2025: A Year in Numbers

Well, this is it. Another year over, a heart attack survived, and still feeling in good shape. How have I done on the old spreadsheet (est. 1 Jan 2014)?

Compared to previous years, 2025 has seen a reduction in the number of exercises I do. I have abandoned pull-ups, press-ups, sit-ups and weights, as the strain of intense effort is not good for my heart. But where I have persisted, the results are good. More paces walked – I have hit the 12,500 a day target (remember, this is averaged out across every day of the year). The number is significant because the length of my pace being 80cm –four-fifths of a metre – those 12.5K paces equal 10 kilometres. A day, every day. Throughout the entire year.  Looking back, I can see that Covid-19 had a greater impact on my paces (from lock-down in 2020 to 2023 when I finally caught the bugger) than my heart attack. I have given up on moderate-to-high intensity walking as a metric; the methodology used by Samsung Health is so wildly different to Huawei's that it's not worth comparing.

For the 12th year in a row, I have reduced my alcohol consumption. It's now down to 12.0 units a week (the NHS England recommended limit is 14 units a week). But note, the number of dry days over the course of the year has fallen, which means that on days that I have had a drink or two, the number of units has been less than before. Indeed, I see that on the average night out, I consumed 4.5 units of alcohol compared to 6.1 units in 2023.

Gold colour indicates a personal best.

Measurable and manageable
	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Paces (daily average)	12.0k	11.1k	11.2k	11.6k	11.9k	12.1k	12.5k
Alcohol drunk (units/week)	18.5	15.5	14.1	13.7	13.6	13.4	12.0
Dry days over course of year	198	208	231	234	249	243	226
Days with zero physical training	17	11	22	9	10	6	20
Squats/day	N/A	N/A	28	46	45	47	21
Sets of back extensions/day	N/A	N/A	0.3	1.3	2.8	4.5	5.4
Plank time (min: sec/day average)	3:40	4:11	4:21	4:58	5:55	6:17	6:42
Portions fresh fruit & veg/day	5.3	5.4	6.1	6.3	6.7	7.3	7.9

Squats remain in the exercise cycle, though fewer than in the past. These are above all important for balance and posture. Holding the plank: I can do this longer and it really does shape the torso. If done consistently over many years. You won't get a six-pack in weeks as the Facebook ads suggest. My back-extensions have become fun ever since Pacyfik decided to join me as I lie down on my ZemBord™ and start rocking backwards and forwards. He's not missed a single day, and neither have I (since mid-August).

Fresh fruit and veg continues to grow as a part of my diet from year to year. Making big veg bakes in the oven gives me up to four portions in one go. And my new vegetable steamer, bought post-heart attack, is another bonus. Steamed spinach, asparagus, runner beans, etc. Another 2025 discovery is that "sweet potatoes do count towards your 5 A Day, unlike regular potatoes, yams, cassava or plantains. (These are considered starchy carbohydrates rather than veg). Sweet potatoes are treated as a vegetable as part of the daily fruit and veg intake." So bataty go into my weekly shop. A big one provides seven or more portions.

For next year, I shall include one new exercise, bird-dog hold progressions. And I shall make a note of my creative output too. And the input – more reading in 2026. 

This time last year:
2024 – A Year in Numbers

This time two years ago:

2023: my tenth year in numbers

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

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

This time five years ago:

2020: a year in numbers

This time six years ago
2019: a year in numbers

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

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

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

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

This time 11 years ago:
Economic forecasts for 2014 – and 2015?

This time 12 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2014

This time 13 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2013

This time 13 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2012

This time 15 years ago:
Classic cars, West Ealing

This time 16 years ago:
Jeziorki 2009, another view

This time 17 years ago:
Jeziorki 2008, another view

This time 18 years ago:
Final thoughts for 2007

A month on from my heart attack

 A real milestone passed – was it that big a step? Am I well or not well? I feel OK... Schrodinger's health – I continue to be simultaneously healthy and unhealthy until a doctor peeks inside and collapses the wave function into one or the other. But what if it's neither black nor white but somewhere along a continuum?

A threshold has been crossed; life will never be the same. I had always considered myself a healthy individual until a month ago; as of now, I can no longer do that.

I'm taking the following medication, something I've never, ever, done before in my life; never taken more than the occasional aspirin for a hangover. So that's a clear before/after step. It's a new discipline; I have added it into my regular exercise/diet monitoring, with a new sheet attached to my Excel file.

The pharmacological barrage looks like this.

