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Talvi wants to find balance Hi there, sorry I'm a bit late but I'm in need of sorting myself out and it is better to do that sooner than later, right? I'm a few months post-relocation and a few months into my new job. The post is super interesting and enjoyable, but between the steep learning curve, increased responsability and the workload, I have been a bit stressed and I have stopped taking care of myself. I don't mind getting a little obsessive about the job, but I need to strike a better balance for my longterm survival and wellbeing. So the plan for the next two weeks is to make time for exercise, to make time for homemade food and to book a holiday for September. 1) Exercise twice a week I need to plan this in advance, so that I actually make time for it. Plus this challenge should provide a little accountability. Any exercise would great. Running, bouldering or yoga are my favourites. 2) Eat well Plan my meals in advance, so that I don't have to think about it when I'm hungry. I should cook most of my own food and bring my own lunches to work. Of course, I'm allowed to eat out if I'm not at my usual place of work or if I'm being social. Just try not to snack during the day on biscuits and try to order less sugary things if I'm eating out. 3) Plan holidays I have planned to take time off, but I'm being absolutely ridiculous in actually making decisions and following through with my travel plans. It isn't good for me or my partner, so I will plan and book this September holiday so that we can enjoy it with the minimum amount of stress involved. Plus it'll be nice to look forward to after the rubbish logistics are out of the way.

Road to Oblivion - Part 1 So I've just written up my 2019 road map, and the first 4 challenges of this year will be working towards my first big and scary goal - running 4 laps of Nuclear Oblivion in May. I'm going to need to be able to gain some serious endurance to keep doing that, both in running and in general fitness for the obstacles, so my physical goals will be based around that. Nutrition - 20XP This goal is split into three parts (hence the high XP). The first one is straight eating better - my Crossfit box posted a list of weekly nutrition habits a couple of years ago which I've unearthed on Facebook, so I'll be running through those. By coincidence (or just because they start with sensible things) I already do their first 3 weekly habits, but if you want to play along at home they are: Drink 1 pint of plain water daily Eat a healthy fat with breakfast Eat cooked vegetables in the evening So I'll be starting straight at habit 4, which is: Eat a raw vegetable at lunch I'll be tackling that in week 1 of the challenge, and then adding an additional habit from their list on each subsequent week. The second part of nutrition is alcohol. Leading up to Christmas I was really stressed and not feeling great, and I attributed that to a lot of year end work stress and general Christmas/ohmyGodIhaven'tboughtanything stress. I started thinking the other week however that maybe the amount I was drinking had its part to play in this too. Well, there's only one way to find out if that is the case, and that's to stop drinking for a bit and see how I feel. The goal for this challenge will be to drink no alcohol at all. That'll start from Week 0 day 2 (because day 1 was New Year's Eve, come on!). The final part of this is to track my mood - just a short sentence each day in my bujo is fine, but I'll only know if the above is working at all if I track it. Obviously there's lots of other factors to consider, and conclusions may be hard to draw, but I want to give it a go. Running - 15XP The goal here is simple (thought not necessarily easy) - run 140 miles this challenge. That includes week zero, and is the exact amount of mileage I should hit if I get all of my runs in. The plan is to run 4 times per week - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday - with the long run either on Saturday or Sunday depending on when I'm climbing or doing other things. Whilst the goal is simply the mileage, I'll put the full running plan in a spoiler for info: Climbing - 10XP I want to work on my climbing and my pullups in general, as these have massive transference to OCR, and I've got two parts to this plan in order to do it: a) Continue with GTG pullups - basically I have my pullup bar in my kitchen door and do one pullup every time I want to enter the kitchen. Minimum 10 per day. This starts week 0. b) Hangboarding - I have bought a hang board with some Christmas money, which will allow me to train hanging off very small edges instead of just a bar. The plan is to do hanging sessions MWF, but never on a day adjacent to a climbing day. As I usually climb every weekend this should mean that I usually do 2 sessions per week, but it could be 1 or 3 depending on how the climbing sessions work out. This starts when the hang board arrives. Budget - 5XP This is a difficult one this month as money and spending are a bit strange after Christmas. I probably wouldn't have a goal at all except that reducing debt and saving money is one of my main goals for the year. The goal here is to simply spend mindfully for the month, and write any comments about my spending in my bujo. This starts week 0. Study - 5XP This is something I have been neglecting, but I really need to continue my qualifications for work. There is a time limit on these, and having missed the initial deadline it's going to be tricky to catch up so I need to put in the work. The goal here is to do 2 pomodoros of study (or 4 hours, if you prefer) per week. Bonus 5XP if I get my next assignment submitted before the end of the challenge. This starts week 0. Forum Cardio - Mobile Edition™ - 5XP I don't spend enough time on here and I miss catching up with people and knowing what's going on. A big reason I don't get on is that I usually only sit in front of a computer at work, and so my lunch break is the only time I have to be here. I don't always get a lunch break, and I use the time to catch up on other things as well when I do so that gives me minimal forum time. The goal therefore is to use my phone to visit the forums every day. Even if I don't post anything just being here and catching up is a start. Well I think that's everything. It's loads of XP so i could do realll well out of this challenge if I ace it. I have to dash, so anything I've missed I'm sure will come up later!

It’s been so long since I’ve last logged in here or even since I’ve last used this username anywhere. If I’m being honest, I’m mostly here because emcee got me to join this month’s challenge. I’m going through some changes with a new job, plus freelancing, and building my own brand so this is as good a time as any. Goals: 1. Fix Muscle Imbalances: Supplement 3x/week climbing with accessory exercises (need to strengthen and loosen push muscles) 2. Eat more vegetarian proteins and protein supplements (goal is 90g protein daily), as of right now I do not eat red meat as I’m sloooowly transitioning to vegetarian 3. Stick to a budget using Daily Budget phone app Keeping it simple. This week life is sort of on pause because I’m out in Arizona until next Monday (which is when I start work) so for me, the first week will be a pre-challenge prep and organizing time while I’m semi on vacation!

