Over one-third of American adults can't do five pushups

According to a new survey, over half of American adults say they can't do 10 pushups in a row, and over one-third can't do five. Gymless.org surveyed over 1400 adults and found that the percentages of adults who couldn't do 10, or even five, straight pushups was fairly similar across age groups. And while you might not think people struggling with pushups is a big deal, studies have shown that people with difficulty doing pushups tend to have much higher risks for cardiovascular disease. In fact, a 2019 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people who could do 40 straight pushups had a 96 percent lower risk of cardiac events, like heart attacks, heart failure and sudden cardiac deaths, in the 10 subsequent years.