How Many Pushups Can the Average Woman Do?

In the most direct study available, college-aged women averaged about 9 standard (full-body) pushups before reaching failure, with wide individual variation. That number roughly doubled when the same women performed modified (knee) pushups instead. The real picture is more interesting than a single number suggests, though, because age, training history, body composition, and even how the test is run all shift the count dramatically.

What the Research Actually Measured

A study specifically designed to benchmark pushup ability in women recruited 72 college-aged female participants and had them perform as many pushups as possible in both the standard (toes on the ground) and modified (knees on the ground) positions. The average came out to about 9 in the standard position and roughly 18 in the modified position, with substantial spread in both directions.¹ Women in that study who did regular resistance training completed significantly more reps in both versions than those who did not lift weights, which is worth keeping in mind: “average” includes a lot of people who rarely or never train upper body strength.

The standard deviation was large, meaning the spread around that average of 9 was wide. Some women could barely manage a single standard pushup, while others knocked out 20 or more. Fitness testing norms from various organizations have historically placed an “average” range for young adult women somewhere between 6 and 17 standard pushups, depending on the source and what age bracket they use. The study above lands comfortably in that window, but the key takeaway is that individual variation dwarfs the average. If you can do 3, you are not a dramatic outlier. If you can do 25, neither are you.

Why Women Tend to Do Fewer Pushups Than Men

The pushup is an upper-body exercise, and upper-body strength is where the gap between men and women is widest. Research on muscle strength and fiber characteristics found that women were roughly 52% as strong as men in the upper body, compared to about 66% as strong in the lower body.² That upper-body gap isn’t just about total muscle mass. Women tend to carry a smaller proportion of their lean tissue in the shoulders, chest, and arms compared to men, so even at similar overall fitness levels, the difference is more pronounced in pushing movements than in squatting or jumping.

A study comparing male and female athletes confirmed this pattern even in trained populations. When researchers adjusted for lean body mass, the gender gap in bench press strength persisted, while lower-body exercises like the squat and deadlift showed no significant difference.³ The researchers attributed the remaining upper-body gap to differences in how lean mass is distributed and in muscle-fiber architecture itself. In practical terms, this means that a woman and a man with the same total amount of muscle will still differ more on a pushup test than on a leg exercise, because the muscle is allocated differently between their upper and lower halves.

None of this means that women cannot build serious pushup numbers. It does mean the starting baseline is typically lower, and that initial pushup tests tend to feel disproportionately hard compared to lower-body tests, which can be discouraging for women just beginning a fitness program.

How Much Weight You Actually Lift During a Pushup

A pushup looks like a bodyweight exercise, and it is, but you are not lifting your full body weight. Research measuring the actual load during standard pushups found that you move roughly 63 to 65% of your body mass through each repetition.⁴ Your feet stay on the ground and support the rest. For a 140-pound woman, that works out to pushing about 88 to 91 pounds per rep, which is a respectable load when you consider that it is repeated many times in a row.

This relative loading is one reason the pushup is harder for heavier individuals at the same strength level: a 180-pound woman is pushing roughly 115 pounds per rep, while a 120-pound woman pushes about 78 pounds. All other things being equal, lighter people can crank out more reps. This is also why modified pushups are so much easier: dropping to your knees moves the pivot point closer to your center of mass, reducing the load on your arms and chest to somewhere around 50% of body weight or less.

How Age Changes the Picture

Pushup counts are not static across a lifetime, and the decline tracks closely with overall muscle strength trends. A large-scale study measuring grip strength across age groups found that women reach peak strength around age 29, hold relatively steady through the early 40s, and then experience a gradual decline.⁵ Grip strength is not pushup strength, but both reflect the same underlying trend in muscle mass and neuromuscular function. The practical implication is that a woman in her 20s and a woman in her 50s who are both “average” for their age group will post very different pushup numbers.

Most fitness testing norms account for this by scaling expectations downward with age. A 25-year-old woman averaging 9 to 15 standard pushups might be considered “average,” while a 55-year-old woman doing 6 to 8 could fall into the same relative category. The exact brackets vary by organization, but the general pattern is consistent: expect the number to drift downward after the late 30s or early 40s, and expect the decline to accelerate after 60. Resistance training slows this curve substantially, which is one reason why strength training is recommended for older adults by virtually every health organization.

Standard Versus Modified Pushups

The modified, or “knee,” pushup has historically been called the “girl pushup,” a label that has thankfully fallen out of use in most fitness spaces. The modified version is simply a regression of the standard pushup that reduces the load on the upper body and makes the exercise accessible to people who cannot yet perform full pushups, regardless of gender.

In the college-aged sample mentioned earlier, women averaged about 18 modified pushups compared to about 9 standard ones, roughly doubling their rep count by switching to knees.¹ The researchers in that study also developed a regression equation to predict standard pushup ability from modified pushup performance, which is useful for fitness testing when someone cannot perform any standard pushups at all. In other words, if you can only do modified pushups right now, a trainer or a testing protocol can still estimate where you fall on the standard scale.