Ohai! Last challenge was a full on adulting challenge so now I'm swinging around 180 degrees with this un-challenge. Un-goals Climbing Just a reminder to have fun and try hard. Try all the jumpy jumps! Fun stuff Do it! Preferably daily buuut whatevs. Backbends, handstands, crow PvP. Maybe take out my slackline or hula hoop. STUFF! Go outside Already doing a great job of this, but max out the current weather, because this is Finland, and winter is coming. Ice cream diet Because an ice cream a day keeps the doctor away? Ok maybe not, but I do want to use my cute little single portion ice cream maker. HAPPY CHALLENGE EVERYONE!

So I had this brilliant climbing specific challenge planned for the past 3 weeks (shhh I know) but then I woke up today feeling about 80 years old and decided it's probably not the best idea. On one hand I don't know a single climber that doesn't feel half broken most of the time, but on the other hand I feel I should at least try to do something about it. Before my body decides for me. Because apparently right after you turn 32 you become a responsible adult. Or something. Actually some of the stuff I wanted to do anyway, but instead of phrasing it as a get super strong goal I'm rephrasing it to a take care of myself goal. Much less exciting, I know... Fix my aches and niggles Over the course of the challenge I want to collect 50 Recovery Points spread over all my aches and niggles, 1 MP per exercise/treatment. This is going to be an embarrassing list. Unless you're a climber and then it's a pretty run-of-the-mill list haha. Fingers - this is the one that worries me the most. This morning I struggled with things like tying my shoe laces. (It's much better now though!) Stuff I can try are finger curls, ice baths, voodoo flossing, massage, theraputty. No, climbing less is not included in this list, there are limits to adultiness. Shoulder and elbows - these are not toooo bad, but need regular peanutting. Hamstring - also not too bad but 1) I want to nip it in the bud as it's a recurring niggle and 2) strengthening my hammies will sneakily my heel hooks stronger. Fix by doing hamstring curls, knee hangs, single left deadlifts, peanutting. Knee - the inside of my knee is being stupid, probably from falling down and jumping onto the appalling climbing mats a lot, and it's not going away on its own. I've never had this before but conveniently enough GMB just released a fixing niggly knees guide so I'm going to use that as my starting point. This also has the very sneaky secondary motive of making my legs stronger for climbing. Maintenance This is leftover stuff from the last challenge that I semi-failed at but I want to keep in the challenge so I won't slack too much. Abs 20 MP Backbends 20 MP Pull-ups 15 MP Adulting Pt 1: Get Shit Done Deal with stuff that I've been procrastinating since forever. Like a year for the worst things. Here's the list in no particular order. Pt 2: Squeaky clean Might as well squeeze ALL the responsible adulting things into this challenge. Because if I get it over and done with I won't have to deal with it for the rest of the year. That's how it works right? This second part is about keeping my flat clean, for some reason it's been a constant battle lately. The strategy is if it takes less than five minutes do it now. The grading is per day, from a scale of 1-5 how embarrassing would the state of my flat be if someone came over unannounced. But don't worry my friends, there's still hope! @lucky fire dragon and I are going to do a pole PvP (TBA) which should be super fun and very non-adulty!

I'm officially done with winter. Unfortunately, winter hasn't got the message and seems to be doubling down on the miserableness. I don't do well in the cold, so my main goal over the next four weeks is to fight the urge to hibernate. FEB & MARCH EVENTS Things start to kick up a gear this month. I have Maverick Race on the 24th, which is a 13km run along the South Downs (hills of the hilliest kind). Then at the beginning of March, I’ll be at Winter Nuts (cold of the coldiest kind) with The Hubs, @jonfirestar and @Jarric. I’m still not entirely sure why I signed up for this, given my dislike of all things cold. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, Jon posted a video on his challenge that sums up how horrid it is. RUN! No matter how shitty the weather is, not matter how cold. Just, run. 4 Runs a week 1 Technical-Trail Run - not incl Maverick Race CLIMB, JUMP......er...PUSH? BMF (British Military Fitness) once a week. No matter how shitty the weather is, not matter how cold....you get the idea Bouldering at least 3 times Push ups twice a week (on top of BMF push ups) GET UP! Get up with alarm. No snoozing! I want to start running in the morning again, but first I need to defeat the evil snooze button. So the first stage is to get up with the first alarm and not hit snooze. Once this habit is formed, I'll look at moving the alarm back 10 mins at a time until I'm at a point where I'm up early enough to do a decent length run. SIDE QUEST: UKULELE PRACTICE Practice ukulele twice a week Learn one song by the end of the challenge and post a video of me playing it I picked up my ukulele again after I gave up trying to learn a long time ago. I want to see it through this time and not just give up after learning a handful of chords. I'm setting the video challenge to make sure I keep up with practicing this time.

Ahhh, it's been a while... a long while since I've been around here, but thank you @Knightwatch for continually reminding me that we've got this. All of us, together. The Theme of the Year You heard it. OF THE YEAR. Because this one is going to take time. The theme - my theme - softness. Softness in truths, softness in feelings, softness in acceptance, softness in love, softness in femininity and sexuality. This is the kind of softness that’s defined as being easy to mold; lacks sharp definition. Coming into a challenge with the theme of softness makes me laugh a bit because, heh, yes — I’m going to be soft with my goals too (and if my body get softer, that’s ok too!). This theme is one that took quite a bit of soul searching and competes quite a bit with my generally rigid personality. The theme itself is a goal in a lot of ways. I will be (read: need to be) gentle and forgiving to myself. I exhaust myself into anxiety and sadness, striving for perfection that… really exists only in my own mind. So, here I am getting real with myself, with you all. Thank you for embarking on this journey with me. THE FIRST ONE! Woo! The Goals We’re keeping it basic and we’re sticking to little effort in planning much of this on my own. I’m already in the early stages of a couple of programs and my goals are nothing more than to check them off on the daily 1. Darebee - Iron Born program, 30 days. These are mostly strength-based quick workouts at 30 mins or less. Most days I’ve added to them because the hardest part about working out sometimes is just starting… once I’ve started, it’s fun and I like how I feel so obvi, I keep going. GOAL: complete at least what the program outlines. GOALplus: complete what the program outlines + make it harder/do it faster/add something that compliments it (HIIT, bigger lifts, BW burnout) 2. TRUE - 30 Day Yoga Journey, Yoga with Adriene. GOAL: complete the daily session GOALplus: complete the daily session + hang out with a pose that feels good for a bit or meditate/breathe/be present in my body 3. Bouldering GOAL: make it to the bouldering gym 2-3x/week. Literally, step foot in there and do whatever serves me — lift, boulder, stretch, take a class, etc. (social anxiety generally keeps me comfy at home). GOALplus: talk to someone beside my husband (compliment, ask a question, ask for help, etc.) The Life Stuff Goals No food/meal shaming. No hating myself for eating XYZ. If I have these feelings, excellent — I must pull out my journal and get it all out. What led to it, what I’m feeling, what steps I might do next time, but no thoughts that I’m a mess up (again). Be present as fuck in my relationship. There’s a lot there to unpack. No details… just I’m committed to my partner and being all that I can for us. *** That's it! Keeping it simple this time around. Excited to be back and see what all of you are up to with your own journeys

