New research from Harvard University has revealed that middle-aged men who can complete a certain number of push-ups had significantly lower risk of cardiovascular issues.
The study compared the heart health of over 1,000 male firefighters – with an average age of 40 years – over a 10-year period and found that those who could do more than 40 push-ups were 96 per cent less likely to have developed a heart problem than those who couldn’t do more than 10.
Study author Justin Yang said the findings showed that push-up capacity was even “more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of treadmill tests” and could be “an easy, no-cost method” to help assess the risk of heart issues “in almost any setting.”
Some very important medical research, yes, and certainly worth giving a go – but we wonder if maybe the researchers just wanted to watch some firefighters do push-ups?
