Rep The SetPush-Ups: pace by band
Fast until they suddenly are not. Push-ups cycle quickly at low fatigue, then hit a wall where half reps and worm hips appear. Programming them early in a circuit gets clean volume; late in a circuit they become a test of standards rather than speed.
The numbers
Push-Ups is classed fast (short range and little or no load, so cadence is the whole game), which puts a 0.6x multiplier on the base rep rate. That works out to:
| Band | Seconds per rep | Reps per minute | 10 reps | 20 reps | 30 reps | 50 reps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 1.80 | 33 | 0:18 | 0:36 | 0:53 | 1:29 |
| Advanced | 1.44 | 41 | 0:14 | 0:28 | 0:43 | 1:12 |
| Elite | 1.20 | 50 | 0:12 | 0:24 | 0:36 | 1:00 |
A band is a pace, not a verdict: finishing at the Advanced line means you moved at that rate on that day. The rates and the class come from the same published config the Rep The Set app computes with, fetched live, so this page and the app cannot disagree.
Use it
Sketch a whole workout with push-ups in the band calculator, or read how the difficulty bands are calculated for the arithmetic behind these numbers.