Oh! My! God! I'm addicted to Stardew Valley on the Nintendo Switch. (And I binged too much on Friends...) And as I struggled a lot during the last challenge it seems reasonable to "escape my ordinary life" and respawn in... I'll throw around the buzzwords fundamentals, priorities and assessment. I need to simplify things a bit, but I also want to wokr on the things that are important. And I want to find out what I'm capable of without trying too hard. Hence, the goal is to simply track my behaviour in week 0 and then I try to do more in the subsequent challenge weeks. Everything's unhurried. I'll use the five skills from Stardew Valley for five different areas and I will keep track of particular task via various items. That means: Lots of pictures! Farming Farming is about "active meditation". I enjoy walking and running as exercise but their major benefit is psychological. And as I struggle to meditate "ordinarily" I will try to increase my "time spent moving my legs" trying to see it as more mental than physical training. For this skill I can collect Coffee Beans for walking at least 30 minutes without purpose. I.e. going to the grocery store doesn't count. And Hot Peppers when I go for a run. Mining Mining is about getting stuff done for work. I can collect a Diamond for every page I write for my thesis. And I get a Ruby when I successfully work on my handwriting recognition software. Foraging Foraging is about food. I will track my weigth and my calorie intake daily and I earn a Field Snack for every day I stay below 2500 kcal. Probably I'll reduce this number gradually... And I get a Fiddlehead Fern for every day I only drink 3 cups of coffee. Fishing Fishing means doing something relaxing an enjoyable which is still beneficial. So, this means here I tackle my biggest problem: my hobbies. I get a Squid when I draw something, a Stone Fish for studying/playing Go, a Rare Disc for working on my RPG, a Lost Book for reading or studying Polish and a Clam for practising/playing the guitar Combat Combat is about, well, fighting. Or rather being fit enough too fight. I earn a Rock Crab for every time I go bouldering. And I earn a Shadow Brute whenever I do my bodyweight training (as intense as my back allows). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As always I try to post here daily in order to keep my scores accurate. Let's get this challenge started!!

Last month, I finally feel like I actually deserved a ‘level up’ - I didn’t just say i'd worked out when I'd done 5 press ups alone because of my fear of failure. This month I'm focused on getting back to actually working out, and only logging it when it counts. In March, I set a goal of going climbing 4x in 6 months. I’ve currently been 3 times in the first 5 weeks. My next ‘booked in slots’ are: 28 Apr, then there’s a lot of closure/work stuff throughout may so anything in May would be bonus, then 5/6 Jun, 23-25Jun, and 27-29Jun. Then the deadlines kick in, but I’ve pencilled in 3-5Jul, 17Jul, 20-23Jul as options too. I’ve upped my ‘aim’ to 6x by 31st July. With so many options, but only "1 this challenge" required, i should be good to go. Having said that, 4th May is my very last chance to attend a Thursday pilates class (lunch time, I’ll be at work on Thursdays from mid-May as I lose my study day). I’m not sure I’ll feel up to doing this, but I’m mentioning it to remind myself. This month, I aim to: * Log my extra exercise [This resulted in me walking an extra 25km across 5 weeks!] * 3 workouts a week [2 sets of 3 exercises minimum] * Go gym/bouldering once in the challenge * Add in extra healthy food once a week. * BONUS - Meditation [I used to meditate daily in 2004 and it really helped. I experience mental health struggles so I feel this really needs to be a holistic approach, but it feels so daunting, I'm leaving it as bonus] Week 0: Workout: 0/3 Gym: 0/2 Log Extras: 0km Healthy Food: Name/Meal BONUS: Meditation/When

(Edited to include the amalgamated challenge ideas from phone/tablet/pc.) I’m learning a lot from these challenges about what DOESN’T work for me, and what won’t motivate me. I’m going to re-simplify again. It seems that I need to really re-focus for a couple of months before I move ‘up’; I need to re-lay my foundations. *** I am motivated to work on balance, agility and flexibility, and I need more energy. *** Last month, I took the plunge and bought a 6-month student membership at my University gym. I’m only at Uni until end of May, so my next couple of challenges will focus on making use of it! Equally, life took over and I stopped tracking for the first time since June 16. I’m trying to be kind to myself and focus on moving forward. While writing this, I noticed a lot of mental blocks to even ‘tracking healthy snack exchanges’ so I’m going to just… let myself not focus on food for tracking this month. This month, I aim to: * Log my extra exercise * Complete my essay & 2 of my reflective accounts entirely (currently drafts) * 3 workouts a week [2 sets of 3 exercises minimum] * Go bouldering twice (13/3 done!) I’m counting the week prior to this challenge as my one booked in bouldering session happens to be in the “break week” and I need to remember I get XP for it That means I need to go at least once more. Week 0: Workout: 1/3 Gym: 1/2 Work Deadlines: 0/3 Log: Y/N

