Climbing the walls: Sights to be seen as I'm feeling improvements

That could be from running, weights at home, the gym – if I can’t immediately do 100 chin-ups and run a marathon then what’s the point?

However, with nowhere to run away (more like waddle away?) from exercising more regularly, I can actually feel the benefits of regular fitness.

Before the lockdown started I – embarrassingly for a former tennis player who prided himself on a powerful, if erratic, serve – could not even do one press-up. I was one of those who put all the weight on his knees and then just moved up and down, not creating any new strength in my upper body. Cheat!

However, after weeks of doing push-ups properly off my knees – rocking back and forwards, so the weight goes through my chest and arms and I’m not just basically kneeling down – I have now transferred to the full push-up.

It may not sound like a lot to some, but being able to do five in a row, then 10, is the proudest I’ve felt so far.

I’d have been delighted with just one, to be honest!

Further progress of my fitness came just the other day when I had my most active morning so far.

After PE With Joe, I did 35 of those horrible burpees as part of an ongoing challenge – more on this next week – and then got in a three-mile walk along public footpaths across all sorts of terrain.

Then, for the final mile home, I was able to run the whole way without being too out of breath – I’d have been lucky to get to the end of my road before!

Add to that, the weight has started to come off, so things are finally looking up.

I must add though how poorly some public footpaths in our region are maintained. We have some wonderful countryside we should be able to and encouraged to enjoy, but sadly a lot of it is inaccessible.

I could not access three separate public footpaths within a mile of my home because they had become overgrown with thorns, while one had been blocked by a barbed wire fence.

I understand the frustrations between landowners and walkers, but perhaps coming into the ‘new normal’ everyone can learn to be a bit more courteous towards the other.

I want to hear and see what you are up to sporting-wise during lockdown – the good and the bad – so email your pictures and videos to derek.bish@expressandstar.co.uk or contact me on Twitter @DerekBish_Star. I will include the best ones in this column and retweet plenty of ideas that everyone can get involved with.