How much are push ups a indicator of strength?

[CarmenDane]

Carmen and I sometimes have little Physical strength contests. Carmen works out 5 days a week 3 hour at a time where I work out about 1/2 that. She is 10 years young. In the past 3 years she has made huge strength gains. So much that she certainly has stronger legs but her upper body strength has come a long way too. We both thought she would never come close to my upper body strength levels. 3 years ago the gap was more then x2 or more. In last 2 years I had some injuries and now downsized for health while she as x2 her workout efforts. We recently did a push up contest. Admitted both have not been using pushups in our weekly regime of exercises and our form not ideal. We did 3 sets. First set Carmen was able to knock out 55 pushups to my 33, Second set 45 to my 19 and third set 35 to 16. I made her go deeper on the third set. It seems her strength endurance has far surpassed mine. We captures of video of us both due to presently separated by Covid and business obilgations. She seems to have stronger arms at the top of the movement but more trouble going deeper while I am the opposite. My chest still clearly much stronger. The video clearly shows where she is better at the full extention. We both surprised how well she did at pushups and I did not exspect her to beat me.

[Mrin]

So was she doing full pushups or knee pushups to your full pushups? That matters. 

To answer your question - yes pushups are a good measure of upper body strength and conditioning. Not objective though. You have taken to consideration differences in weight of the person as well as distribution of weight. You're moving a lot more weight when you're 200 lb and have a big chest then if you're 95 lb and scrawny. 

A more objective test for upper body strength would just be a bench press. Pick a weight and go for max reps. Or compare 1 rep maxes with each other. Does that make sense? Most likely she would win or come close at say 100 lbs going for max reps. You would probably be able to smoke her with your 1 rep max.

Fast twitch vs slow twitch muscle fibers. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Mrin

[CarmenDane]

She no scrawy woman. 5'7" 145 and on the ripped side. She got great triceps and nice biceps when flexed. Not bluky arms but still strong.Yes she doing full lenghth from the toes push up and making them look easy. Below parallel to the floor they do get tougher for her. We did them at same dept as my limiting factor was more at the top of the motion.

[Alpacalia]

Yes, they are a good indicator of upper body strength and endurance.

I do several full push-ups (never counted how many though and I certainly couldn't do a 55 set).

But I also do high planks and bakasana (yoga), but it took me a couple years to build up to it.

Pull ups to me seem a bit harder.

I guess you'll have to do more bench presses.

[CarmenDane]

I found bench presses dont help me much in push ups. When I was bench pressing 300 my push ups were less. Probably the extra mass was counter productive. I can bench press a lot more then Carmen. Now I bench less then I did before but weigh less too. My push up increased by a few. Seems her arms can handle her body weight in the top part of the push up motion for much longer then mine. 

[Wiseman2]

13 hours ago, CarmenDane said:

. She is 10 years young. 

Are you both female? Obviously there are physiological differences between men and women.

Are you the same age? 

[introverted1]

A true push up goes to the floor.  I could probably do a bunch to parallel but all the way to the floor is something else.  So I am not sure you have accurately captured either of your strength with the test you used.

I'd also argue that true upper body strength would be measured both by full pushups and pronated, pullups (from dead hang)

[CarmenDane]

Boyfriend Girlfriend Male  6'-0" 200 & female 5'-7" 145

In absolute upper body strength I am stronger but pushups seem to be another indicator of strength and stamina and strength to body weight of a particular muscle group. I agree full range to the floor to full extension to the top is a better overall indicator.. Going low to the floor i feel points to more chest and lats involved. Mid to full to the top I think triceps. From the floor to mid I am doing better, from the mid point to the top her arms are pushing her body weight up better then mine. Her triceps look great and are definately strong. Possiblity her overall higher fitness level supplying oxygen to her muscles better too

[DKT3]

Just stamina really. There is also alot of physics and geometry involved in push-ups. A better indicator would be putting your body weight on the bench press and see who does the most. The pure up and down motion is a much better indicator of pure upper body strength,  and eliminates other factors such as weight displacement...example men tend to carry more of there weight from the belt line up were women are the opposite.  Which means if proportional equal in terms of strength because the weight is farther away women should be able to do more. If that makes since

[Alpacalia]

20 hours ago, CarmenDane said:

I found bench presses dont help me much in push ups. When I was bench pressing 300 my push ups were less. Probably the extra mass was counter productive. I can bench press a lot more then Carmen. Now I bench less then I did before but weigh less too. My push up increased by a few. Seems her arms can handle her body weight in the top part of the push up motion for much longer then mine. 

She might just have more core strength overall.

Maybe add in some planks to help with core endurance (static and dynamic planks - high, elbow, side, plank up-downs, etc.).

