Gerrard Kaonga
When it comes to being in shape, there are a lot of ways you can measure it, but one medical center has argued there is one simple method to test one aspect of your fitness easily.
So be honest...when was the last time you did a push-up?
Because according to private medical center The Mayo Clinic, this may be a good way to simply test your muscular strength and endurance.
As well as this, they have outlined an expected number you should be able to reach depending on your age.
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There are a lot of ways to test health and fitness but the report by the clinic has suggested seeing where you should measure up for your age group is a good way to see how much you need to improve.
How well do you think you would measure up for your age group? Because the number might be more than you were expecting. The expectations also differ depending on whether you are male or female.
Starting at age 25, women should be able to do 20 pushups, while men should be able to do 28.
Age 35, women should be able to do 19 while men should be able to do 21.
Age 45, it jumps down to 14 for women and 16 for men.
For women aged 55 and 65 the expectation is 10, whereas at the same ages, for men the expectation is between 12 and 10.
While the clinic has stated this can be a good indicator of fitness, some fitness experts have disagreed.
Speaking to the Mail Online, personal trainer Natalya Alexeyenko said: “I respect various experiments and studies, but in this case, I lean more on my personal experience training individuals.
“Most of my clients lead a moderate lifestyle and work out two to three times a week.
“Given that, I believe realistic norms might be lower for women by about three to five repetitions and higher for men with a sports background by about five to 10 repetitions compared to the Mayo Clinic's recommendations.”
Alexeyenko also made a point of noting that physical strength and endurance can be influenced by a number of different factors ultimately making it more difficult to set a strict ‘age-to-push-up correlation.’
Some of these factors could be as simple as training history, past injuries, joint mobility, nutrition or stress levels.
So ultimately don't go beating yourself up too much if you werent able to hit the target.