Okay Poker Pros...Are you staying healthy?

[shermn27]

I've been thinking a lot lately about all the online poker pros out there and I am very concerned for their health. Sitting in a chair and clicking a mouse for 8-10 hours a day for 5-7 days a week certainly is not very healthy.

I want to encourage those who are doing so to analyze themselves and make sure they are spending time on their health.

Here are some recent tips I have picked up regarding health and I think they can help those who find this to be a challenge.

Eating habits - Body Fat Control:
Avoid these five items to reduce/maintain body fat.
1. All Pork Products
2. Products that include Partially Hydrogenated Oils (Look on the ingredients, almost everything on the supermarket shelf has these!) Partially Hydrogenated Oils block bad cholesterol receptors and keep it in your body longer.
3. Fake Sugars (Splenda, Sweet n' Low, & Nutrasweet)
4. High-Fructrose Corn Syrups (HFCs)- This stuff is just fat and is in most junk foods.
5. Junk Foods (This includes Pop, Candy, Potato Chips, & White Bread).

Muscle/Flexibility
Everyone needs to do some resistance training at least twice a week. This can be as little a push-ups and sit-ups. Also try to do some cardio at least 4 times a weak. The heart is the biggest muslce in your body, make sure it is up to speed. This can include playing a full court basketball game, jogging, a brisk walk, taking several flights of stairs, or swimming.

Posture - When you are playing online poker make sure you are sitting with equal weight on both sides of your bottom and with your shoulder blades back (sort of like a chest puffed out look).

Breathing - Make sure you are taking breaths which fill your lungs (not short breathing). Feel the air reach your stomach.

4-7-8 Breathing - Breath in through your nose for a 4 count, then hold for a 7 count, and then out through your mouth for an 8 count. Do this for about 5-10 minutes a day (or longer) and it can lower your bloodpressure.

Finally, Health is mental too! Try to spend some time during the week meditating and relaxing.

I really hope some people find this to be useful. Take time to re-evaluate your health. After all, it's Your Life!

[mosdef]

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Sitting in a chair and clicking a mouse for 8-10 hours a day for 5-7 days a week certainly is not very healthy.

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Um, this describes a lot more jobs than just poker. I think eating right (with occasional and moderate doses of comfort foods) and exercising is a good idea for everyone.

[shermn27]

Sorry Mosdef, you are right. I forgot to mention that in there as well. This isn't just directed at poker players per se, it is only b/c I care. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Nigel]

While your concern is good, your advice on eating is a little off.

You can eat any/all of those things and be thin as a rail. It's how much you eat, not what you eat when it comes to bodyfat control. Choosing to eat/abstaining from those items listed will have no impact on bodyfat levels unless it reduces your total calorie intake. Also, HFCS is not fat.

Otherwise good advice, I know I could use it. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Nigel

[Conspir8or]

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1. All Pork Products

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I'd amend this one part of your otherwise very useful guide to all cured pork products. You can get porkchops and similar cuts that are very lean these days, and if they are prepared in ways that don't add fat (broiling, Weber or George Foreman grill, etc.), and you mind your portion size (the guideline for meat servings is, conveniently, the size of a deck of cards), they're OK. But processed pork like bacon, sausage, and the like is not only fatty, but loaded with nitrites and other additives -- definitely to be avoided. Unless you are of the same mind as Jules Winfield from Pulp Fiction and eschew all pork because you believe pigs are filthy animals. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[good2cu]

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Muscle/Flexibility
Everyone needs to do some resistance training at least twice a week. This can be as little a push-ups and sit-ups. Also try to do some cardio at least 4 times a weak. The heart is the biggest muslce in your body, make sure it is up to speed. This can include playing a full court basketball game, jogging, a brisk walk, taking several flights of stairs, or swimming

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This is not the greatest advice if your intrested in looking fit, or musclar. The best way to lose weight and stay musclar for men is to totally ingrone cardio and concerate on weight training. Cardio burns muscle before fat and lowers testorone levels.

[meow_meow]

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1. All Pork Products


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Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

[mosdef]

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Cardio burns muscle before fat and lowers testorone levels.

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i don't think so. you won't see see muscle-mass decline unless you aren't eating enough. i'm not sure what you mean by "burn muscle", muscle isn't a calorie storage device like body fat is.

if you pre-fuel with a number of calories equal to the number you burn while running (for example) your muscle mass doesn't drop. what gave you that idea? i suspect some muscle-mag or store twisted some research to make it seem like cardio was a bad thing.

[mosdef]

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It's how much you eat, not what you eat when it comes to bodyfat control.

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i don't think you're WRONG, per se, but this statement is a little misleading.

for one thing, high fibre foods and proteins exact a greater toll on your body to digest, which burns calories, which means that the NET calories going in will be lower than the NET calories of a high-fat or sugar-rich food with the same calorie count before being processed by your body. this is nitpicking, i know.

more important, though, is that different types of food (even with the same calories) can have different impacts on your weight for a couple of reasons.

a) foods that are "dense" in calories will not make you feel full and you keep eating, even if you've satisfied your body's calorie needs.
b) foods that spike your blood sugar level tend to make you over-eat since you feel an energy drain when that spike goes down, even if your body doesn't really need more calories.

[Victor]

i sat in front of a computer way way way way more at my old desk job then i do now. i also ate a lot worse due to less time and fatigue/laziness.

now i get out and exercise 5-6 times per week and cook for myself. the results are evident and more satisfying than the extra income.

[autobet]

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Breathing

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#1 on my list! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[autobet]

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now i get out and exercise 5-6 times per week and cook for myself. the results are evident and more satisfying than the extra income.

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I'm sure it's plus EV $ wise in the long run.

[shermn27]

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Muscle/Flexibility
Everyone needs to do some resistance training at least twice a week. This can be as little a push-ups and sit-ups. Also try to do some cardio at least 4 times a weak. The heart is the biggest muslce in your body, make sure it is up to speed. This can include playing a full court basketball game, jogging, a brisk walk, taking several flights of stairs, or swimming

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not the greatest advice if your intrested in looking fit, or musclar. The best way to lose weight and stay musclar for men is to totally ingrone cardio and concerate on weight training. Cardio burns muscle before fat and lowers testorone levels.

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As an addition to this, I forgot about WATER! Drink lots of water. It improves flexibility. And of course, so does stretching everyday. It's important to stretch now while you can, instead of losing flexibility now and then having to stretch everyday to get around.

[Nigel]

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The best way to lose weight and stay musclar for men is to totally ingrone cardio and concerate on weight training. Cardio burns muscle before fat and lowers testorone levels.

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This is retarded.

And, yes Shermn, protein has a mild thermogenic effect and fiber can be subtracted from total caloric intake, but those things don't amount to too much (but are worth noting).

[mosdef]

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protein has a mild thermogenic effect and fiber can be subtracted from total caloric intake, but those things don't amount to too much (but are worth noting).

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i agree, that's why i said it was just nitpicking. but the idea that "a calorie is a calorie" is just plain wrong.

[Al Schoonmaker]

In a day or two I will submit "Should you quit your day job? Part II."

Your post and some of the replies relate directly to one of my most important points. The pro's life is not intrinsically unhealthy. In fact, it offers excellent opportunities to exercise, eat properly, and so on.

Alas, many pros, perhaps most of them, don't take advantage of these opportunities. I hope some pros and wannabes follow your recommendations.

Thank you,

Al

[1C5]

Good post Al and OP.