Used to do 50-60 with horrible form, depth and momentum. Corrected form and eliminated momentum and it dropped to 27. Corrected depth (chest completely to ground) and it dropped to 6... obliterated my ego lol 2 months from then and I'm at 18 now in one go. Btw I'm 30 now so guess I'm barely under Average. Goal is 36 by the end of this year. Let's go!
@@advantageofthedisadvantage7213 fr, I really like the sensation of my chest stretching and my back compressing when I do it like this. My number of reps drops from 30+ to 18 though. The range of motion and the knuckle pain make it harder 😅
Just comparing numbers without knowing which people use what form and thecnique is beyond useless in my opinion. It just turns into a competition of who can butcher the form better.
Push-up being an horizontal pushing movement, i can tell that pure height factor is as important as weight (if not more). It's mechanicaly simple to understand, and no surprise all olympic gymnasts are rather small. For exemple, I am very thin guy (1m86 for 76 kilos) with thin arms, and i find dips MUCH easier (because of the vertical factor) than a regular push up. I can do 20 dips with proper form when i can barely do 10 regular push ups with proper form. Push ups for tall people is just disgustingly hard 😭
Pushups honestly feel like a waste of time unless you're doing decline or weighted pushups. I like doing dips instead to failure then when I can't do anymore dips THEN I'll bust out the pushups.
I think military fitness tests are a good benchmark as they are trying to measure the potential of a fit person to undergo strenuous further training and ultimately combat. Public averages mix the whole population and so probably give a conservative view (unless they have narrowed it down to e.g. People who are physically active)
I’m far from the most fit but also have a little strength and fitness level , but i never train doing push up then recently when i started i realize i could life my body weight 10-15 time in a row i feel i over done it then my lower abs belly started to hurt like crazy level almost thinking i had to go to hospital or something,took a week plus break from push up started again now only doing like 5-6 per set ,i feel the best is to do it slowly and progressively not pushing to extreme then hurt yourself !!
When I do my pushups, i just completely go for it and dont get my chest to the ground and get about 40. This video has motivated me to breakdown my form and really focus on quality over quantity! 😂
that chest hitting the floor part imo is unnecessary and makes it easier because yo get a slight break where as if u get low enough but dont jhit the ground you have to hold ur own body weight for a quick sec and use ur own strength and push up rather then hiting the ground and just pushing up all the way
@@fadedwavvy4718you want it to touch the floor but you don’t want it to *rest* on the floor, touch the floor with the chest but don’t put weight on the chest whilst touching the ground
86 in a roll, when i started i could do only 20, the key is to do push ups everyday, just 2 sets of 20 (and months latter 30-40-50 ets) is enough, just do them everyday, it doesnt even need to be 2 sets in a roll, you can do them whenever you want in the day.
Army was easier for me. But i was able to push myself harder when doing it. IE with consistent up down i cannot do 20 however i pushed my self to do 30 with the army style. But now my arms are very sore in the triceps
@@1unsung971 Of course people care... it's great to see people taking their fitness seriously and improving through effort and dedication. When I was in my teens I could do 25 push-ups. I'm now 70 and can do 35-40 (depending on the day). It's fun to set new personal-bests and try to beat them.
@@xjet It's a nonsense objective. What transfer value do multiple push ups have to ADL? How many single leg full ROM squats can you do? How long can you hold a full squat for, like the San and !Kung peoples? How far can you lizard Crawl? How long can you dance exuberantly before fatigue stops you? How long does it take you to sprint 20 metres from a Field Start position?How accurately can you throw a spear at 20 meters? Can you wrestle effectively for 3 minutes without fatigue? How far can you walk while carrying 20% of body weight balanced on your head? How often do you climb, swing or brachiate? Push ups are a dumb, Western construct, like pull ups and sit ups. None of these exercises enhance functional strength.
I used to be able to do 50-70 when I was in my early 20's and thought I was the sh!t. You're guessing it - it was those lame quick bouncy ones lol. Now in my late 30's I'm happy to do 20-25 proper ones.
I was able to do 80 push ups when I left the army. Everyone thought it was cool. Then I got to Calisthenics seriously (4y ago) and discovered this channel. Started to do perfect push-ups. My rep count instantly dropped to 30. I've been able to train to 43 from there and my goal is 60. But I also gained 10kg of more muscle mass. Guys... the reps don't matter so much, but the time under tensions does. Doing 80 one second reps results in 80 seconds of workout. But my 30 reps take 3-4 seconds each resulting in 90 - 120 seconds of workout. And this new workout is full range of motion. People in the army and in school don't know what they're doing.
