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Hello, hello! This challenge is mostly going to be a retread of my last one. It's probably going to get off to a bit of a slow start, though. I had a busy weekend full of lots of family stuff, so I'm feeling pretty drained right now, and I'm going on a prayer retreat at the end of this week, so I won't hit full speed until week 2. But before we get into all that, a quick reminder of the game plan. Like any good ranger, I enjoy wooded trails, quiet moments in nature, and trying to do ALL THE THINGS! And since my life is unfortunately not an actual game of D&D, there's no DM to yell at me when I try to do 5 actions in 1 turn, so I have to do it myself. In other words, I've categorized my projects/hobbies so that each day I get a movement, action, bonus action, reaction, and free action. It's not so much about getting one of each in as it is not trying to do too much, so no more than one activity in each category. Movement: I've been doing a lot of walking on my lunch break. Planning to keep that up, but also going to shoot to fit a little more hiking/biking in. Wooded trails count double as my favored terrain. Last challenge I got 55.25 miles in, looking for more this time around. Action: Not much has changed here since last challenge, sticking with D&D actions for theming purposes: Attack: Get a workout in. This is going to be prioritized more this challenge, because I'm switching up my reaction, but I don't want to ignore my pull ups for the next 5 weeks, so I'm going to aim to get 3x3 pull ups in two or three times a week. Any other workout counts here as well, but that's the primary one. Gathering Swarm: As a Swarmkeeper Ranger, when I take the attack action, my nature spirits can swarm. This is anything that involves homesteading plans. Probably going to do the bare minimum here for this challenge, trying to free up more space for Attack and Dash. Dash: Go for a run. Any other cardio will be Attack, this is specifically to track running. Only got 1 run in last challenge, planning to prioritize it more this time around. Help: Social obligations. Whether or not they take up the action category for the day or can coincide with another one primarily depends on where my social energy level is and whether I feel like I have the spoons for it or not. Search: Cleaning. Last challenge I let myself count it for even just a bare minimum of decluttering, this time it has to be a focused effort, partially to make more progress on cleaning, but also just another way to free up more action slots for Attack and Dash. Disengage: This is a planned rest day. When I feel like I need a break, I can disengage. Hide: This is an emergency rest. I hadn't planned on taking the day off, but things went south and I bailed. If I start seeing too many Hide days, that's a clear sign that I need to rethink what I'm doing. I made it through the entire last challenge with 0 hide days. Not necessarily expecting it to happen again this time, but it's proof that the system works, at least some of the time. Bonus Action: Hobby time! Going to focus on animals, writing, and cooking this time around, but leaving them all up here as options. Shooting: Rifle or Archery. I enjoy both. Probably going to lean more towards the archery side, as my gun range has a tree down on it, but that also might get taken care of this challenge. Creativity: Writing or Music. Both of these are fun for me, but I also have a tendency to put too much pressure on myself to do them on a fixed schedule, and then I lose my motivation to do it at all. So no pressure this time around, just a fun time if I feel like it. Animals: I used to be much more intentional about spending time with my horses. I've let that slide on the excuse that my barn building has taken up that time/energy slot, but there's really no reason I can't do both. Cat and dog time can also go here. Cooking: I like to bake, and when the mood hits I also like putting together a meal, not just the actual cooking, but also fussing around with setting a nice table and everything. Last night I lit a fire, baked bread, and turned a chicken carcass into some delicious chicken and rice soup, and it was so cozy. It reminded me to take the time to enjoy the whole process of a meal, instead of just gulping it down for fuel. Crafting: I have not done any crochet in a while, and no cross stitch in even longer than that. Both of them are good evening activities that I can use to keep my hands busy instead of doomscrolling. Reaction: I really liked my grease the groove progress last challenge, but I'm feeling a bit burnt out on pull ups, so this challenge we're switching to pushups! Same basic premise, I'll roll 2d4 on week days and 3d4 on weekends and do that many sets of 3 pushups spread throughout the day. It does have a big advantage over pull ups in that I don't have to be around a pull up bar to get them done. And like last challenge, I'll take one rest day per week as needed. Free Action: Barn building continues. 1.5 walls are done. Not really setting a goal here, as a lot is dependent on weather. I do think I'm going to slow down a little, though. I wanted to have the horses moved in before this prayer retreat, which obviously didn't come close to happening, which means my next deadline is September, so lots of time now. And both my dad and I are starting to drag, so probably a good idea to back off a bit. I mostly took zero week off, but I did track it on my spreadsheet, because I was worried that if I completely skipped out for a week, I'd lose all my positive momentum. So here's what it ended up looking like: Movement: 7.75 miles in on my lunch breaks. I'd like more than that for the challenge itself, but for zero week, I'll take it. Action: Disengaged for the beginning of the week and then lots of social time at the end. Again, for zero week that's fine. Bonus Action: Lots of cooking, but I did get some animal time in, and when my D&D game was cancelled on Friday, I actually got a bit of writing done! Reaction: Took the whole week off. It was a good call. Free Action: Between weather and company, missed a bunch of days, but still got 2 windows in and trimmed and got a couple rows of siding up. Today's Plan: Going to walk a little on my lunch, but I am tired today, so might just stroll to a quiet spot and then sit and read or listen to a podcast for a little while. The house is a bit of a mess after the weekend, so action will most likely be cleaning. For bonus action, going to spend some time with my animals tonight, especially my cat, who does not tolerate company well. Rolled a 6 for pushups and not going to have my dad available tonight, but hoping to get drip caps on the 2 south windows, which should be fine as a solitary job and also (knock on wood) shouldn't take that long. Let's do this!

This is my first challenge back after a much longer than expected hiatus, so I am keeping it Super Super Simple. Work out at least 6 days/week - mix of GMB Elements, GMB Recovery, and NF Prime Push-Up Challenge Achieve my "frog" goal in Hero's Journal at least 6 days/ week Walk my new doggie every day That's it. That seems enough. Push-Ups I used to do push-ups all the time. I served for 15 years in the U.S. Navy, and I survived it by being so good at push-ups and crunches that it didn't matter that I am terrible at running. That was our semi-annual fitness test. Straight up just push-ups, crunches, and running. I converted to civilianism in 2000 and had not done a push-up since. I just recently learned that I no longer have that level of bent-arm strength. I want it back. Eat the Frog One feature of The Hero's Journal is the setting of three goals every day "To seize the day." The first goal is marked with a little froggie icon, per Mark Twain (allegedly) “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first." I think this was the premise for the book Eat that Frog! by Brian Tracy (which I have not yet read.) My frog goal for every day is one that will actually move the needle, and the one that I am most tempted to procrastinate. My current Hero's Journal quest revolves around creativity, specifically outlining the novel that I plan to write starting in November (NaNoWriMo nerds FTW!) so my frog goals are currently things like "write 500 words of mentor's backstory" or "create list of protagonist's limitations," etc. Doggie A recent addition to our family is a three year old mixed breed girl that #2 son found as an emaciated and sickly stray a couple of years ago. Son recently had to re-home her because of his job's travel requirements, so Cassiopeia is now my companion and walkies accountabilibuddy, in addition to being Apollo's new BFF. She is a really good dog, great cuddler and generally well behaved, but she is overly reactive to other dogs, cars, and bicycles when she is on a leash so we are executing some very specific training protocols. The more we walk, the better. This is as good for me as it is for her. Somewhat sad/depressing additional pet information behind spoiler Cassie Apollo

what I want for Xmas is a happy body and a happy mood... so that's what Im getting myself: 12 little gifts! do a 3-5km walk in the late morning with the dog, preferably so she can run without a leash. Add those km to Walk to Mordor. (just passed Weathertop this week) Monday: hip stretches for five minutes in the evening Tuesday: deep squat practice for five minutes in the evening Wednesday: push up prep work for 5 minutes in the evening Thursday: hip stretches again Friday: squat practise again Saturday: push up practice again Sunday: relax in a way that feels good eat keto consistently. prep meals. no booze 2 nights a week drink 3 liter / day ( must do at least 1 liter water or tea) meditate and do morning ritual when waking up cant wait to do my first holiday challenge with you guys! * hops up and down*.......

