The US Fire Administration posted an article about the use of push-ups as a way to assess cardiovascular disease (CDV) risk in firefighters. The Protocol was described as follows.

Researchers looked at the records of 1,562 male firefighters aged 21-66 from Indiana who had medical screenings between Jan. 1, 2000 and Dec. 31, 2010. The firefighters’ initial screening and follow-up exams included push-up capacity testing.

• Clinic staff counted the number of completed push-ups in time with a metronome set at 80 beats per minute.
• Staff counted push-ups until each participant reached 80, missed three or more beats of the metronome, or stopped due to exhaustion
• Researchers looked for any CVD-related events among the participants during the ten year period.

Outcome

• Those firefighters who completed fewer than 10 push-ups at their initial exam were at significantly higher risk of CVD over the course of the 10 year period.
• Participants who did 11 or more push-ups at their initial exam were at significantly reduced risk of experiencing a CVD event.
• CVD is a leading cause of on-duty death among firefighters. Recent studies show that even moderate physical activity can significantly reduce CVD risk factors.

Learn more about this research. Summary information for this article was provided by the NETC Library. You can request access to this research study by contacting the library at [email protected]