But why? Would you rather do 30 biceps curls with 4kg or increase the difficulty / weight? The pushup is not different from any other exercise, I the more you do the smaller the return
Another great video! I wasn’t aware that the army had this “new” way of performing pushups, but it makes sense. I was in the military decades ago; there were always guy/gals who could crank out lots of half-assed pushups and claim they were doing everything correctly. Sometimes arguments would ensue. More often, these unrealistic numbers were entered as “real” so that some ended up with higher fitness numbers than they earned. At least with this new method, there is nothing to lie about. Your chest is either resting on the ground, or it is not. Now we’re comparing apples to apples. Granted, we’ve got McIntosh and Red Delicious and Granny Smith, etc., but they’re all APPLES. The charts and numbers make more sense and can be more informative. When you have a large percentage of “outliers” that are fudging their numbers, the ratings gained mean almost nothing.
Any "new" method of physical training by the military is more likely than not to be driven by their "diversity and inclusion" policy rather than anthing to do with greater efficiency. A sad reflection on the world I'm afraid.
@@PeteH0121 Perhaps the new method is good for preventing the girls to do those half-assed pushups. Your 'more likely than not' seems to me completely based on nothing but your preconceptions.
@@joostdriesens3984 That's a bit sexist, suggesting it is only the girls that do "half-assed" pushups. You are right though, my opinion is what I expressed in this "comments" section. A fairly commonplace occurence I believe. Maybe you might want to contact the RU-vid hierarchy and try to get them to ban everyone from publishing their opinions? I know they do tinker but I suspect that an outright ban might just affect the numbers a bit too significantly. Comment : A statement of fact or opinion, especially a remark that expresses a personal reaction or attitude.
I’m 17 and I always get my chest to the ground. I started with 10 push ups now I can do 25 by doing several months of training. Most people I talk to, claim to do 30 and when I reply that I don’t believe them they do like 15 with horrible form. So what I learned was that you shouldn’t compare yourself to what people claim they do. Because the real average is always much lower. Just insist in a correct form and compete with yourself.
Hey calimove, I just want to say that after two years of consistent calisthenics training and with that, a LOT of research on how to do exercises and whatnot, this channel is clearly (and by far) the highest quality, easy to follow, and overall best calisthenics channel on RU-vid. You guys have helped me immensely in my journey, and I want to thank you for that. I hope you keep on making these high quality workout videos!
I’m 71, I do 3 strict sets of 15, trying to increase reps, I just started, haven’t done them in a while. I was thinking my gym workouts would make it easy, I was wrong. It’s probably hard since I have tears in two rotator cuff tendons, a bicep tendon, and degenerated labrum in my right shoulder. Push-ups don’t hurt too bad
Survey studies don't have much value here because most people do push ups with flared out elbows or limited range of motion. I constantly see people training calisthenics with bad push-up form. Push-up form of average person is probably even worse.
Try doing shorter series (maybe three or four), with a few minutes in between sets. I started working out at 125 kg, and what helped me a lot was getting push-up bars. Don't know how you look, but my fat gut was getting in the way of the exercise. With the bars, I could get more range of motion. Also, in my opinion, perfect form is somewhat counterproductive for beginners. What you want out of pushups is mostly the core-strength. But doing perfect form, especially when you're still heavy, takes a lot of arm power. If you go wider and higher with your hands, you can do the exercise longer. Optimize form when you lost some weight.
It's crazy how much strength you lose when you stop working out for a while, I can barelly do 10 full range good quality pushups anymore, while before I could get like 30 perfect ones
As a former gymnast now coach, going from 150lbs when I was in my teens and 20s to 185lbs at 40, the difference is absolutely there. I'm still able to do 50 gymnastics pushup reps (2 seconds up, 2 seconds down). But I've really had to adjust since my legs have gotten a lot bigger since then, especially now that weight is not a concern much anymore. It's made HSPUs, Handstand holds, circles, twists, dismount, one-arm pull ups, muscle ups, and tumbling a lot harder. But surprisingly, I can still do most of what I did when I was in my teens . (Numbers and time a lot lower though.). Yes, CM is right; weight to fat and muscle ratio makes a HUGE difference with these movements.
Great points that you emphasized about comparisons and form. I recently retired from a long Navy career. I nearly always maxed the physical readiness test. BUT the Navy standard for push-ups is defined very specifically, and it's different from others (Army and your definition, which are different from each other, also). I generally have always counted my push-ups strictly according to the Navy definition because that was the standard that I had to meet for many years. Sometimes, when not training for the PRT, I descend a little closer to the floor since the Navy standard is that your upper arms must be parallel to the floor (right angle between vertical forearm and upper arm), which of course is not the same as descending all the way to the floor. Even with a strictly defined standard, MANY people I observed the Navy did not meet the standard, but still got away with it.
