The Fit Gamer Podcast Episode 6!

On this episode the masks are back! Talk about different results from the world of E-sports, Evo for example.

There are also a session about the gym. This episode we discuss our routines when we go LEG DAY!  

You can find it at Stitcher as well using the link below and on iTunes by just searching for "The Fit Gamer Podcast".

Base race like bosses!

Played a game of League of Legends last night. Was a lot of back and fourth before it ended up being a base race.
It happends often when I play. It is so terrifying. Because if both teams are attacking the nexus, that usually means that it is a really long game and everyone have full gear. 
After spending THAT much time, you do not want to lose it by hitting the nexus half a second slower than the opponent. Luckily we managed to win this game of russian roulette.

Only took me 1 minute to say FML in this game though. Played top with Darius and I figured out that I would be facing Graves. It went good and all, but when you get melee vs ranged you know that the first levels will be a pain. Especially when you don´t play the game very often and learn all the mechanics of how to win as melee vs ranged.

Then I got my grade. Feels like going back to school xD What happends if you get a really bad grade? Does RiotPhreak hit you with a cane? ^_^

The Fit Gamer Podcast Episode 5 is out! Now with video!

So here it is. The latest episode with it´s new twist, it is with video and Bas and Roman are wearing masks.

So why the masks?
"One man can´t change the world, however an icon can inspire people. 
By wearing masks we can be faceless icons, we could be anyone of you guys out there!"

There are the usual talk about what is new in the world of gaming. On this episode the work out sessions is about biceps. A small muscle that people tend to work way too hard at the gym. 

Listen to it on Stitcher by pressing the link above!

Never to old to enjoy gaming!

Sometimes I feel like Danny Glovers character in Lethal Weapon.

He constantly says: "I'm getting too old for this shit!"

When I feel like that it is because some games demands me to play actively and farm stuff during different periods of time. So I guess that the number of games that I can play nowadays is limited since each games usually requires a certain amount of online time to keep a rank or just not to slack and just drop in my skill level.
Other times is for example when the chat in League of Legends just go too ridiculous. It is a quite toxic enviroment and before you learn not to get bothered by the constant spam it really makes me feel like "I'm getting too old for this shit!".

But generally speaking. GAMING IS AWESOME AND I LOVE IT! I grew up with that shit, the need for gaming does not disappear all of a sudden just because you get older and you have kids of your own. 

I guess the sort of games I am playing now are a little bit different from what I used to play. First of all I do not play any MMORPGs since they take way too much time. And competitive like I am about everything, I would never like to play a game and never have a chance to be good at it. And those games requires time, time to farm, time to go dungeons etc. 
MOBA games are quite good since the length of the games are often quite short. However offline games are of course the ones best suited for me at this time. Football Manager where I can just walk away from the game for hours and it will be there waiting for me when I get back. Hearthstone is another great game to play, although it is honestly not my kind of game.
Counter Strike is as good as it ever was at the moment. Since CS 1.6 I have not played a lot of Counter Strike but now I am back into it. It is fantastic how the skill is still okay. The new maps is like a big thorn up my ass though. Even the good old maps are a bit different. They wanted to make Global Offensive to something new I suppose. 

By the way, if you haven´t seen the Lethal Weapon series. I recommend that you take a look at it. The firsts three movies might be a bit old but the fourth one is with Jet Li and is a bit different in some ways. 

Getting used to streaming..

So... Streaming. A really fun way to interract with people. The chatsystem seems to be good even though there is a delay from what you are doing and what your stream is showing. 
That delay makes it difficult to interract with your viewers typing in the chat. However I am already getting used to having that delay and the interracting is easier. 

Some other things about streaming is not as easy though. Like to remember whether or not you have covered over the cam or not. Sometimes I spend an hour playing with the cam covered while I think that it is showing me in the stream. The audio is sometimes a factor as well, I have been talking to myself with the microphone muted for several occasions as well. 

There is something really fun about being able to interract with the viewers though and I like it. Go see if I am online (PodcasterRoman on twitch.tv) and if I am not on, you can check out Bascast. My partner in crime when it comes to the podcast!

If you have any suggestions on games you want to see you could message me on Twitter @podcasterroman and if I have the game I might do a session and have it saved on twitch for you guys to see. 

What about triceps?

In the latest episode of "The Fit Gamer Podcast" the topic of discussion was triceps at one point. The fact that the triceps more or less is two thirds of your upper arm is reason enough to spend time at the gym to make it grow!

All the pushing exercises that you perform while training chest is also hitting your triceps. Even so, you should spend time doing exercises that are aimed at your triceps. We want big arms!
So which exercises do I use to hit the triceps?

- Barbell Close Grip Bench Press http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BBCloseGripBenchPress.html
- Cable Pushdown http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/CBPushdown.html
- Cable Pushdown with a rope
- Dips http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/ASTriDip.html

Hit the links to see a video of how the exercises is executed. I actually did this routine a few days ago. 
I started out at the bench press. As warm up I did loads of lightweight sets, alternating between close grip and a wider grip. I also did the wider grip to get my chest muscles fired up.

