Search the Community

You thought that title was metaphorical, didn't you? No, in fact I'll actually be escaping a labyrinth in this challenge. Allow me to explain.... I generated a maze in Excel and my challenge will start in its centre. It's totally filled in, and as I move around it, it will reveal more of the labyrinth. For each kilometre that I run, I get to move 1 square: x o It's based on a 21x21 grid so theoretically I should be able to solve it in under 441 moves, but I'm hoping to do better than that! I'm aiming for 3 runs per week...just want to get back into a regular routine after the holidays. I'm not to stressed about the distances or times for now, but should ideally be doing 2 x 5km and 1x10km per week. As for tracking, I will be using my XP tracking sheet form my previous challenge. More on this as I progress. I hope there's nothing too scary in these dark hallways.... l'aventure commence!

I know I want this challenge to be about summer and getting more in touch with my primal self (this includes movements, diet, rest, etc.) as well as my spiritual self. I'll get my goals figured out and add them in later. For now... an infographic to serve as the rough draft of my challenge:

I know, I know, the challenge started Sunday. But nevermind that. I'm tackling this challenge differently: instead of three separate goals, it's one goal stretched over three achievements. These achievements, specifically, are: 1. My Tender Sole: walk 2 km barefoot. 2. Achilles' Heel: walk 4 km barefoot. 3. Honorary Hobbit: walk 6 km barefoot. Now, I have been walking to work and back for a little while now, so I have plenty of opportunity to practice barefoot walking. I tend to get blisters from my shoes because my feet are wimps, so I decided to toughen them up. I managed 1 km last night. Here's to getting Hobbit feet.

Behold, my adventure map! (roughly corresponding to my town) For more backstory visit my battle log. After hiking rangerously through Mt Moon I expected to emerge triumphant into the daylight but instead fell into the pit of Zero Week where family issues, comfort eating and travel got the best of me. All was not lost as I still fit in one workout and two walks and did some meal prep to get my diet back on track. This time I will be taking a tour around the Safari Zone (wildlife reserve visit/fitness goals) and looking for Mew on the docks by the S.S. Anne (visiting the coast/life goals). Fitness Goals in the Safari Zone Knee-doqueen Knee strengthening exercises every day. This is going to take a lot of discipline but I'm sick of not being able to trust my knees to be stable. I'm still refining the routine but I'm basing it off this site and some exercises from YouTube. Barefoot STOMPing One barefoot walk each day, at least to the end of the street and back but a little longer each day if my feet can take it. I used to be into barefooting but once I found thin-soled shoes I liked I gave up on conditioning and never had the patience to try again. Once I can walk to the shops and back it will be easy since my day-to-day errands will become my conditioning time. But that's a fair way off and in the meantime short walks outside will do me good. HM04 STRENGTH Continue strength training 3x a week at home but increase from one to TWO gym visits a week. I finally fixed my bike so now I don't have to worry about wasting petrol or paying parking. Life Goals on the S.S. Anne Captain's log 4-5 hours per week on Lynda.com courses, since I'm paying for a subscription and it is NOT cheap in AUD. This will allow me to complete 4 courses on vector illustration. Sightseeing Cruise Visit the wildlife reserve or a coastal area at least once a week to draw or paint. Bonus - Find Mew Under the Truck File my health insurance claims. Bonus - HM01 CUT Tidy up the lawn edges and various weedy corners.

This is my log of what I eat and what exercise I do, I'm starting it from a low point, I haven't slept properly for a couple of weeks and I want all the sugar and carbs. First step sort out sleep (waiting for hormones to kick in), second step cut out sugar and wheat Wednesday 16th March 2016 Very little sleep, hot and cold flushes kept me awake. Breakfast: croissant, butter, cream cheese and smoked salmon, cup of tea Snack cream coffee choix pasty and latte - oh that sugar is so good, got me home from town Lunch leftover aubergine and goats cheese pie Snack cornetto Dinner kangaroo steak, courgette, mushrooms, sweet potatos Berries and yoghurt with honey I'm going to have a rare sleeping pill tonight, today has been really harsh.

Does anybody have any good advice/resources for conditioning your feet to run barefoot? I live in the city, and I'm mostly surrounded by concrete sidewalks. However, a few weird looks would be worth strengthening my feet, to be able to walk/run/play without having to worry about stepping on small rocks. Thanks!

