Some of it is so stupid I wonder how it made it to the "list" of idiocy in the first place - perhaps the lazy asses populating this planet, and there are a lot - made it up in their minds and put it there. '

I've debunked so many of these before - one being the "pushups are only good for conditioning" myth. 

Utter baloney coming from folks who cannot do high rep pushup workouts in proper form. 

Then, the nonsense about "they only tax the chest, and you won't build the upper body fully with just pushups". 

Utter tosh. (although yes, pull-ups are key too!). 

Then the thing about "they dont give you cardio" 

Really? 

Do 100 Hindu pushups in proper form without stopping, then come back and tell me ... 

The one I want to debunk today - is this one - this utter rot I keep reading about " some firefighter's test". 

Apparently if you're a firefighter, and can do "40 or more pushups in less than 60 seconds" or some bunk, you're fit and are ... ah, but let me just quote it

Men who can perform 40 pushups in one minute are 96 percent less likely to have cardiovascular disease than those who do less than 10. The Harvard study focused on over 1,100 firefighters with a median age of 39. The exact results might not be applicable to men of other age groups or to women, researchers warn.

Incredibly this bunk is BELIEVED. 

First off, why just firefighters? Does the pushup distinguish between firefighters, lazy asses, and tri atheletes, boxers, wrestlers, average Joe/Jane etc? 

You bet - except only in terms of being able to DO IT. 

Second, who the hell came up with this "40 number" - and more importantly, less than a minute 

Proper pushups are done with emphasis on the DEEP breathing. 

That means, at the bare minimum, pushups should take you a second and a half per pushup. 

More as you keep going in a set as you "tire" and pause for rest, which I do not advocate doing in the downward dog position. (depends on the style of pushups, but lets say regular pushups the article or so called study is referring to). 

Third, how the hell did they get that percentage. 

I dont know, I could do less than 10 pushups in a minute for weeks, and still build strength, health and muscle... 

These so called studies, my friend are utter bunk. 

Lazily jerking your way up and down ain't a pushup. 

its better than nothing granted, but it's an invitation to more injury down the road, and no long term or even palpable benefits to heart health or overall strength and conditioning. 

Do 10 proper pushups the way I teach, my friend. 

Then do 30 the way "you've seen them done" focusing more on quick, rep count etc. 

You'll quickly see the truism of what I say above.

Moral of the story - DO, don't "follow the herd". 

Thats that!

More such myths busted in the "all time greatest courses on Pushups" - Pushup central - which goes the best together with, as even the book narrators have put it (and they're super critical mind you) "the best damn course on jumping rope out there) "Jump Rope Mania". 

I'm missing my jump rope already! 

And I'll be back soon. 

Best

Rahul Mookerjee