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It's probably almost time to give up the Avatar gifs, but I just can't do it on a waterbending challenge. The last challenge was the thing I needed to do at the time. And mostly, it worked out well. So I need to continue that and level up. I have some signs that physical and mental stress are taking a bit of a toll, so this challenge is about lowering those, while working on my fitness and monkery goals. So I have reasons to think that high physical stress levels are part of my fitness issues, and the mental stress levels, not helping anything. The last challenge helped a bit on the mental side, which is good. I'm thinking about a challenge that is more difficult, while also bringing down that stress. So something like this: Get rid of the scale for a challenge. Weekly measurements.8 hours of sleep. Measured weekly, taking a percentage off my activity tracker. An average under 6 hours is a fail.Three hard strength days. This is actually a reduction in my formal workouts. I'm trying to find a balance between making progress and reducing physical stress.Active rest days. This is where I want my tai chi forms to come in. Good on the mental and physical stress reduction, a mix of gentle cardio, stretching, and strength... a pretty reasonable all-arounder for healthy movement on a rest day. Let's make this measurable: since I'm new to it, three days a week is the goal. We'll see how it goes from there.Ten or twenty minutes a day on something aikido-y, five times a week.Daily meditation. Find a habit trigger for my meditation, so it gets done regularly and early. Reviving the one bit of my challenge I didn't do so well on last time: do a small amount of a stressful task three times a week.That's a lot of points. I should probably distil it down a little. I'm trying some new stuff with my diet this time around. I'm working brown rice and potatoes back in, taking a look at my supplements. (I've been reading some scientific papers on gut flora and weight loss, and I'm curious, so I'm experimenting. It's not too far from my standard diet, just moves some things from "allowed less-harmful cheat" to "allowed".)

Challenge 12 – Mistr stays on target My goals were good for the last challenge but my execution was spotty at best. This time I am going for consistency. Life goal I've been inconsistent about focusing at work. When I'm at home I can pick from a long list of tasks. If I don't feel like cooking, I can clean or sort things or work on projects. I've gotten better at taking breaks to do fun things between tedious chores. At work I tend to find excuses to surf the net when I want to avoid a task. Knowing better is not helping me change the behavior. The really idiotic part is that most of the "dreaded tasks" aren't that bad. Once I get going I can get them done and feel good about it. Goal: Sleep 8 hours a night. The evidence keeps mounting that I am more productive with more sleep. And getting to bed is where I get in trouble. Target: Stop doing tasks by 9:30pm on work nights. In bed before 10:00pm. In bed by 11:00pm on weekends unless at a special event. Tally by week: A = 9:30 or earlier, B = 9:31-9:45, C = 9:46-10:00, D = 10:01-10:15, F = 10:16 or later for stopping activities (shifted one hour later on Friday and Saturday). Bonus points for going to bed early on weekends. Balance Balance is my ongoing multi-challenge goal. I have learned that to-do lists make me crazy. I never manage to get to all the things and I get stressed out. Instead of a to-do list I am going to have a pick list. I will choose tasks based on the time available and my priority order at the moment. One of the pick lists will be my creative projects. The list of cooking and cleaning chores is never-ending. An important aspect of balance is making time for the fun stuff. I need to make enough time for fun things during the week so that I don’t feel the need to stay up until all hours on Friday night to unwind. Followed by feeling behind when I need to sleep in on Saturday morning. Been there. Done that. Doing fun things is a much healthier option than eating chocolate to deal with stress or boredom. In any case, I can’t eat while I am spinning or knitting. Target: Pick at least two tasks from different categories on evenings I am home. Weekend days when I am home pick from at least three categories, including a creative project and a dreaded task. I can skip either on the weekend if I made significant progress during the week. Tally by week: number of sessions in each category. These should come out roughly even when adjusted for time. Log at least once a week, preferably more. Post for accountability. Food Last challenge I managed to lose 1 pound. Really I found and lost several with a net of -1.0. My weight has fluctuated around the same point since September. This time I want to blow this goal out of the water. My goal is 6 pounds lost to get to 152. That would match my low end weight in my early 30s. I am going to an event at the end of the challenge where I will see old friends and acquaintances who I have not seen for 10+ years. I want to be in my best possible shape. My exercise program is already where I want it. That means any change has to be 100% diet. Targets: No white sugar No white flour No snacks between breakfast and lunch No food after 8:00pm This means I need to plan ahead on days when I go straight from work to aikido. I will make granola bars, pack hummus and veggies, apples and cheese or actual meals to eat in the late afternoon. Additionally, cooking ahead helps on regular evenings. I am a much happier camper if I can reheat something for dinner and relax for half an hour when I get home. Having to go straight from work to cooking uses up my willpower for the evening. Last challenge I started keeping an idea list of things to cook. This turns out to work well for me. I have trouble thinking of things to cook when I am hungry or tired. Writing down the ideas reassures me that I can make things that I will like eat. I have been keeping up fairly well on batch cooking for the week. I can turn this up a notch and have plenty of tasty food. I will allow exceptions for special events. Going out to eat because of poor planning does not constitute a special event. Going out to eat with friends counts, but I will stick to the plan as closely as possible. Left-over pizza that the guys bring home from gaming is right out. I will allow good quality chocolate with sugar on one day each weekend. Good quality = Lindt, Callebaut, Godiva, local artisan chocolate. Log every day, accountability at least once a week. No stat points this challenge. There may be photos if things go well.

