90-day push-up challenge: the day-by-day plan you can print
Six days a week you do push-ups in sets, and the seventh day is a walk. Day 1 is 3 sets of 4 push-ups, 12 reps. Day 90 is 4 sets of 14, 56 reps. The reps rise by one per set each week, with a step back when a fourth set is added in week 8. Over the 90 days that is 2,538 push-ups. Every day's numbers are in the table below, with a box to tick, so you can print it and follow it with no app at all. The plan is the push-up part of the 90-day challenge in Proof90, read from the same program file the app follows.
Get it on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play
Before day 1: pick the push-up you will start with
The plan works if the push-up you do on day 1 is one you can do 4 times with good form. Test yourself once, rested, and use this rule:
- 8 or more full push-ups in a row: do full push-ups from day 1.
- 4 to 7: do full push-ups too. Day 1 asks for sets of 4, not a maximum.
- 1 to 3: start on your knees. Move to full push-ups when you finish a day's sets with two reps to spare on every set.
- 0: start with your hands on a bench or step (hands elevated). Move to knee push-ups by the same two-to-spare rule, then to full push-ups.
The rule is ours, but the order of the variations is measured. In a force-plate study published in the proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sports (Wurm, Ebben and colleagues, 2010), peak force as a share of body mass was 0.74 with the feet raised 61 cm, 0.70 with the feet raised 30 cm, 0.64 for a regular push-up, 0.55 with the hands raised 30 cm, 0.49 on bent knees and 0.41 with the hands raised 61 cm (Table 1 of the paper, open access). A knee push-up moves about three quarters of the load of a full one; hands on a 60 cm box, about two thirds. If 4 × 14 full push-ups arrives too easily by week 13, feet on a step is the next rung up.
What counts as one push-up
The form we follow is the American Council on Exercise's push-up description, read today: hands flat and shoulder-width apart, shoulders over the hands, body stiff from head to heels with the core braced so the hips neither sag nor rise, lower until the chest or chin reaches the floor, press back up until the elbows are fully extended. ACE also gives the elbows-tucked variation, hands facing forward and elbows close to the sides, which it says shifts more work to the triceps.
If you let the camera count, it measures the angle at your elbow (wrist, elbow, shoulder). Until it has learned your range, a rep needs the elbow to close to 100° or less and open to 150° or more. After three counted reps it sets your own bottom and top and judges every rep against them, and it will only calibrate once you have actually got down to 110° at the elbow, so a shallow bounce cannot teach it that shallow is enough. Two reps closer than 0.6 seconds apart are treated as jitter, not as two reps. It counts range of motion and nothing else: it does not judge your back, your hips or whether push-ups are right for you.
The 90 days, week by week
Six training days, then a rest day with a walk. The weekly totals are for the training days.
| Week | Days | Push-ups (sets × reps) | Reps per training day | Reps in the week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1–7 | 3 × 4 | 12 | 72 |
| 2 | 8–14 | 3 × 5 | 15 | 90 |
| 3 | 15–21 | 3 × 6 | 18 | 108 |
| 4 | 22–28 | 3 × 7 | 21 | 126 |
| 5 | 29–35 | 3 × 8 | 24 | 144 |
| 6 | 36–42 | 3 × 9 | 27 | 162 |
| 7 | 43–49 | 3 × 10 | 30 | 180 |
| 8 | 50–56 | 4 × 9 | 36 | 216 |
| 9 | 57–63 | 4 × 10 | 40 | 240 |
| 10 | 64–70 | 4 × 11 | 44 | 264 |
| 11 | 71–77 | 4 × 12 | 48 | 288 |
| 12 | 78–84 | 4 × 13 | 52 | 312 |
| 13 | 85–90 | 4 × 14 | 56 | 336 |
Rest between sets is not prescribed. Rest until you can do the next set with the same form as the first. The week-8 step from 3 × 10 to 4 × 9 adds a set while taking a rep off each one, so the day gets longer before it gets harder per set.
Print this: every day of the 90
Each cell is the program day, then sets × reps. Tick the box when the day is done. Day 7 of each week is a walk, with its length in minutes; week 13 has six days because the program is 90 days long.