There has been an awakening... OK, so the goals have changed a bit, but that was still fun to make This year, I'm taking on my biggest challenge since joining the Rebellion....becoming a Jedi Knight. To do this, I'll need to complete the 5 Trials of Knighthood. Trial of Skill The Trial of Skill is a chance for the Jedi to prove that he has mastered a particular skill or set of skills. Typically this would be some form of lighstaber combat, though other areas were allowed as well. For my skill trial, I've decided to strive for a one-handed handstand: For this challenge, I'm going to start off easy, with by spending at least 15 minutes per day working towards handstands. Over the next 12 months, I'll progress through wall-facing handstands, reverse handstands, free-standing handstands, etc. I might supplement this with some weighted running, once I can figure out how much Yoda weighed Courage The Trial of Courage tests the Jedi's courage (surprise surprise). It's all about conquering fear and performing bravely. I've had a hard time thinking up a long-term goal with this one. Basically, I haven't got a lot of fears really, though I'm sure once I've self-reflected for a while, I'll come up with a few good ones. I'm going to come back to this at a later date, but for this challenge, I'm going to take on one of the classics: public speaking. I've got to train a couple dozen users at work in a few weeks, and it's been a while since I've addressed a group of people...I'll be using this part of the challenge to make sure I'm prepared and do a good job. Flesh The trial of the Flesh is all about sacrificing to improve oneself. This year, I'm going to be moving my diet to a 100% home-made one, with no more store-bought meals. I'll still allow myself the odd dinner out, etc, but this trial is all about reducing consumption of convenience foods at home. This challenge, I'm going to tart with the big one: soft drinks. I'm a fiend for soft drinks, and I've been drinking way too much coke over the holidays. So, from the 4th, there will be no more soft drinks in me. Spirit During the Spirit Trial, a Jedi is forced to reflect on his true nature, and see his flaws like never before. I'm going to use this trial to tackle one aspect of my personality that has been worrying me: Anger. Having kids can be an exercise in frustration and stress, especially over the holidays. I've been guilty of the odd shouting session, and hate myself for it every time. I'm going to use this year to develop strategies for coping with the stress of being a dad, and find more ways to have a more positive parenting experience. This challenge I'm going to set aside 15 minutes per day for quiet time. Experience has shown that having a calm mind makes stress much more manageable. This is what I will be aiming for. Insight The Trial of Insight is all about learning real-world skills to allow a Jedi to understand and fit in with the non-Jedi world. It can take nearly any form, but for me, I've decided to learn a language. My goal this year is to be able to either have a conversation, read a book, or watch a movie, entirely in....Swedish. Yep Swedish. Don't ask me why, as I don't really know myself, other than I love Nordic Noir and have been watching a lot of Swedish programs these holidays. For this challenge, I'm aiming to develop a vocabulary of at least 200 words. I'll be doing this via a combination of Pimsleur Swedish, a couple apps, flashcards, TV watching, and Duolinguo. I'm targeting the most used 200 words as best I can. So those are the Trials I'll be working on. It's a fair body of work, but I think it's achievable if broken down into chunks. At the end of the year, provided I have completed my goals, I'll give myself the title of Jedi Knight here on the forums, and will build myself a lightsaber!

Hi, I'm a grumpy old woman from the UK. :-) I'm a stone overweight and I'm rehabbing a knee injury. I like eating far too much! I work from home and I have a 12 year old so because it's the summer holidays I won't be working that much, nor will I be able to get to the gym much but I have plans for working out at home when I need to. I like lifting things but I don't really feel the need to lift very heavy things, I don't like cardio things one bit! I'm a barefoot runner (Vibram 5 Fingers) but because of the knee I'm taking it really slowly and hovering around week 2/3 of C25K for as long as I need to. I'm seeing an osteopath about the knee and she is really pleased with the progress I've made. My weakness is food, especially with a 12 year old bottomless pit of a stomach around - he always needs to eat and there is always food around. And I love cooking, and food is a treat, and biscuits don't judge........ The last challenge really helped me get into exercising but also made me realise I need rest days, so I'm planning them in. And I've broken down my healthy eating goals so that I get points for different aspects, this is to stop the all or nothing mentality that makes me eat the whole packet of biscuits because I've ruined it all when I eat one. Respawing quickly means recovering from the first biscuit fast and starting again before the whole packet is gone. Quest 1: Eating better: CON 2 WIS 1 CHA 2Wheat free dayAlcohol free daySugar free dayTracking foodRespawning quickly0.5% for each achieved each day Quest 2: STR 2 STA 2 DEX 1 Exercise every other day 4.8% each time Quest 3: WIS 1 CON 1 CHA 1Relax on rest days 4.8% each positive contribution to relaxation Life Quest: WIS 2 Declutter something once a week 16.6% a week.

