The Push-Up Test: How Do You Stack Up Against the Average [Man/Woman]?

Push-ups are one of the first exercises you learn to perform. Whether you grew up in a fit household, were drawn to training from an early age, or tried your first exercise in your school PT class, chances are you started your strength training journey with push-ups.

Furthermore, most of us have participated in a push-up challenge while growing up, and these strength-check exercises are no joke. Teens use them to find the alpha among themselves, and you have to live with the results for the rest of your life.

As soon as an individual starts performing push-ups, one of the first questions they have is, “How many push-ups should I be able to do?”

This question is profound, as it can help you assess your fitness levels and compare them to your peers. However, the number of push-ups you can do will depend on factors including age, weight, sex, and training experience. Therefore, although it is good to know how you measure up to your peers, you shouldn’t punch above or below your weight.

Determining How Many Push-Ups You Can Do

To assess your push-up capacity:

1. Max Repetition Test: Perform as many push-ups as possible with correct form until muscle fatigue sets in.
2. Timed Test: Set a timer (e.g., 1 minute) and count how many push-ups you can complete while maintaining proper technique.

Having a training partner monitor your form can provide accurate results and help prevent injury.

Average Push-Up Standards

Below are average push-up counts based on age and body weight for men and women.

Average Push-Ups for Men by Age

Given below are the number of push-ups an average man can do based on his age:

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite
15	<1	11	30	54	80
20	< 1	16	39	66	95
25	1	18	41	68	99
30	1	18	41	68	99
35	1	18	41	68	99
40	1	18	41	68	99
45	< 1	15	37	63	92
50	< 1	12	33	57	85
55	< 1	10	28	51	76
60	< 1	7	23	44	67
65	< 1	4	18	37	58
70	< 1	< 1	13	30	49
75	< 1	< 1	9	24	40
80	< 1	< 1	6	18	33
85	< 1	< 1	2	13	27
90	< 1	< 1	< 1	9	21

Average Push-Ups for Men by Bodyweight

Men’s average push-up counts based on body weight:

Body Weight (kg)	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite
50	<1	16	42	73	108
55	< 1	17	42	72	105
60	1	18	42	70	102
65	2	19	42	69	99
70	3	19	41	67	96
75	4	19	41	66	93
80	5	20	40	64	91
85	5	20	39	63	88
90	5	19	39	61	86
95	6	19	38	60	83
100	6	19	37	58	81
105	6	19	37	57	79
110	6	19	36	56	77
115	6	18	35	54	75
120	6	18	34	53	73
125	6	18	34	52	71
130	6	17	33	51	70
135	6	17	32	49	68
140	6	17	32	48	66

Overall Average Push-Ups for Men

Combined average push-up counts for men:

Strength Level	Reps
Beginner	1
Novice	18
Intermediate	41
Advanced	68
Elite	99

Average Push-Ups for Women by Age

Women’s average push-up counts according to age:

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite
15	<1	<1	12	27	43
20	< 1	5	18	35	54
25	< 1	5	19	37	56
30	< 1	5	19	37	56
35	< 1	5	19	37	56
40	< 1	5	19	37	56
45	< 1	4	16	33	51
50	< 1	1	14	29	46
55	< 1	< 1	10	25	41
60	< 1	< 1	8	20	35
65	< 1	< 1	5	15	28
70	< 1	< 1	1	11	22
75	< 1	< 1	< 1	7	17
80	< 1	< 1	< 1	4	12
85	< 1	< 1	< 1	< 1	9
90	< 1	< 1	< 1	< 1	5

Average Push-Ups for Women by Bodyweight

Women’s average push-up counts based on body weight:

Body Weight (kg)	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite
40	<1	4	19	39	61
45	< 1	5	20	38	59
50	< 1	6	20	37	57
55	< 1	6	20	36	54
60	< 1	7	19	35	52
65	< 1	7	19	34	50
70	< 1	7	18	33	48
75	< 1	7	18	31	46
80	< 1	6	17	30	45
85	< 1	6	16	29	43
90	< 1	6	16	28	41
95	< 1	6	15	27	40
100	< 1	6	15	26	38
105	< 1	5	14	25	37
110	< 1	5	13	24	36
115	< 1	5	13	23	35
120	< 1	4	12	22	33

Overall Average Push-Ups for Women

Combined average push-up counts for women:

Strength Level	Reps
Beginner	<1
Novice	5
Intermediate	19
Advanced	37
Elite	56

According to a 2021 study, males can perform more push-ups than females, mainly because they perform their push-ups faster due to their body weight distribution. [1]

Still wondering if you should add push-ups to your training regimen? What you’ll read next might convince you to make it a staple.

