Football! I play in a pick the pros league against 52 peeps and it’s looking pretty good for me to win Week 1. It’s winner take all every week. $260 is the weekly prize.

It cost me $120 to play for the entire season (17 weeks) plus I invited Holliday to play on me, which totals $240.

Mama”s free rolling!



Holliday was a little further down in the rankings but it was his first week.



What helped me was the Pittsburgh/Cleveland game tying. Neither team gets points for a tie and a lot of peeps had big numbers on the Steelers and I lost my 1 on Cleveland.

Go patriots!

Eh...if I really wanted to stay I would've mentioned my room problem to Moneymaker. I'm sure HE could've gotten them to comp me a room easily, but then, I'd feel obligated...lord knows what he'd expect. No thanks.

Not looking great for me on that board, but on the bright side had my most profitable betting week on college since the Cam Newton year when the books kept marking the Auburn line way down expecting Cam to be suspended. Better luck next week.

Moneymaker played a lot of limit Omaha hilo...his needs would be minimal.

eh, its too early to worry about the standings, besides every week everyone has the same chance to win...you know, except me.

Pfffff veryjosie > omaha 8 or better and his needs would not be minimal, whatever that means (a quickie?).

I know nothing about college football and am too old to absorb anything new into my age addled brain.

btw I injured the injured knee.

Knee was feeling good, strong and relatively pain free even when exercising.

Yesterday I went on a long hike w my sister, which was no problem. The trail sometimes crosses through a street and when that happens there are like cattle gates at the trail entrances that have long heave thick horizontal bars on them.

I thought it would be a fabulous idea to get down and do pushups from the bottom bar of these gates - real pushups but maybe a foot off the ground. So I was doing 10 at each gate until the last one. On the last gate I did 9 pushups, was tired and when I went to do the 10th, my feet (which were on rocky gravel) started to slide on the rocks and down I went, hitting the rocks and ground hard, on my knees, thighs and oh yeah, my face too.

But the only thing that hurts is the frigging injured knee. I've been doing the RICE thing and some self PT...definitely a set back but it will heal. It always does. It just pisses me off because I need to be more careful.

I apologize if you’re not into the NFL but here we go. I came in 2nd place for week 1. Was in great position to win but both my picks for Monday night lost.

So I’m first loser but the points accumulate for the end of year prizes so it’ll do.



I made an Italian ragout with ground turkey, baby portabello mushrooms & veggies and enjoyed it w the football, but without pasta.

Night off from gym to care for my knee. I did ice & heat & elevated it, plus a massage/pt thing which really helped.

U put both your thumbs 3 inches behind knee (on your thigh) and press hard and consistently for 30 seconds w leg extended. Lower leg while keeping pressure on for another 30 seconds.

No walking yesterday other than what was necessary and apparently 5,000 steps were necessary.

I’m on my way to work, then visiting mom afterwards (god help me) then a 420 visit, then gym.

Have a good day and be nice to someone who isn’t. That’s who needs it most.

Which reminds me...I’m nice about 98 % of the time but when I’m not...

I was checking out at FW last week. You have to give them a $100 deposit for your room, either through your credit card or w cash. I always give them cash cuz they take forever to credit your account.

So yeah, I gave them a Benjamin and I got a receipt for it.

I go to check out and give her the receipt for my deposit. She looks in her draw and says “Do you mind it in $5 bills?”

What????

Do you mind your $100 in 5’s?

I gave you a $100 bill last night, I don’t see why I can’t get what I gave you.

DO YOU MIND YOUR $100 in 5’S?

Yes, I mind. Are there other options?

She then asks the guy standing right next to her for change and hands me a hundo in 5 seconds.

It's hump day! 2 more days until Friday!

I skipped the gym yesterday entirely, which is something I rarely do. Knee is better but not 100% so I wanted to give it an extra day's rest, plus it was a jam-packed day. Work, mama's house, and then it was either hit the gym or get me some 420. I chose the latter.

Hitting the gym HARD tonight. I haven't been recording/tracking my workouts but I will jot down all that I do so that I can improve upon it in the future.

In the office, I've been doing tricep dips and pushups here and there when I have a few minutes. Got 5x10 in of each, plus some random yoga poses at the copier.

