Push ups for heart health

How many push ups can you do?

According to the NYTimes, the number of push-ups you can do indicates how healthy your heart is. It’s an easy test that you can do at home that can also strengthen your chest and arms.

A study looked at push ups and cardiovascular disease (the number ONE killer worldwide). They found that men who were able to do 40 push-ups before stopping had less heart issues. Men who could get through 40 or more push-ups had 96 percent less risk of heart problems in the next 10 years than those who quit at 10 or fewer.”

Many tests that are currently used to screen for cardiovascular disease are administered in the hospital or a clinic and are expensive and only test for the disease when it has already begun. They are not predictive tests. Only complex medical history taking and assessment of risk factors such as weight, age, smoking history, and cholesterol values can help predict your risk of cardiovascular disease.

The research study from Harvard took those predictive values, other tests, and also tested push-up endurance in 1,500 firemen. “Push-up capability proved to be a better predictor, statistically, of future heart problems than treadmill tests.”

“Men who could get through 40 or more push-ups had 96 percent less risk of heart problems in the next 10 years than those who quit at 10 or fewer. And men who could complete at least 11 push-ups had less risk of developing heart problems in the following decade than those who could complete fewer than 10 .”

This is an observational correlation. There may be other factors that could influence one’s cardiovascular health. Men who could do more push-ups probably had healthier diets as well, and could indicate a generally more healthy lifestyle.

It’s not a “end-all-be-all” number, but if you can’t get past 10 push-ups, you might have to work on your strength and health to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.