Author Topic: How many Pushups can you do?  (Read 1645 times)

makattak

  • Dark Lord of the Cis
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,022
How many Pushups can you do?
« on: February 26, 2019, 10:09:05 AM »
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/02/17/study-men-push-ups-lower-risk-heart-disease/2899802002/

Let me break the study down- if you are a man in your 40s and can do 40 pushups in 30 seconds, you have a 96% lower chance of cardiovascular events- as compared to those who could only do 10.

Me? I can do 20. I have a lot of work to do, and have started on it.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

Perd Hapley

  • Superstar of the Internet
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 61,333
  • My prepositions are on/in
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2019, 10:45:43 AM »
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/02/17/study-men-push-ups-lower-risk-heart-disease/2899802002/

Let me break the study down- if you are a man in your 40s and can do 40 pushups in 30 seconds, you have a 96% lower chance of cardiovascular events- as compared to those who could only do 10.

Me? I can do 20. I have a lot of work to do, and have started on it.

Ha! I don't think I could do 20 pushups in a minute when I was 26, but I was doing ten-mile runs.
"Doggies are angel babies!" -- my wife

Kingcreek

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,472
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2019, 10:55:44 AM »
I'm 61. I can do 20 in 30 seconds but my biggest problem is the arthritis in my right shoulder. I just can't go low. It was dislocated while in college and had surgery in 1998.

One of my cardio variations is walking the track around the top of the basketball court at the YMCA. I walk 5 brisk laps, then down one set of stairs and back up another set, drop and do 10 push-ups, then repeat until I have a mile (36 laps is one mile). I usually do this on my light weights day. I do a heavy A and B day so this is my 3rd weights and cardio day and I alternate 3 days of lap swims 1/2 mile in 25-30 minutes. So I work out 6 days a week.
I get real bored with exercise so I have to have a lot of variety in mine.
What we have here is failure to communicate.

Ron

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 10,881
  • Like a tree planted by the rivers of water
    • What I believe ...
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2019, 10:59:54 AM »
Only 19 in 30 seconds

My physical fitness has really deteriorated over the last couple years. Gained 20 lbs also.

It really started when I tore a bicep tendon. For the better part of a year I did very little strenuous exercise. The decline became so noticeable that I started cycling again. Took a spill in a dry creek bed on the mountain bike last summer and tore my planter fasciae of the right foot. I went back to being a slug after that and haven’t bounced back.

I need to start moving some iron. I always feel better when I’m doing that 2-3 times a week. The cardio will come easier as I like to spend time on my bikes. The muscle degradation of age (54) is what alarms me.
For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

makattak

  • Dark Lord of the Cis
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,022
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2019, 11:09:13 AM »
Ha! I don't think I could do 20 pushups in a minute when I was 26, but I was doing ten-mile runs.

Among the issues noted by the authors of the study is that the push-ups are a proxy for general fitness and that runners (good ones, at least) are likely an exception as their health is likely comparable to those who can do push-ups.

IF i were still a runner, I'd make that claim, too, but since I messed up my knee, I'll have to rely on push-ups for my fitness measure.

(/sarcastic runner - OOOOO, 10 miles. I suppose I can cut my workouts down to that much.)
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

dogmush

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,671
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2019, 11:24:33 AM »
I do ~50 pushups in about 1:15 or so for my PT test.  So probably 25-30 in the first 30 sec.  (I usually do 30->short rest->20-> see if I  feel like extra-> stand up)

I don't consider myself in particularly good shape either.   

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,622
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2019, 12:00:00 PM »
Quote
Though men who could do 40 or more push-ups had the lowest risk, participants able to perform 11 or more push-ups also showed reduced risk of subsequent heart health problems.
I can do 11 I think.  I am good right?   =D

Something to work on. 
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,745
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2019, 12:09:39 PM »
I just walked in the door from a 5K run, so I need to wait a few hours before I try the 30 second thing - I never time my pushups. I just did 33 to failure (ahem, right after the 5K run).

