'I Did 10 Push-Ups Every Day For A Month. These 5 Changes Surprised Me The Most.'

Yahoo

08-07-2025

Push-ups always came easy to me. In my 20s and 30s, I could crank out more than 30 a day if I wanted to, and I loved how strong they made me feel. But the other day, when I went to do a set of 10 push-ups, I was shocked to realize how hard they had become. At 41, I could barely get through two full push-ups. As a physical therapist, mom and lifelong athlete, I was determined to reclaim my strength.
The truth is: I wasn't shocked. I know that muscle strength can decrease as women age due to numerous factors including hormonal changes that occur during menopause, but I also know that muscle can always be rebuilt. While humbled by my sudden realization that my upper body strength had decreased, I was also emboldened by a new challenge.
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According to Vonda Wright, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon and mobility and musculoskeletal aging expert featured on The Mel Robbins Podcast: 'Every woman should be able to do 11 regular push-ups' for overall health and longevity. This comment got people (and women in particular) buzzing over push-ups. Of course, any amount of push-ups is a great start, and better than none! But I love a fitness goal and knew I could get there.
My plan? Commit to 10 push-ups every day for 30 days. My goal? Do 11 full push-ups by the end. While I am happy to say I accomplished my goal, what I gained from this challenge turned out to be completely different from what I expected.
Before starting this challenge, I assumed I'd make incremental progress that would turn into easy push-ups by the end. But my progress wasn't linear. While some things improved quickly, I was surprised how long it took to really rebuild my strength. Here, my most noticeable benefits from doing daily push-ups:
The truth? This challenge was harder—and stayed hard—longer than I expected. It takes weeks to build muscle, and one important part of muscle growth is allowing time for recovery. In a 30-day challenge, you miss out on the 48-72 hrs of recovery time that allows for physiological adaptations to occur. This can get in the way of making strength gains.
The first couple of weeks were the hardest. I did a lot of modifying to account for this. By week three, I started to feel stronger. I noticed improvements not just in my ability to do the 10 daily push-ups, which were easier on some days compared to others, but in my ability to do just about anything else. The strength gains transferred into my lifts, my core workouts, and my daily life.
One area of my body that has changed since turning 40 is my upper body muscle definition and tone. Tone that once took little effort to maintain, now takes regular training to achieve. But this push-up challenge gave me almost instant improvement. By week two, my chest, shoulders and arms looked more toned and trim. I could tell my body was responding.
Any woman who has had a baby and carried a child for months or years knows that your posture can be impacted by motherhood. After all the physical changes of pregnancy and postpartum, then caring for a small child who is often located below eye level, we tend to spend more time than ever hunched and rounded forward. Undoing this and building the muscle strength to return to a strong upright posture takes time.
Even after working on this for years, I realized that the push-up challenge quickly improved my posture. Holding myself upright felt more effortless and natural than it had in years, and I noticed much better endurance maintaining this upright positioning throughout the day.
After a couple of weeks of daily push-ups, I noticed the gains transferred into other workouts. Whether I was going for a run, joining a yoga class or lifting at the gym, I started to feel more weightless and energized. I even increased the amount of weight I was lifting for the first time in months. My body felt stronger and more stable. Daily push-ups seemed to give me a full-body boost.
I've always been proud of what my body can do, especially as a mom. But it was hard to accept losing some of the strength that I associated with my identity for so long. While motherhood softened me in some ways, it also made me stronger in other ways. Not being able to do 10 push-ups was a reality check I didn't want, but maybe one I needed. As a woman in my 40s, I've learned that being strong is no longer free—you have to put in the work to maintain and build muscle.
Between the improved muscle tone, increased strength and better posture, I found myself standing taller and feeling empowered. The way I used to feel. There's something about being able to do 10 full push-ups that just makes me feel like me. In many ways, this challenge brought me back to myself. It gave me a confidence boost that I didn't know I needed. It reminded me that, more than ever, my physical strength will be determined by what I do. I'm ready to put in the work.
