An interesting study examining the relationship between push-up capacity
and incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) was recently published in JAMA
Network Open .

The study followed 1104 firefighters from ten Indiana
fire departments. These individuals were all male aged 18 or  older with the mean age being 39.6 years. None
of the subjects had any job restrictions at the beginning of the study which
included counting the number of push-ups each subject could perform.

Medical
surveillance of these subjects commenced between January 1, 2000 and December
31, 2010 at a local medical clinic under contract with the fire departments.

The statistical results are enlightening. The group of subjects who could
perform more than 40 push-ups enjoyed a whopping 96% reduction in CVD events
relative to the group which could perform fewer than 10 push-ups. 

Reference: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2724778