People say forty push-ups means a safe heart. True?

Cohort study. 1,104 people. baseline exams Feb 2000 - Nov 2007, followed to 31 Dec 2010 ('10-year follow-up'; 8,601 person-years in total, i.e. ~7.8 years per man on average).

People were watched for years. Nobody was told what to do. A clue, not proof.

Who: Male career firefighters (18+, no job restrictions) from 10 Indiana fire departments examined at 1 clinic; mean age 39.6, mean BMI 28.7, 87.7% white. 1,562 had a baseline exam; 1,104 had push-up data

• 10 or fewer push-ups8 of 75heart trouble
• Over 40 push-ups1 of 155heart trouble

They were 13 years older. And heavier.

More to know, from our read of the paper:

• Observational: association only. The authors write the results 'do not support push-up capacity as an independent predictor of CVD risk' and that the difference 'may be explained by significant differences in recognized CVD risk factors at baseline'
• Very few events: 37 CVD events in total, only 1 in the 41+ group and 8 in the 0-10 group, so estimates are fragile and CIs very wide
• Not dose-response in the raw rates: 31-40 push-ups had a higher event rate (433 per 100,000 person-years) than 21-30 (288)
• Men only, occupationally active firefighters, 87.7% white, aged ~21-66: authors say results may not generalise to women, older or inactive people, or other occupations
• Push-ups measured once at baseline; ~a quarter of eligible firefighters had no push-up data (voluntary test); no adjustment for multiple comparisons (authors: some findings 'could be due to chance')

1,104 male US firefighters did a push-up test once and were tracked for up to 10 years (a cohort study: it only watched, nobody was told to train). 8 of 75 men who did 0–10 push-ups had a heart event, vs 1 of 155 men who did over 40. That raw gap is where the viral '96%' comes from. But the low push-up men were 13 years older and heavier, and after accounting for age and BMI the gap was no longer clear. Men only: a clue, not proof.

We read the abstract and the full text of this paper and checked every number on this page against it (18 facts, checked on 2026-10-03). The study design is named above. Cohort and other observational studies are described as linked, not proven. Found an error? Email theis@onestudyaday.com.