Long before there was the push up bra there was the push up. And long after the push up bra has been forgotten there will still be the push up, and there is a good chance that there will still be Jack LaLanne, still doing push ups. Tara Parker-Pope, designated by Geezer as the world’s most delightful health writer, offers some interesting thoughts about the push up, what it means culturally, what it does physically, and how one can cheat by doing push ups against a counter top instead of the floor. And for those of us who don’t have to cheat (yet), Parker-Pope gives us a yard stick to measure our performance. Based on national averages, she wriites, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16
push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of
60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women.
Read more from Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Friday, April 17, 2026
I just bought one of those Perfect Pushup things they advertise all over TV, but I opted for the Travel Edition because I am on the road so often. It certainly helps with the wrist strain and lets me lower myself further.
Push ups are an important part of my workout routine. Vacillating for years between body weight excercises, i.e. push ups and chin ups, vs. free weights. I now do the body weight exercises exclusively. They are less time consuming and, for me, more beneficial in maintaining the upper body conditioning that I desire in concert with my running. Push up bars are great for going deep working your pectorals.
There are a great many ways to do pushups. Those “Perfect Pushup” devices offer two benefits – they ease the strain on the wrists and they raise you up from the floor so you can “dip” lower. Being cheap, I emulate them by using dumbells – they may not twist, but they raise me off the floor a similar amount. I also rest my toes on a chair to move my weight towards my arms. The stereotypical “girl’s pushup” – resting on the knees – does the opposite, reduces the load on the arms. The “standard”, though, is what they tested … what they averaged. 17 for a man my age is a reasonable test, you are not likely to fall that many times in a row unless you are Jerry Lewis.
at 61 i can do 55 good ones 17 is a bit low no?
ill be 61 in a week and can do over 50 every time ,do 200 in sets of 50 every other day for years – best all around exercize if you only do one- cheers
WOW THAT’S NOTHING THIS IS MY 77 YEAR AND I CAN DO 67 PUSHUPS WITHOUT STOPPING
i am a 59 year old grandmother and can do 56 push ups in 1 minute i readily agree with your article pushups make and keep one strong !
Once i hit 90 years old i tought it important to see if my arms could still hold me up if i did pushups,now at 94 i can still do 47 hopefylly ill be able to improve as i age.
Scientific-technological revolution and the historical consciousness.The way how the mankind developed through last 40 000 years,expressed in terms of semiotics.