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Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favorite stories of all time and for my first NF Challenge, I want to invoke Aang and laugh at gravity. {For those who aren't familiar: The show was originally written for kids and aired on Nickelodeon, but it was so good much of the regular audience was made up of over 18s. My local bar in Brooklyn actually packed in a huge crowd when they played the final four-episode finale. The premise of this world is that there are four main superpowers in existence, and four separate nations or groups of people: The Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. Special people from each can "bend" their own group's element. Fun fact: The bending styles are based closely on four Chinese martial arts, respectively: tai chi, hung gar, northern shoalin, and baguathang.} My friend and roommate, C, introduced me to this show the very same week she took me and our other roommate, L, to a medley martial arts class. We joked about what kind of bender we'd be and I was the last one to figure mine out. C already knew she was Waterbender (a natural at Tai Chi, sensitive, graceful) and after a few classes not even the giant dudes could knock L down, even though she's tiny. She's totally an Earthbender. It wasn't until we started using holds that I found I could escape almost any situation, particularly with spinning moves. I'm a goddamn Airbender. Fast forward a year, I'm no longer in New York (which makes me happy and sad at the same time) and no longer taking martial arts classes (which just makes me sad). I will again once I'm settled into a new city, but for now while I'm being a bit nomadic I have to do my Airbender training solo. And Airbending is a lot of acrobatics. In the past I've done exercise I didn't love: Running, swimming laps, lifting weights—along with (excessively) restricting food. It never works for long because eventually my resentment that I have to slog through it every single day outweighs the benefits and I start making rude hand gestures at the whole endeavor. The irony in all this is that the times I've been fittest in my life have been when I've done only the things I like. Mostly? Acrobatic, gravity defying stuff. Here on in I will no longer be dragging myself to a gym. I will no longer fight myself. I am going to do what I enjoy. I need to ditch the desire to be routine. Many people seem to take comfort in consistency and repetition. For me routines are shackles. So instead of trying to do a series of movements or circuits a certain number of times a week I'm going to learn specific tricks. Task 1 Upside down things 1: Learn to drop into a backbend. Aim to practice every day, with a minimum of four times a week. My starting count in an up-from-the-ground wheel is a max of 10 "mississippis" in this pose, I'll aim to stay up just a few longer than feels comfortable at the time and take a count at the middle and end of the challenge. 2: If I master drop-backs before the end of the challenge, I'll move on to practicing my crow/frog stand and bound headstand balance times. I'm currently at about 3 "mississippis" for each. Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Strength: 2 Stamina: 1 Dexterity: 1 Task 2 Get bendy Splits are a mainstay of acrobats, ninjas, and basasses of all stripes, including Airbenders. And I want in. My starting yet-to-split measurements are right leg front: about 30 centimeters left leg front: about 30 centimeters horizontal: about 23 centimeters To get lower I'm going to do the following stretches (each for a total of at least five minutes) throughout the day as I take breaks from working and/or before bed: Forward bends Butterfly Pancake Pigeon with quad stretch Frog stretch Reclining Hero Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Task 3 Slash at the thyroid monster with food I have a bit of a tendency to restrict my eating when I want to see results and it's problematic, especially because I have a mostly-dead thyroid. In my early 20s (I'm in my late 20s now) while my thyroid was secretly doing the hereditary death-rumba, I found that to lose about a pound a month I had to workout at least an hour a day, seven days a week, and eat less than 1200 calories a day. I did this on and off for years until my thyroid totally died about a year ago and I gained at least 30 or 40 pounds in a couple of months while barely eating at all. It was awesome. Of course, once I got on the right thyroid medication and threw out the grains, things started to change without the need to starve and exercise to exhaustion. I promise to eat. I will eat when my stomach rumbles. EAT. EAT. EAT. Like Appa and Momo. Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Constitution: 1 Life goal Fight the complacency beast I'm a freelancer, which means buckets of freedom, and that's great. But to get more (and more interesting) work I need to do some hard self-promotion including cold emails, and that blows. I'd rather bathe in leeches than "network" but I really like having a bed indoors, so I will spend five hours a week pursuing new work. Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Charisma: 1 Wisdom: 1 Ready? Set? Yip yip!