[CarmenDane]

Weight distribution belt line and up makes perfect sense. My upper body is much heavier then hers and Id say her lower body weighs more. Her hips and thighs are packed with muscle. She has impressive triceps and good bicep size and shape when flexed but overall her arms are not big. No fat on them. Looking at them unflexed you would never know they are very strong. She once got in a tussle with a 25 year old man and she took him down. She had his arm stretched out and foot on his throat lol. The comment to core strength. Yes she is overall more fit and likely her core is stronger for her body size compared to mine. Good point her core probably aiding her a lot. When she does the push up it looks like her arms are not getting tired until about 40 or more. She's not ripping through them at a quick pace either.

[Andy_K]

Push ups are a fairly good cross-gender exercise to use because the relative performance numbers are roughly the same for a given percentile of the population (male numbers are a little higher, but far less so than most upper body exercises). As you say, this is due to male heavier upper body being counteracted by the distribution of weight to the end of the body doing most work.

If you want a better upper body strength measurement, pull-ups are a great measure. Men tend to have the advantage here though since they generally just have a better upper body strength to bodyweight ratio.

The bench press is not such a great measure. It's as much technique as it is strength - you can train for it effectively without actually getting much stronger, and focuses on chest rather than back, which is the bigger muscle group. Only good as a measure if you're purely concerned with raw strength, rather than ability relative to bodyweight, and if you both train it the same amount.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Andy_K

[DKT3]

Bench isn't about technique.  If you put 200 pounds on your chest only 200 pounds of force will push it up. 

If done dangerously and bouncing the weight off your chest is consider technique then I agree.

If done properly, down,  pause then up there is absolutely no technique. Its not like a cheerleader who can't bench 75 pounds lifting an 100 cheerleader over her head. That's technique 

[CarmenDane]

She is always changing up her routine every 2 months or so and for some reason she has not done many pull ups in her training.  I got her beat there but I don't do them anymore either. Her top half or top 3/4 of the pushup she is certainly blowing me away. 

[Interstellar]

pushups are my favorite upper body exercise. it’s the king of upper body exercises because you don’t need any kind of equipment to do it and with endless variations. you can perform it in a super tiny matchbox sized room, just look at some people in jail. I would concern myself more on the quality of the pushups as opposed to quantity. At least in the beginning. strict pushups so always chest touching the ground for a second or so.

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Interstellar

[ItsTheDay]

How much are push ups a indicator of strength? They're not. The three big lifts are an indicator of strength. Bench, squat and deadlift. And just because someone can "bench" more than, doesn't necessarily mean their stronger than you. Pound for pound is the indicator for strength. I've been going to the gym for over a decade now, it's not impressive seeing a guy that weighs 200-250lbs and benching 3 plates (315lbs). Two years ago, I dialed in my diet and got to a lean 175lbs. I'm also only 5'6", so I'm a short guy. I got my bench up to 355lbs, which was twice my body weight. I'm not 185lbs but I haven't been focusing on strength, been focusing on more isolations to grow.    

Edited September 22, 2021 by ItsTheDay

[Mx5Rush]

I think anyone who's been through basic training in any military branch would say push-ups aren't a indicator of 'strength', but they are a excellent indicator of conditioning.

When I started Naval AOCS (An Officer And A Gentleman) the entrance PT test required us to do like 60 push-ups in 2 minutes. I barely made it!!!  A few weeks later I could have possibly cracked out 90 or more in that 2 minutes, and a few minutes later I could have done 90 again. No problem. (Well, it would hurt, but my body could now power through it instead of being locked up like day one) My overall strength in the bench press had likely barely gone up. But all those calisthenic type exercises like Push-ups, leg lifts, mountain climbers, etc were nearly reflexive and pretty easy after a few weeks of being under a barking Marine Corp D.I.!!! We were machines that ate lactic acid like skittles!!!

When we got PT'd as a class for someone screwing up, it wasn't the PT we worried about any longer!  It was if this was going to cause us to lose liberty privileges on Friday or Saturday night! Our physical endurance was crazy after a few weeks. It actually becomes funny how much of a machine your body becomes. 

[CarmenDane]

ItsTheDay. 355lbs at 175lbs body weight. Very impressive. My best 315lbs bench with 200lb body weight or 1.575 ratio. I weight down to 190lbs now. After a couple of injuries and layoff my bench sucks at only 215 now only 1.13. Lowest its been for many years. Injuries not 100% but getting there. I get it up to 255 again fast but in the past it has not helped my push ups really much. I guess I have cheated a bit on my bench presses over the years (push ups too). Not fully extending my arms. That's where i eventually fail on the bench press. Squeezing out at the top half. Not the the bottom. Also my right arm because of previous injuries dies out much faster then my left. Carmen don t barbell bench too often and has benched 115 for a half dozen reps so pretty good. She does more dumbbell bench presses. She is within 10 pounds of myself on a series of strict 15 rep 4 set dumbbell curls and was difficult to beat the last time we did a arm wrestle. Absolute upper body strength obviously I am stronger but in relative terms she may have caught up. Lower body I admit she got me beat. The competitive part is fun. When I return to Costa Rica we will have another arm wrestle lol. She will say she is stronger now because when we include legs it gives her a edge in total body strength. That's her argument. Its debatable. Thought I d be there for Christmas but this darn Omnicon has delayed everything.