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Longstanding

Push-ups

Strict push-ups to the first broken rep. Upper-body pressing endurance.

Method
Max reps, strict
Equipment
Floor space
Attempts
One
Reference
Estimated

Protocol

  1. Hands under shoulders, body straight from head to heels. Women use the knee position, as in the norm table.

  2. Lower until your chest is a fist from the floor, then press to straight arms.

  3. Count reps without stopping to rest. The set ends at the first rep that breaks form.

Safety. Stop if your shoulders or wrists hurt. Rest 1 min between attempts.

How it is scored

Scored against the CSEP-PATH push-up categories used by ACSM, by age and sex. The categories are read as quintiles to give a percentile, which is our assumption, not the source’s.

Estimated

No clinical table exists. The percentile is estimated from training bands and labelled as such.

Reference table

CSEP-PATH push-up categories (2019), the table ACSM uses

Adults 20–69 by age and sex

The source publishes five categories, not percentiles. Reading each category as a fifth of the population is our assumption. Women’s table uses the knee push-up. Bands above 69 are extrapolated.

Known gaps

Where the app’s table or protocol differs from its best source, from our own check of the research.

  • The source publishes five categories, not percentiles. The app reads each category as a fifth of the population; that is our assumption.
  • In men aged 40–69 the app’s median sits about two reps above the source’s "good" band. There are no data above 69; those bands are extrapolated.
  • The source protocol ends after two consecutive faulty reps; the app ends at the first.