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Middle-Age Men Who Can Do 40+ Push-Ups Have Lower Heart Disease Risk, Study Finds (cbslocal.com)
A new study finds that active middle aged men who can do more than 40 push-ups at a time have a significantly lower risk of heart disease. From a report: Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health followed more than 1,100 middle-aged male firefighters over a decade. They looked at two specific measures: how many push-ups they could do and their exercise tolerance on a treadmill. They found that men who could do more than 40 push-ups had a 96-percent lower risk of heart disease than those who could do no more than 10 and their ability to do push-ups was a better predictor of cardiovascular disease than their stamina on a treadmill test.
I think the fact that it's a better measure of cardiovascular health than a treadmill is pretty relevant, and not actually intuitive.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
"People who are somewhat physically fit are healthier than fatty ding dongs"
This is sure to trigger the Healthy At Any SIze crowd.
And every day the ability of slashdot readers to make it past the headline before delivering their knee jerk response grows less and less.
The study involved 1100 firefighters and showed that number of push ups was a better indicator than standard treadmill tests. The advantage is that it's a trivial test anyone can do and requires no special equipment.
40 full proper pushups...you must be under 40 years old.
Not the same. Muscle mass plays heavily into these results. More muscle => higher metabolism => better heart health. These types of studies, usually done by people who aren't fitness experts, omit key correlations, such as the dietary habits of someone who cares to be able to do more than 40 pushups, and how that helps heart health as well.
Note: this doesn't mean that more muscle is automatically good, but you have to get into bodybuilder/powerlifter territory before it starts having a negative impact.
Just forty...
I can do 1 or 2. Maybe 10 girlie pushups. Most of the ladies in my "core fitness" class at the gym kick my flabby ass on pushups and situps. I got 'em beat on farting and smelling like an old man though ...
"Hey sweetheart! Wanna grab an espresso or energy shake after class? Maybe go back to my place? I'm pretty good at massages. Huh? Yea, ok, No problem. Maybe next week, ok?"
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.