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Thanks ShadowLion. Pain is improved but still dealing with it in varying intensities every day. Unfortunately this challenge has become a bit of a failure, I'd blame it on my work deadlines but to be honest I let the knee situation get the better of me mentally. I intend to have one more go with the next challenge and try to start afresh. Cheers to all who posted messages of encouragement, it did help me keep some small positivity over the last few weeks.

Thanks for the nudge, I'll have a look on youtube when I next get a chance. What little time I normally have is being consumed by some big work deadlines at the moment!

I keep meaning to try some meditation but never find the time, maybe next week I'll try and make some time. I saw the Doc again yesterday and he's given me something to hopefully prevent any more swelling when I try and do stuff and referred me to physio. Unfortunately the way the NHS is at the moment that will be a 6 week wait :-(. On the plus side things have calmed down again and I no longer get much pain when moving about. I need to try and get back on track with the posture work and interacting on the forum, I worry I'm falling back into my shell to easily.

Thanks @ShadowLion, it's pretty difficult to keep going particularly as it seems to be deteriorating the past few days. In hindsight I should have gone with total rest the moment it started aching a month ago - lesson learned. I hope that potion is extra strong, patience is possibly my biggest weakness!

Following along, I like the idea of this. Good luck!

Thanks @Jedediah The Wolf! Things have been a bit of a struggle the past few days, it's hard to keep motivation up when you can't really do much. Add to that a lousy cold that developed over the weekend. Swelling has gone from knee but is now painful to do anything (even walk) so I'm waiting to see my Dr again. Given the knee isn't really healing and I still haven't started any running I'm not sure it will be safe for me to get ready for the Rough Runner in time now. I've still got until the end of the year to get a refund, so we'll see how things go. Update on my challenge goals: I managed a full ROM chip-up yesterday! The GTG idea of a few reps spread out over the day is really working for me. In a few days I will start working on proper pull-ups, I tried one for laughs yesterday too and managed about 3/4 ROM - I couldn't move myself at all 6 weeks ago! Diet went out the window over the weekend but back on track today; I've tweaked it slightly to focus more on macros as I don't get nearly enough protein. Still stretching every day and doing some back stretches to help posture. I've tried the foam roller but it doesn't seem as effective as the tennis ball - the leg with the bad knee was covered in sore points but I've worked most of them out now.

Well after a day and a half the swelling and aching finally went away. I did the following last night: 3x5 step-ups. 3x10 hip bridges, focusing on activating glutes and hamstrings rather than quads. 3x5 KB press @ 12KG. Stuck here as 12 doesn't feel very hard but I couldn't even get the 16 out of rack position. 3x partial TGU (to sitting) @ 16KG. I used my other hand to help get the weight up, once my arm was locked it felt fairly stable. Lots of soft-tissue work with a tennis ball. There were a load of really painful points on my bad leg particularly close to the knee, that weren't present on the other leg. A little stretching - muscles had cooled down a lot by the time I finished with the tennis ball. Despite the knee feeling good during and after the workout, and it not being stressed it's slightly swollen again this morning, but I'm undecided if that's because of the workout or because I've only just woken up, it's cold and damp outside and I haven't taken any ibuprofen in 12 hours. I have a knee sleeve and foam roller arriving today as well as high strength supply of Omega 3, let's see if they help.

My wife has all of the books, I "reluctantly" let her try the recipes on me; the things you have to do for your better half! I like the sound of the extra KB work you're doing, I eventually want to work in something similar!

Well done on the first day of your challenge! Sorry to hear about the toe, hope it heals quickly

Thanks @Suzaqu & @ShadowLion! Nine days after my last workout I really couldn't stand sitting around any longer so did some stuff. I'd been completely pain free for 4 days then without reason below my knee started hurting I had a look on t'internet and it feels a lot like Pes Anserine Bursitis. Anti-inflammatories weren't doing anything but keeping the knee moving did sometimes help so yesterday after a gentle warmup I decided to try some easy swings. 10x10 2h swings @ 16KG in 10:30. After over a week of doing nothing I was surprised to find my peak heart rate and recovery significantly improved, not sure what happened there - if I'd wanted I could have completed the 10 sets much faster. 3x5 12KG KB press. I was owning the TGU @ 12KG but can barely get the 16KG over my head so I'm going to work on strengthening my arms a little before bringing the TGU back in. I'm avoiding TGU for at least another week because of the kneeling part. 3x1 NG pullup. I had spent a couple of days doing GTG chinups trying to slowly increase my ROM, but yesterday my biceps seemed to give up on me. Thankfully my neutral grip pulls are feeling stronger and stronger. Lots and lots of stretching. Again after a week of doing nothing my flexibility has improved! The knee felt great during and after the session, but this morning is slightly swollen again No real pain and the bursitis hasn't bothered me at all but still a little disappointing, so I'll be taking it easy for a few more days again. Eating wise I'm sticking to my calorie goals, I could be having less sweet stuff but I'm getting a decent amount of veggies. I'm planning on battling the vending machine with some healthier snacks; peanut butter on apple today A question for you guys - it seems like there's a lot of cross over between the challenge updates and the battle logs, how do you manage them both? Cheers!

Following for S&S fun! My wife is a GBBO super-fan, I can't watch it because I just want to eat everything they make

Thanks guys! I've decided to try the old RPG system as the new character page thing seems like it still needs some work. So I'll gain Level 1 if I stick out the first 2 weeks and then gain one additional attribute for each goal completed at the end. My knee is still a little swollen but not too bad over the past few days so I'm hopeful I'll be able to pick up S&S some time next week. On the positive side I finally managed a full neutral grip pull up last night which I'm pretty chuffed about :-)

Nice plan, I have a similar struggle with food and not de-stressing, this week in particular has been tough. I like your system for major/minor rewards depending on how your goals go, I might have to borrow that! Good luck!

It takes me the first set usually to get into the groove with timing the hinge on the swings. I try to move as soon as I feel my forearms beginning to touch my shorts - to quote the book "At the very last instant, hinge your hips and get out of the way. Play chicken with the kettlebell". Mentally I see it as teasing the KB, like doing a high-five and pulling your hand away at the last moment. Don't try and slow it down with your arms, only use them to guide it to the right place, you'll only hurt yourself if you try and fight where the weight wants to go! Looking forward to seeing what your challenge is, good luck!

@Elastigirl, also funny you should bring up Tumeric as the BBC have just done a piece on it too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37408293 Whilst they were looking at other changes and not inflammation specifically the interesting thing about their study was Tumeric definitely had an effect on the body but only when consumed in it's raw form - the pills didn't do much. The speculation is that the body can't absorb it very well by itself and it needs to be bound to fats/oils and other stuff used in cooking. I like Tumeric but not sure I could stomach it every day, might try and incorporate it into our meals a bit more though!