Results for march2nd-march9th

Workout Open WOD 15.2 Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:
From 0:00-3:00 2 Rounds of: 10 Overhead squats, 95#(65#)10 Chest-to-bar pull-upsFrom 3:00-6:00 2 Rounds of: 12 Overhead squats, 95#(65#) 12 Chest-to-bar pull-ups From 6:00-9:00 2 Rounds of: 14 Overhead squats, 95#(65#)
14 Chest-to-bar pull-ups Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds
I only got through the round of 12 but earlier in the week when I went to the mountains I was already sick and don't think I dressed properly so my immune system broke for a second and ended up coming down from the mountains with my left ear drum not popping and feeling much weaker than normal. I really wanna redo the Wod now that I'm feeling better just cause I know I can do better so maybe I'll fit that in this week. Did my handstand walking afterward. So I made the protein breakfast bars last week and failed to make the other meal so this week I'm going to just make one meal and it's been a while since I've made my own chili so decided to make some butternut squash chili!

Review of self help book The art of learning is written by Josh waitzkin who was the kid the movie searching for bobby fisher was based on. The beginning of the book reminds us of enjoying the journey rather than the outcome. There's two types of learning in developmental psychology one is entity or kids who are told you're good at math but not English so they see their ability to be fixed where contrary to that is incremental theorists or learning theorists may have the mindset of work hard and you'll become better. Obviously entity theorists is how most of our families raised us and if not consider yourself lucky because this entity theorist mindset is exactly the mindset that's keeping us from growing to our potential in all areas of life. Then he goes on to explain a great analogy of the trap entity theorists fall in, being an anorexic hermit crab. Goes like this: I'm just a lil hermit crab that's too big for his old shell right now. I think when I had my old shell I was starving myself to stay small enough for it so I didn't have to leave, classic anorexic hermit crab ! I am out in the middle of the sea with my underbelly exposed and vulnerable when normally i have a huge shell that I can hide away from the world in and feel protected. But being vulnerable out here in the sea is my chance to grow! This is a common theme in life we have to leave the safe familiar and dive deep into the unknown world to grow and become better at whatever it is we are pursuing.

Mental well being I journaled 4 outta 7 days last week. Didn't work on my player profile at all tho. Finally got back into yoga this past saturday and Sunday and meditated 4 out of 7 days.

Poker Study time I've still been benge watching training videos through chromecast because I felt so rusty last week so decided to study more instead of put in my normal amount of volume. I reviewed at least ten hands before every session last week and reviewed after about half of my sessions.

Mindset while playing and anything else Obviously I had excuses for not doing well on the workout Friday so being honest that flu did cause some lose in my normal volume. Pretty sure the worst of it's over so I'm pretty stoked about this week and the future in general. Yes coming back it was a lil hard to get motivated but I have some ideas of what I want in the near future and plan to make it a reality. My mindset while playing has been solid for the most part, I've seen some lazy mistakes but I'll plug those this week and should be running near to optimal. Watching these videos really is reinforcing the mindset of looking at ranges rather than trying to just play my hand. I remember I had this mindset engrained from before falling into the abyss but that abyss made it so I need to almost relearn every freaking concept even if I've known it from way back when. I am going to be moving soon and have the pressure of all that's entailed with the move on the back of my mind.

Announcement to anyone in the Denver area or someone wanting to move to denver I'll be moving very soon and had some thoughts about finding a grinder/grinders to have as roommates. Obviously as you can see I love this game, anyone who shares this love and thinks denver is the best place in the USA should pm me and we can discuss options.

Workout Open Workout 15.3 14-minute AMRAP: 7 muscle-ups 50 wall balls 100 double-unders M 20-lb. ball to 10’ F 14-lb. ball to 9’ I got 317 RX Something up with my breathing I just didn't have the lung capacity to beast this workout but I'm happy with my result. I mean I'm not gonna be a crossfit athlete after all but I do still like to be mindfull of ways to improve at fitness because I do believe that like anything with time and effort you can improve so who knows maybe next year I'll be writing on this thread and I'll get 318! I did my handstand work after.

Review of self help book So he goes on to explain his childhood as a chess prodigy. He realizes how the thing that made his chess game so pure and strong was how it was a way to express his personality, his chaos driven personality. The board was a direct correlation with him as a person. I forgot a segment that just came to me from early in the book that was interesting and I wanna share. He states the feeling of when chess was introduced to him, that feeling of something new on christmas morning and how when he saw chess he didn't see the chess pieces he saw this jungle of a world, thoughts of that movie jumaji with robin williams flashed through my mind, where each piece has a different feel to it. I wanna share some thoughts of when I first started poker. It was first a backround noise in my study on my lil ten inch tv set while I was sitting there playing Counter-strike, I would glance around and if I recall correctly it was the heads-up poker championship and moneymaker I think was competing. Then it was yelled in my ear by my best friend. Then it was this lil red book called zen and the art of poker. The smile on my face after winning the second time I sat down with my friends to play after reading that book. Then paradise poker and the thought of one day being on a beach playing poker, this thought is still in my head but now the beach is more like snow :P. The sounds and animations on Paradise when I won a pot. The first digital purple chip I won. The sound of the WSOP coming on TV from way back when I saw Chad Brown and Chip Reese at a final table and they aired all the events not just the main and the onedrop :/. Then the days when I skipped class to go to the casino and the long nights at the casino and the interesting characters I met. The first cardrunners video I watched and how mad I was at them I was at first cause I initially got murdered trying the new concepts. I could go on but I'll get back to the book, poker is a great way to display your personality and I believe that is one of the allures to playing for anyone pro or funplayer.

Mental Well Being Didn't journal one day last week, was kinda off in lala land most of last week but plan to get more grounded and back to earth this week. Let's shoot a goal of 5 outta 7 days journaling this week. Went to yoga before almost every session last week and meditated every time. Trying to do this new thing where in down dog or some resting spot where I get to do some open mouth exhales I think of a bad beat or bad variance and just let them go.

Poker Study time Still benge watching training videos but not downstairs cause I wasn't paying as much attention down there. Hope to get in a coaching session next week.

Mindset While Playing and anything else Still not running to optimal speed but it's ok I'm still working and am feeling excited about this path. I've started to realize how easy it is to rely on other people for motivation, be it crossfit, yoga, poker or snowboarding I always felt like I preform better when I am being motivated by the people around me. This may be true in terms of brute physical force with athletic movements but prolly not, I imagine with meditation you can rise yourself to the same intensity with or without people. This isn't applied to the brute mental toughness that poker requires I believe that being isolated will help you dive even deeper. TBH looking at my past I honestly can't say I've lived alone without roommates for more than 3 months. One time I was renting an apt for 1400$ with a couple and they had complications so they had to move out for the last 4 months. So instead of just living there alone I decided to pay rent there and go keep my parents company, I guess it was really them keeping me company heh. Maybe now that my priorities are in line with poker and I have a decent roll with a lil cushion, moving out to the heart of denver alone will be the evolution of SmallTheMouse! All in all I feel pretty good about my gameplay tho not optimal with sprinkled mistakes I feel I'm continuously desperate for new concepts an insights and am experimenting so this is prolly just another experimenting phase while I try to ride the edge of what I can get away with more often than I'm comfortable with.

Results for march 9-16th, started out like a rock star ended a sad panda.

Oh meal I'm gonna make is Fried eggs with sweet potato hash and buffalo chicken wings in peanut sauce.....

WorkoutFor Time: 30 Thrusters 115#(75#) 30 Burpee box jump overs (20″) Run 400m 20 Thrusters 115#(75#) 20 Burpee box jump overs (20″) Run 400m 10 Thrusters 115#(75#) 10 Burpee box jump overs (20″) Run 400m. I scaled down to 95# and got 23:07. Did my handstand walk work after word.