I fell off the wagon in the middle of last challenge. Honestly I'm not sure I was on the wagon to begin with, but I digress. TENTATIVE WEEKLY SCHEDULE: Monday - work 8h Tuesday - classes maybe, evening church group Wednesday - work 8h split Thursday - moar classes maybe, evening church group Friday - work 4h, maybe class Saturday - ???, church in evening (online ofc) Sunday - ??? probably housecleaning tbh TO-DO: Cooking Lunch duty M Dinner duty TWRF probably (dinner by 5 or 5:30 because that's when Mom gets off) Weekends are always up in the air Regain my gainzzz 100 Knee Pushups Challenge Split lunges and goblet squats (10 lb unless I can come up with something heavier. No, my cat doesn't count.) I guess inverted rows? 5-minute ab workout (crunches 1 min, plank 1 min, side plank 1 min/side, some kind of boat pose 1 min) Walk/bike with Mom when schedule allows (it mostly doesn't). Schooling Send in those forms so I can sign up for the stupid classes on May 7 Read Dune. Finish before Mom finishes Anne of Green Gables Pick up the alto clarinet at least 1x/wk for 40+ minutes (assembly and maintenance times not included) Bonus points for breathing exercises Bonus points for playing anything in boat pose. Don't waste all my free time on Animal Crossing. (Wild World - don't ask for my friend code.) 1 hour of gameplay per day, max. Spend some time outside in the sun! If I think of anything else I'll add it. Have a spreadsheet.

Tactical- of or relating to a maneuver or plan of action designed as an expedient toward gaining a desired end or temporary advantage. One of my more successful challenges in a while was my Tactical Human™ challenge. I was focused. I was determined. And I was on a mission. That mission was to get my family into a house. Well guess what? I completed my mission! We got the house aaaaaaand we moved in this week! WOOT WOOT! This challenge is taking the success from my former Tactical Human challenge and making this one a success as well. *Insert move in day pic here* As most everyone else is experiencing, we are still under some sort of quarantine. I'm still working from home for my day job and going to Costco in the evening. With gyms still being closed, I have really had to think outside the box as far as training goes. Mostly, like 98% of the time, I implement a "grease-the-groove" style of workout. Basically, throughout the entirety of the day, I do sets of push-ups and pull-ups. I can range from 100 pushups to close to 300 depending on the day. As for pull-ups, I'm doing maybe 70-120 a day, but more on the lower end for those if I'm being completely honest. I need to add some lower body exercises in the mix. So, I will be incorporating KB swings and KB racked squats as well as forms of jumping/plyometrics and the occasional split squat, jump squat and practicing pistols. Buuuuut, more on that when I set up my goals. Now that we are moved into our house, it's time to make it a home. Since Heather and I had no real intentions on using the garage to park our car, we both agreed we would want to turn it into a workout room of sorts. Set down some padding, get some more equipment, including a heavy bag and I'll probably look at building my own squat rack as well. The possibilities are endless. We also want to have the rest of the house set up to have people over when quarantine subsides a little more. Over the next 5-weeks, it's time to kick things into gear and get ready for swimsuit season 2020...even though the pools probably won't be open, lol. I still want to look good shirtless . Getting back on our meal prepping schedule is going to be crucial. It's also going to be a million times easier now that we have a deep freeze of our own. I will be posting before pics to keep track of things. And, well, to make @Mr_Willes little willy happy, too, haha! Goal #1: The Herschel Walker Program (but not) That guys face, tho, lol This is Herschel Walker. He's 48 years old in this pic. He's a former NFL running back and all around freak of nature. Even in his mid 50's, he does MMA and is actually pretty good. This...lol, is his DAILY workout routine: 750-1000 push-ups exercise 2000 sit up exercises Cardio exercises (such as wrestling, kickboxing and sparring) Wide and close grip pull-ups for 1,500 reps 1,000 and more tricep dips 1000 and more weighted squats Variety of running drills Air squats 1000 Squat Thrusts Sprinting exercises to build up stamina One word. INSANE. Now, my body can't hold up to that kind of exercise magnitude. For starters, Herschel has been doing that most of his life, so, he's used to it. My goal is to just do a fraction of what he does. My goals are: 350-500 push-ups a day 100-200 sit up exercises 70-100 pull-up variations Weighted Squats (number unknown) Sprints Plyometrics And that's just something I would like to do daily. Or, at the very least, 3-5x a week depending on schedule. *This goal is subject to change* Possible Stat Points Earned: +3 STR, +1 DEX, +1 END Goal #2: Gimme Fuel. Gimme Fire. Gimme that which I desire. Eating right makes the body tight. So, let's get back on that, shall we? Eating good has never been an issue for me, I just need to get back in the habit of meal prepping. Like I said above, we have a deep freeze now and a bigger fridge, so, meal prepping is going to be a helluva lot easier than it used to be! Meal prep 5x a week MINIMUM. OR, just make sure to make food for the day and DON'T. EAT. FAST FOOD. Possible Stat Points Earned: +2 CON, +2 WIS, +1 CHA Goal #3: Welcome to our Humble Abode Don't be like this chick. Know how to use calk. SO! We have a house now, aaaaaaand we want it to look nice. The first starts with unpacking everything, storing what we don't need right now and turning our house into a home. The goal is: Do 1 things for the house each week. This can be mowing the yard, watering the flowers, getting soaker hoses for the foundation. Anything to make our home more of a home. Possible Stat Points Earned: +3 CHA, +2 DEX And that's about all I got right now. I'm already up to 160 push-ups today..but only 8 pull-ups, lol. I got a lot of work ahead of my this challenge but I'm excited about it all. Being in our house is very freeing of the stress and anxiety I've had the last month or so. I'm sooooooo glad to finally be moved in! In the words of Alex and Ghost: "Let's do this." Wolf

Hi awesome community, I'm a newbie at fitness and i decided to just do pushups for about 1-2 months on a schedule, and then maybe add different exercises in addition to the pushups. As i'm a newbie, i do only 3 sets every other day (48 hours for rest). I do them maxed out for my capabilities - i do about 8-9 in the first set, then i believe something like 8 or so in the second set and about 5 in the third set. The first set i don't really max out in that once i can't do anymore i don't try to continue. The second one and the 3rd one, once i can't do anymore of them, i try to do one more. Maybe at the 2nd set i succeed, at the 3rd one i don't succeed to do one more and i give up after about 5-6 seconds. I do them like in these videos: Video 1, Video 2. Please watch them fully to understand and tell me if it's wrong. I did these 3 times (that means 1 day, then 1 day rest, then again 1 day). 3 sets each time. between 9 and 5 repetitions in each set, progressively lower in the latter ones. I was really missing physical activity, so i did see results even after only 3 days - definitely now when i bend my elbow i muscle is really definitely harder and larger (or maybe only harder and not larger, not really sure). But also a negative side of this: I don't experience shoulder pain, but i feel like my elbow once i let my hand to relax starts to move on its own somehow to separate from the body. I don't see it, it doesn't hurt me, but it's a really strange feeling. Like some tendon is expanding, being pulled by the shoulder. i haven't done them for 4 days anything. I definitely feel something like more muscle around the shoulder, and i am not sure what exactly is happening. Whether this muscle which is now definitely really harder than it was before is pushing my shoulder, or it's not really my shoulder but some tissue around it (i doubt it's not the shoulder). Last night i go to bed and i relax to fall asleep. My hand again feels like it wants to disconnect from the body, and i also hear like some liquid or i don't know, maybe the shoulder, making some strange noises on its own. Like then you unstick something that was glued with dry glue - this is the most accurate representation of the noise, it wasn't loud. Then i woke up this morning and hopefully it was still okay and on its place (the arm ). Should i do less reps in a set. Not max out? Rest for 1 month? Not sure what i've done wrong. If there are some fitness instructors here, i would really appreciate you helping me. Thank you once again.

