Some Other Castle » World of Workout

Some Other Castle, Episode 34: She’ll Get You Pregnant

Leah — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:29:25 +0000

It’s special guest week again! Our very own Sam and Jen return for our day-after-Call-of-Duty-day episode. Think of our usual level of class and maturity, then square it, and that’s roughly what this hour and a half holds for you. Yes, we do chat about Call of Duty briefly, but there’s also plenty of Borderlands to be had, along with Reggie’s delusions of grandeur and Ubisoft being a bunch of dicks….

Link’s what she said.

Borderlands

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time

WoW pet store offers adorable panda and lich, donates money to Make A Wish

Activision responds to No Doubt being dumb

L4D2 preorders are four times that for the original, according to Valve

Mass Effect half price on Steam

Super Street Fighter IV adding and fixing a lot of stuff

Modern Warfare 2 has lots of drama

Borderlands DLC has zombies, will be releasing 11/24 for $10

Reggie thinks New Super Mario Bros. will outsell Modern Warfare 2

Dhani Harrison says Rock Band 3 will teach you how to actually play music

Ubisoft says they won’t give review copies of Assassin’s Creed 2 to anyone not offering a positive review up front

German version of Modern Warfare 2 will not allow you to kill civilians

1 vs 100 will be returning 11/19 for season 2

Listener mail is great! Pretty please send us more at podcast@someothercastle.com!

World of Workout: Weeks Five and Six

Elaine — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:41:30 +0000

Man, this game is crazy-addictive. I realized that I never wrote up my article for last week, because I’ve been otherwise occupied by the allure of “just one more quest.” Week five was great! Week six, not so much. Week seven is almost over, and includes some big changes for this workout deal.

I reached my lowest point recently, realizing that the bike isn’t sustainable, and I gained about three pounds back. After consulting with internet weight-loss experts (also known as Wikipedia), I know now that I need to keep adding more to the routine every 5-6 weeks.

So, it’s no longer just going to be about World of Warcraft. Wii Sports and DDR will also be joining the routine. I also finally got around to buying a pair of kettlebells, and will be making another trip to get a heavier one when I work up to it. All of this is on top of me making the ultimate geek sacrifice for my health. As of this week, I have quit caffeine, cold turkey.The first day was the worst. It wasn’t a day-off from the biking, and I had absolutely no drive, desire or motivation to do an hour on the bike with a painful debuff like a migraine. Somehow, I did it. Still not sure how, as I barely remember Monday at all. Anyway, I immediately saw results of losing a pound and a half over the next two days. I am now exclusively drinking water. Sorry, World of Warcraft Game Fuel, you aren’t for everybody (or for that matter, anybody with taste buds).

I’m sort of at a plateau at the moment, but with the new additions of the routine, I’m excited to keep going. Or maybe that’s just delirium caused by caffeine withdrawal and lowering my calories.

In-game, I’m actually starting to get really hooked. I’m currently sitting pretty at level 45 and really looking forward to the late-game content (I want to fly, dang it!). The Sweaty Nerds guild is down in membership, but the few who are left are still sweaty, and still nerds. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome (we play Horde on Sentinels). I only have two rules for the guild.

1) Find some way to exercise during, or related to your gaming. I don’t care what it is, just do something while you play.

2) Don’t be a dick.

My routine is a little extreme for the average gamer, but it’s definitely showing results thus far. I play the game on an exercise bike, and shoot for at least 60 minutes of biking per day. I also do a baseline of ten pushups, with an additional five for each quest I turn in. Starting this week, I’ll be adding kettlebell swings for skill-ups. I haven’t worked out a firm number yet. I also track all my walking activity with a pedometer, and shoot for a twenty-minute walk each evening after my workout.

Here’s my wrap-up of the last two weeks.

Week 5

Day One – 8/31/2009

Weigh in – 211.2 lbs. | 55 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 10429 Steps | Character Level: 33

Today is the day that I start making all my own food, and only eat out once per week (down from 4-5). I’m hoping that it’s going to make a difference, because I’m lazy. I did my first battlegrounds matches tonight, and had a lot of fun. I can definitely see myself doing that more often. I made 119 kills over two matches. Not too bad for a nOOb.

