What it measures
Upper-body strength endurance (pushing). The test is bodyweight-dependent: a heavy athlete pushing their own weight up tests a different quality than a light athlete doing the same. Compare within similar bodyweights or normalize.
Equipment
- Flat, non-slip surface
- Optional: a metronome at 60 BPM if you want pace standardization
Protocol
- Athlete starts in a plank position with hands shoulder-width apart, body straight from heels to head.
- Lower until upper arms are parallel to the ground (or chest touches a 4 cm fist on the floor), then push back to full extension.
- Count only reps that meet the depth and form standards — partial reps and broken-form reps don't count.
- Test ends when the athlete cannot complete a strict rep or rests > 2 s in the up position.
Scoring
Total strict reps. Performance House also stores a quality flag (paced, standardized depth) so older results aren't mixed with re-tests under different rules.
Typical ranges
NCAA male field sport: 40–70+ reps. NCAA women's soccer: 20–40 reps. Recreational adults (men): 20–40; (women): 12–25.
Practical notes
- Form drift under fatigue is the test's biggest reliability problem. A second coach as judge — or video — is more reliable than self-counting.
References
- Cooper Institute (2017). FitnessGram Administration Manual, 5th ed.
Use this test in Performance House
Performance House supports Push-Up Max-Reps as a built-in test metric — log results from any device, see longitudinal trends, and contribute the result to the athlete's Performance Index automatically. Free for up to 5 athletes on the Starter plan.
Browse the full protocol library for related tests, or jump to one of the related protocols below.