ManchurianBee

Okay, so I'm somewhat set up for success. I have all my meals prepped. I do plan on picking up some steaks and chili from the butcher shop later in the week. This week we have Turkey meatloaf, paella made with brown rice, and chicken pad Thai with whole wheat noodles. Jiu Jitsu starts at 6AM, and it's 12:21 AM right now. If I don't go this morning, I'll definitely hit the noon class. Thank ya, kindly!

There's a common saying of something along the lines of, "when you join start Jiu-Jitsu, you join a family." This was the case for me. My training partners are some of my closest friends.

My last challenge was kind of a disaster, but as it was said in Batman Begins, "Why do we fall?" I think this challenge is going to be more focused on getting into a groove. I also think that I wasn't really being active on this forum and utilizing the community for support. The idea of an alternative meal prep was also pretty bad because I underestimated my laziness. So anyway, here are my new goals: Fitness Goals 1. Improve Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu has been described as being a marathon, not a sprint. Taking this into account, I've decided to set my goal to a minimum of two classes a week. I feel that two is good for easing back into things after almost a month of being out of the gym. Three would give me growth. Anything more would be extra credit. So, I plan to improve Jiu-Jitsu by increasing my attendance. A - >3 Classes/Week B - 3 Classes/Week C - 2 Classes/Week 2. Run a 10 minute mile. I have never really been into running. Throughout school I was considered fast despite the fact that I never finished a mile in under 30 minutes. I did slack and end up walking for the most part, but I want to add running into my non-existent fitness regimen. So, I plan to use the Zombies Run! App and go for runs at the same frequency of attending Jiu-Jitsu classes with the addition that I'll run a mile at the end of the week to check my progress. Grading will be based on my timed runs. A - > 10 Min. Mile B - 10 Min. Mile C - 10:01 - 11 Minute Mile Nutrition 1. Meal Prep The last challenge, I planned to prep all my food and cook my food the day I eat it. I have the time, but I'm also lazy. So, I'm going back to meal prepping the more traditional way and cook everything on Sunday for the week. I'll cook meals taking into account that I'm probably going to eat out once during the week and once on the weekend. While I won't put any restrictions on what I'm going to eat when I go out, I won't call them cheat meals as I'd still like to try to get a health-ish option. Life Goal 1. Get a job. I was able to pass the tests to get my A+ Certification. So, I'm going to try to get a job in everything I qualify for. Accounting as well as IT. So I plan to put in two applications each day. Hopefully something sticks because I would like to feel less like a free loader when my wife has to go to work and I'm unemployed.

I felt the interview went well. Challenge was kind of a failure, not long after my last post I had a lot of other unexpected stuff come up before my trip and then I went on my trip. It was fantastic, but happy to be home. Gonna hop into the next challenge.

So I got a little sidetracked. I did 60 push ups today, didn't go to Jiu-Jitsu, but I did have an interview. I'm stumbling out of the gate, but I'm determined to still make it a success. Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up. Jiu-Jitsu 6AM tomorrow. Shooting for 100 push ups. All before another interview at 3!

Wife and I are going to London, Paris, and some city in Ireland We definitely want to do the Game of Thrones tour in Ireland. We also want to check out the Guinness Brewery so it might be Dublin. So, I changed my mind on the start time. I'll just start with everyone else. I should be all wrapped up with the challenge for the before my flight anyway. So tomorrow, push ups and food prep begins!

Everybody wanna be a nerd until it's time to do nerd shiet. So how about it? I know a bunch of us play Dungeons & Dragons. Who would be interested in getting a game together? We can run it on Roll 20 or something. We'd probably also have to decide on which edition to go with. I've personally only played 4E and 5E.

I sold my copy a while back, but I just might pick up Destiny 2 when it comes out later this year.

I get nothing but Frappuccinos at Starbucks. I call them candy bar drinks and my wife makes fun of me for being like a little kid.

Sup Nerds, I'm going to Europe next month. Specifically, London, Paris, and some city in Ireland. We're not 100% sure where in Ireland yet. We're going to be there from May 19th - June 2nd and I wanted to check with the travel nerds for any activity or restaurant recommendations. We're planning to do some of the obvious stuff, but hey, we don't wanna miss anything that we just completely forgot about, so feel free to suggest things like The Eiffel Tower or the Changing of the Guards or a tour of Winterfell. Thanks in advance!

I have an old coach that lives in Singapore. Have you heard of Juggernaut MMA? If so, Luke Adams is my old coach. He's a Marcel Louzado brown belt and does a bunch of MMA fights out there.

I'm no pro weightlifter or anything, but I would think that the motions are still going to be Bench, Squat, Row, Overhead Press, and Deadlifts which all have variations for dumbbells. I think it would still be best to use a barbell as that's what the plan tells you to use and I think the app also tells you to start with no weight.

