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Push-up weight calculator

Enter your bodyweight and the push-up you do. The calculator gives the weight your hands press at the hardest point of the rep, from force-plate measurements of six variations: about 64% of bodyweight for a standard push-up, from 41% with your hands on a 60 cm box up to 74% with your feet on one.

Unit
Push-up

Example result

Weight you press

51.2kg

Of your bodyweight

64%

Push-up variations at 80 kg, hardest first
VariationLoad% of bodyweight
Feet on a 60 cm (24 in) box59.2 kg74%
Feet on a 30 cm (12 in) box56 kg70%
Standard push-up51.2 kg64%
Hands on a 30 cm (12 in) box44 kg55%
From the knees39.2 kg49%
Hands on a 60 cm (24 in) box32.8 kg41%

Push-up examples

Same exercise, four starting points, and a different next step for each.

  • Example 1

    A 200 lb man on the floor

    A 200 lb lifter doing standard push-ups who wants to know what they are worth.

    Bodyweight
    200 lb
    Push-up
    Standard push-up
    • Weight you press128 lb
    • Of your bodyweight64 %

    That is the press at the heaviest point of every rep. Once three sets of 15 come easily, raise his feet rather than adding reps: a 60 cm box adds 10 points of bodyweight to each rep.

    Open with these numbers

  • Example 2

    First push-ups, from the knees

    A 140 lb woman who can do sets of 10 from her knees and wants her first full push-up.

    Bodyweight
    140 lb
    Push-up
    From the knees
    • Weight you press68.6 lb
    • Of your bodyweight49 %

    Knees to floor is a jump from 49% to 64% of bodyweight, close to a third more load. Hands on a 30 cm box sits between the two, so a step or low bench is the bridge.

    Open with these numbers

  • Example 3

    Feet on a 60 cm box

    A 75 kg lifter doing push-ups with his feet on a 60 cm box at home.

    Bodyweight
    75 kg
    Push-up
    Feet on a 60 cm (24 in) box
    • Weight you press55.5 kg
    • Of your bodyweight74 %

    This is the hardest variation measured, and it is only 10 points above a floor push-up. To keep progressing, add load with a vest or plates, or move to the bench press and track it with the bench press calculator.

    Open with these numbers

  • Example 4

    Starting with hands high

    A 60 kg beginner coming back to training, pushing from a 60 cm bench.

    Bodyweight
    60 kg
    Push-up
    Hands on a 60 cm (24 in) box
    • Weight you press24.6 kg
    • Of your bodyweight41 %

    Hands high is the lightest push-up measured, well under half of bodyweight. Lower the surface in steps, 60 cm, then 30 cm, then the floor, as sets of 15 get easy; each step is a measured jump in the table.

    Open with these numbers

How much weight is a push-up?

About 64% of your bodyweight for a standard push-up. Wurm, Ebben and colleagues put 23 recreationally fit adults (14 men, 9 women) on a force plate and measured the peak force under their hands in six variations, with boxes of 30.48 cm (12 in) and 60.96 cm (24 in). Feet up made every rep heavier, hands up or knees down made it lighter.

Other numbers you will see come from other methods. An earlier study the authors cite measured 66% for the standard push-up and 53% from the knees, and found hand placement alone moved the load from 52.9% to 72.9%. Suprak et al. (2011) held 28 strength-trained men still on a force plate and found the hands carry less of the body at the top of a push-up than at the bottom, so the bottom of the rep is the heavy part.

Push-ups as a progression

The six variations make a ladder of measured loads: hands on a 60 cm box, from the knees, hands on a 30 cm box, the floor, feet on a 30 cm box and feet on a 60 cm box. The authors suggest progressing in that direction, from hands up and knees down to the floor to feet up.

Move up a rung when sets of 15 to 20 stop feeling hard. Past the top rung, push-ups need added weight, or the job moves to the bench press. Pull-ups work the other way round: you lift all of your bodyweight from the first rep, which the pull-up calculator accounts for.

Push-up technique

The standard push-up, about 64% of bodyweight

Push-Up

Chest

The measured load assumes a full rep in a straight plank. Stopping short skips the bottom, which is the heaviest part, and a sagging plank turns the rep into something the numbers don't describe.