This challenge is going to be focused on climbing and strength, because I'm feeling weak as a kitten and I don't like it and nothing makes me feel as strong as bouldering hard. Plus, I have a GMB workshop coming up, as well as a trip to Finland which will certainly involve climbing and I don't want to embarrass myself toooo much. Basically I want to go from this to this or, you know, as much as I can manage in a few weeks. Here's the plan: Goal 1: Boulder more Climb 2-3x/week and climb hard (whenever my body is up for it). That means trying hard moves more than once before giving up, and not avoiding problems that look difficult. I've been quite paranoid because of my finger but now it's finally ok to push harder, just need to overcome the mental barrier. Goal 2: Core Dragon flag progressions and/or general conditioning at least 2-3x/week. Goal 3: Rings Play on the rings 1-2x/week, not a priority but I want to get used to rings again before the workshop. Also pull-ups. Goal 4: Balance Balancy yoga 1-2x/week (any videos are welcome here!) Goal 5: Funky squats Leg day at least 1x/week where I mess about with weird squats. Goal 6: Maintenance Rice bucket and/or wrist stretches at least 4x/week. The plan has a lot of pitfalls, especially since I'm going to Boston on Friday, but I'll do my best!

KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid! Ok, so I was planning on a ludicrously complicated challenge this time round (which may be on the cards still in the future), but I realised a lot of my problems may have been caused by getting overwhelmed and trying to do to much, So this challenge I'm going to KISS. Stick to Workout Plan - 30XP What? Stick to my current workout plan Why? I'm training for an OCR. Warrior Run 2nd October. And I'm mildly terrified. How? Follow this weekly plan: M: Circuit training T: Run W: Legs/Shoulders T: Run F: Back/Chest S: Short Run and [circuit training or bouldering] S: Long Run and [circuit training or bouldering] All runs are as per a Runkeeper plan I'm doing (erroneously titled sub-65 minute 10k), but I might switch out the Saturdays for Parkrun as that's generally the same length and it's nice to run with other people. Sometimes life will get in the way, and that's fine. But try to plan ahead for this to miss as little as possible. And sometimes I may get hurt or need a rest and that's fine too. But in that case I still need to do as much as I can safely, and if I can't do that focus on recovery through stretching/yoga/foam rolling. Get Free of Smoking - 10XP What? Set myself up to get free of smoking. Why? Not because it might kill me long term, oddly enough, although that clearly should be a concern. But because I know I can run faster, hike further, and feel better if I give it up. How? Read "Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking" minimum 3 hours per week (I'm a very slow reader). This book was recommended by @deftona and @mr_willes, and I've since found out that it was also the book both of my parents read when they gave up, which is encouraging. Once I've read the book I will formulate a Plan* *Plan should not merely be a plan, but should be sufficient to warrant the capital P. Weights and Measures - 10XP What? Track weight, measurements and body fat percentage. Why? Because I'm not calorie counting or on any kind of diet plan, and I need to see if I can keep getting away with just intuitive eating. How? Weight and measure myself, before bed, minimum 4 times per week. Then calculate body fat % using this handy spreadsheet. Report figures on here. Sleep - 10XP What? Get to bed at a decent time, and get up at a decent time too. Why? Because I like working out in the morning before work, for how much time it frees up and how quiet the gym is. And weekends are busy and I don't want to waste the days. How? This one's in two parts: To Bed: In bed by 11pm or within an hour of getting home, whichever later. 1 point for on time, a bonus point for every 10 minutes early, -1 point for every 5 minutes late. Goal is 7 points per week. To Rise: Up at 7am on weekdays. As punishment 1 burpee for every 5 minutes late getting up. Goal is to not do any burpees. Don't Mow the Lawn - 15XP What? Tidy up the damn house! And generally be an adult. Why? Because, whether I like it or not, I am in fact an adult and I don't want to live in a shithole. How? We have a list at home of chores to be done. Mrs and I are running our own private PvP of who can tick off the most each week, and the loser each week has to mow the lawn (which we both hate). The goal is simple, never mow the lawn! Clean your Teeth - 5XP What? Clean my teeth. Why? Because I would quite like what's left of them to remain inside my head. How? With a brush! Joking. Clean teeth minimum twice per day, minimum once with sonic brush. Floss minimum once per day. Yes, this one's back. I thought I could manage this without it being a goal, but apparently I'm a terrible human being. Other KISS rules: Follow less fewer people: I hate this rule, but truth is I've been a pretty shitty friend on here for the last couple of challenges. In my effort to do all the things and keep up with everyone else, I've actually not kept up with anyone. So I'm going to try and follow fewer people, and instead focus on actually keeping up with them. If I'm not following you this time around please don't take it personally, it probably means that I think you already have a great support structure on here and you just don't need me. Handily the people with the best support structure tend to be the ones with threads that run to dozens of pages! I've also changed my notification settings so I can now keep up with them. So if you do need me, you can tag me and there's now a fair chance I'll see it. No extra work: No PvPs, no Ranger Mini, no random push-up challenges (I seems to have done some sort of push-up challenge every month since I started here). With my plan, and a bit of badminton with a mate, I'm going to be exercising about 10 times per week. That is more than enough! Housekeeping: Measurements may be in metric or imperial, because I want to make damn sure no-one's happy all the time! As always, the challenge starts on the Monday (22/08) and runs to Sunday (18/09) For those of you wondering, yes I am doing a festival again this month. The theme's gone though as it's Purbeck Valley Folk Festival, and I don't know enough of the acts to put a theme together.

Okay, nerds. This wandering Monk is swingin with the Adventurers this round - I've fallen in love with climbing and it'll probably be all I talk about in here (next to food). In addition to my challenge, I'm also going to try to lift and attend yoga, but Imma also try to keep things simple... So... Goals: 1. Rock climb and boulder at least 3x/week. Currently the hardest wall I can send is a 5.7, and I still can't cover any of the bouldering routes at my gym 2. Estimate and track daily calories, aim for 2400/day. I'll be taking screenshots of MFP at the end of everyday. Also going to be trying to follow this meal plan I made for myself as best as I can, and keep grocery spending at max. 100$/week (for both my mom and I). Ideally, my goal is to gain some muscle but even if I just maintain my weight, I'm happy. 3. Mobility work on all "rest" days (yoga counts) 4. Study one hour each day! Either for Personal Training certification and/or for GRE.