Even though I am primarily going for the triceps during this session, I will still be using a lot of my chest muscles. Eventually I was done warming up and I started to add some weights to the barbell. I increased the weight each set until it started to get too heavy, then I started to remove weights after each set instead. Since I gradually went heavier my muscles got warm and prepared for the heavy weights, to avoid injury. And after I had done the heaviest set I went for more sets but with lesser weight to really make those triceps work hard!

This is really the only exercise I do that requires proper balance and where I risk injury. Because of that I felt that I could go almost to failure since this exercise is so good for the triceps and I wanted to get as much as I possibly could from it.

After I was done with that one I walked over to the cable cross. Since it was me, I started to play around and did a few chins before I went on to preparing the machine for my pushdowns. 
If I were to go to the gym five times a week I would not play around very much between the sets, but since I am not working out that frequently I can do some random back exercises without ruining my back day.
I prefer to switch between the rope and the normal pushdowns which means I set up them both at the same time. The advantages of the cable cross is that there are two identical sides.

After these two exercises I have a nice pump going on in my triceps. There are however a machine that is similar to dips. I usually like to use that one as a final exercise to be able to really get that last energy out of the triceps.

And since I am not going to the gym as frequent as I would like to I did some hacksquat as well during this session. I feel there are advantages to split the leg training into several different sessions to avoid feeling too much pain when moving the days after the workout session. Especially when your everyday life demands you to jump up and down etc, you do not want to be really sore from leg day.

The Fit Gamer Podcast Episode 4

The Fit Gamer Podcast Episode 4 is out now on iTunes, Stitcher and Youtube! Listen to the news in the world of gaming, how I got locked out of my apartment and tips regarding training!

Listen to it on Stitcher by pressing the link above!

Have you quit football?

Many people grow up playing football (soccer or the american version) and keep doing that for years growing up. During that time it is not necessary to go to the gym to perform a work out routine for your legs. They will be big and strong anyway.

However that changes quickly when you quit playing football. You will need to do the leg exercises at the gym to keep your muscles. And the benefits from performing a work out routine for your legs are many. It is even supposed to help your upper body grow faster as well. 

And most importantly, you will want to act early to avoid getting tiny legs and a huge upper body! Take advantage of the fact that you spent all those years playing football and keep working those legs at the gym!

Hearthstone - New Tavern Brawl

So the first "Tavern Brawl" sucked. Playing some big ass raid boss from vanilla World of Warcraft. And the opponent was of course super charged as well. One had to win fast and the other one just had to stall the game until the point where he would stomp the opponent with his Hero Power.
That was Tavern Brawl 1.0 from my point of view. So now they have released the Tavern Brawl 2.0. 

Was this an improvement?
YES!

So what is this new mode then? It is quite simple. It is nothing insane like last time. This is just a normal game with the normal classes with one big plot twist. Every time you cast a spell you get a random minion that cost the same amount of mana.
At first I did not think about what it meant when I decided to create a Hunter deck. After a few minutes into the first game I realized that I did not want to play a Hunter in this mode. Why spawn creatues of my own? Why not just go Mage and blast shit down with spells while I get free minions into the battlefield?
Said and done, I conceded and started to create a Mage deck. Using all the spells available as a mage I created a deck that also contained all the minions giving +spell damage. 
It only took one game to get my weekly win and that pack that you are after when you play Tavern Brawl.

Occasionally the randomness of the minions spawned did create more problems than they solved but all together I really think you gain an advantage going a lot of spells in this mode.

Third Episode of "The Fit Gamer Podcast"

There were a few extra days since our last episode. But here it is! Instead of trying to squeeze it in we decided to wait and now I got a Internet connection worthy of the title. I got 50 times faster than I did before which means a lot!


From now on you can find us on Stitcher! If you want to go directly to our site there just click on the banner below.





If you rather listen to it from iTunes just search after the name of the podcast and below you find a link to Youtube.

There is a lot of talk about Dreamhack coming to the U.S and some talk about our back routines at the gym. We mention a video of John Guidetti doing an interview after a win over Denmark in the U21 European Championship. There is a post on this blog about that and there is a link to the clip at Youtube to be found there. That dude is a future superstar I tell you!

Play hard, go pro. But never forget your dumbbell row!

After earning a few hundred gold in Hearthstone

I grinded a few hundred gold in Hearthstone... Now what?

Go play Arena, they said. You will learn the game, they said. So now I have been doing my daily quests, earning gold to enter the Arena.

Now what?

It is quite time consuming entering the Arena considering the fact that you have to form a new deck so often. Well, if I would be a better player and constantly get 12 wins then I would not be building new decks as often, obviously.

So the main goal for all the grind is building a deck to play ranked. To get the cards I need to either get very lucky in the packs I get from Arena or I have to get a LOT OF PACKS to destroy those cards and then build the cards I need. 

To build my deck as quickly as possible I suppose there are two ways to do it. To play Arena and hope to get a few wins and extra gold.

