BenWo

Hey baelsom, I like the look of your challenge, not crazy hard but very solid goals! As for figuring calories, I don't know how to figure for biking, I would guess that some sort of GPS app would be the best, since it can take into consideration the factors in your particular ride such as speed and elevation changes. I know RunKeeper syncs with MFP and, despite the name, it has the ability to track cycling activity.

Week 2 - Day 3 Push Ups: 66 (+9) Let Me Ins: 44 (-8) Seated Dips: 64 (-5) Let Me Ups: 59 (-2) Well I didn't realize I had dropped so many reps until just now, but no matter, I worked hard! Not to mention I've got weird all-over DOMS from taking a jog yesterday (dang challenge goals). Also despite the low reps on the Let Me Ins the only thing that's tired after doing those are my quads. Only one more workout for week 2, then we move on to interval training! Everyone ready?

What the... what? That's a crazy number of pretty much everything! Props dude!

Update for Day 2 & 3 Day 2 The day went well, got my YAYOG workout in as well as the handstand practice. I'm not going to enumerate my meals, they're nothing special, but everything was tracked and entered into MFP and fit within the 2000 calories as per usual. Overall a good day! Day 3 Yesterday was a rest day for the YAYOG program and the day I've been planning to be my running day. I'd been both dreading and looking forward to taking a new crack at running, so before I could put it off I got into my workout clothes, dug out my unused smartphone armband and set some music and runkeeper going. I had pretty much figured that I'd feel like a slug after a few minutes out there but everything went much better than expected! It's not that it was easy, but I was able to keep up a steady jog as long as I was able to remember to just keep breathing. In the end I went a total of 2.58 miles at an average pace of 11:36/mi. So I can happily say super success for the run this week! Actually with some music I enjoyed the time a lot more than I thought I ever would. Having runkeeper interject pace updates was a pretty good motivator for me as well. Who knows, I might even decide to up the running schedule. That is if my legs don't rise up and overthrow this dictator of a brain in the next few days. The only less-than-success for the day was that I'd planned to do some handstand work (foolishly) after the run, but when I got home I was all noodley and weak, so clearly unable to do any such thing. Not a big deal though, handstands will continue over the next 3 days to complete the 5 days a week requirement. Last bit of an update is that after more than 2 weeks of little weight loss, the scale finally relented and dropped below the 180 lb mark. Yesterday morning I had a mini fistpump thanks to seeing 179.2 lbs for the first time in a good few years!

Great start to your challenge, you've got great momentum going already!

Hey SnowWhite, just found my way over here to finally sub on your thread! Sorry you're having a rough day so far! Keep your focus on your goals and where you want to be. The most important decision is always the next decision!

This must just be modern office culture, because I have exactly the same situation at work. Seems like there's some kind of "celebratory event" at least twice a week, so there are always cake and cookies around. I've been doing tons better than I used to, at the worst I'll have a small bit that fits within my calories for the day. Good for you working on that iron will, you'll soon send the treat-bringers running with merely a glare!

Oh ok good, I didn't see the hold added in future weeks. I'll just stick with the program as prescribed then, I'm in no rush if things are going to get harder soon.

Oh man I love to swim and I absolutely would be if there was anywhere nearby that could accommodate my odd work schedule (oh plus be reasonably priced), but alas no such luck.

Week 2 - Day 2 Back Lunges: 43 (-2) RDL: 27 (-1) Squats: 66 (0) Swimmers: 45 (+9) Good workout today, tried to keep my core tight through every single exercise and it felt pretty good. Also getting slightly better at the RDL. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what the swimmers are supposed to be doing, I don't find them to be very challenging, just slightly time consuming. My only thought is maybe next time slow waaayyy down, hold each rep for like 5 seconds, and see what I feel.

Heya Yandapanda! Good looking challenge and I have to say I'm really glad you took the pre-diabetic warning really seriously, sounds like you're making the necessary changes and setting yourself up to succeed!

Hey good looking challenge and looks like a pretty great baseline you've got today! I so wish I got a refund for steps, I might actually want to go for a walk or run then!

Hey alwaysreading, followed over here from the redpill group and looks like you've got a great challenge set up! Your goals are really good, like perfect examples of setting "SMART" goals! Good luck with the training, doing a bunch of intervals can be crazy intense if you push hard!