More of the same. Despite dropping off here, I continued with middling success through the end of the last challenge, but don't yet feel like I'm making real progress. The goals aren't much different this time 'round, I'm still making my way along this long road. Goal 1 ~ Run 3x/week. 2.4k route at least 1x/week and 4.1k route at least 1x/week, with an eye to increasing distance. Bonus goal: map out and run a route of at least 5k. Goal 2 ~ Physio and Stretching Simply do it daily. I'm going to finally have some more space to do this in, hopefully by the end of week 1. Bonus goal: Try out the first week of GMB Elements, with the intention to fully integrate this into my routine at some point Goal 3 ~ FitPin Test Components Pushups and back extensions, at least 3x/week. Testing the actual FitPin counts towards both of these (though I do need to do multiple sets of pushups to really be able to call it training). I'm not sure I'll be able to make the back extensions work, I don't currently have the space to do them in, I'm hoping I'll be able to make something work once I have more space in the basement. If I can't, I'll need to figure out an alternative for this. Goal 4 ~ Bedtime Different times on different nights, depending on how early a day I have the next day. Before an early morning: 10pm; before a normal morning: 11pm; before a day off: 12am. Goal 5 ~ Meal Prep At least twice a week. I still need to do a better job of planning ahead on this, but I definitely do a good job of eating what I've prepare instead of takeout, for example, when it's there for me to eat. Goal 6 ~ FitPin Test I've decided that I'll do the other components of the FitPin Test every time I run my 2.4k route, since I have to test it at least weekly for the OPP's fitness logs. They don't actually take very long to do, so there's no reason not to, and more is better than less on this. Other Things I've got my journal set up, it needs a little tweaking for next time but it'll do for now. I'm hoping having a hard copy right there in front of me will help me keep on track (and help me when I report on here, since I often don't remember how things went after a couple of days). I'll post pics once I figure out how to do so. I also want to figure out how to be more active here, I dropped off because I barely had time to update my own thread, let alone keep caught up on others' threads. I've come to realize that I have to sacrifice bedtime in order to keep properly caught up around here, which is obviously less than ideal. I need to pull some extra time out of a hat somewhere, I think.... Some other one-off's I'd like to get done in the near future (for some of them, not necessarily before the end of the challenge, but I should get them done sooner rather than later): ~ Request an ROE from the government ~ Sign up for a course on CPKN (and actually do it) ~ Clean my room (this needs to be done soonish, ideally by the end of Week 1) ~ Purge books etc (they're in a box, I just need to get them out the door) ~ Purge papers etc (it's really a whole bunch of accumulated detritus from nearly 38 years of life, and a serious purge is long over due)

I'm trying to look at these challenges as parts of a larger journey, rather than discrete units of success or failure, so despite falling off the wagon a bit in my last challenge, I'm still moving along the same long road heading towards the same distant goal. I've climbed out of the ditch where I lazed about for a while, and am moseying along once again. The Long Road continues, and so will I. Goal #1 ~ Running Run 3x/week. At least one run per week should be 2.4k, and be part of a FitPin test (more on that later). Bonus goal: map out a few routes that won't suck too much in the hill department but will allow me to increase distance. Pick one route of 5k or longer and run it at least once during the challenge. Goal #2 ~ Pushups and Other Things So, the OPP has changed their fitness requirements. I no longer have to do the PREP test (though I still need to if I want to apply anywhere other than the OPP), but I do have to pass the FitPin test within 1 week of being hired, so I want to know I can pass it relatively easily before I even apply (and, if I can pass the FitPin easily, I should have the fitness to pass the PREP with just a bit of practice, so it helps if I decide I want to branch out at all). There are 4 components: pushups, a forward fold stretch, a 2.4k run, and a weird posterior chain/core thing that I can't adequately describe. The running is being taken care of in Goal #1, and the stretch in Goal #4. That means this goal is about the pushups and the Other Thing (which is what I'm calling it now, I think the OPP call it the trunk extension). So I will work on pushups every other day. One session of pushups will be a single max set, and will be part of a FitPin test (more on that later). Bonus goal: figure out some way to practice the Other Thing on the regular....... it's an awkward thing to do (I mean, the exercise itself is awkward to perform), but I may have to summon up my 20 seconds of courage and ask the coaches at the gym, they were all more than happy to help with the shuttle run, so... Goal #3 ~ Meal Prep This is an on again/off again thing with me. Partly it's because I don't think ahead quite as much as I should, and run out of food with no real plan to make more, and partly because I get tired and/or lazy and put it off to the next day, and then the next day I get tired and/or lazy and put it off to the next day, and on and on until I have nothing in my fridge but 30g of moldy cheese, a couple wrinkly apples, and a single stale tortilla. This isn't the most concrete of goals, at least not at the moment. I think for now I'm going to tackle this by making a plan for my next meal prep as soon as the current one is done (eg. if I cook on a Sunday, once the cooking is done, I'll sit down and think about what I want to make next, make a grocery list, estimate how long my food will last, and then pick a day to shop that will give me some overlap, but not lead to spoiled food). Obviously the shopping day is flexible, if I badly over- or underestimate how long my current batch of meals will last me, I'll have to shop sooner or later, but I'd like to have an idea in my head of when I next need to head to the store. I think having a plan about what I want to make and what I need to get to make it will go a long way by itself, so that's my main focus for now. Bonus goal: simple crockpot recipes will be helpful here, I think, since I can just chop some things, throw it in the pot, and then go to bed/to the gym/to work/to whatever, and come back to a tasty meal. Even if I don't have time/energy to do a full meal prep, at least I'll have a crockpot full of food for the next day to give me some wiggle room. So I will find some new crock pot recipes, and try at least one during the challenge (suggestions welcome). Goal #4 ~ Stretching and Other Things My perpetual goal of physio and stretching. Daily, because if I give myself an inch and say 5/7 days per week or something, I'll take a mile and do it once and never again. Bare minimum: 4x physio exercises (3 for my posterior chain, 1 for my thoracic spine), plus quad stretch and calf stretch. In a perfect world it will also include butt/hips, hip flexors, extra hamstrings, feet and pecs. Bonus goal: find a way to work GMB's Elements program into things. It's not logistically possible at the moment, and getting this done during the challenge is a very long shot due to things out of my control, but I want to work towards this (more on this later). Goal #5 ~ Bedtime I often watch TV to wind down before bed, and occasionally play video games, and often come on here. This won't change, when I say bedtime I mean TV/computer off and I start reading a magazine. Usually I'm off to sleep within less than a page. So, on nights when I have to get up early, I'll do this by 10pm. On nights when I have to work but not until later, it'll be 11pm, and on nights when I have the day off, it'll be midnight. Most often this will mean Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will be 10pm; Sunday and Wednesday will be 11pm; and Saturday will be midnight. Goal #6 ~ The FitPin Test As part of the new fitness requirements, I should be practicing the entire FitPin Test at least once per week. I asked the recruiters if I could practice each element separately (an ideal situation), but alas, they told me I should not (they didn't say 'cannot', but I want to try my best to do as they suggest). So, I need to figure out how to do this. Three of the elements are easy enough to do, I go for a run, then do a stretch, then do some pushups. It's the Other Thing that will be the difficult thing to fit in. I have an idea of for how to do it (ie. I have worked out the theoretical logistics), but it requires a helper, and I will not always have access to a helper on the day I will be doing this test. The most logical day to do this test would be my full day off, which is almost always a Sunday, but Tuesday afternoon would work as well, depending on appointments/other commitments, so we'll see how this one goes... No bonus goal for this one, just doing it is going to be hard enough. Other Things ~ Move forward with preparing the basement for my Imminent Arrival (my mom wants to make my current room a spare room for her to go to when she has a bad night, and I want to move to the basement so I have more room to contain me and my life). If I can get this done it's a win/win, but I might have to be the motivator on this one, which means I may have to learn how to paint a wall, since I don't think my parents will pay for that but want it done before I move down there, as well as the carpet being redone, but I think that one is beyond me. Being in the basement will also give me the space to practice the Elements program whenever I want and in privacy, which will make the bonus part of Goal #4 a lot easier to achieve. ~ Explore options for courses to take to help make my resume look better than it does. This could be in person or online. One resource is CPKN, which is a site that offers police-related online courses (sadly, none are free), but another thing to look at is improving my mental health intervention skills, or conflict resolution, or something like that. ~ Clean my g-d room! I've stopped making this a goal, obviously, but it'll need to be done if I'm going to move to the basement, so a head start on that wouldn't be a bad idea. At the very least, I can try to purge some old magazines and other junk that's accumulated here and there.

