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A recent study released by the Harvard Department of Environmental Health claims an association between the number of pushups a person can do and the likelihood of suffering from a cardiovascular event. According to the study, participants were able to do 40 or more pushups were 96% less likely to have cardiovascular disease than participants who could do 10 or less.

With the findings of this study in mind, the guys at Who Cares About Men’s Health wanted to learn how to improve their pushup form and learn the best strategies to increase the amount of pushups they could do. So they brought in an expert.

Dr. Ernie Rimer is a certified strength and conditioning coach and the Director of Sports Science for University of Utah Athletics. He works with the elite athletes on the university sports teams and as such, happens to know a bit about pushups. What Makes a Good Pushup?

According to Ernie, the technique of your pushups is more important than the number you can do. The form is crucial to get the strength benefits of the exercise. Doing fewer pushups with good technique will be more beneficial than doing a lot of pushups with bad form.

In general, there are a few things to keep in mind with your pushup form:

• Keep your body straight during the full movement. One of the biggest benefits of a pushup is that it can work your whole body if done correctly. Make sure your abs and core are engaged in a plank position during the pushup.

• Put your elbows in a neutral position. Elbows should be bending at a “neutral position” or somewhere around 45-degrees from the body. If the elbows are too close or too wide, it can put undue pressure on your joints, especially when you’re first starting strength training.

• Chin Up, Chest to the Ground. To really work your chest and feel that stretch, focus on getting making your chest touch the ground before your chin. Try looking ahead of you rather than down at the ground.

• Don’t let your hips dip. As the body starts to tire, you may find it difficult to keep your hips in a straight line with your body. If your hips touch the ground first, you’re not working your chest. Try engaging your abs more or take a break between sets to make sure you keep proper form and really condition your upper body.

For people who struggle to do even ten pushups, Ernie suggests two strategies to train your body to do more:

1. Start From the Knees
   If your upper body is not yet strong enough to do a high volume of pushups, modify the pushup by placing your knees on the ground. This will reduce the amount of weight your arms are pushing until they’re strong enough to handle your whole body weight.

It’s important to keep the same form as a regular pushup when doing these modified exercises. Make sure to keep your upper body straight, chin up, and don’t let your hips dip.

2. Work Up to Your Goal with Cumulative Sets
   Ernie loves going back to the “Arnold Encyclopedia” when it comes to strength training. If you have a goal in mind of how many pushups you’d like to do, rather than modify the exercise, try breaking your goal into multiple sets.

Say you want to set a goal of 40 pushups in one set. Start by doing as many pushups as you possibly can with good form. Write down the number, and take a break. Once you’ve recovered do another set until failure. Repeat these sets until you reach 40 pushups total. It may take a bit of time, but you’ve worked your body through the same volume of pushups as your goal.

Next time you work on your pushups, review the number of reps and sets, then push yourself to complete the total number of pushups in fewer sets. You’ll eventually find that you’re able to do the full amount of pushups in fewer and fewer sets until one day you’ll be able to do your goal in a single set.

Another thing to consider when starting with strength training is that the “negative portion” of an exercise builds a lot of strength. These “eccentric muscle contractions” can help your muscles as much as the positive movement. If you’re having difficulty completing the exercise, try focusing on just half of the movement to start.

For example, Scot is working to increase the number of pull-ups he can do. He has difficulty pulling himself up, so instead, he will jump up for the first part of the exercise, then slowly lower himself while engaging his muscles. By completing the “negative portion” of the exercise, he’s still building strength and it will eventually help him do the full exercise.

“Remember, you gotta start somewhere,” says Ernie. Don’t push yourself too hard at the expense of good form just to hit a number you think you should be doing. A pushup with bad technique doesn’t build as much strength as a pushup done correctly, and bad form can lead to injury.

You don’t have to do 40 pushups right now to be “healthy.” It’s important to focus on increasing your activity level and getting in the practice of good habits. Start by being a little more active. Start doing however many pushups you can then work up to that magic number of 40. ER or Not: Trauma to Your Testicles

As a man, if you’ve ever been kicked in the groin or racked yourself on your mountain bike, you know it hurts. A lot. But is that testicular trauma something that needs to be seen at an ER.