My boss is trying to get someone to go the sox game with him tonight at Fenway. Free ticket and all, but um, it involves sitting next to him for another 3 hours, possibly in the rain. No thanks! I've got iron to pump!

Snacking on turkey breast as I type this. *eye roll* I'm focusing on protein, as I should. I ain't gonna build a 6 pack with watermelon!

Everything you need to know in one post:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/4...hread-1722787/

Ooooo ty Sugar!

Had a good workout last night. Thought I was babying my knee but it hurts today. Didn’t do any squatting, running, elliptical or any of that shiat. Below is what I did do.



I forgot I have an “event” to go to tonight. Many Boston restaurants provide food and booze for u to sample...so hopefully u use them for catering office events. It’s free and I could bring one guest, so I told my sister (mistake) who loves all things free.

She’s excited about it and told me yesterday there’s also free salsa dancing at Faneuil hall tonight too and we can hit both.

I’m going to see how my knee feels at 5pm but if I hadn’t told her about it, I def would’ve skipped it for either resting my knee or hitting the gym.

Food. I’m not eating enough. Trying to up the protein but not eating enough carbs & fat I guess. Conveniently I stopped tracking it on MFP. This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever thought that I need to eat more. I’m dropping weight quicker that my typical snail’s pace: I’ve lost 13 lbs in July & Aug and am in the 120’s.

So today, no meal prep, so no brekkie and lunch packed. When this happens I eat very little or skip a meal. Then tomorrow is work & poker...no time for dinner.

I need to meal prep but don’t see it happening today or tomorrow so that’s my goal for the weekend. My other weekend goal is to up the weights noted in my workout.

Longer term goal is to use the big bar weights w the big boys.

Quick update from the bus! I’m on my way home from a food event for work. *burp* Food was excellent w plenty of vendors vying to ply u w free food. Event was Hosted by EZ cater who we use for office meetings.





The homemade hummus above was delish.

I had hummus, pork, takziki, 1 triangle of pita, vegan bowl, gazpacho , pickles, and ice cream. I guess I should log my food. I def didn’t go crazy considering there was a ton of free food and free booze.

I should be home before 8:30. Gonna stay put and do a little work out at home; free weights, planks, sit-ups and maybe a little yoga.

Sister is showing you her grilled meat below. Lol

Music and play lists are a big part of my active life. No one talks much about the effect they have on performance but music definitely effects my performance in a positive way.

I have different play lists for walking (happy and fun with a quick beat), strength training (motivational, empowering and usually rock music) yoga (usually soft, relaxing instrumental music without singing).

Obviously music makes time pass more easily but it's more than that. I can't sustain a fast pace for an hour without music. Can I walk? Sure, but then I get bored and find myself slowing down. Music helps me focus on lifts too and get in that zen state to really absorb the benefits of yoga.

"Without music, life is a journey through a desert." - Pat Conroy

Hat tip to R*R for stirring the pot.

What did the PT say about it? Or didnt you see one?

No, I haven't seen one. What typically happens is I go to the orthopedic doctor (though I didn't this time) and he tells me how bad my knees are and offers me a cortisone like shot. He doesn't usually even mention PT.

Looks like I'm getting better!

At what? Hot yoga? :P

My weekend consisted of Poker & fitness.

Friday night - Poker; 1/3 PLO. Within 15 minutes I'd doubled my $500 buyin, courtesy of a young aggro fellow. I made him pay dearly (close to pot) at every street, knowing he was on a flush draw. I had A-K-Q-6 w/suited spades, going into the hand $500 effective. He'd raised pot pre, but had been in every hand so meh, I called.

Flop was Q-6-X w 2 hearts. He checked the flop, I bet, everyone else folded but him.

Turn missed everything. He checks again and I bet pot.

He calls.

River is an ace. Now I check thinking my Aces and queens just might be the best hand, and he jams all in. All I can beat is a bluff. People don't bluff all that much in PLO, but when they do, it's usually against me.

All I could put him on was a busted flush draw...MAYBE AA. But even so, hitting your set on the river isn't good enough to jam with...what value are you getting there? So I decide he has shiat and I call!

I love it when I say I call....look over to my nemesis to see his hand, and he's reluctant to show. But I waited...sometimes I let the bluffer off the hook but not this time. Finally he tabled a pair of kings.

I showed my 2 pair and he rebought.