Challenge 11 You'd think by now, after 10 challenges, that I would be on top of things. My life is certainly better than it was a year and a half ago. I've lost about half the weight I wanted to lose and my knees don't hurt anymore.That said, I still have a ways to go. Life goal I've been having an awful time focusing at work. When I'm at home I can pick from a long list of tasks. If I don't feel like cooking, I can clean or sort things or work on projects. I've gotten better at taking breaks to do fun things between tedious chores. At work I tend to find excuses to surf the net when I want to avoid a task. Knowing better is not helping me change the behavior. The really idiotic part is that most of the "dreaded tasks" aren't that bad. Once I get going I can get them done and feel good about it. I don't know what approach is going to help me here, so I'm trying several things. 1) Sleep 8 hours a night. The evidence keeps mounting that I am more productive with more sleep. And getting to bed is where I get in trouble. Target: Stop doing tasks by 9:30pm on work nights. In bed before 10:00pm. In bed by 11:00pm on weekends unless at a special event. Tally by week: A = 9:30 or earlier, B = 9:31-9:45, C = 9:46-10:00, D = 10:01-10:15, F = 10:16 or later for stopping activities (shifted one hour later on Friday and Saturday). Bonus points for going to bed early on weekends. 2) Avoid junk food I suspect that some of the things I am eating are making it harder to concentrate. Not sure which ones are the problem, but processed food is a likely suspect. Most of the time my eating habits are pretty good. I had to send a package of blonde Oreos to gaming with my partner on Saturday because I have no control when I start eating them. I will ask him to cooperate by not bringing home treats for me. I am allowed to make sweets from scratch if I want. In my world time limitations work well as calorie limitations. Target: no packaged processed food, limited sugar and white flour. Tally by day: good - meh - bad I'll add more later. I have to sign off now to make my first goal for tonight. Exercise - a little of everything I'm happy with my exercise plan as it is. In brief, rotate through different types of exercises: knee physical therapyshoulder physical therapy (now with extra core exercises!)HIITupper body strength training (split into bodyweight and freeweight sessions)aikido and dancingThe aikido and dancing count more as fun than as exercise. Both are skill-based with an aerobic component, but have breaks too often to actually count as aerobic exercise. For challenge purposes they count as not being a complete couch potato. Teaching days do not count. Chores such as shoveling snow and vacuuming count. Target: 6 days exercise per week on average = 36 sessions over the challenge. Not to have two rest days in a row unless forced by extenuating circumstances. I'll tally this but not score it because it is maintenance, not a new goal. Balance My ongoing challenge goal. I have learned that to-do lists make me crazy. I never manage to get to all the things and I get stressed out. Instead of a to-do list I am going to have a pick list. I will choose tasks based on the time available and my priority order at the moment. One of the pick lists will be my creative projects. The list of cooking and cleaning chores is never-ending. An important aspect of balance is making time for the fun stuff. Also social things, but those tend to get scheduled for me. Target: Pick at least two tasks from different categories on evenings I am home. Weekend days when I am home pick from at least three categories, including a creative project and a dreaded task. I can skip either on the weekend if I made significant progress during the week. Tally by week: number of sessions in each category. These should come out roughly even when adjusted for time. Bonus goal I have been having a lot of fun playing Minecraft. Historically I've spent way too much time playing video games when I get hooked. I want to keep playing but not to the exclusion of other things I want (or need) to do. Another practice I want to keep under control is using sweets as a reward. I can play Minecraft only on days I don't eat any sweets. Fruit does not count. Chocolate with sugar and desserts count. I need to do at least one other task before I get to play. Bonus playing time if it is a dreaded task. Vanity goal Ending weight <155 lbs. I started the challenge at 159 lbs. The previous challenge I was at 156. I want to get back to where I was at the beginning of November or better. Prize for goals - fiber or fiber-related books. Edited to add exercise, balance and additional goals

Oh. Is it the first challenge of the New Year already? Hm. Guess I better get out of bed then. This challenge I want to try to keep it somewhat simple. I have come a long way from where I was 2 years ago, but I need to still work on a few more things – though at this point it’s less from need and more from want. But hey, why not gamify our lives a bit to make them more fun, right? The name of the game this time around is really just an all-around “Get better at stuff you’re already decent at” challenge, and hopefully by the end I’ll be both more well informed and proficient. How am I going to do this? By collected the Triforce! Which one is this? The World may never know. Yea, the Power-Wisdom-Courage one, but also the Heathly-Happy-Look Good Naked one, too, hopefully. I’ve got a bit of each of them, but I need to assemble them a bit more. So here’s the game plan: Triforce of Power ~Break through workset plateaus: Squat over 215# Deadlift over 330# Benchpress over 185# OHP over 110# So after the Nerds/My Birthday/the onslaught of the holidays/stress totally derailed my lifting schedule, I decided I needed to deload a bit and work back up to where I was in early November. I have this problem of being slightly concerned about being able to lift things and not break, so I figured backing off and building up again should be good. My only issue is I feel like I’ve been at these weights for a while (except for the Deadlift. That’s been pretty nifty). I had seen some Warriors (Gainsdalf and Knightwatch) suggest to a newbie lifter that to break through the plateau you can add more weight (if it’s mental) or do the normal workset you’ve been doing, with the last set being X+. So I’ve been doing 3 sets of 5, so instead do 2 sets of 5, and the last one 5+. I’ve been doing this actually for the last week or two, and it’s felt pretty good. So I want to see if I can get over my goals this challenge. Triforce of Wisdom ~Attend 7 aikido classes each week ~Skim Supple Leopard to determine about Achilles ~Read Four Hour Body’s Rapid Fat Loss section ~Skim 4HB Rapid Muscle Gain section So this initially started solely as the Monk-side of my challenge and grew a bit. Really the book reading parts are secondary, the class hours are really what I want to focus on. I want to test for 2nd kyu in April, because testing in April and then going on my Japan trip in May would be freaking amazing. That gives me 13 weeks to get through about 90 classes of aikido. I may make getting to the exam, I may not. Not that I want to bank on it, but I’m also fairly certain that if I was short only 10 or so classes by the exam time, Sensei would probably still let me test (because he subtly hinted that I should have tested in December – except I was missing 100 classes). I feel pretty confident with most of the techniques I’ll be tested on, but I want to work on my flow a lot more, make sure my shoulders don’t shoot up when grabbed, and keeping my center low (or at least as low as my somewhat gimpy knees will allow). However, for the most part I need hours. All the instructors I’ve talked to so far said I’d be fine with the exam as is – I just want to be better. As for the reading, these are just things I’ve been meaning to do, but haven’t gotten around to it. I’m hoping putting it down in writing will help motivate me to get around to it. The Supple Leopard is TinMan’s, but I’m gonna skim through it to see if I can find an answer to my Achilles woes. It’s just a weird injury, and I may have to suck it up and see a doctor about it, because it’s been a month and there isn’t much else I’ve been able to do about it. I’ve more-or-less been resting it, but what’s odd is when I’m warmed up the pain isn’t nearly as bad, so I think it’s a tight muscle thing, as opposed to a tendonitis/strain thing. Hoping that reading the book will give me a clue, or at the very least help me to describe in reasonable detail my issue to a doctor. And then there’s the Four Hour Body. It’s… and interesting book. I know Cheechoe was not a fan of the Tim Ferriss’ tone, but I can’t deny the whole “experiment on yourself” thing appeals to me a bit. So I’m going to see if reading the fat loss/muscle gain sections can shed some light on something I might be missing or give me some new insights. Wisdom, right? Triforce of Courage ~Primal eating, no/minimal calorie counting, Cheat Jar ~Weekly measurements ~Weekly Progress photos Ah, food and body image. My nemesesesssess. I’m going to try something new. I’ve been counting calories pretty damned regularly since I’ve joined NF. And as a weightloss thing, that’s been fantastic. It helped me scratch my data-collection itch, let me see numbers and percents, and gave me some good insight into how to eat healthier. But it’s not enough for me any more, and it’s added a few habits I’d rather not keep around. Like seeing I can fit a cookie or two into my caloric budget (or end up slightly over…). Thing is, while I’m definitely not opposed to a well-timed cookie, it really doesn’t help my goals – because my goals are steadily becoming more performance-based rather than weight loss-based, and a cookie does not help me perform better (though occasionally chocolate covered almonds before I do aikido have worked wonders). So, what’s a growing Phoenix to do? Try to remove the thing that helped him lose all his weight in the first place, obviously! See why this is the Triforce of Courage yet? So my goal is to take the advice of This_Is_Seth and try to make it a lifestyle. Do I mostly do that already? Ayup. But maybe switching things up a bit will help with both my performance and my weight fat loss. So. Going mostly Primal (since I’ve totally cool with Dairy), with a few caveats. 1) I’m keeping my damned pita pocket for lunch. I don’t like making second meals, and I stress a lot more about trying to figure those plans out than a whole 3g of carbs are worth. 2) Oatmeal is allowed once a week. Why? Because I like oatmeal and while I’m okay with cottage cheese in the morning, the fact it’s winter means that I want to eat warm things for breakfast – even though I’m toying with the idea of doing fasted workouts this challenge as well. 3) Beans. I’m allowing them in moderation. Yea, a bit carby, but with my activity level those carbs are going to be needed somewhere.4) I’m going to allow myself 4 cheat “events” – times where I’m being social, or family is visiting, or something falls out of the sky and I need to react and my food choices are the options of bad, terrible, and worse (clearly I’ll aim for the least bad bad). But speaking of which, I’m also going to have a cheat jar. A dollar goes in every time I have a cheat. At the end of the challenge, I’ll tally up what I have, and use it for some fitness-related thing. I actually have started the jar already…. There may be a good chunk of change in it after a week and a half. Now, I’ve been trying to regularly take progress photos. I have a bunch… just they are all stuck on my phone and not in any easy-to-observe order. So not only do I need to take the progress photos, I need to take the 20 minutes or so on the weekend, pull them off my phone, and into a powerpoint where I can do comparisons easier. I also need to take weekly measurements, and put them in the same place so I can correlate measurements and image. Honestly, I’m currently weighing in at ~220. I do not like that. At 205 I could see ribs. I want my ribs back. They made me incredibly happy since I don’t recall ever seeing them in my life, ever (because even Little Phoenix was Fat Phoenix). So. Of all the goals and challenges I have this time around, this is the one that scares the shit out of me the most. So you’ll probably all get to read my anxiety on the subject several times. Sorry in advance. Boss Battle: aka, the Gut Government ~File Taxes by the end of the challenge It’s the New Year, which means taxes are due in a few months. I have historically left myself maybe three days before they are due to fill them out, so I’m going to try and be good this year. Also, after Christmas spending and the upcoming Japan trip, I really need my tax return. So with any luck, it’ll be a decent return. So. That’s the plan for the New Year. Try to break some new ground, try to improve already existing abilities, and all and all kick some ass. Time to suit up and get that Triforce.

