Tialoredron

*flings open the door* FEL! What a pain! I'm back again everyone! Sorry I went a bit AWOL. Work computers were upgraded to Windows 10 and there are gremlins far as the eye can see, but I am happy to be back again. Barkeep! Round on me for everyone for being away for so long. I hope all you lovely Rangers are doing well so far in the challenge! I have come into contact with an old friend interested in the Academy and I am encouraging them to get involved here first especially as I have no experience in it besides the Yoga class.

Whaddya mean it's already over?! *Insert Ferris Bueller's post credit scene* Things have turned a bit quicker than I expected, didn't really get the chance to settle in after my vacation before getting whisked away again. Quick summary of post DragonCon events though (DragonCon event deets still inbound soon as I figure how to transpose all the photos): Made it to Crossfit one time last week on Thursday if I am not mistaken and decided to take the remainder of the week off from Crossfit in favor of the PT test that happened today. PT test went decently well, scoring 88.4/100 so 1.6 points short of what I wanted, but this is a blessing in disguise since I wanted to move my PT test from September to March anyways. Next goal is to score >90.0 and reset my PT test to a yearly requirement again instead of 2x/year. Weigh in this time around 71 inches tall, 175 lbs, so I have lost 10 lbs from my last remembered weigh in. 33.5 Ab measured for full points, 37 pushups in a minute, and 64 situps in a minute (max was 58) and 11:46 1.5 mile run. I was hoping to run sub 11:00, but not a terrible score considering I did minimal prep for the test. Last test I did was 21 March and I was 71 inches, 185 lbs, 35 inches around the ab, 41 pushups, 59 situps, and 12:45 for the run. Total score was 84.2. So strange the difference 6 months can make. While I was deployed, I didn’t work out and put in way too many hours into the office because “I’M DEPLOYED!” gaining 8 lbs and adding nearly a minute and a half to the run. Another 6 months I drop the pounds and recover a minute, but lose some of the pushups. But enough of the PT test; even without the “BMI” score, I can tell I have lost the weight since I can see the form of my abs again as opposed to the small keg that had started to form. I am not too concerned about BMI, weight, or looks, but it is pretty awesome looking in the mirror and seeing those small improvements as a consequence of eating my normal home diet and working out again. One thing I did note about the past four weeks is that, even though I hate mornings with a passion of a thousand dying suns, when I missed my class I felt terrible during the day. When I made the classes, those days were awesome. Food was the exact same, and work is work; I take the few hours of the evening when I get back home to eat dinner, watch an episode on Netflix, and game for a bit before going to bed. The only factor that changes really is how much sleep I get and if I make it to the workout. Since I am not confident my habit has really set in, I plan to continue my goals of this challenge into the next for the workout aspect. Crossfit 3x/week, get 7.5 hours of sleep with the main focus of getting in bed no later than 2130 (waking at 0500; 7.5 hours total and with fitbit history of ~35-60 minutes awake, I will consider it successful if I am in bed attempting to sleep at 2130).

"Yeah, that went well." -Capt Malcom "Mal" Reynolds Pics of DragonCon coming soon with deets. Didn't get that last session of Crossfit in; *feeling meh about it cause DragonCon!* I feel like I am super behind on all the things I wanted to do and a little overwhelmed, but I am working to get back to "normal". After putting all the goals on hold for DragonCon, I was able to get to Crossfit this morning and even recruited a friend! ((Where's my in-game mount and pet?!))