Not a lot happened after that. Fold, fold, fold, lose w premium hand or 2, fold, fold, fold, win w a less than premium hand, etc. Bottom line, I left up $453.

Health:
Worked out at gym 4 times last week and had an avg of 8K daily steps.
Saturday: Aqua fit class, planks, push ups, strength training...also I used the "assisted pull up machine"! I don't fully understand how it works, but I was ****ing around with the weights and found that if I set it to 75 lbs, I was able to do a complete, correct, pull up.

I found this to be disappointing because I have a sneaky feeling it means that in order to do a pull up unassisted, it's with an extra 75 lbs!?! If that's the case, this won't be happening any time soon.

Sooooooo I decided to work on something else, that I can improve upon.

There's something that I simply don't do but should be doing; DEAD LIFTS. I think I don't do them because I'm intimidated by the people using the big weights. I know I shouldn't be, yet it stops me from jumping in.

Saturday, I did dead lifts for the first time. Not knowing what to use, I used a 25lb plate. Obv it wasn't enough weight as I was able to do 3x15 reps.

My plan is to live and breath dead lifts for the next 30 days, increasing the weight every day until I can't anymore.

I'm also going to get over my irrational fear of using a big bar-bell. THIS WEEK. Yes, I'll be uncomfortable, but if I am able to do it once, that will open the door for me to do it comfortably going forward. I'm a believer that people should do what challenges them and makes them uncomfortable. Time to put my money where my mouth is.

So back to the dead lift plan. (Mama loves a plan and guidelines!)

Deadlifts daily, increasing the weight.
Focus on form
graduate to the big bar by the end of the week*
video myself using big bar by the end of the week*
post video and get feedback on how to improve form*

*scary shiat for me

Also, how many deadlift reps should I be doing? 3x6? 3x3? Should I be going so heavy I can only do 1 or 2?

I want to focus on this one lift until I feel confident I'm doing it right, then next month I will incorporate a new lift that I can learn all about.

OMG, Josie; there's no dash in "barbell" and "deadlift" is one word!!!

Deadlifts: umm...what bar are you using now? Bear in mind the normal deadlift height will match the distance for 45 lb plates, so with smaller plates you want to raise things up on blocks or weights. I'd say start with 1x5 (ramping up with two or three lighter sets with more or equal reps) before that.

Pullups can go up really quickly: How many reps could you do at -75? Whatever it was, add 1 rep each week and do 3 sets until you get to 3x8. Then you can add 15 lbs each week and do whatever reps you can, and in 6 weeks you got yourself fullout pullups.

Good call.

Deadlifts (one word, who knew?) I haven't used a bar yet. Was gonna use a 45lb plate tonight and then a thingy I've seen at the gym tomorrow. The thingy is not quite a big long barbell but like has an oval thingy with handles within the oval and then weights on either side. I suspect I can deadlift about 100lbs for starters so maybe I'll just skip the 45 plate tonight and move onto the oval thingy. I'll snap a pic of it tonight.

I could do 2 good pull ups at -75 along with a couple more ****ty ones. You give me hope on the pull up.

I appreciate the clarification. I swear the fitness terminology is almost like a foreign language to me.

Like this:



Those are fine. They let you keep the weight balanced along your midline instead of having to keep the bar in front of you. It's called a trap bar. No one knows why but perhaps the first ones were made from repurposed bear traps. Do check how much it weighs, though; they can vary from ~45-75 lbs.

I recommend reading and applying the Starting Strength five step deadlift setup; part one of your assignment is to find it and post it here.

Assuming you already have above N1H-level industriousness, I will do part one for you.

Oh ****. I will read and apply, however posting a video on 2+2 may be beyond me. I will check it out on the commute home and after gym and at least try to post it.

I dont know if you have been keeping up with my log or not, but PRP & stem cell injections did wonders for my knee. Cortisone only relieves nerve pain temporarily and it actually damages tissue. PRP and stem cells heal the damaged tissue. Let me know if you want to know more on the subject.

DLs: never pull a DL rep unless you feel confident about your form. Dont fixate on getting reps in when you're tired. If you feel fatigued to the point where your form might break down, wait until you feel rested enough before pulling another rep. Post videos here and bug me if I havent commented after a day or two. I am not as high on some of the sources mentioned for DL advice as some of the others here. There's a lot of bad info out there - when you're a beginner, its hard to know what's best.