This might look familiar. I posted all of this last challenge but it never got off the ground because of a major real life event. However, I'm back. I'm committed. And, I'm ready to run, lift, and burpee my way back to a fit human being. This challenge is all about building the habits necessary to physically get back to where I want to be... So, let's start with the big goals. Be fit enough to jump into any race (up to a half marathon or Spartan Beast), or other ridiculous adventure, at a moment's notice. Run a Full tour in under 27 mins. 100 Burpees in 7 minutes. Run a sub 19 minute 5K. Run a sub 1:30 half marathon. Qualify for the Boston Marathon (aka run a 3:10 marathon). There are more. But, you get the idea. I was very close to a number of those a while ago. I was certainly at the level of being able to jump into any race or activity I wanted. I miss that. That's number one for a reason. Now, all of those goals feel like they are a million miles from here. Like it was someone else that was close to achieving all of those. So... here we are - taking the first steps back to those places. I'm starting small. The name of this game will be consistency. Challenge Goals 1. Be up at 5:30 am, 5 Days per week. I'm most successful when I workout in the morning. I've grown too accustomed to sleeping in and missing that window. No more. (Inner monologue: Get the fuck out of bed and get moving!) 2. Complete 666 pushups during the challenge. This represents a modest daily pushup challenge starting at 15 per day and working up to 30 per day. My total came up to 660 pushups when I mapped that out. But, 666 is just so much cooler. (Inner monologue: muwhahahahahah) 3. Run at least 4 days per week. I'm currently running approximately 0 days per week. The only way I can get back to where I need to be is by running. (Inner monologue: So, do it you lazy asshole!) 4. Post in this thread at least three days per week. Last challenge, I posted the goals and then never even came back to let peeps know that I had to abandon the goals to take care of ... life. I know that I need to keep myself honest by posting what I am and what I am not doing. So post, baby. Post. Old Life Goal: Utilize OmniFocus every work day. I love this software. But, like my fitness, I had fallen out of practice with it. The last week or so it's been integrated back to my life and things seem much clearer to me. Keep it up. Note: I have been utilizing this since the last challenge. I'm going to leave it here to further drive home the habit. New Life Goal :: Officially start the new business. Yuuuup. I've been heading down this path unofficially. Laying the groundwork, getting my first client/job. But, I need to become official and register the company, create a website, etc. So... I'll be doing that during this challenge. So, here we go, yo.

I am new to working out. I have started body-weight workouts. I perform 2 sets of 10 push-ups and 10 assisted chin-ups (which don't follow a set-based method) on Monday. Two sets of 10 Lunges, 2 sets of 10 sit-ups and 10 reps of calf-raises for each leg on Tuesday. My questions are 1. Are these 5 types of exercises enough for the most part of my body? 2. When should I increase reps and/or sets and then resistance? 3. What are the exercises which I "must" include that which I have missed. 4. Optional:My weight is 74 kg, age is 20 and height is 5' 10".

...is that a try-hard title? I feel like it might be a try-hard title. Oh well. I miss running, and I miss my LotR references, even though I'm not terribly clever with them. So here we go!! Fitness Quest #1 Goal: Run at least 8 times, slowly increasing to running a full mile at a time. Notes: I will have to be a little bit slow starting this, as I just got a tattoo yesterday on my left leg that can't be exposed to sweat for a little while. Hence the 8 times, rather than twice a week. I'd really like to average three runs a week, but between tattoo healing and baby, twice feels a lot safer. Grading: 7+ runs with at least one being a full mile = A 6 runs with at least one being a full mile OR 7+ runs with no complete mile = B 5 runs with one full mile OR 6 runs with no complete mile = C 4 runs with one full mile OR 5 runs with no complete mile = D 3 or fewer runs with a full mile OR 4 or fewer runs with no mile = F Fitness Quest #2 Goal: Continue to work on pushups (now with planking option!) at least 3 times a week Notes: My pushups are still working towards 3 sets of 10 completed reps of the side of the couch. Since I'm very close to this and haven't found a stable place to practice after that (I have a stool that's like the perfect height but has a tendency to slide out from under me...eeep!) I'm also accepting sets of 3 planks (on hands, not arms anymore!) with a goal of holding at least one for 20 seconds. I haven't actually tried it yet though, so that might be a silly goal and is subject to change as I begin practicing. Grading: 10-12+ practices in total (when adding both kinds of practices together) = A 8-9 practices = B 6-7 practices = C 4-5 practices = D 3 or fewer practices = F Nutrition Quest #1 Goal: 4 sodas or less during this challenge Notes: I did so well with the 8 or less quest last challenge (final score: 3.5 sodas left) that I really feel like I can make a big jump here! Grading: drinking 4 sodas or less = A drinking 5 sodas = C drinking 6 or more sodas = F Nutrition Quest #2 Goal: Eat veggies on pace with my son Notes: My son has started on solid foods! He's getting at least part of a puree every day, and while we're slowly working up to eating an entire container at one sitting, we're also slowly expanding the foods he's safely eaten. Due to allergy concerns, we've been told to only introduce one new food every three days. We've been starting on fruits mostly (the single-ingredient baby foods are mostly fruits...) but now that he's starting to have a decent list of safe foods, we're expanding into more veggies and grains. Which made me realize I eat about as many veggies as he does...oops? So I'm going to try to complete at least one of the following options every 3 days as well! My Choices: 1. eat a new fruit or veggie 2. eat a veggie-centric meal 3. have a veggie-centric side dish at least twice (Schedule: May 28-30, May 31-June 2, June 3-5, June 6-8, June 9-11, June 12-14, June 15-17, June 18-20, June 21-23 = 9 rounds) Grading: complete 8-9 rounds = A complete 6-7 rounds = B complete 4-5 rounds = C complete 2-3 rounds = D complete 1 round = F Life Quest #1 Goal: 15 minutes of language practice a day (on top of classwork!) and earn an A for the first 3 weeks of Spanish class Notes: I'm starting a summer Spanish class on June 4th! I want to earn an A in that class (not completed until end of July) and want to practice on my own time as well. However, outside of class I can choose to work on my Spanish, French, Arabic, or Burmese. Grading: 26-28 days of practicing = A 24-25 days of practicing = B 22-23 days of practicing = C 20-21 days of practicing = D 19 or fewer days of practicing = F Life Quest #2 Goal: Read at least 2 books Notes: I'm severely behind on my yearly reading goal. I want to read minimum 2 books during this challenge to help me at least not continue losing ground. In an ideal world, I'll read at least 1 personal book and 1 book for work. I picked up a few options at the library today but I'm not sold on my work-related choice and might end up changing it out. Grading: 2 books read = A 1 book finished, 1 book more than halfway through = B 1 book finished, 1 book less than halfway through = C 1 book more than halfway through = D 1 book less than halfway through = F

