Amateur Poker Association & Tour
Poker Forum => General Discussion => Member Blogs => Topic started by: dwh103 on May 11, 2012, 03:27:59 AM
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Hi all,
You may have seen this on Pokernews.
I"ve entered Sorel Mizzi"s Health Challenge he"s extended to the poker community (http://sorelmizzi.ca/healthy-living-in-relation-to-improving-our-game/)
Basically I have 3 months to follow a fitness plan, charting my progress. The winner get"s taken under Sorel"s wing for a year, and every participant gets a few hands analysed. I"ll of course share these with everyone :)
I"ve therefore resurrected my old blog at http://thepokerlifeofdave.blogspot.co.uk/ (http://thepokerlifeofdave.blogspot.co.uk/). It will be updated regularly (almost daily) - I would REALLY appreciate any followers/support/comments/encouragement on the blog. It"ll be a mix of my progress, thoughts and poker.
Thanks :)
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Addendum: Anyone can feel free to use any psychological techniques they see fit to help keep me on this wagon! ;)
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HEALTH: join weight watchers m8....IT WORKS ;D
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Good luck.
Looking forward to the "before" photo.
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Thanks John - to participate I needed to provide a before shot, holding a copy of the days newspaper. I chose that beacon of acceptable fascism that is the Daily Telegraph, resplendent with a big pic of the Queen on the front page. Therefore there is a picture in cyberspace of me, in my boxers, holding the visage of Her Maj that I would intend never sees the light of day again. I can kiss goodbye to elected office.
Ian - I"ll be getting back on a paleo diet. Basically meat and veg, based on the assumption that for 99% of history humans have been hunter-gatherers rather than farmers. That, and a shedload of hard work at the gym.
I"ve been doing the gym semi regularly over the past couple of months, but this allows me to give more focus to it. I"ve sacked it off the last couple of weeks, but first session back is later today. Looking at 4-5 times a week - which should be a shock to the system!
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Best of luck with this Dave, would be fabulous if you could win the 12 months under the wing before fleeing the nest and flying onto bigger things.
Steady in the Gym, do you have a trainer to set goals or just gonna go by feel and experience?
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Best of luck with this Dave, would be fabulous if you could win the 12 months under the wing before fleeing the nest and flying onto bigger things.
Steady in the Gym, do you have a trainer to set goals or just gonna go by feel and experience?
Thanks Paul :)
I"ve flirted with a number of commercial gyms, but never trusted the advice I"d been given. Trainers would look blankly when I"d ask specific questions about how to use a piece of equipment, and the standard "sign you up, then ignore you" mentality.
Fortunately I"ve found a strongman gym in Southampton where the trainer makes a point of educating his clients about nutrition, the body, biomechanics, supplements etc. He even correctly diagnosed that I had a trapped nerve in my neck that was impacting my strength. For the first time I totally trust the information I"m given - and no cv in sight!
So in essence I"ll be working with him 3-5 times a week, a combination of "normal" work (I"m not really up with the lingo) and modified strongman training - dragging sleds, rope pulls etc. I"ve been going for 2-3 months already (sacked off the last couple of weeks though) so I"m not starting from zero. I don"t have specific goals, just as long as body fat % is going down and lean mass is going up then it"s all good!
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Good luck.
Looking forward to the "before" photo.
+1 on both of these :D
GL Dave, jealous really as if I"d known I"d have given this a bash as well... since been forced into football retirement last October, and working from home, the only exercise I get is getting out of bed, and walking downstairs.. and then quick jogs of a whole 5 feet into the kitchen and my fridge.
Needess to say the weights been steadily creeping on. Anyway be interested to see how you get on mate, and wishing you all the best of luck, will be following the blog with interest.
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Good luck.
Looking forward to the "before" photo.
+1 on both of these :D
GL Dave, jealous really as if I"d known I"d have given this a bash as well... since been forced into football retirement last October, and working from home, the only exercise I get is getting out of bed, and walking downstairs.. and then quick jogs of a whole 5 feet into the kitchen and my fridge.
Needess to say the weights been steadily creeping on. Anyway be interested to see how you get on mate, and wishing you all the best of luck, will be following the blog with interest.
