Push-ups (even more of them), turbo, run (x2), gym (x2), plus fusion, fish and fakes

Another week, another load of push-ups. On Monday the programme called for 14, 18, 14, 14 and 20+ and I managed 25 for the final set. The honeymoon (if there was one) is over as this week’s three sessions call for at least 80, 100 and 120 respectively. That seems pretty unreasonable to me.

It was too cold to want to go out to swim so I got on the turbo Monday evening – a chilly and lacklustre 30 minutes @28.6kph (17.8kph). To the gym on Tuesday for a 28 minute 5km on the treadmill and then half an hour of weights.

Wednesday’s push-up sets were 20, 25, 15, 15 and 25+ (I did 30) and it was hard. Doing arm exercises in the gym 24 hours before a push-up session might not be wise but I’m going to have to suck it up as I enjoy my visits to the gym. Perhaps the thing to do is go to the gym after the push-ups to give my arms a proper rest on the following day.

The challenge has been fairly easy up to now but the increases this week are brutal and I’m not sure where Friday’s extra 20 are going to come from. Later on Wednesday we drove to London and went to our younger son’s PGCE (post grad teacher training) graduation on Thursday morning. Very proud of him, as always.

Afterwards we drove to some friends for a late lunch. My friend’s late father was a captain of industry and turns out to have been a mentor and great influence on the career of my brother-in-law’s late father-in-law (if you are following this, well done). We were putting them together as my friend did not know a lot about her father in business and it gave her the chance to learn more about him, if rather remotely.

Back home on Thursday evening. Friday was push-up day: 22, 30, 20, 20, 28+ (I managed 35). That’s 127 push-ups in 5 sets with just 4 breaks of one minute each. Looking at the future training plan (which is scary), it’s astonishing how many push-ups seem to be needed to get rid of just those 4 minutes of rest. At least that’s week 3 done – half way through the plan … but am I half way to doing the 100 push-ups?

Into the gym later – another 28 minute 5km and half an hour of weights (with tired arms). In the evening we went to a drinks party, I’d been rather on edge as the day wore on, first trying (without success) to unfreeze our water pipes, and, secondly, worried about our younger son and his girlfriend getting out of London to her parents after work, to go skiing on Saturday.

There have been continuing rail strikes so I was on call for emergency transport to get them to her parents that night, or the airport early Saturday morning. Happily, they got a train just before the next strike started – but I’m also on call for getting him back on the 23rd or 24th.

I managed to unfreeze the pipes later Saturday afternoon after hours of crawling along the eaves amid dozens of pipes. With the house being so old, each extra bit of work done on the water and heating systems over the years has probably been very sensible in itself – but you end up with something no one would have ever envisaged if starting with a clean sheet of paper.

Village supper in the evening, catering courtesy of the Women’s Institute – excellent.

I did 90 more push-ups on Saturday and Sunday, that’s 407 for the week. I’m nervous about next week’s programme and thought some extra homework might be in order.

Sunday we drove to my brother-in-laws house in Surrey for a family Christmas do with my wife’s other brother and their families. Lovely.

Hundred push-up challenge

The author of the ‘runanother’ blog, who started the idea of taking on the push-up challenge, reported on his week 1 success – but had gone ominously quiet (including no replies to messages) in the two weeks since. I hope he’s OK and that it’s just a lack of reporting on success … but it looks like I may be on my own on this one.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: A good deed is something one returns

2. BBC News website: Band AI(d)?

Since their debut single ‘I’m Real’ in 2021, K-pop girl group Eternity have racked up millions of views online. They sing, dance and interact with their fans just like any other band. The big difference between them and any other pop group is that all 11 members are virtual characters, hyper-real avatars made with artificial intelligence.

While I like the irony of the title of the debut single, I do rather despair at this

3. BBC News website: Breakthrough in the race to recreate nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion is described as the “holy grail” of energy production and physicists have pursued the technology for decades as it promises a potential source of near-limitless clean energy. On Tuesday researchers confirmed they have overcome a major barrier – producing more energy from a fusion experiment than was put in.

Experts say there is still some way to go before fusion powers homes. The experiment produced enough energy to boil about 10-15 kettles and required billions of dollars of investment. 

Only a little more, per boiling kettle, than we are now paying domestically in the UK

4. BBC News website: Police rescue art installation

Two police officers saw a woman slumped over a table in the locked Laz Emporium art gallery in Soho, central London and forced entry to go to her aid.

But the “woman” was actually lifelike sculpture – a depiction of the gallery owner’s sister, Kristina, with her head in a bowl of soup. It was made of packing tape and foam filler, and had been commissioned by Banksy’s former agent.

5. BBC News website: Sadly, the fish cash in their chips

A giant aquarium containing a million litres of water in the lobby of the Radisson Blu in Berlin has burst, flooding the hotel and nearby streets. The “AquaDom”, home to 1,500 tropical fish, – is (was) 15.85m high (52 ft) and was described as the largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium in the world. Two people were injured by falling glass.

Police said there had been “incredible” damage, video showed an empty tank with water pouring into the hotel lobby. A spokesman for Berlin’s fire brigade told the BBC the vast majority of the fish had died with the cold weather making rescue attempts more difficult. The tank had contained more than 100 different species.

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