| Week | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 3×4 ☐ | 2 3×4 ☐ | 3 3×4 ☐ | 4 3×4 ☐ | 5 3×4 ☐ | 6 3×4 ☐ | 7 walk 30 min ☐ |
| 2 | 8 3×5 ☐ | 9 3×5 ☐ | 10 3×5 ☐ | 11 3×5 ☐ | 12 3×5 ☐ | 13 3×5 ☐ | 14 walk 30 min ☐ |
| 3 | 15 3×6 ☐ | 16 3×6 ☐ | 17 3×6 ☐ | 18 3×6 ☐ | 19 3×6 ☐ | 20 3×6 ☐ | 21 walk 35 min ☐ |
| 4 | 22 3×7 ☐ | 23 3×7 ☐ | 24 3×7 ☐ | 25 3×7 ☐ | 26 3×7 ☐ | 27 3×7 ☐ | 28 walk 35 min ☐ |
| 5 | 29 3×8 ☐ | 30 3×8 ☐ | 31 3×8 ☐ | 32 3×8 ☐ | 33 3×8 ☐ | 34 3×8 ☐ | 35 walk 40 min ☐ |
| 6 | 36 3×9 ☐ | 37 3×9 ☐ | 38 3×9 ☐ | 39 3×9 ☐ | 40 3×9 ☐ | 41 3×9 ☐ | 42 walk 40 min ☐ |
| 7 | 43 3×10 ☐ | 44 3×10 ☐ | 45 3×10 ☐ | 46 3×10 ☐ | 47 3×10 ☐ | 48 3×10 ☐ | 49 walk 45 min ☐ |
| 8 | 50 4×9 ☐ | 51 4×9 ☐ | 52 4×9 ☐ | 53 4×9 ☐ | 54 4×9 ☐ | 55 4×9 ☐ | 56 walk 45 min ☐ |
| 9 | 57 4×10 ☐ | 58 4×10 ☐ | 59 4×10 ☐ | 60 4×10 ☐ | 61 4×10 ☐ | 62 4×10 ☐ | 63 walk 45 min ☐ |
| 10 | 64 4×11 ☐ | 65 4×11 ☐ | 66 4×11 ☐ | 67 4×11 ☐ | 68 4×11 ☐ | 69 4×11 ☐ | 70 walk 50 min ☐ |
| 11 | 71 4×12 ☐ | 72 4×12 ☐ | 73 4×12 ☐ | 74 4×12 ☐ | 75 4×12 ☐ | 76 4×12 ☐ | 77 walk 50 min ☐ |
| 12 | 78 4×13 ☐ | 79 4×13 ☐ | 80 4×13 ☐ | 81 4×13 ☐ | 82 4×13 ☐ | 83 4×13 ☐ | 84 walk 55 min ☐ |
| 13 | 85 4×14 ☐ | 86 4×14 ☐ | 87 4×14 ☐ | 88 4×14 ☐ | 89 4×14 ☐ | 90 4×14 ☐ | — |
Write the date next to day 1 before you start. Day 2 is the next calendar day whether or not you trained, and that is the point: the calendar runs the program, not your memory of how it went.
When you miss a day
Do not double up the next day. The missed day stays missed on the sheet; the next calendar day gets the next calendar day's numbers. Two rules for coming back:
- Missed one to three days: carry on at the schedule. The step between weeks is one rep per set.
- Missed a week or more: go back to the previous week's numbers for the days you missed, then rejoin the schedule.
If you follow the plan in the app, the same thing happens on screen: a missed day cannot be back-filled, and you get one grace day every 14 days, seven across the 90, which you have to spend on purpose on yesterday. A graced day is shown as graced, never as done. The rules are on how verification works.
When this plan is not for you
- Pain in a wrist, elbow or shoulder during a push-up, or a chest, back or heart condition, or pregnancy: see a doctor or physiotherapist before day 1. A schedule cannot tell you whether you should be doing push-ups.
- You want to do 50 or 100 push-ups in one unbroken set: this plan ends at sets of 14. A max-reps plan is a different shape; DAREBEE's 50 push-ups challenge (read today) builds a single set from 4 to 50 in 30 days with plank days between.
- You want push-ups two or three times a week, not six: the United States Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition, set the floor for adults at muscle-strengthening activity "at least 2 days each week" (the guideline summary). Do the Monday, Wednesday and Friday cells and leave the rest; it takes longer, and it is still a plan.
Stop a set when your form goes, and stop the day if anything hurts rather than aches.
Questions
How many push-ups a day in a 90-day challenge?
In this plan, 12 on day 1 and 56 on day 90, done in sets of 3 or 4, six days a week. The whole 90 days adds up to 2,538 push-ups. A plan that asks for 100 a day from the start is a different kind of challenge; this one is built to be finished.
Can I do knee push-ups?
Yes. Use the same sets and reps. On bent knees you move about 0.49 of your body mass against 0.64 for a full push-up, measured on a force plate in the 2010 study linked above. Switch to full push-ups when you finish a day with two reps to spare on every set.
What if I miss a day?
It stays missed. Carry on with the next day's numbers; if you missed a week or more, repeat the previous week's numbers first. Do not try to make the reps up.
Do I need an app for this?
No. Print the table, write the date beside day 1 and tick the boxes. Proof90 is for the part paper cannot do: your phone's camera counts the reps on the phone, nothing is recorded or uploaded, and a day is marked verified only when the reps were seen. The push-up counter guide explains the setup.
Is it safe to do push-ups every day for 90 days?
We do not know your body, and the plan was written as a schedule, not as medical advice. The daily volume starts low, 12 reps, and each week adds one rep per set. Pain in a joint, as opposed to muscle soreness, is the signal to stop and ask a professional.