some positives:

- have dropped 4 pounds, from 180 to 176
- havent drank regular soda in a while now, diew mountain dew and chocolate milk are my lifeblood. i have come to terms that i have now boosted my chances of brain cancer by drinking diet drinks, but in the short term this is a must since so much of my daily calorie intake comes from lots of carbs + soda. by cutting those out, losing this extra weight is easy.

negatives:
- strength levels havent really improved. my trainer is treating my like a 55 year old woman. gonna chat with head trainer today about that. everyone im speaking to tells me i need to hit the weights and not machines (head trainer agrees) but my personal trainer is doing everything backwards. in a perfect world id have the head trainer take care of me, hopefully I can get that going
- in spite of losing 4 pounds i dont feel too different on a day-to-day basis, except that Im far less hungry throughout the day so I guess thats good

has it been difficult? i mean, yes, but its in short spurts so its not a hassle, except for the soreness that came with the first week of training. its mostly about just being active and not eating crappy. i hope to erase my gut by the end of february, and be cut by the summer.

all for now! regarding poker, tournaments are lame, I blank-o'd Sunday. serves me right for bragging about a tournament win.

as with all tournament days, it was about 6 hours of pure agony followed by 2 hours of excitement 1 tabling followed by VICTORY

I won the $109cubed on FTP for 10k, nothing huge but I felt like I really worked this table and played the best I possibly could (as opposed to other tournaments I get deep in by virtue of just running really well).

Leading up to the finaltable I had AA > KK of some portuguese player but from there until 4handed I played like 40/35 (including ninehanded play) and just dictated my stack by chips won before showdown. I would say around a third of the time I got repopped I had a legit hand, thus making it a cooler for whoever decided to make the easiest resteals on the planet (My ATSB had to be above 90). And the one time I got 3bet for significant stacks, I bluff 4bet allin. I was feeling very much ELKY.

Unfortunately with 4handed one of those coolers happened and I had AQ allin versus KT. The flop came A-rag-rag and I lost to running broadway. :P

It also had some sick game dynamics threehanded where the shortstack was sitting out (we waited 3 minutes for him to come back and the continued). I was 2nd in chips and thus the chipleader (an unknown good player) basically had all the leverage in the world to rape me. I couldn't even call his ~18bb eff. shoves with stuff like JJ because the shortstack was basically a lock to finish 3rd. Even when he returned, he folded 5 orbits in a row (for the entire finaltable his VPIP did not get above 6).

So beyond that, once he busted it was a fun HU where I ran good and I ended up taking it down. WHEE. Will make a video on the handhistories and stuff when I get around to it.

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Now celebrating by drinking a cold glass of chocolate milk and eating some blueberries. My workouts have been going pretty solid, although everyone is convinced my personal trainer blows so I'm gonna have to talk to the head trainer at some point and either switch trainers or get my current trainer in gear (which doesnt seem likely).

"Diet" has also been going solid too, only things I've changed have been replacing soda with diet mountain dew and diet pepsi max (if this gives me brain cancer I will lol) and only eating carbs early in the day and after cardio (for instance, subway). Subway was kinda cool today in that even after eating my 6" sub I was still hungry. Usually in my non-active state I would get fullish after eating half a sandwich, so it felt good to recognize that my metabolism is higher than before. I think I've dropped like 5 or so pounds since starting 2 weeks ago, and while my strength levels are still crap I'm optimistic.

I turn 22 today

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday dear Clayton,
Happy birthday to me

AND MANY MOOOOOOOOOOOOORE

Couldnt go to my trainer session today because I've misplaced my wallet. I have also misplaced my watch recently.

Fortunately my dad is buying me a wooden thingy to put my phone/wallet/watch/stuff. I figure this to be my last hope before pronounced "life fish failure" for life.

I am still sore. The 2p2 nutrition forum is basically calling my trainers and their methods retarded, but still worth the investment. As such, I'm going to keep proactively reading 2p2 on nutritional stuff and keep up with my training and, over time, ask my trainer to include certain exercises/methods the 2p2 nutritional forum is big on.