Well, life has certainly hit me square in the face as I am not finding any sort of free time to update this Goal 1 Hit the box Sunday and Monday. I have already forgotten Sunday's WoD :/ Monday's WoD 6-12-18-12-6 Kettlebell Snatch Pushup Kettlebell Lunge Ab Mat Sit Ups I scaled the Kettlebells to 35 lbs, but I no longer remember what the Rx weight was So 2x this week already and planning to go tomorrow morning! Even with DragonCon ahead of me, hashtagwinning! Goal 2 I suffered on this for Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I went to bed at 2337 and woke at 0718, getting 6.75 hours of sleep and spending 56 minutes awake. Sunday I almost got back on track, but stayed up until 2212 and woke up at 0518 getting 6.25 hours of sleep and spending 50 minutes awake. Last night I went to bed at 2225 and finally woke up at 0733 getting 8.25 hours of sleep and spending 53 minutes awake. So far not so good on keeping and maintaining a good sleep cycle and getting the rest I need; I suspect it will even be worse for DragonCon....but worth it. Goal 3 So I sent the wrong address and needed to rebuy the costume stuff on Amazon; not a huge deal but disappointing. Most of it should arrive on time, but I am still concerned. Goal 4 I have dropped the virtual social aspect as I am gearing up for DragonCon and getting more busy at work. With that, I actually found out one of my former Academy instructors is near the base I am at and am reconnecting with her. Super awesome-sauce seeing how tiny a world this all is! I expect I won't be online too much this week either as my priority will move to living the moments at DragonCon.

Love the Leroy Jenkins and Joker gifs! Kick ass and be awesome!

*reports in after going AWOL on Friday* Man, this whole adulting thing is still difficult even going into my 5th year in the "real world". I had great plans going in then things fell apart pretty readily. Goal 1 Didn't make it to Crossfit this morning like I intended. Again, I stayed up way too late and decided to sleep instead. So this week I was only able to attend one class :| Goal 2 This goal is really what I wanted to focus on; I feel if I can get my sleep cycle down and maintain a proper schedule, getting to accomplish Goal 1 won't be as much of an issue. But enough of about the wishes: Thursday night I went to bed at 2233, an entire 1.5 hours after I want to reset myself to, and woke up at 0622, getting 6.9 hours of sleep and being awake for 55 minutes. Friday night I stayed up way too late and didn't get to sleep until 0010 and slept until 0852, getting 7.85 hours of sleep and 51 minutes awake. I am already busting my schedule tonight as well, but I was able to do plenty of domestic rangering and prepping for Dragon Con next week Goal 3 So, as typical of Cosplay, waiting to the last minute only takes a minute. I did purchase a few pieces I needed on the good ol' amazon and they should arrive before I need to leave. Being the dumb-dumb I was, I forgot to purchase some ingredients for a new lunch recipe; while I was out today, I did purchase light blocking curtains to upgrade the normal drapes I do have to hopefully keep the house a bit cooler during the day. I have also unpacked 5 more boxes (most of which was laundry) and they are all cleaned and put (mostly) away. Goal 4 As stated, I did go AWOL for most of Friday afternoon and I have only really found spam linking posts and reported those. Before I did hide in the shadows, I was able to welcome RagingHibiscus, Sabina, Amanda_S, and Olybard.

Welcome to the Rebellion! Most members work on their goals with their own 4-week challenge threads; we are currently in our second week for this rotation, but there's no better time than now to start exploring what the community can offer you! If you're interested, the Rebels is a great place to put your first 4-week challenge thread (following Spezzy's super-awesome-walkthrough). Or creating your own Daily Battle Log is another great option for telling us how your journey's going. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Welcome back to the Rebellion Sabina! Loss of a family member is very difficult; each person will deal with grief differently as well so what works for one person may not work for another. I think Sciread has given some good advice and food for thought. There is a lot being piled onto you, and I think you need to take care of yourself; if you can take some days off of work to focus on yourself and your relations may be a great start to re-center yourself.

Welcome to the Rebellion Amanda! https://darebee.com/, as mentioned, provides daily dares as well as themed workout plans that can help keep the excitement level up and add the variety to a workout you may be looking for. If nerdiness is your thing; dig through the workouts to find your nerddom (there's workouts with titles like Avengers, Link, Black Widow, and many more; I had thought there was a collection of them on the site but I am not able to find it right now). As for where to put updates, that will be up to you if you want to log it in your Daily Battle Log or create a 4-week challenge. We are currently about to wrap up the second week, but that shouldn't stop you from creating a thread with the Rebels (our recommended guild to complete your first 4-week challenge following Spezzy's super-awesome-walkthrough) There are plenty of avenues to be involved in the NF community; don't be afraid to ask further questions as we would love to help and see you accomplish your goals!

