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Hi all! I'm Stronkey Kong. Umm... yeah... still here. If you don't know by now, just ask... This is part 2 of a year long (or at least multi-month) challenge aimed at losing weight by training like a boxer. It's all about calisthenics and cardio with boxing training mixed in for fun and because hitting a heavy bag for 10x3 min intervals is an awesome workout. I have it themed and organized after "Mike Tyson's Punch Out!" on the NES. Here's how this will work... I have 3 Major goals (a catch all goal for the minor/tangential stuff): FIGHTING WEIGHT (FW): Hit 199 lbs (CRUISER WEIGHT, in the next 1-2 years. I'm 37 (almost 38) and 285 or so pounds... I want to get rid of the excess before 40. BOXING SHAPE (BS): I want to be in the kind of shape that boxers and other fighters are in so I'm going to train like them... lot's of cardio and calisthenics for foundational strength and conditioning, and bag work and boxing/martial arts drills for developing speed, coordination, balance, power etc. METABOLIC HEALTH (MH): Be able to burn whatever I put into my body: carbs, fat -- metabolic flexibility, learn to maintain the balance of calories in vs. calories out, and develop good eating habits. I'll be using LUMEN and BODY TEMP for metabolic feedback, and tracking diet with MFP. LUMEN is a gadget that uses the breath (O2 in vs CO2 out) to estimate whether you're burning carbs or fat BODY TEMP: I'll take my temperature with an IR surface thermometer around the same time I measure with LUMEN. My baseline/normal temp is 97.4 deg F. MFP: I'm using my fitness pal to get the macronutrient data I need to compare to what LUMEN suggests OTHER minor GOALS (OmG): All the other projects and things that I'm going to make the rest of life good. These things show up on my fight scorecard as little 15 min tasks that add points here and there. ======================================================== As the year progresses, I compete in successively more challenging FIGHTS. The GOALS are the basis for SCORING POINTS and getting KNOCK-DOWNS and KNOCKOUTS in the fights. Just like PUNCH OUT, Each fight will be 3 ROUNDS (weeks) in length. There will be 1 REST WEEK in between fights to rest, readjust goals, cut for weigh-in etc. WEIGH-IN will be the morning on the day before the fight and this will be my official weight for tracking weight loss in the fight. For each fight I will identify 3 KO techniques -- one for each of the first three goals. These are impressive and worthy enough to constitute a KO singularly. Then, I will have 3 TKO criteria -- again one for each of the three major goals that together (all three) constitute a TKO. Finally, even if I fail to KO or TKO, if I go the distance and do more good effort than bad, I can WIN by DECISION -- wherein I track good habits on the FIGHT SCORECARD for each round. There's a lot on the scorecard, and it includes things from my OmGs. Throughout the course of the year and 13 total fights, I will track my W-L-KO stats. For any W to count, regardless whether it's KO, TKO, or W by Decision, I have to track all three rounds. Adjustments for current challenge: Added a REST WEEK between fights Dropping prize purses ($$$) from fights -- I don't think these incentives are necessary, and I need to focus on budgeting other things. Expanding the FIGHT SCORECARD (ongoing) This challenge is currently scheduled as follows: Week 0: REST WEEK WEIGH-IN: Saturday, February 12 at 12:00 pm (-ish) Week 1: VS. Von Kaiser Round 1 Week 2: VS. Von Kaiser Round 2 Week 3: VS. Von Kaiser Round 3 Week 4: REST WEEK Week 5: VS. Piston Hondo Round 1 I'll keep the current fight, future fight schedule, and fight record on the second of each of these challenges so you (and I) can find it and figure out what the hell I'm currently doing at any time.

