At Our Peak

Al Reynolds and I on the summit of Pen y Fan, the highest point in Southern Britain, June 2017.

THAT BLASTED ENTROPY

Anne McCaffrey used to tell me: "Growing old isn't for the fainthearted." I'm trying to pretend that I still don't know what that really means. Leading up to my 60th birthday, I did feel as if the world was going to end. But I got through the day in question - it was a while back - and the world is still here for the time being.

So what did I do on my 60th birthday? 500 Hindu push-ups and 1000 Hindu squats (as 10 supersets of 50 push-ups and 100 squats). Plus 6 minutes of neck bridging and some other stuff.  Seven days later I did it again (as 5 supersets of 100 push-ups and 200 squats), along with all 27 kata from the shotokan system. Well, you know me by now.

I'm old school on the weights these days, too. Two or three full-body training sessions per week. Dumbbells for chest and back (i.e. the heavy upper-body stuff), which has been my preferred approach for decades. For lower body, I've reintroduced barbell squats and deadlifts, though I revert to goblet or dumbbell squats some days. And if I'm away from home - as we were for a week either side of my birthday - then my trusty Bodylastics bands substitute nicely for the weights.

Although if you're looking for someone with superior cardio endurance, Yvonne is way ahead of me. And older than me, too...