moved to http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/70826-scumspawns-third-challenge-sept-15-lets-level-up/

I was a distance runner in high school. I kind of kept with it on and off in college, but I twisted my knee playing soccer and then again in racquetball, so I started biking instead. I love biking, and I'm glad I took it up, but I've always missed running. Now and then I would try, but my knees would always bother me. I've always run on my heels. I know, I know, but I did. Then this barefoot running thing got big, but Vibram's just look so weird, plus they're out of my price range. And then I found the New Balance Minimus on sale for $35. (I know, right? Sierra Trading Post closeout sale, go grab a pair!) I've always run in New Balance shoes so I jumped all over that. My new shoes came today and I immediately loved them. Seriously, I didn't know it was possible to form such a strong and instant attachment, but I LOVE these shoes. I strapped them on and took them for a one mile test jog. My high school self would laugh at me for being this proud over a one mile run, but I haven't done any serious running in almost five years. And I just breezed through one mile without any pain. I did take it slow, and focused really hard to making light contact with the ground, all of which these shoes helped with. And now my calves are burning a little, but that's normal. And when I found that extra gear to top the final hill and finish my first mile in four years? Oh yeah, there was a little roaring there. I'm running again!

Hiya, it's the summer so all I've been wearing are sandals, crocs, my vibrams for running or bare feet round the house and garden. I'll need something warmer for winter so....my trainers need replacing so I went to try some on today - my feet felt like they were in concrete! Will I ever be able to wear 'normal' shoes again?

Hiya, I'm a newbie. To save you looking up my background I've been running on and off for about 25 years but hurt my knee about 7 years ago so stopped. Everytime I started C25K again at around week 2 it just got too painful. So, this time round I have got a personal trainer (who is a runner) and an osteopath (who is a runner) and I've transitioned to barefoot running very slowly over the past 4 or so months. I'm just at the stage now where I'm using my feet properly and sort of rolling them so I can push off with the balls of my feet. I'm assuming that is right anyway, it feels right! I'm on week 1/2 of C25K and will be for the forseeable future, there is no hurry! I want to get my technique right before I move on. My knee is great, really doing very well and I've lost that nagging ache that used to be there constantly. My feet however have taken a battering. My ankles ache like mad. Walking on them doesn't help and I've walked a lot this weekend. So (sorry that was so long but it's to save you suggesting things I've tried :-) ) The question is - how many rest days does it take to make it all feel better, or is it better to battle through and keep working on them? I'm stretching them (drawing alphabets with my feel) and soaking them in cold water. Huge thanks in advance!

TL::DR- I started Clean and press-any tips? About two months ago I saw a set of weights on Craigslist for a wicked deal- 2 dumbbells, 1 7' barbell, and 200 odd lbs of assorted iron weights, so I was pumped and picked them up. I've been in the gym, for a few months building on rows, dips, bench, and farmers walks... But lifting barefoot in the backyard in front of the garden is just magical. I get to assert my dominance over my vegetables to let them know their fate is near! I don't have a bench, or rack so benching it out. My row is to high to use on the dumbbells I got. After regularly doing rows for the last 2 years I'm up to 100# single arm and feel quite accomplished. Farmers walks also out, though I am in search of a couple 10 gallon buckets to fill with sand. Point being is all I did in the gym, I can't really do at home so I looked for alternatives of what would work with what I have...Ended up at the clean and press. It's hard with the amount of weight I have, it works back, and I am getting my BF% low enough that a stronger core will be visible. started at 90#, worked up over the last month to 111# Where I have the question is my programming and form. 3 "sets" 1- 86# -5 continuous reps 2-106#- usually get three out before taking a breather and doing 2 more 3-111# - 2 reps, break, 2 reps, break, 1 rep The third set is always a struggle, form is maintained, but every time out I am increasing the weight 3-5#, so it is a hard lift. As for form: I get the clean perfect...or at least I think I do. But getting the bar the first 3-4" into the press is where I am unsure. I have been dipping down slightly with my legs and pumping back up to get the weight moving then let the upper body take over. I have started the but/quad clinch at the end and it did help get the last PR. Is the press like that wrong? Have I bastardized the Jerk by doing the little pump? Should I slow adding the weight if I can't pull out 5 in one continuous set? With the listed above equipment can you think of another exercise that would benefit someone with the goals of being better at fast distance running, Dodge-ball, and looking pretty? Any advice welcome and appreciated.

