What’s a respectable number of pushups?

I'm nearing 50, I do sets of 30 during my easy runs, can knock off somewhere between 40 and 50 if I feel like it (depends on the day). All this blather about form seems silly to me. The idea that there is a "correct form" is stupid. The army needs it because it wants to compare one person's results with another, and wants to be comparing the same thing, but there're lots of ways to do a pushup and all are working some muscles, so all are good for. In fact it's probably a good idea to vary one's form, doing a variety of kinds of pushups. About half a year ago I moved my hands closer and more under my chest. For a while I couldn't reach my usual numbers, because I was working different muscles. It's like putting your feet up to do a pushup. It's a good exercise, it's a pushup, but it's not an army standard pushup. Who cares? Form needs to be correct only in so far as that one doesn't want to rip one's shoulders by forcing movements that one isn't strong enough to do.

pr100 wrote:

puller upper wrote:

Pushups are a poor substitute for when you don't have a pullup bar

Pushups and pullups work quite different muscles ... do both.

Trouble with "how many.." is that it really depends on whether people do then with proper form... you see plenty of people doing some kind of weird head bob action with a tiny bit of arm movement that they obviously think is a push up, but is only working their neck muscles :/

This ^^^

For comparison, specifying form is crucial. Otherwise it's meaningless. Examples:

- Army PFT: Body straight and rigid; arms locked out at top of movement; down until upper arm parallel to ground.

- Full range of motion: Same as Army pushups, but all chest to floor (controlled, chest hardly making contact, so that it doesn't confer rest.)

- Bullshit high school pushups: Pounded out fast, elbows never getting close to 90 degrees. See: most high school athletes, especially xc runners.

Really, though, you should switch up your push-ups to hit these muscle groups from different angles: hands at different widths, possibly staggered. Also play with exercised balls.

Also, pair pushing exercises with pulling exercises (e.g. pull-ups) to stay balanced and reap the benefits of strengthening those muscles.

Pull-ups* are a superior indicator of relative strength (for men).

Men**

- bare minimum: 8

- respectable: 12+

- fit: 15+

- very fit: 20+

Women

- no idea; most can't even do one.

* Form: overhand grip, no or minimal kipping, chin over bar, arms locked at bottom.

** For men between ~5'10" and 6'1". Increase numbers for shorter guys, decrease for taller guys.

When I was younger I could do pretty much as many as I wanted to- well over 100.

I'm 59, if I do 40 I'm happy, if I get to 50 I'm really happy.

My goal is to do my age but it gets harder every year.

I used to be able to do more than 100 pushups in two minutes and was very proud of this. Then I realized I wasn't using correct form. Now I max out at 40.

wrinklscrote wrote:

How many pushups (or press-ups, whatever ya call ‘em) should one be able to complete, according to the LR experts ?

What woukd you class as the bare minumim, healthy, respectable and fit?

Havnt read too many of the post, so not sure if this has been addressed:

Your number depends on what you constitute as a push-up. Some people don’t go 90 degrees down with their elbows and consider it a push up; another way is to do one at a time, with a slight pause in between, which eliminates the golgi tendon reflex, making them more difficult; or they can go down and back up quickly, which allows the golgi reflex (a bounce effect); or can the knees or chest ever hit the ground?

Your push-up style, form, technique... whatever u want to call it... will affect how many u can do.

duh2 wrote:

Time for a real skinny-upper-body runner to chip in. I can barely do 10. Since doing some chest press machine at the gym I can now do almost 15.

Moreover, I can't do one pullup. Not a single one, never have been able to. I weigh 145.

I always knew I was in the bottom 10% for upper body strength, but I'm top 10% for leg strength, so I'm just very unbalanced.

I had a go just now and did 16 with good form, getting very difficult at the end. I could have done maybe 2 more if I absolutely had to. This is with being completely sedentary for 4 weeks due to illness and Christmas. So, a complete upper-body wimp can do 18.

I'd grade it more on how much someone works out as they are very hard if you've never done one, but get easy and easier as you get used to them:

For someone pretty new to working out, sets of 25 are good

A year or more of working out, sets of 50 are pretty good

For me, sets over 60 start to become more of an aerobic workout, as getting the oxygen in becomes more difficult and lactic acid builds up.

At times, I've ended my multiply sets working up to 100 but knew it was gonna hurt. Most I've ever gutted through was 110.

I'm an old fart but I'd be very impressed by anyone that can pump out 100, as it would show they've put in a lot of time and effort.