You're at the gym, or maybe just on your living room floor, and you start wondering if your chest is actually strong or if you're just going through the motions. Most people drop down, crank out twelve reps, and then feel like they've done "enough." But honestly, that number is usually pulled out of thin air. If you've ever asked yourself how many pushups should I be able to do, the answer isn't a single number that applies to everyone from a TikTok influencer to your grandfather. It's about data, physiology, and—believe it or not—predicting how long you're going to live.
The Standard Benchmarks for the "Average" Person
Let's look at the numbers. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) actually has guidelines for this, and they aren't as forgiving as you might think. For a man in his 30s, "good" is usually considered somewhere between 17 and 21 reps. If you're a woman in that same age bracket, hitting 12 to 15 reps puts you in a solid spot.
But wait.
What does "one rep" even mean? If your hips are sagging or your chin is barely twitching toward the floor, you aren't doing a pushup. You're just vibrating. A real pushup requires a neutral spine and a chest that comes within an inch of the floor. This matters because the standards set by organizations like the ACSM or the Mayo Clinic are based on perfect form.
For men aged 20–29, the average is 22 to 28. For women in that same bracket, it's 15 to 20. If you can’t hit those numbers, don't panic. Most people can't. We live in a world where we sit at desks all day, which rounds our shoulders and weakens our serratus anterior—the "boxer's muscle" that helps stabilize the shoulder blade during a pushup.
Why Your Heart Cares About Your Pushup Count
There was this massive study published in JAMA Network Open back in 2019 that basically set the fitness world on fire. Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health tracked over 1,100 middle-aged male firefighters over a decade. They found something wild. Men who could do more than 40 pushups had a 96% lower risk of cardiovascular disease events compared to those who could do fewer than 10.
Think about that.
Forty pushups. It’s a high bar, but it serves as a functional marker for overall health. It’s not just about chest strength; it’s about how well your heart handles sudden physical stress. The lead author, Justin Yang, noted that while pushup capacity isn't a perfect predictor of heart health, it’s a surprisingly accurate "low-cost" tool. It’s way cheaper than a treadmill stress test.
Does it scale?
If you're 50, you shouldn't be comparing yourself to a 22-year-old firefighter. Biology is a thing. As we age, we deal with sarcopenia, which is just the fancy medical term for losing muscle mass as you get older. By age 50, a man should aim for about 13 to 16 pushups to be in the "average" category. For women of the same age, 10 to 12 is the target. If you hit 25 at age 55, you’re basically a superhero in the eyes of a physical therapist.
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The Role of Body Type and Lever Length
Physics plays a bigger role than most trainers admit. If you have incredibly long arms, you’re moving that weight over a much larger distance than someone with short, stocky limbs. You’re doing more work. Literally. In physics terms, $Work = Force \times Distance$. If your "Distance" is 30% longer because you're 6'4", your how many pushups should I be able to do number is naturally going to be lower than the guy who is 5'7" with a barrel chest.
Your weight matters too. You’re lifting roughly 65% to 75% of your total body weight during a standard pushup. If you weigh 250 pounds, you're bench pressing about 175 pounds every time you go down and up. That is a lot of weight for high-volume reps. This is why relative strength is the real metric you should care about.
How to Actually Get Better (Without Overusing Your Shoulders)
If you're stuck at five reps, don't just keep banging your head against the floor doing five reps. You need a plan.
- Incline Pushups: Use a bench or a sturdy table. This reduces the percentage of body weight you're lifting. It's way better than "knee pushups" because it keeps your core engaged in a straight line, which translates better to the real movement.
- Negative Reps: Spend five full seconds lowering yourself to the ground. Gravity is a great teacher. Eccentric strength (the lowering phase) builds muscle faster than the concentric (pushing) phase.
- Plank Volume: If your lower back hurts during pushups, your core is the weak link, not your chest. Hold a high plank for 60 seconds. If you can't do that, you have no business trying to do 30 pushups.
You've also got to watch out for "shoulder impingement." If you flare your elbows out like a "T," you're grinding your rotator cuff. Keep your elbows at a 45-degree angle. Your body should look like an arrow from above, not a capital T.
Moving Toward Actionable Gains
Stop obsessing over the "average" and start looking at your own trend line. If you can do 10 today, try to do 11 next week. It’s that simple. To improve your baseline, try the "greasing the groove" method. This involves doing one set of pushups at about 50% of your maximum capacity multiple times throughout the day. If your max is 20, do 10 reps every time you go to the kitchen. By the end of the day, you've done 50 or 60 reps without ever reaching exhaustion.
The goal isn't just to pass a test. The goal is to ensure your body has the functional strength to push itself off the ground, move furniture, or—if the Harvard study is any indication—keep your heart ticking for a few more decades.
Immediate Next Steps:
- Test Your Baseline: Drop down right now. Do as many as you can with perfect form until your speed slows down or your hips sag. That is your true starting number.
- Set a Realistic Tier: If you are under 40, aim for the 20-rep club. If you are over 40, aim for 15. Once you hit those, then you can start chasing the "Elite" brackets.
- Frequency Over Intensity: Instead of doing 100 pushups once a week, do three sets of 15 three times a week. Consistency triggers the neurological adaptations you need to actually get stronger.
- Record Your Form: Set up your phone and film yourself from the side. You might think your back is straight, but usually, people look like a banana. Fix the arch in your back by squeezing your glutes as hard as possible throughout the movement.
Stronger pushups lead to stronger shoulders, a more stable core, and a more resilient cardiovascular system. Start today.