[LisaS]

to the OP

I don't remember if you have a lot of weight to lose or not, but I know I do.
If I recall correctly, a push up is moving about 60% of your body weight - so it approximates benching 60% of your body weight. Assuming I remember that correctly:

If I weigh 200 lbs, a pushup is as if I am benching 60% of 200, or 120 lbs. I know I can't bench 120 right now, so I'm not surprised floor pushups are out of reach.

If I got no stronger at all and just lost body weight down to 150 lbs, the pushup would be moving 60% of 150 - which is 90 lbs. I can see me benching 90 lbs right now - maybe not for 15 reps but for a few.

So my working theory is that like with pullups, I will get stronger & my BW will go down and somewhere in the process the lines will cross and I'll be able to "do" the real BW exercise with my BW and my strength.