Review of self help book He goes on to explain what flo is to him. He was playing against a tough opponent and had no inspired thoughts no flo just going through the motions but then something happened. He began to lose himself in the chess board, he was now inside the energetic flow of the game. He lost his sense of self and ego, he was in the zone and was having original thoughts. It all makes sense. He says that at the time when this first happened it was spurred on by an earthquake, literally, but says that with time and practice we can create this lil earthquake in our mind at will. The first obstacle he had to overcome was distractions or as he puts it, "the mini earthquakes through our days". He states during the performance process, "first we learn to flo with whatever comes then we learn to use whatever comes to our advantage finally we learn to be completely self sufficient to create our own earthquakes so our mental process feeds itself explosive inspirations without the need for outside stimulants." He goes on the explain "What sports psychologists consider the soft zone. This would be your optimal preforming environment with no distractions but then the phone rings, someone knocks on your door, the neighbors dogs won't stop barking. So you can deal with these mini earthquakes by your reactions to them by doing one of the two following things, one where you are tense and your whole body is straining to fight off distraction this is called the hard zone and in this zone it demands a cooperative world for you to function. The alternative is the be quietly intensely focused and relaxed with a air of serenity, while inside the mental juices are in complete flo as tho all your preparation is now all coming together in your head. This latter zone is the soft zone and is ideal because it is resilient like a blade of grass that can move with and survive hurricane force winds." I see myself being able to start to create the soft zone especially with the help of meditation and yoga. I notice I really haven't been back in that soft zone place since I went on that snowboarding trip and feel this could be a breakthrough in my overall mindset that I could work on a lot.

Mental Well Being Journaled about life and poker yesterday. Went to yoga but didn't feel like I was there for the second half of it. Something happened and I just wondered off mentally. Today I was thinking about that soft zone stuff during my yoga practice and realized just how often I'm in the hard zone. I think this is something to keep striving towards working on.

Poker Study Time Watched videos before playing yesterday and reviewed ten hands before and after my sessions

Mindset While Playing and anything else I started off not all that focused and ended up getting stuck right off the bat. Maybe needed to review a few more hands at a slower pace. Anyway I felt I was forcing a lot of what was going on at first then settled back into my game but by that time I was already stuck so much I would be happy to break even for the night. Made comebacks then lost it back then made comebacks then lost it back again. I'm interested to review all my hands from last night that's for sure. Every time I play lately I notice I am for sure in the hard zone going to make a conscious effort to make myself like a blade of grass cause I know the right play I'm just making life hard on myself lately and putting myself in the hard zone. So let's start making the right play you know to make and keep a level head in the soft zone.

WorkoutOpen workout 15.4 Complete as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of: 3 handstand push-ups 3 cleans 6 handstand push-ups 3 cleans 9 handstand push-ups 3 cleans 12 handstand push-ups 6 cleans 15 handstand push-ups 6 cleans 18 handstand push-ups 6 cleans 21 handstand push-ups 9 cleans Etc., adding 3 reps to the handstand push-up each round, and 3 reps to the clean every 3 rounds. Men clean 185 lb. Women clean 125 lb. I got 37 reps Rx. HSPU were a struggle for me and I for sure feel stronger in that area but I got no repped like 7 times or something ridiculous so I think I could've gotten a much better score had I not wasted all that energy. Did a lil handstand walking work after but my shoulders were smoked.

