CourageousKate

Likewise Silas! Looking forward to having you as a partner in crime!

So interesting! I have a general love of history and for a second considered becoming Indiana Jones (or Laura Croft). But, alas, that was not my path. I can honestly say that I didn't realize there was a known pre-Christian Scandinavian history outside of the Viking age. Fascinating. Okay, since your career isn't a direct one of your goals, I'll stop hi-jacking this conversation now. I'm glad to see you cut yourself some slack on the rating system. You are going to be working hard! You deserve all the points you can earn! Also, I totally forgot to mention that doing Chaturanga Dandasana is a killer help for pushups too! Different arm position than military style, but it's literally a negative pushup. So the Surya Namaskar and pushup goals are really complementary. Nice one!

So great! I know what you mean about the brain insisting upon writing something... I'm not a writer but I've had this experience in other creative pursuits. Sometimes you just have to get it out to make room for the next thing, and other times you get it out and realize you can rework it into something amazing (or it influences the next thing or whatever). Regardless, I really like this goal. Also a big fan of not going cold turkey. With few exceptions, I'm just setting myself up to fail Gradual change FTW! Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Hey abs! I was inspired by your fantastic format. So fun! I was waiting to reply to your post until I had a profile and my own post set up. Your fun goal is my favorite. I've been thinking of this lately—how being an active kid and just having fun was so good for my body/mind/soul. Ex: I LOVED climbing trees. Can't remember the last time I did that! Future goal?

Oh, wow, AWESOME! Are you focusing on a particular era? Or more like the evolution of?

Hi JessieJNZ! I saw that you are a longtime lurker. Me too! This is my first challenge / online Rebel declaration. For your challenge fitness goal, I'm totally with you. I've had a really hard time self-motivating, but I've finally gotten rolling by making myself exercise at the same time each day. It's FINALLY starting to just feel like something I do, instead of something I have to coerce myself into doing. Good luck! Looking forward to seeing your progress

First challenge! Really excited. Having fun already

Silas: RIGHT? It's like over an hour of NON-sleep that I could have spent doing something awesome. Like pushups. Yeah, in all honesty, the full pull-up scares the crap out of me. And a year ago I would have laughed if someone suggested that as a goal for me. BUT NOW, man that will be cool when that day comes. And YOU will totally get there. I think in some way, we're all doing our own version of babysteps here, right? Doing the absolute best we can manage, right now. I mean, have you seen a kid learn to walk? Babysteps are ridiculously hard for a baby.

ALARM CLOCK PLUS? Brilliant. I hadn't seen that, and I love it. And I am totally with you on the two alarm clocks. I actually set multiple alarms on my phone to go off at irregular intervals so I don't fall into the automated snooze pattern. And, obviously that was working really well (spoiler: it wasn't). I'll have to check that out! And yes! Let's be friends. (I think there's a clever Oscar Wilde quote about friendships that begin with a compliment...)

Awesome goals! I (recently) love circuit training. This Nerd Fitness article is actually the one that got me into it! (It's also the article that got me into bodyweight exercises.) Not sure if you've seen these? Should help with figuring out stats. Good luck!

I really love that you made the hike the make or break priority for your fitness goal. Really smart to have one non-negotiable! Also, I love that you are making some changes but not too many (monitoring food but not making major changes while adding new fitness is so smart!). Good luck!

I was actually just thinking about how yoga is hard to quantify since the benefit of the practice is, well, the practice. I think your yoga goal is awesome. Also, yay to no sugar in beverages! Do you ever drink iced green tea? It's one of my faves. Mint iced green tea? Even better! Good luck!

Nice goals ArkahamWhore! Congrats on all of the wonderful and positive changes you've been making lately, and it sounds like you are really working to actively manage all of the challenging ones. Awesome, and best of luck!! Also, stoked to see you went for pushups in your goals Not sure if you've seen the Nerd Fitness article on it, but I've found it incredibly helpful. Especially building up core strength by doing planks. That one's been vital for me. You can be more generous to yourself in points assignment for your grading scale. Not sure if you've seen this? Good luck! Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Thanks falll! I can't pretend I made the grading system up. I poked around and saw it a few times, so I appropriated it

YES! Real pushups! Not just for Batman anymore I've only recently begun to appreciate how awesome/terrible pushups are. I just want them to be awesome.

Thanks Odin! Nice alarm clocks! I'm considering Clocky... We'll see how the first week goes!!! Don't I know it KentuckyRebel... One of my superpowers is having completely coherent conversations while actually still asleep in the morning. And then, when I wake up, I have no recollection the person was ever in the room. It completely translates to hitting snooze. Repeatedly. But here we go!

Thanks Vortex! Feel free to add me as a friend. Love that we have similar future goals I've been a lifelong snoozer, so a lot of empathy to you for that not even being an option. ALSO, great Mrs. Frisby profile pic.