A bit late to the party for discussion on this one but it's something that may or may not become an issue to me depending on what level they decide to enforce this at. At the moment it only looks like Judo internationals are in the firing line. This article discusses a statement realeased from the IJF Scecretary from the views of the BJJ guys: http://www.bjjee.com/bjj-news/ijf-general-secretary-jean-luc-rouge-mma-fighters-are-stupid/ From my point of view there's things I've taken from BJJ, Sambo and Aikido that have improved my judo, and guys from BJJ, Sambo and MMA have taken things from my judo for use in their sport. There was mutual respect from all of us. I infact remember my first BJJ contest (entered as a Judoka) I bowed on judo style and the other girl did as a mark of respect to me, we then did the fist bump as a mark of respect to her. I understand the difficulty judo have had recently with the IOC and being criticsed for judo looking too simlair to various other sports, but the spirit of judo (and a grading criteria in the UK) is that the judoka develops their judo style from the techniques learned to suit their build and own personal strengths. If we can't learn from other sports then we can't develop our own unique and innovative style.

Intro Hey all! I'm madjoeybear and I love doing aikijiujutsu and shinkendo. I've been out of it for 6 years now though due to college and newly-arrived adulthood, and really want to get back into it. Main Quest To get my brown belt (san-kyu) Quests • Lift weights 3x/weekly for the next 5 weeks ○ +3 STR, +2 STA • Do treadmill walk/run intervals 3x/weekly for the next 5 weeks ○ +2 STA, +2 DEX • Go to classes at dojo 3/x weekly for the next 5 weeks ○ +2 DEX, +2 WIS Since all these are 3x/weekly for 5 weeks, they all have the same scoring: • A = 3x/weekly for 5 weeks or total of 15+ times • B = 2x/weekly for 5 weeks or total of 10-14 times • C = 1x/weekly for 5 weeks or total of 5-9 times • F = 0-4 times total Life Goal To level up my "Batcave" • Unclutter, purge, organize and clean ○ +1 WIS, +1 CON Motivation Want to regain any lost ground after so long away from the dojo (and show the guys what awesome looks like )

