In a recent study, researchers found that how many push-ups a man can do may help predict his heart disease risk.
The finding may help develop a simple, practical test to predict people’s heart health.
The study was led by Harvard University researchers.
Push-ups are a type of strength training people can do at home or in a gym.
Previous research has shown that strength training, or resistance training, can bring many health benefits, including reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, protecting bones from weight loss, boosting heart health, and improving health in older people.
In the study, the team examined 1,104 active male firefighters with an average age of 40 at the beginning of the study. They tracked the people’s health over a decade.
They found that men’s ability to do more than 40 push-ups is linked to a lower risk of serious heart problems over the next 10 years.
Men who experienced heart problems, such as heart failure, sudden cardiac death, or coronary artery disease, could not do over 40 push-ups.
The researchers explain that this is because the ability to do 40 push-ups is linked to high physical fitness, which could help reduce heart disease.
Surprisingly, the push-up capacity was more strongly linked to heart disease risk than treadmill tests.
The team suggests that the new finding shows that it is possible to predict heart disease, such as heart attacks and coronary artery disease, using a very simple test.
They also suggest that physical fitness in mid-life is very important for a healthy heart when people get older.
People should improve and maintain their fitness in their 40s so that they can have a healthy heart when they are in their 50s and older.
One author of the study is occupational medicine resident Justin Yang from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The findings are reported in the JAMA Network Open.
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