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Welp, I stuck around and didn't ghost the last challenge, so I didn't technically need to respawn, but I'm basically just doing the same challenge as last time because it was not such a successful challenge. So maybe not-ghosting is an accomplishment!? I'll take it! I'm on my lunch at work right now, thinking about how my morning went and it was overall unproductive which was a lost opportunity for making my day just that little bit better. I could really use this basic challenge to turn my mornings into more consistently productive and simultaneously refreshing ways to start my day. Since the ends of my days aren't really available for doing these "refreshing" activities and I'm more of a morning person, getting this challenge to work out will be a MAJOR win for me. Here's my challenge, take two: Early rise -- Get up at 4am or 4:30am on weekdays so that I can get a few foundational things done and have "me time" before I have to go to work. M-F. 🌞 Exercise -- Walk for 30 minutes, cardio dance for 30 minutes, yoga for 30 minutes or weights for 30 minutes. It's all good. Daily. 🏃‍♀️ Drink More Water -- Drink 1+ liters of water every day. Daily. 🌊 Meditate -- Practice meditation for 5 minutes minimum, working my way up to 15 minutes by end of challenge. Daily. 🕯️ And... that's it! I got up early yesterday and drank more than a liter of water. No meditation or exercise yesterday, though. Let's see how today fares.

Howdy folks! Long time no see. I guess I've finally reached the limit of how much stress and being backed into a corner I can endure and I lashed out at work on Friday. This is not acceptable. I don't want it to happen ever again. So it's back to basics. This is one of these dry, checking boxes, types of challenges. There is a lot of venting that needs to happen but that is not what I want to happen here. This place is for focus. I am not planning on taking energy to actively try to answer comments, this challenge is specifically to give me leeway not to care and focus all my resources toward recovering and rebuilding my mental health. While I thank you deeply for the support you have provided so far, and for the support you may provide going forward, you should not come here with expectations. My goal is self-reflection and self-tracking. 3 areas of focus : Mindset Rest: take out my sleeping bag, go somewhere remote, sleep. No computer, no phone, no internet, just an alarm buzzer in case I need it. Checking time for this is 10 pm. Protect your time: take 30 minutes for myself in the morning at work and freeze the Wednesday morning to work on my own projects. During those hours, I don't exist. No phones, no emails and most importantly, no interruptions from coworkers. To enforce this, earbuds will be on during those times. This will be communicated in no equivocal terms on Wednesdey 2nd, morning. Checks : [ ] went out by 10 pm [ ] took my 30 minutes of freedom in the morning [ ] worked on my projects on Wednesday morning Eating Cook and eat every morning: 1 croque-monsieur, 1 egg, 1 mug of coffee. Cook and eat in the evening: stir fry of vegetables and potatoes, 1 meat. Drink herbal tea instead of coffee during the afternoon, at work. Checks : [ ] ate breakfast [ ] drank no coffee at work this afternoon [ ] ate dinner Exercising Alternate between core exercise days and running days. Practice low effort pseudo tai-chi as warmup-cooldown Checks : [ ] did exercise today [ ] did practice some pseudo tai-chi And this is it. Start date is tomorrow, I'm off to gear on and fill my pantry today. Be great and overcome.

And here we go again! I've hit rock bottom, with nothing to show for it, and no precipitating event to mark it. But if I was a rolling stone slowly gathering moss, I'm officially stationary at the moment. That sucks, so I guess it's time to start rolling again. I have quarterly goals and kinda-sorta affirmations for each area I'd like to improve in, but specificity is the name of the game. Week 1: - try BUJO to help keep track of the days, check in here daily with the calendar 'Words of Inspiration' - C25k w/ 100-Ups at least 2x, weight training at least 1x - spend at least 1hr decluttering my room or office (possibly while listening/watching CreativeLive?) - sign up for CreativeLive - write out a 7-14 day meal plan (5:2 or vegetarian keto?) - set an alarm for bedtime (9:45pm) in bed for 10pm, no reading in bed (UGH) - do some research on if there are resources and/or a coach that I would trust to chat with, to try to figure out WTF to do with myself ____________ ____________ Jan 01 - You will never win if you never begin. - Helen Rowland

Hi all, I have largely fallen off the wagon lately. I haven't been getting enough exercise, I've been eating rather too many sweets, and I'm wasting money on cabs more than strictly necessary. I'm not in bad shape, but I'm trending in a direction I shouldn't. Sticking to the basics this time, because I clearly need to relearn/rebuild them. Goal 1 - Do not be lazy (X/5) Walk to work unless the weather is awful or my lungs are in bad shape. Goal 2 - Limit sweets. (X/7) Do not eat anything not on my acceptable sweets list and eat those only in small portions. Acceptable list: dark chocolate, sweetened Greek yogurt, my homemade reduced sugar muffins, a bit of honey on oatmeal if I'm eating it with tart fruit. Goal 3 - Rebuild the workout habit (X/3) Do something, even if small, 3 times/week. Goal 4 - Rebuild the NF habit (X/7) Check in daily, either noting on my thread or visiting someone else. Because it wouldn't be one of my challenges without music:

Long story short. Back in May, a cracked molar became abscessed, was pulled, and is now being replaced by an implant. I should do a Bionic Woman challenge for next year. But that’s meant that I’ve been losing a week here and there. Add the usual crud that goes around this time of year, and I’ve been having more “off” weeks than “on” weeks lately. However, with the infection gone and the screw firmly planted in my lower jaw, I am feeling much more energetic (funny how having a chronic infection cleared up will have that effect!), and I want to get “in” on the last challenge of the calendar year. It’s back to basics time, I’m afraid, but I’ll try to be amusing throughout. 1) Run, run, run, and run some more. The GOAL for the challenge is to run the Jingle Bell 5K and stay on schedule for the ½ marathon in May … and maybe for an OCR next summer. Because I like to run. Only other runners will understand. 2) LIFT, DAMMIT!!!!! GOAL: to be able to do the NF Academy Level 4 Gym workout --- all sets and reps. Because …. Maybe an OCR next summer. And because it is good for me and will help me be able to keep up with grand kids. Someday. Maybe. (Current grandchild has four paws and makes a great running partner.) 3) Cut out 250. Calories. Per day. GOAL: to record daily what SMALL changes and swaps I made. I’m not going to count calories … just work at finding the consumption that isn’t contributing to my health, workouts, or enjoyment. Yeap, you read that right, I am not demonizing eating “fun” foods, but I aim to be conscious of the times when I eat foods other than for fuel, and adjust what I really don’t find all that valuable. We just had Thanksgiving here in the USA, and we did NOT have turkey. Or sweet dressing. Or two kinds of pie. Or gravy and mashed potatoes. Or a ton of appetizers (at least, I didn’t) during the football game. Hubby and I (and our neighbors - who had us over for dinner yesterday - and our daughter and son-in-law) sat down and asked the question : Do we really enjoy the traditional meal. The answer was a universal “NO!” So we changed it up. I am using a book (Mini Habits for Weight Loss by Steven Guise) as a guide for establishing new habits and strategies. I know that Steve has written a bunch of good articles on the subject too. 4) Meditate. GOAL: 20 Minutes every day. Time to streak!!! 5) Finish my micro-biology simulation for research. Symbulation (stage one) is almost done, and I think I can polish it off before Christmas.

Hello guys. Rhia Wolfe here. I have not been doing well with my fitness. Fitness has taken a backseat to so much of my life. I need to turn this around and remember that it needs to be a high priority on my list. i'm working with Stacy with NF Private Coaching. One of the things she told me today is what I'm going to focus on for this challenge. I know I'm a week late, but I want to return to the message boards. Miss you guys. So, what Stacy told me that seems to ring true is that yes, nutrition is more important than the working out. You can't outrun your fork and diet is 90% of the battle. However, more important than nutrition is stress management and sleep. I have been crazy stressed. I need to find ways to destress, relax, and get the strength to push forward. Today, Stacy gave me the task of a 10 minute walk. I walked that 10 minutes. Actually I walked for 18 minutes outside on a beautiful day while listening to an audiobook. Not looking at my phone... not thinking about what I needed to do for the day. Just walking and enjoying the sunshine. After that, I went home, and realized that i didn't want to be there. I wanted to be outside. I wanted to do something. I wanted to accomplish something... So, this is where my challenge this month starts. Goal #1: Take a 10+ minute walk every day I plan to also practice mindfulness during the walk. Focus on the walk. Focus on myself. Try to meditate in a way and let worries go while doing that. Maybe this will help change walks from being a chore to something more rejuvenating. Goal #2: Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. During the week I play to go to bed at 9:30pm every night and wake up at 5:30am. That's a total of 8 hours. As long as I get 7-8 I will be happy and consider this goal reached. Goal #3: Do at least one thing that is productive It doesn't matter if it's doing laundry, cleaning one thing in the house, or cooking dinner. I have to do something productive and then I will type on here how it made me feel or how I felt it was a productive use of my time. The focus here is on small victories. Small goals. I may also start using this as a kind of journal/diary to talk to you guys about some of the stuff that's been going on in my life. Here we go!

My foundational habits have cracked and so its time for some maintenance! self-pity rant What are the basic things I know that I must do??? I have 5 basic goals. 1 – Eat paleo! 2 – BJJ and condition classes (3-4 days per week) 3 – get enough sleep (7-8 hours is best) 4 – Do stuff for myself (get outside and hike, spend time with friends) 5 – Keep supporting the family and help them to make healthy choices. I'm going to spend a bit more time considering how to reenforce good habits, find and sustain motivation and strengthen willpower. All hard things to do...

This is supposed to be about focus and I ended up posting under the last challenge. The last challenge of no focus didn't go too well overall. I liked the idea of doing whatever I felt like doing but that turned out with me sitting in my chair most of the time doing nothing. After my learning experience with the last challenge, I need the focus of Bruce Lee to get on the right track! 1. Improve my Karate fundamentals For the next three months, I am not taking any formal Karate classes. I will still teach but I don't have the money to pay for classes this time around. With that said, I will do at least one formal Karate class at home. A full hour of basics, kata and one step. Along with that, I will still do my weekly kata training and work on stances and kicks at least two other days each week. 2. Complexes At least three times each week, I will do some form of barbell, dumbbell, body weight, or kettlebell complexes. I need a fast but effective workout to give me some extra muscles and burn some fat. 3. Mobility training At least three times each week, I will do some form of mobility or flexibility training. I have been doing a lot of the Pavel stuff and it seems to be working pretty well so that will be one of the main tools I will be using. Extra credit Check in at nerd fitness more often. I haven't been good at posting my workouts or checking in here and I want to check in here every time I workout.

