APFT Push-Up Standards 2023

The APFT push-up event measures a soldier’s upper body strength and endurance. It’s one of the three events in the Army’s APFT, including sit-ups and a two-mile run.

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APFT Push-Up Standards and Scoring

The APFT scores on a scale from 0 to 100, with a minimum of 60 points required in each event to pass for active-duty soldiers.

The minimum score required to pass the push-up event in the APFT depends on the age and gender of the soldier.

The maximum score you can get in the push-up event is 100 points.
The minimum score required to pass the APFT push-up event is 60 points.

Male APFT Push-up Standards

Below is a table showing the number of sit-ups required to get a minimum of 60 points and a maximum of 100 points for male soldiers in the APFT Push-up event.

Age Group	Number of Push-ups for 60 Points	Number of Push-ups for 100 Points
17-21	42	71
22-26	60	75
27-31	63	77
32-36	66	73
37-41	69	73
42-46	73	66
47-51	80	59
52-56	84	56

Male APFT Push-up Standards

Female APFT Push-up Standards

Below is a table showing the number of sit-ups required to get a minimum of 60 points and a maximum of 100 points for female soldiers in the APFT Push-up event.

Age Group	Number of Push-ups for 60 Points	Number of Push-ups for 100 Points
17-21	19	50
22-26	60	46
27-31	63	45
32-36	62	42
37-41	65	40
42-46	71	37
47-51	75	34
52-56	78	31

Female APFT Push-up Standards

How to do the APFT Push-Up Event

Starting Position: Start with hands shoulder-width apart, back straight, and feet together or up to 12 inches apart.
Execution: Lower the body until the upper arms are parallel to the ground, then return to the starting position by fully extending the arms.
Body Movement: The body must remain straight throughout the movement, and the head should not be bowed or hyperextended.
Repetitions: Complete as many push-ups as you can in 2 minutes.
Authorized Rest Position: The only authorized rest position is the “sag in the middle” or “flex in the middle” position.
This means you can arch your back or sag your body in the middle but must return to the straight-line position before continuing.

Scoring

The scorer will count each properly executed push-up as one repetition.
The score will only count repetitions that meet the standards.
Complete as many push-ups as you can.
The scorer will count the total number of correct push-ups done in 2 minutes for that event.

Rest Position and Termination Rules

An altered front-leaning rest position is the only authorized rest position. You may sag in the middle or flex your back.
You may bend your knees, but not to such an extent that you support most of your body weight with your legs. If this occurs, the scorer will terminate the event.
You must return to and pause in the correct starting position before continuing.
The scorer will terminate the event if you rest on the ground or raise either hand or foot from the ground.
You may reposition your hands and/or feet if they remain in contact with the ground during the event.

Female Push-up Score Chart

Age Group	17-21	22-26	27-31	32-36	37-41	42-46	47-51	52-56
No of Push-ups	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points
51	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
50	–	100	–	–	–	–	–	–
49	–	99	–	–	–	–	–	–
48	–	98	–	–	–	–	–	–
47	–	96	–	–	–	–	–	–
46	–	100	95	–	–	–	–	–
45	99	94	100	–	–	–	–	–
44	97	93	99	–	–	–	–	–
43	96	92	97	–	–	–	–	–
42	100	94	90	96	–	–	–	–
41	98	93	89	95	–	–	–	–
40	97	92	88	93	100	–	–	–
39	95	90	87	92	99	–	–	–
38	93	89	85	91	97	–	–	–
37	91	88	84	89	96	100	–	–
36	90	86	83	88	94	98	–	–
35	88	85	82	87	93	97	–	–
34	86	83	81	85	91	95	100	–
33	84	82	79	84	90	94	98	–
32	83	81	78	83	88	92	97	–
31	81	79	77	81	87	90	95	100
30	79	78	76	80	85	89	93	89
29	77	77	75	79	84	87	92	96
28	76	75	73	77	82	86	90	95
27	74	74	72	76	81	84	88	93
26	72	72	71	75	79	82	87	91
25	70	71	70	73	78	81	85	89
24	69	70	68	72	76	79	83	87
23	67	68	67	71	75	78	82	85
22	65	67	66	69	73	76	80	84
21	63	66	65	68	72	64	78	82
20	62	64	64	67	70	73	77	80
19	60	63	62	65	69	71	75	78
18	58	61	61	64	67	70	73	76
17	57	60	60	63	66	68	72	75
16	55	59	59	61	64	66	70	73
15	53	57	58	60	63	65	68	71
14	51	56	56	59	61	63	67	69
13	50	54	55	58	60	62	65	67
12	58	52	54	58	59	50	63	65
11	46	50	52	54	57	58	62	64
10	44	49	50	52	56	57	60	62
9	43	49	49	50	54	55	58	60
8	41	48	49	49	53	54	57	58
7	39	45	48	49	51	52	55	56
6	37	45	47	48	50	50	53	55
5