Review of self help book He goes on to explain his time between 18-21 where he took on a group of young chess players. One of the ideas he taught was staying present when faced with troubling situations. This concept isn't new to me in my research of mental endurance on the battle field but the way he explained it kind of made it resound deeper with me. He told a story of when he was on his way to meet his group of kids in the busy new york streets. There was a woman who stepped into the traffic but most people in new york are use to the flow of the city and at first she seemed to know where she was going but then it happened a bicycler flew past her and brushed into her narrowly getting past. Instead of stepping back onto the sidewalk she turned the wrong way and yelled angrily at the biker. A yellow taxi cab was the next thing to come and hit her flinging her into a post. Instead of staying present with the moment she let it escape her and it was literally life or death. He also explained an idea I may use where, if he was feeling stale during a tournament he would run outta the room and sprint and come back with a new mental state. Another thought he pointed out is one every true competitor knows about. The feeling of when you have a significant lead in whatever you are doing then you make a subtle error and are on even playing field all of a sudden. You cling to the feeling of when you were winning and don't stay present for the current position of the players. The trick as he puts it is to grab momentum and ride it like no other but when you lose momentum snap right back into a fresh state of being in the now. With poker I can say I am relatively honest with my skill level and it seems to me when this sorta thing happens, I'm up a bunch in a session then go back to even, I snap into the present moment when I am confident vs my current opponents. I guess a good note to leave for myself would be to understand the playing field is always even unless my spidie senses are going off, usually in some form of anxiety or arousal, then that is a cue to journal that particular spot and go prepare better for that spot.

Mental Well Being Forgot to journal about life. Went to yoga and meditated but have been showing up a lil later than I'd like to get in the right amount of meditation beforehand.

Poker Study Time Been watching a bunch of good training videos and am starting to write in my poker journal one concept I learned from each. Review my hands before and after each session.

Mindset While Playing and anything else I started off the session relatively focused then I completely lost focus and had to quit playing for the night. Nothing happened on the tables. I just figured out some things for this overall path and literally got so excited I just had to go hang out with a friend to tell all my thoughts. These thoughts have always been on the back of my mind and I've had chances in the past to carry this plan out but I always had this conflicting dream that would screw up my complete vision in my head. Well I've written off the conflicting dream and now everything in my head is clear and the best part is I know how to easily carry it out! I've been making life hard for myself when it never had to be this hard. I am very excited for my long term goal now but now is the time to be present and realize the dream will come eventually it's all in the journey! This video is clutch for poker players. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCOEuE25MU4&t=336

Workout 5 Rounds for time: 5 Strict pull-ups 10 Single arm dumbell squat clean, alternating, 40#(25#) 10 Burpees got 9:30 rx. Did my handstand walking afterwards and got half way of the goal I have set. Meal ima make is baked eggs in bacon rings, a lascaux chicken waldorf salad and sloppy joes.

Review of self help book He then goes on to explain something I can relate to a ton. He talks about the study of Numbers to leave numbers. In this process he was a boy becoming a man playing abroad in European city. He would travel all over europe with his notebook and dive really deep into chess. He also noticed that with his new coaches advice he was following chess started to feel more alien to him rather than an extension of his being. He thinks this was a direct reflection of his life situation. He started to study the moment in competition where technique and psychology collide. In chess he states each player subtly makes the spot more and more complex hurling them towards a fault line until one of them cracked. Sometimes superior technique won the battle but more often than not someone would crack. He noticed with his own game he was having trouble dealing with transitions and he believed this was from being home sick so in chess the transition stage was where he cracked. So he ended up working tirelessly on this transition stage. Sometimes he would study for 6 hours on end working out one problem. When he says the study of numbers to leave numbers sometimes it was numbers other times concepts and dynamics of the positions. A good example he said was how each of the chess pieces accounted for numbers pawn was 1 knight 3 and so on. As the student begins he literally is counting numbers but as he keeps playing he stops counting and everything has a much better flow to it, the study of numbers to leave numbers. He also stated that after he studied for hours on end he would return and the problem wouldn't even be a problem anymore it just would all make sense. Also stated how he started using this mindset of embracing change in his chess game as well as in real life so transitions would flow much better all around.

