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Middle-Age Men Who Can Do 40+ Push-Ups Have Lower Heart Disease Risk, Study Finds (cbslocal.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

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.

6 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. From the 'No sh*t, Sherlock' department by nwaack · · Score: 5, Funny

    Soooo...people who are healthier have less diseases. Well done!

    1. Re:From the 'No sh*t, Sherlock' department by AvitarX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think the fact that it's a better measure of cardiovascular health than a treadmill is pretty relevant, and not actually intuitive.

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    2. Re:From the 'No sh*t, Sherlock' department by belthize · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:From the 'No sh*t, Sherlock' department by TimothyHollins · · Score: 5, Funny

      It was a thorough study. The all-female research team had to personally watch 1,100 firefighters undress and do 40 push-ups.

  2. silly harvard studies... by js290 · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the Harvard "more push-ups = less heart disease" study, the group that could do 31-40 push-ups had a HIGHER rate of heart disease than the group that could do 21-30 push-ups, even though the 21-30 guys were older and heavier. Anyone still think this study is meaningful?

    — Tom Naughton (@TomDNaughton) February 19, 2019

    Pushups And Heart Attacks: The Usual Harvard Nonsense

    --
    "Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
  3. A fairly high bar... by Jamori · · Score: 5, Informative

    40 unbroken, consecutive, full-range (chest touches the floor) pushups is really a fairly high bar athletically, probably on the order of top ~1% of the total population

    The study indicates this corresponds to the top ~10% of firefighters, a group who on a whole are already known to be in vastly better shape than most of the population. This corresponds with my own anecdotal observations -- at my local crossfit gym, we test for max pushups once a year or so, mostly for fun. 40+ unbroken pushups easily corresponds to the top ~5% of that self-selected high fitness crowd as well.