***To the new: I'm happy to help in any way I can! But, business is business, so if you'd like me to look at your challenge, please shoot me a PM and I'll check it out ASAP. Feel free to troll around this one. I'm working on a new format for challenge posts and a new (to me) approach to fitness. I'm probably going to stumble through it awkwardly, but hey! It's a process of continuing growth!*** Now... Enter, the Saiyan Warrior Why the GIANT crest? It's cumbersome and probably annoying to some of you. But, it's for me anyway. Every time I come to this thread and reference this post, I'll have a clear reminder of my goals. For me, the three-point motif (the crown, the base, and the "ladder") all represent my ideas of body, mind, and spirit. For this six-week challenge, heralding my own return to NF, I've decided to use the time to test my own mettle. I'm going back to school starting January 19, which gives me two weeks to focus on fitness alone and four weeks to split between fitness and school. My outlandish anime goal is to become something like Gohan. For those who don't know, he's a Super Saiyan, and a scholar. AND A badass nerd. Anyway, my Main Quest this year is to "Go Super Saiyan" which currently has no specific end (and may indeed take more than a year). That's what each check point is for, determining the next step. That's where these challenges become super handy. Each one can be themed around my goal and used to track progress. Consistency! So, what does it take to become a Super Saiyan? It takes immense power (Which I'll be measuring by Strengh-to-Weight). It takes dedication and a lifestyle of combat (more on this in the specific goal), and it takes an extreme emotional experience that involves total abandonment of the self. A "pure state of heart" does not require a specific type of purity. Pure evil and Pure good have equal likelihood of attaining the state. It's more about truth and intention than anything. This is a much more long-term goal than the others, but I'll come up with a six-week version by the time I get there. How does a Cob accomplish such a silly goal? Well, SMART-ly of course! The breakdown here is three goals plus a side-quest. Here we go! Life Goals Creative Writing Degree Publish a novel I've written Publish a board game I've designed "Go Goku" If possible, developing the skill needed to train without a gym, utilizing bodyweight and the environment to give myself an exhausting and effective workout while using minimal equipment. If the UNLV gym has the space and atmosphere for it, I'll use free weights as well. I just want to get off of machines! Current Stats Ht: 5'6" Wt 190 Mile Avg: 7:43 Activity level: Active. 3-4 days of workout per week, 3-4 days Aikido per week. Raising My Power Level Current strength-to-weight maximum is around 50% (95 lbs)Post-Challenge goal: 63% - 120 lbsExercise for benchmark will be the vertical chest press as this is the only machine (booooo!) I have guaranteed access to during this challenge (pending school's facilities). Push-up Alternative: As I don't like using machines and isolating muscles, I do a lot of bodyweight work during my circuit.This goal is a 45 push-up set at the third week's end (20 days from now) and 90 at the end of the whole challenge. Successful completion will count for the goal of "Raising My Power Level". This will all probably change as I get more into it and figure out my body's limits and the longer-term effect of using machines A Life of Combat Hit 3-4 Classes per week. Four is ideal, but I don't know what my transportation arrangements are going to be until I buy myself a car. So I'm saying 3 per week.Train my previous arts to keep up form (TKD, Kendo, Boxing/Muay Thai). Honestly, given the upcoming schedule, I'm going to say an hour per week between the three. Very minimal until I know exactly what I'm working with time-wiseI'd like to test for 3kyu before fall. For this six-week challenge, my goal is to just be a good student. Purity of Mind, Body, and Spirit Purity of Mind - At the end of the six-week challenge, my grade report reflects no less than three A's and one B. That's four classes for 14 credit hours. Obviously Straight A's is preferred. Purity of Body - At the end of the six-week challenge, I'll have eaten junk food no more than three times. My personal diet shall consist mostly of veggies and a meat source of protein. I also have a calorie goal of 1500/day but I don't fully understand how work and recovery affect your caloric needs and different sources give me different information, calorie calculators give different numbers, blahblahblah. So, I'm going to focus on pure foods, rather than specific numbers.Purity of Spirit - This one is kind of a gimme most of the time. I try to always be honest in my intentions and true to my values, with the utmost focus on self-improvement. This one is a pass if I simply complete the challenge.Bonus: Figure out all this calorie nonsense. I've heard/ been calculated at between 1500 and 2300. A future goal may be to work so hard that I can never eat it all back. That would be rather Goku of me ***Side-Quest: Getting Recognized*** This is just about taking steps towards my goal of being published in multiple media (I am already a published music columnist on a few sites, but it hardly counts). As I am majoring in creative writing and English, the steps in this side quest start with school and networking. My goal this semester is to be ready to finish it over the summer and put it out. For the six-week challenge, I'd like to have a professor review the skeleton of my novel and tell me about how to proceed with a second draft. By the end of the six week challenge, I'd like to know exactly what I'm doing with it . For the board game, there is so much to be done that I'm just going to keep it relegated to the side for now. Work on it bit by bit and flesh it out. Completing all four of these goals will grant me +4 STR, +3 STA, +2 WIS, +1 DEX, +1 CON, and the sidequest will give me +4CHA or be allocated among the other four stats if not completed. UPDATE: What does it look like to go super saiyan? For one guy, There's this And for another, there's this Also, this. Though, I'm less inclined to be this size. Lastly, there are these, from the anime. The first is the focused, single-minded intent (mind). The second is the emotionally-driven transformation (spirit). The third is the literally world-bending power (body). Laugh all you like; it's silly for sure. Still, there's no denying these are moments of transcendental power. That's the point. http://youtu.be/3WbFtW7_yyU?t=12s So, there it is. My goals have been laid out with excess. This year is going to be the year I transcend who I am and become who I want to be. If you haven't realized it yet... I'm very excited for this