I thought I was posting this in the current challenge forum. Ugh!

January is typically seen as a month of new beginnings. For me, it's going to be a month of going back to the basics and easing back into "regular" life after a month of feasting and eating all of the things. Over the course of December, I gained ~3 kgs, 2" around my waist, and 1" around my chest. This extra weight must be lost. This month I'm doing another fitness challenge. This one is only going to last the month though. While the Push Up and Pull Up challenges had some great results, 10 weeks was a bit too long for my tastes. The New Year Fitness Challenge starts off slow with a simple timed fitness test and slowly ramps up in difficulty as the month progresses. It touches on a wide variety of exercises (cardio, yoga, body weight, etc) instead of just one. In addition to the fitness challenge, I'm also going to work on getting back to my personalised NF diet, as follows. Week 1: I will drink only water between noon and 6pm every day. I can drink caffeinated drinks (tea, coffee, diet soda) before noon and between 6pm-8pm, but only one drink per hour. I will drink no alcohol during the week and will only have 1 bottle/can/glass per day on Fridays and Saturdays. Week 2: I will eat zero foods with added sugar. Snacking between meals is allowed, but only healthy snacks (i.e. fresh fruit and veggies, crackers and cheese, etc). I will allow one exception to this which is our nightly pudding, but I will not allow myself to go overboard with it (small servings is the key here). Week 3: I will eat only my two main meals per day with no snacking between meals except in one circumstance, which is if my blood sugar level drops too much and I need to eat something to keep myself from shaking or passing out. Each meal will contain at least 2 veggies and 1 serving of protein. Week 4: My carbs intake will be reduced to no more than 4 servings per day. I will not eat any foods made from white wheat flour. While whole grain is acceptable, most of my carbs should come from other flour sources (rice, nuts, pulses), rice (preferably not white rice), and potatoes (sweet potatoes are preferable). As always, I am allowing one variance day per week where the above rules are relaxed. This will usually be Mondays (games nights). There are also two non fitness related tasks that I'm setting for myself during January. These are to apply for at least one job per week and to crochet 3 granny squares for the blanket I'm making Paul each week OR sew 8 squares together into a row.

Brutal Bears Goes Retro Intro Starting Weight: Coming Soon Ending Weight: Keep it up like pinball Go on a walk or hike everyday. Simple. Something to help cut some weight Swing the Master Sword Lift 3 times a week. Assemble a Guild Connect online everyday. Build a group of support! That is it. I want to keep this as simple and back to basics as possible!

Been working on keeping it basic with my strength progress for American Ninja Warrior. I put my progression video together to share for you who are struggling to reach pulling the entirety of your own weight. Before I could do a pull-up I didn't have a guide, I just adapted and overcame. Those came with a bit of consequence because it translated to more injuries than necessary along with down time. So here's my take on what to do to work up to a good pull-up:

Back to Basics This challenge will not be a part of the "Becoming Ulfhedinn" series. Along the last few challenges I've deviated from my original weight loss goal... and it's been awesome. I've learned a lot, from hand balancing to survival skills. But I feel my original goal got left behind and my size reduction has lost it's momentum. One could argue that the first puonds melt away and those stubborn last pounds are the harder to get rid of, but I don't think I'm near the "last few pounds" yet. Besides, I don't have the sightiest idea of my current carb intake, let alone the rest of my macros. Using the weekly variance as an excuse to binge eat has become dangerously normal... long story short, I got lost in all the fun of learning new skills and getting stronger and lost track of my eating. So, this challenge will be aimed at getting back to basics: Tracking my macros, taking weekly measurements and returning to the old habit of monthly progress pics. Of course excercise and to-do lists will be a part of the challenge as well, all in a Tapatalk-friendly way, since class is in session si I'll be spending little to no time at home and surveillance levels at work are still too high at the moment. Wish me luck!