Main Quest To live a healthy and balanced life by exercising and trying to eat healthy. My Motivation I've successfully dropped weight by counting calories so my diet will mostly be staying the same with 1200 calories per day M-F and then blow meals on the weekends. I enjoy doing themed workouts and for this challenge it will be in honor of the Greek goddess Athena, for whom my main quest is geared towards with the Darebee Athena’s Playbook workout. Smaller Quests 1. Athena’s Playbook = Body Weight Exercises/General Fitness I was on a two week vacation in February but now it’s time to crack down and get back into shape. I’m back with the Warrior’s Guild for this challenge because Athena is the goddess of heroes, warriors, battle, intelligence and wisdom. I’ve never tried Darebee before so we’ll see how I like their programs. I’m starting with Athena’s Playbook because it’s geared towards general fitness which, I hope, will help me with toning and strength. Scoring: x/30 days Reward: +5 to STR 2. Anti-Sugar Goddess = Sweet Treats With vacation, my sweet tooth has gotten way out of control, so I need to rein it in. As a warrior and battle goddess, Athena needs to be in top physical and mental health to be able to fight to the best of her ability. Doing so requires good foods, not junk foods with sugar for energy. Because of my blow meals on weekends, I’m going to try to only have sweet treats on the weekends. I’m considering “sweet treats” to be things with high amounts of processed sugars like Oreos, ice cream, cookies, etc. Scoring: x/20 days Reward: +4 to CON & +4 to CHA 3. Owl-Eyed Lady = Meditation With a heavy focus this challenge on getting back into the fitness routine, I want to add in meditation simply because I think it helps focus my mind on internal stuff. As the goddess of wisdom, Athena would know her own mind very well. So I want to practice meditation at least once a week. Scoring: x/4 weeks Reward: +2 to WIS

So...Aliens. Robots. Insanely Intelligent Monkeys. What do all these things have in common? They're all out to kick our butts -and most definitely will succeed if said butt has been fat, lazy, or otherwise incapable of movement. Thus the question, if I were to end up in a scene from IRobot, The Matrix, War of the Worlds, Star Wars, etc. which character would I fit most? The background people dying and panicking or a capable and valuable member of a resistance? Thus, in the name of rebellion (and in the interest of NOT dying sadly and pathetically), my goal is to remove my butt from all Couch Related Activities and back into Resistance Cable Assassin Activities. The regimen I have outlined for myself is this: Running/Walking Importance: You never know when you might need to run for your life or trek many miles in search of the rebel base. Frequency: Daily Duration: Minimum of 1 mile Body Weight Training Importance: Need I even say? Just go watch Batman, Arrow or this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZxNbAwY_rk Frequency: 3 days/week Duration: 15 to 20 mins Sleeping Importance: Who wants to die because of crappy reaction time? No one. So get your rest. Frequency: Um..Nightly...lol. We'll go with 5 days a week for starters. Duration: 8 hours. This means going to bed at like 10:30. The exception for this will be emergencies like Azha getting sick or someone breaking into my car (examples from last months night disturbances) As far as points and such I will be setting all that up with the new character creation set-up and will provide a link in this post when I have time. 2 part Real life rewards: 1 snow boarding trip 1 rock climbing trip Achieved by making it through a fortnight with an overall 85% success (eg 90%, 90%, 75%). Also, I can't believe it's take me till today to finally post this. *hangs head in shame*

I hate squats - I really do. I'm also very new to this and so am still learning. My issue with squats is that it really hurts my knees after a while. I'm pretty sure that my form is ok (feet a little wider than shoulder width apart, toes turned slightly out because that's how I naturally stand) but I am not sure how to correct it, or even tell if it's awful. Any tips? Thanks!

As you can see from my topic title, there will be more of a story element to this challenge. Story element coming soon! ---------- Hi everyone! I'm back! India was awesome and very challenging. I came back with a greater respect for issues of social justice, and desiring my negative social footprint to be smaller than it currently is. I also came back about 8 pounds heavier (from around 187 to around 195) and about 2.25" bigger (from about 38.5" to about 40.75") around my midsection. Needless to say the food was amazing. I've spent the last 2-3 weeks bringing those numbers back down closer to where they were before I left. While they're not quite back to where they were yet, I have made significant progress towards that end. As of today, I'm down to 191.4 lbs and back to 40" around the ol' belly. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself! To that end, I want to keep that forward momentum going, with one or two tweaks. Here are my basic goals. I'll flesh them out more in a little while. Goal 1: Lose 3% body fat Start: 29.2%Goal: 26.2%Points up for grabs: 2 DEX | 3 WISGoal 2: Lose 1.5" from midsection Start: 40"Goal: 38.5"Points up for grabs: 1 CON | 1 CHAGoal 3: Complete graduated pull-up/chin-up training once and for all Points up for grabs: 4 STR | 3 STALife: Get rid of 50 lbs of stuff Points up for grabs: 1 WISBecause I normally weigh in on Fridays, my challenge starts TODAY!

