The short answer: for most people the weekly total matters more than a daily number. Two or three sessions of a few good sets, each stopped one or two reps short of failure, usually work better than one all-out set every day, because your muscles recover between sessions. How much to do in each set depends on where you are, so this guide starts from your level in the test.
Start from your max
Take the push-up strength test: count how many push-ups you can do in a row (men on their toes, women from the knees, as in the norm) and see your level for your age and sex. The advice below uses that max as the yardstick. If you do 20 in the test, "half your max" means 10 reps per set.
Per day or per week?
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends strength training 2 to 3 days a week for beginners, 3 to 4 for people with about six months of training and 4 to 5 for people with years of it (ACSM, 2009). For building muscle, weekly volume counts: a meta-analysis of resistance training studies found a graded relationship, where more sets per week led to more muscle growth (Schoenfeld et al., 2017).
In practice, think in sets per week and spread them across your training days. The rest between days is when your chest, shoulders and triceps recover and get stronger.
How much to do at each level
The levels are the same as in the test, from the ACSM norm.
Our advice for every level: rest 90 seconds to 2 minutes between sets and end each set with one or two reps left in the tank. If you tested from your knees, the first step up is moving to standard push-ups, before the harder variations.
Needs improvement
Train 2 to 3 days a week, with 2 or 3 sets per session. If floor push-ups still come out as only a few reps, or with your hips sagging, use an easier version: hands on a bench, a box or the edge of a table, or, if you tested on your toes, knees down. Do sets of 5 to 8 good reps and lower your hands a little over the weeks.
Fair
Train 2 to 3 days a week, with 3 sets per session of about half your max. When those sets feel easy, add one or two reps per set before you add more sets.
Good
Train 3 days a week, with 3 or 4 sets per session of half to two thirds of your max. This is a good point to follow a plan with a clear start and finish, like the 8-week plan.
Very good
Train 3 to 4 days a week, with 4 sets per session. Once your sets go past about 15 to 20 reps you're training endurance more than strength. To keep getting stronger, move to a heavier variation (standard push-ups if you tested from your knees, then declines) instead of only adding reps. The variations guide shows how much each one weighs.
Excellent
The version you tested is already light for you. Train 3 to 4 days a week with hard variations (feet raised, a pause at the bottom, a loaded backpack) in sets of 6 to 12 reps. If endurance is the goal, keep one day a week for long sets and use the others for the heavy variations.
Can you do push-ups every day?
Yes, as long as each day's volume is low and your sets stay well short of failure. A few easy sets spread through the day work as practice for the movement. What stalls progress is going to failure every day: the same muscles never get time to recover, and your form starts to slip.
If you want to train daily, alternate harder days with days of easy sets only.
What about 100 push-ups a day?
The 100 push-ups a day challenge is popular, but it doesn't suit everyone. From the Good level up, 100 reps split into several sets through the day is doable. For beginners it's too much volume for the same muscles every day, and the last reps tend to get sloppy.
Even when you can do it, 100 easy push-ups a day mostly train endurance. To build strength and muscle, do fewer reps of a harder variation, with rest days. If you take on the challenge, split it into sets well short of failure, keep your form, and stop if your joints start to hurt.
How many push-ups can an average person do?
It depends on age and sex. The push-up chart by age shows the ACSM bands for men and women aged 20 to 69, from "Needs improvement" to "Excellent".
Push-ups and health
In a study of 1,104 male firefighters followed for 10 years, those who did more than 40 push-ups at their first exam had far fewer cardiovascular events than those who did fewer than 10 (Yang et al., 2019). It's an association in a group of active men, not proof that push-ups protect the heart, but it suggests push-ups may be a simple way to estimate overall fitness.
Safety
Some muscle soreness in the first weeks is normal. Chest pain, dizziness or unusual breathlessness is not: stop right away and see a doctor. Sharp pain, or pain in the shoulder, elbow or wrist joints, is not: stop that exercise and, if it keeps up, talk to a health professional.