No matter how many push-ups you’re used to doing, reaching the end of a set can feel like a slog.
But a push-up can often be a good indicator of your overall strength, particularly your upper body form. It’s not just about looking impressive in the gym, either. Working on your chest, shoulders, core and tricepts will help you lug a heavy suitcase up a flight of stairs, improve your posture, aid joint pain, and enable you to push yourself back up after a fall.
At 66, Simon Cowell recently claimed he completes up to 1,000 each day. Consider us impressed. But how many should you be able to do?
Metro chatted to two personal trainers to find out the ideal push-up range,based on you age.
Not meeting the mark? Fear not: there’s a sneaky improvement plan in there too.
How many push-ups should you be able to do in your 20s?
Personal trainer Joseph Webb tells Metro the answer depends on ‘form, bodyweight, training history, and physical limitations.’ The most important thing isn’t necessarily the number of reps: it’s the movement pattern itself.
‘If someone can’t do a push‑up with solid technique yet, a perfect kneeling push‑up is a huge and meaningful achievement, and should be the first goal before worrying about hitting age‑norm numbers,’ Joseph explains.
However, Joseph suggests that men in their 20s should be able to do an average of between 30 and 43 push-ups, adding that between 30 and 54+ is an ‘excellent’ measure of overall fitness.
For women, between 15 and 29 is the average, but between 14 and 48+ is even better.
‘A slow, full-range push-up with a neutral spine is far more valuable than chasing a big number with poor mechanics,’ he adds.
‘This simply leads to poor posture and inevitable injury.’
In your 30s?
Throughout your 30s, Joseph suggests aiming for the following:
- Men: Between 20 and 34 on average (or 22-44+ to hit that ‘excellent’ band)
- Women: Between 10 and 24 on average (or 10 to 39+).
‘Push‑ups are an excellent barometer of upper‑body strength and core stability, but quality always beats arbitrary quantity,’ he adds.
‘Use age‑based benchmarks as targets, not evaluations. Build strength gradually, safely, and in context with the rest of someone’s physical profile.’
In your 40s?
Throughout your 40s, Joseph suggests the following targets:
- Men: 15-28 on average (15 to 39+ for the ‘excellent’ band)
- Women: 6-19 on average (6 to 34+ for the ‘excellent’ band).
As personal trainer Scott Harrison says, one might assume that age would have a heavy influence on how many push-ups you’re capable of. But it’s not always that way – and it all depends on how much you’ve been training.
‘A lot of people say that when you get older, everything’s a bit harder. It’s not if you’ve been doing it since your 20s, and you’ve carried it on,’ he says.
‘If you’ve looked after yourself for all those years, you’ll be just as good in your 40s, in your 50s, and in your 60s as you were in your 20s.’
In your 50s?
Throughout your 50s, Joseph suggests:
- Men: 10 to 24 (or 10-34 for the ‘excellent’ band)
- Women: 3 to 14 (or 3-25+).
60 and over?
And, throughout your 60s and over:
- Men: 6-19 (or 6-29+ for the ‘excellent’ band)
- Women: 1-12 (or 1-24+ for the ‘excellent’ band).
Why are push-ups such a good measure of fitness?
As Scott says, doing as many as 1,000 in a day is arguably ‘too much’ – even if they’re split into sets of 100.
In his opinion, doing this exact number on a daily basis would be ‘very painful on your joints eventually, causing repetitive strain injuries.’
That said, push-up or not, exercise should be a ‘non-negotiable’ practice. As Scott says: ‘Every week, from now until the day you leave the planet, you should exercise, especially if you don’t want a frame around your toilet when you’re older, or a seat in your bath.
‘You still want to dance on the beach, walk through the forest, play with the grandkids and walk up and down the stairs without being out of breath.’
Even a 10-minute workout can add to the ‘pension pot of life,’ and as Scott says, walking also counts as exercise. And it’s certainly ‘underrated.’
He says: ‘You can burn a lot of fat with walking, and being outside in nature is good for your heart and lungs. Any exercise is good, but always choose the one you enjoy, because you’re more likely to do it.
‘A push-up is one of the pinnacles of exercise. If you’ve got a strong push-up, whatever your age, I think it’s a good sign of overall health.’
A six-week plan to help you get better at push-ups
Weeks 1 and 2
Scott recommends starting each session with a set of push-ups that feels manageable – and stopping ‘before your form starts to dip.’
‘After that, do two or three more sets at a number you know you can complete well. If full push-ups are hard, try raising your hands on your stairs, kitchen top or bench. You could also drop to your knees,’ he explains.
‘This takes some weight off while still building strength. Move slowly, and controlled with some time under tension, especially on the way down, and keep your body in a straight line.
Weeks 3 and 4
At this point, the push-ups might start to feel easier – and you might want to increase the challenge slightly.
Scott suggests: ‘Open each workout with a stronger set where you’re really pushing yourself, then follow it with a few easier sets at a repeatable number of reps that you know you can finish.
‘If you’ve been using raised hands, maybe it’s time to lower them a little. Focus on controlled reps rather than rushing to hit high numbers’
Weeks 5 and 6
For these final two weeks, Scott recommends improving your best set by just one or two reps at a time.
‘Slowing the lowering phase or pausing briefly at the bottom makes push-ups harder without putting extra strain on your joints,’ he says.
‘Throughout the six weeks, rest well between sets and stop if your technique slips. Push-ups work your chest, arms, shoulders, and core together, so good form really matters more than how many you can do.
‘Stick with this plan, and most people notice a clear improvement in both strength and confidence by the end.’
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