Press ups - can you ?!

Strength training (if done consistently and for long enough) makes a big difference to most people strength, but amplifies the differences in strength between men and women, in particular upper body strength, the ceiling is just so much higher for men.

Obviously there are outliers, a few women are amazingly strong

Talkinpeace I do the same body balance class - except in our class all but about 3 people do the press ups on their knees (well on one knee as the other is in the air!)
You must have a more pushy instructor than we do!

I can do a ton on push ups. I could easily knock out thirty in one go. But I train hard. I agree that without training most women would struggle to do more than about three.

Betty, the fact than you (after strength training) can out press up your bf is neither here nor there
One personal anecdote is just...one persons anecdote.

The average man has more upper body muscle mass than the average woman, men also have (on average) broader torso's, the resultant higher centre of gravity gives them an advantage with pressing strength.

men also respond more strongly to strength training due to far higher androgen levels.
So, caeteris paribus men can do more press ups

I do BodyBalance classes regularly.

The current routine includes several blocks of pressups with one leg raised.
Most of the room full of middle aged ladies manage one or two

quite a few of us do them easily

the ladies who do BodyCombat regularly do blocks of 20

the most I can do non stop is 30

That's a crazy thing to say.

I could never do a press up and then a few years ago I started pole fitness which massively improved my upper body strength.

I can now out press-up my boyfriend, can easily bang out about 25 in a row, probably more.

It's nothing to do with gender, that's silly.

I just tried. I can do 1. I can do about 6-7 push ups from me knees.

I think for the average woman it's not inaccurate.
I've just started strength training so hopefully i'll improve.

Just over a year ago my answer would have been no despite being a regular exerciser. Since I've been doing crossfit I can now do 10-15. Can't do a pull up without a band but hoping that will come. Frustrated though as I'm not allowed to do anything like that at the moment as I broke my arm 3 weeks ago

Being able to manage to do full press ups was one of my goals when I joined the gym a year ago. I got to the stage where I could just about manage 2 or 3 full press ups (narrow arms, boobs to the floor) or a few more if I don't go all the way down. I am quite proud of this! Most of the women in my gym classes do press ups on their knees and these are people who exercise regularly so I would say that the average woman can't do any at all, but with enough practice even people who start with very poor upper body strength can get there.

I've always been able to do a number of full press ups,so,yes!

Great variation !
He wasn't saying it to be negative - more to be complimentary I think as I sweated my way through a second set of 12
keeonho the strength training , people !

I'm a regular strength trainer and I can squeeze out a set of 8 or 10 full press ups.
I tend not to use them because I find them hard on my wrists, press up handles help with that problem and can give fuller range of motion which may put the shoulder join under more stress.

I favour a narrow elbows in style which puts more emphasis on triceps, I think it's important to look after your shoulder joints. ?

@ Suzanne

the average woman who can do press ups can do press ups

Yup just managed 2 full press ups here...seriously out of shape! I'm not sure its a universal indicator of fitness, but I definitely used to be able to do more. DH struggles with more than 10 in his current form.

I can do about 5 proper ones in a row.

I'd say he is wrong.
The average woman couldn't do a press up.
The average woman is overweight and doesn't exercise.

The average woman who works out can do plenty though.
When I was training I could easily do reps of 50.

?
Men on average have greater upper body muscle mass and also the advantage of a higher center of gravity.

Core strength isn't going to help much if you don't have the strength required in shoulders chest and triceps to bench press around 60 percent of your body weight...since that is what you are doing in a press up?

I am very fit (runner) and have a strong core - can plank for ages, but I can't do 1 pressup. It's my NY resolution to do be able to do a single press-up. TBH I haven't made much progress yet....

I don't think the PT's comment was unreasonable Polly. Most women can't do press-ups. Men OTOH can. That's not good or bad, it's just true. DH is fat and unfit. Hasn't trained in years but he can easily do 10 press-ups which would be a massive achievement for me. It's not wrong to acknowledge that men and women are built differently.

it's an incredibly negative remark isn't it, would be interested to know context in which it was said, I much prefer to hear about women (and men) who have trained to the point where they can do impressive things

I know men who don't even know the difference between push ups and tricep dips (they did a few of the latter and thought it was the former) and couldn't do even one

(was in a mixed group gym induction recently and if that is a snapshot of the average knowledge of fitness and general physical prowess I think the trainer might have said 'most people' rather than women)

I agree that without strength training the average woman would struggle to do full, strict press ups.
I certainly couldn't do any.
Lowering yourself to the point where your elbows are at 90 degrees is surely only half a rep. ?

i think this depends on exactly what he means, if you took 100 women off the street and challenged them to do strict full press ups he's probably right the outcome would probably be an average of about 2 reps.

if he's saying with training that's all a women can ever do he's clearly wrong as evidenced above.

i personally found it quite motivating to be able to do at least 10 and have my PT tell me that the majority of women cant perform greater than 3 strict press ups

Having said that, I do lift kettle bells and do chest presses and do pilates which involves a lot of arm work.

I can do ten proper ones comfortably (well I was gritting my teeth at the end but still!) my arms were slightly wide and I was tucking my elbows into my sides as I came down.

I know that I can so 36 pivoted ones on my knees with chest right to the floor in a minute and this was with great form in front of a personal trainer who was timing me.

I don't think they can do them without training easily, but I imagine most people can learn.

I couldn't even do one for most of my life. Now, after doing them with varying regularly for the last eighteen months, I could do up to thirty.