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TLDR: Went from 11 to 17 pull ups in 30 days. I documented my journey in this video: To see my initial rep max, skip to 1:00 To see my final rep max skip to 2:52 For my 1st ever challenge (the one from April 23 - May 30), I decided to take on the Russian Fighter Pull Up Program for 30 days straight. https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/107841-optimus-prime-rolling-out/ I’ll admit, I wasn’t very good at recording my daily logs, but I did complete the entire program to a T. Basically the goal of the 30 day program is to increase the number of pull ups you can do in a single set. When I started the program, I had to test my max. I ended up getting 11 reps. My goal for the program was to increase my max pull up reps from 11 to 16. I also had a reach goal of 20. I used the 5RM Template from the StrongFirst link above to create a program for someone with an 11RM. Here is the program I did for 30 days: Day 1 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 Day 2 11, 10, 9, 8, 8 Day 3 11, 10, 9, 9, 8 Day 4 11, 10, 10, 9, 8 Day 5 11, 11, 10, 9, 8 Day 6 Off Day 7 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 Day 8 12, 11, 10, 9, 9 Day 9 12, 11, 10, 10, 9 Day 10 12, 11, 11, 10, 9 Day 11 12, 12, 11, 10, 9 Day 12 Off Day 13 13, 12, 11, 10, 9 Day 14 13, 12, 11, 10, 10 Day 15 13, 12, 11, 11, 10 Day 16 13, 12, 12, 11, 10 Day 17 13, 13, 12, 11, 10 Day 18 Off Day 19 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 Day 20 14, 13, 12, 11, 11 Day 21 14, 13, 12, 12, 11 Day 22 14, 13, 13, 12, 11 Day 23 14, 14, 13, 12, 11 Day 24 Off Day 25 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 Day 26 15, 14, 13, 12, 12 Day 27 15, 14, 13, 13, 12 Day 28 15, 14, 14, 13, 12 Day 29 15, 15, 14, 13, 12 Day 30 Off After day 30, I took 2 days off and retested my max. I ended up getting 17. Better than my goal of 16, but lower than my reach goal of 20. Still, its over a 50% improvement so I consider that a win! I am 6’0 and 170lbs. I consistently ate at my maintenance level calories of around 2500. My weight did not change throughout the program. I also had side quests of: 1) Sleep 8 Hours a day. I know it should be easy, but sometimes its easy to stay up late! 2) Take a green food supplement every day. Again, it's easy to think I get enough veggies. But it doesn't always happen. This is more of a guarantee that I do get enough greens each day. Both of which I successfully completed! If you’re someone who is interested in increasing the number of pull ups you can do, I highly recommend the Russian Fighter Pull Up Program! Its definitely the best pull up program I've done so far. Here are some more links if you’re interested: https://www.strongfirst.com/the-fighter-pullup-program-revisited/ https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-russian-fighter-pull-up-program