We all have good days and bad days due to a slew of factors ranging from hormonal cycles to stress to sleep, so I had to implement strategies to succeed at this challenge. For starters, I was determined to do the 10 reps every single day, no matter what. But I determined early on that a 'push-up' could be any of five varieties of a push-up. I started with knee push-ups. Some days I reverted to incline push-ups when I was fatigued or my wrists hurt, and a couple times after a run, I did five full and five modified push-ups. The key was for me to get through 10 push-ups in any form, every day.
Wall push-up
Incline push-up
Knee push-up
Full, standard push-up
Triceps push-up
While I was able to succeed at doing 10 push-ups everyday for 30 days, being consistent had its challenges. Common barriers included fatigue, wrist pain (I tore several ligaments in my wrist about 10 years ago), or lack of motivation. International travel, a college reunion, and several long travels days could have gotten in the way, but here is how I overcame these obstacles:
Modify. There were two or three days when I realized I hadn't done my push-ups yet while I was brushing my teeth. As soon as I was done, I put my hands on the edge of my bathtub and got 10 incline push-ups done before bed.
The takeaway: There is always time, and a place, to do 10 push-ups. It takes less than 30 seconds! Just be creative.
Pair them with workouts you already love. My favorite form of exercise is running. To make sure I didn't forget my push-ups, I always finished a run with one to two sets of 10 push-ups. Interestingly, I always felt strongest when I paired them with other workouts.
The takeaway: Pair your push-ups with a workout and see if it helps you crank out an extra set.
Do them anywhere. Thankfully, no matter where you go, all you need is a floor, wall or bench to complete a push-up. The ability to do them anywhere, without equipment, allowed for some creative improvised push-ups but helped me get the job done.
The takeaway: If you're thinking about doing your daily push-ups, do them right when they're top of mind. No need to wait for perfect conditions.
commit. Whether you're feeling too tired, unmotivated, or just not in the mood, committing to a challenge will help motivate you to stick with it. If you're feeling any of these things, keep it simple and light – use a wall to do your 10 push-ups or break them up into two sets of five. And here's a secret: You'll always feel glad that you did them.
The takeaway: Commit to yourself, or do the challenge with a buddy, and you will find yourself with more motivation and fewer excuses.
Of course, if you experience an illness, injury or any other type of medical event, you should always listen to your body and put your health first. If you experience wrist pain, try wall or incline push-ups which put less pressure on your wrists, or consider doing your push-ups while holding dumbbells on the floor.
In push-ups, and in life, progress isn't always linear. Some days I felt strong while others were a grind. But showing up daily – no matter how the reps looked – was empowering. I was reminded that building strength from one activity can have benefits that translate far beyond that movement. I was also reminded that consistency, not perfection, is what actually drives results.
There are plenty of reasons why push-ups are one of the best bodyweight exercises you can do. For starters, they are weight-bearing, which is so important for building and maintaining bone in the wrists and arms—one of the most likely body regions to fracture as we age. One in two women over 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis, so the earlier you build bone, the better. Research shows that doing push-ups regularly can even have a positive impact on your cardiovascular health.
Lastly, push-ups work the entire body, especially the muscles of the shoulder blades, arms and core. By strengthening these muscles in a way that mimics how your body naturally uses them (pushing a heavy door, supporting your body when you are climbing out of the pool, etc.), you are setting your body up for success and independence now and for decades to come.
By day 30 of my push-up challenge, I felt stronger physically and mentally. I decided to take a week or two off from push-ups to recover, only to realize I missed push-ups. Much to my surprise, I found myself craving them and how they made me feel.
Even though the challenge is over, I am going to continue to do 10 push-ups regularly. I am doing them for the athlete I was, the person I am now, and the version of myself I want to be when I'm older. And I encourage every woman to do the same.
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