Push-ups · Dawes et al. 2017 · updated October 2026
How Many Push-Ups Should You Be Able to Do?
Among male US state troopers aged 20 to 29, the 50th percentile in a 1-minute push-up test was about 48 (82 men, tested from 2014 to 2015 at one state highway patrol; Dawes et al. 2017). That chart covers men only, and we found no openly licensed chart for adults in general. For children, this page uses Hong Kong schoolchildren aged 12 to 17.
The median, one stroke per rep
48
Men
No women were in this group.
Bright strokes: the median. Faint strokes run on to the 90th percentile.
male US state troopers aged 20 to 29 · percentiles
Find your percentile
How does your push-up count compare?
Do as many push-ups as you can with your body in a straight line, going all the way down and back up to straight arms. Adults: count what you do in one minute. Girls aged 12 to 17: count knee push-ups.
Enter your push-ups in one minute. Calculations run in your browser. We measure usage, including the result band.
Dawes et al. 2017 · percentile
between the 50th and 55th percentiles
Among male US state troopers aged 20 to 29. The source prints 47.70 reps at the 50th percentile and 49.61 reps at the 55th, and nothing in between.
By age and sex
Push-ups by age, for men and women
Each table is one source, with who it measured, when, how many and how. Two sources are never blended.
As published · men only
Male troopers of one US state highway patrol
| Percentile | 20 to 29 | 30 to 39 | 40 to 49 | 50 to 59 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95th | 71.81 | 65.05 | 61.97 | 55.14 |
| 90th | 66.52 | 59.67 | 56.42 | 49.96 |
| 85th | 62.99 | 56.08 | 52.73 | 46.51 |
| 80th | 60.05 | 53.09 | 49.64 | 43.63 |
| 75th | 57.55 | 50.54 | 47.02 | 41.18 |
| 70th | 55.34 | 48.30 | 44.71 | 39.02 |
| 65th | 53.43 | 46.35 | 42.71 | 37.15 |
| 60th | 51.38 | 44.26 | 40.55 | 35.14 |
| 55th | 49.61 | 42.46 | 38.70 | 33.41 |
| Median | 47.70 | 40.52 | 36.70 | 31.54 |
| 45th | 45.79 | 38.58 | 34.70 | 29.67 |
| 40th | 44.03 | 36.78 | 32.85 | 27.94 |
| 35th | 41.97 | 34.69 | 30.69 | 25.93 |
| 30th | 40.06 | 32.74 | 28.69 | 24.06 |
| 25th | 37.85 | 30.50 | 26.38 | 21.90 |
| 20th | 35.35 | 27.95 | 23.76 | 19.45 |
| 15th | 32.41 | 24.96 | 20.67 | 16.57 |
| 10th | 28.88 | 21.37 | 16.98 | 13.12 |
| 5th | 23.59 | 15.99 | 11.43 | 7.94 |
| n | 82 | 198 | 246 | 52 |
The source measured men only. No women were in this sample.
- Who was measured
- male troopers of one US state highway patrol
- When
- 2014 to 2015
- How many
- 578 people
- One value is
- the push-ups in one minute
- What the source gives
- Percentiles as printed: the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th, median, 55th, 60th, 65th, 70th, 75th, 80th, 85th, 90th and 95th
- The test
- The 1-minute push-up test: start in the up position, body rigid and straight, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width, fingers forward. A partner places a fist on the floor under the chest. Lower until the chest touches the fist, then push back up to straight arms. As many as possible in one minute, resting only in the up position with the trunk held straight. The test ends at one minute or when the trooper can no longer do the movement correctly.
- How the values were made
- Records of the agency's yearly fitness test in 2014 and 2015, analysed by the authors; women were too few for a chart. The chart is a normal curve estimated from each age group's mean and standard deviation, not a count of where individual results fell: in every group the 50th percentile equals the mean, and the other points sit evenly either side of it. The paper says only that SPSS made the chart. The paper's counts differ slightly: the chart's four age groups hold 578 men, Table 1 lists 582 men with a push-up score, and the male groups in the paper's age table add up to 583, including 5 men aged 60 to 69 whom the chart leaves out.
- Licence
- A physical fitness profile of state highway patrol officers by gender and age (Dawes et al., Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine), reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY).