Quantity is secondary to quality. I use full range of motion, use a metronome for 1s positive and 3s negative, 5 sets with exactly 30s rest between, and progressively overload. Each exercise is under strictly the same conditions due to perfect timing of reps, sets and rest. I record quantity only to prove progress over time.
Like about 3-4 months ago, it was super hard for me to do even a single pushup with correct form. Now I am able to do like 25 max(full range and correct form)
Took the APFT with regular push-ups (and option of close or wide hands) before the switch to the ACFT and it's narrow grip, hand release push-ups, and everyone's personal max in the two minutes allowed went down. I really feel like the arm extensions add up to a significant extra demand on the shoulders in particular, especially as fast as some people do them to increase their rep rate, and I think that addition adds back more than you save by resting your whole weight for part of each rep. Personally, my arms have never been able to keep up with my chest and I made my numbers in the old test with a wide grip, and the close grip by itself is pretty demanding.
Everyone does pushups so wrong. Arms need to be 90° out from your body, not pointed towards your feet. Go back and try again, you'll be surprised at how weak you are. All these guys claiming they can do alot of pushups, but still got a tiny chest. My chest is huge, stretches out my shirts. Only from doing pushups, the correct way.
As always correct form is the best indicator, age will decrease performance but correct form is always more beneficial for your health, park the ego :-)
In the USAF, we're able to choose between the hand release and standard pushup. i feel that the hand release (as shown in the video) is harder. you burn out your shoulders quicker and the rest you get doesn't really mean anything when doing 50+ in a minute. I personally stick to standard as its easier and you can crank more out. For muscle/strength building do a variety to build better fitness level.
I dont know, it’s so easy to cheat or vary the intensity with really, really small adjustment with push ups. I can do 10max pushups and I can do 90max push ups. So I see the question „how many pushups can you do“ always as obsolete…..
I can do....precisely 0. Nope, not a joke, but it's also not my fault really. I'm pretty strong for a girl and exercise a lot and lift weights, so that's not the issue. I did have surgery on my breasts though and during the surgery the pectoralis muscle had to be detached from my ribs, and reattached later. As a result, I have a permanent strength loss of about 25% in my pecs and I'm not allowed to do things such as bench press, push ups, or pull ups which put immense pressure on the pectoralis muscle. Sucks, but what can you do right.
It does suck indeed... While not strictly related to push-ups, I had a serious brain surgery at like 3 years old which made me extremely sensitive to rapid changes in pressure and position. For that reason, I literally can't do handstand. My strength is pretty good overall, but when I just try to flip my body upside down my head starts feeling light and extremely painful. You indeed can't measure your strength based on one specific exercise... And anyone who does this isn't worth listening to.
I was having trouble doing push ups maxing out at 10-12 (4 sets) and I couldn't understand why until my right shoulder went numb one day and I had to rest. Then I realized I was leaning forward A LOT handicapping myself and using a lot of shoulder strenght, I corrected my form and now I can easily do 20 pushups without shoulder any pain. I used to do a lot of cycling so my mind only works properly using leg muscles and I have a lot of trouble feeling upper body muscles in exercises but I am getting better at it thanks to this channel. I hope this helps someone, watch your form guys.
It's typical that you'll start to slow down as you fatigue. I can do about 50 clean pushups and will start slowing down around 35. At 45, the reps are starting to get fairly difficult (and noticeably slower). If you practice your pushups regularly, you'll get better at them. Improving your conditioning will help, too... especially as you get into higher rep sets.
I'm 44 and have been doing pushups for 2 months, yesterday I went to look at my progress on my back in the mirror and realized I have what looks like an 8 pk on my lower back 😮 Idk Maybe I'm genetically gifted, I've only seen it once before on a real bodybuilder.🤷🏼♂️
I used to do 66 pushups in a row with decent form (straight arm then straight head/back and chin 2-3 inches from ground) then I began doing perfect pushups and that went down to my max being 35-45 /:
There's a big difference here, more than 2/3rds of the US cannot do a single push-up. Heck, more than 40% of the US are vastly overweight and out of shape, its basically the real epidemic in the west. It is interesting how they all link the same survey. Someone simply telling you how many pushups they can do is not meaningful data in any way. Ten. If you can do ten pushups in a row, you are in shape. This is probably why army uses this simple formula for passing the test.
The army combat fitness/CrossFit pushup feels like a waste of time. I can't do it quickly because that would entail me slamming myself into the ground, lol. It takes longer and feels like it's slowing me down with no benefit such as with slow push-ups. It doesn't appear to decrease the number of push-ups I can do either so I can't figure out the challenge or the purpose of it.
Doing 100 pushups is unhealthy and pointless. 20 reps at 30 is perfectly fine. You can also add weight on your back to maximize your exercise without harming your joints with really long and repetitive movements. :)
I’m 6’5” 210lbs and I can do 15-20 right now. My 5’8” overweight friend can pound out 50 no problem. Range of motion is not covered in this. Not making excuses, it’s just a reality.