Respectful greetings to the Druids! Ambarwen Oromendur here, coming off a (barely) successful respawn challenge, and after spending more soul-searching time than was probably necessary on deciding where my next challenge would land (long detailed post here), I think it feels right to start in this guild. My goals are to continue to solidify the habits I started to build in my respawn challenge, and so I will retain roughly the same categories, with a few tweaks and additions. I also will seek to take advantage of a rare situation: I am not traveling, hosting anyone, or doing anything unusual in my life from now until the last week in May. This means I have an opportunity to truly establish routine habits without the sort of distractions that normally derail my efforts. I’m generally satisfied with my evening routine, so now I plan to try and reclaim some parts of a morning routine I used to have, back in a long-lost day when I wasn’t quite so hopeless... As a Ph.D. candidate writing a dissertation on Tolkien, I’m still soldiering along in Middle-earth, and will likely be doing so for at least the next six to eight months. My challenges are likely to be Tolkien-themed for the foreseeable future — so any and all Tolkien geekery is more than welcome here (For those uber-nerds interested, my title means "Tale of her Journeys" -- or at least I hope it does, because I don't actually know enough Quenya to string two words together. Using the amazing cross-referenced dictionaries at Parf Edhellen and the grammar notes at Ardalambion this is what I've come up with. Anyway. Moving on.) Main Quest: FINISH MY DISSERTATION. Period. This has to be the most important thing in my life, every day. Last challenge I let external pressures distract me, and now I’m even further behind and starting to feel like I’m in trouble. Current milestone goal: I want to send all of Part II of the dissertation to my advisor before I leave for the UK the last week in May. It’s going to take a lot of focus and more than a little luck to get me there, but I think I can do it. Quest #1: Bilbo’s heart (20 points) “Go back?’ he thought. ‘No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!’ So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter.” ~The Hobbit Last challenge my Ranger quest was kind of a failure, I think because I tried to focus on specific exercises rather than just looking for exercise in general. This challenge, my plan is to use the heart rate monitor I wear all the time anyway (Mio SLICE) to keep me motivated to move. There are no limits on the type, distance, length, number, or suitability of the exercise — as long as it gets my heart beating enough to satisfy the tracker, it counts. One point for every day that the PAI score on my tracker is over 100, with a goal of five days a week. Extra days earn extra points. (Conveniently, if I am diligent in performing my other quests, this one should very nearly take care of itself. We’ll see.) Quest #2: Boromir’s strength (20 points) “Pippin marvelled at his strength, seeing the passage that he had already forced with no other tool than his great limbs. Even now, burdened as he was, he was widening the track for those who followed, thrusting the snow aside as he went.” ~The Fellowship of the Ring The first of the three pieces of the morning routine I am attempting to reclaim during this rare month at home is an upper-body strength practice that will hopefully serve as a foundation for getting back into trying to do pullups someday. I will do three max sets of twisty pushups (I have a dusty set of these I will have to dig up tomorrow) first thing in the morning, five days a week. One point per successful day, no extra points. Quest #3: Legolas’s lightness (32 points) “The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf, or over snow — an Elf.” ~Legolas Greenleaf (The Fellowship of the Ring) The Elf quest from my last challenge was quite a success, and I am going to try and solidify that habit while expanding its scope, with a two-part challenge. The first part is a continuation of my last challenge habit, and the second is (in the spirit of reclamation that seems to be a feature of this challenge) another resurrection of an activity from one of my old challenges. - I will do a mindful bedtime stretching routine of at least five minutes (keeping myself honest by using a timer) five days a week. Extra days earn extra points. - I will perform a set of exercises designed to correct Anterior Pelvic Tilt three days a week (this is a lifting-specific program; I'm allowed to skip any exercise requiring gym equipment). One point per successful day, extra days earn extra points. Life quest #1: Galadriel’s focus (20 points) “But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she’s so strong in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on a rock; or drownd yourself, like a hobbit in a river. But neither rock nor river would be to blame.” ~ Samwise Gamgee, speaking of Galadriel (The Two Towers) For the Druid portion of my challenge (there is one, really) I will reclaim the remaining two pieces of my old morning routine. While it might seem like I’m trying to make a big change here, I actually did this regularly off and on for many years — it’s more a matter of rediscovering the groove than creating anything new. - I will do Julia Cameron-style morning pages (link) five days a week. - I will meditate for at least five minutes five days a week. No restrictions on the type of meditation, and whether or not I count it successful depends entirely on whether or not I manage to sit still in my meditation space for five minutes (I think that trying to grade the quality of my meditation before I get used to doing it again would be a recipe for failure). A successful day requires both of these; one point per successful day, extra days earn extra points. Life quest #2: A hole worthy of a Hobbit (8 points) “The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill…and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another…. Bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage.” ~The Hobbit Last challenge I gave myself an extra point for dunging out one of my horrible closets, and even a week later it makes me very happy to be able to open that door and fetch a roll of toilet paper or something and not have my skin crawl. I have a HUGE list of that sort of thing that needs doing. I want to use the fact that I’m home this month to take advantage of how good it felt to have a clean house for the briefest of moments (it’s already kind of a mess again. Sigh. WHY AM I LIKE THIS???). This is a two-part quest. - Once per week, I will pick up clutter, put things away, sweep the floors, and generally get the house to a point where I would not be embarrassed if a friend stopped by. I don’t actually expect to host anyone, but that’s not relevant — what I want is to feel like it would be OK if I did, because last challenge having my house clean for my friends made me feel SO much better. One point per successful weekly tidying effort, no extra points. - Twice at any point during the challenge, I will choose a task from my VERY long list of home-sorting projects and complete it. Possibilities include: empty and tidy office closet, empty and tidy spare room closet, sort through and deal with the huge piles of mouldering stuff under the deck, empty and clean refrigerator, empty and clean kitchen cupboards — oh, there are a million things like this. I will draft a fuller list later, but this is enough to capture the concept and give me enough to be getting on with. As all of these tasks are big and icky, I will earn two points per task. Extra points are possible after the first two. Total points to be successful: 100. Extra points in one area are explicitly permitted to make up for failures in another. Best of luck to all in your own challenges! Let us journey together through the Golden Wood, and see what is to be seen if we leave the Mirror free to work...

The cave was damp and dark. Echo lowered slowly. her feet slipped from the rocks occasionally, and she would wind up hanging in mid air for a split second before she found her footing again. But the rope was long, her gear was solid, and the cave called to her with its promise of rare metals. Maybe she could find some fascinating discovery. With the new wind she had gotten came her curiosity, and it couldn't be stopped. The cave floor came unexpectedly. Echo dropped down and lit her lantern. The amount of darkness concerned her but didn't stop her from pressing on. Soon enough she came across what she could only describe as ruins. Even in near darkness, so far beneath the ground, after so many years, Echo could see someone hid something important here. She ran her fingers down the wall, reading the ancient language in her head. 'Use your mind, open the box. The box holds what you require the most.' "What box?" Echo said, to herself in this empty space, before she saw the dark object. For a second Echo could swore the darkness was denser around it, as if it emanated it. when she picked it up she heard a rattle inside, the sound of metal hitting metal. All of it was covered in maze-like pathways, that cross-crossed and swam around each other. She tried to follow one path, but she only managed to do five turns before she got lost. This was not the place to figure this out. Echo shoved the box in her cloak pocket and climbed back out of the cave. The first thing she needed to do was go to the local mage that owed her a favour and see if this box was dangerous. And then, if it was fine, she would solve the puzzle and open this box. Hiiii! I'm doing something different this time around and sticking to a narrative, hopefully a cool one. It might not be every update, but it will be finished by the time I finish this challenge. Now for the goals. Or, well, goal. Do a full push up. Okay, I am focusing on this for several reasons: I can do a 45 second plank (and did a 60 second one today) - so I don't lack the arm strength clearly. I can lower down to the floor, it's just my chest (or nose, cause for my chest to hit it I would have to lie flat on the floor, I tested it) don't hit it. My shoulder blades contract. But it feels like it's too high. When I do it from the floor up I can barely lift up though, and i think it is because my arm placement is super close to my body from the bottom up, and at a 45 degree angle and higher when doing it from the top down. I can't check my form via video either because I can't tape it well. So I need to figure out what is up with that. I find that I slow down while lowering down because I am afraid I will fall flat on my face, collide my knees to the floor and piss them off (I have scars on both knees and they bruise easily plus hurt) and hit my nose or break my glasses. I am not sure if this is the only thing that stops me, but I know it is a thing. I tried doing this by placing weights on the ground (small 4 pound ones), grab them in the middle and use them as handlebars because my arms slid on the floor. It helped my wrists too, but my palms are really sensitive (I stop lifting stuff because of skin pain not other stuff). I lack the expertise to figure this out, and honestly, sharing your problems with people that actually understand what you mean is much easier and more rewarding. Don't let everything else fall apart while you focus on this. This is obvious. I am a bit of a hyper-focusser. I need a long time to focus, but when I do I can have other things fall to the wayside. I am going to not do that this time around. SO LETS DO THIS.

