Can you do enough push ups by age?

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badatmath

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Here's How Many Push-Ups You Should Be Able To Do By Age

It's a bad news day for me, personally.
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4) Age 55
  • Women: 10 pushups
  • Men: 12 pushups
5) Age 65
  • Women: 10 pushups
  • Men: 10 pushups.
Last time I did a push up was high school so no surprise I'm not any use at them. . . but all these things reminding me I didn't take good enough care of myself are a bit discouraging. . . .

My guess is most of you will do better at this test than me.
 
I am not able to do the amount they say I should be able to do. I don't do push ups very often and when I do I do them from the knees. Doing "real" push ups is too painful and I didn't get close to what they say I should do.
 
I never could do "real" push-ups, and I don't think that's going to change.
 
I sometimes include 3 sets of 20 in my push day workouts, but I’m not going to get off the couch now to do any.
 
My 64 year old BIL tried to do pushups after many years of not doing them. He immediately pulled something and required shoulder surgery. Be careful out there.
 
I know its a long ways away...22 years, but dang I hope to be able to do 10 push ups by then.

I could probably do over 100 right now if I really tried. Doing 16 is not even a challenge to me. But, I've seen others in their 40s and can understand how sometimes life catches up or things go downhill unexpectedly.

Blessed to be generally healthy with a sound mind.
 
I haven't even tried. I'm TERRIBLE at push-ups. I'm 73, very active, some doc described my musculature in my medical records as "grossly normal" but I'm lousy at push-ups.
 
My current routine is 20 to 25 traditional push ups. Then 10 shoulder taps and 10 ankle taps (These are more like a plank but one hand leaves the ground to touch a shoulder or ankle). The ankle taps turn out to be just below the knee. My arms shrunk over the years. My flexibility is still perfect :).

This is part of my full body workout that I found on youtube. I have always done some form of full body exercise to stay in shape. 70+
 
Yes, doing pushups after a long layoff of not doing them can be embarrassing. I started a simple exercise program at home and pushups were one of the routines. I could only do 6 pushups at first. Talk about humiliating! But after two weeks I was up to 15, which I figured was a good number to maintain.
 
IMHO pushups are the best upper body workout there is. When I was in my 30’s and 40’s I spent a lot of time in the gym and did all the usual exercises that isolate muscle groups such as bicep curls and bench presses. That makes for a long workout, and now that I’m 70 I no longer have the desire to maintain that regimen.

My compromise is doing a quick routine every morning consisting of 50 crunches, 40 pushups, and lots of stretching. I play golf at least twice a week when the weather is nice and usually walk, about 6 miles each round, so that’s my cardio. So far so good.
 
If you aren't already working on doing push ups, then, no, 10 or 12 isn't realistic for anyone.

It's a silly premise. It's like saying if you can't run 5 miles, or bench press half your body weight. If you don't do that thing AT ALL, then you can't do a benchmark of that thing. Sure, a fit, fast regular walker or hiker might manage a first time 5k run, stuff like that, but generally "can you do X physically exerting thing?" maybe not, but that doesn't really mean anything bad in and of itself.

If you haven't tried a push up in 10 years, chances are you can't do a dozen. If you trained and worked on them for a month or so, then, sure, you could.
 
ONE.... every time I fall down.... was doing 3-4 a week.... Haven't done one in a few weeks now....
 
It's a silly metric without any parameters. For example I do 100 push ups every day (5 sets of 20) but when I started several months ago 20 was very difficult. It is a very strenuous exercise, at least to me anyway, but I feel good when I'm done. I'm not sure how many I could do in one attempt. Maybe 35-40 but It would be rough.
:)
 
:rolleyes: Substitute a certain number of squats. Or pullups/chinups. Or weight lifting.

People like to obfuscate or pretend not to understand the point.

It's a proxy for general fitness and strength. The real question is, if you aren't doing something after 50 for retaining muscle mass and strength you are doomed to decline and all the associated health problems that brings. That is a hard, irrefutable truth.
 
Pushups are part of my regular workouts. At age 66 I can still do 30 in a row, more if broken up into sets.
 
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