Day Two – 9/1/2009

Weigh in – 210.8 lbs. | 15 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 5973 Steps | Character Level: 33

Turned the resistance up all the way on the bike for tonight’s workout. It was brutal. Ran through a dungeon with the Sweaty Nerds tonight–Wailing Cavern. Had a lot of fun, but utterly exhausted.

Day Three – 9/2/2009

Weigh in – 212.0 lbs. | 8701 Steps | Character Level: 33

Starting this week, I’m going to be taking every Wednesday off. My knee can’t take doing the bike every day, so I will work in some days off. I’m considering adding something different for the off days, but as of right now, I just need a few off-days.

Day Four – 9/3/2009

Weigh in – 211.8 lbs. | 40 Pushups | 90 Min Biking | 4714 Steps | Character Level: 34

Finally hit level 34 after a week or so at level 33. I was weak today and drank coffee after two weeks of just tea, and my weight is showing it. I’m going to have to quit one of these weeks to sustain my weight loss. Meh.

Day Five – 9/4/2009

Weigh in – 211.2 lbs. | 40 Pushups | 80 Min Biking | 6394 Steps | Character Level: 34

I did a couple more Battlegrounds matches, so I added in some extra pushups. Had a lot of fun today, and the diet hasn’t been too bad. The wife has been making some tasty meals.

Day Six – 9/5/2009

Weigh in – 210.2 lbs. | 55 Pushups | 2.5 hours Biking | 6835 Steps | Character Level: 36

Gained two levels today! I explored most of the areas that I won’t instantly die by going in and picked up a bunch of flight paths. Did my biking in the morning and in the evening in nearly-even chunks. I think I’ll rest tomorrow, though.

Day Seven – 9/6/2009

Weigh in – 209.8 lbs. | Character Level: 36

I decided to not track steps on my days off as well, and it’s working out pretty well. I can take a day off to not worry about anything exercise-related a couple of days per week, and it’s nice to not have to worry about it. Didn’t get too much playing in today, but did go for a walk. Had a family get-together where I was stuffed full of food and booze.

Week 6

Day One – 9/7/2009

Weigh in – 209.6 lbs. | 80 Pushups | 2 hours Biking | 2643 Steps | Character Level: 38

Hit level 38! It was raining pretty hard all day, so not much walking. Today was Labor Day in the US, so I had a day off work, and pretty much spent it working out, playing WoW and watching Mythbusters. Not bad for a day off.

Day Two – 9/8/2009

Weigh in – 211.2 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 52 Min Biking | 8112 Steps | Character Level: 38

Today was hard. I woke up sore all over and had a difficult time getting going at work. One of the pedals fell off my bike at the tail-end of my workout, and I was honestly thankful that it had. It took me about ten minutes, but I got the thing fixed. Very glad to be taking a day off tomorrow.

Day Three – 9/9/2009

Weigh in – 210.4 lbs. | 30 Min Biking | 5660 Steps | Character Level:39

Today was a scheduled day off, but I did 30 minutes anyway while fishing. I have no idea why, but fishing in WoW is really relaxing.

Day Four – 9/10/2009

Weigh in – 211.2 lbs. | 20 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 9496 Steps | Character Level: 39

I went to Northrend to do some cooking and fishing and got Master level in both of them. Other than that, nothing too much exciting happened. The hour on the bike isn’t very difficult anymore. I’m not even breaking a sweat.

Day Five – 9/11/2009

Weigh in – 210.2 lbs. | 100 Pushups | 90 Min Biking | 8558 Steps | Character Level:40

I hit 40 and got a faster horse! I was feeling pretty good this morning, so I decided to push myself. Glad I did.

Day Six – 9/12/2009

Weigh in – 209.6 lbs. | 70 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 3268 Steps | Character Level:41

I spent most of my day exploring today, and decided that I was bored with Azeroth. I made a run for the Dark Portal (and made it on my second try) and got all the way to Shattrath at a puny level 41. I’m pretty proud of myself.

Day Seven – 9/13/2009

Character Level:41

It’s a day off. No weigh-in, no bike, no pushups, no dieting, and only enough WoW to check on my auctions. It was a great day to do other stuff. I cleaned up the house a bit.

Well, that’s weeks 5 and 6. Follow me on Twitter for daily updates, or join me in-game as Kalorie on Sentinels.