Yeah, I know the food prep strategy isn't exactly the traditional one in terms of trying to eat healthy. I've worked in restaurants before and essentially all my veggies will be cut and the proteins cut and marinated. I would really just toss it in a pan and add heat. And like I said, I'm unemployed so all the time in the world haha. I have a background in accounting. I did payroll for 10 years, but got laid off due to plant closure and haven't really found a permanent job since. I'm looking for primarily accounting or general office-type work, but I'm also open to trade work or IT. LOL. Really, I think it's an Asian thing in general, right? My wife is Korean and she keeps saying, "Rice is so important to Koreans, the word for rice is synonymous with the word for meal." I think that's the same for Japan Gohan = Rice/Meal.

This will be my first challenge. The time frame is actually close to perfect. I'm traveling to Europe for the first time on the 19th of May. I guess I'll start two days early and end two days early. I am 5'10" (177.8 cm) and weigh 260 lbs. (117.934 kg.). I am overweight and I feel that my health is greatly suffering. My goal weight is probably to be somewhere around 180-190 lbs. I plan to accomplish this goal over time and definitely not by the end of this challenge. I plan to lift weighs, run, do some Jiu-Jitsu, and eat right. There's a Jiu-Jitsu tournament in August, and I plan to compete. I'm also currently unemployed and as a Life Goal, I'd like to gain some employment, because you kind of need money to pay for things like food, gas, and a house. So I'll be job hunting, trying to get some certifications, stuff like that as a long-term deal. For the purpose of this 4-week challenge, here are my goals: tl;dr Lose ~ 80 lbs. Get ready for a tournament in August Find a job Diet and Fitness 1. Go to five Jiu-Jitsu classes a week. It's often said that if you want to improve your Jiu-Jitsu, do more Jiu-Jitsu. So I plan to go to five Jiu-Jitsu classes each week. This shouldn't be too much of an issue schedule-wise. The gym where I train offers three classes Monday - Friday at 6AM, Noon, and 6PM. For the purpose of this challenge, I'll count an open mat as a class as well and I have multiple options of open mats on the weekends. I'm going to try to focus on my Half-Guard/Deep Half game. Criteria: C: The Bee attended 5 Classes B: The Bee attended 7 Classes C: The Bee attended 10 Classes 2. Do 400 Push Ups a week. I don't really lift or run or anything. I'm definitely planning to lift and run during this challenge as well but for what I want to track is 400 push ups in a week. I think this is achievable. If I split up 400 push ups in a week, I'm doing less than 60 a day. If I split it into morning and evening sessions, I'm doing 30 each sessions. This of course is a bottom line and the bare minimum. Criteria: C: 400 Push Ups B: 500 Push Ups A: 600 Push Ups 3. Limit eating out to twice a week. I'm a foodie. I love food and I got a body that shows it. I'm not huge on meal prepping all my meals a week ahead of time especially grilled chicken because I find it tends to be on the dry side. Since I am, unemployed and have more free time than most people. I'll try something out. Every Sunday and Thursday will be my prep day. I will prep all my food, but cook it the day of. So, my proteins will be marinated. My veggies will be chopped. Then the morning of, I'll cook up some rice (because if Filipinos don't have rice, we die) then cook up my meals for the day. I'm thinking the food will taste better as it's more fresh an I would be more likely to eat it and not just decide to order a pizza or go out for burgers. I'll also meal plan for the week on Sundays and check out the recipes threads to keep from getting bored. This should also help me out financially from not eating out so often. Criteria: C: Went out to eat twice. B: Went out to eat once. A: Didn't go out to eat. I want to try to keep my goals relatively small as I'm kind of just starting out. The push ups are also supplemental. I plan to re-evaluate the criteria for these goals at the end of each week to see if I maybe need to adjust the criteria if I'm not being challenged enough. I will only make the criteria more difficult with the exceptions of illness or injury. Lifestyle Goal: Study 10 Hours a week So for my lifestyle goal, I'm going to look into getting certifications or short classes to increase the different types of jobs I can get. I'm currently studying for an A+ Certification Test, which consists of two exams. I passed the first one and I take the second one on Saturday. I bought a few classes on UDEMY and I plan to take some MOOCs as well. So to make this measurable, I'll devote hours throughout the week to study something. I'll go for a minimum of 10 hours a week. That's two hours Monday - Friday which still gives me time to pursue my other goals and still enjoy the freedom of being unemployed. Criteria: C: Study 10 Hours/Week B: Study 15 Hours/Week A: Study 20 Hours/Week So yeah, there are my goals for the next four weeks. Any feedback would is welcomed and appreciated.

Nice, I hear Evolve is one of the top gyms in the world. And doesn't Nicolini train out of there?