Female Push-up Score Chart

Male Push-up Standards Score Chart

Age Group	17-21	22-26	27-31	32-36	37-41	42-46	47-51	52-56
No of Push-ups	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points	Points
77	–	–	100	–	–	–	–	–
76	–	–	99	–	–	–	–	–
75	–	100	98	100	–	–	–	–
74	–	99	97	99	–	–	–	–
73	–	98	96	98	100	–	–	–
72	–	97	95	97	99	–	–	–
71	100	95	94	96	98	–	–	–
70	99	94	93	95	97	–	–	–
69	97	93	92	94	96	–	–	–
68	96	92	91	93	95	–	–	–
67	94	91	89	92	94	–	–	–
66	93	90	88	91	93	100	–	–
65	92	89	87	90	92	99	–	–
64	90	87	86	89	91	98	–	–
63	89	86	85	88	90	97	–	–
62	88	85	84	87	89	96	–	–
61	86	84	83	86	88	94	–	–
60	85	83	82	85	87	93	–	–
59	83	82	81	84	86	92	100	–
58	82	81	80	83	85	91	99	–
57	81	79	79	82	84	90	98	–
56	79	78	78	81	83	89	96	100
55	78	77	77	79	82	88	95	99
54	77	76	76	78	81	87	94	98
53	75	75	75	77	79	86	93	97
52	74	74	74	76	78	84	92	96
51	72	73	73	75	77	83	91	95
50	71	71	72	74	76	82	90	94
49	70	70	71	73	75	81	89	92
48	68	69	69	72	74	80	88	91
47	67	68	68	71	73	79	87	90
46	66	67	67	70	72	78	86	89
45	64	66	66	69	71	77	85	88
44	63	65	65	68	70	76	82	87
43	61	63	64	67	69	74	81	86
42	60	62	63	66	68	73	80	84
41	59	61	62	65	67	72	79	83
40	57	60	61	64	66	71	78	82
39	56	59	60	63	65	70	76	81
38	54	58	59	62	64	69	75	80
37	53	57	58	61	63	68	74	79
36	52	55	57	60	62	67	73	78
35	50	54	56	59	61	66	72	77
34	49	53	55	58	60	64	71	76
33	48	52	54	57	59	63	69	74
32	46	51	53	56	58	62	68	73
31	45	50	52	55	57	61	67	72
30	43	49	50	54	56	60	66	71
29	42	47	49	53	55	59	65	70
28	41	46	48	52	54	58	64	69
27	39	45	47	51	53	57	62	68
26	38	44	46	50	52	56	61	67
25	37	43	45	49	51	54	60	66
24	35	42	44	48	50	53	59	64
23	34	41	43	47	49	52	58	63
22	32	39	42	46	48	51	56	62
21	31	38	41	45	47	50	55	61
20	30	37	40	44	46	49	54	60
19	28	36	39	43	45	48	53	59
18	27	35	38	42	44	47	52	58
17	26	34	37	41	43	46	51	57
16	24	33	36	39	42	44	50	56
15	23	31	35	38	41	43	49	54
14	21	30	34	37	39	42	48	53
13	20	29	33	36	38	41	47	52
12	19	28	32	35	37	40	46	51
11	17	27	31	34	36	39	45	50
10	16	26	29	33	35	38	42	49
9	14	25	28	32	34	37	41	48
8	13	23	27	31	33	36	40	47
7	12	22	26	30	32	34	39	46
6	10	21	25	29	31	33	38	44
5	9	20	24	28	30	32	36	43

Male Push-up Standards Score Chart

Training for your APFT push-ups

I will now outline some tips on improving your APFT push-ups.