After defeating a rock, Zeroh has been (under mysterious circumstances) turned into a sapling. While those who are much wiser search for a cure, Zeroh does what a sapling must to survive. Grow. Various activities will help turn this sapling into a strong and healthy tree. They are broken down below. The more points, the higher the rank, and the greater the rewards. NOTE: Because it works better math-wise, this is a 30 day challenge. It will start a day early, on August 20, and end a day later, on September 18. Trunk Organization will be the key to a solid base in this challenge. Each SUNDAY, I will schedule the week's exercise and resume sessions. This is worth 5 points per schedule. Roots You can't grow without good quality food and clean water. Pretty straight-forward. Soil (Nutrients): Eat a protein 3 times daily. Each protein counts as 1 point. Water: Drink 2 liters daily. This is all or nothing, 1 point per day completed. Branches A tree without branches is just a stick in the ground. But more branches, equals more leaves, equals more sun, equals more energy to build a better tree. Let's build strong limbs with bodyweight exercises. There will be three exercise sessions a week, with each session worth 10 points. Sunlight As anyone who's tried to keep a plant knows, the right amount of sun is very important. So to let in as much light as possible, I'll need to maintain a clean and clutter-free zone. Organization is going to make an appearance here too. Every morning, I'll create a chore checklist, and then work on it throughout the day. Completing the checklist will earn me 2 points, or 1 point for partial credit if I did some, but not all, of the chores. Or if it did chores, but didn't make a checklist. No points for just making the checklist and not doing anything with it. Planter Right now, I'm stuck in a small pot (i.e. dead-end job) that won't give me much room to grow. Clearly, this needs to change. There will be two resume sessions a week. For 1 hour, I will sit and work on the task outlined in the weekly schedule. It doesn't matter how much is done or how good it is. The important part right now is to sit down and work on it. Each session is worth 10 points. Penalties Junk food: Soda and candy bars are not good for plants, -1 point for eating junk, and -5 points for buying junk. Missed scheduled activity: A schedule is nearly pointless if it is not followed. -3 points for missing an exercise day or resume session. Note that I can still earn the points for the activity by doing it on a different day. Bonuses Active rest day: On days that I don't exercise, staying active is still very important. Completing one of these activities will earn me 5 bonus points, but only if I do it the day after an exercise session. Possible activities: Walk for 1 hour, (more to be added later). Update: Each update gives me 1 bonus point. And that concludes the many ways to both earn and lose points. On to the all important ranks that show how good/bad I've done on this challenge. Ranks S = 401+ (Reward #2) A = 321 - 400 (Reward #1) B = 241 - 320 (Pass) C = 161 - 240 D = 81 - 160 E = 1 - 80 If I earn a B rank, that's a passing mark. But I don't get any rewards beyond the fuzzy feelings of successfully completing a challenge. But if I earn an A rank, that gets me Reward #1 (TBD). And if I do amazingly well and earn a S rank, that gets me Reward #2 (also TBD), in addition to Reward #1! Good Luck!

The rules are simple. As detailed on "The Minimalists" blog, http://www.theminimalists.com/game/: Find a friend or family member: someone who’s willing to get rid of their excess stuff. This month, each of you must get rid of one thing on the first day. On the second, two things. Three items on the third. So forth, and so on. Anything can go! Clothes, furniture, electronics, tools, decorations, etc. Donate, sell, or trash. Whatever you do, each material possession must be out of your house—and out of your life—by midnight each day. It’s an easy game at first. However, it starts getting challenging by week two when you’re both jettisoning more than a dozen items each day. Whoever can keep it going the longest wins; you both win if you can make it all month. Bonus points if you play with more than two people. This PVP will start on Sept. 14, 2015 and run for thirty days. Are you in? * Thanks to Rowan the Ranger for instigating this PVP via her post on Rurik the Ranger's challenge thread. Participants acfourni BlackTezca darkfoxx everanything Jakkals JMitch jmk Kilo Raven Firestorm rowan Rurik the Ranger ShadowLion Shadri SheHulk skinNbones Wolfenstein Yraen of the Engwar

Greetings, writing nerds! Announcing the first NerFiWriCh ever! That would be Nerd Fitness Writing Challenge, and is pronounced Nerfy-Rich. So a bunch of people were talking about how they had always wanted to join in on National Novel-Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, but the problem was that the timing was bad. NaNoWriMo takes place during the month of November, which can be a bit of a challenge thanks to a wide variety of reasons. First, a bit of background for those just arriving: NaNoWriMo is an event that happens every year where thousands (seriously) of people sign up to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. That's 30 days, or 1,667 words a day. This can be difficult during November thanks to the aforementioned variety of reasons. However, there is hope! Enter NerFiWriCh. Starting on January 16th, it will end on the same day as the current challenge cycle (Feb 15th). This will give us the 30 days of artistic abandon that we need to match NaNoWriMo's timeline. The goal will remain the same: write a 50,000 word novel during those 30 days. We're going to have people sign up and use this thread as an accountability partnership. Right now we have spaces for 10 people on the accoutabilibuddies sheet, but we can add more if we need them. Sign up on this thread too, let us know who you are and what you plan to write, and how many words you plan to shoot for when we get started! (Uh, also, admins, if I've screwed up protocol or something, lemme know. Cheers!)