Challenge 10 - Playing it cool My main goal is to keep up my good habits through the challenge. There will be at least one and probably two road trips to visit relatives. I have a history of getting stressed out around the winter holidays. This year I want to take a hard look at all the social options and obligations and make better choices. Exercise 1) Shoulder rehab My left shoulder has been giving me grief ever since I made a bad ergonomic change at work last summer. I think my desk set up is okay now but my shoulder had not gotten better. I have lost significant range of motion and the muscles in my upper arm hurt with some activities. I met with my trainer last week and she encouraged me to go to the chiropractor/sports medicine doc at our on-site clinic. Say what?!? We have a sports medicine person on site? No referral required, just a copay. I saw him yesterday. He did exactly what I expect a physical therapist to do: he moved my arm around, tested muscle strength and what movements cause pain. Then he did deep tissue work to break up adhesions and gave me a starter exercise for the first week. The lovely thing about going to the clinic at work is that he coordinates with the trainer. I don't have to have a follow up appointment (with copay) just to learn what exercises to do next. I can meet with the trainer (free) for that. It also saves a lot of time since I don't have to drive across town. My arm is bruised and sore today from the treatment but it still feels better than it has in months. I am sitting closer to my computer so that I don't reach forward with my left arm. That is probably what overextended the muscle and caused the problem. Habits. Gotta watch them like a hawk. + 4 DEX for strict adherence to rehab exercises 2) Endurance and aerobic capacity I've been concentrating on strength and aikido for the last several months. My aerobic capacity has dropped with neglect. I will do two sessions a week, either HIIT or long walks. +2 END for 12 sessions 3) Keeping moving I've found I am happiest when I have flexibility in my exercise plan. I have a good routine of leg & core exercises to keep my knees functional. I have a basic set of upper body exercises broken into a free weights day and a body weight day. I am practicing aikido two or three times a week. I would practice more if I didn't have to cook and keep things going at home. My overall plan is to do something active every day. Some days will have more than one thing. One rest day a week is allowed. Food I'm very pleased with where I'm at on losing weight and eating healthy. I have about 5 pounds more to go to be at my ideal weight. My goal for this challenge is to maintain rather than gain over the holiday party season. Fascinating observation - Most of the time I am good about not snacking at work. I let that go over Halloween. Monday and Tuesday I ate all the leftover candy I wanted. That left me feeling kinda jumpy and headachy. The really interesting effect was in my motivation. I got home after work and struggled to get anything done. Just like I used to do all the time before I cleaned up my eating habits. Yesterday I ate only homemade food (including sweets) and felt much more on top of things. The first week of the challenge I will avoid processed sugar/flour. Whole grains are allowed in moderation, as is fresh fruit. This will be a reset from the excesses of Halloween. The following 5 weeks I will be picky about treats. Homemade pie at Thanksgiving is a special treat. Store-bought baked goods are not. I will cook food with protein and veggies so that there is always something healthy to eat in the fridge. + 2 WIS +2 CON Pass/fail grading by week. Balance This is the tricky one. I struggle with making good choices so that I get things done and take enough relaxation time to not get stressed out. On the positive side, I took a look at my benefits at work (because it is health care renewal time). I have been here long enough that I can take a day off every three weeks. I have more than five weeks of vacation time banked up. I need to take time off or I will max out and lose it. Those of you who were thinking that I need a vacation can feel smug now. I will take off at least two days during the challenge to work on projects at home. I'll continue my previous challenge goals of balancing sleep, housework, projects, relaxing and exercise. +3 WIS +2 CON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGcIkqPTHo0 Two Months. In two months I, with a bunch of other Nerds, will be running the Fenway Spartan Sprint. Now, the Sprint I can finish. I have no qualms about that. I did fine last year. Except last year I held back on pushing myself, since I had teamed up with another Nerd who was just as petrified of dying during the race as I was. So we putz along. Not. Happening. This. Year. Last year I took a long, long time to finish the race, but over all I felt pretty solid about how I performed. The between-obstacle sections where I was forced to walk/very slowly jog with my team mate are what killed my time, not performing the obstacles themselves. And when all was said and done, I only failed only three obstacles: the Wall Traverse, Rope Climb, and the Spear Toss. Problem with these obstacles? Really hard to train for without access to specific equipment. Yea, I can join a club or something, but compared to a year ago, I am much, much more active, and scheduling is already a bit tight for me. Between lifting, November Project, and Aikido, my plate is full. So I need to try and do smaller things to add to my training, rather than flat out devout all my time to some new training. So really, I’m trying to deal with a less-is-more approach in some shape or form for all of my challenges this time around. 1) Spartan Gear I need new running shoes. Badly. I’ve used my current ones to death, and I really shouldn’t have. For a pair of $30, clearance rack running shoes, they dun good. But time to move on to big boy shoes. Unfortunately, I know nothing about getting a good pair of running shoes. So I need to go to a running store, get fitted properly, and then break the suckers in. They’ll at least get used weekly at NP, but I want a second use out of them. Maybe a short run, hell, even a walk, just something to get my feet comfortable in them. ~Get new running shoes ~Use them twice a week 2) Spartan Training, PLP edition So I want to try doing a PLP challenge to help prepare for the rope climb, and a bit of the wall traverse – mainly to gain some more upper body strength. I can’t do 10 pull-ups in a single set, so I’m going to be starting at the low run of ONE. That being said, I have two trips that are falling during this challenge. One this coming week will require some tricky maneuvering (read: I’m probably going to be doing pull-ups on my parent’s garage rafters), but should be doable. More difficult is when I go to New York Comic Con towards the middle of the challenge – where I’ll be mostly on the convention floor. My friend’s apartment complex may have a mini-gym I can use, but I have to ask. I’ll figure something out. I hope. ~Complete the PLP Challenge every day, barring unforeseen circumstances 3) Spartan Fridge What, a food challenge? But RP, I thought you said you were going to try and not worry about food any more. Why yes, Self, that was the initial plan. But bear with me. The Fridge is going to be Spartan because I’m going to be eating everything. Yup, kinda doing a bulk. Goal is to help increase my lift numbers, help build some muscle, and then next challenge (or one after it) I’ll try doing another cut again. It was pointed out to another member that sometimes if you plateau you should try eating more to boost your metabolism, and then attempt another cut. I’ve been eating more regularly, and been gaining some weight – but also gaining Strength. I want to try and keep that going, and then go back to trying a bit of weight loss. Trying to be somewhat conservative, but I’ve been just feeling really solid lately. May as well make it official, track it better, and then see what happens. In the process, I need to stop eating most of the junk at my office. I’m already considered “The Healthy Guy” there, but I can do so much better. I should not be gorging myself on chips, cookies, and cake, even if they are free. Free and tasty. (Cheesecake has fueled a few of my aikido classes, though, courtesy of work.) ~Eat between 2800-3,000 calories per day ~Minimal junk food (no more than 5 ‘junk’ foods per week, as defined by myself) 4) Spartan Aikido I think a lot about aikido. Which is probably a good thing. I still want to try and do more documentation of the techniques, but I think trying to force myself into a corner by demanding something solid and static for something as nebulous as aikido techniques might be the wrong way to target this. So I’m going to try something different. Marcus Aurelius had his Meditations written as little vignettes of thought. Small fragments of questions or ideas that popped into his head, his musings about life, the world, leadership, and philosophy. So I want to try and apply that to aikido. After every aikido class, write a sentence or three on something I learned/focused/reflected on in the class that day. Hopefully that will help me unlock some ways to write about aikido more efficiently. If not, it could provide just an interesting general insight. ~Grab a journal ~Write *immediately* after each class/day of aikido a lesson/thought/musing from that class I got this.