All children, except one, grow up. However, some of them grow up quite a bit less than the others. This was the case for Lalie. This does not refer solely to stature, although she did seem to have gone 'round the corner the day that height was passed out to all the other elves. She never stopped playing with her oldest friend, her best friend: Peter Pan. Sometimes she would have to play a different game for a bit—the one where she pretended to be an all-the-way grown-up, and do things like sit at a desk and put paper in the copying machine when it made that beeping noise. Peter didn’t like that game and he always went away when she played it, but at the end of the day he would come back and tell her a better game to play. Lalie had been learning all sorts of new games since she got to Neverland, and she loved all of them. She knew that if she wanted to be The Pan someday then she would need to be able to beat the Lost Boys at all of them, and the grown-ups had always said that you should work to get really good at just one thing before you start on a different one. But she couldn't pick just one. That made her sad until Peter reminded her that grown-ups just say that because they can't handle more than one game at a time. Growing up makes your imagination shrivel, so just like fairies only have room for one feeling at a time, grown-ups only have room for one game--if they can even handle one. Lalie felt silly when she remembered this, but she didn't mind. On the contrary, she felt silly quite a lot and generally enjoyed it. There was no reason to try to choose. She would practice how to fight, how to fly, and how to crow all at the same time. Main Quest: I have three specific, small goals that I want to achieve, but they don't tie together into an overall goal that I can achieve in six weeks. So I guess my overall goal is to make my three little goals. Got to fight: Be able to do conveyor belts and fishtails with my staff. I can unreliably do conveyor belts to the left, but I have yet to make that translate to the other direction. (Which frustrates me; I’m right-handed and I’m having trouble getting my right hand to duplicate what my left hand can do.) I also need to get fishtails because this is a basic technique that other things build on. For fishtails I need more forearm strength; for both I need more practice. I do set a timer for myself when I'm practicing because otherwise I'll lose track of time and keep going for hours. Ability to do both moves with both hands by the end will be an automatic A. But if I can’t, I’m not counting that as an automatic failure—it would probably mean that I need more than six weeks of practice to learn them. In that case, I’ll follow the guidelines below for grading myself: A: Practice at least 1.5 hours per week, for a total of 9 hours by the end. +3 Dex, +1 Wis. B: Practice 6 hours to 8 hours 59 minutes by the end. +1 Dex, +1 Wis. C: Practice 3 hours to 5 hours 59 minutes by the end, +1 Dex. 37%37% 200/540 minutes Got to fly: Consistently go barefoot running without hurting myself. I need more practice with this before I start giving myself related goals. If I hurt myself by pushing myself too hard instead of invoking my Self-Care Is Not Laziness Clause this will be an automatic fail. If I hurt myself in a different way I will adjust my goals accordingly. A: Walk/run preferred route 3 times per week, 18 total by the end. +2 Sta, +1 Wis, +1 Con. B: Walk/run preferred route 12-17 times total by the end. +1 Sta, +1 Wis. C: Walk/run preferred route 6-11 times total by the end. +1 Sta. 38.8%38.8% 7/18 runs Got to crow: Be able to do my bodyweight routine with three sets of ten regular pushups. What does this have to do with crowing? I enjoy the crow pose (lame pun is lame!) and want to branch out from that. I need more upper body strength before I can manage other goals that will go in this section, and I generally need more strength overall. A: Do bodyweight routine at least 2 times per week, 12 total by the end. +2 Str, +2 Dex. B: Do bodyweight routine 9-11 times total by the end. +1 Str, +1 Dex. C: Do bodyweight routine 6-8 times total by the end. +1 Str. 8.33%8.33% 1.5/12 workouts Life Quest: Try to find places to go to make more friends. I only have a few friends. I'm usually happy with that arrangement, but I rarely get to see my friends anymore, and my psychiatrist helped me realize that I'm lonely. I have a really difficult time finding people who share my interests AND general moral inclinations. Usually I find that I don't have common interests with the people at church, and a lot of the other nerds don't want to hang out with me after they find out I'm religious. (Or after I don't laugh at dirty jokes.) This is a big city--there have got to be more people out there I can hit it off with. I know how to make and keep friends--the hard part is meeting people. I don't think it'd be realistic for me to expect myself to go somewhere every week, so my goal is to do something every week to find places to go, or to go to one if I find something. A: Do something to find friends each week. +2 Wis, +1 Cha. B: Do something to find friends for five weeks. +1 Wis, +1 Cha. C: Do something to find friends for four weeks. +1 Wis. 33.33%33.33% The "Self-Care Is Not Laziness" Clause: I have a tendency to pursue goals too aggressively and end up hurting myself. Sometimes this is just due to indulging my enthusiasm too much, but some of it also goes back to a history of self-harm. This clause is to help prevent me from doing that. I will not lower my scores if I miss a day because I think I'm getting sick or developing an injury. I will adjust my plans accordingly depending on the situation. If I need to invoke this clause enough times it may result in more points going into Wisdom or Dexterity (I can still stretch when sick). 1 use in place of a strength workout.

