A press up or push up is a common strength training exercise performed while lying horizontal and face down, raising and lowering the body using the arms. Press ups are a basic exercise used in civilian athletic training or PE and, especially, in military physical training.

Description and variations

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In the full press up, the back and legs are straight and off the floor. Several variations are seen, besides the common push up. These include bringing the thumbs and index fingers of both hands together (a diamond pushup) as well as having the elbows point towards the knees. These two variations are intended to put greater emphasis on the tricep muscles rather than the shoulder and chest muscles. When both hands are unbalanced or on uneven surfaces, this exercise also works the body core.

There are some less difficult versions, which reduce the effort by supporting some of the body weight in some way. One can move on to the standard press up after progress is made.

• "Wall press ups" are performed by standing close to a wall and pushing away from the wall with the arms; to increase the difficulty, move your feet further from the wall.
• "Three-quarter" press ups are performed by supporting the lower body on the knees not the toes. Three-quarter press ups are often used in women's fitness programmes.

There are also a number of plyometric versions of the press up that can be performed.

• The aim of the 'clap press up' is to explosively push the body into the air for enough time to clap the hands together, then bring them back into position to cushion the fall.
• In another type of plyometric press up, the drop push, two platforms are placed on either side of the trainee. The exercise begins with the hands on either platform supporting the body, then the subject drops to the ground and explosively rebounds with a push up, extending the torso and arms completely off the ground and returning the hands to the platforms.

• One can perform press ups by using only the tips of the fingers and thumb. This is known by some as "marine-style". For increased difficulty, press ups can be performed on one arm and/or using only four digits or less. These forms may cause pain or lead to joint damage if performed incorrectly or excessively.

They are also rather commonly used as a fitness test or as a mild (somewhat embarrassing) physical punishment on the spot, to show off physically (e.g. macho) or as demonstration of submission (e.g. in hazing; sometimes abusive).

• In a competitive or disciplinary context especially, it is not rare to use 'nastier' variations, e.g. in mud, snow or dirt, divested, and/or to make it physically harder, as by putting one's foot or a weight on the performer's back (possibly with sanctions if equilibrium is lost, such as spilling a glass) or to do the exercise resting on the knuckles or not use all fingers (not counting the thumb).

The World Record for non-stop pushups is 10,508 by Minoru Yoshida of Japan on October, 1980.Recordholders.org. World Records for Push-Ups (Press-Ups)

Benefits

• Develops the pectoral muscles and triceps, with ancillary benefits to the deltoids.

Men's Fitness Levels

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Civilians

See ^*

Age	Poor	Below Average	Average	Above Average	Excellent
15-19	<18	18-22	23-28	29-38	>38
20-29	<17	17-21	22-28	29-35	>35
30-39	<12	12-16	17-21	22-29	>29
40-49	<10	10-12	13-16	17-21	>21
50-59	<7	7-9	10-12	13-20	>20
60>	<5	5-7	8-10	11-17	>17

United States Army

See ^*

Age	Pass basic training	100th Percentile
17-21	35	71
22-26	31	75
27-31	30	77
32-36	26	75
37-41	24	73

United States Navy

Age	Probationary	Satisfactory (Post-Boot Camp)	Good (Boot Camp grad)	Excellent	Outstanding
17-19 *	42	46-49	51-68	76-82	86-92
20-24 *	37	42-45	47-64	71-77	81-87
25-29 *	34	38-41	44-60	67-73	77-84
30-34 *	31	35-38	41-57	64-69	74-80
35-39 *	27	33-35	37-53	60-65	70-76
40-44 *	24	29-32	34-50	56-61	67-72
45-49 *	21	25-28	32-46	52-57	63-68
50-54 *	19	23-25	30-43	49-53	59-64
55-59 *	10	12-14	16-38	46-52	56-60
60-64 *	8	10-12	14-32	44-48	52-57
65+ *	4	6-8	10-25	36-41	44-48

Women's Fitness Levels

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Civilians

See ^* Note: these are performed from the knees.

Age	Poor	Below Average	Average	Above Average	Excellent
15-19	<12	12-17	18-24	25-32	>32
20-29	<10	10-14	15-20	21-29	>29
30-39	<8	8-12	13-19	20-26	>26
40-49	<5	5-10	11-14	15-23	>23
50-59	<2	2-6	7-10	11-20	>20
60>	<1	1-4	5-11	12-16	>16

United States Army

See ^*

Age	Pass basic training	100th Percentile
17-21	13	42
22-26	11	46
27-31	10	50
32-36	9	45
37-41	6	40

References

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See also

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• Sit-up
• Bench press
• Calisthenics
• Jumping Jack
• Handstand pushup

External links

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• Illustrations of how to do proper push ups
• Press Ups Guide and one minute press up test.
• Descriptions and pictures of press ups and variations
• World records

Weight training exercises

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