I was going to do a Doctor Who-themed challenge, but I can meet you halfway on the Firefly theme, and go with the original Western-inspired criminal-rebel-misfits-in-space show, the grandfather of them all: Blake's 7. Gosh, that makes it look so... serious. I suppose I'll be disabusing you of that idea over the course of this challenge. This show's got a smuggler, and a computer hacker who broke a bank, and a petty thief, and a murderer, and two political criminals trying to topple a corrupt government: the lead, Blake, and Cally, an alien from Auron, who's an actual proper trained rebel. (Those who can count have noticed that's not seven. Yeah, slightly sore point there. They never got around to it and tried to claim the disembodied talking computer Zen was the seventh.) They're on the run, pursued by a madman with a grudge and the most dangerous woman from any TV show ever, planning rebellion and trying not to kill each other or snark each other to death, and, despite the show occasionally forgetting it has female characters, Cally is one of the best of whole lot: the committed alien terrorist and vicious killer who's also the kindest and most genuinely moral one of the entire bunch. (Admittedly, it's a low bar on that ship.) So it's time for some actual proper rebel training. My longer-term goal is weight loss and building up strength, flexibility, and good conditioning for martial arts, maybe take up some climbing or parkour on the side for kicks. This is Cally trying to interrogate and kill three of her future friends, as one does. The great thing about the DVD releases is that, now, after she pushes Blake down that hill and onto the ground, you can see her bootprint clearly on his chest. She genuinely got a good kick in there; that always makes my day. Also, I think there's some ukemi in there, or at least we'll say there is, cuz she takes a fall and ends up on the ground. It counts. So: Goal: Aikido training I'm dojo-less at the moment, but I want to get a training plan for what I can train, so that when I go back, I'm in better shape than when I left. The basic warmups from training sessions each morning, some ukemi training, some sword kata. Those seem like the immediate things to work into my training routine. That's Cally scaling a castle with Blake to free a deposed and imprisoned president because politics. The politics, and the president, were actually very interesting. But the important bit here is scaling a castle. Hauling your body weight up two storeys takes some strength. Goal: Strength Training I've been doing a strength workout that is more of a placeholder than a real plan. I'm going to start El Diablo's Start Bodyweight Training plan to scale up a bit. I like bodyweight training, and that's got some well-laid-out exercise progressions, which can be one of my frustrations as I hit uneven patches in my fitness. I've got a bit of weight to lose, so I'm going to be following his suggestion for weight loss, with some cardio and HIIT in between - I'm basically doing that now, but the goal is to get it all working with a scaled-up strength training plan. This is Cally meditating while... god, best not to ask. It was the '70s. I think the men are doing Space Yoga, which is like regular yoga, but infinitely dorkier. (And those who've seen the show will get the pun in that banner. That's the computer, Zen.) Goal: Meditation This doesn't seem like a fitness goal, but in a way it is, because in a sense it's very like aikido training for the brain, with the repetitiveness and the focus. My ADHD significantly gets in the way of my forming new habits, so that's the thing I need to work on for my fitness habits to stick. I feel like a terrible martial arts cliché here, but screw it: that's the training I need, so that's the training I'll do. My plan is to step up over the six weeks, so a passing score will get more demanding over the challenge and the habits can work into place gradually, rather than make for an overwhelming week 1 and 2. Aikido stretching/warmups: The goal is every day. In week 1, three days a week is a pass. In week 6, six days a week is a pass. (6 points total, 1 per week of pass) Aikido ukemi practice and sword kata: For this challenge, I'm going to aim for adding one session a week. I might want to increase to two or three, but let's start with one and see how it goes. (6 points total, 1 per week of pass) Meditation: The goal is every day. In week 1, four days a week is a pass. In week 6, six days a week is a pass. (6 points total, 1 per week of pass) Bodyweight strength/cardio training sessions: The sample plan is the basic strength training routine 3x/week, and 35 minutes of cardio (two steady state and one with Tabata intervals) 3x/week. Week 1, I'm going to consider a pass as three cardio days, and using the other days to find my baseline in the progressions and learn the exercises I don't know well. Week 2, a pass will be getting the scheduling right, but I won't consider it a fail if I run out of time and can't get the full session in. Weeks 3 and onward, getting 5/6ths of it done is a pass. (6 points total, 1 per week of pass) 0%0% (0/24)

I'm super excited about this upcoming six week challenge and I can't wait to get started! My Main Quest: Getting Down to 170 lbs. I've been on this quest for years, but now teaming up with NF I feel like I have finally found my secret weapon in this fight: knowledge and motivation!!! This is certainly a long term quest, as I am about 55 lbs from my goal... (I started 75 lbs away). Thankfully the NF diet and exercise, along with my continual martial training has helped me get closer to my goal, but it's time to step it up and commit (I need to build healthy habits). Three Things To Get Me There: Consistency has always been an issue for me. In fact, the only thing I seem to do consistently is gain weight back that I work hard to lose (I lost all this weight once already in high school... IN A YEAR!!!!, gained it back in the proceeding 10 years since). If I can develop some healthy habits in these next six weeks to help me on my quest, then it will have been a success. Step One: NF Dumbbell Level 1 Exercise 3 Times A Week Step Two: Aikido At Least Twice (hopefully 3) Times A Week Step Three: Removing All Sodas and Juices. Hopefully all these will work out and I'll be successful. I'm always in need of motivation and support, so if there's a group opening I'm definitely interested. I'm also more than happy to lend support to anyone in need! Here's to hoping my Thu'um will be strong. Dovahkiin

For those who saw this under battle logs before, you'll have to excuse my mistake. I've cleared my battle log to include more current goings on. Anyway, my named is Ink. OK not really but that's kind of what I think of my potential self would call herself- like a superhero moniker. Basically I'm the kid that grew up running around and playing sports and still carried a bit of fat with her. In college, I joined a martial arts group and was slowly working towards physical health until my knee and then spine got injured. I still practice in a limited fashion while I heal but I am tired of feeling partially human. Over the last 8 month, I've had little boom and bust cycles as I heal. I've knock my weight down from 215 (which occurred from a few months of not really being able to walk and only having food as a friend) down to about 195. By an estimate, I've be around 20% fat closer to 170- maybe 175. I'd like to get down there and then build back up to 195 with muscle! Goals Fitness Reach 20% body fat Reach 18% body fat Reach 16% body fat Be able to do 20 push ups. Be able to do 50 push ups. Be able to do 100 push ups. Be able to do 20 one armed push ups. Be able to do 50 one armed push ups. Be able to do 1 pull up. Be able to do 10 pull ups. Be able to do 20 pull ups. Be able to do 1 muscle up. Finish the doyogawithme.com's beginner course. Finish the doyogawithme.com's beginner to intermediate course. Finish the doyogawithme.com's intermediate to advanced course. Finish the doyogawithme.com's martial art course. Be able to do a handstand with wall support. Hold a freestanding handstand for 60 seconds. Be able to walk 1 city block on my hands. Hold a planache for 10 seconds. Bench press 1/2 my weight. Bench press 3/4 my weight. Bench press my weight. Bench press 1 1/4 times my weight. Be able to do a split. Be able to kick leg to head level and hold. Hold crow for 30 seconds. Hold Warrior III for 30 seconds. Hold crane for 30 seconds. Hold eight-angle pose for 30 seconds. Hold forearm-stand scorpion for 30 seconds. Be able to carry Voodoo (dog) for 1 city block walking. Be able to carry Voodoo for 1 city block running. Be able to fireman's carry BF for 1 city block walking. Be able to fireman's carry BF for 1 city block running. Nutrition 60 Day primal without eating out. All meat grass feed, pasture raised or wild caught. Eat dirty dozen organic only. Career [Working on IDing goals.] Other Regular sleep schedule. No back pain. Be able to walk Voodoo 1 a day. Be able to walk Voodoo 2 a day. Be able to wrestle with Voodoo without pain afterwards. Be able to run neighbor with Voodoo. Reach black belt in Seidokan Aikido. Reach black belt in a hard style martial art. Reach godan in Seidokan AIkido. Open dojo. Train 1 student to gokyu. Train 1 student to shodan. Left buttock heal seal tattoo. Spinal back tattoo. Left leg alligator oorobros tattoo. Addition to left shoulder tattoo. Circle and one point tattoo. Right side armor tattoo. Ear strips tattoo.

