A study on push-ups misses the point

My kids know I like push-ups. I like it more than bench. I’ll talk more about the actual benefit of push-ups a different time. I read an article from February 2018 indicating that if you can do 40 or more push ups, your risk of heart disease, CVD, is seemingly 95% lower than if you can only do 10 push ups. Here’s the link to the study. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2724778

The study, a cohort retrospective was of 1100 American midwestern fire fighters, with an average age of 40, and an average BMI of 28.7. They followed the group over 10 years. I had a different opinion about the study. The average BMI was 1.3 points from being obese. 24 is over weight, 30 obese, the average man in this study was, rounding up, 29. Second, the drop out rate from the study over 10 years was over 50% and the number of those that could do 40 push ups dropped from 155 to 63 of those participating. Those that could do 10 or less push ups had a BMI of over 33, firmly in the obese category.

I think the study more accurately reflects that if you are average in the U.S., you are in trouble with your health. The push up is a must, for testing your overall fitness. Please, compare yourself to objective strength tables contained on my blog in the measures section or some other health site. The vast majority of those tested in the Cambridge, Harvard study, in reality, showed poor to average strength, objectively a population weak and overweight. Studies like the one cited, reflect that we look for solace by comparing ourselves to those that struggle the most or to the average. That’s one way to lower to bar.