For the past few weeks I have been polishing my web programming skills and experimenting with the HTML5 and CSS3 standards. So if you have a web browser which can handle CSS3 you might notice that some elements of my site now has rounded corners. :-P

I also upgraded the server to handle PHP5, which resulted in a nice little performance boost overall. I am experimenting with some new frameworks/libraries which requires PHP5 and hopefully I can add some cool functionality to the site in the near future. I have been looking into upgrading to the latest Wordpress release as well, but seeing how I have hacked my Wordpress install to oblivion the upgrade might not go down as smoothly as the upgrade to PHP5.

Besides layout changes this update also brings a few usability enhancements. The top menu is now fixed to the page as you scroll down which means users do not have to scroll back up to the top to reach the navigation. I also removed the header and placed the logo in the footer (!) so that more vertical screen real estate can be utilized.

Users are no longer asked to supply an e-mail address when posting a comment, even the “Name” field is optional which means that users can choose to post anonymously. I also removed the CAPTCHA so posting is now as streamlined for the users as it possibly could be. I could remove the “Website” field as well, but I figure that users who want to promote their own websites should be allowed to do so.

Last week I talked about over-training/over-reaching as I had suffered from several of the related symptoms. I took three days off and did some rescheduling and much to my surprise I rebounded back stronger than ever. Core Pulse class felt like a tempo run again, in fact I don’t think I hit my max pulse once in this weeks class.

I suppose this is the thing which I have been missing in my training, I go on and on with the same or increased work load and intensity for months while in reality not even elite athletes work out in this manner. The concept of “de-loading periods” is not exactly unfamiliar to me, but somehow I have managed to dismiss it completely up until now. Looking back at my running log from three years back I note that I did schedule some sort of “plateau weeks” into my program but I guess I didn’t really understand why I did this.

So lesson learned I suppose. A bit of fatigue at the end of a six week cycle might not be that harmful if I just remember to schedule a de-loading/rest period at the end of the cycle.

I did something very different today. I tried one of Sats “red” classes.

It’s not a coincidence that Sats has chosen to use the color red to encode that the class is more demanding from a choreography stand-point. It is a color which denotes “danger”, a not-so-subtle warning to all us stiff guys to stay the hell away from these classes.

Afro is not an exception to this. It is red. It is not trivial. Which begs the question: what the hell was I doing there?

Well, several reasons, actually. I’ve been contemplating substituting one of my workouts for something easier, to use as active recovery. I’m not sure I really need to make this adjustment, but since I’m taking one week off from the strength training before I start my next six week period I figured I would try something different.

In fact, speaking of active recovery, I was thinking of picking up Yoga again. I think one of the reasons I was able to do four-five Body Pump classes every week back in Kista for so long was probably thanks to the one Yoga session each week. Thinking about it, I somehow managed to squeeze in some strength training and badminton on the side as well. I must have spent 6-7 hours per week in the gym back then.

But it’s not like Yoga doesn’t have its own associated issues. I suspect my shoulder flexibility problem might get worse with it. All those side-planks in Body Pump class has made me painfully aware of just how sensitive my shoulders are to certain forms of stress.

Another reason I wanted to try Afro was out of pure curiosity. I hear a lot of good things about it from time to time. But is it really as difficult as the “color” suggests? Is it fun? Is it a good workout?

Similarly to Power Step it is hopelessly difficult to get right on the first try and I can honestly say I failed miserably today to keep up with the instructor (who btw was absolutely brilliant). But since the choreography is fixed on endless repeat thru the session, I don’t think it’s impossible for me to learn the choreography within 3-4 sessions. So it’s definitely a step up from Power Step and Core Pulse but not quite on the level I thought it would be. After all I needed 3-4 sessions to get the hang of Power Step as well.

I’ve reacted negatively to “dance style moves” in the Power Step choreography before but that doesn’t mean I hate dancing, whether I like the choreography or not depends a lot on how comfortable it feels. Afro, as the name suggest, is sorta “primal” for lack of a better word, so I enjoyed the stomping and squatting and kicking and what have you. The ass-shaking was quite interesting as well. :-P It was a lot of fun to be honest. However, seeing how the whole session is set up on an endless repeat of the same moves over and over again I can see it getting a bit stale after a few sessions. But what class doesn’t suffer from this problem really? I should probably note that a major factor as to why this session felt like so much fun was due to the sheer charming power of the instructor. Overall the atmosphere of the class was very different from any other group training class I have experienced.