World of Workout: Week Four and The Buffening

Elaine — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:57:40 +0000

Well, I’ve been at this for a month. I’ve killed some boars, shed about ten pounds, made some friends and then killed some more boars. We’ve got a fairly sizable guild playing and working out just about every night now. The Nerd Ninja army is growing.

Week four brought a few new changes to the gaming workout routine, but nothing huge. I’ve worked two days off per week into my schedule because my body is a wuss and apparently doing 35 days of heavy pushups and cardio with only four days off is terrible for you. I’m still planning on working some other pushup replacement into the rest of the week, but I haven’t been able to come up with anything yet. So, Wednesdays and one switchable day each weekend will be my off days.

Awesome things from this week: The muscle growth from all these pushups is utterly astounding. I can totally wiggle my pecs now. So if I had to stop the program right now, having fallen short of my goal, I’d still call this whole thing a huge success. I’m wiggling my pecs even as I write this sentence. And this one. Yeah, who’s your daddy?

Downsides: I’m really, really sore. I’ve been taking acetaminophen at night before bed, and trying to take things like potassium, zinc, calcium and all those other metals that your body generally needs and can’t get enough of. Well, except potassium, because that stuff can totally kill you if you have too much. I’m being serious here. Anyway, I’m going back down to low resistance on the bike, and really trying to limit myself to an hour per day of both biking and World of Warcraft. Oh, and there was that one day where I had food poisoning.

For those of you just tuning in, this whole thing is an exercise in lazy exercise. I’ve pretty much just outfitted an exercise bike with a keyboard and mouse and play World of Warcraft while riding the bike, then do 5 pushups for each quest I’ve done plus ten just for playing each day. However, it is having far better results than I had expected. My original goal was to lose 30 pounds in six months, and I’m down about ten in just the first month.

Week five is going to be hardcore, though. So far all of my changes have been exercise-wise. Next week brings the diet changes. Expect me to be very cranky.

Follow my daily whining and posting on my Twitter account, or join me in-game on the Sentinels server. I’m a hot, skinny elf chick with pink hair, just like in real life.

We run in a guild called the Sweaty Nerds. I have two rules.

One: You must be engaging in SOME kind of exercise along with your game playing. I don’t care what it is, but do something other than sit on your butt.

Two: Don’t be a dick.

So, here’s a wrap-up of week 4:

Day One – 8/24/2009

Weigh in – 211.2 lbs. | 60 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 8904 Steps | Character Level :30

Did a bunch of low-level quests because I was playing with some low-level members of the Sweaty Nerds guild. Handled the pushups pretty well. Went for a long walk with the wife afterwards. Great start to the week.

Day Two – 8/25/2009

Weigh in – 212.0 lbs. | 0 Pushups | 0 Min Biking | 6678 Steps | Character Level :30

Had some kind of horrendous stomach virus or food poisoning or something. Could barely stand, and spend most of the night worshiping the porcelain idol.

Day Three – 8/26/2009

Weigh in – 210.0 lbs. | 25 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 6987 Steps | Character Level :30

Feeling much better today! Took it easy as I was still recovering from whatever the heck I had yesterday. Haven’t played much this week, and haven’t leveled up in a while. Still doing low-level quests and fishing and mining. The biking is getting easier, and I’ve started turning the resistance up to max.

Day Four – 8/27/2009

Weigh in – 210.6 lbs. | 20 Pushups | 50 Min Biking | 10555 Steps | Character Level :31

Finally leveled up. Couldn’t finish the hour tonight. That’s only the second time that’s happened. Perhaps I’m still weak from Tuesday. Will take another day off tomorrow so as to not die. I did manage to go for a long, relaxed walk after the biking.

Day Five – 8/28/2009

Weigh in – 212.6 lbs. | 0 Pushups | 0 Min Biking | 8207 Steps | Character Level :31

Today was crazy at work, and I’m glad I took today as an off day for biking. I will be back to full strength for the weekend and will do extended workouts then. Not much time to play, anyway.

Day Six – 8/29/2009

Weigh in – 210.8 lbs. | 40 Pushups | 120 Min Biking | 2483 Steps | Character Level :32

Did two, one-hour sets today. One in the morning, one at night. It was very hot out, so I didn’t do any walking. I’m feeling great after the workout today. Explored Arathi Highlands (which is basically Jurassic Park) and had a lot of fun.

