I ordered a few books today, including a couple of video game related books; 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, and Reailty is Broken. A roundabout thanks to JBul for the latter, as there was an interview on On To The Next Game (where JBul had his Dead Space 2 review published) with the author, and it sounds like an interesting read, about why games are important and the benefits that gamers bring to the rest of their lives. I expect 1001... will be an interesting history lesson more than anything else. It has a distinct disadvantage over other books in this series like 1001 Movies or 1001 Albums; you need a specific platform to play older games that may no longer be available, or the games themselves may not be available. These are not issues that marr movies or music; rereleases on current formats are much easier to come by. Once they arrive, I'll let you know more about my impressions.

Does anyone else have any books about video games that they've read or would recommend?

So my shorts got washed with my record of sets and reps in it... whoops. But I should be able to remember most of what I have done. Monday is pretty easy...

Monday - Nothing

So I missed my first session. Part of it was because I was tired, and part of it is that I just seem to enjoy doing the legs less. On the plus side, because I had been playing Kinect on the Sunday night and doing some jumping and various other actions, my calves felt more sore than if I had done a regular workout :) I suppose that suggests that working the muscles in different ways produces different results.

Wednesday - Pull
Assisted Pull-Ups - 17.5 x 12, 15 x 8
Cable Rows - 45 x 12, 47.5 x 12
Dumbell Shrugs - 30 x 12, 32.5 x 12
Biceps Curl - 10 x 12, 12.5 x 4
Knee Raises - 15, 15

At least I think this is what I did. I seem to making more progress in the shrugs than I'd expected, and I'm getting closer to my goal of non-assited pull-ups. I also finally added some weight to the biceps curls, but didn't really get too far with that second set. Still, I really stressed the muscles as much as possible trying to get that 5th rep out for several seconds.

Friday - Push
Incline Chest Press - 20 x 6
Pec Dec - 20 x 12, 30 x 12, 40 x 12, 45 x 8
Chest Press - 45 x 12, 47.5 x 9
Assisted Dips - 17.5 x 12, 17.5 x 8
Triceps Pushdown - 52.5 x 12, 55 x 10

Because the Chest Press machine was being used, I thought I would try the incline, with 20kg as a warm up weight. But it really didn't seem to sit right with my shoulder even at that lower weight, so I decided not to continue. I've also been struggling with the Flyes because I feel like it is putting too much pressure on my shoulder, so I thought I would go back to trying the Pec Deck out to see if that was better. So I checked my results in Week 1 - 12 reps at 20kg, and 8 reps at 25kg. So I thought I would start with 20kg because I haven't used the machine in a while and to make sure it was fine with my shoulder... and it was a breeze. 30kg? Breeze. Upped to 40kg and it was a bit more challenging, until I couldn't complete a 12 rep set at 45kg. I was pretty amazed with that, considering I couldn't do a full set at 25kg 4 weeks ago. It might still not actually be a lot of weight, but the level of improvement is awesome.

General
I think my lack of wanting to do Monday indicates I really need to shake up my leg workouts. I tried holding a single dumbbell with arms outstretched and doing a squat today at home, but I get the feeling I'm not holding my back in the right position. I can always do lunges though. What I've been reading indicates that the best exercises are those that mimic actions you would make in real life, and the leg extension and leg curl don't really fit the bill.

After relaying my Pec Deck improvement to Megan, she gave my muscles a squeeze and was genuinely surprised at my muscle hardness, and definitely thinks I'm getting musclier. So that's certainly some good encouragement.

EDIT : "It is a bit like Super Mario Galaxy. But you can also design your own levels." Heard on a radio segment about games... about LittleBigPlanet 2. Like Super Mario Galaxy? WTF?