As published
Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren aged 12 to 17 in schools taking part in the School Physical Fitness Award Scheme (girls: knee push-ups)
The girls' rows are knee push-ups: compare a knee push-up count with them, never a full one.
| Percentile | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95th | 30 | 34 | 37 | 41 | 43 | 43 |
| 90th | 26 | 30 | 33 | 36 | 38 | 39 |
| 80th | 21 | 25 | 28 | 31 | 33 | 33 |
| 70th | 18 | 22 | 24 | 27 | 29 | 29 |
| 60th | 15 | 19 | 21 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Median | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 23 |
| 40th | 10 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 19 |
| 30th | 7 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 |
| 20th | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 |
| 10th | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 5th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Percentile | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95th | 29 | 27 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28 |
| 90th | 25 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 25 |
| 80th | 20 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 21 |
| 70th | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 |
| 60th | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Median | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| 40th | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 |
| 30th | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 20th | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 10th | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 5th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Who was measured
- Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren aged 12 to 17 in schools taking part in the School Physical Fitness Award Scheme (girls: knee push-ups)
- When
- 2017 to 2018
- How many
- Not stated by the source
- One value is
- the push-ups (boys) or knee push-ups (girls) in the school test
- What the source gives
- Percentiles as printed: the 5th, 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, median, 60th, 70th, 80th, 90th and 95th
- The test
- Push-ups for boys and a modified knee push-up for girls, run by PE teachers from the scheme's standard manual at the start of the school year, after a practice session a week earlier and a 10 to 15 minute warm-up. The paper does not give the pace, the depth or a time limit.
- How the values were made
- Smoothed centiles from a statistical model of the scores by age (GAMLSS, with a normal distribution for push-ups), printed in whole push-ups. Ages are completed years, so 12 means 12.00 to 12.99. Its 119,693 children aged 6 to 17 are the total across all of the scheme's tests, and the push-up was tested from age 12. The scheme's current manual lists push-ups or an inclined pull-up as alternatives for this test in secondary schools, and the paper does not say how many children did push-ups.
- Licence
- Age- and sex-specific physical fitness reference and association with body mass index in Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren (Yip et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health), reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY).
A percentile is a rank, not a grade. At the 70th percentile you did more push-ups than about 70 in every 100 people of your sex and age in that table, and fewer than the other 30. Read across your own age row; the median column is the person in the middle.
Some sources print only some percentiles, such as every tenth or every fifth. Where your result falls between two printed points, the tool tells you which two and goes no finer. We never fill in a point a source left out.
Counts are whole numbers, so many people share the same score, and a percentile can be a range. If a table shows 0 at both the 10th and the 25th percentile, everyone who did none shares that whole stretch. The tool says so instead of inventing a precise rank.
The adult chart prints counts to two decimals because it was estimated from each age group's average and spread; a real count is a whole number. The tool shows the printed values as they are.
The girls' rows in the Hong Kong table are knee push-ups, so a full push-up count can't be read against them, and the tool says so.
We never average two sources. Each one tested different people, in different years, with different rules, so each is shown on its own with all of that written beside it. Where they disagree, you see both. The numbers at the top of this page come from the Dawes et al. 2017 table.
By age
The median push-up count by age
The 50th percentile by age group in Dawes et al. 2017 (ages 20 to 59) and Yip et al. 2022 (ages 12 to 17). The adult line is male troopers in a 1-minute test. The youth lines are Hong Kong schoolchildren in a test with no stated time limit, and the dashed line for girls is knee push-ups. They are different tests on different people, so the gap between the lines is not a change with age.
How the test is done
The protocol behind the numbers
As the sources behind these numbers ran it
- 1
Adults: start and depth
In the troopers' 1-minute test you start in the up position, body rigid and straight, hands slightly wider than your shoulders and fingers pointing forward. A partner puts a fist on the floor under your chest. Each rep goes down until your chest touches the fist and back up to straight arms.
- 2
Adults: time and rests
You do as many as you can in one minute. You may rest only in the up position, with your trunk held straight. The test ends at one minute, or sooner when you can no longer do the movement correctly.
- 3
Children: the school test
Hong Kong's school scheme tested push-ups at ages 12 to 17, and girls did a modified knee push-up. PE teachers ran the test from a standard manual at the start of the school year, after a practice session a week earlier and a 10 to 15 minute warm-up.