Day Seven – 8/30/2009

Weigh in – 212.6 lbs. | 50 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 6438 Steps | Character Level :33

Did my first Battlegrounds session today. Totally awesome. Horde is outnumbered 70% – 30% on this server, so there’s pretty much no way to win, but it was fun. I made two kills on characters about five levels higher than me. Noticing an increase in my weight and decrease in my energy after a big pizza binge last night. Made a commitment with the wife to stop eating out so much and to start making more of our own food. It should make a difference in my WoWo, too.

So that was week 4. These weight loss things aren’t complete without some pictures, right? So, here’s me at the beginning, and me now.

The bloated man-beast one week before starting World of Workout.

This is the slightly-less bloated man-beast on Week 5, Day 2. About ten pounds down. The floral shirt was dirty.

World of Workout: Week Three and Reactions

Elaine — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:55:10 +0000

Three weeks, and about 8 pounds down! This past week was a rough one, and not just because I was on vacation and prone to extreme laziness. There were some distractions that kept me from working out as much as previous weeks, but I did manage to get at least an hour in every day, and quite a few pushups.

Nothing new happened with my workout, but I am considering changing up the pushups a bit and adding things like kettlebell swinging, burpees, freeweights or anything (suggestions welcome). I did try to actually limit myself to an hour per day of biking, and I did less walking so as to not destroy my knee. Even so, with eight pounds down in three weeks, I’m well on my way to my goal of losing 30 pounds in six months. I’m sitting pretty at level 30 in WoW, and we’ve got a regular group of about five people in the Sweaty Nerds guild now.

Since I was on vacation and feeling super lazy this week, I didn’t do too much in the realm of daily updates. And those charts I promised? Not happening with only three weeks worth of data. Check back next week. What can I say? This much exercise makes me tired. What I will provide is a recap of my workout rules for those just joining us.

Rules Recap:

I’m going to be weighing myself each day after my morning shower.

I’m going to add pushups to the routine: ten five knuckle pushups at the character select screen, ten five pushups each time a quest is completed and ten five knuckle pushups when I log off.

My goal is one full, uninterrupted hour of WoW/biking per day. I may not be able to play a full session every day, but since I also have an exercise bike at work, (and WoW installed on a tablet PC) I’ll try to at least get in some time on my lunch hour and some time spinning my peddles.

I’m going to be also charting steps with a pedometer and my character’s level, and a short writeup of my gaming experiences.

So, week three has come and gone. Here are my daily writeups. You can also follow my progress via my Twitter account:

Day One – 8/17/2009

Weigh in – 213.2 lbs. | 50 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 5485 Steps | Character Level :25

Back on the bike, and had no pain in the knee. I’m going to take it easy again, so I did two 30-minute sets. Did lots of low-level quests, so had to do lots of pushups. Helping the wife make a character, too.

Day Two – 8/18/2009

Weigh in – 211.4 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 65 Min Biking | 7658 Steps | Character Level :25

Again stuck with the low-level quests to give myself a challenge with the pushups. Mainly stuck with exploring new places on the bike. Also got to play with some of the regular listeners of the podcast, so that was cool.

Day Three – 8/19/2009

Weigh in – 211.6 lbs. | 25 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 2310 Steps | Character Level :27

Forgot to put pedometer on until after lunch (I’m on vacation, so steps will be way lower than usual anyway). Goal was to hit level 27, and I just barely did it. I’m smart enough to wear hats now. Yay!

Day Four – 8/20/2009

Weigh in – 211.8 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 75 Min Biking | N/A Steps | Character Level :27

Forgot to write down pedometer steps today, apparently. I have a good excuse, though. I was pretty smashed at the time, due to hanging out with the mistresses in charge of the site and recording for Some Other Podcast. Today was the perfect geek day, though.

Wake up.

Eat pancakes while watching Mythbusters.

Play WoW with the wife.

Burn some geek music CDs.

Get lunch.

Get booze.

Listen to geek music while driving to hang out with gamer girls and record gaming podcast.

Consume booze and pizza.

Watch horrible videogame movie.