Howdy Rebels! I am totally new to all of this but I am also super excited to be here! A Little About Me: First off, I'm from the beautiful Aotearoa / New Zealand / Middle Earth , so all my measurements will be in kilograms and centimeters I'm an undergraduate student living a pretty sedentary lifestyle at the moment. I love Waka Ama (Outrigger Canoeing) and I love to dance. But being overweight and unfit puts a bit of a curb on my ability and enthusiasm to do these things (I know, vicious cycle). I haven't always been overweight, but I've never been skinny. At 17 I was about 60 kgs (which, now, would be amazing!!), but compared to my other friends at Waka Ama... I was big! So my plan for my first challenge ever is to keep my missions small and manageable. And hopefully this will be the key to my success! Starting Stats: Gender: Female Height: 168 cm Weight: 115 kgs Pant size: 18 (uncomfortably) so who am I kidding? It's 20 Motivation: I want to live fully! I want a full life where my body is my vehicle driving me towards my goals and opportunities, rather than a burden and a hinderance. I want my body to be as sharp as my mind so I can pull of sweet moves in laser tag. I want to run around all day and create my own entertainment rather than living vicariously through people on t.v. Main Quest: I want to go down one clothing size: pant 18, top 16 Missions: Take a walk 5 mornings a week 100 continuous squats Run 3 km Life Quest: Sing Love on Top by Beyonce It sounds like a really weird life quest. But I also love to sing and with a bit of confidence, training and weight loss I think I could improve my voice enough to nail this beast of a song. Finally: (Warning: This is where it gets cheesy ) Why is my username Tiroh? Well if anyone has seen Avatar: The Last Airbender they would know that Uncle Iroh is epitome of BAMFness. And when he gets thrown into prison he resculpts his body back into a fine-tuned fighting machine in order to escape. Like Uncle Iroh, I too will escape this prison (of my own design) and reclaim my former glory!

6WC Tracking Spreadsheet Air bending= Cardio/endurance Water bending= flexibility/agility Earth bending= weightlifting/strength Fire bending= nutrition/fat burning This is my second "Avatar" challenge overall. My name is Dr3wcifer My quest is to master the Avatar State (yip yip)! My favorite color is green. No, blue. No, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa But seriously, my Main Quest is to compete in the Crossfit Open next year. This will require mastery of all the elements: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. This gives me nine months to figure out all the exercises I currently don’t know: the muscleup, the handstand pushup, the clean and jerk, the snatch, the holyshitwhyamIintimidatingmyselfrightnowbylistingallthesethings. Supporting Quests Air Goal: 50 Double Unders in a row (3+ STA, +1 CON) Current Ability: It's about like this: single under, double under, single under, double under, single under, whip myself in the shin. Shit! Start again. Grading: A: >50 DUs B: 40-49 DUs C: 30-39 DUs D: 20-29 DUs F: <20 DUs Water Goal: Stretch at least 3 hours/week (+2 DEX, +1 CON) I need to maintain some flexibility and keep my muscles fresh to sustain progress. Last challenge, I kind of burnt out trying to do yoga for 4 hours a week, so I'm scaling back the goal this time to make it more manageable. Current Ability: I've been taking a break from yoga the last couple weeks Grading: Every 10 minutes of stretching is 1 point. No more than 20 points can be earned per week. A: >90 pts B: 80-89 pts C: 70-79 pts D: 60-69 pts F: <60 pts Earth Goal: Clean & Jerk 135lbs (+3 STR, +1 DEX) My knees are feeling a lot better these days. I need to work on my form on this lift, though, and then start upping the weight. Current Ability: TBD (Diagnostic on Friday) Grading: A: >135lbs B: 115-135lbs C: 95-115lbs D: 75-95lbs F: <75lbs Fire Goal: Body fat % <10% (+3 CON, +1 CHA) This