Or just buy packs. They cost 100 gold. Arena cost 150. I am however guarenteed a pack if I just lose 3 games in a row in the Arena. 

And if I win a few games I am likely able to get another 50 gold or more. 

The quickest way to get my deck would probably be just buying the packs. But they all say "Play arena to learn the game". In Arena I get to play different classes, that makes me understand what I am to expect from then when I face them. 

Though the type of cards that are good in the Arena are not the same ones that are good in ranked or casual mode. 

That bums me out. But one thing is for sure. When selecting your deck in the Arena you get to see many cards and eventually you learn what they are all about from just hearing the name. 

Hey I got rewarded when the season ended. I got a new "pattern" on the back of my cards. It sounds okay when I say I got to rank 20. However it is impossible to lose rank until you hit rank 19, which just makes it possible to compare me to a total grinder who does not know what the hell he is doing. 

EVERYONE ELSE CAN GO HOME! - Guidetti

John Guidetti gave a classic interview after the game against Denmark in the U-21 European Championship. It spread across the internet, someone even mixed it together and made a song from it.

Sure it was luck from time to time, small details that went our way. But we WON THE EUROPEAN U-21 CHAMPIONSHIP!

The penalty shootout in the final brought the population of Sweden back to 1994 in the quarter final against Romania in the World Cup, that took place in the U.S.

Three swedes were selected into the best eleven of the tournament and not a surprise that it was defensive players. Two defenders and a midfielder that is a hard working genious. That shows how Sweden advanced in the tournament. 

Let us hope that these young players develop into first team players and can take over when Zlatan decides to quit the national team. Maybe he will join them in the Olympics 2016. A few older players are allowed to enter the tournament. Imagine Zlatan against players younger than 21, would be epic!

Training session - Back day

Work out for the back

This is something that many people don´t like to do. Maybe because it is "boring" exercises or some might even be afraid of looking dumb. The exercises for the back is often free at the gym while the benchpress and the dumbbells are crowded.


Here is a list of a few exercises and links to videos showing how they are done:

- Barbell Deadlift http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html
- Barbell Bent-Over Row http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html
- Dumbbell Bent-Over Row http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html
- Chin-Up http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/WtChinup.html
- Cable Pulldown http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBFrontPulldown.html
- Cable Seated Row http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/CBSeatedRow.html
- Dumbbell Shrug http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/DBShrug.html
- Lever (T-Bar) Bent-Over Row http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/LVBentOverRow.html

Like when I wrote about chest training, you can´t do all exercises in the same training session obviously. There are however some exercises that hit the same areas of your body. If you want to do your back training in one session you should try to hit every part of the back. 
But you might as well have a different split for your different training sessions. We will talk more about how to split your body into different training sessions later.

How do I train my back?

Since the back is such a huge part of your body I am careful before I engage in heavy exercises. I want to warm up properly by using lighter weights. When I got my biceps warm I often go to the Deadlift and play around with lighter weights, occasionally doing Barbell Curls for the biceps. Showing the people around me that I am just fucking around with these weights and warming up!

During the warm up part of I mess around with Deadlift, Bent-Over Row and some similar stuff just to get my body ready to go to war. Well, it is actually already. Just walking through the gym makes me fucking pumped up and ready to go. 

The first exercise I usually do is Deadlift. The reason for that is that it is such a big one. Depending on tecnique you can hit a big part of your body. There are one tecnique where you stand up straight with your legs in order to hit your legs more. I use the one on the video above though. How heavy I lift will depend on how I feel right there and then. Usually I go many repetitions on lighter weights at first to warm up properly and then I go for the heavier sets with fewer repetitions. 

Sometimes I use straps for the grip and to be able to lift heavier. I am however aware that by doing that I am not training my wrists to actually lift those weights. But to hit my strong back muscles I often go a few sets with straps. The back is stronger than my wrists which makes straps valuable to be able to lift as much as the back can handle.

Then I go Barbell Bent-Over Row since I am already holding the barbell. And I go lighter weights at first and then a few sets of heavier ones. 

Now it is time for the Romanized expression. Lats-gasm! Referring to the word orgasm, but here the feeling is in the lateral muscles. After I have been doing the Bent-Over Row I go to the Cable Pulldown. And since I have already done some exercises my back is pumped up. By doing the Cable Pulldowns I can feel the muscles work and it feels fan-fucking-tastic! 

This is another exercise where you can use your straps to hit the back harder. But it is good to do some repetitions without them as well.

After this I might finish with T-bar or the Cable Seated Row. Since the back is such a massive area of the body you can definetly do more exercises during your session than you can with for example biceps.

I do Shrugs somewhere in between the other exercises. I don´t use very heavy weights on that exercise and because of that I use it to relax a bit between heavier exercises.

The Deadlift is the major exercise for your back. If you think about it, it is the one exercise that is similar to lift something off the ground in real life situations. It also hits so many different muscles that makes it a really good basic exercise. Be careful and pay attention to your form in a mirror before you lift heavy.