- 4
Children: pace
The paper does not give the pace, the depth or a time limit. The scheme's current manual, from Hong Kong's Education Bureau, has students push up in a steady rhythm with the elbows bent to 90 degrees, and stops the test after a second form correction. A count from a 1-minute test, like the adult one, is not comparable.
No two push-up tests run alike, which is why two charts for the same age can sit far apart. Each table here states its own rules. These are the ones that change the count most.
Depth. The troopers lowered until the chest touched a partner's fist. The Hong Kong scheme's current manual asks for the elbows bent to 90 degrees. Those are different depth rules, so counts done under one are not interchangeable with counts done under the other.
Clock or rhythm. The adult test counts what you manage in one minute, with rests allowed only at the top. The school test, as the scheme's manual describes it, keeps to a steady rhythm and stops at the second form correction. A fast one-minute count and a paced count are different tests.
Knees or toes. Hong Kong girls did knee push-ups, and every girls' row on this page says so. Compare a knee count only with those rows, and a full push-up count only with the boys' and men's tables.
Who is counting. The troopers had a partner under their chest and a tester with a stopwatch. If you count your own reps, ask someone to watch your depth, or film it.
For form cues and common mistakes, see our push-up guide.
What the number is linked to
What research connects it with
These are associations measured across groups of people. They do not show that changing your own number changes your risk.
Men who did 41 or more push-ups at their first exam, paced to a metronome at 80 beats a minute, had fewer cardiovascular events over the next 10 years than men who did 10 or fewer. Adjusted for age and body mass index, the hazard ratio was 0.14 (95% CI 0.02 to 1.22), a range that includes no difference. It compares men with each other and does not show what doing more push-ups would change.
Measured among 1,104 male career firefighters aged 18 and over from 10 Indiana fire departments, examined at one clinic from 2000 to 2007 and followed to 2010 (Yang et al. 2019)
Claims and measurements
What people say, against what was measured
- "Forty push-ups means a healthy heart."
- Partly
- The widely shared '96% lower risk' comes from 1,104 male firefighters in Indiana, comparing men who did 41 or more paced push-ups with men who did 10 or fewer, before adjusting for anything. Adjusted for age and body mass index, the hazard ratio was 0.14 with a 95% CI of 0.02 to 1.22, which includes no difference. It is an association in one group of working men, not a test of anyone's heart.
- "A knee push-up count tells you your full push-up count."
- Does not hold up
- The same 72 US college women, tested in 2021, averaged 9 standard push-ups and 17.5 on their knees (Adams et al. 2022). The two counts measure different things, so this page labels the Hong Kong girls' table as knee push-ups and never ranks a full push-up count against it.
- "Most Americans can't do 10 push-ups."
- Partly
- That comes from a 2021 Gymless online survey in which 53.8% of US adults said they could not do 10 straight push-ups. People reported their own ability; nobody counted their reps. The company's report says 1,403 people answered, while its press release says 2,000.
Questions people ask
Push-ups: questions, answered
How many push-ups can the average man do?
We found no measured figure for men in general. The closest openly licensed chart is of male troopers of one US state highway patrol in a 1-minute test, 2014 to 2015: the 50th percentile was about 48 at ages 20 to 29, 41 at 30 to 39, 37 at 40 to 49 and 32 at 50 to 59. Troopers take a fitness test every year as part of the job, so they are a tested working group, not men in general.
How many push-ups should I be able to do?
There is no single number everyone should reach, so we give ranks. Among male US state troopers aged 20 to 29 in a 1-minute test, about 58 push-ups is the 75th percentile and about 67 the 90th. Teenagers have their own table on this page, and the tool above places your count for your age and sex where a source measured it.
How many push-ups should a 14 year old be able to do?
We found no target to recommend, but Hong Kong's school scheme measured 14-year-olds in 2017 to 2018. The median boy did 18 push-ups and the median girl 12 knee push-ups. At the 90th percentile, boys did 33 and girls 23. The paper gives no time limit, so a 1-minute count is a different test. The children's data covers ages 12 to 17 only.
How many push-ups should a child under 12 be able to do?
We found no openly licensed push-up chart for children under 12. The Hong Kong school scheme on this page tested push-ups at ages 12 to 17 only, and measured younger children's upper-body strength with a grip test instead.
How many push-ups can the average woman do?
