How many push ups can you do?

[sherbertdip]

Just to set the scene; my upper body is pretty pathetic, legs fine due to lots of cycling and I'm 57 years old having not done a push up since I left school.

Well, 2 weeks ago I was musing and wondered how many I could do, the result was 5, yes 5, absolutely pathetic.

Since then I've been doing some every day, now I'm up to 3 reps of 20 with a 5 minute rest between reps and a final rep of up to 25 on a good day

I aim to be able to do 100 without rest before the end of the year.

[Jamie VTS]

Depends on The movement standard. If we’re talking chest to the floor each rep and full extension. I can do 48 in one minute. I know this as it was a challenge a few weeks ago for our gym. Best effort was 63.

Edit my minute was 37 in 30 seconds and then 11 in the last 30! Lol!

[Drezza]

I think 50 consecutively, when I started only about 18. I'm 24 and lanky as st.

[sherbertdip]

Jamie VTS said:

Depends on The movement standard. If we’re talking chest to the floor each rep and full extension. I can do 48 in one minute. I know this as it was a challenge a few weeks ago for our gym. Best effort was 63.

Edit my minute was 37 in 30 seconds and then 11 in the last 30! Lol!

I'm talking easy ones, with elbow to 90 Deg, full ones chest to floor really hurts, very impressed with your efforts, makes me realise just how pathetic I am.

[sherbertdip]

Drezza said:

I think 50 consecutively, when I started only about 18. I'm 24 and lanky as st.

I think I was about the same at 18, and a lot slimmer than I am now, time and inactivity really take their toll.

[remedy]

Fists or flat hands?

Flat hands hurts my wrist so I always do it on my fists. This thread reminded me that I started doing 20 a day each morning in Jan and into Feb then lost interest.

[technodup]

I've been doing this during lockdown for no other reason than to use some time. I'm 42 and 74kg. Started on two sets of 10, am now on two sets of 40. Not to the floor though.

I also do 2 x 4mins of planking in between. That's a bit of a challenge to do properly.

[hyphen]

Jamie VTS said:

Depends on The movement standard. ...

Also the speed. I do them very slow on the down, and fast up

Doing them faster means the momentum carries you along more.

[Markgenesis]

I've always used the handles that go on the floor, not done any for ages but started again recently, could do 20 reps at a push, not bad at 49.

[hyphen]

Drezza said:

I think 50 consecutively, when I started only about 18. I'm 24 and lanky as st.

Keep going, and soon you will grow into a powerfuly built director my friend

[Jamie VTS]

sherbertdip said:

I'm talking easy ones, with elbow to 90 Deg, full ones chest to floor really hurts, very impressed with your efforts, makes me realise just how pathetic I am.

Ah you’re kind but no need to put yourself down!

[mcelliott]

During lockdown I was doing 8 sets of a timed minute, slow and measured managing around 30/40 reps per set.

[Pothole]

As I'm English, I only do press ups.

[rowley birkin]

I use handles and do very slow push-ups, which take about 10 secs for each rep. Stop for a couple of seconds at the bottom for maximum difficulty (nose & chest touching floor). I can do 15 of these (age 54).

[Bob-iylho]

High reps seemed pointless and time consuming, so I switched to doing them on Gym rings a while ago, same with dips and pull ups. Complete game changer. Respect to gymnasts.

£12 for a set from amazon, best gym money I have ever spent.

[Shuvi McTupya]

52yrs old, I can do somewhere between 3 and 400 push ups with no rest break.

I have done it for a bet, and comfortably won that bet by achieving 5 push ups

[gregs656]

I did a couple of sets of 25 last week and that was fine. I don't usually do high volume - in a week I typically do HSPUs, one arm variations and tuck planche.

I would do some pulling to compliment your pushing, and I would also consider making the movement more difficult and concentrating on doing a full rep rather than how many you can do.

Pothole said:

As I'm English, I only do press ups.

So none?

[gregs656]

Bob-iylho said:

High reps seemed pointless and time consuming, so I switched to doing them on Gym rings a while ago, same with dips and pull ups. Complete game changer. Respect to gymnasts.

£12 for a set from amazon, best gym money I have ever spent.

Totally agree. Can't say enough good things about mine. The resistance band set I bought at the start of lockdown is looking like it is going to be my second best gym purchase.

[KrissKross]

Is it reasonable to request a chart based on height and weight? Physics makes a big difference here.

[popeyewhite]

I can do 100 press ups, start to suffer at abot 75 then grind out the last 25. Probably get to 110. I recently completed the Moby - Flower challenge with pressups and thought it harder than the straight 100. It's the press up/situp/pull up challenge to music in which 1 repetition of a given exercise is performed each time you hear "bring Sally up, bring Sally down". Avoid if possible