12U pushups what is reasonable

[fastpitch91]

I like to use pushups as an easy to do at practice (no equipment) exercise to teach and challenge the girls. I have recently moved down from older players to a 12U team. What is a reasonable expectation to set for goals for the kids?

lets say max reps in a minute......can pause in "up" position to recover if needed all in 1 minute time frame

thanks

 

[quincy]

We have a doctor’s note, DD is not allowed to do pushups.

 

[chinamigarden]

At the first winter practice my dds coach had them do as many as possible and the amount was recorded, He asks them to do pushups all winter at home, then he had them do their max at the end of the winter and compared the two numbers. I think some of the girls figured out what was happening and sandbagged in the first test.

But the range was very big, some girls couldn't do 5 at first and other girls did 50. I would say, don't have any expectation and do what they can do.

One girl on her team would put her feet on a chair, her hands on medicine balls and just rip off 40 pushups.

 

[chinamigarden]

We have a doctor’s note, DD is not allowed to do pushups.

Sorry to hear that it must be a serious issue.

 

[fastpitch91]

40 or 50 is seriously impressive...in a minute?....12u????

 

[redhotcoach]

Yeah it's all over the place. Especially with softball, your strongest (heaviest) girl may not be able to do hardly any....we've been there.
I know just from my kids and the pres fit test at school, the extremely skinny girls blow away the rest at push ups and chin ups.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Agree with Redhotcoach, same way with boys. I power lifted in HS, we had guys who could explode a single time with power, but couldn't run once around the track without throwing up. Little guys could do 100's of pushups and pull ups, big guys lucky to get 20-30 in a row.

 

[chinamigarden]

40 or 50 is seriously impressive...in a minute?....12u????

No, sorry I missed the in a minute part. It was just what they could do. After my dd did over 300 sit ups one year he did change that test to how many can you do in 2 minutes,

 

[austinwass]

Pushups are a great exercise to use as a testing protocol as long as the technique stays efficient. Pushups start as a strength exercise and then transition into a muscular endurance exercise due to the number of reps performed. The energy systems change as the reps change. Some athletes are able to sustain the exercise for longer periods of time than others, but that doesn't mean they are stronger than them..just means they can sustain that movement longer. Strength is the maximal amount of force a muscle can generate. Muscular endurance is the sustainability of an exercise (2 different energy systems and different amount of force production).

Our Baseline Testing Protocols include:

Long Jump - test lower body explosiveness
Single Leg Triple Jump - test single leg explosiveness and see which leg has more stability and control.
5-10-5 Pro Agility - lateral change of direction
10 Yard Dash - Speed & Acceleration
20 Yard Dash - Speed & Acceleration
Pushup RepMax Test - No less than 3 reps and no more than 15 - we want to see if they can A. push their own body weight up and B. see if they can sustain it for a decent amount of reps, but we don't want them to continue past a certain rep point because the technique usually breaks down with fatigue... and when technique breaks down, injuries can occur.

I will be posting video of our Baseline Testing Protocol. It's important to get these numbers to track progress and see how specific program is working and see the athlete's strengths & weaknesses.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Chuck Norris does not do push-ups. Chuck Norris bench-presses the Earth.

Now back on topic...it is amazing the range you will get. Some girls can't do many at all and for others, push-ups seem pretty effortless. IMO it's best to do as chinamigarden suggests and compare each girl against her own record.