According to Troy, if you’ve severely injured your testicles, go to the ER.

Don’t go to an urgent care. Don’t wait three to four days to see your primary care doctor. Go to the emergency room.

If your groin hurts and continues to hurt for more than an hour after the initial injury, you may have testicular torsion. Testicular torsion is when the testicle twists in such a way that it cuts off the blood supply to the organ. This is a serious condition.

Without blood supply, you have a six-hour window to get the torsion surgically corrected to save the testicle. The only way to tell if you’re experiencing a torsion is through an ultrasound, which the emergency room will have available.

If you’re experiencing bad pain in your testicles for more than an hour, have difficulty walking due to the pain, or have a large amount of swelling in the area, it may be a torsion. Go to the ER and get it checked. Housekeeping - The 40 Pushup Challenge

Scot and Troy actually did complete the 40 pushup challenge, but it was cut for time in the episode. If you’d like to see the pair push themselves in the studio under the watchful eye of the elite athletic trainer Dr. Ernie Rimer, visit our Facebook. There will be a video there of the challenge

We are still giving away an at-home genetics test to one of our listeners. Stay tuned as we look deeper into the complex issues surrounding these tests and interview a professional genetics counselor about these direct to consumer tests.

If you'd like to participate in the discussion feel free to comment on Facebook or enter to win a chance to win the test and take it with Scot. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Troy finds that not every person respects the Rules of the Trail while hiking in the great outdoors. Meanwhile, Scot has been experimenting with bird photography and learning it may just be easier to get shots of landscapes. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

Dr. Miller: What does a neonatologist do? We're going to talk about that next on Scope Radio. I'm Dr. Tom Miller.

Announcer: Access to our experts with in-depth information about the biggest health issues facing you today. The Specialists with Dr. Tom Miller is on The Scope.

Dr. Miller: Hi, I'm here today with Mariana Baserga. She is a physician, a pediatrician, and she's also a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah. Mariana, if you were at a party and somebody asked you what you did and you told you were a neonatologist, what would you tell them? What does a neonatologist do?

Dr. Baserga: Neonatologist is a specialist that will take care of newborn babies that do not . . .

Dr. Miller: Newborns.

Dr. Baserga: Newborn babies.

Dr. Baserga: Little ones.

Dr. Miller: Tiny ones.

Dr. Baserga: The tiny ones or the not-so-tiny ones that can run into trouble after delivery. So most of the babies that come to the ward don't have a problem transitioning from mom's womb to alive, but when they do, that's where we come in to help.

Dr. Miller: So most of the time, healthy babies, healthy births. But, occasionally, a woman might have an issue with a new baby, and that's where you step in.

Dr. Baserga: Correct. There are about half a million deliveries that are pre-term in this country, and that's by definition of a baby born less than 37 weeks or less than 5 pounds. And those babies are the ones that a neonatologist will be taking care of in the NICU.

Dr. Miller: So if they're less than 5 pounds or less than 37 weeks at gestation, that doesn't necessarily mean that they need to go a neonatology unit, but that you would assess them. That would be part of a routine examination that you would perform on this type of a newborn.

Dr. Baserga: Correct. Babies that come out early may need help with breathing, may need help with giving them sugar because they can't feed well. They can have an increase in sense of infections. And in those cases, they cannot be in the regular well-baby nursery and they have to be in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Dr. Miller: So the great thing about this specialty is that you're available in there in case you're needed. So it's almost like every baby that is born could be seen by a neonatologist and evaluated. And then what percent of the time might they end up going to a unit that cares for these little tiny babies?

Dr. Baserga: So premature babies less than 34 weeks gestation all will come to our neonatal intensive care unit. And there is a mid-ground, and those babies that are between 34 and 37 weeks, what we call "late pre-term babies," that can go either way. It depends on how the baby does. So I would say half of those babies may need to be in the intensive care. And depending on the hospital, they can be in a specialized well-baby nursery.

