Strength • 7 Min Read • Updated July 2026
A healthy man in his 20s or 30s should manage 15 to 25 consecutive strict push-ups; 30+ is above average and 40+ is genuinely strong. For women, 6-15 full push-ups is a typical range in the same age band, with 20+ well above average. Counts decline gradually with age — roughly 2-4 reps per decade — but trained 60-year-olds routinely out-rep untrained 25-year-olds.
| Age | Men — Average | Men — Good | Women — Average | Women — Good |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 – 29 | 17 – 25 | 35+ | 8 – 15 | 25+ |
| 30 – 39 | 13 – 21 | 30+ | 6 – 12 | 20+ |
| 40 – 49 | 11 – 18 | 25+ | 5 – 10 | 16+ |
| 50 – 59 | 9 – 15 | 21+ | 4 – 8 | 12+ |
| 60+ | 6 – 12 | 17+ | 3 – 6 | 10+ |
Bands are compiled from published fitness-assessment norms (ACSM-style protocols); "average" spans roughly the 40th-60th percentile. Form matters more than the number — chest to within a fist of the floor, straight body line, full lockout.
Military standards are a useful "objectively fit" reference because they're published and scored to the rep. On the Navy PRT, a 20-24 year-old man needs 42 push-ups in two minutes just to hit Satisfactory Medium, and 87 to max the event; a woman in the same bracket needs 17 and 48. The Marine PFT scores push-ups from 40 up to a 70-point cap (87 reps maxes it for men 21-25), and the Air Force's new PFRA awards full strength points at 67 push-ups for men under 25.
Score yourself against the exact official tables: Navy PRT Calculator, USMC PFT Calculator, and Air Force PT Test Calculator.
A widely cited 2019 Harvard study of male firefighters (JAMA Network Open) found that men who could perform 40+ push-ups had a dramatically lower incidence of cardiovascular events over 10 years than those managing fewer than 10. Push-up capacity isn't magic — it's a proxy for overall strength, body composition, and fitness — but it's one of the simplest self-tests that correlates with long-term health.
Push-up numbers respond quickly to frequency and volume. The classic approach: test your max, then do 3-5 sub-maximal sets (about 60% of max) spread through the day, four or five days a week — "grease the groove." Most people add 5-10 reps to their max in three or four weeks. If you can't yet do 10, build volume with incline push-ups (hands on a bench) rather than knee push-ups — the incline pattern transfers better to the floor.
Push-ups are endurance-flavored strength; for your absolute strength baseline, test your bench or squat with the One Rep Max Calculator, and see how your total stacks up pound-for-pound with the DOTS Calculator.
No — the norms above are for full push-ups. Knee push-ups reduce the load to roughly 50% of bodyweight versus about 65% for a standard push-up, so they're a different exercise. They're a fine training tool, but track them separately.
It builds endurance quickly at first, then plateaus hard, because the stimulus never progresses. You'll do better adding load (weighted vest, feet elevated) or difficulty once sets pass 20-25 reps — muscles adapt to progressive overload, not repetition of the same challenge.
Published norms suggest roughly 2-4 reps per decade after 30 in untrained adults — but that reflects declining activity as much as biology. Adults who keep training lose far less; military scoring tables only reduce male max-point standards by about 20% between age 22 and 52.
Different qualities: the bench tests maximal strength, push-ups test strength-endurance and trunk stiffness (a plank in motion). If your core fatigues first, your push-ups stall regardless of pressing power — check your isometric core endurance against our average plank time benchmarks.