One practical consideration: modified pushups are a fine starting point, but they are not the only way to build toward full pushups. Incline pushups, where your hands are on a bench or countertop and your body is straight from head to toe, more closely mimic the full pushup’s mechanics. Gradually lowering the surface height over weeks is a progression strategy many coaches prefer, because the movement pattern stays identical to a standard pushup, just with a reduced percentage of body weight.

Does Testing Protocol Affect the Number?

How the test is run makes a bigger difference than many people realize. Some protocols have you go at your own pace. Others use a metronome or a specific cadence. Research comparing pushup counts at different cadences found that people perform the most reps when they either choose their own speed or follow a moderate cadence of about 60 pushups per minute, and that the two conditions produced similar results.⁶ Faster metronome speeds reduced the count because people could not maintain form, while slower cadences increased time under tension and caused earlier fatigue.

Range of motion is another variable. Some tests require your chest to touch the floor or a fist placed beneath your sternum. Others accept a 90-degree elbow bend. Stricter standards obviously reduce the count. If you are comparing your own numbers to a published norm, it helps to know what protocol the norm used. A “15-pushup average” measured with a lenient standard is not the same as a “15-pushup average” where every rep had to touch a foam pad on the floor.

Rest and pacing matter too. A test that allows brief pauses at the top of each rep (arms locked out) will yield more reps than one that counts any pause as the end of the set. Most standardized fitness tests use a continuous protocol, meaning you stop when you either break form or take a rest at the bottom, but the details vary enough that cross-comparing numbers between different testing frameworks is tricky.

What Muscles Pushups Actually Work

The pushup is often thought of as a chest exercise, and the pectoralis major does work hard during the movement. But research measuring electrical activity in the muscles during various pushup types found that the triceps and the pectoralis major both showed the highest activation during standard pushups, with the serratus anterior (the muscle that wraps around your ribs and stabilizes your shoulder blade) becoming more dominant during certain variations like the “pushup plus,” where you round your upper back at the top of each rep.⁷

Hand position also matters. A study comparing narrow, normal, and wide hand placements found that a narrow base, with hands closer together, produced greater activation in both the triceps and the chest compared to a wide base.⁸ This is relevant for women looking to build pushup strength efficiently: if your goal is more pushups, training with a slightly narrower hand position may be more effective at building the specific muscles you need, even though it feels harder at first. Wide pushups feel easier because they shift some load to the shoulders and reduce the range of motion at the elbow, but they train the prime movers less intensely.

How to Go From Zero to Double Digits

If you currently cannot do a single standard pushup, you are far from alone. Many women begin their fitness journey in that position, and the progression from zero to consistent double-digit pushups typically takes a few weeks to a few months of targeted practice.

The most effective approach combines two strategies. First, practice the movement pattern at a difficulty you can handle. Incline pushups with hands on a counter, a sturdy table, or a bench allow you to perform the full range of motion at a reduced body-weight percentage. As you can comfortably hit 12 to 15 reps, lower the surface. Eventually the surface is the floor, and you are doing full pushups. Second, supplement with exercises that build the same muscles: bench presses, dumbbell chest presses, overhead presses, and tricep dips all contribute directly to pushup performance.

Frequency matters more than volume in the early stages. Three to four short pushup sessions per week, even just a few sets of your current maximum variation, tend to produce faster gains than one or two marathon sessions. The nervous system adapts to repeated practice, and for a movement like the pushup, a large share of early improvement comes from better coordination and motor recruitment rather than from muscle growth itself. This is why many people see rapid jumps in the first month, going from 2 pushups to 8 or 10, before progress slows to a steadier climb.

When Pushup Counts Might Actually Matter

Outside of military and law-enforcement fitness tests, where minimum pushup standards are common, pushup counts are mostly a proxy for general upper-body muscular endurance. They correlate reasonably well with bench press strength. The study measuring pushup loading found a very strong correlation between predicted one-rep max in the pushup and predicted one-rep max in the bench press, suggesting that the pushup is a legitimate measure of upper-body pushing capacity and not just a test of pain tolerance.⁴

Research in men has linked higher pushup counts to lower cardiovascular risk, and while the equivalent large-scale data in women is thinner, the general principle that muscular fitness tracks with metabolic and cardiovascular health is well established. If you are looking for a single at-home test that tells you something meaningful about your upper-body fitness relative to other women your age, the pushup is hard to beat. It requires no equipment, no spotter, and no gym membership. Just be consistent about your form and protocol each time you test, so the numbers you track actually mean something over time.

Why Self-Perception Often Undersells Reality

Many women assume their pushup performance is worse than it is, in part because the cultural framing around upper-body strength has historically positioned it as a male domain. Research on self-efficacy in physical education settings has found that girls and young women often report lower confidence in their ability to perform upper-body tasks even when their objective performance falls within normal ranges. This pattern can become self-reinforcing: if you believe you “can’t” do pushups, you avoid training them, which keeps the number low, which confirms the belief.

The reality is that upper-body strength in women responds to training the same way it does in men, with the same relative percentage gains. A woman who starts at 3 pushups and trains consistently for three months can reasonably expect to reach 15 to 20, which many would consider a strong performance by any standard. The gap between men and women in absolute numbers does not mean the gap is fixed at the individual level. It means the starting line is typically different. Where you end up depends on whether you train the movement, not whether you were born able to do it.