I claim this link as my own! Um, hi. I'm Inked- an American college student that got severely injured in a martial art and for the last year hasn't really been living so much as not dying. And I am tired of it. My parents are German and I grew up on stories of Donar and Wotan (Thor and Odin- their more common Norse names) and superheroes. (Yes, I do love the Thor comic line I just don't compare the two too much.) And you know what, it's time to finally start living up to my genes; my parents at their peak were insanely fit and strong and I've never known what that really is. I'll be posting here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and noting my progress on fitness, nutrition and other life goals. Summer just started so I have 17 weeks and 1 day until the Fall Semester to get through my 'prequel' of sorts. After that, I want to keep going and finally feel alive. I've divided this into three general levels: Iron Steel Uru Iron is my current state. I'll reach steel when I hit the following markers: 20% body fat (est 170 lbs); 20 one armed push ups; no back pain. Markers for the next level will be determined when I hit steel. Goals have been moved to here. Battle Plan FOOD: We are eating primal based on our CSA share. Since it is spring that means lots of leafy greens. Right now most of the dairy is grass feed including the butter, milk and cream. We are aiming to only eat pasture raised or wild caught meat at this time. EXERCISE: Yoga stretching every day without fail and when pain hits. I’ll be trying very gentle yoga on days without Aikido or personal training to try and strengthen my body holistically. I do Aikido in a limited fashion three times a week for up to two hours- depending on what my pain/ energy level that is that day. PROFESSIONAL HELP: Right now I am working with a personal trainer twice a week for a ½ hour, a chiropractor 4 times a week and myofasical release for 1 hour a week. OTHER: I’m adding in 30 minutes of additional chores. Over the last month, my doc banned me from doing anything but cooking to try and help me heal. This had put a lot of strain on my partner, who is doing his best to try and keep the house cleanish while being a graduate student. The 30 minutes will only include things that don’t make me lean down. So putting in the laundry, sweeping, prewashing dishes, etc. Progress Started beginner's yoga plan. 1 day eating primal.

Ok first challenge to be started, hope i'm doing this right. Main Quest: to be more comfortable with who i am, being fitter, healthier and smaller. i have no goal weight but at least 30KG than i currently am. Mini Quests: 1: to continue doing BBWW three times a week, by the end of 6 weeks being able to do the full circuit 3 times 2: do cardio three times a week, at least 30 minutes each time 3: lose 10KG (22 pounds) during this challenge Life Quest: Start roller skating again, i belong to a club called Skate Collective, train once a week in a low contact derby league. haven't been for months. training should start again during january. no more excuses! it's fun and gets my out of the house. Points System: Each full circuit of BBWW is 1 point A full three circuits of BBWW is 4 points Each 30 minute cardio session is 2 points Each extra 30 minute cardio session is 2 points (on non cardio days) Attending Roller Derby training 3 points Reaching goal weight at end of 6 weeks 5 points Reaching goal weight by 11 Feb (when i'm getting my next tattoo) 5 bonus points ^ i wasn't supposed to book it until i got this goal weight but i've hopefully pushed it out long enough to complete the goal and i'm impatient. Grading: A: over 140 points B: 115 - 139 points C: 80 - 114 points D: less than 80 points looking forward to starting on Monday!

INTRO TL;DR version below Fresh out of her training camp, [sAVE GRETEL] was her first mission as witch huntress. Rumour said that Hansel, Gretel’s brother, escaped the witch’s prison, but still trapped inside the castle. After climbing the endless castle stairs and did some serious kicking and punching to the evil minions, she entered the prison dungeon to whack the final boss: The Witchbread. Little did she know that a special armor is an absolute must for her epic win. Too lazy to level up and ignoring her lack of self-discipline, thinking that the stats of her current body measurements won’t make huge difference, she dived right into the last battle with her comfortable-and-good-enough-yet-not-the-best armor. Boy was she wrong. Tiny differences, just few little inches, enough to knocked her out. I failed, totally game over this time, she thought. But then, Hansel jumped out of nowhere, grabbed her arms and dragged her out of the dungeon. “I thought you had the special armor with you!!†Hansel yelled. “Well, I do have it with me! But, well, um…†she stopped. “What?†“Um… It didn’t fit nicely.†“Huh?!†“I can’t breathe normally wearing it. I can’t even move properly. So um, yeah.†“…..For the love of every Norse gods, you failed just because the armor was too tight?!†“Yeah, I don’t know why suddenly it didn’t fit—†“I know. You ate each and every bread from those little evil minions after you defeat them.†“…Oh.†“See? That’s why. Now, you must make the armor fits into your body. And you’ll do it MY way. It’s different from your usual routine, but I know your weaknesses. Trust me.†“Go on." "First of all, don’t pick up those snacks. Nope, don’t even buy it from the item shop!! Eat real food 3x per day to keep you full and distracts you from picking up unnecessary poisonous snacks along the way, the ones that will turn into fat, slow you down, drain the money you keep to enhance your equipments, and waste your time by eating them. And you better get some serious skill upgrade. Level up your movement, punches and kicks, train again at your Muay Thai camp and Aikido dojo. Power them up with your favorite bodyweight routine. And uh, you're too stiff to move around, stretch those hamstrings. Okay, got it? Now do it. My sister’s life depends on you. She can hang in there for 6 weeks, but after that….†“Let’s do it. I won’t fail again this time." —— TL;DR version *bows* Hello guys! I decided to join the Monks for this challenge, because now I added Aikido into my exercise routine I practice Muay Thai 1 - 2x /week regularly , and now I’m back training Aikido again since my last class on 2004. Back then I quit because I had that severe low self-esteem, thinking that I wouldn’t do well as I was so grossly obese, even though I like the movement in Aikido very much. The day I decided to quit, I made a promise to myself: If my weight hit below 70 kg, I will enter the dojo once again. So here I am, keeping that promise. I already paid 1 month in advance to keep me accountable. And yes, that Gretel over there is my favorite keychain. I hang her there upside down on my mirror, right across my target clothes. Seeing her and that clothes hanging every day and night should motivate me. MAIN QUEST Fit nicely on my target clothes. Action plans 1. Don’t buy snack I bought and ate too many cakes and breads. Better tackle this one first. 2. Daily stretching My Muay Thai instructor told me many many times that I have to improve my flexibility. I have to admit that I’m so lazy doing stretching, so it’s time to get serious now. I try to make my action plans into a ‘yes or no’ condition. Daily exercise and food logging are parts of my new healthy lifestyle now, so I no longer list it as action plan. I created a Google Doc of my action plans to make me more accountable. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtKLqVvh9W7udGJib3gybE9OYkZ6QVYzVlctbDVnZHc&usp=sharing I wanted to list many other specific goals, like practicing ukemi, kicks and handstand, but I have to keep my goals as simple as possible. I realized that 'one step at a time' really works well for me. SIDE QUEST - Life: Pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Finish the kanji book. - Fitness: Do the Blogilates 100 Day challenge (every Sunday) under 10 minutes 100 jumping jacks, 100 sit ups, 100 squats, 100 criss crosses, 100 bridge, 100 chest press pulses. Current time: 10 minutes. - Diet: Be a lefty real foodie Eat real food 2-3x/day with non-dominant hand to slow down my hi-turbo eating speed. - Mini quests From guild MOTIVATION Never repeat the same mistake twice. EXERCISE ROUTINE (adjustable) Monday: Muay Thai Tuesday: Aikido Wed: Total bodyweight Thu: Core bodyweight Fri: HIIT Sat: Rest Sun: Aikido + Blogilates 100 Challenge Not much of change, I only replaced one BW day into Aikido and stack the other Aikido day into Blogilates 100 Challenge day. MINI DEADLINES November 23rd: Friend’s wedding. December 15th: Family meeting. REWARDS No food rewards, I’ll save the money to do other fun activities or buy cool stuff XD Week 1: Go to the shooting training camp with my friend Week 2: Get a new haircut Week 3: Buy a complete set of concealer Week 4: Take the survival swimming course Week 5: none yet Week 6: none yet Grading and body measurements coming soon. Need to find that tape measurements first