According to a 10-year-long study on middle-aged male firefighters (average age 39), men who could do 40 or more push-ups in a day were 96 percent less likely to experience a cardiovascular event than those who could do only 10 or fewer. [2]

In other words, push-ups can help assess your cardiovascular health besides gauging your aerobic endurance, stamina, and strength.

Calories Burned During Push-Ups

Besides helping you build muscle and core strength, performing push-ups burns a lot of calories as it is a compound (multi-joint) exercise. According to estimates, performing a push-up can help you burn between 0.3 and 0.6 calories.

Per the estimates, an average person weighing 190 pounds will burn the following calories while performing push-ups:

Number of Push-Ups	20/min	25/min	30/min	35/min	40/min
10	3	2	2	1.6	1.4
20 push-ups	6	5	4	3	3
30 push-ups	9	7	6	5	4
40 push-ups	11	9	8	7	6
50 push-ups	14	11	10	8	7
80 push-ups	23	18	15	13	11
100 push-ups	29	23	19	16	14
200 push-ups	57	46	38	33	29

Want to calculate your burn? Use our online calories burned while performing push-ups calculator.

How To Perform a Push-Up

This is how to perform push-ups with perfect form:

1. Assume a high plank position on the floor with your hands under your shoulders, legs straight, elbows extended, and head in a neutral position.
2. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and your body should be in a straight line at the starting position.
3. Slowly descend to the floor by retracting your shoulder blades and unlocking your elbows.
4. Lower your upper body until your chest is a few inches off the floor.
5. Explode back to the starting point by driving your palms into the floor and extending your elbows.
6. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Check out our complete push-up guide!

What Muscles Do Push-Ups Work?

The push-up is a compound exercise that works the following muscles:

1. Chest: Push-ups primarily target the pectoralis major and minor muscles, helping add size, width, and thickness to your pecs.
2. Abs: Since you spend time in the high plank position while performing push-ups, it engages your abdominal muscles. Plus, the core muscles help keep your spine straight to maintain optimal form when performing the push-up.
3. Shoulders: The push-up primarily engages the anterior deltoids due to their location at the front of the shoulder joint.
4. Triceps: The triceps are the primary movers that help you complete a push-up. For better pectoral engagement, make sure your elbows are not pinned to your sides.

Benefits of Push-Ups

Given below are the advantages of adding push-ups to your daily routine:

1. A Great Warm-Up Exercise and Finisher

The push-up is a great exercise to loosen up before a training session. It helps warm up your upper body for intense resistance training routines. The push-up is also a potent finisher exercise to be done at the end of a chest-training routine. It’ll help you end your training session with a muscle-ripping pump.

2. A Functional Exercise

The push-up is a compound exercise that works your chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and core. Doing this exercise can help you improve at performing day-to-day activities.

3. Helps Build Muscle Mass

Push-ups can help induce muscular hypertrophy. However, for consistent progress, you need to incorporate progressive overload principles in your training regimen to avoid hitting a plateau. Advanced training principles like drop sets, intraset stretching, rest-pause sets, and weighted push-ups are a few ways to make push-ups harder.

4. Improve Core Strength

Performing push-ups requires you to balance your torso on your toes and arms. Plus, you are in a high plank position at the contraction point, which engages and helps build a stronger core.

5. Test Your Muscle Strength and Endurance

The push-up might look easy but will have you begging for mercy by the time you are done with it. It will give you a fair idea of your muscle and strength endurance levels. You could compare your results with the averages listed above to assess how you stack up against your peers.

6. Low-Impact

Most push-up variations are low-impact and help you achieve optimal upper-body muscle fiber recruitment without overworking your joints, tendons, and ligaments.

7. Improves Posture

Adding push-ups to your routine can help counter the ill effects of sitting in front of your computer screen or slouching over your phone all day. However, ensure you follow the correct push-up technique to make the most of its posture-improving characteristics.

8. Can Be Done Anywhere

The push-up is a bodyweight exercise that can be done anywhere, whether at home, in the gym, or at the airport. Push-ups leave you no logistical excuses to skip a training session.

