According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only 24 percent of adults get enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity. Along with your body composition and flexibility (AKA, your range of motion), this can tell you a lot about your health, says Mayo Clinic in an updated report. For example, muscle longevity is directly impacted by endurance and strength. Building strong, healthy muscles is extremely important because they protect your joints and promote balance, both of which are known to decline with age.
But most of us probably can't say for certain how we rank in this category. Perhaps you're an avid walker, so your cardio is strong, but is your strength lacking? As it turns out, push-ups can be used as a one-stop measuring tool for tracking muscle strength, endurance, and even heart health.
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The number of push-ups you should aim for ranges by age and sex, per Mayo Clinic. Their chart says 25-year-old women should aim for a count of 20, while men of the same age should aim for 28 push-ups. This indicates “good fitness,” says the health organization.
As you get older, the count decreases. Women around 35 should have a goal of 19 push-ups, while their male counterparts should hit 21. The push-up count for the 45-year-old bracket is 14 for women and 16 for men. At 55 years old, aim for 10 and 12, respectively. However, at age 65, the count evens out at 10 for both men and women.
A 2019 study found that active, middle-aged men who can reach 40 push-ups have a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than their counterparts who stop at 10 push-ups.
“Our findings provide evidence that push-up capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting,” said study author Justin Yang, occupational medicine resident in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in a press release. "Surprisingly, push-up capacity was more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of submaximal treadmill tests."
Push-ups can be completed one of two ways: either on your knees (this is great for beginners or those with weaker knees) or the classic way, on your toes.
To get started, “Lie facedown on the floor with your elbows bent and your palms next to your shoulders. Keep your back straight. Push up with your arms until your arms are at full length. Lower your body until your chin touches the floor,” instructs Mayo Clinic.
The goal is to see how many push-ups you can do without rest. As you begin to build muscle strength and endurance, you’ll notice your push-up count increasing and your rest breaks becoming far and few between.