Mental well being Went to yoga friday and played good but then slacked on yoga and it reflected in my sessions. Did journal during the weekend but it really didn't help much my mind was still not completely present for battle. Think I just need to be more vigilant with my meditation and yoga.

Poker Study Time Watched a video twice over the weekend. Reviewed before and after my sessions.

Mindset while playing and anything else I really wasn't present throughout the entire weekend. Made lots of mistakes. I think this new plan I have, to build up a roll big enough to take abroad, made my thinking a lil desperate where every pot means a lot. I just need to realize this goal is a ways off and I just need to enjoy playing poker, cause it is enjoyable once I start flowing. I did start flowing a lil towards the end of the weekend just remembering how to play the game. I sometimes feel like what the author of this book I'm reading felt like, where I'm trying to understand these new concepts but I'm having trouble putting the theory's into practice. They are just a lil disorganized in my brain in certain instances but just like in the book I'm going to focus tirelessly on them and then the flow will start. I'm really excited about the future but this obsessing over it needs to stop because my current situation is pretty stellar also. It's easy to just get one thing handled and move to the next goal and obsess completely over that till it's handled also. The key I feel will be when I find complete balance over my personal/social life and business life. That's what this self discovery is all about. This is a time for me to venture out and start living a better life. A girl once said that I am not living life and would always ask me when I would start living. Maybe I wasn't living to her because of my lack of balance in my social life, to her this was a very important part of her life so I can see why she could think I was not living. Happiness is for sure underrated and I think in the back of my head I am always in search of things that are going to make me more happy in the future when really the only thing we have is now. The waves of life and poker are hard not to get emotional about, I think it's just a process tho so as long as I stay present enough to realize where I'm at in the process I won't have any issues. Like when I lose a hand in poker and start feeling those angry feelings and start saying very irrational things in my head that end up causing more mistakes if I don't start injecting logic that will keep me grounded and present.

Results for last week, still going up real high in beginning of week and then fizzle out. Got in a better amount of volume tho but this weeks gonna be bad cause I have been up at the mountains so volume is no good.

Workout No workout.

Review of self help book Taming Stallions- He compares a life of ambition to a person training on a balance beam. As a child you have a huge room for error but as you grow older the beam gets smaller and smaller. He explains his different coaches methods, one was Yoda and very spiritual about the game and the other was an arrogant Machiavellian type. They also had different methods of training students. Yoda wanted his pupils to study very strong games like the other coaches but don't try to be that coach, understand them and let those strategies soak into your own personal game allowing chess to resonate with your own personality instead of alienating the pupil from the craft making it not feel like it is theirs but their teachers. The Machiavellian type coach wanted to break his students till they saw they must follow his own tactics to the t and every student would fit into this cookie cutter mold. While ones strategies were crucial the others mindset was just as crucial. Josh the author ended up becoming so alienated it was the demise to his passion for chess but then he found another craft to be passionate about. I can for sure relate to this concept and now understand why I felt the way I did. Oh the whole chapter was about the different ways to tame a horse, you can either break it scaring and showing it who's boss it till it gives in(shock and awe) or you can use the horse whisperer method where you nurture it and make it feel as though you both want the same thing, so you can see the contrast of the yoda coach and the Machiavellian coach.

Mental well being Went to yoga last night but no journal. Went to this intro to transcendental meditation and am aroused to incorporate this process into my life. It entails 20 minutes of meditation in the morning and 20 minutes of meditation in the evening. I plan to start mid April so will keep an update on the progress.

Poker Study time No studying

Mindset While Playing and anything else Been having problems getting in volume. Just a lil distracted with getting everything ready for this move but I plan to have a good session tonight and one tomorrow and pick up my total volume for April.

Results from the start of the thread to present. Think I can increase average hands per month.