First thing in the morning:

• IPP 20mg: reduces the amount of stomach acids produced; to be taken on an empty stomach* before the onslaught of the pills that go with breakfast...

With breakfast:

• Acard 75mg: essentially aspirin, an over-the-counter low-dose form of aspirin to thin the blood. A side effect I've noticed is that scratches that bleed release slightly more blood.
• Efient 10mg: taken together with aspirin to reduce the risk of clot formation in the arteries, prescribed after insertion of stents. 
• Beto 50 ZK: a beta-blocker which leads to a decrease in heart rate, the strength of heart-muscle contraction and blood pressure.
• Forxiga 10mg: a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor which works in the kidneys to prevent the reabsorption of glucose into the blood, removing excess glucose from the body through urine, lowering blood sugar levels. Intended to decrease risk of death due to cardiovascular problems or kidney failure.

Around lunchtime:

• Inspra 25mg: One of two drugs to reduce blood pressure. Works by by blocking the effects of the hormone aldosterone, which can help lower blood pressure and reduce strain on the heart.

In the evening:

• Roswera 40mg: a statin aimed at lowering high levels of LDL ('bad') cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides, and to increase HDL ('good') cholesterol, thus reducing risk of heart attack and stroke. The blood test in hospital showed my LDL cholesterol was 151 mg/dl, when the level for a person at risk of heart attack should aim for below 55 mg/dl. Now, that's a target for me to reach!
• Tritace 5mg: another drug to lower blood pressure; intended to manage symptoms of heart failure when the heart is not pumping effectively, reducing risk of heart attack or stroke. It improves survival rates in people who have had a heart attack and have signs of heart failure. The active ingredient is ramipril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. (My mother took ramipril daily from her first heart attack in August 1986 up to her death in November 2015).

I presume that prescribing this battery of pills is standard operating procedure for a patient (I never considered myself one of those before!) following a heart attack. To what extent has this been customised to my unique biology, or is the prescription the same in all cases?

I familiarised myself about this octet of drugs I'm taking (Google Gemini AI is excellent for this type of question – no danger of it making shit up, just a snappy summary of what's important). Side effects? Other than blood taking minimally longer to clot on a cut or scratch – nothing that I've detected for now.

Am I tethered to all this stuff for life? We shall see – I have an appointment with a cardiologist within the next fortnight. My first question to them will be: do I have to keep taking all of these? Can I cut the dose of some or all of them, depending on indicators such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels and general wellbeing? Can I alter the prognosis through exercise and diet – and the power of positive thinking?

Exercises: I am still walking my 12,200+ paces a day. I try not to stray too far from home in case of emergency; two short laps rather than one long one typically. I have dropped pull-ups and push-ups; these do create a strain on the heart. Plank, back extensions, sit-ups and squats I continue with; weights now focus on maintaining flexibility in my spine rather than on the rotator cuffs; I intend to trade down to smaller weights (3kg rather than 5kg).

Diet: I have stopped adding salt to my food, either when cooking or from the salt cellar. I am limiting my cheese intake, going for lower-fat cheeses such as cottage cheese or Feta, rather than those high in saturated fats (the ones I like best, such as Cheddar and Parmesan). Out goes Chorizo (sadly). To be enjoyed once in a while, rather than an omnipresent staple in my shopping basket and fridge. Alcohol intake has been nicely under control for some years now (below the NHS safe limit since 2021)

No longer can I fill in a form or answer a questionnaire and say with a clear conscience that I'm not taking any medication. My medical history until a month ago was exemplary. Never had any health issues before. And now this... Will I be able to get travel insurance?

Psychologically, I have crossed a threshold, from carefree middle age (though one in which I did look after myself) to what can only now be described as early old age. Now I must really look after myself!

The most important thing is a) not to feel sorry for oneself (which I don't) and b) get on with it. But c) don't go at it too hard. 

* 'on an empty stomach' – six syllables, 'na czczo' – two syllables; a rare instance where Polish beats English in terms of the whole brevity thing

This time three years ago:
Park+Ride for Jeziorki

This time four years ago:
Decimalisation and determination

This time seven years ago:
God, an Englishman, orders his Eden thus:

This time ten years ago:
I buy a Nikon Coolpix A

This time 11 years ago:
More about the Ladder of Authority

This time 12 years ago:
By bike, south of Warsaw

This time 14 years ago:
Functionalist architecture in Warsaw

This time 15 years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time 16 years ago:
Making plans

This time 17 years ago:
The setting sun stirs my soul

This time 18 years ago:
Rain ends the drought

Ego's journey through human life – Lent 2025: Day 15

As I age, the flame of my ego turns down from a 7 to a 3; then on towards a 1 before it is inexorably extinguished. Yet the flame of my consciousness grows in strength from year to year, along with my understanding of reality. And with age I grow in wisdom. Whilst the ego is visible to all (boastfulness, garrulousness, displays of status symbols), consciousness is silent and unseen.