Well, last challenge went swimmingly. Let's try that again. NightWatcher felt herself shaken awake. She jerked up, nearly braining herself on the overhang of the shallow cave she'd taken refuge in, and saw a young face dressed in the clothing style she remembered from the future. Her first thought was that she'd been caught and she reached for her sword, only to remember it wasn't there anymore. The man placed a hand over her mouth and held a finger to his own lips. "I'm a friend of The Doctor's, he sent me to help you. Hi!" Watcher let herself breathe again. "Hi?" She replied, her mind slowly arranging itself back into order. She remembered stealing the clothes and the satchel from a store, leaving the village and picking up some food on her way before finding this cave around noon the next day. She still felt bad about the clothes. "Where is The Doctor? When will he be back?" The young man laughed. "Well, that's a funny question. He'll be here in about 6 weeks, I'll be where he is in about 5 minutes of my time." As he said this, he reached for her hand. "Oh, mind if I say how lovely your fur is?" Watcher gave him a sideways glance as he fastened some kind of device onto her wrist and quickly put the hat back on her head. "Now, listen closely - the TARDIS dropped you off here, we don't know why, but this watch will bring you back here in 4 weeks of your time, about 6 weeks into the future now. Might be a bit off, it's not the most graceful travel device, but it'll get you close enough." "4 weeks? What do I do until then?" The man chuckled, taking the bag off of her shoulder and couching it under his arm. "You won't be here, or... now, I guess. There's someone we were told to send you to who might be able to help get you ready for what's coming, and well, since you'd be waiting a while anyways, we figured we'd use this to get you there quicker." He pushed a button. "See you in 4 weeks, I'll buy you a drink then." "But wha..." NightWatcher's words cut themselves off when she blinked and the cave, the man and the forest all disappeared, leaving a village in her view instead. People walked, led horses, goats and camels, and seemed to take no notice of her, even in her strange clothes - these were desert people, from the middle east, and a man in white robes with a wide belt and hood was walking up to her. "Ah good, I see you've come with nothing. This was how I started my journey too. Come with me." NightWatcher hesitated, then stood up, making sure the hat stayed where it was on her head. The man in the hood smiled, only his mouth showing. "My name is Altair, and you're in Masyaf, my home city. We're to make sure you're ready." With that, he lead her up a hill toward what looked like a castle. NW equipment stats - No armor, no weapon, no pouch. +1 blend hat This challenge is going to focus on basics so that (hopefully soon) I can build off of those; I wound up taking some time off, but time to get back on the horse that threw me. Last challenge had improvements in all areas except running, but none of them quite hit the marks so this will be similar to last challenge. Main Quest: Reclaiming the health bar Side quest 1 - Food prep. Make meals ahead for work (most likely Sunday or Monday night), and fill pint jars with salad that just needs dressing. 1 jar of each/lunch. Avoid eating out still, allowed 1/week. Have something available with protein and extra calories for days where I burn more calories than I remembered to plan for, either a PB/banana shake or another small, easily available snack. Side quest 2 - Flee the Enemy - zombies, run! Couch 2 5K, 3x/week Side quest 3 - Solid to the core - bodyweight strength training. 2-3x/week, depending on how body feels (3 is a bonus). Pilates, yoga, or bodyweight workout all count toward this. Life Quest - Music to my soul - This is combining 2 goals, but one was pretty close to perfect last challenge and I don't want to lose that progress. Practice guitar 3x/week for at least a half hour, and daily read both a section of the Bible and Morning & Evening (Mom got it for me for Christmas, so far I've read about one in 5 entries.) So far this week - SQ1 - check SQ2 - none yet SQ3 - none yet Life - 1/guitar, 3/reading

I walk away for a few weeks.... what the hell happened to my forge?!? Ohhh yeah.... kind of didn't put anything away and left things to fester Time to clean this up!!! So, I ghosted out right after the start of the last challenge, didn't have anything to contribute, left you all high and dry, and for all that I'm sorry Time to get back on track. The last month has been a considerable change for me and now it's time to get things organized, get things cleaned up, and get things better around here. Goal One: Heating Things Up In The Smelter I need to get the home fires burning hot and strong again!! I think with the adjustments that I've made to my life that I've let the fires burn down (more specifically my metabolism) and it's time to get that going again. Best way to do that.... get that exercise going again. I'm looking to do three workouts throughout the week. Whether they be walking the neighborhood (weather permitting), using the Xbox for exercise, or getting to bodyweight workouts, things must be done to stoke the fire and get them burning strong! Goal Two: Sharpening Things On The Grindstone I need to get things more refined, sharpened to a razor point. What better to sharpen than my cooking? Now that I'm in a situation where I am at home more often and less actively going towards fast food places for meals, it's time to start working on more things that I can make that will be both healthy and fulfilling for my body. Going to shoot for one recipe a week, something that I've worked on, made, and tested. Extra credit for making something that can be batch cooked. Goal Three: Hammering Things Out On The Anvil Once pulled from the fire, an object isn't shaped until it's been hammered out over the anvil. No, this isn't a goal for getting hammered every weekend (I'm too damn old for that crap ) but it's for building better habits for myself. This goal is still a bit of a work in progress, more soon. Life Goal: Stretching Things Out On The Skinning Rack This goal is a little more outside the box but none the less just as necessary. After the chaos, I've had to go through quite a few things and I have realized that I've got a lot of crap, physical, not so much emotional anymore. So what I plan with this goal is two-fold: One, to rid myself of some of the items in my life that I don't need and Two, to clothe myself in things that are more supportive to me (both physically and emotionally). Now, it's time to use some elbow grease and get this place cleaned up!!