It’s my first time. Not only is this my first challenge, it’s my first POST. I’ve been a Secret Rebel for a few months now—reading through archives, being inspired, collecting underpants, and taking some action. But I’m stepping it up. Now. Diet and Fitness 1. Do 10 perfect-form military pushups in a row without pausing. [sTR 2 / STA 2] Currently I can do one super strong pushup in very good form. I can get to 10 (iffy ones) if I do a few Child’s Poses between 1 and 10. Eventually I want to be able to do them Dark Knight-style (roll out of bed, fall straight forward, be a badass). For now, I’m aiming for 10—no falling necessary. A ANIHILATED IT. B Made it to 8. C Made it to 5. D More than 1, fewer than 5. F Not an option. 2. Do 1 unassisted pull-up. [sTR 5] I started my Rebel Journey doing the NF Beginner Body Weight exercises, and recently (see: last week) I invested in the Rebel Fitness Guide (currently a Rookie). I tried doing an inverted row a couple weeks ago to humorously disastrous results. Fortunately, only our confused cat witnessed. My husband pointed out that since (as a lady human) my center of gravity is lower, I might have a better time with a pull-up itself. I’ve been working on my dumbbell rows, but I’ve been afraid of the pull-up bar. So. CHALLENGE—ACCEPTED. A CRUSHED IT. B ALMOST there! Chin doesn’t make it above the bar. C Full assisted pull-up (with minimal assistance). D 30-second consecutive isometric holds (extended and contracted—one of each). F Grr…Umph…Hurumph…Gah. Yeah. Not even. 3. Reduce my body fat by 3% points. [CON 3 / CHA 1] Being the curvaceous gal I am, I’ve carried around at least a little extra body fat most of my life. But I’ve never known how much. Enter: THE CALIPERS. I’m overweight, so, (1) I’m going to figure out how to use these suckers, (2) in doing so, I’m going to find out how much body fat I need and want to lose, which is certainly more than 3%, and (3) I’m going to do it. As I mentioned, I’ve just started the Rebel Fitness Guide, so I’m doing good on exercise. I’ve also been progressively making small changes to the way that I eat. Not angling for full Paleo, but I’ve seriously cut back on my refined carbohydrates and liquid calories, and I upped my veggie intake. If I keep that up, I’ll get there in 6 weeks! UPDATE: To make this goal SMARTer, I'm going to implement specific weekly/daily goals to lead me to the 3% body fat reduction. The original grading system will remain in place for this goal. - Eat no more than 3 restaurant meals (or dinner party meals) per week (excluding green salads with protein for work lunches) - Eliminate deep fried foods from all but one meal per week (including chips, etc.) - Consume alcohol no more than 3 days per week - Completely eliminate store-bought or prepackaged baked goods; restrict homemade or restaurant stuff to 3 single (actual) servings per week (limit: 1 per day) A I did it! 3% lower. B Close! 2% lower. C Not bad. 1% lower. D Maintained. No change. F Gained fat. Boo. Level Up My Life 4. Get up in the morning with my alarm without snoozing, every day. Including weekends. [WIS 2] I am a TERRIBLE snoozer. I mean, we’re talking every 9 minutes for over an hour bad. And I’m a bad influence. (My husband USED to get up with his alarm. Now he snoozes as much as me.) Since I started exercising in the mornings before work a few months ago, I’ve hit snooze an increasing number of times each morning. To the extent that two weeks ago I was in my workout clothes, waiting for the subway, when I realized that I only had enough time to get to the gym, shower, and change before I had to leave for work. It is time. Ha. Literally. A SNOOZE FREE (The way to be!). B 90% snoozeless. C 75% D 50% F You snooze, you lose. (Obvs.) I will update my starting point stats soon (by Monday). [iNSERT WARCRY HERE] Starting Stats—June 2, 2013 PUSHUPS: 1 Strong military pushup PULL-UPS: Hang extended 15 seconds, contracted .5 seconds BODY FAT %: 33.08% SNOOZE: Uh, I snooze? Week 1 Recap (Top Numbers, pre injury)—June 9, 2013 PUSHUPS: 4 solid pushups; 7 without pause PULL-UPS: Hang extended 35 seconds, contracted .5 seconds, 2 negative pull-ups BODY FAT %: (didn't measure) SNOOZE: No snooze! 7/7 Week 2 Recap (Top Numbers for the Week)—June 16, 2013 PUSHUPS: 6 solid pushups; 7 without pause PULL-UPS: Hang extended 40 seconds, contracted .5 seconds, 3 negative pull-ups BODY FAT %: 32.49% (.59% reduction) REST. MEALS: 3 meal / 3 week FRIED FOOD: 1 / 1 ALCOHOL: 4 / 3 (oops...) DESSERTS: 3 / 3 SNOOZE: No snooze! 14/14 Week 3 Recap (Top Numbers for the Week)—June 23, 2013 PUSHUPS: 8 solid pushups; 10 without pause PULL-UPS: Hang extended 43 seconds, contracted .5 seconds, 4 negative pull-ups BODY FAT %: (not measured) REST. MEALS: 5 meals / 3 week FRIED FOOD: 3 / 1 ALCOHOL: 6 / 3 DESSERTS: 6 / 3 SNOOZE: One snooze 20/21 Week 4 Recap—June 30, 2013 PUSHUPS: 9 solid pushups; 11 without pause PULL-UPS: Hang extended 45 seconds, 4 negative pull-ups BODY FAT %: (not measured) SNOOZE: No snooze! 27/28 Week 5—Holiday week... no update Finishing Stats—July 14, 2013 PUSHUPS: 11 solid pushups; 12 without pause [sTR 2 / STA 2] Goal: 10 / 10 – Surpassed PULL-UPS: Hang extended 45 seconds, contracted 3.5 seconds, 5 negative pull-ups [sTR 1] Goal: 1 pull-up – Not quite BODY FAT %: 31.84% (-1.24%) [CON 1 / CHA .5] Goal: -3% – Made progress! SNOOZE: One snooze—41/42 No snooze! [WIS 1.5] Goal: No snooze. ALMOST made 100%. Mini-challenge 1: Make friends [CHA .5] Final thoughts Okay, well other than falling off the face of NF for the last two weeks of the challenge, I am really pleased with my challenge results. I kept up my work on the goals and continued to be inspired by my fellow Bats and other friends during my (and their) absence. Even though I didn't hit any of my metrics on the Pull-up challenge, I awarded myself a point because it was WAY HARDER than I expected and I made measurable progress, even if it wasn't as much as I had hoped. I'm already looking forward to the next challenge! My goals are laid out in a spreadsheet, ready to go. See you over there!