So let's be real. Last challenge was a failure for me. I worked out a good amount, but went out to eat a lot, ate a lot of ice cream, and reallllly took advantage of my summer of fun things. Vacations, floating rivers, 4th of July, celebrating birthdays, boat outings, and all the other fun stuff Austin has to offer in the summer. Now who could float down this river without a drink or two or three?? So I have a new tactic this challenge! I heard about this thing called diet bet. It is where you put your money into a pot with a bunch of other people and pledge to lose 4% of your body weight in one month. The people who lose the weight get to split the pot. Good idea, eh? Well I opted to do my own little diet bet. I bought this beauty: I decided to give myself 6 weeks to lose 4 lbs (from my initial weigh in of 130.6 lbs this AM), which should be doable even with vacations. I don't get my mat until I hit 126.6 lbs. If I don't hit it by the time I leave for my 10 year high school reunion over Labor Day, my beautiful mat will be going to Goodwill unused and I will be stuck with my old (but trusty) gross mat. So for this challenge: Main mission: SAVE MY YOGA MAT FROM PRISON - Lose 4 lbs before Labor Day to save my yoga mat and be awesome like this at my 10 year reunion. Goal 1: Fitness: Workout at least 180 minutes per week Make it to the climbing gym at least two times per week. Some form of hiking, climbing, yoga, kayaking fitness blender combo. A - 180+ minutes B - 150 - 179 minutes C - 120 - 149 minutes D - 90 - 119 minutes F - <89 minutes Goal 2: Serious calorie counting during the week. Good decisions during the weekend with/without calorie counting (and pray I don't gain 10 lbs while I'm in Michigan this weekend). Trying to stay between 1200-1500 net A - 5 days of logged food B - 4 days of logged food C - 3 days of logged food D - 2 days of logged food F - 1 day of logged food Goal 3: NO alcohol during the week. Not even a little wine. Also cool it on the weekends. Ain't nobody need to see me binge drinking. A - none per week B - one per week C - two per week D - three per week F - four per week Life Goal: Finish sanding that gosh darn table. I have been working on it for three weeks now and I am finished with 2 chairs, halfway through 2 chairs and have the whole table left. If it is not done by the end of this challenge, maybe I will burn it or something. 2 months until Oktoberfest! Prost!

So I'm finally posting my new challenge! I've already started today, but finishing the last one yesterday buggered up the preparation side somewhat. So without further ado.... Why have one festival themed challenge when you can have two? At the end of week 1 I'm off to Ramblin' Man Fair: Not a camping weekend this time, just two day tickets, so shouldn't be quite such a pause in my goals for this. I love a bit of classic rock and prog, so this should be a great weekend out with my Dad. To Goals! The Final Countdown - 25XP What? Finally counting down my smoking, to be virtually smoke free by the time the next challenge rolls around. Why? I'm sick of not being able to keep up with people, be it walking, swimming or manual work, because I've spent the past 11 years deliberately destroying my lung capacity. I'm also training for an OCR at the start of October, and running training and smoking do not mix. How? Follow these rules: No smoking at work At last challenge, no smoking at home, at the gym (or climbing gym) or in the car Count how many cigarettes I have and track on here This should mean that I have several completely smoke free days throughout the month, and only really smoke socially. I have however set the XP really high as I'm expecting to fail a fair bit whilst I adjust. Still of the Night - 10XP What? Get to bed at a sensible time, and get up at a sensible time too Why? Because I need sleep to recover from workouts and get stronger, not to mention to keep me sane and awake at work. And I hate sleeping in and rushing or feeling like I've wasted half a day. How? Every night I will be in bed by 11pm, or within 1 hour of getting home, whichever later. No more "up to bed at..." though, must be in bed, lights off, by that time. Workday mornings I will be out of bed by 7am. Punishment: I will do 1 burpee for every 5 minutes late I get to bed, 1 burpee for every 5 minutes late getting up, 5 burpees for every time I hit snooze and 20 burpees if I turn my alarm off and go back to sleep. Seen this work for a couple of people, so hopefully it'll work for me too. Runnin' Wild - 15XP I forgot Lemmy drives the truck in that video... What? Get in some running training in preparation for the OCR. Why? In preparation for the OCR, I just told you! It's 14km, I want to make sure I complete it, and hopefully complete it without too much injury. And the futhest I've run in one go is 5 miles, so definitely going to need a lot of training. How? Stick to the Runkeeper plan I'm currently working on - usually means running 4 times per week on days beginning with T and S. Blind Man - 5XP What? Track weight and body fat % weekly. Why? I'm not currently calorie/diet tracking, or sticking to any sort of plan. I'm just trying to eat sensibly intuitively. So if I'm not tracking what's going in, I at least need to keep an eye on the result, otherwise I'm blind to it (see, the song totally fits). How? Sunday nights, before bed, weigh self and then measure self and input into this handy spreadsheet. (Not my work, all credit to @Geek On Fire for making this). Killer on the Loose - 10XP What? Keep up strength training the the gym and bouldering. Why? Because I want a level of functional strength that I'm never held back from enjoying myself by my body. Plus the aforementioned OCR, the bouldering particularly will help with that. And because it's fun. And of course to look good naked . How? 2 sessions minimum in the gym or bouldering per week. Bonus: +5XP for 12 sessions in the challenge. A Better Man - 15XP What? Sort myself out to sort my house out (or vice versa?). Why? Because tidy house tidy mind, and also it would be nice to be able to have friends round without worrying about the state of the place. And hopefully if I keep on top of the simple things it will make my life easier. How? Do the following every week: Clean kitchen or clean bathroom Hoover either downstairs or upstairs At least 20 minutes tidying a room Run a load of washing at the weekend, and put out to dry Prep breakfasts on a Sunday (preferably for the whole week) Housekeeping: I expect to find some loopholes in my challenges as I work through - I will enjoy them for the week and then all known loopholes to be closed on Mondays. Expect profanity, long rambling stories and a lot of Pokémon GO! in this thread. Please feel free to join in with any of these. All units may be in metric or imperial, SI or non-SI, Gregorian, Julian or Aramaeic, Lunar, Solar or Nebular, or just plain made up. So that's pretty much all from me, lets rock on with this one!