I'm a fairly avid runner and I've never really gotten into the barefoot movement, but, recently, I saw a Doctor of Osteopathic medicine (DO) and he recommended that I gradually transition over to either Vibrams or barefoot running. This seemed a little unusual to me, but I understand that minimalist running is supposed to be better for your body alignment. That's what my DO thinks I need to do to help better my running for my body. I was wondering if anyone out there has vibrams and uses them for running. How do they compare to running shoes? What sort of things might I need to be aware of before buying a pair? How long will it take me to adjust to them? Any other advice?

The past couple of weeks I've been adding jogging intervals to my morning walk to work and I'm very pleased with my progress - still a long way to go but I'm really enjoying it and wanting to put more time into it, at about 2.5k it'd be good to be jogging it. I'm currently finding success in my regular day to day shoes - some cheap £5 ones from Primark, Certainly not designed for running but when I got them I had no expendable income and as they lack support they are allowing me to run in a more barefoot style which I am actually finding easier (considering I'm starting from the couch I figure I might as well start with good habits rather than have to transition later and unlearn bad ones). But as I say, they are certainly not designed for running and they are starting to show wear, I would love to invest in some vibrams but cash is very tight at the moment and I would have to cross half the country to try some on unless I have missed something - they seem pretty rare over here in England. But as part of my Epic Quest I am looking to be more practical and I have seen a few sites recommending homemade sandles and the like as an alternative to vibrams - at least initially (I really DO want some but I may have to wait to treat myself for my birthday). I've seen a lot of options on instructables and the like; tire sandals, sock tabi and insole-less aquasocks. but I'm also aware there are patterns online for historic footware that might be suitable too. I will likely do some experimenting in the coming weeks but I was wondering if anyone had any experience in this area or perhaps just more knowledge of barefoot running with advise of what I should be looking for/avoiding. Thanks in advance!

Hello all-- Had my first day of the season barefoot today-- mainly by accident, having left my running shoes at home. Still a bit cold, but the squishy mud was lots of fun to go through. I generally run in shoes, but try to get at least one workout in 10 in with no shoes. Unfortunately, my favorite 1 mile loop, which is usually lovely grass and packed dirt is now about half covered with... woodchips. OUCH. I guess with the winter we have had and all the downed trees, chips are easy to come by, and the state park folks have lots of them to use up this season.... So the question-- anyone have experience running in moccasins? I have an old pair with real thin soles that I may try out, but I wanted to ask is it a craxy idea? Thanks muchly, C.