July 16, 2014 Hi guys! I'm back! Lots of things have been going on in my life in the year or so that I've been away, but I've already covered all of that in my profile. So just a brief snap shot: I got hurt. both shoulders and my left hip. I've spent the last year trying to overcome the pain and recover some of my range of motion and now I'm finally in a place where I can pick up from square one, assess my current abilities, set my goals, plan my path to success, and begin recovering lost ground. Goals, for now... Run 10k non-stop. Run 5k in 20 minutes or less. Freestanding Pistol Squat. 3 sets of 10 per leg. One arm push ups. 3 sets of 10 per arm. Freestanding handstand push ups. 3 sets of 10 Front/back body levers. 60 seconds, full extension. Muscle ups. 3 sets of 10. Injury proof, become Anti-Fragile, and improve mobility. The Plan Physical: Create, and do a bench mark workout in a controlled environment to get a progress point. Build a habit around consistent training and recording progress and stats on a weekly basis. Build a habit of stretching after every workout, and do lots of mobility work on cardio days. Be sure to log workouts daily, and do stats and pics every third week.Dietary Build a habit around tracking what I eat using MyFitnessPal. Incorporate my current line of supplements into an approximation of a paleo diet. While tracking my diet, it is more important to be full on good foods, than to hit a certain calorie goal and be hungry. Today I am super busy with errands and "I just got back from camp" stuff, so my next post, tomorrow, will include my workout plan and starting stats. See you then. -Church-

I've done a pretty decent job of keeping myself in mediocre shape over the last year or so by doing one thing or another - eating Paleo, lifting at the gym, doing a cleanse, or jogging. What I've not done well is tie these things together in a comprehensive way. So that is my overall quest for this challenge: I will raise my fitness to a new level by caring for my health holistically. My goals to support this are: 1. Eat primal/paleo at least 90% of the time. (CON +3) 2. Do body weight strength training at least 3x per week. (STR +4) 3. Run sprints at least 1x per week. (DEX +3) My life quest is to get outside more so I'll also: 4.Run/walk the dog at least 4x per week. (STA +3) Finally, since I've done challenges before (though a long time ago), I'll give myself the latitude of adding a mental fitness goal, which is: 5. Meditate 3x per week. (WIS +2) So that's my deal. I'm prepared to push through the full six weeks. If you are too, drop me a note below.

I am brand new to Rebellion challenges, but not so new to life (52 and counting LOL). I began a lifestyle change in diet last year by eating paleo, and also began focused excersizing using Mark Lauren's YAYOG (You Are Your Own Gym). I have had some success with both, but also have had stretches where I fell off the wagon with both. I recently (the last few weeks) began earnestly following both regimens again as well as beginning a 21 Day Sugar Detox, and believe that the Rebellion Challenge will be a way of not losing focus, as I will have people who I hope to rely in holding me accountable to my goals. I am shamelessly borrowing a format to post my goals which IndianaEddie borrowed from another Nerd Fitness member...so here it is: Main Quest: My quest is to replace my body fat with muscle; I have gotten my weight down to what I believe is optimum for me (having gone from 205 lbs to 175 lbs since last year), and now want to replace the fat that stubbornly still holds a claim to my waist area with muscle in all other areas, thus increasing my body strength. Motivation: My motivation is to make my life much more enjoyable, as well as creating a better chance of being around and an active part in my kid's and grandkid's lives...for a long time . Sub-Quest: 1. Begin and maintain Mark Lauren's YAYOG Basic Ten week excersize program - set up for 4 times a week. 2. Finish 21 Day Sugar Detox and continue with 100% Paleo lifestyle Life Quest: Being a Christian, I want to spend more time in reading the Bible and time with God so that I may better order my life, increasing enjoyment of life, and lessening stress. Stats: 11/13/2013 Height: 6' Weight: 175 lbs Waist: 36" Chest: 40.5" Neck: 16.5" Thigh(Left): 22.5" Thigh(Right): 22.5" Bicep(Left): 13.5" Bicep(Right): 13.5" BF%: 18% (By Internet calculator - plan to have my Dr do it next checkup...but it's a starting point.) Will accept any suggestions, and any help with accountability...the quest begins This is me before beginning Paleo and Body Weight training last year. This is me a few days ago after falling off the wagon for a few months, and restarting my new lifestyle again just a few weeks ago.