In childhood I was both they highly conscious mądry Michaś and at the same time the rather silly, ego-driven głupi Michaś. Now, while 'głupi Michaś' would occasionally do or say stupid things – głupi Michaś rarely had the upper hand. When left to his own devices, it was 'mądry Michaś' that was in charge, spending time playing, observing, reading, pondering, playing, imagining, experiencing, thinking, playing, watching the clouds – feeling what it is to be alive – again. 

In adolescence, however, that conscious, wise, self was almost entirely pushed aside by testosterone-fuelled ego. Yet the wise self clung on somehow. In adulthood, it crept back gradually, pushing away the folly of youth. Mądry Michał finally emerged triumphant, around the time I reached the age of maturity, which I now recognise as being 65. But this very statement smacks of boastfulness, which suggests that the ego is still lurking there in the mix. It is hard to shed one's ego totally. Mindfulness helps.

The human condition

Whether you are a physicalist (everything is matter) or an idealist (consciousness is fundamental), the truth is that your biological body is subject to entropy, just like everything else composed of matter. It is the ultimate destiny of all matter is to break back down into random particles. To the physicalist/materialist (I use the terms interchangeably) who considers consciousness to be a mere product of neuronal activity, the process of ageing is tragic. One's youth fades, one's strength ebbs, and all that there's to look forward to is decay, suffering and oblivion.

Yet Consciousness abides. It does! I feel certain of it. Consciousness was there at the beginning, willing there to be Something rather than Nothing. Consciousness will be there after the end of all matter. And it is present everywhere. It survives matter. It survives entropy. Grasp this, and ageing, and what comes after – death – hold no fear. 

I asked Google Gemini's Imagen 3.0 to create an illustration in the Arts & Crafts style entitled The Human Condition. Rather nice, don't you think?

And the same title, this time in Mid-Century Modern style. Isolation and materialism have taken over. "I am no longer part of a community, no longer an integral part of nature, but I have things."

Lent 2024: Day 15
Aligning Prayer with Cosmic Purpose

Lent 2023, Day 15
Intuition and instinct

Lent 2022: Day 15

Religious belief, practice, inquiry and experience

Lent 2021: Day 15
The Afterlife - Faith and Doubt

Lent 2020: Day 15
Rites and Rituals

Ego, consciousness and Time: Lent 2024: Day 14

One analogy: your body is the car, the driver is your ego, your consciousness is the passenger, observing the journey as it unfolds. You consciousness knows where it wants to go; the driver, however, is erratic, speeding, showing off. After many wrong turns and traffic violations, the destination draws nearer, the driver has settled in and no longer feels the need to rush; the passenger is now contented and finds joy in the passing scenery.

How does Google Gemini Imagen 3.0 see ego and consciousness? An definite east-west split here!

Whilst we need to separate out the ego from consciousness, the ego is not ethically bad per se, it just has a tendency to boastfulness, cutting corners with the truth, and focused on acquisition of material goods. Some of which are needed for a comfortable life, but others, more luxurious than necessary, being used as status symbols.

The ego is an important aspect to our personalities. It's a suit-and-mask ensemble worn by the biological self. needed for establishing our place in the pecking order. It is needed for mating; it is needed for getting on financially. Ego is primarily motivated by our need for status. This is natural; we are, after all, mammals, and hierarchy is inherent in mammalian groups. 

Meanwhile, our consciousness is there in background, observing and feeling. Cringing at times at what the ego is up to. Representing nobler sentiments.

Your consciousness is the real you; your ego but an artifact you forge. It is the suit of armour your biological self dons to protect you against the buffeting you'll get from society, at school, at work, socially. Ego can lead you to acts of folly, but also to build a positive public persona. Whoever regularly speaks publicly will know that. (My ego was delighted that six people who left an opinion on our webinar today all gave five stars – and my ego is keen to share that fact with you.)

But in general, the older one gets, the need for the ego recedes. Materially comfortable, folk who are still chasing ever-greater fortunes to live in ever-greater luxury as they approach old age are the spiritually hollow. 

