bloody press-ups - November 2025
the story so far...
I read this post –
10,000 Pushups And Other Silly Exercise Quests That Changed My Life
by WJ Gilmore
and I decided to try for 10,000 push ups in a year myself.
Last month, I added a progress report – October 2025
November 2025
a press-up is a press-up
I haven't changed the exercise, just the name I am using for it. Push-ups may suit the majority of English-speaking bloggers here – namely Americans – but as I mentioned before, where I grew up we always called them press-ups so that's what I'm going with now.
I don't know what possessed me to try to pander to the US audience like that. I don't normally. I know many of them are baffled by meters and kilograms, and colours and favours, but I think it's important that all of us in the rest of the world don't fall into Americanising ourselves to make things easier for them, just because they dominate English-speaking online spaces.
I shall stop that little slide right here.
If they can't deal with me being 1.8 meters tall and weighing 86 kilos, and calling a press-up a press-up, that's their problem.
the numbers
I have managed to continue ramping up the numbers of my daily press-up exercises. I started out aiming for at least 28 per day as that would be the minimum needed daily to get to 10,000 in a year. However as my strength in the necessary muscle groups has increased – and my heart has been behaving – I've been able to increase the daily number.
I've also added doing a few press-ups in the evenings, on top of my normal before breakfast exercising time. I am often getting a quick 15 or 20 in when I've just changed in to my evening 'slouching on the sofa' attire.
Most days are around 50-55 in the morning, and 15-20 evenings.
In November, I've managed 1,788 press-ups. Added to the October figure, this makes my running total 2,905.
Not too shabby, as the kids say. Or possibly they don't say that now, I don't know - my kids aren't kids any more.
Anyway, I'm pretty happy that, in 16.6% of the year, I've managed to do 29% of the target.
And I can feel the difference in muscle strength. I can feel there is an increase of firmness across the shoulders and chest, and a suggestion of biceps has appeared.
This is new. As stated previously, upper body muscles have not been an area getting much attention before.
bloody press-ups
There is a problem that's only begun to show itself in the last week though. You may remember I'm on anti-coagulants to keep my blood less sticky at the moment, as part of the treatments against atrial fibrillation. It stops any clotting forming and entering the flow – apparently a danger when the irregular rhythm is stirring things up in there.
In the last week, regular nosebleeds have become a problem. I had the first one as I was walking the dog just over a week ago, but since then it seems to be set off fresh again at the slightest provocation.
I sneezed after grinding some pepper into a dish I was cooking, felt the trickle inside my nostril. Yep, dabbing revealed a bloody tissue. Doing my shoelaces up, preparing to go out for a walk, drops of blood appeared on the shoe as I was bent over.
And of course, every time I get to about the nineteenth press-up, there's the trickling feeling and I have to stop to deal with it.
It seems to be the same nostril. I think it's probably the clotting on the original nosebleed has never set properly because of the anti-coagulants, and then I'm setting it off again with the extra blood pressure of exertion every morning and evening. I'm keeping it weak when I'm trying to be strong.
In an effort to let it heal, I gave the daily press-ups schedule a rest yesterday – and I felt guilty as hell about it. How odd that missing just two bouts of the exercise routine – that didn't even exist eight weeks ago – was giving me that feeling.
Back to it again this morning though. No nosebleed.
2905 done, 7095 to go.
post link for sharing: https://skryblans.com/bloody-press-ups
If you got this far, you may as well click the star below on your way out.