I do pushups almost every day, but I've gotten into short sets. On my TRX days, I will do TRX pushups at a couple of different angles and arm widths. I do two sets of each at 15-20 per set, so total 60-80 pushups per workout. I don't know if TRX pushups are easier or harder than regular pushups. I feel like I can do more arm-wise, but they work the hell out of my core, as you have to stay balanced so you don't fall on your ass. Certainly the TRX atomic pushups are harder. I used to do them, but haven't in a long while.

For regular pushups that I mix in with my yoga days, I'll use the perfect pushup contraptions and do three sets of 15 or two 15s and one 10, or just two 15s depending on how I feel. A few years back I used one of the "100 pushup" apps* and got up to 100, though it about killed me. Now at 59, I'm not sure if I could do it again. I know I can do 100 pushups in a day (I often "drop and do 10" just for kicks throughout a day) but I don't think I could do it in the 100 pushup timeframe (I think around 15min with rest breaks) anymore.

Age is hell on old guy muscles. It's all I can do to maintain muscle mass anymore, let alone build it. I'm using MP Combat powder almost every day just to keep up the protein. Depending on the study, old farts need around double the daily protein intake of younger guys just to stop muscle deterioration. That's actually hard for me to do - even being a big meat eater - without the help of protein powder.

* I will say, for anyone, even if you can only do 10 pushups, the 100 pushup app is a good way to increase your pushups. You don't have to follow it to 100. There are several levels, and you can start out with the "I'm a hefalump on the couch" level, which has you doing like 5 pushups, rest, 3 pushups, rest, 4 pushups, stop. Then you rest a day and do it again. It very slowly builds your endurance, so even if you don't wanna get anywhere near 100 pushups, it's a good way to get to 20.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

makattak

  • Dark Lord of the Cis
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,022
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2019, 01:40:38 PM »
I just walked in the door from a 5K run, so I need to wait a few hours before I try the 30 second thing - I never time my pushups. I just did 33 to failure (ahem, right after the 5K run).

I do pushups almost every day, but I've gotten into short sets. On my TRX days, I will do TRX pushups at a couple of different angles and arm widths. I do two sets of each at 15-20 per set, so total 60-80 pushups per workout. I don't know if TRX pushups are easier or harder than regular pushups. I feel like I can do more arm-wise, but they work the hell out of my core, as you have to stay balanced so you don't fall on your ass. Certainly the TRX atomic pushups are harder. I used to do them, but haven't in a long while.

For regular pushups that I mix in with my yoga days, I'll use the perfect pushup contraptions and do three sets of 15 or two 15s and one 10, or just two 15s depending on how I feel. A few years back I used one of the "100 pushup" apps* and got up to 100, though it about killed me. Now at 59, I'm not sure if I could do it again. I know I can do 100 pushups in a day (I often "drop and do 10" just for kicks throughout a day) but I don't think I could do it in the 100 pushup timeframe (I think around 15min with rest breaks) anymore.

Age is hell on old guy muscles. It's all I can do to maintain muscle mass anymore, let alone build it. I'm using MP Combat powder almost every day just to keep up the protein. Depending on the study, old farts need around double the daily protein intake of younger guys just to stop muscle deterioration. That's actually hard for me to do - even being a big meat eater - without the help of protein powder.

* I will say, for anyone, even if you can only do 10 pushups, the 100 pushup app is a good way to increase your pushups. You don't have to follow it to 100. There are several levels, and you can start out with the "I'm a hefalump on the couch" level, which has you doing like 5 pushups, rest, 3 pushups, rest, 4 pushups, stop. Then you rest a day and do it again. It very slowly builds your endurance, so even if you don't wanna get anywhere near 100 pushups, it's a good way to get to 20.

I just checked my progress, as I started this a week ago. Either I picked a bad day for the test or I've made a lot of progress as I just did 30 without any trouble and likely could have done a few more, but I didn't want to sweat in my work clothes.

Nice to know I'm not as bad off as I had thought, BUT you have a nice reminder to work my 40 year old self a lot harder because it's only going to get harder as I age.

Among other options, I've also gotten some grip-trainers, because I've notice my grip strength decreasing lately.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

Jamisjockey

  • Booze-fueled paragon of pointless cruelty and wanton sadism
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 26,580
  • Your mom sends me care packages
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2019, 05:22:03 PM »
I haven't done a pushup test in a while, so I decided to knock out a fresh one for this post
40 in 30 seconds was easy so I kept going.
64 pushups to failure in 52 seconds. 
I stay fit, lift regularly and do chest specific workouts at least once a week.  Short arms probably don't hurt for speed.
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,745
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2019, 05:28:20 PM »
Short arms probably don't hurt for speed.