Go home to bed.

Day Five – 8/21/2009

Weigh in – 212.8 lbs. | 40 Pushups | 65 Min Biking | 4249 Steps | Character Level :28

One pound heavier after the booze and pizza binge. Not surprised, but it was worth it. I ran my wife through Ragefire Cavern and we had a blast. Apparently even monsters that are half your level can kill you if you’re distracted by something like pedaling an exercise bike. Also, noticing again that I pedal really fast when my health bar is running low and I’m running away from certain death.

Day Six – 8/22/2009

Weigh in – 211.2 lbs. | 65 Pushups | 90 Min Biking | 2914 Steps | Character Level :29

Switched to a nicer pedometer that doesn’t cut into my skin. It seems to be a little less sensitive, so I’m probably getting more accurate readings now. Hit level 29, and also encountered my first target of /ignore. I’m actually kind of surprised that it took this long to discover a griefer. Roleplaying servers seem to cater to a different type of player.

Day Seven – 8/23/2009

Weigh in – 211.2 lbs. | 20 Pushups | 90 Min Biking | 3157 Steps | Character Level :30

Finished up a great week. Finally hit level 30, but didn’t notice anything special. I guess I’m fighting more dudes. Looks like levels are going to start taking a LONG time to gain now. I’m sore as hell, but don’t look like the man I was when I started. World of Workout has so far been a great success.

Final Thoughts

The guild tabard and guild name are starting to get a little bit of attention. I ran into a couple of people who commented on them, and got at least one new reader for the site.

A passerby who got extremely excited by the World of Workout program.

It appears that I have a fan. Does this make me INTERNET FAMOUS???!!!!

Step one: Admitting that you have a problem.

Some Other Podcast, Episode 24: Pants Deficiency

Leah — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:45:14 +0000

For the record, I did keep my pants on for the entire episode…. no matter how tempting it may have been. This week, our very own Sam and Jenn, of World of Workout and Geek Culture fame respectively, join us for an hour of fun ramblings! Tune in as we chat about Sony’s dumbness (yeah, it’s a running theme), happy place games, and pouring one out for our Chromehounds homies. You should probably also be prepared for a *liiiiiiitle* bit of WoW talk…

Links get!

Shatter

World of Warcraft

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Final Fantasy XIII (demo)

Trials HD

Earthbound

July NPDs

Slim PS3 confirmed, and soon!

Fable 3 announced for 2010

Interplay classics coming to Steam

360 Elite console now shipping with new packaging and without HD cables

Persona 3 PSP coming to Japan November 1

Little Big Planet GOTY edition dated Sept 8

Brutal Legend demo coming in September

Loco Roco Carnival coming to Japan, will be download only

Little Big Planet PSP has no multiplayer

Gran Turismo 5 finally incorporates car damage

Chromehounds servers shutting down

Want to send us stuff? Well, that’s great! Here’s where you do it: podcast@someothercastle.com.

World of Workout: Week Two and Guilds and Photos

Elaine — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:02:38 +0000

Week two brought me a little closer to my goal, and resulted in a minor injury! Hooray! Clearly, I’m following the old mantra of “No Pain, No Gain” to the letter. Hardcore statistical analysis tools (Microsoft Excel & Google Docs) have shown that by averaging my weekly weights, I’m losing about one pound per week. I’m also becoming pretty addicted to WoW, but since WoW means cardio, it’s not entirely bad.

About seven years ago, I tore my left LCL. It’s a pretty minor injury, and most doctors don’t even treat it with anything stronger than ibuprofen. After an MRI to confirm, I stayed off my left leg for about a month, and lost a hell of a lot of my momentum for my work out program at the time. During that month, I gained something like forty pounds, since in addition to suddenly stopping all exercise, I lost most of my youthful metabolism at the age of twenty-one. The fact that I had free, unlimited access to ice cream had nothing to do with it.

Well, I found out that using an exercise bike for 1-2 hours a day for 19 straight days, combined with lots of extra walking is enough to irritate old injuries. I had to take two days off this week, and cut back to only an hour of biking per day, but I’m pretty sure I can keep going at this point. Even with the days off and slowed pace, I’m still well on track of my goal of losing thirty pounds in six months, and hitting level 80.