The maturing of the soul over this lifetime is an important aim. Yet I'd argue that one lifetime is nowhere near enough for this process to reach fruition. If you can accept the idea that our biological selves are only containers for our immortal consciousness, then it's possible to envisage the process of spiritual evolution as spanning many lifetimes (in this regard, I am more aligned in my thinking about reincarnation with Hinduism than with Buddhism). This places my view of time as traditionally linear; the arc of progress from imperfect past towards a perfect future, in incremental improvements.

And finally an intuition that came to me on a walk a few days ago:
{{  Never show off what you know. Share what you know.  }}

Lent 2024: Day 14
Emergence and Complexity vs. Entropy and Chaos: Good vs. Evil?

Lent 2023, Day 14
The appeal of mystic traditions

Lent 2022: Day 14
Between Serendipity and Proactiveness

Lent 2021: Day 14
Prayer

Lent 2020: Day 14
Choose the music for your religion

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

Twanged

Nowa Iwiczna and its railway crossings is a bane for rail passengers as well as for motorists. The level crossing there on ulica Krasickiego has the power to hold you up for an insufferably long time. Since the completion of the Warsaw-Radom line modernisation and the opening of SKM services to Piaseczno, the level crossing is a source of local frustration and anger.

Consider the situation I encountered two weeks ago. It's twenty past nine in the evening. The lights start flashing, the bells start clanging, the barriers are coming down. I know that there's at least three minutes before a train actually crosses the road, so on reaching the barrier, I get on hands and knees (twice) to get under  each of the two barriers to reach the southbound platform. Crossing the tracks, I can see distant no train lights from either direction... And about a minute and half later, there it is – the 21:23 Koleje Mazowieckie service to Warsaw. The queue of cars on either side of the tracks waits for the barriers to rise... 

But no. The barriers remain down as the 21:25 SKM service to Piaseczno approaches Nowa Iwiczna station from the north. Maybe once this train has passed, the barriers will rise... Again, no. This time, the barriers remain down for the 21:28 SKM service towards Warsaw. I notice a family – mum carrying small child, dad with baby in pram and grandmother, who had been trapped for several minutes between the main barrier and short barrier closing off the northbound platform. Because of this, they missed that first train to town. They can now hear the SKM train approaching and are determined not to miss another. So dad removes baby from pram, lowers it under the barrier, scrambling under himself, reassembling the pram, putting in baby, taking the second child from his wife, then helping her and the grandmother under the barrier. They have lost their dignity but caught their train. 

Will the barriers go up now? No they won't because the 21:33 Koleje Mazowieckie train to Góra Kalwaria is now due (turns out that my train to Chynów is not until 22:09). I watched the Góra Kalwaria service come and sadly saw it go. And then – finally, after thirteen minutes, the barriers go up. The sound of revving engines on either side! Exhaust fumes! A crowd of waiting pedestrians to breathe them all it. Charge! 

********

Yesterday, same place, nearly eight pm. Ul. Krasickiego, Nowa Iwiczna. As I approach the station, the bells start clanging, the lights start flashing – the barriers start descending. Does this presage the impending arrival of a southbound train? I don't fancy waiting an hour for the next one. to Chynów Or is it a northbound train? Or a long goods train coming slowly from either direction? Whatever it is, there's still time... I kick down into a sudden sprint for the barrier.

TWANG! FUUUUUCK! MY FUCKING LEG! 

The calf muscle in my right leg has just torn. A flash of pain, that feeling of having had a baseball bat smacking forcefully into my right leg from behind. I limp on towards the barrier, drop to my knees to get under it. I look both ways. NO SIGHT OF ANY FUCKING TRAIN. Across the three railway tracks I continue, in agony, and drop down again to crawl under the barrier on the other side. Holding onto the handrails, I haul myself up to the platform... nothing approaching from the north. So it was all in vain. A minute that seemed to last an hour but was only a minute, passed. A light from around the corner, and a Warsaw-bound SKM train hoves into view. Mine is due in 13 minutes, although it's one of those days when the service is screwed up and anything can happen. 

I hobble down to the shelter and take a seat and start furiously massaging my right calf. In the distance, I can see the lights of my train. The barriers start descending, accompanied by the clanging of bells and the flashing of lights. Four minutes later, I'm on the train, heading south. I take a seat, continuing to massage my leg. It is very painful when I touch it. Soon I'm back in Chynów. The kilometre home takes me the best part of half an hour, dragging my right leg behind me.