So my adventures continued on Wednesday, when I reported to the gym and got assigned my new personal trainer. I made a mistake off the bat in not telling my new trainer that I hadn't worked out in ages, and he overworked me. We did lunges, then hamstring machine, then quads machine, then lunges, then stretching, then lunges, then quads machine, and by the time I was through 2 sets I was about to throw up so I laid on the floor and poured water on my head so I didnt get any more nauseous than I was.

I was able to speak with the head trainer (guy I worked with on Tuesday) and he was accommodating enough, but I haven't gotten strong vibes from my new trainer yet. He looks just fresh out of college and doesn't really carry the same level of authenticity (the aura, i guess) that the head trainer guy did.

I can't explain it well enough for the blog, but the head trainer has a calm demeanor and lays everything out for you, but his seriousness and intencity with regards to improving my health is like Samuel L. Jackson staring into your eyes and saying "I'm gonna do every mothafu&&ing thing in my power to make you a motharfu%%ing mountain of manliness, motharfu%%a!!!!" and the new trainer is like a caddy on a golf course. I'll give this new trainer a couple more sessions to feel it out, but I'm not as psyched as I was last week. I mean, truth be told, if it's all about just getting me to do X exercises with Y frequency at Z weight, and continually put forth the effort, then there's really no way I could be wasting my money.

EmpireMaker2 noted in a comment last entry that I should just get 3 trainer sets and then go on my own with knowledge and a diet plan, but i question my general work ethic with regard to getting that kinda stuff done. When I have a trainer, I feel way more compelled to go due to some weird level of pathos/guilt accompanying not going, whereas if there's no trainer then I only have to live with failing myself, which doesnt sting as bad as I am apathetic by nature.

That doesn't mean I wont be going though to the gym because of my new trainer though, I'm still going 4 days a week and will be pressing myself as much as need be barring getting sick. I have crazy-sore pecs and triceps still (almost 3 days later) and I'm sure my legs will be dead tomorrow, but it's time to work my arms and back, wheeeeee.

To commemorate me finally getting back into shape, I will post stats. I also took a picture of myself so that I may post side-by-sides a year from now.

Height: 5 feet 9.5 inches
Weight: 180 pounds
Bodyfat %: 29 (this classifies me as obese, WTF, take 1 look at me and u know im not obese. im not even above 180 pounds!?)

The head trainer wants me taking it 1 month at a time, but the goal is to weigh closer to 165 and be mostly lean-mucle mass by the time I leave for the west coast (September).

The last way to tackle this is by changing my diet, and I'll be talking to the head trainer about that since my new trainer only said that it was complicated and for now to focus on eating 5 or 6 small meals a day. This doesnt bode well for me since I dunno WTF to eat (u can get a general idea from my lifestyle that when I dont know anything, I actively seek someone smarter than me to spoonfeed me stuff, so "6 meals a day" doesnt cut it since it doesnt tell me not to still drink soda and eat chinese food leftovers).

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In other news, I barely bubbled the last 2 FTOPS I played (events 1 and 3), and a horse of mine busted 40th'ish in FTOPS 1 by getting 3 outed on the river. ouch!

Lastly, my birthday is on Sunday. WHEEEE

Everything I said about being sore yesterday was a lie compared to what I am feeling right now.

The way my arms are acting, apparantly yesterday was the first day I had ever used my triceps.

I CAN'T SCRATCH MY CHIN.

Ok that's pretty much it, just had to vent my frustration/hilarity somewhere. I head back to the gym in a few hours, so I'll pretty much be hating myself for the next week or two :O

I'm happy Obama won. Yes, higher taxes for me, but whatever. I'm excited.

Now that the political part of my blog post is over, here's a random thought:

All major news outlets are quick to declare Obama the first African-American president. But he's clearly half black. His dad was Kenyan, his mom white.

So I got to thinking...

What % black does Obama need to be to be considered the first African-American president?

So today I had my starting session with my personal trainer at the club I joined yesterday. As I soon found out, the trainer guy I was speaking with was the head honcho of the trainers, and he seemed ridiculously knowledgeable with regards to training techniques. Every one of the trainers there is NCSA-certified, which is a start.

I booked almost a year's worth of sessions at four days a week; basically I want to have a trainer with me just about every day this year so that when I move out of Athens I'll have enough knowledge to be a personal trainer myself (heh). But trainers seem to be really crucial with regards to spotting, motivation, and just overall knowledge. I dont trust myself to make the right decisions or put in the right kind of effort when I'm by myself; so I think the cost (~$30 a session) is very well worth it.