Who are you? I'm a Zoë. We tend to be a local, vivid bunch and this particular one is Gothy and thinks of herself as more of a he. I'm working on making a living with writing, practicing Aikido, figuring out cooking, raising chickens and GMing when I have the time. Somewhere in the there is yoga, cleaning, sleeping and picking up and dropping off an art habit. What's your current status? Um....better. In March I ripped my mcl (the tendon on the inside of your knee) in an Aikido practice. I spent a lot of time off getting back to just walking and went up to basically a size 18 from size 14. I came back to Aikido in midJune and now am working towards my brown belt test in October. Also I'm down to fitting into the size 16 clothes again. Where do you see trouble coming from ? Trying to write enough to have enough to eat, balancing time, and oh yes, my boyfriend probably has Celiac's so now I have to figure out gluten-free baking and cooking. I also seem to lose weight horridly but at least gain muscle well (for a female). When do you think you'll be a "vampire"? Not ever since I don't think they actually exist. But the idea of a vampire is seductive as a goal to me, more than describing myself as a warrior or a monk. Vampires can be protagonists in stories now, often fighting against their own self-destructive urges. They are also very strong, very fast, and very mentally flexible. If they come up against something stronger than them, they don't insist on having an arm wrestling contest. They use their speed and flexibility to beat them. They aren't one trick ponies; they are clever demons. Plus vampires put off a predator vibe. Other things avoid them and respect them. In Aikido, we think the ability to avoid a fight is a wonderful thing. A vampire avoids having to fight by just being scary powerful (and sometimes smooth talking their way out of a corner.) Why Level One? Because in some games you start at level zero. Zip, nothing, nada. And then you go thru the game guide, kill a rat or two and then get to add a stat point or two and find a twig to equip yourself with. Ya, that's how I feel after my injury. I have a stick- fear me! How are you going to run this log? More reflection based. I'm going to aim to post the day after recapping the highlights. Sometimes I'll just put out food lists and exercise lists when I have nothing better to add. But I'd like to put in recipes, reflections and more journal posts when I have the time.

Hello All, first timer here. I found the site at the beginning of last week, and after much reading (and subbing class work) I'm ready to start! By the way, I'm totally winging this, so if you've any recommendation to help tweak plans, or how a goal is set, advice is much loved. Starting Point:Weight: ~179lb.Height: 5'5.5"41-39-42 Able to do (without rest):2 "Real" pushups, 17 2.5' incline pushups. 20 sec Planks40~ish bicycle crunches.38 squats QUEST JOURNAL - Goals & Definitions: Quest: Training from an Elven Hunter1) Lose Weight and get fit with Basic Parkour Training and Aikido practice (up to 7th or pre-6th Kyu). End Goal: Lose Ten+ Pounds by end of challenge. Do Ten+ full push ups.I've posted a list of basic recommended exercises for parkour beginners on my wall, along with all the training I remember from Aikido class.Spend at least 10 minutes daily working through the list, increasing reps by +1 every two days. Minimum time +5 min for each week.Weigh-in, photo (personal) and measurements on Sundays, so I don't stress about progress in between.On days I hurt too much to do the harder exercises, it is acceptable to replace training with 20 minutes of stretching. +5 minutes for Yoga with each passing week.Skill Points: STR 3, STA 2, DEX 1 Rewards: Archer's Gloves (Rare), Gatherer's Satchel (Common) Quest: Herbologist Training 2) Eat a Paleo-themed diet at least 50% of the time, keeping everything healthy the other half. End goal: To have switched to a Paleo/Primal based diet, instead of the pizza/rice one I eat. I've scoped out all the locations on campus which would support Paleo related eating habits, and no longer go to the places that won't.Swapped out fried foods and baked goods for roasted foods and fruit.Cut back on grains until february first, when they're completely out of my diet (Reason for slow change is that grain is a large source of fiber for me).Research and menu plan for dorm-friendly, low-mess Paleo snacks and meals (that can freeze well). Have menu ready for next weekend (Jan 19th).Side Quest: Research anti-inflammatory foods & herbs. Skill Points: CON 3, STA 1, WIS 1 Rewards: Small Herb Cabinet (Rare), or Trainee's Manual (Common) Quest: Journey to the Sage 3) Work on my mental well-being and Health. End Goal: Visit and speak with a counselor. Reduce anxiety, to stop the emotional eating triggers - defined by frequency of bingeing. Visit the school counseling office 1+ times a month, to work through anxiety and personal issues. Schedule an appointment.Keep a weekly journal of things that cause me great stress, and work on solving the triggers.Meditate a few times a week to soothing music. Three to four times is desirable. Skill Points: CON 2, WIS 1, CHA 1 Rewards: Book of Wisdom (Rare), or Book of Secrets (Common) *Note from Headmaster: Each week starts on Monday. Side quests may become available with progression. Completion of all side quests may earn additional rewards. Any Student's rewards for quests cannot be obtained unless the quest has been achieved at the basic competency level. Anything lower than a (C) will be dismissed as a failure. Rare Rewards may only be obtained in the event that a mission was completed in full (A), and every other quest grade has been satisfactory (C).