After months of physical therapy due to my slipped disk my back feels much better. Therefore I want to try out some different sports focussing on whole body movement. So this will be my first "proper" Assassin Challenge. And what topic can be better for this than the new Legend of Zelda. Even though I'm thrilled for the game, I have to admit that I'm worrying Nintendo might not fulfil the expectations they created. Anyway, time for the challenge: The Legend of Akura: Breath of the Wild Roaming Hyrule: Go Swimming once every week. Go running once every week. Do my back training as often as possible. Try bouldering. Colleagues of mine go bouldering regularly and I like to accompany them in the near future. However, even though I know how to swim and to run, I am absolutely incompetent when it comes to climbing. So I will try it sometime in the next weeks. But at the moment I won't try to incorporate it in my weekly schedule. Additionally, I will try to go the gym once every week. But that has less priority than regular bodyweight exercises. So it is no part of the quest. Cooking: No sweets. Track calories and weight. Max. 2 cups of coffee per day. I am very satisfied with how and what I eat. But I would like to make some small adjustment. First, trying to avoid sweets completely. In the last weeks, many colleagues of mine brought cake to work, because of their birhdays. So I ate significantly more sweets than I wanted to. Second, even though I eat mostly healthy, Paleo-ish food, I want to find out how much I actually do eat. I know that it is more important what you eat than how much you eat. But at the moment my weight loss progress reached a plateau. So, I have to change something (or rather anything.) Third, I want to limit my coffeine consumption. I have no problem sleeping or anything else. But five cups of coffee are definitely not good. Find out, why I woke up: Meditate every day for 5 min. Do something satisfying every day. Write my progress down here on NF every day. Currently I am extremely motivated and full of energy. And I want to use this to, well, pursue happyness. So, doing something satisfying will mean to do anything that gives me a sense of achieving something. This might be just a workout session, meeting friends, drawing a picture. Let's see how that will turn out. And as I tend to let things slip very fast, I will write down what I did every day here in this thread. This will not be detailed or elaborated. Just one or two short sentences what happend.

Main mission: Look fab in a bikini? Lose a couple lbs? tone up a bit? Summer is on full force in Austin! We have boat parties, pool parties, vacations, and just overall lots of great stuff going on. I am looking to balance my fun stuff with my health stuff...all culminating in Oktoberfest in Germany. Goal 1: Fitness: Workout at least 180 minutes per week PLAN MY WORKOUTS (this will be something I work on today and tomorrow) Make it to the climbing gym at least two times per week. Some form of hiking, climbing, yoga, kayaking fitness blender combo. A - 180+ minutes B - 150 - 179 minutes C - 120 - 149 minutes D - 90 - 119 minutes F - <89 minutes Goal 2: Fitbit Business I just realized my goal last challenge was to only get 55,555 steps and I just slayed it. My goal is to average 70,000 steps per week. A - 70,000+/week B - 65,000 - 69,999 steps per week C - 60,000 - 64,999 steps D - 55,000 - 59,999 F - 55,499 steps or below Goal 3: NO alcohol during the week. Not even a little wine. Also cool it on the weekends. Ain't nobody need to see me binge drinking. A - none per week B - one per week C - two per week D - three per week F - four per week Bonus: record all calories during the week and remain around 15,000 Bonus two: attend one circuit training class - I have been wanting to try but I am too intimidated Life Quest: My dogs need some serious training. I have four tricks I want to work on that will help her be more polite.

Main mission: To get back into a positive and healthy lifestyle I'm suffering from a tequila induced tailbone injury from last month in Cancun. Lots of exercises have been making it worse, namely squats/lunges/planks. I've been making some improvements, but I need to take care of my bod and let it heal so I can go harder next challenge. Next challenge I want to get back into my twice weekly Fitness Blender, climbing twice a week, and really making some progress in my fitness. Here is where the all inclusive tequila madness took place. 10/10 would do again (minus the fall) Goal 1: Fitness: Workout at least 180 minutes per week Make it to the climbing gym at least three times per week. Some form of hiking, climbing, yoga, kayaking combo. A - 180+ minutes B - 150 - 179 minutes C - 120 - 149 minutes D - 90 - 119 minutes F - <89 minutes Goal 2: Fitbit Business I want to walk at least 10,000 steps 3+ days per week and hit a total above 55,555 step/ week because why the hell not?? A - 3 + day/ 55,555 steps B - 2 days / 50,000 + steps C - 1 day / 44,444 steps D - no days / 40,0000 steps F - no days, no steps Goal 3: No granola bars or processed foods at all Kind Bars and Lara bars are just way too easy to grab and eat, especially when they are free at work. I must replace my granola bar addiction with a fruit/veggie/nuts A - none per week B - one per week C - two per week D - three per week F - four per week Goal 4: Only one caffeine per day during the week. Life Quest: Organize/ clean/ throw away junk Each week I want to go through at least one room/closet to prep for moving next month! Get rid of all the junk.

MY 20TH NERDFITNESS CHALLENGE?!?! WHAAAT?! I guess it's time to bring it back to the basics! I'm Raptron and I usually work pretty hard to be Sonic the Hedgehog IRL: But competition season ended a few weeks ago and it's time to shift gears. I am doing a Bone Frog race on May 21, so I am working on some cardio work this challenge. I've also recently joined a bouldering gym with a great fitness room for lifting so I want to climb more. I've stopped cooking as much because I've been busy and just got lazy about it, so a lot of our meals have just been leftovers or strange mish-mashes of partially prepared food. I want to get back into the habit of cooking more often and also enjoying my food to the fullest when I do eat it. Goal 1. Something about Cardio Do at least 2 of these per week: sprint intervals, rowing, jump roping, jogging, running stairs, etc. Goal 2. Something about Conditioning Do a conditioning circuit 2x per week Goal 3. Something about Climbing Get on the wall every workout at the climbing gym Work on flex hang holds 2-3x per week Buy climbing shoes Goal 4. Something about Cooking Cook dinner 3x per week Eat a meal without any screens 3x per week If you feel like you've seen me use these goals before, you probably have. CHALLENGES ARE A FLAT CIRCLE.