I did pretty decent last challenge, but I feel like I was getting pretty shaky on always getting in my runs, on always staying under my carb count, etc. So. For this challenge, I'm reinforcing the basics of my fitness instead of adding lots of new things to try to do. (well, imma add one new thing, but one is easier to do than three!) For anybody interested, my old challenge is here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/73739-lydiajaybird-shakes-it-off/ Main Quest - Lose 6 Pounds Since the challenges are shorter now, I've decided to cut my weight loss quest in half. Yes, I know, the challenge isn't 50% the length it used to be, but I never hit that 12 pounds during the six week ones, so this might be a more reasonable goal. Goals 1. KCKO - Always stay below 50 carbs a day, but aim for below 25. (I don't want to lose points for having 30 carbs in a day, when you really only need to stay below 50 to keep in ketosis, but I still want to try to be below 25) Always stay below 1645 calories. 2. Get up & Go! - this one will be a combination of my old Rise & Shine and Exercise goals. I noticed that even when I woke up on time - I would just stay in bed. So this time, I need to not only get up (6am during the week, 9am on weekends), but get up and do my workout as well. (Run MWF, Aerial Silks class R, Pole + RLNA TSa) And of course, bedtime will be a part of this goal as well. 10pm weeknights, 1am weekend nights. 3. Get Flexy - I used to be super flexible. I miss that. So I'm going to start doing heavy stretching once a week (with photo documentation! wont see much of a difference during this challenge, but if I keep this up long-term I'll have a nice progression to look at) and stretch on my exercise days as well. Life Quest Soul Health. I'm still job hunting, but given that this is a health/fitness place, I decided to focus on another type of health for my life quest. A type I've been neglecting - soul health! (mental health, but soul health is catchier) I want to start putting more time into playing piano and cross stitching. Every hour I spend on the arts is a point of extra credit. Measurements Height: 5'9" Weight: 185.6 Waist: 30" Hips: 42.5" Thigh: 25.5" I will put in all my measurements Monday morning. Grading Each goal will be graded weekly & be worth 1/3 of that week's total grade. Life Points are unlimited extra credit that can be added to my final score! My final grade will be the average of all four weeks plus my Life Goal extra credit. I need to make at least a B (80%) to pass the challenge. KCKO - 1 point each day for meeting calories and another point for meeting carbs. Total points/Total possible for the weekly grade. Get up & Go - 3 possible points/day. 2 points for a morning workout, 1 point for meeting bedtime. Partial credit available for waking up on time (1/2 point), but not exercising, or making up workouts in the afternoon (1/2 point). On thursdays, since my class is in the evening, I'll substitute stretching for the morning workout. Get Flexy - 1 point/day for stretching, an additional point available on my heavy stretching day for photo documenting. So 8 points/week. Exceptions - If I'm sick or injured (please noooo not again!), then workouts are excused. Pole is excused until I can get my pole installed at the new house, but I still have to do my RLNA workouts on those days. Just no practicing moves. Motivation Last challenge I let myself buy myself something each week that I got an A, which was a HUGE motivation for me, but I dont think I can afford that anymore (just moved, and rent is higher). So I'm going to give myself a budget. I earn $10 for each B, $15 for each A. $20 if I pass, $40 if I pass with an A. I can either spend as I go along, or save up until the end and buy something big.

I'll probably detail this more later, but I will likely be porting over most of the point goals from the last challenge, and modifying a few. As of mid-December, I'm on blood pressure meds. Nothing to nasty (so I'm told), and will be having follow up appointments in this month to make sure there aren't side issues. The ruts in the road are habits and habitual actions (or lack thereof) that have added up to being in worse shape than I thought. Anywho - major goal #1 for this year - get off the med. Previous challenge ideas seem to be congruent with a game plan to do this, so, in no particular order: Meditation - some kind of mindfulness practice. I did this regularly in college actually, but have been having a hell of a time getting back into the habit. Suburi - This is a combination of skill building for Buko-ryu and an adjunct mindfulness exercise. A short session is also a great way to feel more focused at the start of the day. Extended past basic cutting, there is a lot of body mechanics work to play with. It's also a great support to partner exercises in class. Dancing - continue with lessons, and get my butt to some social dances. There are two per week that I know of, and I have no real excuse to not be making a couple a month. Also good for blood pressure - lots of body movement combined with a lot of stepping, focus, and just having fun (probably the most important, really). I'm not going to worry to much about sleep - I find when I'm more active I actually sleep better. I'm also still curbing drinking, which makes a large difference. I don't have really any food goals - I may explore those a little more in a future challenge. There are a couple of other things from the last challenge that I wrote about adding in, but failed to do. I may consider them for the next challenge (kettle bell work, etc). Happy new year everyone, and happy new challenge!

A surprisingly very neglected area in combat sports, since we seem to assume that you just close your hand and start punching. A hand has 27 small bones; using it to hit a skull is one of the most counter-intuitive things man has ever came up with. Here's an old video of my buddy Luis from the legendary Johnny Tocco's gym in Vegas breaking it down for us. Enjoy.

