2024 – a year in numbers

Well, it's that time of year again, when I can reveal whether or not I'm in better shape than I was a year ago. Age takes its toll, but I'm not into the notion of eternal youth. But by maintaining a regime of exercise, good diet and moderate alcohol intake, I intend to keep my active life going on as long as possible. Healthy body – healthy spirit. This post stands as a guide for the future.

So – did I beat last year? [numbers on a gold background = personal best]

Measurable and manageable
	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Paces (daily average)	11.4k	12.0k	11.1k	11.2k	11.6k	11.9k	12.1k
Moderate to high  intensity (mins)	N/A	24	30	35	44	50	51*
Alcohol drunk (units/week)	19.7	18.5	15.5	14.1	13.7	13.6	13.3
Dry days over course of year	196	198	208	231	234	249	243
Days with zero physical training	27	17	11	22	9	10	6
Press-ups/day	60	90	83	20	23	26	28
Pull-ups/day	7	5	11	11	12	6	14
Sit-ups/day	N/A	N/A	16	19	25	33	34
Sets of weights exercises/day	2.2	2.3	2.4	1.1	1.6	2.5	2.7
Squats/day	N/A	N/A	N/A	28	40	45	47
Sets of back extensions/day	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.3	1.3	2.8	4.5
Plank time (min: sec/day average)	N/A	3:40	4:11	4:21	4:58	5:55	6:17
Portions fresh fruit & veg/day	5.2	5.3	5.4	6.1	6.3	6.7	7.3

* daily average Jan-Jun, see below

Exercises, described

Walking/paces – touch and go after my recent torn calf muscle. I failed to hit my target for this year (12,200 paces a day, every day for 366 days), but I bounced back after two and half weeks of recuperation. So, this year (12,100) is still a best, beating my pre-pandemic record (12,000). The 'moderate to high intensity walking' metric is only for January to June inclusive, as my Huawei phone on which the app ran failed finally in early July. The replacement Samsung Health app counts this more generously than Huawei, so I don't want to mix apples and pears here. Since starting to keep count, I have averaged over 11,235 paces a day, every day, since 1 January 2014. According to Samsung Health, I'm in the top 3% of all users.

Alcohol intake: I have massively reduced by alcohol intake – in 2014, the first year of measuring, it was 33.4 units per week (it must have been more than that in the days before I began to measure). For the third year in a row, I managed to get below the current NHS guideline limit of 14 units per week (2 units = 50ml of vodka at 40%, or 150ml of wine at 13.5%, or half a litre of beer at 4%). I achieved this by restricting my drinking to social occasions (family Zoom calls included), with the occasional beer on long summer walks. Zero alcohol for two-thirds of year, which of course includes Lent. Two consecutive days a week with no alcohol, another rule. However, fewer alcohol-free days this year means lower consumption on days when I did drink (5.8 units vs. 6.1 units per drinking day).

Press-ups: focus on quality over quantity (hence much lower numbers than in earlier years). To qualify, the body must go down to the floor so the nose touches it; then up with arms fully locked at the elbows.

Pull-ups: again, proper sort, so fewer. From 'full-dangle' position, up to chin touching the bar, then down to full-dangle, then repeat. My record (only achieved five times this year) is nine in one go. Indeed, on hearing the news that Trump had one, I channelled my anger into two sets of nine pull-ups; a best-ever, and one that I feel I'll never beat.

Sit-ups: feet wedged under the sink, knees bent, back flat on floor, then sit up, right elbow touching left knee, then down, back flat on floor, then sit up, with left elbow touching right knee. 

Weights: with two x 5kg dumbbells, one set of each: 10 x lateral raises, 10 x internal rotator cuff, 10 x external rotator cuff, repeat that lot two or three times, plus 30 back-bends with dumbbells in hand. 

Squats: standing upright, heels raised, squat right down, stand up straight again, repeat (typically do this while kettle boils). Still not able to squat down fully after tearing my right calf muscle.

Back extensions: lying stomach-down on my ZemBord™; legs rise up behind back like a scorpion's sting, moving centre of gravity, causing me to rock forward until my nose touches the ground. Hands behind head. (More here about the apparatus and the exercise.) One set = eight forward-and-back rocking movements.

Plank: holding myself up by forearms, toes on the ground, back absolutely straight. Record time eight minutes and 15 seconds; more usually, two lots of three minutes with a short break in between.

Portions of fresh fruit & veg: one portion = 80g. Daily staples: apple (or fresh-pressed apple juice); banana, cherry tomatoes, berries, spinach, beetroot, chickpeas or lentils or beans, parsnip, grapefruit and/or orange/tangerines. A significant boost this year, due to my weekly shops at Lidl where the fresh fruit & veg selection is superior to that in Chynów's Top Market.

So – tomorrow starts another year, and having set myself the goal of beating last year, and being a stronger and fitter (and more self-disciplined) man aged 68 than I was at 67, off I go, getting on with it… May it remain thus for a long time to come. 

And a time to offer up my gratitude for having been so healthy so far.

This time last year:

2023: my tenth year in numbers

This time two years ago:
2022: a year in numbers

This time three years ago:
2021: a year in numbers

This time four years ago:

2020: a year in numbers

This time five years ago
2019: a year in numbers

This time six years ago:
2018: a year in numbers

This time seven years ago:
2017: a year in numbers

This time eight years ago:
2016: a year in numbers

This time nine years ago:
2015: a year in numbers

This time 10 years ago:
Economic forecasts for 2014 – and 2015?

This time 11 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2014

This time 12 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2013

This time 13 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2012

This time 14 years ago:
Classic cars, West Ealing

This time 15 years ago:
Jeziorki 2009, another view

This time 16 years ago:
Jeziorki 2008, another view

This time 17 years ago:
Final thoughts for 2007