Variation 1
Standard push-up
The benchmark. Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder width, keep your body in a straight line and lower your chest to the floor. Use this variation when testing your score.
Fitness benchmark
How Many Push-Ups Should You Be Able to Do at Every Age?
Test your upper-body strength and muscular endurance against broad benchmarks for men in your age group.
Most men know roughly how much they bench press. Far fewer know whether they can perform an acceptable number of push-ups for their age. Push-ups need no equipment and remain one of the simplest tests of practical upper-body fitness.
A 2019 observational study of 1,104 male firefighters found that higher baseline push-up capacity was associated with fewer cardiovascular events over 10 years. Men completing more than 40 had substantially fewer events than those completing fewer than 10. The finding shows an association in one occupational group, rather than proving that push-ups prevent heart disease in everyone. Read the published study.
Average push-ups by age
Count consecutive standard push-ups with a straight body, chest lowered consistently and elbows fully extended at the top.
| Age | Poor | Average | Good | Excellent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20–29 | Under 15 | 15–29 | 30–44 | 45+ |
| 30–39 | Under 12 | 12–24 | 25–39 | 40+ |
| 40–49 | Under 10 | 10–20 | 21–34 | 35+ |
| 50–59 | Under 8 | 8–15 | 16–29 | 30+ |
| 60–69 | Under 6 | 6–12 | 13–24 | 25+ |
| 70+ | Under 5 | 5–10 | 11–19 | 20+ |
These figures are broad fitness benchmarks rather than clinical or military standards. If standard push-ups are not yet accessible, use wall, bench or knee push-ups to build strength gradually.
How to get better at push-ups
If your current maximum is 10, stop treating every set like a test. In week one, aim for 30 push-ups a day, spread across easy sets of five. Leave one or two good reps in reserve each time.
In week two, move towards 40 or 50 total reps a day if you are recovering well. Accumulate quality repetitions with a controlled body line, consistent depth and full lockout. Add rows and pull-ups to balance your pressing work, and train your core so your hips do not sag.
Retest once every fortnight rather than constantly going to failure. If your shoulders, elbows or wrists become painful, stop and reduce the volume or use an easier variation.
Practise frequently in easy sets
Leave 1–2 reps in reserve
Add rows and pull-ups
Build core strength
Five push-up variations worth trying
Variation 2
Close-grip (diamond) push-up
Bring your hands together beneath your chest, forming a diamond with your thumbs and index fingers. This shifts more work to the triceps and is tougher than a standard push-up.
Variation 3
Wide-grip push-up
Place your hands wider than shoulder width. This increases chest involvement while reducing the range of motion slightly.
Variation 4
Decline push-up
Elevate your feet on a bench, box or step. The higher your feet, the more work your shoulders and upper chest must do.
Variation 5
Archer push-up
Place your hands wide and shift towards one arm as you lower. One arm does most of the work while the other supports you, building unilateral strength towards a one-arm push-up.
If standard push-ups have become easy, rotate through close-grip, decline and archer variations. Harder variations build strength and expose weaknesses that very high-rep sets can hide.
Military push-up standards
Military organisations use push-ups as a simple muscular-endurance test, but requirements differ by country, service, age, sex and test protocol. Entry standards commonly sit somewhere between 15 and 40 repetitions, while demanding selection courses may expect much more. Check the current official standard for the role you are pursuing.
A useful target
For a healthy adult man, 20 clean push-ups is a solid minimum target, 30 is good and 50 is excellent. If you are over 50, maintaining a double-digit score remains a useful sign of upper-body function. Consistent practice moves the number more reliably than occasional max-effort testing.