Well here we are in the challenge proper! Just wanted to post to say I'm charging ahead! It was a bit of an odd day, so even though I had to spread my workout out a bit more than I'd prefer I still got it all done. The handstand practice is super hard. I'm only able to hold myself up with my feet on the wall for about 30 seconds in a go (body upside-down at about 20° off vertical). Clearly I'm not quite there strength wise yet, so I doubt I'll be progressing on any of the balance aspect for a week or two. Hey no problem, I already know Assassins are where I'm headed. I'd also love to join the accountability group, but I'm feeling a bit like I'm already juggling a lot of forum threads. At the worst I'll catch up with everyone on the next challenge! Haha no, not really, I like to share information when I have it. Yeah it's a bit intimidating looking, especially if you check some of the later weeks. I'm not sure if I'll be more than a puddle after some of those workouts!

Week 2 - Day 1 Push Ups (hands knee height): 57 Let Me Ins: 52 Seated Dips: 69 Let Me Ups: 61 Just barely squeezed this in today, lots going on so it was a little harder to focus. Overall though still felt it plenty in my arms, so workout completed.

Hey welcome and glad to see you charging in for another challenge! And you're planning to post a before pic in the thread, huh? You're brave! Now I'm... maybe I will too? As for a reward idea, I tend to think of things for cooking. Who doesn't love a new little kitchen gadget or a new cooking utensil? I suppose some might not, but I can barely cook and I can still get a little excited over them.

This is very likely one of the best challenge threads ever! Awesome job with the theme, especially the way you brought all the motifs from the movie into each of your goals! Will be watching, see you over in the red pills!

Alright I'm in, hand over the pill! I'm Ben, my main quest right now is to bring my bodyfat levels down and also to work toward becoming what to me seems "insanely" strong. I also love the Matrix trilogy so I know this group is gonna be awesome! Jake I checked out your challenge thread and can I just say... amazing. Just reading the opening paragraphs has me itching to re-watch the movies! Looking forward to freeing our minds together!

No, never. Hey thanks for the invite, sounds like it'll be great and I will absolutely stop over there soon as I get a minute!

Week 1 Day 4: Up a rung! 9/12/2014 Side Lunges: 36 One Leg RDL: 30 Squats: 66 Russian Twists: 95 I may have been going too fast on the Russian twists, but during the exercise it felt like I was just keeping pace with the example video. The Romanian deadlifts are probably still the hardest for me in this grouping. My hamstrings felt quite a bit better, no weird twinges or cramps, but my left knee made a very strange hissing noise when I first started. Kinda weirded me out but didn't feel anything so ignored it. And lol for RxLady getting out the rolling pin, nice craftiness! And with that, jump me up a rung on that main post, I'm headed to week 2!

Great challenge, you've certainly got work ahead of you!

(double posted)

Welcome to the challenge and I just have to say what an awesome motivation! Just think of the day when you put on that uniform for the first time!

Haha that it would. And then blow everyone away with a transition to a planche... Thanks! I think my butt is the one area that hasn't been sore yet! lol Yeah I don't want to leave anything out, seems like leaving a weak point. And thanks. To get the progress bar you just put "[ progress='green' ]16[ /progress ]" in your signature, the number being the percentage. (ignore the extra spaces in the tags) Hey thanks! I'll have to get over to the den one of these days, since starting bodyweight workouts the assassins have just appealed to me more and more as a guild. Thanks! I hope I have at least, trying to lay out something that I'll be able to look back on at the end and say "look how far I've come!" Hey thank you! I'll be headed over to your thread to see how your challenge looks, and hope I'll run into you over in the assassins guild one day in the future!

Week 1 Day 3: Thwarted! 9/11/2014 Push ups (hands knee height): 60 Let me Ins (knees 90 degrees): 53 Seated Dips (knees bent): 68 Let Me Ups (knees 90 degrees): 62 This went quite a bit better than back on day 1, so that's good! On the other hand owwww the dips. I couldn't figure out why the sides of my ribs were so sore but that's the answer! Also on day 1 the Let Me Ups really felt like they hit my biceps, while today I felt it a ton more in my forearms. I have no good explanation for this, maybe a difference in form? I did make much more sure to touch my chest to the table every rep today, I didn't manage this before. Good to see everyone progressing and more people joining in!