But maybe the most important question to answer is whether or not it is a good workout, and that is a difficult one to answer. I know I shouldn’t judge the intensity level of a group training class after the first session as the workout tends to suffer quite a bit when you can’t keep up with the choreography. Still, it doesn’t seem to be at the same level as Core Pulse and Power Step. The 20-something push-ups we did really didn’t do anything for me. It’s also not easy enough to really function as active recovery either. Today it would have worked as such, as I was completely lost but I figure the intensity once I get the hang of it is still way above that of a low-tempo run for instance.

Finally, as the newly formed blisters on my toes can vouch for, dancing bare-feet is not something my feet are used to. I felt it throughout the entire second half of the session, which was quite distracting.

For my third Strength Training routine I am sticking to what I know works from my previous routines and I am adding an exercise for the calves.

1. Lever Chest Press	2. Cable Seated Row
3. Lever Shoulder Press	4. Cable Underhand Pulldown
5. Cable Pushdown	6. Cable Curl
7. Lever Seated Leg Press	8. Lever Lying Leg Curl
9. Lever Seated Calf Press

Pictures from the exercise database at ExRx.net.

The Assisted Pullup was the one exercise where I struggled the most to improve so I am replacing it with the pulldown for now to give my ego a little break.

Increasing my weights on the cable pulleys became a lot easier when I discovered the add-on 2.3 kg (5 lb) blocks you can attach to the pulleys for a smaller increment. For this reason I am going to give the Cable Curl and Pushdown another chance.

The Leg Press, which I mistakenly labeled as a squat last time, stays for now. I want to eventually move on to squats but I want to make sure my technique is in order before I go down that road. The Leg Press is still a great exercise.

As I increased the weights on the Leg Curl it became very difficult for me to keep my butt from lifting off the seat so I am going to try the Lying Leg Curl next to see if that works out better for me.

The Seated Calf Press machine at Sats Jakobsberg is slightly different than what is illustrated in the image, but the motion is essentially the same.

I continue as before with a mix of Group Training classes, four times per week, but I’ll switch them around a bit to maybe help alleviate some of the problems I experienced with lower-back fatigue. My priority is to avoid having a Body Pump or Power Step class the day after my Strength Training session.

When you don’t get a sufficient amount of recovery between workouts, you may suffer from unusually prolonged fatigue and decreased exercise performance and this is a physical condition known as “over-training”. Over-training is also a behavioral and psychological condition leading to decreased motivation and even depression. While technically very few people suffer from real over-training (which may take several months to recover from), it is believed that quite a few exercisers experience these symptoms from time to time. (read more: link1, link2)

The easiest way to treat these symptoms is to simply take a few days off from training. Which is exactly what I am doing now as I have felt very fatigued lately. My primary indicator of over-training (or “over-reaching”) is when training does no longer feel enjoyable. When it’s not “fun” to go to a group training session.

While the level of over-training/reaching I am feeling as a simple hobbyist exerciser is nothing compared to what elite athletes must endure, it is still a very creepy condition. It’s kinda like an eating disorder, in the sense that it is a condition which is kinda shameful in a way to admit that you have to yourself and others. I guess in some circles it’s actually the opposite, where they would consider it a “rite of passage” into “hardcore training” or whatever, but to me it is more like a symptom of an addiction. Training addiction. Endorphin addiction. I know I don’t really need to work out five times per week, but I just can’t help myself.

But I digress, and I paint a gloomy picture, in reality we are all endorphin addicts in one shape or another, and in the absence of a girlfriend (or chocolate :-P), I guess I just get my “fix” from where I can get it, Sats Jakobsberg.

But this leads me to a related problem. One way to prevent symptoms of over-training to appear in the first place is to get adequate rest in-between workouts. So naturally I want to figure out a way to do this. However, the recommendation if you don’t want to increase the number of real rest days is to utilize so called “soft” or “slow days”, which is essentially a day of low intensity training, a form of active recovery. The problem is that as an exercise addict it is very difficult for me to discipline myself to stick to the plan and actually work out on a lowered intensity level. This is especially true for a group training session obviously.

So what do I do? I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s good to reach an over-reached state every two months or so. Elite athletes over-reach deliberately as a way to break true a plateau. But I am not an elite athlete. So I need to do something.