My diet is changing slightly in the fact that my appetite has basically dropped off considerably. I’m not doing as much snacking as I used to, and haven’t been going back for seconds. I have a lot more energy all the time, which has allowed me to go from three cups of coffee per day to two cups of tea. The caffeine reduction is probably giving me as much as a benefit as the exercise up front, but it wouldn’t be possible without the exercise, so it’s like a downward spiral of awesome.

Onto the game! I’m currently level 25, have a horse, a cockroach and am guild master of the “Sweaty Nerds.” I was joined in Azeroth this week by some fellow gamers interested both in sharing my addiction and self-improvement. I also died twenty-three times. I’m currently torn between exploring the world and doing lots of low-level quests so that I can get different mounts.

Anyone interested in joining me is welcome to do so. I’m playing pretty much every day, and would love some more people in the guild.

Below is my wrap up of week two. I really didn’t realize just how much I overdid it last week until looking at these numbers. I can see the exact moment where I went crazy on the overdoing it. Next week will bring pretty charts and some before and after photos.

Day One – 8/10/2009

Weigh in – 213.8 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 75 Min Biking | 7312 Steps | Character Level : 17

Did four quests. Hoping to finish up Ghostlands this week. I could really use a change of scenery. Hoping for some more players. Just noticed something. The WoW notes are the FIRST thing I think of when I’m doing these stream of consciousness notes now, not the exercise. It really has gotten pretty easy, except for the pushups.

Day Two – 8/11/2009

Weigh in – 213.6 lbs. | 25 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 10800 Steps | Character Level : 18

JUST barely hit 60 minutes today at one go. Sort of feel like I may be coming down with something. I really hope not, as that would totally kill my momentum. Noticed that I made some really big stretchmarks on my arms and lats last night. Chicks dig scars, right? I may cut down on the pushups a little more. I don’t want to be horribly disfigured. Hit level 18, visited Undercity, got lost in it. Went back and looked at some photos of me before and now. Huge change. Made Flickr account.

Day Three – 8/12/2009

Weigh in – 213.8 lbs. | 20 Pushups | 150 Min Biking | 6632 Steps | Character Level : 19

Yes, that’s 150 minutes. IE 2.5 hours. I was a MACHINE tonight. I also started fishing in-game which lets me do less all at once and focus just on biking and hitting the bobber. The wife is starting to bike with me, and will make her own character to play with me next week. I feel really good coming off of a marathon biking session now, and I can definitely tell that my body is changing gears from muscle creation to fat burning.

Day Four – 8/13/2009

Weigh in – 213.0 lbs. | 35 Pushups | 120 Min Biking | 7788 Steps | Character Level : 20

Got a horse! Getting around is a lot easier now. Starting to get into higher-level stuff and enjoying the game more. Worked out average weight loss so for to be 3/4 lb per week. I may take tomorrow off from biking. My knee is hurting a lot, but I feel good. Was in a good mood all day.

Day Five – 8/14/2009

Weigh in – 211.6 lbs. | 15 Pushups | 65 Min Biking | 9816 Steps | Character Level : 21

Did a light day today. Having trouble soloing again. Left Ghostlands and started exploring other places.

Day Six – 8/15/2009

Weigh in – 212.6 lbs. | 0 Pushups | 0 Min Biking | N/A Steps | Character Level : 23

My LCL bothered me most of the night. I’m going to take two days off to RICE my knee. I probably should have taken a break sooner.

Day Seven – 8/16/2009

Weigh in – 211.8 lbs. | 0 Pushups | 0 Min Biking | N/A Steps | Character Level : 24

Took today off as well. Played a little WoW with some friends with ice and compression on the knee. Should be good to go tomorrow.

Photos!

This is one week before I started the World of Workout program

This is Week 2, Day 2. I'm down four pounds in this shot.

Week 3, Day 2 - I'm down 6.5 pounds in this shot. I'm going to start wearing the same shirt each week.

World of Workout: Turn in Quest “Week One”

Elaine — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:36:49 +0000

Ding! Down four pounds, a pant size and a belt! I had no idea I’d see any sort of results so quickly. I’m also realizing that since I’ve so completely associated WoW with the concept of working out, I’ve been able to work out a lot longer than I ever would have been able to without an enjoyable activity as a focus. The minor downside is that my lats and pecs started burning just from reading a FAQ about quests in the Ghostlands.

