Push ups is a go-to body exercise for many. Not only is it easy, it is also a very potent measure of upper body strength. Many fitness tests such as those designed for the military or athletics have a minimum requirement of push-ups that an applicant is expected to do. So, how many push ups should a teenager do a day?
However, the actual number that a healthy person should be able to do varies according to many factors. Some of these factors are age, gender, and conditioning. Since many factors are involved, no one can actually agree on how many push ups a person from a certain age group should be able to manage.
And this is even more difficult to gauge for teenagers since their bodies are going through changes. For example a 13-year-old who has hit puberty versus one who hasn’t will have differing upper bodies. Regardless, we have compiled data in order to find out the ideal and practical number of push-ups for a teenager.
We will now take a look into the data and share how many push ups should a teenager be able to do.
How many push ups should a teenager be able to do?
In total, a teenager should be able to do between 10-20 push up reputations. and and be able to do at least 3-5 sets. If he or she is struggling with doing 10 reps or 3 sets they could look at some beginner-friendly push-ups as well as how to do the exercise in proper form, you can read more about this in our article How many push ups should a beginner do?
Like we said earlier, there is no one ultimate push up regimen, but we still managed to find a chart developed by University of Nevada’s professor of kinesiology, Dr. Lawrence A. Golding. This chart lists the normal range of push ups for different age groups. Push up norms for a 17 to 19 year old male are:
Excellent | 56+ |
Good | 47-50 |
Above Average | 35-56 |
Average | 19-34 |
Below Average | 11-18 |
Poor | 4-10 |
Very Poor | 0-4 |
Table 1 Shows average push up ranges for 17-19 year old.
Excellent | 35+ |
Good | 27-35 |
Above Average | 21-27 |
Average | 11-20 |
Below Average | 6-10 |
Poor | 2-5 |
Very Poor | 0-1 |
Table 2: Average push ups for 17-19 year old female
For more info on the benefits of push ups for ladies, you can view this page. These ratings are very subjective as they are probably averages of a pool of people in this age group. They should be taken with a pinch of salt, since even those in the same age group having different body conditioning will be able to a different number of push up reps. For example, for a high school athlete doing more than 50 push ups should be easy.
For younger teenagers, it becomes even more difficult to gauge how many pushups should they be able to do since their bodies are at different stages of development. However, we were able to get some data from the Presidential Youth Fitness Program that is applied to many schools in the US.
According to their data, a 14 year old boy who did more than 40 push ups and a 14 year old girl who did more than 20, ended up on the 85th percentile. For the same age group, a boy doing 24 or more push ups and a girl doing more than 10 put them on the top 50th percentile.
The Best push up workout plan for a teenager?
A great push up workout plan is one that gives the participant enough rest between workouts whilst ensuring there is enough intensity and frequency to grow the strength an size of them muscle tissue. Below is a table showing a sample of a great daily push up workout plan for teenager.
In this exercise plan, we are performing push ups 3 times a week 4 days rest throughout the week to allow the muscles to recover between workouts.If you are finding this you can quite easily reach 15 push ups then you may want to increase the sets and repetitions to ensure you ate providing enough stress to the muscles to grow and recover.
Monday | 3 sets x 10-15 push ups |
Tuesday | Rest |
Wednesday | 3 sets x 10-15 push ups |
Thursday | Rest |
Friday | 3 sets x 10-15 push ups |
Saturday | Rest |
Sunday | Rest |
Table 3: Weekly push up workout plan for a teenager.
How many pushups should a teenager do a day
The answer to this question really depends on your goals and how many push ups you can currently do. If your aim is to increase strength then you should do as many as you can till failure and then keep on increasing reps after every few days.
Secondly, if someone can currently do 10, then they should start with that and then increase the reps as they continue. The goal should be to do a minimum of 25 reps together in a single go and at least 35 reps in a single day.
Rather than focusing on the number, you should focus on maintaining the proper form. Keep a track of your progress and make sure that you actually progress, only then will you be able to increase strength and fitness.
Do Pushups Stunt a Teenagers Growth?
The myth that resistance training stunts growth is still popular despite contrary evidence. The myth first originated in Japan in the 70s, when researchers found that child laborers who lifted heavy weights were more prone to be short. So naturally, it was assumed that resistance training for children will lead to stunted growth.
However, a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2010 debunked this myth and proved that resistance training among children aged 6 to 18 was actually very beneficial.
Is it bad for a teenager to do push ups?
It’s a common misconception to assume that it is bad or harmful for a teenager to do push ups. As mentioned earlier this is down to false news in relation to strength workouts stunting growth. In fact a strength workout for a teenager can be extremely beneficial in building natural strength using no equipment.
How many Push Ups Should A 14 year old do a day?
Using our own internal RPE rating is a good way to go. RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion is a rating given by the person performing the exercise. He or she will rate the difficulty of the exercise on a scale of 1-10. After completing a set of 10 reputations we should be rating the exercise somewhere between 8-10. This level of intensity will provide enough stimulus for the body to grow. We then need to consider how many sets we are going to perform, 3-5 sets is a good guide.
In total, a 14-year-old should be doing between 10-20 reps per set, and performing at least 3-5 sets. If he or she is struggling with doing 10 reps or 3 sets they could look at some beginner-friendly push-ups as well as how to do the exercise in proper form, you can read more about this in our article How many push ups should a beginner do?
Average push-ups for 14, 15, or 16-year-old in 1 minute?
A 14-16 year old should be able to do around 19-35 push ups in a minute. Anything above 35 is classed as good and anything below 19 is classed a below average.