Welcome back to the Rebellion Anthony! You may be familiar with the 6-week challenges of old, but they have been scaled down to 4-week challenges. The format is more or less the same, but just over the shorter time span. We are closing in to completed the second week for this go around but the best time to Respawn is now (thread set based on Steve's article). Spezzy also made this nifty video if you needed a refresher on setting up your challenge. Classes are mostly the same and it seems like you may be moving to the Monks based on your MMA goals. Let us know how we can help you out!

Goal 1 Didn't make it to Crossfit as I had planned to today due to interruption to my sleep last night for unfortunate events that are developing, Goal 2 Making up for missing the post, Tuesday I was dumb and stayed up until 2306 and only got 6.5 hours of sleep, waking up at 0619 and last night I got back on goal by getting to bed at 2130, but multiple calls interrupted my sleep and I slept in until 0720 getting 8.75 hours of sleep. Sadly, a serious incident occurred last night and investigation is still ongoing to my latest knowledge. Goal 4 Elerinna was welcomed into the Rebellion; I am concerned with her instructor and doctor status, but I feel there isn't much more information I can provide and she will need to do what's best for her in the end.

Welcome to the Rebellion Elerinna! My advice as a non-doctor would be to go see an actual doctor. Working out extra hard and/or back to back sessions every day could be putting undue stress on your body and we have no insights to help remedy that. It'd be much better long term to get checked out, scale back the intensity/frequency of the workouts, and progress "slower" than it would to maintain the current pace, have a hard break/injury and lose the progress you had worked so hard to gain and start over if/when you recovered. Ideally, go see a doctor before the next workout. For the instructor wanting more rather than good form, I would consider finding a different instructor as well unless they are literally the only ones on the block. If they are the only one, hold yourself to a higher standard with proper form and reduced weight/reps until you feel ready to increase the weight/reps. Assuming you are paying for the instructor, the contract should be between the instructor and you that you are at their class to improve yourself physically safely. If you feel that your safety and/or well being is being compromised I would highly encourage stepping away from the contract; again it's better to progress slowly and consistently than to do too much and injure yourself as it usually takes longer to recover from injury.

Goal 1 Crossfit attended today Strength 6x2 Push Jerk (increasing weight); last set was 125 lbs. 21-15-9 Pullups (scaled to ringrows) Handstand Pushups (scaled to box assisted pike push ups) Thrusters 135 lbs (scaled to 75 lbs) Sad to say I didn't feel confident doing the pullups Rxed, but I knew after the first 7 reps I would not have been able to move on. HSPU would be neat to do, but I don't really feel that I care to be able to do HSPUs. I am starting to feel maybe the programming isn't lining up with what I became accustomed to back in Florida and there has been heavy emphasis on upper body but I haven't been going consistently either so I may just be overanalyzing. Goal 2 Went to bed at 2126 and woke up at 0506, getting 6.75 hours of sleep with 54 minutes of wakefulness. Inevitability is I will need to move my bedtime up to 2100 for the night before I want to go to Crossfit during the work week to come close to 7.5 hours of sleep like I want to. Goal 4 Broke out of my anti-social shell yesterday and welcomed Kable, Iky, and Scrappy to the Rebellion. By the end of the week I will re-peruse all the newbie's I have welcomed and see how their challenges/life is going.

Welcome to the Rebellion Kris! You mentioned doing 4 weeks of IF, so I assume you are familiar with the 4-week challenges. We have just started week 2 of our own cycles but that's not near as important as building up the good habits that will help you accomplish your goals. If you have any questions let us know!

Welcome to the Rebellion Iky! Doubling up on Zeroh's post, I'd recommend setting up a 4-week challenge thread as well. As Wobbegong pointed out, its best to make small amounts of changes and I have had some successes; the great part is that you can always respawn and begin anew as you need to after giving consideration to why a success didn't happen (my challenge thread below is filled with a plethora of examples where I fail in some/all of my goals throughout the week, but each morning I start again from square one and attempt to do better than yesterday or maintain what I have accomplished). You've got a great path forward and already doing great things! Let us know how we can help out and of course the best of luck on your journey!