A wall push-up is the first rung of the ladder: hands on a wall, body in one line, and the same lockout rule as a floor push-up. It is the version almost everybody can do at least once.
The median is 35 reps: half of the adults who take this test do fewer than that. The lowest published rung is Beginner at 4 reps (10th percentile), and Intermediate at 35 reps is the highest rung published for this variant.
Ladder variants are scored against every adult who takes them, with no split by age or sex, so this is one table for everybody. The percentile still compares you against all adults rather than gym regulars, which is why the middle of it looks reachable.
| Tier | Reps | Percentile | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 4 reps | 10th | Ahead of the bottom 10%. |
| Novice | 12 reps | 25th | Ahead of the bottom 25%. |
| Intermediate | 35 reps | 50th | The median. Half of this group does fewer. |
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.
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.
Next rung up: Incline push-ups.
The median is 35 reps, so half of adults do fewer than that. Beginner starts at 4 reps (10th percentile) and Intermediate at 35 reps is the highest rung published for this variant.
35 reps is where the published table for wall push-ups stops, at the 50th percentile. Clearing the median on an entry rung is the signal to move up a rung rather than to chase a bigger number here.
Because the ladder exists to give everybody a real score, not to slice one into eight thin ones. Full push-ups are the cohorted test, split by age and sex; wall push-ups are published as a single table for all adults.