Dr. Miller: So do you think that most expecting mothers, mothers who are near delivery, know that a neonatologist might be involved in the care of their child if needed? Are they aware of your specialty, do you think?

Dr. Baserga: I would say half about, especially in the United States, most people are aware of the possible need that the baby will need help after being born. But we still in Utah, for example, see a lot of deliveries that happen at home, and everything goes well. So the times where we may need to transport babies into the NICU are when those deliveries don't go well.

Dr. Miller: How long do these babies typically spend in the unit?

Dr. Baserga: They can spend from one day to a year. It depends on how sick they are. Babies that are born at 23, 24 weeks gestation. . .

Dr. Miller: These are really tiny babies.

Dr. Baserga: Those babies are about a pound or half a kilo. And those babies may stay with us three, four month sometimes.

Dr. Miller: But usually what would you think, maybe several days for most babies that are not in that weight range?

Dr. Baserga: Yeah. The NICU has one of the longest stays in the hospital because babies need help for a longer period of time because they have to mature, they have to learn to eat. So what we tell families, when they're getting ready to go home and that's a question they like to ask, is, "When can I take my baby home?" Baby has to be able to control their own temperature. That means no need for an isolette.

And particularly when they're about three pounds, not before that, it's rarely to see the baby outside of an isolette. They have to be able to be taking all feedings by mouth without any tubes to help them gain weight. And they have to be breathing on their own without having what we call "prematurity apnea". And in those cases when the babies are still having apnea. . .

Dr. Miller: Apnea is the. . .

Dr. Baserga: Stop of breathing.

Dr. Miller: Stopping breathing.

Dr. Baserga: They kind of, what we say, forget to breathe because their brain is not mature, and those babies need to be in the hospital.

Dr. Miller: So what would be the more common reasons that little babies would end up under your care?

Dr. Baserga: Most cases are prematurity, being born early.

Dr. Miller: And what would follow that? So inability to breathe is one of the things you've said.

Dr. Baserga: Yeah, so secondary would be sepsis or infection. They need to be in the intensive care. And then we have a big group of babies that are born with congenital malformations, and will. . .

Dr. Miller: Usually cardiac or different kinds?

Dr. Baserga: There are different kinds. We have cardiac malformations. We can have brain malformations, what we call "abdominal wall defects," such as gastroschisis. Those babies all will need intensive care in the NICU. And in most case scenarios, we are aware that this is the case, and we have what we call "antenatal consultations" with these families. And by the time the baby is born, they know that the baby will need intensive care.

Dr. Miller: Now, another thing is that you have an entire team of specialists, including nurses and nutritionists. Can you talk a little bit about the team that surrounds the care of the newborn that goes to your unit?

Dr. Baserga: So the NICU is a big family. We have the neonatologists with the doctors, and then we have specialized nurses. We also have nurse practitioners that are specialized in neonatology. We have respiratory therapists that deal with the airway and ventilators and respirators. We have occupational therapists that are the ones that are dedicated to the development of these babies. And these babies are in an isolette. They don't move much around. And they assist them with neurological development, as well as starting feedings, because they are very immature in their skills to eat. So this is a big team that will help them . . .

Dr. Miller: Just like a big village taking care of these little babies, right?

Dr. Baserga: Yes, it is.

Dr. Miller: So for an expecting mother or families of an expecting mother, one thing that they might wonder about is . . . Well, if their baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit, are they able to visit? I think there may be some fears that they won't be able to see the babies or visit the babies.

Dr. Baserga: So our intensive care unit is family-oriented. It's family-centered and we are open 24/7. There are no visitation hours. The summertime, we even allow siblings and little toddlers to come.

Dr. Miller: You have no visitation hours. You don't . . .

Dr. Baserga: No restriction on visitation hours. So we don't have a policy that limits the time the parents can be at the bedside. Having said that, they're even invited to be present during nurses' sign out. We used to not allow families at that time and now we're an open unit so that they can always be at the bedside. They even hear the report nurses are giving to each other.

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