Healthy Gamer Challenge

There has been a lot of talk about gamer health these days, and as you can see from the video in my last post I am way out of shape. And here I was thinking that I was just big boned.

Before a big event I do try to walk a little to try to increase my stamina. GTs these days are becoming a major endurance test with the length that they are becoming. Wargames Con this year was 11 games, the NoVa Open was 13 games, and at Adepticon if you play in the Team Tournament and do well at the Adepticon Championships you are playing in 12 games. Some people are saying that is one of the reasons why Tony K. does so well is that he is young and in really good shape and that helps a lot at the end of a long tournament. I know that if I had my wits about me I might have been about to win in our game. I made 2 huge mistakes that cost me that game and that was done in part by fatigue. I remember watching the finals of Adepticon last year with Tony playing Cole, and Cole (who is in average shape) was slumped over in his chair partly hung over and a little bit out of it, while Tony was still fresh and awake.

Neil talked a little bit about this in his blog about the importance of getting is shape for GTs in his "Get off your duff and exercise" post

Last year there was a post about after Adepticon saying how out of shape everyone is in, and that everyone needs to get in better condition.

Well, if you listen to just about any podacast out there you have heard about James Ayles who died a week or two ago from a heart attack and left his wife and small children behind. That started a call for gamers to be in better health and to get in better shape. Also he was about my age when he passed away.

Big Jim started his healthy wargamer challenge on his blog found here and here. He and several other people are trying to get into shape.

For me, I am in a weight loss challenge. The Gold’s Gym in Downtown Phoenix has a challenge where you donate $25 to The United Way, and they enter you into a weight loss challenge. They weigh you and check your BMI and then at the end of 6 weeks the person who loses the most weight gets a free membership to Gold’s Gym for a year. I like to eat, but I am cheap too, and that is a $700 value! So I am 3 weeks into it and I have lost 20 pounds. My plan is for the next week and a half I am going to do my regular diet and exercise, and then when I get back from LA for Comikaze Con I will go nuts and really try to lose weight for the final week and a half!

I have been hiking all over Phoenix and it has been killing me. Here are some of my pictures: