How Many Push-Ups Should I Be Able to Do?

While push-ups are a limited measurement of your fitness, they do provide a good understanding of your upper-body muscular endurance.

Push-ups are one of the best exercises for your chest, arms, shoulders and core. The benefits of push-ups for a strong upper body include being able to carry your groceries, pick up a heavy box off the floor, grab something from a high shelf or open that stubborn jar of pickles.

Some organizations even use and track a 1-minute or max push-up test to gauge strength. However, a 2021 survey of 2,000 people commissioned by Gymless.org found 53.8 percent of adults can't do more than 10 push-ups in a row.

So, if you're wondering, "how many push-ups should I be able to do?" take a look at what the average number of push-ups are for men and women by age to get an idea of where you stand — and learn how to improve your score.

One way to perform the push-up muscular endurance test is to see how many push-ups you can do before you are straining too much or are unable to do the push-ups with correct technique, according to the American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP). While you can do this test on your own, it can be helpful to have a partner to count for you and monitor your form.

To perform a proper push-up, place your hands flat on the ground, slightly wider than your shoulders. Come into a high plank position with your body in line from head to hips to heels. Bend your elbows at a 45-degree angle from your ribs and lower in a straight line until your At the bottom of the push-up, your elbows must be bent to a 90-degree angle.

The average number of push-ups adults can do varies by age range and gender. The norms provided by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology breaks up the results into the following categories: needs improvement, fair, good, very good and excellent.

Wondering how many push-ups you should be able to do? Check the chart below to get an idea of the average number of push-ups most women can perform, according to their age.

Of course, the average varies greatly across the general population due to diverse lifestyles, careers and health conditions. Barring a medical condition or injury that prevents you from exercising, consider improving your muscular endurance if you fall into the "needs improvement" category in the norms. The number of push-ups for each age group is:

The average number of push-ups for adult men are higher than the average scores for their female counterparts. Take a look at the chart below to learn the average number of push-ups for men by age group, according to the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.

As with the women's scores, you can also take a look at the men's scores that are considered to be in need of improvement.

The push-up test is one of the options schools have for testing upper body muscular endurance for the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, advises the Cooper Institute. This program focuses on developing a lifelong physical fitness habit in youth. Each assessment test is designed to help students understand and gauge different aspects of physical fitness. The other two tests that institutions can opt to use instead include the flexed arm hang and the modified pull-up.

In the charts below, you can find the average number of push-ups kids of various ages are able to perform in 30 seconds (by percentile), according to a March 2016 study published in the ‌British Journal of Sports Medicine‌.

Some police departments and military branches use a 1-minute push-up test. In this test, candidates perform as many push-ups as they can in the 1-minute time limit. The specific requirements vary for each organization.

The Vermont State Police, for example, requires candidates to perform a minimum number of push-ups to qualify to enter the police academy. Modified push-ups are not allowed. The minimum requirements as of 2018 are:

The U.S. Air Force also requires new recruits to pass a physical fitness test that includes a 1-minute push-up test. Men under the age of 30 must perform at least 33 push-ups and women need to do at least 18. Men between the ages of 30 and 39 only need to do 27 push-ups, while women must meet the requirement of at least 14 push-ups.

If you were unable to meet the minimum or the average number of push-ups for your age group and gender or you just want to improve your score, you can improve your fitness with some exercises and push-up variations.

The push-up mainly targets your pectoralis muscle in your chest, but also uses your deltoids, biceps and triceps, quadriceps in your legs and activates several muscles groups in your core.

Push-ups get easier the more you do them but it's worth noting there are some disadvantages to practicing push-ups every day. Not only do you risk an overuse injury, but if you you have to give your body rest in between push-up sessions. That's because during rest days, your body repairs the damage done to your muscle fibers during your workout, which leads to bigger and stronger muscles.

Strengthen your core and improve your stability with exercises like plank reaches, advises the American Council on Exercise.

A single-arm chest press will also help strengthen your pecs and core.

You can also add easier push-up variations to your workouts, like wall push-ups. Starting with this push-up variation is a good way for a beginner looking to get better at the exercise and build enough strength to eventually be able to do a full push-up.

If you need more challenging variations, try doing push-ups with your feet elevated (aka a decline push-up) or add weight to increase the resistance as you do the exercise.