dr3wcifer

This is my first challenge in 5 years, so I'm restarting on level one. Y'all: the Avatar has been reborn! MAIN GOAL: Restore Balance to the World I'm bipolar, so balance is crucial. It's also REALLY FREAKING HARD. A good diet and exercise help maintain mental health, so I'm sticking with my old theme. I've been neither manic nor depressed for going on four weeks, and I want to keep it that way. The Avatar is tasked with maintaining balance, and controls all four elements to complete that task: Air bending: Cardio/endurance Water bending: flexibility/agility Earth bending: weightlifting/strength Fire bending: nutrition/fat burning Since this is a level 1 challenge, I'm only going to set goals for two of these elements. Each goal will be graded based on weekly frequency: A- 4 days/wk B- 3 days C- 2 days D- 1 day F- didn't do it AIR BENDING GOAL: 30 minutes of cardio I haven't done any cardio in a couple years. Hope my knees are up for it! WATER BENDING GOAL: 30 minutes of stretching My neck, shoulders, and knees are sore because I am old. Stretching (static, yoga, or maybe tai chi) helps with that.

Less eh, more AAAAHHHH! I'm doing pretty well. Not working out as frequently as I should, but I'm keeping at it, and I've been stretching 15 minutes every day so far this week. No bad eating, just good eating. So I'd say I'm winning.

How's your 6WC going? I'm doing alright, except for the stretching, but I'm keeping at it. I just don't have time to make detailed posts.

Checking in just so no one thinks I got stuck back in that iceberg. This week's been good. I've been working out every other day, IFing on rest days, eating great on workout days. Stretching, though...I'm only up to 20 minutes this week so far. I'll have to step that one up. I should do more cardio, though. Yeah, more cardio. So in a nutshell, everything's fine here. We're all fine. Everything's under control here. How are you? [Wince]

Update time! Saturday: Air/Earth: Brutal workout. Ran to the gym (1.7 miles from the house), doing 10 burpees after crossing each intersection on the way (5 intersections total); 15/12/9/9 leg lift, knee tuck, flutter kick supersets; 5x5 back squats @ 185lbs; 5 rounds of 6 GHD situps & 6 front squats @ 65lbs; ran back, doing 10 burpees after crossing each intersection. Whew. Fire: Healthy lunch, Amnesty night (football party) Sunday: Recovery day. 25 minutes of stretching Sunday night for a week 1 total of 80 minutes: a B-. Ate healthy throughout the day.

A fellow Avatar! Awesome! Anyway, UPDATE! Yesterday: No workout (intentional), no stretching (unintentional); healthy breakfast & lunch, no dinner for reasons. Today: EARTH: 5x5 Lat pulldowns, 5x3 inclined bench press, tabata chinups, tabata pushups WATER: Stretched for 15 minutes afterward. 40 minutes so far this week. ***EDIT*** Got another 15 minutes in Friday night; 55 this week. FIRE: Since I didn't have dinner, made an IF out of it. Had a big healthy lunch, ate myself full. 2.5 hours later, I'm still full. I'll be hungry again by dinner.

This was a double post. Now it's a pretty picture of a flower, because I don't know how to delete posts. Hurpadurp. ...WAITASECONDTHAT'SNOTPRETTYATALLOMGWTFBBQ!!!

I NEED A FRIEND. LET'S BE FRIENDS! WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?

I suppose I should log some progress, too. AIR/EARTH: My workout Tuesday: 5 sets of 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 squats; 5x5 Deadlift 225lbs, 5x10 Stiff-leg Deadlift 65lbs, 3x10 Single-leg Deadlift (rep= 1 per side) My workout yesterday: 5 sets of 100m sprints, 10 burpees, 2min rest; 8 sets of tabata interval inclined situps WATER: I stretched for 10 minutes after my workout Tuesday, 15 minutes after yesterday's workout. FIRE: 3 square meals Tuesday: Muscle Milk shake & Subway 6" (meat & veggies on wheat, no mayo) for breakfast, lamb and broccoli for lunch, chicken and peas for dinner IF yesterday, then big dinner: Muscle Milk shake, salad, peanut butter sammich, 2 chicken legs, and a shit ton of green beans. I was full. So far so good.

"Yer a Ranger, Dr3wcifer" Yes please!

Good morning! I have answered your riddles.