Hi everybody, I've tried one or two challenges before, but got overwhelmed and didn't finish...so I'm going to put this here in the beginner forum, and try to keep my goals very modest! Main goal: Lose more weight. I've lost eleven pounds since January, but my loss has definitely slowed and even possibly stopped. I'm not even sure what my final goal should be, but I'm pretty sure I'd like to lose at least a few more pounds. I weigh 162 now, and I'm really excited to see a number under 160, so that's my numerical hope for this challenge period. Main method: Figure out my weekend eating. I've been eating mostly primal, which goes well during the week - eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch and I feel good, etc. But then the weekend comes and I go to some social events, plus eat a bunch of junky snacks at home. I think my most specific goal is to address the home snacking, and my current plan is to make (or buy, I guess) a healthyish sweet snack every week to try to replace the less-healthy ones I usually buy. Workout goal: I've also been doing the primal blueprint bodyweight workout, more or less. I'm gradually increasing my reps, and during this timeframe I think I should hit 3 x pushups, 3 x rows, 3 x 90 second plank and 3 x 15 squats (with three second hold). Besides hitting these numbers, my goal is to keep doing this workout twice a week, sprints or tabata intervals once a week, and yoga at least three times. Less technical goal: I want to get outside more and finally enjoy some beautiful spring weather. Also, I want to kick up into a handstand without a wall. I've been practicing pretty successfully with a wall, and occasionally I don't even touch it...but so far I'm scared to move away, so that's my reach goal for this month.

UPDATED. So things are neither terrible nor great. This challenge will be focused on resuming workouts as that is the big one. Workout stuff: 5/week Complete pushup challenge: just completed day 9 (15 pushups). I had missed a few. Do a matching number of goblet squats with a kettlebell: 300 Bronze, 350 Silver, 400 Gold for Shotokan's challenge Stretch and foam roll Bonus: get the stupid pullup tower assembled Not exactly a full workout but the basics. I'm leaving Thursday and Friday out as they are tightly scheduled and I'd rather try to get to bed than include this. Food Stuff: 6/week Continue with limited sweets: dark chocolate, sweetened Greek yogurt, a bit of honey in oatmeal with tart fruit, or low sugar homemade muffins But not all of them in a day and smallish servings of any of them. A full sized big dark chocolate bar still counts as a big treat. It's fine to have an extra treat one day per week :-) This worked well last challenge and my weight is trending back down. Sleep Stuff: 7/week Either read or music daily before bed. Or meditate/journal. Relaxing stuff only. Vacation Stuff: To do list Book hotel Book flights Train ticket from Ottawa to Montreal? Slightly reschedule vacation time check out other things to do in Montreal Borrow a friends theft-resistant purse* Budget some spending money *Mostly to make assorted people feel better.

I have lots of good reasons to go into the Navy: I want to see the world, I want to be able to call myself a veteran, I want to get an edge applying for federal jobs, and I want help paying for a masters of social work and to take spanish classes. I've been a retail pharmacy tech for 5 years and have grown to really, really, REALLY hate the field, mostly because of the poor pay and instability. Things will be running smoothly, then all of the sudden, I'll get cut to 10 hours a week and I have to job hop. I often work clopenings, so I get anywhere from only 2 to 12 hours a sleep in a night and I have a big belly because I live on fast food and comfort eat a lot. I've recently cut out sugary drinks from my orders, but I still have a fast-food diet because I never have the time or energy to cook. I'm 40 pounds overweight and am not sure where to start, but I know I need to meet all requirements for a medical waiver to even be considered for the military, especially a selective branch like the Navy or Air Force. Army isn't out of the question, but I am drawn to the Navy and Air Force first, and especially the Navy. My mother had me on ADHD medicine and antidepressants as a teenager, and I'm paranoid that if I lie about that, I'll be caught, but I also know I'll need approved for a waiver if I disclose that information about me. I'd really like to lose 40 pounds in 4 months, and be passing at least the minimums expected for Navy boot camp, but the better I can be, the better chance I'll have of getting a waiver. As for a class, I think either Ranger or Scout lends itself to the workouts I'll need to increase my strength and endurance, but moreso endurance. If there is any other information I left out, I'll be glad to fill you in if I ask. I'm glad to be here, and hopefully, I can get out of this career field I hate and into something better. (In case anybody is wondering, I am a man.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR PEACHES! It's back to basics for me this year. I need to be ACTIONABLE and ACCOUNTABLE. I know I know, that's what my GOALS are supposed to be. but it's not about them, this is about ME. I need a firm reboot and a hard reset and I need to get my head back into the game and out of the clouds and some other silly analogies etc etc etc. I have too many I WANT TO DO'S and not enough THIS IS WHAT I AM DOING, and I need to get back on to a plan before I can start to really attempt the millions of shiny that I want to chase. So, January is for resetting. Goal 1: 30 days of yoga My body is wrecked y'all. I mean, I'm not INJURED or anything - but I'm stiff and sore and I have twinges and I do yoga now and then and don't have the mobility and flexibility that I really want to do. So, I'm signing up for the 30-days of Yoga by Adriene on youtube, and I'm going to do it every day. * FYI potential yoga people doyogawithme also has some great challenges but the durations of classes is between 15 minutes and 75 minutes for them, and I really just don't have the time in the morning to do this. Goal 2: track food I haven't been tracking at all for ages! so, every day, track the things in loseit. EVERY DAY. just write it down! what's the big deal? Goal 3: push-up progressions This should be simpler than it is, apparently. 3x8 of push-up progressions. do them every day. there's a lot of push-up progression options out there. I'm at counter height, I'd like to move to chair height, and then a lower box or negatives. SIDE PARTY also, start to seriously look at things you want to do. * I mean, do I want to run? or am I just feeling lazy / it's 5 deg F outside right now? * what about weights? if I start weight lifting on tuesdays after tkd with my dojo owner, how can i fit more weights in? dust off the new rules of lifting for women? work on that at the same time? * what will my mornings look like next month? will I have time to keep doing the yoga? * what does my diet need to look like to get where I want to be? or at least, to get a little less holiday belly? * oh, did I want to try pole dancing classes at that place near my house? these are all complicated things that I don't know the answer to. THEY REQUIRE RUMINATION. Also in the interests of SUCCEEDING I declare a monday start. also, still doing the tae kwon do, etc. etc. etc.