I have been looking for a pare of minimalist sandals and I found these online. Anyone ever try them? If so, opinions? http://xeroshoes.com

Hello! I am interested in purchasing shoes that have a "barefoot" feel. I have never owned a pair before, but I do know that there will be a change in gait and support when using this type of shoe, and to start off slowly. I am interested in the Merrell Glove Dash 2 and the Merrell Access Arc 2. As of now I am planning on just wearing them for walking, and then will try running in them after a little while. I am not trying to run a marathon, just a few miles around town. The Arc 2 has 8mm cushion, whereas the Dash 2 has 4mm. A customer service rep told me that I might want to start out with 8mm, but that I will probably want to transition to the 4mm later once I get more comfortable. What do you guys think, have any of you owned these specific shoes before? I don't necessarily want to drop $100 just to purchase another $100 pair six months later. I want to make an informed choice, and I trust this forums opinion. Thanks!!

Main Quest - Reduce Body Fat to 14-17% ​Three times per week complete Angry Birds Workout (improve from week to week) Walk Barefoot 15 minutes per day Follow basic tenets of Paleo Life Side Quest - Finish 2 items on 'Honey-Do' List

New barebooter/barefoot runner. Took my shoes off the second week of the last challenge, and this past week only had shoes on for @ 2 hours the entire week, and am up to about 1K for my 'long' barefoot runs. My foot skin/pads are just starting to get sturdy/smooth/thick enough to deal with the gravel. But I live in Wisconsin. Which means that fall is upon me, and the cold (and snow and tons of salt everywhere outside) is coming quickly. So bring on the plasti-dip socks or minimalist shoes (outside) and dreadmill running (barefoot inside). Is there anything that can be done to help maintain the foot/skin pads over winter to minimize the transition to outdoor barefooted-ness when the spring thaw arrives? I'm tempted to tape together a giant sheet of coarse sandpaper and glue it to my kitchen floor, but it's a rental. What do you do to keep the feet happy over-winter?

Does anyone have experience wearing Vibram FiveFingers with inflammation in their feet? I read about FiveFingers in one of Steve's posts and was intrigued. Turns out my absolutely favourite slippers (which are sandals in real life) are Vibrams and they feel excellent. Working out completely barefoot can be hard on my feet sometimes, so I'm hoping FiveFingers might have just enough support and cushioning while still giving me the feeling of being barefoot. Any thoughts?

The following runs are based on using a forefoot and midfoot strike, having transitioned from years as a heel striker. Regardless of how it's achieved, (Pose, ChiRunning, Goodform Running, Vivobarefoot, Forefoot, Midfoot, Bare, etc.), I found this a really interesting comparison. Here are two of the same runs separated by over 4 months: 10/7/2012 2/24/2013 With the first run back in 2012 I was trying to be mindful of my running form and was practicing what I new from books, the web and videos. A bit more of a forefoot runner, I'd certainly made progress and changed the way I ran, but it wasn't until I got some instruction that I had a bit of an aha moment. Certain things just clicked for me. Now mind you, the app that I use, iSmoothRun has undergone some changes and there may be some differences in accuracy regarding how the metrics are calculated. Also I took a slightly different path on the last mile, but overall as a basic comparison of the trend, I think it's pretty obvious I became significantly more efficient and a bit faster. You might say that I became more fit between October and Feb. But the reality is that I was training much less due to work commitments, had put on weight and was more out of shape than anything. Feel free to check out my training log on RunKeeper and you can see I fell apart for about 8 months. So, I just look at the graph of the latter run and become a believer. It's so much smoother and representative of how the run felt. Post-coaching, my cadence is fairly consistent, my heart rate stays mostly in Z3 and barely dips into Z4. I can tell you I was not nearly as wrecked after the run. I worked but wasn't struggling. I remember the prior run. It was tough. Anyway, when I hear people are suffering when they run, experiencing pain, dealing with injuries, etc. I always suggest they take a serious look at their form. I sight things like the Harvard study and link to some of the different form protocols. I'm not saying people need to run barefoot or even minimal, but I think the running form principles are sound in practice regardless of footwear or lack thereof. Now I might eat my words down the road, but I can't deny my running feels SO much better and is more enjoyable with a focus on form. Take it for what it's worth!