You are being compared to men aged 40-49, and to all of them, not just the ones who train. That cohort's median is 15 reps, so half of men that age do fewer than that in one set.
The tiers below are percentiles, not belts. 23 reps beats three out of four people in this cohort and 29 puts you in the top 10%. The lowest published rung is Beginner at 5 reps (10th percentile), and anything under it is still a number worth having: the wall, incline and knee variants exist so nobody has to report a zero.
| Tier | Push-ups | Percentile | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 5 reps | 10th | Ahead of the bottom 10%. |
| Novice | 11 reps | 25th | Ahead of the bottom 25%. |
| Intermediate | 15 reps | 50th | The median. Half of this group does fewer. |
| Advanced | 23 reps | 75th | Top 25% of this group. |
| Elite | 29 reps | 90th | Top 10% of this group. |
Percentiles are derived from the CSEP-PATH (2019) push-up categories, the same table ACSM publishes under licence. CSEP publishes ordered categories rather than percentiles, so the percentile spacing is our stated assumption. Women testing full push-ups are read against Cooper Institute percentiles, a fitter-than-average sample, which makes that curve the weaker of the two. The same curve scores you when you take the test, and it compares you against all adults rather than gym regulars, which is why the medians read lower than gym-floor talk.
| Standard | Score | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| US Army AFT hand-release push-up (2-minute cap) minimum | 10 reps | All ages and sexes |
| US Army AFT hand-release push-up (2-minute cap) maximum | 57 reps | Men aged 17-21 |
Percentiles are derived from the push-up categories published in CSEP-PATH, 2nd edition (2019), the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology resource manual. ACSM licenses the same table, so the "ACSM push-up norms" and these are one table, not two.
CSEP publishes ordered categories, not percentiles. Placing those categories on a percentile scale is our assumption, stated here rather than buried: the category boundaries are theirs, the percentile spacing is ours.
Women testing full push-ups are read against Cooper Institute percentiles, because CSEP scores women on knee push-ups and using that column for a full push-up would quietly corrupt the number. The Cooper sample is fitter than the general adult population, so that curve runs harsh and is the weaker of the two.
CSEP publishes ordered fitness categories, not percentiles. We assume the bottom of Fair is the 20th percentile, Good the 40th, Very good the 60th and Excellent the 80th, then draw a curve through those four points. That mapping is our assumption, not theirs.
CSEP-PATH Resource Manual, 2nd edition (2019)
Men, full push-ups. Men are scored on standard full push-ups, which is what this test asks for. CSEP publishes ordered fitness categories, not percentiles. We assume the bottom of Fair is the 20th percentile, Good the 40th, Very good the 60th and Excellent the 80th, then draw a curve through those four points. That mapping is our assumption, not theirs. Also published by ACSM as the same table under licence. The manual does not state the population the cut-points were built from.
Y's Way to Physical Fitness (Golding, Myers and Sinning), 3rd edition, 1-minute sit-up test (1986)
Sit-ups, both sexes. An older and weaker source than the CSEP tables behind our push-up numbers, disclosed as such. The source publishes seven ordered ratings, not percentiles. We assume the bottom of Poor is the 10th percentile, Below average the 30th, Average the 45th, Above average the 55th, Good the 70th and Excellent the 90th, then draw a curve through those points. That mapping is our assumption, not theirs. The source's age bands (18-25 up to 65+) differ from ours (18-29 up to 60-69), so its values are interpolated across age and read at the midpoint of each of our bands. That remap is our construction. Note the bodies that publish fitness standards have retired sit-up testing (CSEP dropped curl-ups, and the US Army and Marine Corps both replaced sit-ups and crunches with the plank), so this curve cites what WAS published, not a current institutional standard.
Cooper Institute push-up percentiles, full push-ups
Women, full push-ups. Real percentiles rather than categories, and women are scored on FULL push-ups, which is what this test asks for. It is the weaker of our two sources: the sample skews law-enforcement and is fitter than the general adult population, so these percentiles read harsh. Edition and year could not be verified, no women 60-69 row could be verified, and the published women 50-59 40th-percentile value is excluded as an internally inconsistent transcription.
CSEP-PATH Resource Manual, 2nd edition, modified (knee) push-up column (2019)
Women, knee push-ups. This is the MODIFIED (knee) push-up column, so it is the right norm for the knee rung and the wrong one for full push-ups. CSEP publishes ordered fitness categories, not percentiles. We assume the bottom of Fair is the 20th percentile, Good the 40th, Very good the 60th and Excellent the 80th, then draw a curve through those four points. That mapping is our assumption, not theirs. Also published by ACSM as the same table under licence.
fitterthanmost provisional ladder ramp, launch mock
Wall and incline push-ups, and knee push-ups for men. PROVISIONAL and unsourced. No published dataset backs these ladder anchors; they exist so a beginner rung still returns a number instead of a zero. Never describe them as published standards.
US Army Fitness Test (AFT), hand-release push-up, 2-minute cap
Push-up benchmarks. A benchmark, never a percentile basis: the population is pre-selected and trains for the test. Only the universal 10-rep minimum and the 17-21 maximums are recorded here. Other age and sex maximums exist and are deliberately NOT reproduced, because we could not verify them.
USMC Physical Fitness Test (PFT), plank
Plank benchmarks. A benchmark, never a percentile basis. Age- and sex-neutral: the same two hold times apply to everybody who takes the test.
US Army Fitness Test (AFT), plank
Plank benchmarks. A benchmark, never a percentile basis. Only the 17-21 age band is recorded here; the other bands exist and are deliberately NOT reproduced, because we could not verify them.
All push-up cohorts in one table or the easier ladder variants if a full push-up is not there yet.
The median is 15 push-ups in one set: half of men aged 40-49 do fewer. 11 reps is the 25th percentile, 23 is the 75th, and 29 puts you in the top 10% of the cohort.
Yes. 23 reps is the 75th percentile for this cohort, so it beats three out of four men the same age. The rung above it is Elite at 29 reps, which is the top 10%.
No. They compare you against all men aged 40-49, most of whom do not train. That is why the median of 15 looks lower than gym conversation suggests, and why an unglamorous number can still put you above average.
Percentiles are derived from the push-up categories published in CSEP-PATH, 2nd edition (2019), the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology resource manual. ACSM licenses the same table, so the "ACSM push-up norms" and these are one table, not two. CSEP publishes ordered categories, not percentiles. Placing those categories on a percentile scale is our assumption, stated here rather than buried: the category boundaries are theirs, the percentile spacing is ours.