30-Day Push-Up Challenge for Upper-Body Strength, Stability and Stamina
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30-Day Push-Up Challenge for Upper-Body Strength, Stability and Stamina

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Updated on August 12, 2025
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The number of push-ups you can do is often tossed around as a benchmark for strength — and with good reason. Push-ups are a classic upper-body exercise. They work your chest, shoulders, arms, and core.

To up your push-up game, try this month-long challenge and take advantage of all the impressive benefits of push-ups. You’ll build upper-body strength in just 30 days.

How to Do the 30-Day Push-Up Challenge

For this push-up challenge, you’ll start on day 1 with five push-ups. Each day, you’ll add about two reps to the previous day’s total. And around every seventh day, you’ll rest. On the very last day of the challenge (day 30), you’ll finish with 60 push-ups.

That may seem like a lot if you’re just starting out. But the goal of this challenge is to build strength throughout the month and push yourself beyond what you think is possible. Plus, you don’t have to do all of your daily push-ups in one go. You can break them into smaller sets throughout the day.

Remember, if you have any health condition or injury that may interfere with your ability to safely exercise, check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program (including this push-up challenge). Also, if you have shoulder pain that worsens with push-ups, let your doctor know. They may tell you that you need to see a physical therapist.

To participate in the challenge, follow this calendar, which includes how many push-ups to do each day. Before doing your daily push-ups, warm up your shoulders by doing several small arm circles forward and then backward. Follow those with another set of several bigger forward and backward arm circles.

30-Day Push-Up Challenge Schedule
Day 1: 5 push-upsDay 2: 7 push-upsDay 3: 9 push-upsDay 4: 11 push-upsDay 5: 13 push-upsDay 6: 15 push-ups
Day 7: RestDay 8: 17 push-upsDay 9: 19 push-upsDay 10: 21 push-upsDay 11: 23 push-upsDay 12: 25 push-ups
Day 13: 27 push-upsDay 14: 29 push-upsDay 15: RestDay 16: 31 push-upsDay 17: 33 push-upsDay 18: 35 push-ups
Day 19: 37 push-upsDay 20: 39 push-upsDay 21: 41 push-upsDay 22: RestDay 23: 43 push-upsDay 24: 45 push-ups
Day 25: 47 push-upsDay 26: 49 push-upsDay 27: 53 push-upsDay 28: 53 push-upsDay 29: 57 push-upsDay 30: 60 push-ups

3 Tips to Help You Complete the Push-Up Challenge

Keep in mind these tips to help you complete the challenge and get the most out of it.

1. Perfect Your Push-Up Form

Before you get started, make sure your push-up form is flawless. At best, poor form makes an exercise ineffective. At worst, it puts you at risk for injury.

Here are the steps to do a basic push-up:

  1. Start in a high plank on your hands and toes. Make sure your hands are under your shoulders and your body is in a straight line from head to hips to heels.
  2. Contract your abs so your hips don’t sag and your back doesn’t arch.
  3. Bend your elbows as you lower your chest to the ground, keeping your hips level. Your elbows should be at about 45-degree angles from your body.
  4. Once you lower as far as you can, push yourself back up to a high plank.
Illustrative graphic titled The 30-Day Push-Up Challenge for Upper-Body Strength shows Push-Up Start in a high plank position. Contract your abs. Bend elbows to lower chest to ground. Push back up.
Everyday Health
To make push-ups more challenging, the National Academy of Sports Medicine recommends following a 4–2–1 tempo for each push-up.

 Take four seconds to lower your body toward the floor, hold in the lowest position for two seconds, and return to the top of the push-up position in one second. That’s one rep.

2. Know How and When to Modify

Don’t worry about pumping out full-on, military-style push-ups right from the start. If you find yourself struggling, try the incline push-up until you build more upper-body and core strength.

Here’s how to do an incline push-up:

  1. Start in a high plank on your hands and toes, with your hands on a bench, chair, table, or other sturdy object directly under your shoulders.
  2. Bend your elbows and lower your chest to the object.
  3. Push back up to a plank.
Illustrative graphic titled The 30-Day Push-Up Challenge for Upper-Body Strength shows Start in a high plank with hands on a bench. Bend elbows to lower chest to bench. Push back up.
Everyday Health

3. Try Variations for Every Fitness Level

Doing the same exercise over and over again is a recipe for boredom and burnout. That’s why you might want to mix things up with push-up variations.

Beginners can modify the challenge with incline push-ups (see above), while more-advanced exercisers can try variations like stability ball push-ups or plyometric (plyo) push-ups. Experiment with the best variations to keep this challenge from getting stale.

The Takeaway

  • Push-ups are a classic strength exercise. They work your chest, shoulder, arm, and core muscles.
  • Gradually increasing the number of push-ups you do each day can help you get stronger. Over time, you’ll be able to do a higher number of push-ups.
  • Get clearance from your doctor before starting a new exercise program if you have a health issue or injury that may interfere with your ability to safely exercise.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. McCall P. Perfecting the Push-up for All Levels. American Council on Exercise. April 9, 2019.
  2. Malaythong A. The Anatomy of a Push-Up: Exploring Proper Push-up Form and Technique. National Academy of Sports Medicine.
  3. Incline Push-Up. National Academy of Sports Medicine.
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Scott Haak, PT, DPT, MTC, CSCS

Medical Reviewer

Scott Haak, PT, DPT, has been a member of the Mayo Clinic staff since 2000. Dr. Haak serves as faculty for the Sports Medicine Fellowship program at Mayo Clinic Florida. He is certified by the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) as a CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist), is a Certified USA Weightlifting Coach and Certified USA Football Coach, and possesses a MTC (Manual Therapy Certification) from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences.

Haak is an exercise enthusiast and enjoys running, weightlifting, and sports performance training. He is the president and director of coaching of a youth tackle football organization, JDL Providence Football, and currently coaches high school football and weight lifting.

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Rachel Grice is a contributing fitness editor for everydayhealth.com, an ACE-certified personal trainer and registered yoga instructor (RYT-200). She completed her undergraduate education at the University of Southern California and has worked for Men's Health, FitPregnancy and People magazines.

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