Anyways, today I got all my vitals logged to plan out a set strategy; I found out that my body fat is 29% (thats pretty high), and I'm 5'9 and weight 180 pounds. Not the end of the world, but it's pretty obvious I have some body fat going. According to my trainer, by the end of this year I should be 165 and really cut, and I'm willing to put in the effort, so that's cool.

I really don't know how to describe the workouts I did today, but it was short and involved 2 different benching free-weight machines (I will never be using cables or anything). One was incline, the other straight forward. It was just to test strenght levels, but I ended up doing something silly like 7 different sets with low weights to the point where I couldnt move my arms anymore. Sweet!

The funniest WTF moment was when we were supposed to do... I think it was called a drop-down set? You do 10 reps, remove weight, do 10 more, remove weight, and do 10 more. After doing the first 10 I was like "okay ship it, lets remove the weights". He removes them and says ok lets do 10 more. I'm like "ohhhhhh SNAP" because I was anticipating a rest period. Nope, essentially 30 reps. GOGOGOGOGO.

I'm pulling a john mccain right now (cant move my arms above my shoulders) but at least I'm drinking a fruit smoothie. I'll also get a nutrition plan.

Anyways, I'm borderline giddy/happy from all of these new developments. I finally have something worth getting out of bed in the morning for, and a year from now if I keep up with this I will be in ridiculously good, Men's Health magazine-cover esque good shape. WHEEE.

Until tomorrow, my next sesh, I'm just gonna park it and recover and laugh at my dead arms. Then im gonna watch Obama ship the election. SHIP SHIP.

Really good post on 2p2 recently from Marting aka MagicNinja here, detailing his opinions on the game of durrrr and Phil Ivey. It's very much into thinking about the game on your own and not molding your game around others, which I think is something to strive for if you plan to be the very best, but stuff like 2p2/Leggo are definitely best for the people trying to make a name for themselves in smallstakes through mid/high stakes. The post also kind of makes an excuse for all the retarded crap durrrr does for the sake of metagame and game flow.

Of course, the moment I read through this I get inspired and play some HU PLO only to get wrecked for a few thousand, and thus I had to de-tilt playing some Guitar Hero. Sadly when I think about hands too deeply and try to be durrrr, I end up just trying to win every single pot. And I'd like to think deep down inside that this is not something to actively be striving for.

Anywho, today was something of a bloodbath but I made a reocvery playing limit o8, HORSE, and some NLHE. Once I thougt about thinking about hands more deeply, it made NLHE significantly more interesting and PLO enough of a mindf*ck that I can't even play the game properly. For example, I found infinite more good spots to bluff in NLHE and PLO, and through trying these spots more often, perhaps I'm ruining my image in the short term on the times that I get caught, but I think long term it benefits me huge as it adds to my winrate, my money won before showdown, and it helps me get paid off more in the right spots.

I really hope I'm not overanalyzing things, because reading into it and trying to bluff more has made something of a jump-start in my NLHE game. I hope I can make something of it.

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Tomorrow I have my first appointment with my personal trainer. I'm really psyched, joined the gym/club today and tomorrow I'll be getting all the basics covered with my trainer: what to focus on, body fat index, how to pace myself, all the preparatory things before I get into full gear. The trainer is very certified (which is good) and seems to take it at a pace and level of profession that I'm looking very much forward to. Furthermore, the club is HUGE. theres infinite weights, cardio, cables, rooms, lockers, its ridiculous. I am looking very forward to making this a new hobby, matter of fact I'm borderline giddy because I'm actively taking a positive step towards bettering my life and I"m also finally getting something that makes me get out of bed in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow goes as well as planned!

Instead of loading up 12 tables i tried playing just 6 tables and starting lots of tables where ratholers cant join (because I'm pretty sure I dont adjust well versus ratholers in PLO, and I like to spite ratholers). I also ran good!

Furthermore my birthday is a week from now (happy 22nd me) but tonight I'm having my annual birthday dinner at my favorite Atlanta steakhouse, Bones. Then tomorrow I'm gonna get quotes for personal trainers.

Good start to the month