You’re at the gym. You see someone cranking out set after set of perfect, chest-to-floor pushups. It looks effortless. Then you drop down, try one, and your arms turn into cooked noodles halfway down. It’s frustrating. But honestly, most women are in the exact same boat. If you’ve ever wondered how many pushups can the average woman do, the answer is probably lower than you think. Social media makes us believe everyone is doing thirty reps for breakfast. They aren't.
Most people lie about their numbers. Or they do half-reps. Real, strict-form pushups are actually a high-level feat of strength for the female body. Because of how we're built—carrying more weight in our hips and having less muscle mass in our shoulders and triceps compared to men—the pushup is a massive challenge.
The Cold, Hard Data on Average Repetitions
Let’s look at what the experts say. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has spent years tracking these metrics. They don't just guess; they test thousands of people across different age brackets.
For a woman in her 20s or 30s, the "average" or "fair" range is usually between 7 and 14 pushups. If you can do 15 to 20, you’re actually moving into the "good" to "very good" category. Once you hit 30? You’re basically an athlete.
But here is the kicker. As we age, those numbers drop significantly. By the time a woman reaches her 50s, the average falls to about 4 to 10 reps. If you can do one single, perfect, toes-on-the-ground pushup in your 60s, you are literally beating the curve. It’s a bell curve, and most of the population is huddled right there in the single digits.
A lot of this comes down to the Mayo Clinic's fitness benchmarks too. They emphasize that "fitness" isn't just about a raw number, but about what your body can sustain. They suggest that for women under 45, being able to perform even 5 to 10 reps with perfect form indicates a baseline level of functional upper body strength.
Why the numbers are skewed online
You’ve seen the "30-day pushup challenge" videos. Those creators are usually fitness professionals. Comparing yourself to them is like comparing your commute to a Formula 1 race. It’s not the same sport. Most women who don't specifically train their upper body will struggle to do three consecutive reps with their chest hitting the floor and their hips staying level. That is the reality.
Understanding the Physical Barriers
Biology is a bit of a jerk sometimes.
Men generally have about 40% more upper-body muscle mass than women. It’s just how the hormonal profile works. For a woman, a pushup requires moving roughly 65% to 75% of her total body weight. If you weigh 150 pounds, you are essentially bench pressing about 110 pounds every time you go down and up. That’s a lot! It’s not just a "light" bodyweight exercise. It’s heavy lifting.
Then there’s the core. People forget that a pushup is basically a moving plank. If your lower back sags, your core has failed before your arms did. This "core collapse" is why many women think they can do 20 reps, but if a trainer watched them, they’d say they did zero. Quality over quantity. Always.
The Role of Limb Length
Physics matters. If you have long arms, you have a longer "lever." This means you have to move your body through a greater range of motion and expend more energy than someone with shorter arms. A 5'10" woman and a 5'2" woman are playing different games. The taller woman has a mechanical disadvantage. It’s just science.
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How to Actually Improve Your Numbers
If you’re sitting at zero or two reps and want to climb that ladder, you have to stop doing "girl pushups" or knee pushups exclusively.
Knee pushups are fine for a warm-up, but they change the mechanics of the move. They take the core out of the equation. If you want to know how many pushups can the average woman do and then exceed that number, you need to use incline pushups.
Find a bench, a table, or even a wall. By elevating your hands, you reduce the percentage of body weight you’re lifting while keeping the "plank" shape of your body intact. As you get stronger, move to a lower surface. Go from a kitchen counter to a coffee table, then to a gym bench, then to the floor. This is called progressive overload. It works.
- Week 1: 3 sets of 10 against a high table.
- Week 2: 3 sets of 8 against a lower bench.
- Week 3: 3 sets of 5 with a 3-second "down" phase.
Slowing down the movement—the eccentric phase—builds muscle way faster than pumping out fast, sloppy reps. You want to feel the burn in your triceps and the sides of your chest, not a pinch in your shoulders.
The Myth of the "Standard" Pushup
There is no such thing as a "standard" woman. A 25-year-old Olympic swimmer and a 40-year-old mother of three have different physiological capacities.
Dr. Lawrence Golding, a long-time researcher in exercise physiology, noted in his studies that fitness testing often ignores the "starting point." If you haven't lifted a weight in ten years, your "average" is zero. And that’s okay. The goal shouldn't be to hit the national average; it should be to hit your next rep.
Most fitness apps use data from people who are already active. This creates a "survivorship bias." The people participating in these studies are often gym-goers. If we tested every woman at a random grocery store, the average number of pushups would likely be zero or one. Keep that in mind when you feel bad about your progress.
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Recovery and Consistency
Overtraining is real. Your chest and triceps are small muscle groups compared to your legs. They need time to heal. If you try to do 50 pushups every single day, you’ll probably end up with tendonitis in your elbows before you see a six-pack.
Rest. Eat protein. Sleep. These are the boring things that actually make the numbers go up.
Real-World Actionable Steps
Stop searching for the "average." Start building your own baseline. Here is exactly what you should do starting tomorrow:
- Test your max: Do as many as you can with perfect form. If that’s zero, your max is zero. Own it.
- Use the 50% Rule: If your max is 4 reps, do sets of 2 throughout the day. This "greasing the groove" method trains your nervous system without exhausting you.
- Check your hands: Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width, and your elbows should tuck back at a 45-degree angle. Don't let them flare out like a "T." That’s how you wreck your rotator cuffs.
- Engage the glutes: Squeeze your butt. It sounds weird, but it stabilizes your pelvis and makes the whole move feel "tighter" and lighter.
- Track everything: Write it down. A 10% increase in four weeks is massive.
The path to 20 pushups isn't a straight line. You'll have days where you feel heavy and days where you feel like you're floating. Just keep your chest moving toward the floor. If you can do ten solid, chest-to-floor reps, you are already ahead of the vast majority of women worldwide. Focus on the form, stay consistent, and let the numbers take care of themselves.
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The average is just a marker, not a limit. Build your strength based on where you are today, not where a chart says you should be. Grab a solid surface, set your hands, and get that first rep done.