Thanks Phil,
I"m in a similar scenario, I injured my ankle in 2004 playing football and I ended up with an imbalance that gave me crippling calf pain if I walked for 5-10 minutes. Took a number of years for me to seek help and I now have insoles to correct my posture, but a sedentary lifestyle (thanks poker and office jobs) has weakened my back and as a result I just get crippling pain there instead. Hopefully this"ll be improved with training (my PT thinks so).
I used to coach football, and weighted 11st 10 when I was 20. I"m now 6 stone heavier. If you see the weight creeping on, definitely do something about it rather than leave it as long as I did!
The gym I use is a strongman gym, no cv and weights only, which is perfect for someone like me.
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Have updated the blog with more details about the challenge and my approach at http://thepokerlifeofdave.blogspot.co.uk/ (I will link this a fair bit, hope that"s ok mods!).
Steak and Eggs for brekkie this morning, first training session for over 2 weeks shortly.
I"ll post a heavily cropped version of the boxers + Queen picture on Monday for all you perverts out there :)
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the trainer makes a point of educating his clients about nutrition, the body, biomechanics, supplements etc.
The enthusiasm of the newly-converted.
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the trainer makes a point of educating his clients about nutrition, the body, biomechanics, supplements etc.
The enthusiasm of the newly-converted.
Haha, indeed. Well it"s been 3 months pretty much and I"m still going. That"s 2 months and 30 days longer than I usually manage ;)
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Very best of luck Dave. Also working from home I empathise with all you have said so have my fingers crossed that everything goes well. There"s certainly a big carrot at the end for you (yum!).
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Very best of luck Dave. Also working from home I empathise with all you have said so have my fingers crossed that everything goes well. There"s certainly a big carrot at the end for you (yum!).
Thanks Andrew, it"s taken a while for me to get going. First session down, many more to go!
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All the best Dave. I will follow your progress with interest.
I believe that physical fitness is important in a poker player"s life to improve results long-term.
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All the best Dave. I will follow your progress with interest.
I believe that physical fitness is important in a poker player"s life to improve results long-term.
Thanks Craig!
I could do with an upswing, and with Vegas 4 and a bit weeks of away there"d be no better time for positive variance to have a go. Hopefully it"ll improve my golf too! :D
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Well, I"ve been going a couple of weeks now. No decrease in weight but an increase in lean mass and a reduction in body fat %. Cardiff wasn"t great diet wise so not much of a change over the past week but the odd slip has to be expected.
Have got some before pics up, but you"ll have to go via my blog to my BodySpace profile to see those. http://thepokerlifeofdave.blogspot.co.uk/
I managed to take down the PLO in Cardiff after a real grind at the start of the FT. This evening I"ve just managed to win the first Genting Vegas Challenge (http://www.lasvegasteamchallenge.com/about-tvc/) play-off for a $7.5k Vegas package. After they changed the goalposts part of the way through (I was already dicing for the league lead) the participants were no longer receiving any cash payouts for individual tournament results. With all tournies being $20 rebuys I"d spent over $1.4k with minimal return (about $400 and some GPS satellite tokens) chasing the package. After a dreadful last few months poker wise I feel like something has clicked and I"m finally looking up again. Maybe this challenge is already having an effect?
The play-off (10 player STT) was a real grind but I managed to win one of the two packages on offer, only being at risk once. I"m absolutely elated of course, intend on having my third shot at a bracelet in 3 weeks time :)
Hopefully an APAT bracelet to follow (for a regular player anyway!) ;)
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So how are you & Sorel getting on with your weight-loss programme?
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So how are you & Sorel getting on with your weight-loss programme?
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It"s going really well thanks John (though Vegas is destroying my diet). I"ve not lost any weight - I"ve actually gained a couple of lbs, but I have lost fat, so it"s just lean mass increasing. Apparently I"ll need to fully train for 3 months before weight begins to fall.
Had a few challenges, and got the diet from hell to look forward to when I return (no carbs for 2 weeks). Would have some more stats - was due to get them the Tuesday before I left for Vegas. Unfortunately I discovered that my roof was leaking and part of my ceiling had fallen down on that day. So spent the day pre-Vegas calling the insurance company rather than my trainer taking the measurements, so I"m stat-less for the last 2-3 weeks (Diamond Jubilee got in the way too).
Am seeing results though, I"ve developed some new bumps on my arms, which is encouraging to say the least :D