Key numbers
3 seconds
Down phase
0 seconds
Pause at the bottom
1 second
Up phase
1 second
Per metronome beat (a 1-Hz metronome); one full 3/0/1 repetition takes four beats
What Systematic recommends
Where to start
- Stand facing the counter or other stable surface. Step back until your body is positioned at approximately a 45-degree angle.
- Place your palms on the counter, keep the elbows still throughout the movement, and engage your midline as if holding a strong plank position.
- Hold the position for 15 seconds. Rest for 15 seconds. Repeat for 3 total cycles. Keep the midline stable and the abdominal muscles active and breathe comfortably and fully throughout the hold.
Condensed from the published Development Pathway (Tempo Push-Ups: Counter-Height Isometric Plank-Press). This is a starting point, not a training program or medical advice.
Why speed matters
Rozenek and colleagues studied men and women doing the same standard push-up at several cadences. Cadence materially affected performance, and men performed more repetitions than women at every cadence tested.
Systematic takes two lessons from this: cadence has to be standardized, and results need to be read separately for men and women. A fixed tempo means two people's scores reflect the same task.
How Systematic sets the tempo
Tempo Push-Ups use the standard floor position for both sexes and a 3/0/1 cadence: 3 seconds down, 0 seconds at the bottom, 1 second up, and no rest at the top. One full repetition therefore takes 4 seconds.
A metronome built into the page clicks once every 1.000 second to keep you on the beat.
Held to that pace, the test asks your arms to keep producing force against your own body weight while your trunk stays stiff and your shoulder blades stay coordinated, and it measures how well you resist fatigue doing so.
The test stops at the first fault: a cadence, concentric (pressing up), pause, depth or rigid-line failure.
What the tempo is, and is not
The 3-second lowering and 1-second pressing cadence is a Systematic protocol choice. No cited paper validates it as a health cutoff, and the push-up thresholds are Systematic standards built for this exact protocol and scored by age and sex, not published norms.
Rozenek's results at 30, 45 and 60 push-ups per minute are not converted into a norm for the slower Systematic pace, because the time someone can keep going should not be assumed to scale in a straight line with cadence.
The evidence
Each cited source is labeled according to how it supports the particular claim on this page. Direct test evidence, underlying-capacity findings and population reference values are distinguished from Systematic-defined protocols and standards. Historical development notes are retained internally rather than presented as public evidence. A study of an underlying capacity is never presented as validation of the Systematic test itself.
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Underlying-capacity evidence
Rozenek et al. (2022; published online 2021). Male-Female Differences in Push-up Test Performance at Various Cadences. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.
What it found. With men and women in the same standard push-up position, cadence materially affected performance and men performed more repetitions than women at every cadence tested.
What it does not show. It did not test the Systematic 3/0/1 cadence or validate any cadence as a health cutoff, and its results cannot be converted into a norm for a different pace.
The Systematic Healthspan Assessment is a physical baseline. It is not a diagnosis, and it does not estimate a biological age, a disease risk or a lifespan.