Okay here goes for my first challenge. Me: Gary Weight: 193 Height: 72" Body Fat %: (Waiting for my body fat caliper to come in the mail.) Goal 1 - 3 sets of 130lb bench press 15 reps each (5 STR) 45 pts. I was going to do 100lbs because I have only done body weight training for the past 5 years, but when I got set up with my bench it was too easy. Goal 2 - 5k in 24 minutes. (2 DEX 1 STA) 24 pts. I'll be using my music and the Zombies, Run! app to track this one and for a bit of fun running from zombies and looking like a fool in my neighborhood. XD Goal 3 - PALEO PALEO PALEO (2 CHA 2 CON 1 WIS) 42 pts. Paleo, that is all. Goal 4 - No more Dr. Pepper. (2 CON) 42 pts. Yea, it does go with the no paleo thing, but honestly this could have been the WHOLE challenge for me. I literally chain drink Dr. Pepper all day (like 4 liters I'm not hyperbowling over here {Woah, hyperbowling! That'd be a good name for a really plain bowling alley! Where my grammar heads at? Ah, but I digress.}) Ok, so this is my first challenge. I will try to update often, seeing as I work nights and has interwebs.

Sometimes the Monk has to leave the monastery for a while but he never stops being a monk or planning for his return. Sometimes I feel like atlas holding the whole weight of the world but when I consider its separate elements the burden becomes lighter. The world is made of earth, fire, water and and wind. I will bear the burden of it by breaking it down into manageable pieces. What is the smallest piece of earth but a grain of sand? From a grain of sand i will get the pearl of great strength. Each week I will add one rep to each of my sets of body weight training. +3 STR +2 CHA I will feel the burn of fire. HIIT 1X a week for each: running, swimming and biking. +3 STA +2 CON I will flow like water through a stretching routine, my forms, and my breaking routine 2X a week +3 DEX The wind cries Mary and I will cry with it by reading through the psalms and writing a psalm of my own each week. +2 WIS This challenge doesn't emphasize my TKD that much but it does support it's growth. In October I took a job that really derailed my work outs and diet. Well I tried an an experiment with my eating and it confirmed somethings. One of them was that wheat and sugar really are poison. I had been eating about 80% paleo and training for a half marathon last summer. When I started eating without thought of health my reflux came back as well as afternoon lethargy. Last week I finished a 21 day sugar detox and out went the reflux and my energy has returned and it confirmed for me what I always preached but did not always practice that diet is soooooooooooooo very important. This challenge is priming me to knock two goals off off my epic quest this year. Compete in a triathlon (July) and get my fourth dan (October). Since the triathlon comes first it is getting the focus on this challenge.

Greetings, fellow Scouts! 2nd challenge, did well the last challenge, already lost 40 lbs, so I know I can do this. This challenge will be pretty much like the last one. GOALS! C25K I'll continue to do the C25K app 3x a week and get to running 1/2 a 5K by the end of the challenge. Bonus: Sign up for a 5K. +5 STA Body Weight Training I have my own body weight training routine I made to do 3x a week on my non-run days. (Link to my routine here.) Bonus: Be able to do 10 regular push-ups. (I can't even do two.) +2 STR +2 STA Paleo I've been doing Paleo and sugar free for 5 months. I vow to continue this and additionally not eat out or eat complex carbs for the next 6 weeks. +3 CON Spanish/French I homeschool my son (7 years old) and have been teaching him Spanish. I'd also like to learn French, so this will be the mental training. +3 WIS I log my daily food intake as well as exercise on the LoseIt Website and app. BONUS! A progress picture for you. Before/During - 30lbs lighter. And here's an awesome picture of leg progress during the last challenge 10 more lbs lighter (before is on the right, during on the left, sorry for the mix up): I would like to lose 10 more lbs during these 6 weeks. I know I can do it!