We found no openly licensed push-up chart for adult women. In the trooper study behind this page's adult chart, the agency had 34 female troopers; the 29 who did the 1-minute test averaged 24.24 push-ups (Dawes et al. 2017, Table 1). The authors judged that too few for a women's chart. The Hong Kong girls' table on this page counts knee push-ups, a different test.
Population: female troopers of one US state highway patrol, 2014 to 2015 (Dawes et al. 2017).
Sources: A physical fitness profile of state highway patrol officers by gender and age (Dawes et al., Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine) (Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2017)
How many knee push-ups equal a full push-up?
There is no fixed ratio. When the same 72 US college women did both tests in 2021, they averaged 17.5 knee push-ups and 9 standard push-ups (Adams et al. 2022), but that is a group average, not a conversion that works for one person. We found no study that validates a conversion rule.
Population: 72 US college women tested in 2021 (Adams et al. 2022).
Sources: Development of a standard push-up scale for college-aged females (Adams et al., International Journal of Exercise Science) (International Journal of Exercise Science, 2022)
Is a push-up test timed?
It depends on the test. The troopers' test behind the adult chart counts the push-ups done in one minute, with rests allowed only in the up position. The Hong Kong school paper gives no time limit, and the scheme's current manual has students keep a steady rhythm until a second form correction. Compare your count only with a table whose rules you followed.
Sources: A physical fitness profile of state highway patrol officers by gender and age (Dawes et al., Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine) (Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2017) · School Physical Fitness Award Scheme: test methods, secondary schools (Education Bureau, Hong Kong; in Chinese) (Education Bureau, Hong Kong) · Age- and sex-specific physical fitness reference and association with body mass index in Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren (Yip et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health) (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022)
How we calculate
Where these numbers come from
Updated October 2026. We show the method so you can judge it.
Copied as printed. Every table on this page is copied as its source printed it: the same numbers, the same groups, the same percentiles or averages, nothing filled in or adjusted. Each one says who was measured, when, how many and how.
Percentiles, not levels. Stronger scores lifts on its own six-level scale. There is no such scale for push-ups, so this page never gives you a level. It ranks your result against people of your sex and age in a named source.
Your result. Where a source printed only some percentiles, we say which two printed percentiles your result falls between and never estimate in between. Outside the outermost printed or reliable point we say so instead of guessing further. Where no measured group matches your age and sex, the tool says so and shows the nearest groups.
Never averaged. Two sources measure different people with different rules. Averaging them would describe nobody, so each is shown on its own, and each answer in the tool names its source.
Tables on this page
- Dawes et al. 2017 · as published · main tablemale troopers of one US state highway patrol, 2014 to 2015, 578 people
- Yip et al. 2022 · as published · main tableHong Kong Chinese schoolchildren aged 12 to 17 in schools taking part in the School Physical Fitness Award Scheme (girls: knee push-ups), 2017 to 2018
Sources
- Development of a standard push-up scale for college-aged females (Adams et al., International Journal of Exercise Science)International Journal of Exercise Science2022Standard and knee push-ups in the same 72 college women.
- A physical fitness profile of state highway patrol officers by gender and age (Dawes et al., Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine2017-06-011-minute push-up percentiles for male troopers by age, and how the test was run.
- Nationwide Survey Results: The Majority of Americans Cannot Do More Than 10 Consecutive Pushups (Gymless)Gymless2021-09-01The self-reported '53.8%' survey.
- A New Survey of 2,000 Americans Aged 18 and Over by Gymless.org (press release)PR Newswire2021-09-01The press release's sample size.
- School Physical Fitness Award Scheme: test methods, secondary schools (Education Bureau, Hong Kong; in Chinese)Education Bureau, Hong KongHow the scheme runs its push-up test today: to a rhythm, elbows to 90 degrees, stopped at the second correction.
- Association between push-up exercise capacity and future cardiovascular events among active adult men (Yang et al., JAMA Network Open)JAMA Network Open2019-02-15Push-up capacity and cardiovascular events in Indiana firefighters.
- Age- and sex-specific physical fitness reference and association with body mass index in Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren (Yip et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health)International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health2022-11-20Push-up percentiles for Hong Kong schoolchildren aged 12 to 17; girls did knee push-ups.
Count every rep, set by set.
Log your push-up sets in Stronger with the reps of each one, alongside the rest of your training. Incline and kneeling push-ups are in the app too, for when full push-ups are still out of reach.
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Median among male US state troopers aged 20 to 29: 48 reps.