WorkoutFor time: 30 Pull-ups 20 Kipping handstand push-ups 30 Pull-ups 15 Strict handstand push-ups 30 Pull-ups 10 Paralette handstand push-ups with 4″ deficit. Scaled kipping hspu to 15 reps, got 8 strict with two abmats and 5 paralette with 2" deficit. Then I did the handstand work and felt pretty good I notice the way I shift my weight determines how long I go instead of not shifting weight to one arm each step which would lead me to losing the hollow rock.

Review of self help book Still reading the art of learning and love this book it gets so deep. Adversity: He starts the chp with a fight between him and a stronger/bigger man. The author was fighting in slow motion fighting in flow but then he took one second to think only one more minute and he wins the championship. Right after this momentary lapse in concentration he broke his hand on the opponents shoulder. It was in this time that the pain brought him into a deeper focus, time slowed to a near stop and he fought with one arm fell into rhythm with his attacks and reached the deepest state of flow possible. He compares this to the earthquake that spurred him to have an insight not in his grasp before the jolt. There are three things that he reminds us to remember in resilient performers revolving situation to chaotic situations. 1. be at peace with imperfection(like a blade of grass being able to stand hurricane force winds) 2. You learn to use that distraction to your advantage as a catalyst to insight(thinking to the beat of music) The third part in this process and one of the most important for us is to learn to create ripples in our consciousness. Little jolts to spur us along so we are constantly inspired whether or not external conditions are inspiring. He then goes on to explain how the mental side of sports is almost always neglected when in the heat of a season or in our case the heat of the grind. Personally I can't even deal with working on my mental side when I feel the need to grind constantly which I have recently because I feel rushed from the thought of the usa doing something to us poker players again like black friday but it's hurting me in the long run neglecting working on my mental game. I remember when I broke my hand I ended up having the best months of my career and I think the time away from the gym gave me a lot more time to work on these mental things. In the book he states that this time away from having his dominant hand gave him a change in perspective. The key is keeping in touch with the reality that your mental game is the essential component to any kind of competitive en-devour but this is easier said than done in the middle of the grind. When facing adversity look for spots that you normally neglect instead of just working on your strengths. When you return to battle you will have a new perspective and be able to reach a higher state of consciousness. When he returned with his right arm barely usable he came to a revelation, he saw when he could control two arms with his one he had a huge advantage with his free arm. This principle can also be applied psychologically if your opponent is tied down either qualitatively or energetically more than you are required to tie it down you have a great advantage. THE KEY is to master the technical skills appropriate to your area of focus. He also used visual meditation on his broken arm to keep it from atrophy, he'd work his left out while sending energy mentally to his right. The chapter ends saying that in every field there is mediocre, good, great and among the greatest and to get there you have to use every moment and optimize what you have to work with. If the time comes when you are truly burnt out it is time to deepen the mental side of the game. When aiming for the top you need to be engaged and create obstacles to engage you take on the problem from a different angle. Let set backs deepen your resolve. There is a difference to take note, the difference between consistency and monotony. Even for the most driven of us it's very easy to become disengaged from your path, we lose presence. The key is to learn to use these setbacks without actually having to break a bone or go broke. Learn to raise your game without relying on the ugly ruses of your opponents. Notice external events that cause us to have to deal with the problem in another way, adjusting, and then internalize the best reaction before the opponents have time to make the problem actually happen.

Mental well being Been going to yoga regularly and am still working on my meditation by controlling my breath. Journaled yesterday and today.

Poker study time Been very caught up in the daily grind so felt no need to study poker lately and it's showing in my results. I do review my hands but think I need to stay vigilant on studying poker.

Mindset while playing and anything else Been kinda just putting in hands and texting or chatting on the phone and trying to multitask way to much. Am going to get my add focused on the 8-12 tables I have going at one time think that should be enough for me to handle. Although I've been putting in hands losing isn't really bothering me as much so that's good but bad cause I almost feel disconnected like I don't even care about poker so much lately. Going to stay with this goals page cause it helps me get inside my head and do mental work which seemed to really help my game in the long run.

Here's the link to my new thread, http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17.../#post49341490