Sit-Ups (30s)

The Eurofit Sit-Up test measures abdominal muscular endurance as the number of sit-ups completed in 30 seconds. Also known as the curl-up or abdominal crunch test in some batteries. Data are from Tomkinson et al. (2018), a pooled analysis of 481,032 European children and adolescents from 23 countries aged 9 to 17; the largest Eurofit sample. This test uses a 30-second protocol; see Cooper Sit-Ups for the 1-minute adult law enforcement protocol.

How to Perform This Test (Protocol)

Equipment
  • Exercise mat or cushioned surface
  • Stopwatch
Protocol Steps
  1. Participant lies on their back on a mat, knees bent at 90°, feet flat on the floor.
  2. Arms are crossed over the chest with hands on opposite shoulders.
  3. A partner holds the participant's feet flat on the floor throughout.
  4. On 'go', the participant performs as many complete sit-ups as possible in 30 seconds.
  5. A complete sit-up: elbows touch knees on the up phase, shoulders touch the mat on the down phase.
  6. Record the total number of complete sit-ups.
Scoring

Total complete sit-ups in 30 seconds. Higher scores indicate better abdominal muscular endurance.

Notes

This is a 30-second protocol. The 1-minute sit-up test (Cooper) uses a different protocol and population — norms are not interchangeable.

Data source: Tomkinson et al. 2018 (Eurofit) (2018) · n=481K About this study

Sit-Ups (30s) Strength

Sit-Ups (30s) Norms Chart by Age and Sex (reps)

Age Sex Percentile
5th 25th 50th 75th 95th
9 Male 9 14 17 21 25
Female 9 14 17 20 25
10 Male 11 16 19 23 27
Female 10 15 18 21 26
11 Male 13 17 20 24 28
Female 11 16 19 22 26
12 Male 14 18 21 25 29
Female 12 16 19 22 26
13 Male 14 19 22 25 29
Female 12 16 19 22 26
14 Male 15 20 23 26 30
Female 12 17 19 22 26
15 Male 17 21 24 27 31
Female 13 17 20 23 26
16 Male 18 22 25 28 32
Female 13 17 20 23 27
17 Male 18 23 25 29 33
Female 13 18 20 23 27

What to expect by age group

Typical range (25th to 75th percentile) by age group (reps)
Age MalesFemales
9 14 to 2114 to 20
10 16 to 2315 to 21
11 17 to 2416 to 22
12 18 to 2516 to 22
13 19 to 2516 to 22
14 20 to 2617 to 22
15 21 to 2717 to 23
16 22 to 2817 to 23
17 23 to 2918 to 23

Detailed Breakdowns

Select an age group and sex below for detailed percentile charts, tables, and ratings.

Males
91011121314151617
Females
91011121314151617
Age trend (percentiles)

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from the Cooper Sit-Up test?

The Eurofit Sit-Up test uses a 30-second protocol and was developed for European school-aged children aged 9–17. The Cooper Sit-Up test uses a 1-minute protocol and was developed for adult fitness assessment, with norms drawn from Cooper Clinic patients and later used by many US law-enforcement programmes. The results are not interchangeable; the norms on this page apply only to the 30-second Eurofit protocol.

Why do girls' scores plateau from age 11?

Girls' median scores are essentially constant from age 11 to 17 (19–20 reps), while boys improve steadily from 17 reps at age 9 to 25 reps at age 17. The divergence from age 11 onward is a consistent pattern in Eurofit data across countries.

Is P25 interpolated?

Yes. Tomkinson et al. (2018) report P10, P20, P30, P70, P80, and P90 directly. P25 is approximated as round((P20+P30)/2) and P75 as round((P70+P80)/2), consistent with the convention for all Eurofit metrics on this site.

What is a good score on the Eurofit sit-up test?

For a 13-year-old, the median is 22 reps for boys and 19 for girls. Scoring at or above P75, 25 reps for boys and 22 for girls, places a child in the top quarter for age. Scores below P25, 19 for boys and 16 for girls at age 13, are below average for this European reference sample.

Are these norms representative outside Europe?

The Tomkinson 2018 dataset pools data from 23 European countries (n=481,032), so these are European youth reference values. They are useful for broad benchmarking, but country-level norms can differ and they should not be treated as a universal standard.

Related Metrics

Eurofit Battery

This metric is part of the Eurofit, a standardised 9-test battery for children and adolescents aged 6-18.