For those of you just joining my quest here, I’m trying to lose weight playing World of Warcraft. It’s not a new concept, but I don’t think anybody has tracked it quite like this.

So I’ve gone from barely being able to get an hour of biking in to getting into arguments over TV time with the wife because I want to do two-hour biking sessions–to the point that I’m looking to purchase a decent gaming laptop. This is on top of the purchases that I’ve already made for this little project:

InStride Cycle XL ~$35

World of Warcraft Battle Chest ~ $40

Wrath of the Lich King ~ $40

Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse ~ $40

Keyboard tray ~ $35

“Quality” Pedometer ~ $5

Two pair workout shorts ~ $12

Recap on the rules:

I’m going to be weighing myself each day after my morning shower.

I’m going to add pushups to the routine: ten five knuckle pushups at the character select screen, ten five pushups each time a quest is completed and ten five knuckle pushups when I log off.

I’m going to be also charting steps with a pedometer and my character’s level, and a short writeup of my gaming experiences.

Follow me on Twitter for daily updates and watch this website for weekly ones, or join me in-game as Kalorie on Sentinels. My weekly summaries include stats for each day, and unedited notes made at the end of each day’s workout cycles.

Week One Summary

Day One – 8/3/2009

Weigh in – 214.6 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 65 Min Biking | 7752 Steps | Character Level : 4-5

Sort of actually disappointed today, even though I have record steps, enjoyed the game time I had. The biking is getting easy. Next week, I will increase the tension slightly. I am actually considering getting a REAL recumbent bike for this.

Day Two – 8/4/2009

Weigh in – 213.2 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 90 Min Biking | 3309 Steps | Character Level : 7

Reached level 7. Got on a groove on the bike, went way past 60 minutes and kept going until I hit 90. Way fun, but my chair is getting uncomfortable on the bike.

Day Three – 8/5/2009

Weigh in – 213.0 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | N/A Steps | Character Level : 7

Still level 7. Can’t seem to find any quests near Silvermoon. Pedometer only registered something like 300 steps, so I’m getting a new one. Utterly exhausted after today. May need to take a day off soon.

Day Four – 8/6/2009

Weigh in – 214.2 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 70 Min Biking | 10374 Steps | Character Level : 9

Morning notes: Feeling somewhat defeated. The stats are showing no progress, but I can see a pretty big change in my body. Lowering the amount of time I do in one set on the bike today because I’m really sore. Took two ibuprofen at lunchtime.

Evening notes: Felt MUCH better after eating lunch & dinner. Was easily able to finish my goal for the day and get a bunch of WoW in. Got some nice feedback from Tweeple.

Day Five – 8/7/2009

Weigh in – 213.6 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 70 Min Biking | 9155 Steps | Character Level : 11

Glad I kept going. Did a straight hour on the bike for the first time today, and didn’t even break a sweat. Started mining and jewelcrafting, really getting into this whole thing. Went for a nice, long walk after the gametime tonight. Oh, and bought WOTLK. It’s an investment in my health, right?

Day Six – 8/8/2009

Weigh in – 213.6 lbs. | 75 Pushups | 120 Min Biking | 4260 Steps | Character Level : 15

Pretty sure I overdid it tonight. Did 2 full hours. First 90 min or so was continuous. Pushups were done at the ends of my two play sessions. Didn’t walk too much today. I’m pretty nauseated after today’s grueling session. I’ll probably do a short workout tomorrow. Hit level 15, did a crapload of quests. Starting to have trouble with the enemies in Ghostlands.

Day Seven – 8/9/2009

Weigh in – 214.6 lbs. | 30 Pushups | 90 Min Biking | 7251 Steps | Character Level : 16

Took it easy and slow, hadn’t realized I went way past an hour, kept going until I hit 90. I’ve come a long way. Wife agreed to go for a long walk each night with me when I’m finished for cooldown. Still sore from the quest pushups, but the quests are getting longer and more difficult, so that’s fine. Hit level 16, and got 50 gold from a friend, so no longer having trouble soloing. I did have to take some ibuprofen at the end of the day. Still no real weight loss, but that’s alright. I’ve had to buy a new belt and clothes already, so there’s been a big change.

