Fitness Testing > Tests > Home Tests > Push Up

Push Up Test at Home

You can easily test your upper body strength yourself at home using this simple test. How many push ups can you do?

Technique

Men should use the standard "military style" pushup position with only the hands and the toes touching the floor in the starting position. Women have the additional option of using the "bent knee" position. To do this, kneel on the floor, hands on either side of the chest and 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 until exhaustion. Count the total number of pushups performed. Use the chart 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 tests as 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 own score, adn keep doing htem the saem way each time.

Table: Push Up Test norms for MEN

Age	17-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-65
Excellent	> 56	> 47	> 41	> 34	> 31	> 30
Good	47-56	39-47	34-41	28-34	25-31	24-30
Above average	35-46	30-39	25-33	21-28	18-24	17-23
Average	19-34	17-29	13-24	11-20	9-17	6-16
Below average	11-18	10-16	8-12	6-10	5-8	3-5
Poor	4-10	4-9	2-7	1-5	1-4	1-2
Very Poor	< 4	< 4	< 2	0	0	0

Table: Push Up Test norms for WOMEN

Age	17-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-65
Excellent	> 35	> 36	> 37	> 31	> 25	> 23
Good	27-35	30-36	30-37	25-31	21-25	19-23
Above Average	21-27	23-29	22-30	18-24	15-20	13-18
Average	11-20	12-22	10-21	8-17	7-14	5-12
Below average	6-10	7-11	5-9	4-7	3-6	2-4
Poor	2-5	2-6	1-4	1-3	1-2	1
Very Poor	0-1	0-1	0	0	0	0

* Source: adapted from Golding, et al. (1986). The Y's way to physical fitness (3rd ed.)

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

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Old Comments

Hey Im 15 guys and I do about 200-250 pushups 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 pushups 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 im 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 dont get it...i find push ups easier than sit ups...i dont know if its because all of my fat is in my belly area or what...anyways good to know i dont 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, Follow me on instagram at AustinRBKoch. 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, im 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 pushups straight. no kidding 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 are consistent.
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)