Active, middle-aged men who can complete more than 40 push-ups at a time had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes compared to those who did less than 10 push-ups, says a new study.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, showed that men who are able to do more than 40 push-ups had a 96 per cent reduced risk of CVD events compared with those who were able to do less than 10 push-ups.
In addition, push-up capacity was more strongly associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular disease events than was aerobic capacity as estimated by a submaximal treadmill exercise test.
For the study, the researchers from Harvard University analysed health data from 1,104 active male firefighters whose mean age was 39.6.
During the 10-year study period, 37 CVD-related outcomes were reported.
"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," said lead author Justin Yang at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the US.
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The results are not generalisable to women, men of other ages or who are less active, the researchers noted.
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