Exercises to Improve Your Push-Up

If you cannot perform the average number of push-ups based on your gender, body weight, and age, adding the following exercises to your training regimen can help improve your performance:

1. High Plank

Adding high planks to your training regimen improves your core strength, which will carry over to push-ups.

Steps:

1. Place your hands directly under your shoulders on the floor and get into a push-up position.
2. Balance your lower body on your toes and squeeze your glutes and core to stabilize your body.
3. Neutralize your neck and spine by looking at a spot on the floor between your hands.
4. Your body from head to toes should be in a straight line.
5. Hold the position for the recommended time.

2. Dumbbell Chest Press

Since push-ups require pushing strength, resistance training exercises like dumbbell chest presses should be a part of your training regimen.

Steps:

1. Sit on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand placed on your thighs.
2. To get into position, lie back and keep the weights close to your chest.
3. Once settled in position, press the dumbbells to lockout at the top.
4. Slowly lower the dumbbells toward the floor until they are at your chest level.
5. Push the dumbbells back up to the starting position.
6. Pause and squeeze your pecs at the top.
7. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Check out our complete dumbbell chest press guide!

3. Kneeling Push-Up

The kneeling push-up is a great exercise for beginners who cannot perform the conventional bodyweight push-up.

Steps:

1. Begin in a hands-and-knees position. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart, and your knees placed together on the floor.
2. Your lower legs should not be touching the floor while performing this exercise.
3. Slowly lower your torso toward the floor by bending at your elbows until your chest is a couple of inches off the floor.
4. Explode back to the starting position.
5. Pause and contract your pecs at the top.
6. Repeat for recommended reps.

4. Incline Push-Up

The incline push-up is another beginner-friendly push-up variation that can help you build a solid foundation.

Steps:

1. Stand in front of a bench.
2. Bend down and place both hands shoulder-width apart on the bench.
3. Assume a push-up position.
4. Slowly lower your torso towards the bench until it is a few inches away from touching it.
5. Explode back to the starting position.
6. Pause and contract your pecs at the top.
7. Repeat for recommended reps.

5. Wall Push-Up

Wall push-ups are arguably the easiest push-up variations. It is also a great exercise to incorporate into muscle rehabilitation programs.

Steps:

1. Stand about arm’s length from a wall.
2. Place your palms flat on the wall with your arms extended and shoulders pulled down and back. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
3. Brace your abs and take a small step back, so you are leaning against your hands.
4. Bend at your elbows to lower your nose toward the wall until your chest is a few inches from touching it.
5. Explode back to the starting position.
6. Contract your chest at the top.
7. Repeat for desired reps.

Check out our complete wall push-up guide!

If you are new to training, perform three sets of 10 push-ups at the beginning of each workout on alternate days throughout the week. You can rest for 1-2 minutes between each set.

Add two reps to each set every week until you can perform 20 reps in a single set. For example, you should be able to perform three sets of 12 reps in the second week, 14 reps in the third week, and so on. Your ultimate goal should be to hit the 100 push-up mark in a single training session.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it advisable to do push-ups every day?

While daily push-ups can build endurance, it’s important to allow muscles time to recover. Rest days help prevent plateaus and reduce the risk of overtraining.

How many push-ups should I aim to do?

A novice female lifter should aim for around 19 push-ups per session, while a novice male lifter should target about 41 push-ups.

Will push-ups alone build a broad, muscular chest?

Push-ups contribute to chest development but should be part of a comprehensive training program that includes varied exercises, proper nutrition, and adequate recovery.

Conclusion

Incorporating push-ups into your fitness routine offers numerous benefits, from building muscle mass to enhancing core strength and posture. Tailor your push-up practice to your fitness level, and gradually increase intensity to achieve your goals.

Remember to balance your workouts with proper rest to maximize results and prevent injury. Stay consistent, challenge yourself, and you’ll see improvements in your strength and endurance.

References

1. Rozenek R, Byrne JJ, Crussemeyer J, Garhammer J. Male-Female Differences in Push-up Test Performance at Various Cadences. J Strength Cond Res. 2022;36(12):3324-3329. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000004091
2. Yang J, Christophi CA, Farioli A, et al. Association Between Push-up Exercise Capacity and Future Cardiovascular Events Among Active Adult Men. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(2):e188341. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.8341

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