Nationals is April 13-15. BRING IT ON. So, yes, this challenge is awkwardly cut in half by the only competition that matters, but I think I have found some goals I can work on in both the playoffs and post-season. To get pumped, I am going to look to our bitter rivals: cheerleaders. And what do you know, there happens to be the perfect film about cheerleaders and THEIR OWN BITTER RIVALRIES. It's like it was meant to be. Goal 1. Talk the Talk, Now... Roll The Roll? Mobilize with a foam roller, lacrosse balls, wine bottle, baseball, etc. at least 4x per week I talk about mobility and the importance of doing this all of the time, but do I do it? Naaaaaaht really. Goal 2. Spirit Fingers Work on hand balancing, preferably handstands but other things are acceptable as well, for 60 minutes a week Good for the core, good for the joints, good for the mindspace. Pretty much EVERYONE should be working on handbalancing all the time. Goal 3. Rise Above Actually boulder 4x over the challenge You have the membership and while the gym is beautifullll, you could probably actually take a bold move and use the walls to get into that bouldering groove! You know it's fun after all! These may happen entirely after Nationals, and that is okay! Goal 4. Get Yo Learn On Duolingo German 20 lessons a week Everyone else is doing it and the app makes it easy to. Why not?

Arrr.. . I felt like sticking with pirates, but I'm branching out and recruiting a bunch of famous pirates to help me with my quests. This will be a 5WC, since I prefer just continuing along with things, so the points are intended to encompass that. Main Quest: Parkour all of the things!!! Climb all of the things!!! Balance in mind-bending ways! Play with weapons! Sail to new horizons! Loot, pillage, plunder. Pirate #1: Edward Kenway (parkour)- Naturally, I'm turning to Assassin's Creed and the Pirate Edward Kenway to help me with my parkour. My goals with this are twofold: One of the bits of feedback I received at my rank testing was that I was trying to go too fast, and as a result, I was adding stutter steps right before most of my vaults. Also, now that I have full open gym, I want to expand my horizons a bit by trying new things or new configurations for skills, rather than just recycling things that I've already done in classes. So, I get 5 points whenever I do parkour class or open gym and work on slow, smooth flow runs without adding stutter steps. I get another 5 points for doing class or open gym and trying some new skills or new moves. I also can get 5 points for taking my parkour outdoors and trying techniques in new ways (vaulting over benches or picnic tables in ways I've never before tried). The goal is to reach 100 points by the end of the challenge. Pirate #2: Guybrush Threepwood (strength) *well, he says he's a mighty pirate. Who am I to argue? Really, none of the pirates are overly strength-y, and I wanted to include some monkey island goodness. I want to get stronger for both parkour and climbing. And so far, my approach has been very haphazard. Ideally, I will insert some combination of these exercises at the end of parkour sessions, climbing sessions, or yoga, so I can increase my strength: Pull ups, Flag progressions, Dragon Flag negatives, toes-to-bar, one leg squats, HSPUs, plyo push ups, cat hang pull ups, and dips. Obviously, sometimes my muscles will be so trashed from climbing or parkour that I won't be able to do anything. In that case, I can get credit as long as I at least try to do the exercises and verify that there's nothing left in the tank. +5 points for every day I go climbing, do parkour, or do yoga and then after that do a strength mini workout. +5 points for each Darebee workout (providing it's primarily strength based). +5 points for every full strength workout. Edit: + 7 points for every day in which I completely fry out all of my muscles, whether it's just from a full strength workout or whether it's from parkour/climbing/yoga classes + a supplemental strength workout. Goal is to reach 100 points. Pirate #3 - The Dread Pirate Roberts (Discipline/ Diet goal) The Dread Pirate Roberts is a disciplined swordsman in full control of himself and his body. So, I'm turning to him to help me rein in my diet. Vacation was great, but it left me with the tendency to eat entirely too much, drink entirely too much, and consume way too much sugar. Easter and the abundance of candy in the house isn't helping with that, either. So, the plan is to eat relatively healthy meals every day, with only one modest dessert (100 calories or less) per day. But I also get 3 variances/week, where I can eat out, have an alcoholic drink, have a less healthy meal, or have a bigger dessert/sweet. I get 20 points/week for full compliance, but -5 points for each additional variance. And situations where I hang out with friends, have an unhealthy meal, extra sweets, and hit the booze can easily count as multiple variances. Goal is 100 points. Pirate #4: Captain Jack Sparrow (Adventure/Life goal) I need more adventure in my life, and I'm recruiting Captain Jack Sparrow to help me sail to new horizons. Last challenge, I intended to create my own adventure guide, with all of the local hikes, day trips, weekend trips, etc. within a 4 hour driving radius that I'd love to do. Normally, a large part of my goal would be to actually get out and do at least one of these adventures, but I am pretty bogged down in the next month with birthdays and other big events. But I'll do the best that I can. I get 2 points for every entry into my adventure spreadsheet (each entry can be a hike that I want to do, a nearby city + attractions that I've researched, a climbing spot that I want to try, or an event that I'd like to attend, along with the distance, estimated time needed, and other data). Since learning languages is helpful for exploration, I'm also getting 1 point for every 50 XP in Duolingo. And since reading is an adventure of sorts, I get 10 points for every book completed. If I do manage an actual adventure, I get 10 points for every new place explored. The goal is to reach 100 points. Bonus goals: Bonus #1: Ship maintenance - Keep my ship tidy by doing the flylady mission for each day (or a 15 minute substitution if the mission isn't relevant for my house). Bonus #2: Ranger Mini.

