The push-up exercise is commonly used to assess the muscular fitness component of field tests, e.g., Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), Fitnessgram, or YMCA. General recommendations for proper push-up form include maintaining correct up and down positions, and keeping the body straight. It has been suggested that executing push-ups too fast may degrade form. Therefore, some test protocols prescribe a specific cadence. While there is no clear support for a particular push-up cadence, imposing a cadence will likely affect performance (# of push-ups) or the defined fitness parameter being assessed, e.g., upper body strength, power, or endurance. To examine the influence of cadence on push-up performance, 100 individuals (males and females, 18-40 yrs) provided informed consent to participate in the study. Test protocols were administered in random order with a minimum of 5 days between trials. Trial one consisted of anthropometric measurements prior to completing the push-up test. Trial two consisted of determination of body composition (Bod Pod) prior to completing the push-up test. Trial three consisted of push-ups only. The push-up tests were: The APFT 2-minute push-up test (APFT-PU); the cadence push-up tests were one push up every three seconds with a 1.5:1.5 sec up/down command (CAD-A; Fitnessgram) or with only a “down” command (CAD-B). Data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA with repeated measures. Association between performance and physical structure was addressed using Pearson product-moment correlation. APFT-PU resulted in the greatest number of push-ups (71+/-18 repetitions), and while CAD-B (50+/-18 repetitions) was significantly less than APFT-PU, both were greater than CAD-A (35+/-12 repetitions). A similar pattern was observed when analyzed by gender. Males performed significantly more push-ups than females at each cadence. Hand placement was similar across trials and between genders. Push-up performance was not related to body weight (r=-0.08 to -0.12) but there was a weak negative correlation to %body fat (r=-0.56 to -0.47). However, %body fat was not correlated with performance by gender (r=-0.30 to -0.11). Fat-free mass and fat mass were significantly correlated with performance in females (r=0.51 to 0.80) but not males (r=-0.34 to -0.11). In conclusion, push-up performance is significantly altered by imposing a cadence; the magnitude of the deficit being related to pausing in the up position and the elimination of the recovery of passive recoil energy by pausing in down position. Body composition appears to have a relationship to performance independent of cadence in females but not males.Keyword(s): adult physical activity/fitness, exercise/fitness/physical activity, physical education PK-12