Once inside, a soluble aspirin and an early night. When lying down, it's comfortable, but every now and then, a spasm of pain jolts through my left leg; falling asleep takes a long time. But once asleep, it's OK; I wake once for a wee at 03:00, then sleep through to just before eight. All told, a good night's sleep for to circumstances.

This morning, while resting, the leg is still making me aware of itself (it just feels like it's really tired, after a hard workout), but as soon as I stand up and try to move, it hurts. The only way I can locomote is to straighten my right leg at a 45-degree angle, foot on the floor, and slide it along with my left leg pushing, then jumping forward. Push, slide, jump. Push, slide, jump.

I remind myself of the last time this happened (this is the great thing about having a blog!) Back in October 2013. Friday 25th. Seemed to have been slightly worse than this time; the key question is – how long will it take me to fully recover? Back then, 11 years ago, my blog indicates it took me nine days before I was out and about. Well, there's a target there, for mind over matter. And a lesson - don't break into sprints at the age of 67!

Having had that experience, and writing it down, proves useful for learning. As we get older – every one of us – we have to learn to manage our biologies. And my 17 year-long blogging (and 11 year-long spreadsheet) is a useful tool for to that end.

This time three years ago year:
The ego and evil

This time five years ago:
Warsaw's Christmas lights 2019-20

This time six years ago:
Pawlikowski's Cold War

This time nine years ago:
"Extreme weather events are now a feature of the British climate"

This time 11 years ago:
Cheaper public transport for Varsovians

This time 12 years ago:
Swans on ice

This time 13 years ago:
Cars 

This time 14 years ago:
What's the English for kombinować?

This time 15 years ago:
The demographics of jazz

This time 17 years ago:
A day in Poznań

2023 - my tenth year in numbers

On New Year's Day 2014 I realised I was getting a bit fat around the middle and I should really be taking better care of myself physically. So I decided to keep a daily record of my exercise and diet in a spreadsheet. Today marks the tenth anniversary of doing this, which some might say smacks of being along the autism spectrum disorder - but so what? It works. Or at least - it has done until now (I don't wish to tempt fate by being complacent. Who knows what the future might bring?).

Walking

I was nicely on target to crack 2019's record when Covid confined me indoors for eleven days. So - better luck next year. Moderate-to-high intensity walking, according to my Huawei health app (the only thing I use my oldest phone for - disconnected now from the GSM network), is up to 50 minutes a day, double where it was in 2019. Nordic walking poles help here! Over the past ten years, I have walked over 20,200 miles (32,550 km) in total, averaging over 11,150 paces a day, every day, since 1 January 2014. According to Samsung's health app (connected to the network), I'm in the top 4% of all users.

Drinking

I have massively reduced by alcohol intake - in 2014, the first year of measuring, it was 33.4 units per week, so it must have been more than that in the days before I began to measure. This year, like last year, I managed to get below the 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 only drinking socially (family Zoom calls included). Zero alcohol for over two-thirds of year, which of course includes Lent. Two consecutive days a week with no alcohol, another rule.

Physical exercise

Sadly, the four days during which I was laid low with Covid meant that I'd not beat last year's record of nine days with no physical training. Illnesses excepted, these are often the result of business trips where early starts and late finishes precluded the possibility of any sets of exercises across the day. Still, in most categories, 2023 was the strongest-performing year to date. [Numbers highlighted in gold = record year.]

Measurable and manageable
	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Paces (daily average)	11.0k	11.4k	12.0k	11.1k	11.2k	11.6k	11.9k
Moderate to high  intensity (mins)	N/A	N/A	24	30	35	44	50
Alcohol drunk (units/week)	20.8	19.7	18.5	15.5	14.1	13.7	13.6
Dry days over course of year	186	196	198	208	231	234	249
Days with zero physical training	83	27	17	11	22	9	10
Press-ups/day	25	60	90	83	20	23	26
Pull-ups/day	2	7	5	11	11	12	6
Sit-ups/day	N/A	N/A	N/A	16	19	25	33
Sets of weights exercises/day	2.1	2.2	2.3	2.4	1.1	1.6	2.5
Squats/day	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	28	40	45
Sets of back extensions/day	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.3	1.3	2.8
Plank time (min: sec/day average)	N/A	N/A	3:40	4:11	4:21	4:58	5:55
Portions fresh fruit & veg/day	5.0	5.2	5.3	5.4	6.1	6.3	6.7

Exercises, described

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 twice this year) is eight in one go.

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).

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 forwards and backwards.

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 and veg: self explanatory. 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.

