Helping push up the heart disease stats

MEN who can do more than 40 push-ups in a row have a 96 per cent lower risk of heart disease than those who can do fewer than 10, according to new research.

The Harvard study, published in JAMA Network Open, suggests dropping to the floor and showing your doctor how many you can do may be a better predictor of heart disease, heart attacks and strokes than traditional treadmill tests.

“Surprisingly, push-up capacity was more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of submaximal treadmill tests,” lead author Dr Justin Yang, occupational medicine resident at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said.

“Our findings provide evidence that push-up capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting.”

The researchers analysed the health data of 1104 active male firefighters aged between 21 and 66 over a 10-year period. Their push-up capacity and treadmill exercise tolerance were measured at the start of the study in 2000, with each man then taking annual physical examinations and health questionnaires.

During the study period, 37 of the men developed some type of cardiovascular disease, with “all but one” occurring in men who completed 40 or fewer push-ups in the baseline exam.

“Participants able to complete more than 40 push-ups were associated with a significantly lower risk of incident CVD event risk compared with those completing fewer than 10 push-ups,” the study says.