So, the main thing you want to remember when doing the APFT is that you do not have to do the same push-ups you do for PRT, which are the narrow-handed push-ups.
Anytime you’re doing PRT in basic training, or when you’re doing daily PRT, you should be doing narrow-handed push-ups, which will work more of your tricep muscles.

If you are not strong with your triceps, do other push-ups in the APFT, such as the standard push-up, which has a slightly wider stance, or the wide-arm push-ups.

So, you will work more triceps with close-in or narrow push-ups.
With a more open-up or standard push-up, you will work more chest and triceps.
And then, with wide-arm push-ups, you will work more of your chest and shoulders.
Make sure that you are working on all those areas to improve.

Whenever I’m doing push-ups, I want to practice exactly how I will do my push-ups in APFT.

So when I practice, if I do narrow push-ups, my hand is underneath my shoulder, and I will do as many as possible.
Once I’m tired, I will switch to kneeling push-ups. I drop to my knees, keep my back straight, keep my hands under my shoulders, and do as many push-ups as possible.
Even if you do push-ups at night, I guarantee you that if you do 50 push-ups a night, you will significantly improve your APFT.
You can do that for two weeks before your APFT and see a significant improvement.

How to Max Your APFT Push-Ups

Today, I want to discuss how you can get a 100% score on your next PT test and max out your APFT push-ups.

There are no secrets or anything like that about it. The only thing it takes to get a 100 on your APFT Push-up event is to do them on your own every day.
If you’re not doing push-ups every single day, it will take a while for your body to get used to it.

I like to break things up. You don’t have to do all your push-ups at once, and I don’t want to give folks an ideal number to hit just because everybody has their own goal and everybody’s max is completely different.

Video Games

I do 20 to 25 push-ups between plays whenever I play video games.
In my case, I play about five to six matches of Call of Duty on average, so I’ll do about 125 to 150 push-ups in total.
And I can only play the next game if I do those 20 to 25 push-ups.

Netflix

It’s the same thing for Netflix.
If I’m at home all day watching Netflix and I want to binge-watch shows, the only way I can watch the next show is to do 40 to 50 push-ups, which I can do because I max out my push-ups.
I force myself to do those 40 to 50 push-ups between each episode, and I can only watch the next show if I knock out those push-ups.
So that’s an effortless thing to do because you’re already doing nothing anyway.

Do some push-ups, sit-ups, or whatever it takes between those shows. You can do that 2-3 times a day, and then you’re done.

APFT Push-Up Max

I typically get 80 to 82 push-ups in the APFT, and the max for my age group is 75.
So I’m doing about half that when I’m watching Netflix, and when I’m playing the game, I’m doing a little bit fewer reps, but I’m doing it more often.

So I’m always just trying to get my body used to doing those push-ups and getting used to that rhythm. That way, it will be a breeze whenever I get to the APFT test.

ACFT Push-ups

The new PT test, ACFT, is now here, so the push-ups we’re doing now will be different than those you will do on the ACFT.
However, being good at push-ups will set you ahead of the game for doing hand-release push-ups.
So, if you want a little bit more of a challenge, you can do the hand-release push-ups instead of just doing the push-ups at night.

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George N.

George N. is the founder of ArmyPRT.com. While he never actually served in the United States Army, he has a passion for writing about military-related topics.

Born and raised in Bozeman, Montana, he graduated from George State University with an MBA in Actuarial Science. His hobbies include beach volleyball, hiking, fishing, and lifting weights

George is also a certified nutritionist with a passion for health and fitness.