Heal, Remedy, Cure, and Dispel. I am going into this six week challenge with a fresh face and a fresh start. I am removing anything that can stand in my way, and I want to maintain the motivation to achieve great things. I am starting from scratch and going back to the basics of fitness. I will be a person who pushes herself to finish her goals rather than allowing the "do it later" monsters weigh me down. I. Morning Wake-Up Call I will set my alarm to go off at 8:30 AM. I will place said alarm at a distance so that I have to get up to turn it off. Doing so will allow me to get back into a healthy sleep routine. I found that when I was going to bed before midnight and getting up before ten, I felt better. I was not feeling exhausted in the middle of the day and I was sleeping better in general. Getting up early allows me to start my day at a great time, maintain a good schedule, and stay in good health.II. I'll Take a Walk I will take five minutes out of my day to take a walk every day. If the weather does not permit a walk, I will find an alternative means of physical activity. Regardless, I will take five minutes for physical activity.III. Room Service I will clean one room a day throughout the house. I have read that tending to one room a day in your house makes it easier to handle rather than dragging yourself down with trying to take care of every single room in a single clump of time. If a deep clean is not needed, I will make sure that the clutter is kept tidy, and dusting and vacuuming are maintained. Such things as the kitchen and dishes are every day occurences.Life Quest Expurgenate!Purging and decluttering can be intimidating. It can also be difficult if you feel a deep connection with your things. However, I do have to remind myself that a lot of these things are just that: things. Material things that could be replaced by the same or better things if so desired. My goal, by the end of the six weeks, is to purge 5-10%. Whether I donate items or manage to sell them via yard sales, etc. I will record my activities as well. Keeping track of what I do, eat, and complete definitely help in working out a routine and sticking to it. It will also help me grade my progress in the long run.

Like the movie namesake, I'm starting over. All the way to the bottom. Current Motivation: Weightloss challenge at work, based on percentage lost. Had our first weigh in and I came in second with 5.1% lost in a month. The challenge ends Sept 1st, and I think I can win the long term. No more weigh ins until the end of the challenge, so we'll see, but over the long run I think I might have the advantage. The others have the most to lose, as I came in at the lightest. So how will I do this? Goals: 1. SL5x5 My training has been without a structure for the most part the last few months, due to madness and indecisiveness. SL5x5 is a great program to start from and I feel the volume is a good amount for those starting out. The goal here is to start with just the bar and workout following the linearization everyday until the workouts take longer than 30 min. I also add in some light upper body accessory work, because my upper body is my weakest link. 2. Nutrition Currently following 1600 calories with at around 120-160g of protein, and keeping carbs low under 75g. I plan to increase calories slowly, 100 calories (in either fat or carbs) every two weeks. The goal here is to find a point where i still lose weight, but without the draining effect of prolonged 1600 calories. By the end of the challenge, the weight should be at least 198lbs. 3. Perform 3 extended walks with a weighted bag each week. I've been "rucking" a weighted backpack at approx. 25lbs. I must also log each walk with some type of tracker to get distance and speed. 4. Do something productive at home after work, daily. This is easy, just do something productive at home every day.