So - tomorrow starts another year, and having set myself the goal of beating last year, and being a stronger and fitter man aged 67 than I was at 66, off we go, getting on with it… May it remain thus for a long time to come.


This time last year:
2022: A year in numbers

This time two years ago:
2021: A year in numbers

This time three years ago:

2020 - a year in numbers

This time four years ago
2019 - a year in numbers

This time five years ago:
2018- a year in numbers

This time six years ago:
2017 - a year in numbers

This time seven years ago:
2016 - a year in numbers

This time eight years ago:
2015 - a year in numbers

This time nine years ago:
Economic forecasts for 2014 - and 2015?

This time ten years ago:
Economic predictions for 2014

This time 11 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2013

This time 12 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2012

This time 13 years ago:
Classic cars, West Ealing

This time 14 years ago:
Jeziorki 2009, another view

This time 15 years ago:
Jeziorki 2008, another view

This time 16 years ago:
Final thoughts for 2007

2022: A year in numbers

Well, I beat last year in every area (though in eating fresh fruit and veg a tie with 2021). So - here we are, my ninth year in a row of measuring exercise output and food & drink intake. The table below is limited to seven years, so 2014 and 2015 aren't here, but for the record, I was knocking back 33.4 units of alcohol a week on average in 2014, cut back to 28.0 in 2015, so the sub-14 units a week across this year is a halving from seven years ago, and down to what the NHS considers 'safe drinking'.  

Walking is still below 2019's record, though a pair of Nordic walking poles (thanks Andrew N!) has ensured a greater number of moderate-to-high-intensity walking minutes per day than ever before. Will be difficult to beat in 2023!

Gold-coloured background in table - best ever result. Every row represents results averaged out per day across the entire year. Walking - I covered 3,400km/2,100 miles on foot this year. 

Measurable and manageable
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Paces (daily average)	10.6k	11.0k	11.4k	12.0k	11.1k	11.2k	11.6k
Moderate to high  intensity (mins)	N/A	N/A	N/A	24	30	35	44
Alcohol drunk (units/week)	25.0	20.8	19.7	18.5	15.5	14.1	13.7
Dry days over course of year	155	186	196	198	208	231	234
Days with zero physical training	148	83	27	17	11	22	9
Press-ups/day	N/A	25	60	90	83	20	23
Pull-ups/day	N/A	2	7	5	11	11	12
Sit-ups/day	71	N/A	N/A	N/A	16	19	25
Sets of weights exercises/day	N/A	2.1	2.2	2.3	2.4	1.1	1.6
Squats/day	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	28	40
Plank time (min: sec/day average)	N/A	N/A	N/A	3:40	4:11	4:21	4:58
Portions fresh fruit & veg/day	5.0	5.2	5.3	5.4	6.1	6.4	6.4

Days without a minimum of three sets of exercise have fallen to a mere nine across the course of the year. 

Thanks to Dr A. for tweaking my squats - my arms now (attempt anyway!) to point vertically up towards the ceiling, rather than just swinging around, which makes balance harder and is good for stretching the back. Since beating last year's pull-ups record, I have taken to doing the more challenging ones (full pull-up rather than just from the position in which my arms parallel to floor, a half-pull-up). It will be very hard to beat 12 of these a day across 2023, given my current max on this form of exercise is five (I managed six just the once). 

Press-ups - continued focus on quality rather than quantity. Each one right to the floor, then up until arms lock, back straight. Plank - typically two lots of three minutes.

So - here I am, 65 years old, convinced that daily exercise routines are part of the key to longevity. Along with good genes and good luck - and a strongly positive mental attitude, driven by gratitude and never taking good health for granted. I hope I can keep this going! Another daily routine here is prayer while brushing my teeth - praying for the health of all those around me, and thankfulness for what I have.

All the very best to all my regular readers for 2023.

This time last year:
2021: A year in numbers

This time two years ago:

2020 - a year in numbers

This time three years ago
2019 - a year in numbers

This time four years ago:
2018- a year in numbers

This time five years ago:
2017 - a year in numbers

This time six years ago:
2016 - a year in numbers

This time seven years ago:
2015 - a year in numbers

This time eight years ago:
Economic forecasts for 2014 - and 2015?

This time eight years ago:
Economic predictions for 2014

This time ten years ago:
Economic predictions for 2013

This time 11 years ago:
Economic predictions for 2012

This time 13 years ago:
Classic cars, West Ealing

This time 13 years ago:
Jeziorki 2009, another view

This time 14 years ago:
Jeziorki 2008, another view

This time 15 years ago:
Final thoughts for 2007