Mini-Quest: Answer questions about my goals. Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable?Last year, when I was in great shape, I was around 14% body fat and got 280-something on my PT test. So I know I can get close. I want to get back to where I was, and then go a little bit further. But yes, it is definitely doable. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? The main quest is two goals that help each other out. If I lose fat, exercise will be easier. Also, exercise will help me lose fat. My subquests help with those two and, being an old and achy old man, I have to keep my shit stretched out or I will break. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? The PT goals will have milestones that I have to meet (50/50 next week, 53/53 two weeks from there; 15:30 next week, 15:00 two weeks from then). The other two goals are about building habits, and that's just about making good choices and finding the time in my day. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? I used to use a spreadsheet. I'm debating whether or not to go that route this time, as it gets tedious at times. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? Each goal will be on a lettergrade system. A is COMPLETE SUCCESS! F is NOT ENOUGH SUCCESS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Now that is a good question. In that event, I'll definitely cut myself some slack, as everyone knows that soup, Sprite, and rest eventually cures colds and flus. I would scale my PT goals down, deduct that time from the denominator of my stretching goal, and excuse the soup and Sprite from my healthy eating goal. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? Yes. There's some Thanksgiving involved during the next 6 weeks. That will be an amnesty day. Beyond that, I'm good. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? Please reference my second answer. They help each other out. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? Yes. I come in to work around 5AM for PT. Boom: exercise and stretching. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? The habits I'm building help me toward achieving my main quest. I've got to eat healthy, work out, and keep my joints, tendons, and ligaments functional to succeed.

Indeed, although I'm not going to be quite as involved as I was last year, I'll definitely work toward the goals. And after this (probationary) 6WC, I'll be back over w/ the Rangers. Squee!

I'm back. Also, just to motivate you on your goals:

So I did a couple of these last year with the Rangers. I was in great shape, it was fun, life was good. But everything changed when the Fire Nation* attacked. And when my fitness needed me the most, I vanished. So where have I been? Frozen in an iceberg? Might as well have been. I’ve been letting myself go, getting fat, skipping the gym. Ya know…bad stuff. Now I’m back, and ready to train to… Main Quest: Defeat the Fire Lord *Achieve 12% Body fat *Score 300 (max) on PT test A few weeks ago, I took a PT test and barely passed. Very embarrassing. Then I got weighed and taped. Weighing in at 194lbs and 21% body fat, I’ve got some work to do (I’ve actually already gotten started). I estimate it will take me three 6WCs to achieve that main quest. In order to do that, I must train on all four elements: Air- Cardiovascular Endurance Goal: Run 2 miles in under 14:30 I clocked in at about 15:45 on my PT test, barely passing. Ew. I can shave 1:15 off in 6 weeks. It ain’t no thang. A < 14:30 B < 14:45 C < 15:00 D < 15:15 F > 15:15 Water- Flexibility & Recovery Goal: Stretch at least 100 minutes each week My knees suck on account of shitty IT bands. Also, my neck has hated me for the past week for reasons unknown. I’ve got to stretch out if I’m going to comfortably increase my fitness levels. Yoga, foam roller, static stretches. I wish I could count hot tubs and massages. Each minute will be a point. Each week will be graded. End result is average of the 6 grades. Earth- Muscular Strength & Endurance Goal: Do 60 Push-ups in 2 minutes; Do 60 Sit-ups in 2 minutes On my PT test, I did 50 pushups and 47 situps. Gah that’s bad. I can get those each up to 60, but it will be bitter work. A > 59 B > 56 C > 53 D > 50 F < 50 Fire- Nutrition Goal: Eat healthy six days a week Healthy eating: no soda, candy, junk food, or ice cream. I get 1 amnesty day a week, but even then I don’t go crazy with the Noms. A: 6 Amnesty Days, zero Noms B: +1 Noms C: +2 Noms D: +3 Noms F: > 4 Noms So there we go. I’ll keep reporting. Yip yip, y’all! *In this allegory, the Fire Nation is bad nutrition, especially- ironically- ice cream. This is justified in the fact that fire is the metaphor for nutrition (“Fuel the furnace?†“Burn calories?†It makes sense. Shut up). And since the Fire Nation is bad, they represent bad nutrition. Now stop thinking about it and just go with it, ok?

Oh hi. Have I been slacking? ...Yes. Yes I have. I'll fix up the spreadsheet tonight. Sorry!

I'm caught up at this point, but...I'm seriously lacking motivation this week. It comes and goes, and right now it is gone. Gone gone gone. Any help?

Not gonna lie: it was shitty.

Just curious: when can we expect a mini-challenge?

Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Stop. Exercising.

Ok. I'm getting back on track after the last couple of days. Alsos, we've got some catching up to do.

Oh that wagon's definitely within reach.

I'm still alive! Had to work 24 hours straight on Sunday; slept all Monday consequently. Ate whatever the fuck I felt like for the duration. Getting back on track today. More details later.

Updates are made! I wish I could tweak it to make the Alsos in the lead, but alas, that's up to us to fix. Link to the new (but very similar to the old) spreadsheet is up on the topic thread. You'll have to recreate your bookmarks to v2, as v1 is offline now.