Hey! Ok, so disclaimer - I'm new to nerd fitness. I'm pretty much a noob at all this fitness stuff. I did my first Beginner Body Weight Routine today... Let me just say that it kicked my butt!!! During the work out I was quickly sweating MORE that I do after an entire 40 minute routine of Turbo Jam or 50 minute routine of Zumba. Also... everything, EVERYTHING hurts.. I am sore all over! More that I've ever been in my entire life!! Here is what I did. 10 Minute Warm Up - Turbo Jam Cardio Party DVD 20 Body Weight Squats with a Chair (I won't need the chair next time.. I used it this time bc I didn't know what to expect) 10 Push-ups (on knees) 20 Walking Lunges 10 Dumbell Rows Each Side Using a 12 pack of Lipton Green Tea (estimated 13.23 lbs) 30 Second Plank 30 Jumping Jacks x3 Circuits. Didn't time it all (next time I will), but my last circuit took me 5 min 31 seconds First Question: When do I do Cardio? Do I do cardio? I'm doing the routine three times a week. I know I have to rest in between to build muscle, but I feel like that isn't enough. Just fyi I am trying to lose weight (about 42lbs in total) at a rate of 1 lb per week. For the past two months I've been doing either Turbo Jam (40 minutes - kickboxing style exercies) OR Zumba (50 minutes) 4-6 times a week. I've gone from 210 to 197 lb. Second Question: How do I eat before/after workouts? My daily routine has been to get up around 8am, eat a breakfast of 2 eggs, two peices of toast with 25 calorie cheese wedge. I would work out around 10 am (that is when my daugher takes her nap), shower, then eat lunch around 11:30 or 12 (food varies). I'm planning on going Paleo on Monday Third Question: Should I increase the amount of weight for dumbell rows? Although simply continuing to move through the routine was becomming a challenge I found that the weight I lifted was easy for me. I assume I should increase, but how much? Thank you for your advice and suggestions!!!!

Greetings, fellow Scouts! First challenge, but I've been working out/eating clean for three months prior, already lost 30 lbs, so I know I can do this. Link to my (very nerdy) Fitblr. GOALS! C25K I'll continue to do the C25K app 3x a week and get to running 1/2 a 5K by the end of the challenge. +5 STA +5 STA ( A+ ) I rocked C25K each week and ran 20 minutes straight for the first time in my life the other night. Body Weight Training I have my own body weight training routine I made to do 3x a week on my non-run days. (Link to my routine here.) +2 STR +2 STA +1 STR, +1 STA ( C ) I didn't do weight training as much as I should have. Paleo I've been doing Paleo (with Keto mixed in) and sugar free for 3 months. I vow to continue this and additionally not eat out or eat complex carbs for the next 6 weeks. +3 CON +2 CON ( B ) I ate out a few times, but I did NOT eat complex carbs and stuck to paleo. 3D Game Programming I've been meaning to get better at game art so I can help my boyfriend make games. (Bachelor's of Science, Video and Game Art Programming) So during the next 6 weeks, every day I'm going to practice and get better. +3 WIS +2 WIS ( B ) I barely did any game programming, most of it was reading the dummy guide. But I DID start up Spanish again. So... Bonus point? I log my daily food intake as well as exercise on the LoseIt Website and app. Did this daily, lost around 10 more lbs during the challenge. Final Count 11/15 points Final Grade: B New Stats: Level 1 | 6 STA | 1 STR | 1 CON | 2 WIS BONUS! A progress picture for you. Before/During - 30lbs lighter. I would like to lose 12 more lbs during these 6 weeks. That's only 2lbs per week, I know I can do it! Edit: Updated end stats.