60 in July and have had 3 back operations and worked up to 35 push-ups. (not dwon to 2 inches yet) You can do it also, never give up. (from Dave, Jan 2013)
• 40+ for pretty much anyone is good. don't understand why tons of people are lying about being in good shape, OH MY GOD I'M 11 AND I DO 200 PUSH-UPS IN 23 SECONDS.. C'mon, Really? (from greg, Jan 2013)
• Wow, everyone is so strong here. I'm a 25 year old male and I could only do 9 pushups and that was with a 20 minute break. But I still bet I could beat that 13 year old girl up who did 37! (from cougar, Jan 2013)
• What about those of us 75 and older any test data for us? (from Jess, Dec 2012)
• I have a theory, the reason why everybody here has numbers over the norm is because they know they are in good health and want to see how they stack up, but people who know they are in bad shape don't want to see it proven by graphs, so all the people reading this are already fit and just seeing if they really are fit. (from Derp, Dec 2012)
• I am 18 and i can easily crank out 75 in a minute but really these numbers should be adjusted for 2 minutes and severely need to be updated (from james, Dec 2012)
• I am a 38 year old physically and mentally disabled man, and I just did 1.000.000 (one trillion) push-ups. Unbelievable how unfit so many people are and do only 80 or less.(from Hugo, Dec 2012)
• I'm a 13 year old girl and I did 37 military style! The average for ages 17-19 is 11-20. That's crazy! (from someperson, Dec 2012)
• Wow, I'm a 16 year old, physically disabled girl and I did 42 push-ups military style O.O That's crazy that most people can't even do 35 "girl" push-ups. (from Sierra, Nov 2012)
• I'm 45 and I just did 80. Could have done more, but only looked up this test after I was done. Nose didn't touch the ground, but a former student of mine in the Air Force said they count if your upper arms go parallel to the ground (straight line from elbow-to-elbow across the back). I'll try for 100 tomorrow. (from Matt Weiss, Nov 2012)
• Wow excellent 56, i would of thought that was average i can do around 80-120 im very ashamed how weak people are. Btw im 18 im aiming for world records, ino 80 not record but its a start, 21 max one handed, increasing every day. (from Kieren, Oct 2012)
• I read this with even more concern than other commenters. Since the data was published in 1986 the base data is even older, and perhaps much older, than that. With reduction in PE classes I would think that the average 18 year old today would be unlikely to even do 10 push-ups (from buck cameron, Oct 2012)
• I'm a girl and in a minute I can do 38-40 and I dont think that's excellent,in my opinion its far from it. (from annie, Oct 2012)
• This chart makes me feel really good about myself I am 19 years old and can do 70 consecutive pushups with my nose touching the ground on every one of them. (from itdoesntmatterwhatmynameis, Oct 2012)
• I wonder if the womens test is based on "girl" push-ups on the knees or regular "mens" push-ups? I can do lots and lots of "mens" push-ups and I'm a 45 y/o woman, but I'm a regular runner and weight lifter and have been for many years. I don't think the average woman my age can do 8-17 push-ups. Most of the "average" women I know of my age and even much younger struggle to do a single mens push-up. Eh, never mind. I didn't read the article completely ... it does give women the option of knees on the floor. (from Josie, Oct 2012)
• I think this chart, if accurate, says a lot about the fitness of our population. I note that this is 1986 data and that obesity rates have increased since then. I try to keep myself reasonably fit, but I'm no "jock", yet at age 67, I do 70-75 full drop, continuous motion pushups. If the "average" 18 yr old can only manage 11-20, our society is in serious trouble! (from Richard, Oct 2012)
• If this is based on the average american i can see this being truthful. America is the obese capital of the world. I know my mom and sister can't do over 10 push-ups. (from kaine, Sept 2012)
• I read that differently: If you're doing 44 push-ups at age 61, you're in excellent push-up shape. If you're 61 and only doing 16, you're in average shape.
• I'm just wondering what your push-up test is based on. I'm 61 and do 44 push-ups.If 16 is your average for that age. And that's based on the general population it doesn't say a lot about what kind of shape we are in. (from Sheldon, July 2012)