I’ve got a lot going on…marathon at the end of week 1, traveling for all of weeks 3-4. I’m stripping down the challenge a bit, but even stripped down, I know the goals will help me stay on track. 1. Run 3x per week. This is a maintenance goal for me. Did it this way to allow for recovery and travel. If I have a legit reason for missing a run, I can make it up in the following week. 2. 20 days of 30 pushups. When possible, add a set of 10 narrow pushups on the stairs. 3. 8 days of strength training, ideally 2+ per week. I’ve written out my program, including acceptable substitutions while traveling. It does include chin-up negatives, but I’m not setting a target because I won’t always have access to a bar. 4. 20 days of tracking calories. My target is 2000 per day with a reward (I-tunes song) if I get under 2100 avg/week. Day before and day of marathon are freebies. This is hard while traveling, but I’ll do my best. It’s particularly useful to do it now because I won’t be burning as much running. And for fun, here's a sort of minimalist cat My goals collapse down to 12 + 20 + 8 + 20 = 60. Just do 60 things in 28 days. No problem.

in the spirit of SAY WHAT YOU WANT AND GET WHAT YOU NEED I took a hard look at my feelings right now and realized a few things: 1. I feel like I'm in a holding pattern. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for - january, when my husband is not at school on tuesdays and thursdays and I can try to do bigger weights at the dojo? the holidays so I can figure out if I'm going to gain weight again like I did last time? 2. I'm bummed that I gained weight last year over the holidays and held onto it all year. I mean, I'm bummed that 2 years ago I gained weight after the holidays and got out of my "goal range" and haven't lost that weight either. 2a. I'm bummed that I feel like I'm in a holding pattern with this too? like, I know how to take action, why am I not taking action? so goals! 1. Be deliberate and careful as I walk through the holiday season yo don't get frustrated again this year, ok? which means... prioritize daily tracking of food again. get it all in, every day. prioritize daily weighs, too. 2. Be deliberate about moving. it turns out I don't like running right now (because I don't seem to be doing it). Ok, that's fine. do 3x bodyweight every week. do 2x yoga every week also. soooo this is a M-W-F schedule for BW, and a T-Th for yoga. I can do this. for bodyweight I'm looking at the academy... it's been ages since I've done anything there. I think I'm at level 3? according to the things? just, whatever. Just do those workouts this week (week 1). 3. Be deliberate about push-ups! dude, you say you want to do these all the time. so learn how to do them already! use the start bodyweight progression for push-ups. SELF, you can DO THIS. do it every day. 3 sets of 8, every day. 4. BE DELIBERATE ABOUT SLEEP. a lot of my issues with exercising is that I'm waaaaaay too tired. no screens in bed any more. don't read until the wee hours. get into bed at 9-9:15, and go to sleep. get up at 5AM. there, easy, right?

The last challenge went worse than the one before that, I almost never did what I was supposed to except by happenstance... I've been feeling very blah through the last challenge, and I think that's a lot of the reason why it went so poorly. I've been just plain exhausted most of the time, and it's hard to get motivated to do all these little things when all you want to do is sleep. Not sure if that's going to change any time soon, though the sleep-related habit might help with it, but I've got to find a way to do it anyway. My challenge will officially start on Monday the 27th, since I like measuring my week from Monday to Sunday, but I'm going to have a To Do list for the weekend before. Some of it is to prepare for the challenge, namely getting my journal ready to keep track of what I need to do and what I've done, but there are a couple chores I've been putting off too. The Pre-Challenge Weekend To Do List Fill out my journal for all 4 weeks of the challenge, plus zero week at the end Clean my room: Put away clean laundry Put away magazines and dispose of old ones Vacuum Throw out unnecessary clutter, sort necessary clutter and put it somewhere Dust Clean my car: Throw out accumulated garbage Clean the inside windshields Dust the dash etc. Cook food Buy a few larger glass containers Habit Goals 1. Physio and Stretching/Mobility This is a goal of mine almost every time I make a challenge, and I almost never fail to fail it. I've had ongoing hip issues and have not been dedicated with the physio assigned to me to help fix them, and so can't really judge if it's helping or not. And every time I feel like I'm getting in a good exercise groove, something gets tweaked and I have to take a week off to let it heal, and it's never serious, but it sets me back, more mentally than anything. Daily physio and a maintenance routine will help me keep up with other habits (like running), as it will hopefully remove any excuse to not do it (such as minor injuries and general aches and pains). And waiting until the end of the day when I work the late shift is not an option, at least for the physio aspect, I have plenty of time in the morning. 2. Meal Prep I sometimes do ok with this, and sometimes not. I've found that I really need to meal prep 2x/week, doing it all on the weekend isn't viable (or rather, doing a whole week at one time isn't viable, things get boring and/or funky by the end of the week and it makes it easy to go off plan). I also need to figure out some different protein options, specifically for mornings. I got real tired of the chocolate protein shake, and have found myself skipping protein altogether, which makes getting enough in a day a bit tough. It needs to be lower in fat, so eggs won't do (egg whites maybe but I'm not a huge fan and likely won't take the time to cook them in the morning). I also need an alternative to chicken breasts, I'm just so sick of them and I find even when I only cook a couple ahead of time I end up throwing some out. Suggestions for this are welcome. I also need to get better are packing meals the night before, so I don't have to rush as much in the morning. 3. Logging Things I have a fitness log to fill out for my police application, and it's easy for me to skip it for a few days then fill in a bunch of days at a time. As long as this is only a few days, it's not that big a deal, but it's better if I log it daily. I log my food in MFP, and am doing fine with that, but it's infinitely easier if I pre-log my day. Having everything logged in ahead of time helps me keep on track and avoid temptation, and will help with my goal of more variety, since I don't have to try to wing it and hope it fits. So I'll take some time before bed to plan out my day, and make sure I've got at least 1 fruit and/or vegetable in every meal. Most importantly, I need to remember to check my journal every day! It's going to have everything I need to get done on any given day written in it, so if I remember to look at the journal I have no excuse for forgetting a thing. 4. Sleepy Time This is another goal that's perpetually in my challenges and which I perpetually am bad at: going to bed on time and getting up with the alarm. The former is usually ok most of the time, the later not so much. I'm hoping some of the meal prep stuff will help here too, since the more I get done the night before, the less I have to do in my sleep-deprived state in the morning. Workout Goals 1.Cardio I will run 3x/week. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings before work, and on either Saturday or, more likely, Sunday. Tuesday and Thursday will be a treadmill workout, I've been doing 3 intervals at 7.0mph and increasing the time I go for at that speed, with ~1min complete rest between (usually I walk around the room a bit and have some water). Once I reach 3x8 minute intervals, I'll start increasing the speed. Once I'm up to 8.0mph, I'll go back to increasing time, and on and on until I can pass the beep test. The weekend run will be long, preferably outside, but on the treadmill in inclement weather is allowed. Starting at 5k, looking to work my way up to 10k (probably won't happen within the challenge but that's my ultimate goal). 2. Pushups I need to increase my pushup numbers for future police-related testing. My plan is to do 50 pushups on run days. I'll do them in as few sets as possible, with the goal to increase the first set by 1 rep each time.

I recently followed someone else's lead and made a plan for 2016. These are the goals I want to accomplish during the year. They are intentionally not SMART goals. All of my challenges in 2016 will be aiming for the goals laid out here by setting smaller SMART goals along the way. This will serve as a dedicated place to keep track of my progress. So here are my goals for 2016 Or you can jump right into 2017 1. Get weight under 200, even better 180, or bf under 25% a. Stabilize meals. I've gotten into the habit again of weekly variances. They tend to be big variances that undo all the work I've done and I end up trying to outrun my fork. I need to incorporate smaller variances more often rather than have big variances. Other than birthday dinners and a few holiday dinners, I would rather be evenkeel with eating b. Follow macros but adjust as needed to fit fitness plan 2. Badassery. It's time to level up again. a. Conditioning. There are three events in 2016 that I will be specifically training for. 1. GoRuck in July 2. 5K in August 3. HammerRace in October. b. Strength. I need to make this a priority. It will help me lose the rest of the fat, reach BAMF level, and help prepare for my events. 1. Start some lifting with the barbell. I've put it off too long and let my anxiety increase. 2. Work on pushups. I can barely do a regular pushup. I want to move from incline pushups to real pushups and be able to do a least a set of 25. 3. Pullups. I would feel pretty badass if I could do a single pull up by the end of the year. 3. Be the Best Me a. Read more. Fiction, non-fiction, classics, anything. b. Keep a clean house, routinely. c. Be anti-fragile. Be Smart, don't get injured. Don't forget the stretchy bits. d. Balance - basically mentally anti-fragile. relax, be kind to myself and others, be positive, and be productive. This to this to this