Cheater.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Jamisjockey

  • Booze-fueled paragon of pointless cruelty and wanton sadism
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 26,580
  • Your mom sends me care packages
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #11 on: February 26, 2019, 05:43:26 PM »
Cheater.

Damn right.  Lost my long-stride and quick turnover as a runner as I got older.  Right now I dumbbell press 130% of my body weight for multiple sets.  Didn't take long to get there with consistency. 
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,745
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2019, 07:17:28 PM »
Right now I dumbbell press 130% of my body weight for multiple sets. 

Holy crap. Remind me not to make any short jokes around you.  :laugh:
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Jamisjockey

  • Booze-fueled paragon of pointless cruelty and wanton sadism
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 26,580
  • Your mom sends me care packages
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2019, 09:09:26 PM »
Holy crap. Remind me not to make any short jokes around you.  :laugh:

I'm right about 156lbs right now.  I love the looks at the gym when I pick up a set of 100lb dumbbells for chest press.
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

Ron

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 10,881
  • Like a tree planted by the rivers of water
    • What I believe ...
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #14 on: February 27, 2019, 02:02:25 PM »
Oh my goodness

My lats and pecs are sore today from 19 pushups!  :laugh:

I better get on this.
For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,622
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #15 on: February 27, 2019, 02:35:27 PM »
Holy crap. Remind me not to make any short jokes around you.  :laugh:
At least not within reach.   :laugh:
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,622
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #16 on: February 27, 2019, 02:35:55 PM »
I'm right about 156lbs right now.  I love the looks at the gym when I pick up a set of 100lb dumbbells for chest press.

Impressive.
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

Jamisjockey

  • Booze-fueled paragon of pointless cruelty and wanton sadism
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 26,580
  • Your mom sends me care packages
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #17 on: February 27, 2019, 03:40:03 PM »
Hm.  I might do another "pushup challenge" month. 
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

JonnyB

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 762
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #18 on: February 27, 2019, 08:34:37 PM »
I turned 64 last September. I’m healthy but not particularly fit; 5’ 9” and about 172 pounds.

I can knock out 25 pushups. If I do them regularly and frequently, I can get back to 40 in a few weeks.

JB
Jon has a long mustache. No, really; he does. Look at that thing!

Fly320s

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 14,415
  • Formerly, Arthur, King of the Britons
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #19 on: February 27, 2019, 09:06:52 PM »
1
Islamic sex dolls.  Do they blow themselves up?

Unisaw

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,415
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #20 on: February 27, 2019, 10:08:12 PM »
1

It’s too bad you can’t do them on “autopilot.”  ;)
Well, if you have the sudden urge to lick your balls you'll know you got the veterinary version... K Frame

Unisaw

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,415
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #21 on: February 27, 2019, 10:11:54 PM »
I’m 60 and weigh about 220.  I do 24 push-ups as part of my morning exercise routine but I take a short break after the first 14.
Well, if you have the sudden urge to lick your balls you'll know you got the veterinary version... K Frame

HeroHog

  • Technical Site Pig
  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,030
  • It can ALWAYS get worse!
    • FaceButt Profile
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #22 on: February 27, 2019, 11:45:09 PM »
I can't get on the floor without major pain and getting up is a JOB with my back and knees! A PUSHUP?!?! Gimme a break!
I might not last very long or be very effective but I'll be a real pain in the ass for a minute!
MOLON LABE!

Jamisjockey

  • Booze-fueled paragon of pointless cruelty and wanton sadism
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 26,580
  • Your mom sends me care packages
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #23 on: February 28, 2019, 07:58:24 AM »
I turned 64 last September. I’m healthy but not particularly fit; 5’ 9” and about 172 pounds.

I can knock out 25 pushups. If I do them regularly and frequently, I can get back to 40 in a few weeks.

JB

Very nice!
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,745
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: How many Pushups can you do?
« Reply #24 on: February 28, 2019, 09:06:56 AM »
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."