Monthly Archives: September 2010

New Release for Sats Power Step

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The latest release of Sats Power Step (Spotify Playlist) is quite a lot of fun. One of the things I liked was that the new choreography had me completely confused a couple of times. It’s not terribly complicated but it’ll still take me a couple of weeks to learn these new moves and “unlearn” the old choreography.

Usually when a new release comes around the first couple of sessions feel quite easy, simply because you are struggling to learn the moves. But this time I was completely smashed by the time we got to the last track even though I was struggling with the choreography so it could be that this release is a bit more intense than the previous one.

The bench track is a bit shorter this time around, which means that I might be able to load even more weight on the bar. The leg track is also considerably easier than the previous release seeing how the split squats has been replaced by back squats. The back track however is quite similar to, if not harder than before which means I may have to take off some weight for the back track once I build back up to 35kg+ on the bar for the bench and the squat tracks. And finally the arm/shoulder track was quite tough as well, at least with 20kg on the bar, with my biceps being the limiting factor as always. Interestingly there seems to be a kind of trend now to include triceps push-ups in every class and Power Step is no exception. Everything goes in cycles I suppose.

Overall it feels like they have managed to distill and refine the core concepts of the class one step even further with this release. The choreography is still simple yet fun and that means you can push harder and get more out of the cardio portions of the class. The strength based parts are getting even shorter which means even more weight can be used and the slower tempo allows you to perform the exercises with a full range of motion.

I also had a chance to try the new Sats Core Pulse release (Spotify Playlist) this week and it is child’s play in comparison. It could be the fact that I’ve rebounded all of my strength now that I’ve gone up to eating 3200kcal/day but I was definitely not hitting my max pulse in the new Core Pulse class. I liked the music and the squats where you raise your arms up above your head, it was a nice stretch for the shoulders. But overall it’s very much of the same old stuff we’ve seen in the past couple of releases. That is not necessarily a bad thing of course, and considering the options, Core Pulse is still one of my favorite classes.

Strength Training Routine #6

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Starting next week I will be transitioning into an upper/lower body split routine.

Upper

Two presses, two rows and a few extra sets for the arms and the shoulders.

  Exercise Sets Reps Rest
1. Chins 3-4 3-10? 3 min
2. DB Bench 3-4 6-8 2 min
3. DB Bent Over Row 3-4 6-8 2 min
4. DB Seated Press 2-3 10-12 2 min
5. Cable Curl 1-2 10-12 1 min
6. Cable Pushdown 1-2 10-12 1 min
7. Machine Lat.Raise 1-2 10-12 1 min

Lower

The focus is on the quads, glutes, hamstrings and the lower back with a few sets for the calfs and abs thrown in.

  Exercise Sets Reps Rest
1. BB Squat 3-4 6-8 3 min
2. BB RDL 3-4 6-8 3 min
3. BB Split Squat 2-3 10-12 2 min
4. Lying Leg Curl 2-3 10-12 2 min
5. Calf Raise 2-3 10-12 2 min
6. Back Extension 1-2 10-12 1 min
7. Crunch 1-2 10-12 1 min

This is essentially “Lyle’s Generic Bulk”. It is an intermediate routine that hits every body part twice per week (similar to a 2x/week full body routine but with a considerably higher volume). When it comes to exercise selection, I am not including anything new this time. These are the exercises I feel the most comfortable with and the once I feel that I can progress with safely and with good form.

The chins are supposed to be my “high rep row” (ideally every body part is hit with both high and low reps in this routine) but I need to gain more strength in my lats before that is possible. Until I can comfortably do 10 chins I will simply do as many as I can. My PR so far is 6 chins in one set but depending on my weight fluctuations my daily performance in this exercise varies quite a bit.

I’m not sure how this will work out with “real life” getting in the way of things but I’ll start out with the schedule outlined below. Alternatively I might try the less optimal Mon/Tue+Thu/Fri setup.

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Lower   Upper   Lower Upper  

Since I’ll be doubling the number of strength training sessions I obviously need to reduce the amount of time devoted to cardio and endurance. I’ve already reduced the amount of cardio from five to three sessions per week in the past year and I will now drop another hour of cardio.