How to do it

  1. Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder width with your fingers pointing ahead, then walk your feet back until your head, hips and heels line up.
  2. Tighten your glutes and pull your ribs down so your hips stay level with your shoulders.
  3. Bend your elbows back at roughly 45 degrees to your body and lower until your chest is about a fist above the floor.
  4. Push the floor away to straight arms and go straight into the next rep.

Cues

  • Body one straight line
  • Elbows at 45 degrees, not flared
  • Chest to the floor, not chin

Common mistakes

  • Letting your hips drop or rise late in the set: once your body stops being one line, end the set there.
  • Stopping well above the floor: bring your chest almost to the ground on every rep, and use the incline push-up if you can't yet.

Full push-up guide

Hands on a box, 41% to 55% of bodyweight

Incline Push-Up

Chest

Raising your hands is the lightest way to do a full-range push-up, and the box height sets the load. Keep the same surface from session to session so the number stays comparable.

How to do it

  1. Face a sturdy bench, box or counter and set your hands on its edge, a little wider than your shoulders.
  2. Walk your feet back until your body forms one rigid line from your head down to your heels, then squeeze your glutes and brace your stomach.
  3. Bend your elbows and lower your chest to the edge, keeping your elbows angled back at about 45 degrees from your body.
  4. Stop when your chest is just above the surface, then press the surface away until your arms are straight.

Cues

  • Body moves as one plank
  • Chest to the edge
  • Elbows back, not out

Common mistakes

  • Stopping halfway down: lower until your chest nearly touches; if you cannot, use a higher surface instead of a shorter range.
  • Using a surface that slides: push against a bench against a wall, a fixed counter or stairs, never a chair that can tip.

Full incline push-up guide

Feet on a box, 70% to 74% of bodyweight

Decline Push-Up

Chest

Raising your feet is the heaviest push-up in the study. The extra load only counts if the plank holds; if your hips pike to make the rep easier, the box is too high for now.

How to do it

  1. Kneel with your back to a bench or a sturdy step, plant your palms a little wider than your shoulders, then set your toes up on it one foot at a time.
  2. Push up until your arms are straight and squeeze your glutes so your heels, hips and shoulders line up like a plank.
  3. Sink your chest toward the gap between your hands, with your elbows angled back about halfway between your ribs and straight out.
  4. Go down until your chest is a fist's height from the floor, keeping your hips in line.
  5. Press the floor away until your arms are straight again.

Cues

  • Glutes tight, body one plank
  • Chest, not chin, leads the way down
  • Push the floor away

Common mistakes

  • Piking your hips up to make the rep easier: keep your heels, hips and shoulders level; if you can't, your feet are set too high for now.
  • Cutting the rep short a few inches down: lower until your chest is close to the floor.

Full decline push-up guide

Make it fit you

  • Keep the depth constant

    The bottom of the rep carries the most weight. Half reps skip it, so the load figure only holds for full-depth reps.

  • Boxes between the measured heights

    The study used 30 and 60 cm. A box in between lands between the two figures, so pick the nearer one and keep using the same box.

  • Count push-ups as volume

    Sets × reps × the weight pressed gives push-up volume in kg or lb, so you can compare a push-up day with a bench day.

  • Progress in measured steps

    Move one row up the table at a time. Each step adds between 4 and 9 points of bodyweight.

  • Re-enter your bodyweight

    The load moves with you. After gaining or losing weight, the same push-up is a different weight.

Questions

What percentage of bodyweight is a push-up?

About 64% at the hardest point of a standard push-up, measured on a force plate. Feet on a 60 cm box raises it to 74%; hands on a 60 cm box drops it to 41%.

How much weight is a knee push-up?

About 49% of bodyweight in the same study, so a 140 lb person presses about 69 lb. An older study measured 53%.

Is a push-up the same as benching that weight?

Not directly. The figure is the force under your hands, not a bench-press equivalent. To know your bench, test a set on the bench and use the bench press calculator.

Is push-up weight different for women?

No. The study tested 14 men and 9 women and found no difference between them in the fraction of bodyweight pressed.

Does height change how much a push-up weighs?

Barely. In the study, height was unrelated to the force in every variation except hands on a 60 cm box.

Are pull-ups harder than push-ups?

In load, yes: a pull-up lifts all of your bodyweight, a standard push-up about two-thirds of it. The pull-up calculator works from your full bodyweight.

Sources

Log push-ups like any other lift

RIRLift logs push-ups with the reps you had left on every set, on iPhone or Apple Watch, so you can see when a variation has gotten easy and it is time for the next one.

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