I hit the gym at 6:00 again this morning and did my legs routine (Smith machine for lunges, the butterfly machine, and the leg curl). I added a little bit more weight on the butterfly and the leg curl, but let me tell you, there was no way I was doing that on the lunges. No weight on the bar and I could still really feel it in my muscles. Ouch!

I decided to skip on cardio this week (going to try and do another arm day tomorrow) and start it up next week. Really, though, since I'm not eating all that much and am at about the weight I want to be, I'm not sure if it's as important right now as the weight training. It does speed up the metabolism, though.

I also stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up one of those ab wheels - the ones where you kneel on the floor and roll forward. Should help abs, obliques, arms, and shoulders. I would have already used it, but the one I bought came unassembled and I can't get the damn rubber grip on one side. That sounds like a job for my dad to help with when he gets home this afternoon. I'm planning on using it a lot - while waiting for poker tournaments to start, when I get home from the gym, before I go to bed, etc. I would love to get my abs all nice and firm. Now if only that StairMaster that Steven and I bought together was here, I could really kick ass.

.: 263 words at 09:16 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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I've been listening to my WinAmp on random and it just hit one of my favorite songs, George Michael's Waiting For That Day. If you want to listen along with me, you can get the song here. As always, right click and choose "Save As" to get it on your own machine. No idea when it's going to be pulled, so get it now.

So every day I see you in some other face
They crack a smile, talk a while
Try to take your place
My memory serves me far too well

I just sit here on this mountain thinking to myself
You're a fool boy
Why don't you go down
Find somebody
Find somebody else
My memory serves me far too well

It's not as though we just broke up
It's not as though it was yesterday
But something I just can't explain
Something in me needs this pain
I know I'll never see your face again

C'mon now
I've got to be strong now

Now everybody's talking about this new decade
Like you say the magic numbers
Then just say goodbye to
The stupid mistakes you made
Oh my memory serves me far too well

Don't you know that
The years will come and go
Some of us will change our lives
Some of us still have nothing to show
Nothing baby
But memories

And if these wounds
They are self-inflicted
I don't really know
How my poor heart could have protected me
But if I have to carry this pain
If you will not share the blame
I deserve to see your face again

C'mon now
You don't have to be so strong now
Come back

Come back to me darling
I will make it worth your while
Come back to your baby
I miss your kiss
I miss your smile
Seems to me the peace I search to find
Ain't going to be mine until you say you will
Don't you keep me waiting for that day
I know, I know, I know
You hear these words that I say

.: 347 words at 05:05 AM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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I hit the gym again at about 6:15 this morning and did arms. I started out on the shoulder press machine (three sets of about fifteen reps each, very light weight) and then went to the free weight barbells. I used the two and a half pound ones (Yeah, I'm a big baby, but I haven't been in the gym in a really long time, remember?) to bring them up to shoulder length (three or four sets of ten each). I finished up with biceps since the triceps machine was taken (6:00 am and the machine was taken!). I thought about StairMastering, but since my legs are a little sore from yesterday I skipped it. I've got a massage tonight, so it ought to feel really good.

I must admit it feels pretty good to be back in the gym. I never was super buff or anything, but I had forgotten how nice it is to just to work your body. I guess it helps that I dropped those forty pounds - it really makes it much easier to do every thing. Here's to the start of me really getting back into shape.

.: 193 words at 08:57 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Just finished up in another multi-table poker tournament, topping my other places. This time, out of 3,073 players I placed 36. Getting better.

.: 24 words at 03:53 AM in In the Cards, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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I haven't really mentioned this, but for the last two months my sleep patterns have been all out of whack. I may stay up for 36 hours straight, only to crash and sleep for anywhere from three to ten hours. This morning, while contemplating yet another sleepless night, I decided I know one way to benefit from my insomnia - every time I can't sleep, I'll hit the gym. True it was much easier to go when I lived less than ten minutes away as opposed to the half hour it takes now, but it's not like I've got anything else going on.

Since this was my first day in there in forever, I went with a really light legs workout (Monday, Wednesday, and maybe Friday is arms and Tuesday and Thursday is legs with cardio probably every day). I did the Smith machine for lunges, the butterfly machine (I have no idea what it's called, but it's the one where you sit down and basically flap your legs like butterfly wings; good for inner thighs), and the leg curl.

I did about three sets of ten to fifteen reps per machine with little or no weight and skipped the cardio today. No sense in making it impossible to walk tomorrow (you can always tell when I've done too much - I end up walking on the balls of my feet like a velociraptor in Jurassic Park).

Hopefully, not only will this get me back into a regular gym routine, but working out is supposed to help with stress (Hmmm. Do I have any in my life?) and if I get where I can really go at the weights like I used to, I should be exhausted afterwards. Plus, I'll be even more of a hottie than I already am. ;-) Maybe I'll even update Changes - Turning Over a New Leaf and start using it again.

.: 318 words at 09:41 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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