was the one that kicked my ass last time. I was doing pretty well 2/3 of the way into the last challenge, then succumbed to the ice cream and pizza and funnel cake and more ice cream and why am I doing this to myself? I even lost my six-pack a little bit. Anyway, goal remains the same as last time, but increasing the attribute reward, because it will be worth it. Current BF%: Floating around 13%, as of last Friday Grading: A: BF<10% B: 10%<BF<11% C: 11%<BF<12% D: 12<BF<13% F: BF>13% This will reappear next challenge as a diet side-quest AVATAR STATE (Life Quest) Goal: Be productive for at least 8 hours a week (except DisneyWorld week) (+2 WIS, +2 CHA) Productive activities include, but are not limited to: Studying for the GMATStudying Japanese HouseworkYardworkCarworkGrading: Every 30 minutes of productive activity is 1 point. No more than 20 points can be earned per week. A: >80 pts B: 75-79 pts C: 70-75 pts D: 65-69 pts F: <65 pts

Air bending= Cardio/endurance Water bending= flexibility/agility Earth bending= weightlifting/strength Fire bending= nutrition/fat burning The Avatar's Progress (Spreadsheet) Book 0: Air Goal: Swim 1k < 25:00 (2:30/100m pace) [+3 STA] "But Drew," you may ask, "Shouldn't swimming be a waterbending goal?" Nope! Swimming is a tough cardio endurance activity. And if you're in the pool and don't have air, you tend to drown. Doctors have informed me that's bad. Starting ability: My last 1k swim time was 26:52. That was a month ago. How will I achieve greatness? Get to the pool; it's freaking summer! Swim Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. This was originally a run goal, but my knees need a break; my run goal will reappear in the sequel. Grading: A: <25:00 B: 25:15-25:30 C: 25:30-26:00 D: 26:00-26:30 F: >26:30 Book 1: Water Goal: Stretch (static stretches, yoga, etc.) at least 4 hours a week [+3 DEX] Starting ability: I do yoga maybe 20 minutes to half an hour in the evenings maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I haven’t really been very committed yet. How will I achieve greatness? Attend a yoga class on weeks 1, 3, and 5 to get guidance from someone that knows better than I do; other than that, ½ hour at wake up, ½ hour in the evening 4 days a week. Grading: Each hour of stretching is 4 points. Max points in a week is 20. Points accumulate over the 6 weeks. A: >90pts B: 80-89 pts C: 70-79 pts D: 60-69 pts F: <60 pts Book 2: Earth Goal: Do a muscle up [+3 STR, +1 CON] Starting ability: I'm at 9 on both my deadhang pullups and dips. This was originally a clean & jerk goal, but my knees need a break. The clean & jerk goal will reappear in the sequel. How will I achieve greatness? Pullups and dips in the morning Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. Grading: A: Muscle up achieved! B: PUs & Dips > 15 C: 14-13 PUs & Dips D: 12-11 PUs & Dips F: PUs & Dips < 11 Book 3: Fire Goal: Reduce body fat to <10% [+2 CON, +1 CHA] Starting ability: Various calculators online gave me a median BF% of 13.3% based on measurements. How will I achieve greatness? Diet & exercise, friends. Drink only water & lots of it, stick to low glycemic carbs, and I need to up the protein so I burn fat and not muscle. Grading: A: BF<10% B: 10%<BF<11% C: 11%<BF<12% D: 12<BF<13% F: BF>13% Avatar state (Life Goal) Goal: Study for the GMAT at least 4 hours per week [+2 WIS] Starting ability: Math's great, reading comprehension's good. Vocab & writing are the neediest areas. How will I achieve greatness? Study an hour per night two nights during the week, and an hour a day on the weekends. Grading: 4 points per hour of study. Max points per week is 20. A: >90pts B: 80-89 pts C: 70-79 pts D: 60-69 pts F: <60 pts Currently training for: Brigade Combatives Tournament (late August)Warrior Dash (early November)I look forward to doing this 6-week challenge. I'll be in Disney World during week 6. That should make things fun & interesting. Don't expect too many barbells there. -Drew