In everyday life, it's common to see people completing dozens of push-ups in a row, which often amazes and earns admiration. However, when it comes to evaluating a person's push-up level, two questions immediately arise, otherwise, an evaluation cannot be made.

Question 1: Which assessment standard is adopted?

(1) In everyday scenarios

When it comes to push-ups in everyday settings, such as workplace rest-time competitions between colleagues, an internal company sports competition, or a regular person doing push-ups at home, there's rarely a possibility of 'standardized action.' Participants and organizers are primarily focused on how many they can complete, so it's purely for entertainment, and thus there's no need for any 'assessment standards.' From a fitness perspective, whether completing 5 or 50 push-ups is equally acceptable, and evaluation is unnecessary.

(2) The National Fitness Guidance issued by the State Physical Education Bureau

If the standards in the National Fitness Guidance issued by the State Physical Education Bureau are used, a male who can complete 40 push-ups in one go is equivalent to the level of young men aged 20 to 24, and will receive a score of 4, which is the almost best result in this test project.

(3) The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) test requirements

NSCA's physical fitness test evaluation guidelines include three push-up standards:

The 1st type is for general adults. If a male between 40 and 49 years old can complete 40 push-ups, it exceeds the best results for men in the NSCA age group. This score is roughly equivalent to the best push-up test result for men aged 30 to 39.

The 2nd type, NSCA published a 2006 US police officer staff push-up maximum standard number. 40 to 49 years old's best result is 18 times. If you can complete 40 times, you far exceed the level of the same age American police.

The 3rd type is the push-up maximum standard number for adolescents. If an adult male can complete 40 times, it is roughly equivalent to the second best result for American teenagers aged 15.

After reviewing these two authoritative agencies' published standards, it seems that a 47-year-old middle-aged man who can complete 40 push-ups is very outstanding. However, we need to discuss another issue: if you want to use these standards to evaluate your push-up level, you must ensure that the action process meets their requirements.

Question 2: Are the push-ups standardized and in line with the standards?

(1) The standards in the National Fitness Guidance are relatively lenient

From the description of push-ups in the National Fitness Guidance, the requirements are not high. In addition to the requirement that the body should maintain a straight line and the body should descend so that the shoulder-to-ankle horizontal plane is consistent, there are no further detailed regulations regarding pauses and speeds. It can be said that the test requirements are relatively relaxed. Even if a person can achieve a continuous 40 push-ups, it's not difficult for regular fitness enthusiasts.

(2) NSCA standards are stricter

Before evaluating your push-up level using NSCA standards, it's a prerequisite that push-ups must meet the test requirements. Compared with the Chinese National Physical Education Bureau's 'National Fitness Guidance,' NSCA's requirements are much stricter.

It explicitly requires that the entire body, from the shoulder to the ankle, must remain in a straight line. Every time you descend to the lowest position, the chest should touch the ground, and when you push up to the highest position, the arms must be fully extended. The speed of the push-up should be maintained at 20 to 30 times per minute, and there should be no pauses or rests between push-ups. If any of these aspects don't meet the requirements, the push-up test is immediately terminated. Obviously, if the tester completely follows NSCA's action requirements, most people's push-up numbers will be significantly reduced.

This problem is very simple. Before evaluating your push-up level, you should first ensure two things:

(1) Choose a more authoritative assessment standard. You can take the above-mentioned Chinese National Physical Education Bureau's 'National Fitness Guidance' or the US National Strength and Conditioning Association standard, or choose other sports organizations' assessment standards.

(2) According to the chosen standard, ensure that the push-ups meet the test requirements.

If a 47-year-old middle-aged man can meet the requirements of these two authoritative standards, then completing 40 push-ups is undoubtedly a very good result. If the push-up action itself doesn't meet the requirements, you need to re-test. Under the condition that the action meets the requirements, you can obtain an objective test result. If you just do push-ups in daily life, the answer is very clear: there is no level to evaluate, because there is no reference frame.

4740