Even though I feel like I'm consistently bagging out on week 4 of the challenges, I've been challenging STRONG. the last couple of challenges I did so great! I hit goals, pretty much! I did the things, all of them! I kept doing the things! BUT.... after months or years or whatever I don't even know of just running and doing martial arts (OK IT'S A LOT OF RUNNING AND A LOT OF MARTIAL ARTS,) I need to mix things up. FALL is for FIGURING IT OUT. WHAT *IS* NEXT, DUDES? I don't know. that's kind of the point. But I can tell you that I did some bodyweight squats (somewhere between 30 and 100) in boxing on Sat. at the dojo and it wrecked my legs big time. I thought I wasn't getting DOMS because I was so super fit! NOPE, I am not getting DOMS because I AM NOT CHALLENGING MYSELF. so here's to challenging challenges. GOAL 1. Do Bodyweight Workouts. Go back to the academy, or pick a darebee exercise, and do it 2x a week. GOAL 2. Plan for next things. it's fall, it's dark in the morning, I don't want to get up and run in the dark. Get a schedule together and figure out if I'm going to start lifting weights or what. Can i fit in eskrima lessons on sundays? can I find 2 days to do heavy lifting (such as I am able to do) at the dojo while my husband is in school? NOTE ALSO that I am committed to running until 10/1, because there's a 10K I kinda want to do then. aaaaaand I still am going to be doing tkd as much as possible. GOAL 3. for real, work on the house. sweep the floor every week work with Fourteen to get his room straightened out . work with husband to get OUR room straightened out. work on the blue room which is currently a big disaster area and needs to be Eighteen's room when he comes home from college for break. work on the attic, which is rapidly returning to big disaster area from carefully cleaned and beautified new space and I just can't allow that to happen!. I don't have to do any of these things all the time (except maybe sweeping the floor) but I do have to plan these things in. here we go, fall! I got this!

Took a bit of a break, and now I'm back with a slightly different focus. I actually think this is going to be a difficult challenge for me, since I'm focusing more on making and breaking habits, which is a type of goal I'm notoriously terrible at. I'm pretty settled in my routine of Crossfit 3x/week, and am doing fairly well at meeting my numbers for ETP, so, while I will likely report on these, they won't be specific goals (some of my goals will be related, though). I will have 1 workout-related goal, related to running, which is also something I'm notoriously terrible at doing (consistently). I'll start all this officially on the 18th (I like my weeks to run Monday-Sunday), but for Zero Week I'll be doing my best to start sticking to these habits (it's going to be a process, so I'll need the practice). I'm debating on if I want to have a reward for being perfect, I like the idea to give me a bit of extra motivation, but I don't know what the reward would be... Breaking Bad (Habits) When I get home from work/the gym, it's very easy for me to eat, then laze in bed for the rest of the evening with the TV on (only sort of watching it) and messing around on the internet. I'm usually fairly exhausted, both physically and mentally, and this is the habit I've fallen into and the one that leads to me not being successful at making new ones. It's just so easy to laze then sleep, and it's not so much that I forget to do the other things I want to do, but that I'm distracted and by the time I think of it it's bed time. I always say I'll do it tomorrow but then the pattern repeats. So, first new rule: the TV can be on, but only while I'm doing something productive (ie. one of the following habits). Second new rule: no internet until I've completed my habits for the day. This means I might not be updating here daily, but I'll do my best. This one will be the key to success for all the others, and probably the hardest of the bunch. New Habit #1 ~ Physio and Stretching/Mobility This is a goal of mine almost every time I make a challenge, and I almost never fail to fail it. I've had ongoing hip issues and have not been dedicated with the physio assigned to me to help fix them, and so can't really judge if it's helping or not. And every time I feel like I'm getting in a good exercise groove, something gets tweaked and I have to take a week off to let it heal, and it's never serious, but it sets me back, more mentally than anything. Daily physio and a maintenance routine will help me keep up with other habits (like running), as it will hopefully remove any excuse to not do it (such as minor injuries and general aches and pains). And waiting until the end of the day when I work the late shift is not an option, at least for the physio aspect, I have plenty of time in the morning. New Habit #2 ~ Meal Prep I sometimes do ok with this, and sometimes not. I've found that I really need to meal prep 2x/week, doing it all on the weekend isn't viable (or rather, doing a whole week at one time isn't viable, things get boring and/or funky by the end of the week and it makes it easy to go off plan). The easiest days to do this are Wednesdays after the gym, and one of the weekend days (or spread it across both). Things I want to focus on are finding/creating dressings and sauces that aren't overly fatty but are very tasty, to liven up my chicken and rice (suggestions welcome), and incorporating more variety into my diet (specifically on the fruit and vegetable front). I also need to get better are packing meals the night before, so I don't have to rush as much in the morning. New Habit #3 ~ Logging Things I have a fitness log to fill out for my police application, and it's easy for me to skip it for a few days then fill in a bunch of days at a time. As long as this is only a few days, it's not that big a deal, but it's better if I log it daily. I log my food in MFP, and am doing fine with that, but it's infinitely easier if I pre-log my day. Having everything logged in ahead of time helps keeps me on track and avoid temptation, and will help with my goal of more variety, since I don't have to try to wing it and hope it fits. So I'll take some time before bed to plan out my day, and make sure I've got at least 1 fruit and/or vegetable in every meal. I should probably log my habits (apart from updating here), even if just with a check mark, to help me keep on track with them. I haven't decided how I want to do that, but I might just make a chart and stick it in my OPP fitness log, which will hopefully remind me to log both things daily. New Habit #4 ~ Sleepy Time Another goal that's perpetually in my challenges and which I perpetually am bad at. Going to bed on time and getting up with the alarm. The former is usually ok most of the time, the later not so much. Getting up on time will be a big one seeing as I now work 3/5 days a week at 8am, and have to have enough time to get ready in the morning. I'm hoping some of the meal prep stuff will help here too, since the more I get done the night before, the less I have to do in my sleep-deprived state in the morning. Workout Goal ~ Running My work schedule is now amenable to doing a workout every day Monday-Friday, so I will do so as much as possible. I now have two 1-9 on-call shifts (in the past one of my on-call shifts was 10-6 which pretty much killed my entire day), so the mornings of those days will be run days (unless I need to schedule an appointment). One of those days I will do the beep test at my gym, and the other I will do a hard 2.5k (1.5mi, which is part of fitness testing at one point). I will continue to do a 'long' run on weekends, keeping it at 5k until my hip starts to behave itself better (hopefully Habit #1 will help with that), then start working up to 10k. Workout Goal ~ Pushups I need to increase my pushup numbers for future police-related testing, so I'm going to start a 100 Pushup program (specifically this one), which will be tentatively done on the same days as I go to crossfit, so Monday-Wednesday-Friday. I haven't decided what to do if I do pushup in that day's workout, but I'll play that by ear depending on the number I do.

Last month we did 10 push ups a day. This month several of us are going to do deadhangs. Some of us still want to work on push ups. Or maybe there is some other bodyweight exercise you want to do daily. Pick something that you can do daily, set a goal for it, and then post here so we can encourage each other. Remember, if you are doing it daily, it should be a bit lower than you normal range, so that you don't tire yourself out. Tagging people who played last time: @IAmInfinite@NeverThatBored@Kestrel Grey@Inazea@zenLara@obax@Sloth the Enduring@ @Akari

This will be my second challenge on here but first with you guys (I was lurking last challenge and y'all seem awesome). Anyway on to the goals! 1) Follow the push-up program on hundredpushups.com 2) Run 3 missions a week on the 'Fit for Battle' app 3) at least 10 minutes of yoga every day (not strict) 4) HYDRATE at least 64 Oz. Of water daily BONUS ROUND update this thread on a regular basis. I didn't keep up with it on the last challenge so I hope to do better this time around.