Hi again, everyone. Just in time to make a new thread, as the new challenge starts tomorrow. Strangely enough there's nowhere where I can subscribe myself that I am actually joining the challenge. I don't know how this is possible, but I wanted to join in anyway. Summary of last challenge Last challenge was so incredibly easy, compared to some previous challenges I had done, but I had to get back to the basics, because I let everything slide, I got in a depression and things simply didn't go my way. In the end my challenge became more of a blog where I could express my feelings that were galloping through my body like Epona gone wild. Nothing came from the daily goals I had set myself. I was tired, I couldn't bring myself to do any of it. I had such easy goals and I still managed to fail. However, I did do some other things that weren't part of my challenge, but that definitely helped me grow as a person and feel a bit stronger. My plans for this challenge I want to make this challenge very basic for myself again, just like last challenge, and simply try again. I will pretend I am a level 1 rebel, because that's where my health is at right now. In these 6 weeks I want to make sure I get a bit of rhythm back in my life. This means giving myself strict rules. Having a daily rhythm is very important to make a depression go away, so it could only help with my mental state, right? And I want to prove to myself that I am still capable of winning challenges (it may sounds stupid, but I doubt myself so much lately) and keeping my promises to myself, because that's actually what it is. Goal #1 - Getting a sleeping rhythm This is so difficult for me. Every time I said I need to sleep at least X hours a night, but this doesn't help. I will get my hours of sleep, but the rhythm is nowhere to be found. Therefore, this challenge I have to go to bed between 22:00h and 00:00h and I have to wake up between 07:30h and 9:00h. If it so happens that I won't be able to get these hours, because I have to wake up earlier, or because there's a party and it gets late, I have to sleep at least 8 hours to still make it count. Goal #2 - Fruit and vegetables I find it very hard these days to eat fruit and veggies, so this is going to be a thing. I need to eat fruit and veggies every day. This may be separately the way they are, but green smoothies also count. I am not going to put a minimum amount of this, because that'll be too hard for now. I need to learn to start THINKING about having this every day, so that's where I'll start. As soon as it becomes a habit I can increase the amounts of fruit/veggies I eat, but that will be for a later challenge. Goal #3 - Water A good way to lose weight (or so I've heard) is by drinking lots of water. It will fill you, so you don't get hungry that easily. It'll also make it easier to stay away from snacks. This challenge I need to drink at least 2 litres of water a day and if I have the urge to snack I first have to try and see if I can make it go away by drinking some water. Grading system Like in previous challenges, I will be using my own grading system. But this time I will make it a bit more complex. Previously I used to get my daily goals together and I'd say "I need to win this many per day to win that day", but this had a loophole. I could completely neglect one of my goals, while doing the others perfectly and still win my challenge, but this time it won't go like that. I am not going to neglect my goals. I will not let myself down. So this time I will simply count my wins per goal. There's 42 days in one challenge, so I need to win 30 times for each goal. Every extra win is good and for every 5 extra wins I get a star at the end of the challenge. Extra goals throughout the challenge I would like to get some extra goals throughout the challenge, in order to encourage myself to do some stuff that needs to be done. These are not necessary to win in order to win the challenge, but for every 3 wins in these extra goals I get an extra star at the end of the challenge. - Subscribe at a doctor's practice - Make an appointment with a doctor at the new doctor's practice - Make an appointment with a psychologist at the new doctor's practice - Buy sports bra - Buy sports shoes - Get insurance for my motorbike - Visit grandpa on my motorbike - Get rid of all extra boxes/bags that are still standing in my room - Find a work placement - Make show reel - Download and install Microsoft Office on my laptop - Finish drawing for Guynio (G, if you read this: it's still a surprise what it is, huehuehue) - Bring money to the bank - Sell couch from my room at my dad's place online Log of the challenge Goal #1 - Getting a sleeping rhythm (wake 7:30 - 9:00 and sleep 22:00 - 00:00) Week 1 - 6 wins Week 2 - 6 wins - add up to 12 Week 3 - 5 wins - add up to 17 Week 4 - 4 wins - add up to 21 Week 5 - 3 wins - add up to 24 Week 6 - 5 wins - add up to 29 Goal #2 - Fruit and vegetables Week 1 - 4 wins Week 2 - 6 wins - add up to 10 Week 3 - 5 wins - add up to 15 Week 4 - 5 wins - add up to 20 Week 5 - 4 wins - add up to 24 Week 6 - 7 wins - add up to 31 Goal #3 - Water (min. 2 litres) Week 1 - 5 wins Week 2 - 6 wins - add up to 11 Week 3 - 4 wins - add up to 15 Week 4 - 5 wins - add up to 20 Week 5 - 6 wins - add up to 26 Week 6 - 7 wins - add up to 33 Goal #4 - Medicine (for "bacon and beans", so no real challenge goal, just as a reminder for myself) Week 3 - 5 wins Week 4 - 4 wins - add up to 9 Week 5 - 2 wins - add up to 11 Week 6 - 0 wins - add up to 11 Weight for curiosity Start - 94.0 kg or 207.2 lbs (Monday, 23rd of February 2015) End - 95.3 kg (Tuesday, 7th of April 2015)

I’m late. I wasn't going to do this challenge, but not having to be accountable is killing me. Since my last appearance I've had the most amazing summer. I have spent 6 weeks in the US, 3 of which was spent in a commune in Virginia. Working on a farm like that really challenges your body, and despite the fact that I did close to no exercise, I gained strength. Being back at my desk job is slowly wrecking my body. I can feel the impact it has really well. I’m now separated and I’m currently renting a small room in a building with 8 other people. Since watching the documentaries “Cowspiracy†and “Food Inc†I have become a semi-vegetarian. I still eat dairy, eggs, and meat straight from the hunter or fish caught with a fishing pole. My gluten allergy is behaving strangely, and I’m no longer sure that I have one. I have told my boss I am quitting unless I get a 3 month unpaid leave. Which might happen. I just recently bought tickets to go to the Easter Island to build an Earthship style music school for local kids. Then I have some spare time to do stuff I want before I head off to Galapagos to do environmental work for three weeks. If anyone have any great tips on what to do in Chile/Ecuador/South America in general I'm all ears! Since I got back from my trip this summer, health hasn't really been on the agenda. It’s more appealing to spend time with a recent crush. Which leads to too much beer and too much unhealthy foods and not enough movement. I don’t know my current weight, but the last time I weighed I was 72 kg. I’m sure I've gained a bit in the last month or so. I need to get back on track with things. Water: 3 liters a day. Enough sleep: 7 hours every night is the goal. I’m currently at 5-5.5 hours. Meditate/Yoga: Twice a week Use my standing desk: First week 10 hours, last week 20 hours. As many pole sessions as I can fit in a week. Steve’s article on vacation hacking pushed me to join this challenge, so I will incorporate his rules for this challenge. Hopefully building the habit to keep up with it when I’m traveling. 10 push ups for every drink. 50 squats for every bad meal. 5 pull ups (inverted rows) every time you pass something you can hang from. Skip the elevator, skip the taxis whenever possible. (This usually isn't a problem. Norway has reasonable sized buildings and I live in the city centre..) A bonus quest: Finish at least one book. I’m currently reading three different ones. Or.. I was reading them… Start reading them again and finish! Tracking.. It's three weeks left, right? Water: 0/18 0/21 0/21 Sleep: 0/42 0/49 0/49 Y/M: 0/2 0/2 0/2 Stand: 0/10 0/15 0/20 Total push ups: Total squats: Total rows:

Alrighty, let's try this again. Last challenge ended mid-stride with busy life stuff and a slight overwhelming of the mental muscles. So, reset on challenge number 4 with different goals and a better outcome. My hand(s)! Hands have been taking a beating (also feet, calves, hip flexors and lower back, but we'll focus on one thing at a time). Silks, motorcycles and lifting weights all put varying degrees of stress on the hands/fingers and mine are telling me they need some help. Goal: Week 1: Find some kind of Happy Healthy Hands routine. Weeks 2-6: perform it 3 x week minimum. Train you must I took some video of myself at an aerial open gym session a week or so ago. I've realized that I often look like a strung up fish when I'm hanging from the silks. Things need to look more intentional. Engaging my core and keeping my knees straight will be huge to improve this. In the meantime, let's do some work: Hollow body holds: paperdoll militia has an awesome hollow body progression on their youtube channel. I'll work these up to three sets of 30 second holds at each progression, practicing them at the end of each weight lifting session Straddle inverts: These are SUCH a basic silks move and mine look generally sloppy. paperdoll militia also has an awesome progression for these. We do these often during class as part of other sequences. My goal is to really focus on making these look nice rather than looking like a bunch of flailing. I'll be starting at the bottom with bent arm, bent knee inverts and once those are under control, move up from there. The cantina I've said in the past that I wasn't going to make another alcohol-related goal, but I've gotten to the point that I'm a little worried about myself. As such, no after-dinner drinks on "school nights." An occasional drink after work with a friend or a beer while watching whatever sporting event on TV on Sunday is one thing. What I'm doing now is... not that and I don't like the excess and dependent feeling. Speeder bike I love my motorcycle. Riding it is excellent therapy. Last year, we took a week's vacation solely on the bikes and I'd like to do that again. This is a two part life goal: 1. Ride to work once/week (weather permitting). 2. Solidify dates for moto trip toward the end of the summer in some awesome-to-ride location. bonus points for taking rides on the weekends bonus bonus points for an overnight moto trip/long weekend. Also, I'm continuing to bulk slowly. I'm having a bit more mental trouble with it than I initially expected, but I think I have a handle on it at the moment.

Hey all, So. I think this is my... 7th challenge with you guys and I've decided to join in once again but do things a bit differently. I want to see what happens when I don't focus on the 'I have to do 3 x exercise this week!'. Basically I'd like to see if my habits have become ingrained enough to last even when I don't focus on them (specifically) anymore. My main 'goals' (areas I'd like to see what'll happen) are: - Exercise (will I keep up 3 times a week on average? Will I do less, more? Who knows!) - Food (primal-ish. I've been grazing a lot more lately (possibly 'due to meds' but hey, ideally I should just stop doing that!)) - Work - Relaxing Maybe a daily battle log would technically be a better place for this type of 'challenge', but I love our forum so much I'll just post it here Hope that's ok. Title isn't totally accurate - point of this isn't (necessarily) to 'slow way down' - it's to shift the focus from 'having to because I have goal A, B and C' to 'Doing what makes me feel good about myself and keeps me healthy at the same time'. Any prophets? What do you think will happen? I'll keep you guys up to date and we'll find out.

SEQUENCE 1 The last few days had been a blur for the young woman. This had all started as she tried to go home from work - when suddenly the world exploded into over-exposed colors. Dirt, concrete and worse flew into the air, contrasted by the strange neon-purple sky. Not being one for sticking around during danger, she ran as hard as she could for as far she could go. Her chest burned as she cursed everything and as she felt something strike her head. She awoke to the comfort of her bed and a new text on her phone. Swallowing thickly, she made her way out of bed as stealthily as she could. After sweeping the apartment, she approached the 'R' marked envelope - weary but at least sure there were no intruders in her home. Begin Training. Take care not to injure yourself, but prepare - you're stronger than you think. - Insanity Fit Test, 4 days a week. Grade based on total sessions.- S Rank: 24. A Rank: 21-23 B Rank:16-20 C Rank: 14-16 D Rank: 12-14 F: Less than 12 Begin Triage. Sometimes the right thing at the wrong moment is worse than nothing at all. -No food past 9 pm. Grade based on total days- S Rank: 42 days. A Rank: 37-41. B Rank: 33-36. C Rank: 29-32. D Rank: 25-28. F: Less than 24. Begin the foundation. You have cut the poisons, but you must flush them out. - 72 oz. water a day aka 3 filled bottles. Grade based on total days.- S Rank: 42 days. A Rank: 37-41. B Rank: 33-36. C Rank: 29-32. D Rank: 25-28. F: Less than 24. Begin Accountability. You have run from even the most basic of obligations, fearlessness is not required - only that you face them with full strength. -Organize finances. Set up automatic payments for all bills that I can, pay all the rest ON TIME- S Rank: Pay all bills early, get rent without using grace period. A Rank: Pay all bills on time, Rent in grace period. C: Late on bills, use grace period. F: Late on Bills, Late on Rent. So, I hope you don't mind the writing thingy ahead of my goals. I'm very excited to be getting into all of this.