It’s time again to summarize my experiences from another six week period of Strength Training.

I managed to increase the total amount of weights for my eight exercises by 52% in the past six weeks. So I am definitely getting stronger. What remains a mystery is whether or not I am gaining lean mass. I’ve been stuck on pretty much the same body weight for the past six months so if I have gained any muscle mass I must have lost fat as well in the process. I am a bit skeptical though as I still don’t see much of a difference in the mirror. It’s likely that the changes in my muscles are still very much on the neurological side.

I havn’t been very strict with my diet, or rather, I haven’t really thought about my diet at all for a long time. However, I suspect I need to eat more, lots more, if I am to gain weight. So what I am doing now is that I am counting my calories to see where I land. In about a weeks time I should have some solid data to work with.

Another, maybe even more likely, issue is the amount of cardio I do. The thing is, cutting down on cardio and increasing the time spent in the weight room to maybe twice per week is a compromise I would like to avoid as much as possible.

I have been doing my strength sessions in combination with a 30 minute Sats Core class and this has worked out quite well. Not only has my core strength increased during the past six weeks, but having a class after the weight training is a very good way to limit the time spent in the weight room as well. In one hour I manage around 20-25 sets (which includes warm-up sets and a 10-15 minute warm-up on an ellipse-machine). I could probably squeeze out a few more sets if it wasn’t for the fact that the gym is always very crowded and I am thus always forced to spend a few minutes standing in queue.

But even with this amount of efficiency I note that I am now spending 10% more time on training than I did before (5.5 hours per week compared to 5 hours per week previously). While a ten percent increase may sound insignificant, in terms of what effect it has on fatigue and over-training over-reaching is something that worries me. I know from experience that when I have gone up to six hours per week I have suffered symptoms of over-training over-reaching. Obviously I am talking about six hours of intervals based training at near maximum intensity, so whether or not the half-hour long Core session has much of an impact or not remains to be seen. In fact, the Strength Training session itself might have a larger impact than the added amount of time spent in the gym.

Overall my second Strength Training routine has been an interesting learning experience. I note that dumbbells, besides having mass, are also quite bulky and cumbersome to handle which means that handling them requires the utilization of more stabilizer muscles. This is a fancy way of saying that dumbbells are harder to use than cables and machines. Which, in a nerdy kind of way, is pretty cool. I knew this in theory already of course, but actually feeling it, gives this piece of knowledge a whole other dimension.

I also note that when I work out my lower back with the Cable Seated Row one day and do squats the next day (in Body Pump class for instance) my back just can’t handle the load even though the squat is mainly for targeting the glutes and quadriceps. This means that it may be wiser for me to opt for a Core Pulse or Spinning class the day after I have worked my lower back as compared to Body Pump or Power Step. Core Pulse still has quite a lot of squatting, but I can handle the body weight squat a lot easier. It is interesting and paradoxical how this doesn’t seem to have nearly the same effect on the dead-lifts, which in fact target the Erector Spinae (lower back) directly. That said, I’m very happy with how well the full range version of the Cable Seated Row has strengthened my back during the past six weeks.

Finally I realize that I too can fall into the “macho mentality” in the gym and put on too much weights, too soon, and completely loose track of what is “good form”. So for the next six week period I will start out by cutting off 10% on my current weights and work on my form a bit before I start increasing again. And when I do I will do it in smaller increments as well. Intuitively I think it doesn’t really matter how much or little you increase the weights in order to stimulate the muscles to grow stronger. What is important is that you keep increasing the resistances over time.

Speaking of “good form”. I feel confident with the motions one does with the lever-based machines and to some extent also with some of the cable-based exercises. However I think it may be wise for me to get the help of an experienced instructor before I start doing proper bar-bell squats and dead-lifts. While I have been doing these exercises in Body Pump class for nearly two years now, there is some variation in how these exercises are performed and instructed by different instructors and “good form” in Body Pump terms may not be defined as tightly as it may be for lifting very heavy weights. So I feel that there is some amount of uncertainty here in regards to how well I perform these motions. For this reason I am not going to include any more free-weights based exercises in my coming exercise routines until I have made sure I know I am doing these properly.

I painted these Easter eggs today together with my nephew.

I am so looking forward to cracking Mario’s head open tomorrow for breakfast. Mmm brains…