In a long-term study, scientists from Harvard found that men have a lower risk of heart disease if they can do a certain number of push-ups.
Checking your fitness: How many push-ups should you be able to do? We have the answer thanks to Harvard.
Be honest: how many push-ups can you do in a single set?! Attention! The number of push-ups you can do in one set can give you insight into your heart health. This finding was evaluated by doctors in a long-term study of Harvard University. For ten years, they collected the health data of more than a thousand middle-aged firefighters. It was also measured how many push-ups the subjects could do and how high their resistance was on the treadmill. Scientists have studied the data and recently published the results of one of the most extensive studies!
Push-ups: 40 push-ups is the ideal number
The researchers were surprised: the number of push-ups performed was as strongly related to the risk of heart disease as the results of the treadmill test itself. According to the study, subjects who could do 40 or more push-ups had a 96 percent reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart attack. Conversely, the risk was significantly higher for those who could only do ten push-ups. There were a total of 37 cardiovascular diseases in the ten-year study. Almost all but one of the cases occurred in those participants who could do less than the aforementioned 40 push-ups in a row.
Free heart health test
Scientists therefore conclude that 'capacity' and the number of push-ups can be a simple and free way to assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting," says study author Justin Yang of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
However, the scientists point out that the results are not necessarily universal. Without exception, the participants were middle-aged, professionally active men. It is still unclear whether the test can also be used for women or men with other requirements.
How do you do more push-ups?
Can't do more than 10 push-ups in a row? There is a simple trick to slowly increase the number without suffering too much in your training. For beginners, it is recommended to put your knees on the floor. This takes the strain off your upper body and allows you to focus on developing proper technique and building strength. Once you've done 30 correct reps, you can move on to traditional push-ups - make sure your elbows stay in place. After that, it is recommended to first do 10 push-ups, rest for 60 seconds and then do another 10 push-ups until you get a series of 3 sets in less than 5 minutes. You should do this for a week and then gradually increase the number of push-ups. So you can do 12 push-ups the second week, 14 the third week, and so on until you reach the desired number. As a final step, you can try skipping rest periods between push-ups. With shorter interruptions. You can also do fewer push-ups.
