Morphe

Hey Will, I dig your challenge a lot. I'm a fan of the LoZ games as well, your boss dungeon workouts sound beast. Sounds like the challenge has been going well for you, awesome!

Hey, congrats on getting back to aikido and continuing to eat healthly! Sounds like your challenge is going very well, awesome. I am thinking about trying out hapkido sometime in the next few months (nice school nearby). I have always wanted to try out a martial art, but was mostly afraid to go due to not being in shape and thinking I couldn't handle it. Anyways, its been 3 weeks so you can level up Cheers!

3 week update: 9/9 barbell workouts completed. Workout Start Current Squat 75 115 Bench Press 75 95 Deadlift 95 125 OH Press 50 65 Pendlay Row 70 90 Workouts started off not too hard in week 1 and 2, but yesterday's workout was about right at the threshold where the weights are now heavy and my muscles are working hard. The next 3 weeks of challenge will be much harder I think, and the strength gains/muscle built will be well-earned. Squat Goal: 77%77% Bench Goal: 95%95% I feel much stronger already!

Quick update - I've gone to the gym 5 out of 5 times since challenge start, and I am making nice incremental gains. I will update with progress on weight lifts at the 3-week mark of challenge. We (the wife and I) have been eating very healthy and making sure to get enough nutrition and rest to build muscle strength. The other news is that the camping trip is now planned for the weekend of October 19th! We already have all the camping gear, purchased about a month ago - we did our first camping trip at the beginning of september. Hiking trails will be nice and the leaves will be changing colors. I have also obtained a nice book on camping and wilderness survival skills, and look forward to practicing some of them out while camping.

Hello Rangers! I am looking forward to training with you all! I have started my first challenge on the Ranger path. I like the Ranger combination of strength, dexterity, and endurance - very powerful combo. I have a question though - what do you all recommend for improving dexterity & agility?

Best wishes for getting started and in school! Sounds like you are going to be very busy with school and father duties, wow I like the community supported bookstore quest! My wife is an avid reader and her kindle is probably her most prized possession, she would agree with you! I too am a student, working on my Ph.D. I read too, but I mainly read scientific journals and wikipedia articles haha

I like your goals and it sounds like you are on a great path to becoming more healthy! I really like that you included drinking water, I am also making sure to drink about that much per day. I understand about the distance in the relationship. 3 years ago my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I lived 2 hours apart for a year while she finished up her last year at university and I started graduate school at a different university. It was tough (more so for my wife), as she selflessly drove the 4 hours to me and back nearly every weekend to spend time with me (she lived with roommates, while I lived by myself, so she wanted to come to my place so we have privacy). I hope in the future you and your boyfriend get to be closer to each other and spend more time together! Best wishes for you during your challenge!

I have started on the path to becoming a healthy, strong, and knowledgeable ranger. I want to gain strength and endurance, while maintaining dexterity, and couple these physical attributes with the mental knowledge of nature and wilderness (learn about wilderness survival, and become more in tune with nature and the wild). Main Quest For this 6-week challenge, I will focus on building strength.Free Weight-train 3 times a week. (+STA) At end of 6-week challenge, bench press at least 100 lbs. (+STR) At end of 6-week challenge, squat at least 150 lbs. (+STR)I am following the Stronglifts 5x5 free weight training plan. I like what I've read about the plan, and I like its focus on increasing full body strength, and its incremental weight ladder.Side Quest Go to bed earlier, get a full 8-9 hours of sleep, and get up earlier for work. (Shift my sleep schedule - I am a night owl and often stay up too late at night and want to change this). (+CON)Life Quest Spend a weekend camping in the forest this fall as the leaves change colors (I live 30 minutes away from a beautiful State Park/Forest), hiking the trails, learning wilderness skills, and enjoying nature's beauty. (+WIS)Motivation Most of my life I have been skinny/scrawny, and from age 18-24 I did not eat healthy at all (hamburger helpers, lots of frozen processed foods, pasta, lots of soda and candy) - I was weak with no strength, had no endurance whatsoever, and spent the majority of my time sedentary in front of my computer screen (I am a computer nerd, and my career is heavily computer-based). About a year and half ago, after researching and learning more about health and nutrition, I decided that I needed to stop eating all the unhealthy things that I had been eating and start eating healthier foods. I didn't know anything about the paleo/primal diets (only heard about them recently), but nutrition research led me to eating a lot of the foods that are part of the diets - I started cooking and eating chicken, fish, fresh vegetables and fruits, lentils, and started drinking water - I stopped eating lots of processed foods, cut out most foods with high fructose corn syrup, stopped drinking so much soda, and cut down on red meat. I exercised a bit more, but was still pretty sedentary, but just eating healthier made me feel a lot better and healthier. I also left my computer a bit more, went outside more and enjoyed nature. Now it is time to start the real transformation - I think my body and mind are ready now. I am starting with improving my strength, and then I will focus on endurance and dexterity, and all the while trying to improve my connection with nature and the wilderness.