Here's my character's fine backside. LFG!

World of Workout: The Burning Calorie

Elaine — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:36:16 +0000

So, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this crazy, crazy thing. These pictures are only a week old, and I already look pretty different from the fat, lazy slob pictured here. Also, I’m a level five skinny chick with pink hair now, so I’ve got that going on.

I did this for five days as a trial run, and I’m glad that I did. Not knowing anything about WoW before I started, I figured the quests were longer and more involved, and 10 pushups at the end of each quest would be no problem. After one day of just doing three quests, and my initial log in 10 and log out 10, I had completely destroyed my upper body. I’m going to be halving all of the requirements for pushups, so 5 at log in, 5 for each quest, and 5 when I peel myself away from the game at night. As a compromise, they are all now knuckle pushups which are effectively Pushups of the Tiger.

So, my first “trial run” summary of each day and my initial thoughts follow. These notes were written at the very end of the day, just before I crashed out. I will not be editing any spelling errors or correcting them for content.

Day Zero – 7/28/2009

Weigh in – 217.6 lbs. | 0 Pushups | 0 Min Biking | N/A Steps | Character Level : 0

I’m ready for this.

Day One – 7/29/2009

Weigh in – 214.0 lbs. | 0 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 5772 Steps | Character Level : 0

First day of stat tracking, spent the evening installing Windows and WoW. Bike has shipped from Amazon, so the only biking I got in was during work.

Day Two- 7/30/2009

Weigh in – 213.2 lbs. | 15 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 7158 Steps | Character Level : 0

Bike arrived and everything is set up. Just barely got an hour in between work and home. I feel like I want to die, but I have noticeably improved my lung capacity, toned my legs a little already and feel a little more fit. I’m seriously wishing I had started this project during the winter.

Day Three – 7/31/2009

Weigh in – 214.4 lbs. | 10 Pushups | 45 Min Biking | 3824 Steps | Character Level : 0

Spent most of the day at work moving heavy equipment around, so only a partial workout tonight. Going to bed early, hoping on an early start tomorrow.

Day Four- 8/1/2009

Weigh in – 214.4 lbs. | 50 Pushups | 65 Min Biking | 5859 Steps | Character Level : 0

Actually got to play with one of my old characters. Those pushups are going to add up real quick. Still no actual weight loss, but I am feeling great and have been able to move my biking from 6 10 minute sets to two 30 minute sets. If I’m doing low-key biking, I’m sure I could do my hour all at once.

Day Five- 8/2/2009

Weigh in – 215.8 lbs. | 20 Pushups | 60 Min Biking | 5029 Steps | Character Level :1-4

Actually created a character! Very sore from yesterday’s pushups and considering a rule change so as to not kill myself. I felt a little run down most of the day, but still feel better than when I started this whole thing. Still having a lot of fun.

So, that’s Week Zero. I’m playing “Kalorie” on the Sentinels server. Feel free to send me stuff, but I’m not joining any guilds at the moment, other than the upcoming Some Other Guild. Below are some photos of my setup.

The bike, in all its glory.

KBaM tray. For the superior method of controlling games.

Keyboard of the Wireless

My incredibly innacurate pedometer. Seriously, this thing once measured 13 steps for a 3-block hike.

Terrifying. Clearly, I need to bike while I game.

My work setup. Yo, dawg. I heard you like to bike, so I put a bike in your cube so you can bike while you work.

Some Other Podcast, Episode 21: Put Your Cake In My Princess

Leah — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:37:16 +0000

We struggled with the title to this week’s episode; it was either this or “Ten Pounds of Ball,” but given that it’s our twenty-first, we thought that the cake should in fact be prominently featured. Sadly, we did fail to procure a Fudgie yet again, but the quest will continue! In the meantime, listen in as we lament more delayed games, marvel over Nintendo’s sales numbers of doom, and begin creating our characters for the upcoming Twilight MMO.

Freshly picked links!

DSi update 1.4 brings Facebook to the system in Japan

Red Steel 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Dark Void all delayed to 2010

Trine for PSN delayed again due to bug

Microsoft says Facebook and Twitter will be on the Dashboard before Christmas

Buy all Summer of Arcade XBLA titles and get 800 MS points back