I find the hand release push up to be easier than regular push ups with relatively strict form. On top of allowing a rest period between every rep, as you have mentioned, it also allows me to just drop my body weight on to the ground. A regular push up on the other hand requires me to use my own strength to stop my body from moving down. During that portion of the rep you acually have to apply MORE force than your bodyweight. When it comes to the bottom position being difficult to start from, I already do my pushups on elevated handles and go all the way down so feel right at home doing the hand release
what drivel. at my most unfit I could still do 50 push ups at University I did 126 in a minute. Im currently doing 100 and practicing to get back to doing sets of 500. I started doing push ups at the age of 11 when I was competing in Judo. If you are under 30 and can not do 50vpush ups you do not even have a basic level of upper body strength. Also in the video he talks about fitness which is wrong because a basic level of fitness is being able to run 5 miles at 6 to 7 minute mile pace or less as well as strength power endurance and flexibility standards
So if you can do 51+ clean push-ups (considering some of these probably think they have good form but don’t) you could be in the top 88-90% of the responders
30 proper controlled ones is a good standard. I know most people say they can do 50, 60 or more but most of them are lying or exaggerating. You don't need t be going about 20 reps for any exercise, including calisthenics. If you can easily do 20 push ups, you need to progress to weighted push ups or some other variation.
I'm disappointed I am just now seeing this video given that I subscribe and alert this channel, I love the idea of breaking down what someone _should_ be able to do, particularly against body weight, such as push ups, sit-ups, pull ups and squats...
Our muscles do not care about the numbers of reps that we do...all they care about is how much load is being placed on them... that is what we should be more focused on.. infact...we shouldn't even count...but just go by feel alone... focusing more on slow negatives etc... holding positions etc.. that is what builds muscle..
There is absolutely no chance the average male between 20 and 29 is capable of doing 22+ perfectly executed push ups. And this half assed shit with mediocre form does not count.
If I have my arms wide i.e nearly 90 degrees I can do 50 but if they are close to my sides barely 15. (still with chest touching floor and full extension of each rep)
you need to be doing exercises for several minutes at a time. wtf is this 10 reps?? 2 minutes, thats over 50 reps. youre not doing anything with 10 reps. but i know how you like to lie to yourself lol.
currently on a 90 day push up challenge, I can only do around 3 push ups in a row so for the next 90 days I will be doing pushups till I pass out, Is that healthy? any other alternatives to increase how many push ups i can do, I have a push up test in 90 days and I'm a highschooler, 3 push ups wont cut it.
Also, doing crazy amount of push-ups in one series won't really build too much muscle or strength. Better do 20 push-ups with bands/weights/handles than 50 standard body weight push ups. And it's sooooo much easier mentally to do a set of 20 than 50.
Yeah it’s a mental challenge going to pure failure doing 40+ reps, but that’s what makes it special. Because a lot of other people aren’t mentally strong enough to do so
@@cringeanimations7227 it's not even about mental challenge... it's just pointless. Why waste your time doing those big numbers just to tire yourself with poor results, when you can do more smaller sets (with added weight) and get better results.
@@cringeanimations7227 because, like I already said - you waste more energy but get worse results. What's the point of that? And I think same goes for any exercise, when you come to the point that you can do 20 reps easily - it makes more sense to add some weight than to just keep increasing the numbers (unless your goal is to brag how many reps you can do in one set).
@@nabojsa and what makes you say this? It’s just bro science not backed up by anything. If someone does 50 reps and hits failure consistently, they’ll get way better at at push-ups, and be tougher mentally
I saw a video thumbnail here on RU-vid on this Lee Weiland guy telling people not to do push ups and do some other exercise instead. I obviously didn't click on the video to watch it cause i'm not just gonna let some random guy on the net whom I don't know that well tell me not to do push ups when it's the staple of calisthenics. Who the heck does he think he is anyways.. he's not the end all, be all of fitness! Maybe you can check him out and offer your honest take about it.
3:27 it is easier for sure to rest your body weight on the floor for a second or two. But it is a TEST and one that it is way harder to cheat. Since you have to actually go all the way down.
I just started out again, so only able to do around 5 pushups (81 kg) 😅 used to be able to do 20+ to 30+ (70 kg) with 100 Pushups training plan (before broken elbow surgery)
Right now I can do about 50 pushups with touching my chest against the floor and locking out my elbows (at 38 years old/170 lbs). For full depth ring pushups I'm in the 15-20 rep range. When I trained normal pushups a lot (military school ~17-18), I topped out at 110 in a 2 minute test. Excellent exercise, I need to train it more 💪
