Hansen's MagNET

Chess is great, for many reasons. One of them being that my bruised and battered body can be engaged in it for hours on end, without breaking down to dust. Inspired by Dan McLaughlin – who is aiming to become a pro golfer in 10,000 hours – I’ve decided to try my luck with chess, becoming a chess master in 10,000 hours. Had I chosen something more physically demanding, my body would have dictated the pace, and there would have been a ceiling to how many hours I could put in weekly. Not so with chess! Since I was a kid I’ve had an obsession with reading. I can read for ten-fifteen hours straight, without a single break. Only the burning sensation in my stomach now and then triggers me to head to the kitchen for something quick to throw down the hatch, while continuing reading. And with chess there is plenty of reading to be done, as well as playing of course, something I can also do without compromising my fragile body.

Within the last month or so, I’ve played some few games with a friend of mine, but it wasn’t until August 21 I got serious about chess, and opened an account at Chess.com. Since then, in 6 days, I’ve been entangled in this wonderful game of kings and their servants for 50 hours, including the approximately 10 hours of friendly games in the previous three-four weeks. In other words, I’ve been able to be in chess land for 6-7 hours daily, far more than would be possible with something taking a toll on my body, and not just my brain.

At this rate I should reach my 10,000 hours in about five years, if I push it a little more, I could reach 10,000 hours before I turn forty. Now that’s an intriguing idea!

After 47 hours of chess (2/3 of them within the last week), I’ve just passed a rating of 1,600 with Chess.com’s Chess Mentor! However, my other ratings are no where near this figure, especially my Blitz rating is poor, but one step at the time.

All these chess ramblings are inspired by The Dan Plan, an ordinary guy who is putting the 10,000 Hour Rule to the test, trying to become a pro golfer in 10,000 hours. I’m now doing the same, with chess. Admittedly, chess is not completely new to me, I played quite a bit as a kid, and have played a little here and there, but it’s been more than twenty years since I last took chess seriously.

Anyway, my ratings as of now, Friday, August 26, 2011, at 6 p.m., 47 hours in the pocket:

• Chess Mentor: 1,603
• Tactics Trainer: 1,173
• Blitz games: 1,178
• Standard games: 1,344

Clearly, I’m a slow thinker, as the difference between the Blitz games and the Standard games show. Also, it seems that tactics are my weakness. I think this is true, since I’m more of a strategic/positional player.

I need a goal to fuel me, so I’ve decided to aim at a chess rating of 1,700 before my next birthday in early April 2012. I do not have enough data to say for sure, but I think my rating currently hovers around 1,300, give or take a hundred. So, I’m aiming at an increase of 400 in a little more than seven months. I don’t know if this is realistic, but I’ll give it a short.

Today I pedaled past 50 km, and thereby raced past this weeks goal, surpassing it by half a kilometer. Hurray! Just to spice up the trip, I added three times three 20 seconds all out sprints, with a 10 seconds recovery between each. Since I’m now watching a flick, I will write no more, except the data.

Todays numbers 

17.1 km in 43 minutes flat with an average heart rate of 137, equaling 2.9 meters for every heart beat. Total distance is now 50.55 km.

Today was my second day on my way to 10,000 km in 33 weeks. I went for a ride with some of my blinding fast biker friends, as well as on old slow roller. The slow roller and I (I’m a slow roller, too) took off a couple of minutes before the other guys, but had to let them pass after less than five kilometers. Since my aim is distance, not speed, it was great just cruising at a slow pace with this old friend of mine.

All in all, we rode 17.5 km and we did so in 45 minutes and 18 seconds. That’s slow, really slow. For two reasons: high winds and a low heart rate. My average hard rate was 132, allowing me to ride 2.9 meters per heart beat, a little less than the last time.

Anyway, I’m now at 33.5 km total, needing to ride another 16.5 km before the end of this – my first – week of pedaling 10,000 km in 33 weeks.

It’s a little after 8 p.m., and I just returned after my first 16 kilometers of my new 10,000 kilometers project. Being a numbers freak I decided week 33 was the perfect week to start, since – by coincidence, maybe – there are also 33 weeks until my next birthday. Inspired by the 1,200 km Paris-Brest-Paris, the oldest bicycle race in the world, I figured long-distance biking – or rather triking – would be the right thing for me to try out. As a former runner, who now suffers from a ton of pain in my left shin every time I run for more than ten minutes, I had to admit to myself that I’m not a hardcore guy anymore. I need low impact exercise, and being the lucky owner of a work of art – a blood red tricycle – the choice was rather obvious.

I decided to begin by pedaling 50 km the first week, and simply increase the distance by 10 % every week for the next 33 weeks. Doing so, I should be pedaling more than 1,000 km in the last week, and have more than 10,000 km behind me at the end of the project. It sounds doable on paper. Now, let’s see how my knees and my heart will handle this in the weeks to come.

Todays numbers 

16,02 km in 35 minutes and 27 seconds, with an average heart rate of 141. This isn’t fast at all, and that’s not the aim. The aim is distance, not speed.

Only 9,984 km to go. :)

There seems to be as much myth as there is good information about how to probably train the core, while not jeopardizing the spine. Plenty of these myths seem to spring from an unfortunate business-as-usual approach, while trainers tend to strengthen the core, using the same exercises they were taught as kids. However, these is now tons of scientific research in this field making it clear that the good old ab exercises are not the best way to exercise the core. In some cases, they actually do more harm than anything else. The obvious example is the well known ab crunch, which – although a popular exercise – is in fact a potent injury machine, due to its repeated flexion, which in effect bends the spinal discs. In this article I will try to explain what makes a fine spine, and how to exercise the core in an efficient and healthy manner.

The basics 

The first thing to understand is the unique function of the core. Unlike the muscles of the limbs, the muscles of the core aren’t made for dynamic movements, but rather for static stiffening of the torso. As an example, the typical function of the rectus abdominis and the abdominal wall is bracing, not flexion (as in the traditional ab crunch). Further, the muscles of the core often cocontract, working in unison to protect the spine. The core is composed of the lumbar spine, the muscles of the abdominal wall, the back extensors, the quadratus lumborum, as well as the latissimus dorsi and the psoas. The gluteal muscles may also be considered components of the core, considering their anatomic and biomechanical synergy with the pelvis.