10 thousand steps every day and swim three times a week – a recipe for active longevity Mikhail Polyakov from Cherven

Easy walk, all on the positive... Recites Pushkin, talks about his intense youth and good-natured jokes - they say, not every day he is lucky to find his kilometers in the company of beautiful girls. My photojournalist and I are already fascinated and once again clarify: “Mikhail Sergeevich, are you 83?” To which he says with a smile: "Do not doubt" - and, after a little reflection, gives out his recipe for happy longevity: - Daily movement, clean air and a keen interest in the life of the country and people.

How I found the hero for Older People's Day is a different story. The decisive was the call to the Igumen fitness complex in Cherven. The question was simple: Are there any old swimmers among the regular visitors? A second thought and the answer is ready: “Mikhail Polyakov”. The girl on the other end of the wire painted the man in all colors: Smart, fit, a great interlocutor, a former businessman, known in the city. He's over 80, but he looks much younger

She was right. When we arrived at the FOC for a meeting with Mikhail Sergeyevich, we did not immediately recognize him. In a fashionable hat, sunglasses, stately, immediately took the initiative - he suggested not to trample on the spot, but go for a walk along the health path. Stunningly beautiful forest, already with a golden touch of autumn. A cozy path with ups and downs. Don't breathe the air!

- This is my daily route, seeing our admiration for nature, explains a resident of Cherven. In any weather I have been here since seven in the morning. A light breakfast and a walk. Every day I walk 10 thousand steps — so the doctor ordered, giving a hard ultimatum: stop walking, do not come to me. Do you feel the air so beautiful? This coniferous forest is a sin to live next to it and not to eat from it health.

The daily routine of active Mikhail Polyakov is like this. After a morning walk in the woods, he returns home for a swimsuit. His usual session in the pool begins at 09:30. On the day of our meeting, the hero had already sailed, but willingly agreed to dive for the sake of filming. The deputy director of the Cherven Children’s and Youth Sports School, which is based in the FOK, Lilia Pfefer friendlyly teases the pensioner:

- Mikhail Sergeyevich, you have four styles of swimming - breaststroke, rabbit, butterfly and freestyle. (Laughs) And do not forget, we are waiting for you on September 30 at the Nordic Walking Sports Marathon for the Day of the Elderly.

Rescue instructor Anatoly Ludchik adds:

- Sergeevich should be an example, even young people!

Poles swim pool - five times push-ups at the handrail, two more pools - six push-ups, two more - seven. And so on up to ten push-ups. Then the press pumps - carefully and without tearing.

- An hour flies by like an instant, says the swimmer. Our FOC was opened 11 years ago, so much I am devoted to it. Prices are affordable even for pensioners. A subscription for eight classes costs 48 rubles. Every fourth ticket is free. There are all conditions to be healthy and active. Old age? Let him wait!

- Perhaps the best thing parents can do for their child in life is to enroll him in the sports section. I was born during the war, seven months old than I had ever been ill. He got into the freestyle wrestling section and trained so hard and burned with the desire to win that he got into the BSSR national team. Sports career is long gone, but it was then that a healthy lifestyle became one of the important elements of my value system. Iron discipline, giving up alcohol and other bad habits, aspiration, concentration - all this helps me in life, both when I was running a school in Cherven, and when I was building my own business. Keeping a keen interest in events in the area, the country for active Polyakov is a matter of course. He watches the news, monitors the development of Belarus and the activities of the President – they are countrymen, they are familiar from their youth. He helps his sons hone their business. Mikhail Sergeyevich has three sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. She says longevity cannot be happy without family:

- If it weren't for Anna Milentyevna, my wife, maybe I wouldn't be such an eagle, she calls me. Takes care, measures the pressure, feeds usefully: fried potatoes and a glass of cognac we have only in the big buffet. When I was a little stronger, I cut a circle in the woods with me. And now to joke and chat with someone is good. Here with my like-minded woman, we dream only of one thing: to keep a clear mind and activity up to 100 years old.

Marina Artemenko, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection:

- About 1.7 million people over the age of 65 live in Belarus. Over the 90-year milestone – 45 thousand, over 100 years – 660 people. The national strategy “Active Longevity 2030” is aimed at caring for the elderly, the task of which is to make life of the older generation acquire new facets with retirement.

A large-scale action “Respect” will be held throughout the country. Care. Responsibility, to which state governing bodies, public organizations and trade unions will join. With this kind of marathon of good, we want to pay tribute to pensioners and emphasize their contribution to the development of the country and society. The plans include honoring in labor collectives, sports activities, visiting grandparents at home by volunteers.

The program will be complemented by the V Republican Marathon in Scandinavian walking “Step to Longevity” – it will be held on October 1 throughout the country, and the event will start in Dzerzhinsk. Last year, more than 7 thousand representatives of the older generation took part in it. On October 3, fans of an active lifestyle are waiting in Minsk, where the open republican sports and mass competitions "Active longevity - 2026" will be held.

Belarusians over 65 actively play sports. In the total number of elderly, they are 32 percent, of which 72 percent exercise four or more times a week. Many members of the older generation continue to work – 489 thousand people, or almost one in four. You can find a job to your liking at any age: from September 28 to October 2, silver job fairs are held in all regions of the country, there are 153 of them in Belarus. Employment services and services are in demand. For eight months of 2026, assistance in employment was provided to almost 1,400 citizens of pre-retirement age and 1,900 pensioners.

The state is interested in maintaining the real growth of pensions - this year, by presidential decree, labor pensions were increased twice. In 2026, more than 31 billion rubles were allocated for payments. The average pension of a non-working pensioner is 1126 rubles.

ostapchuk@sb.by