zondag 10 juni 2012

After one month.....

So the journey to a healthier life started roughly a month ago. Due to work and family it proofs to be difficult to keep a regular pace in updates, but it also keeps you sharp not to miss alot of things. How did I fair over the last period.... Where do I start.

The work-out in the gym turns out to be alot of fun at some points and a dragg on others and seems to be the hardest to keep going. For the weightloss I decided to do as much walking (in a fast pase) as I can. This started out quiet hilarious. I bought new shoes and decided to take them for a walk to my mothers, on my feet this is.... Needless to say that after a couple of km I started to have some nasty feelings, but I decided to keep going (partly due to the fact there is litteraly nowhere to go on this route and in part because I was about halfway through so going back wasn't that much of a gain) after a few km from that point on and in the neighbourhood of an open road pain got worse so I decided to take of my shoes for a bit. There were blisters within blisters WITHIN blisters, I know genius..... So i wound up calling my brother to pick me up and he came and my whole family had a good laugh. So no more walking for about three days, but there was still the gym. I have to say that walking in open air is very nice but in the gym I hate it. Did add some bike practice to my schedule for the days I couldn't do the walking. I lost about 4.5 kgs (which isn't much on my weight) and strange enough people I didn't see for a while walk up to me and say I look great! So there actually is a point in changing your lifestyle!!!

No for the impact on poker. I didn't play much lately but have picked up pace for the time I have got. I started playin low limits hyperturbo/turbo HU tables and am doing quite allright. For the moment it suits my timeframe and my mindset. I did decide to play a MTT aswell and I had a real unlucky bust out there on last 3 tables (admitting that even though I am feeling better that s##t still hurts haha!) I am following everyone as far as I can and am rooting for Sorel during the WSOP obv.

Until the next update take care and know a better world starts @ YOU.........

zondag 13 mei 2012

A Health challenge?!

A few days ago, I made a change in my life, long overdue but still. It involved an article by Sorel Mizzi (a pokerplayer) about health an it's impact on in this case poker, but it obviously has impact on everyday life. I don't really know what it was in this article (http://sorelmizzi.ca/healthy-living-in-relation-to-improving-our-game/) that triggered me to open my eyes but it did. For quite some time now, I have made the wrong choises where it comes to my health. There are numerous factors that I can use to explain on how I got in the bad shape I'm in now (surgery, kids work picking up studying etc) but I think when you look at it in all honesty it has a lot to do with denial and looking for ways to proof yourself it's not as bad as it seems. Well I have to say it is bad. I'm 36 and have a lovely family but am playing with my future! I am a working man and used to be in decent shape, who had no trouble juggling between physical labour playing poker and working out/sports. Due to some of the before mentioned reasons combined (mostly surgery to the ankle) I was unable to give attention to the daily exercise that we all need. After a while I just never got to it anymore and I was doing allright in both poker and work (which also changed from physical labour to no physical), but after a while i noticed that I was caring less and less about it all. Where I used to think and talk about results or hands played in poker, I actually couldn't care less and it came to a point where I registered and was sitting in a tournament for 5 minutes, wondering why the .... I registered! And this is not once but happened often. My work kind of the same, I quit working on me and just blamed people all around, not too bright a decision if these are the people you have to depend on to get the work done.

It just has to stop somewhere, and even though my family have warned me, I don't know why it took up to reading the article for me to get my brains working but it did, and I'm happy it did.

I'm starting a challenge not with Sorel, but myself. For me it will take more then 3 months to get in the shape I need to be, but having read all the stories and being motivated by Sorel via mail, I started. I will visit the gym on 4 days a week for muscle growth and cardio work out, change my eating habbits (especially NOT eating @ 11pm or even later) and will be walking to work twice a week (about 11km) because I need to burn fat. I am starting this journey carrying 162kg with my 200cm body. I will post sizes on my next update and will keep everyone updated on how I fare during this fresh start.

Sytze