Hi, I'm Mad Hatter, a dabbler and explorer of the circus arts as well as a climber and all-round messer-arounderer. And this is my battle log, where I'll be tracking some of the fun skills I'd like to learn this year (current level in brackets): Handbalancing 10s consistent freestanding handstand (extremely inconsistent handstand kickups, but can occasionally catch long holds 15+ seconds) Make shapes in forearm stand (need the wall to stabilise me) Flying crow (solid crow and ok flying pigeon) Crane (can sometimes hold it for a split second) Crocodile (can balance a finger tip supported variation for a short time) Acrobatics Back walkover (have all the prerequisites but have mental hangups) Front walkover (have all the prerequisites but have even more mental hangups) Flexibility Feet to head cobra DONE! New goal: Ankle grab (I'll add pictures for the flexibility goals these are hard to quantify) Left split (can do it with bad form) Right split *almost* as good as left split (I injured my hamstring a really long time ago and it's never been the same since) Middle split Contortion No hands cobra (as soon as I lift both arms I face plant) Cheststand (have the flexibility for it, but not the strength) Press from bridge to forearm stand Bouldering Climb 10 black problems (can climb most red problems, have climbed 1-3 easy black problems this year) Strength Nice push-ups (almost there) Dips (need heavy assist) 5 pull-ups (3 on a good day) Strict toes to bar (can kind of do ugly ones) Dragon flag (negatives are haaard)

Main mission: To get back into a positive and healthy lifestyle Life has been busy with two puppies and a new job. I am spending less time on my mental well-being and physical health. I want to use this challenge be a catalyst of a healthier mind and body. I have finally found two forms of exercise that I really love. I have been indoor bouldering and doing yoga a couple times a week, as well as some strength training. My ultimate goal weight is 115-120, so here’s to hoping I can get the bangin’ bod I’ve wanted. Goal 1: Fitness: Workout at least 180 minutes per week Make it to the climbing gym at least twice per week and at least one yoga sessions per week. I would like to do one day of strength training per week. A - 180+ minutes B - 150 - 179 minutes C - 120 - 149 minutes D - 90 - 119 minutes F - <89 minutes Goal 2: All the paleo I love cooking and felt really great the last time I ate paleo. I like the structure. I want to do mostly paleo, with a one meal exception per week. A - 6 days of paleo B - 5 days C - 4 days D - 3 days F - 2 or fewer days per week Goal 3: Eliminate food waste Goal is to meal plan and prep on Sunday, and only buy what I need. This should keep me from over buying and underrating, as well as going out to eat in a pinch. I've been slacking! A - 4 weeks of food prep B – 3 weeks of food prep C – 2 weeks of food prep D - 1 week of food prep Life Quest: Stress relief 4x/week. At least 20 minutes of reading/meditating/adult coloring. A - 4 days per week B – 3 days per week C – 2 days per week D – 1 days per week F - 0 days per week Busy two months ahead of me with SXSW and my sister's wedding, but I finally feel like I am making progress with my fitness goals and making the changes I have wanted to make for ages. Here's to keeping it up! Starting Weight: Hips: 39.5 in L thigh: 22 in R thigh: 21.5 in L calf: 14 in R calf: 14 in Chest: 31.5 in L bicep: 11.5 in R bicep: 11.5 in

This challenge is going to be a bit weird. I have a parkour rank testing in a week, so I'll be a little bit deload-y the first week. I'm on vacation the last week. And I still kind of have whiplash from doing so many short challenges back to back. I also tend to have a full schedule with all of the parkour, climbing, and yoga, so any specific exercises have to be kind of opportunistic rather than scheduled for me. Thanks to all of this, I'm going to embrace and love the pirate code this challenge: Main Quest: Parkour all of the things!!! Climb all of the things!!! Balance in mind-bending ways! Play with weapons! Look like someone who could compete on ANW. 2016 goals Goal 1 - Raise the Black Flag Last challenge, I played around with Human Flag progressions, and now I'm hooked. I can do the first progression, which is a quasi one-armed lever, pretty well I'm okay-ish with the second one, which is an armpit tucked flag lever. I have started working through the third, which is dragon flags. Goal: Take advantage of any reasonable opportunities to work through these progressions. Goal 2: Hang on the rigging - I've neglected my dead hang pull ups, and I haven't really made progress in the last many months. Goal: take advantage of any reasonable opportunities to focus on the pull ups. For both goals 1 and 2, if I'm not completely sore and destroyed after parkour class or a climbing session, I need to do these progressions. If I'm already pretty spent, I can skip. If I have something major the next day and don't want to risk DOMS, I need to just do a minor GTG approach. I'm just grading these on vague, mushy feelings of whether I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Goal 3 - Get rid of the rum. (diet) I'm going on vacation in 3 weeks to a resort with free booze. So, in the meantime, I'm giving my liver a bit of a rest and reset period. I've played around with going dry in the past, but I generally have ended up just cutting back because I enjoy booze and don't truly care enough about being dry. The difference this time is that my husband is going dry with me, rather than taunting me with tasty drinks. Goal - Dry until vacation. On vacation, don't overdo it too much (which I won't, since the kids will be there too) Goal 4: Swab the deck (domestic Rangering) Domestic Rangering went okay last time. This time, I'm going to keep up with daily chores as well as doing a Flylady (or substitute) cleaning mission every day. Goal 5 - Learn the Language of the Land (Duolingo spanish) I don't want to be an asshole American tourist, so the goal is to amass 1000 xp in Duolingo Spanish before my vacation. On vacation, the goal is to at least make some attempt to read or speak spanish. Bonus goals: Bonus 1: Swim like a pirate captain Before vacation, brush up on swimming and get the kids ready to swim a lot. On vacation, swim a ton. We are planning on swimming in a cenote, and there's the beach, hotel pools, and some other great swimming sites. Bonus 2: Stop culling the herd (videos and media) Yeah, I totally need a goal to encourage myself to post more media... Really, though, the goal is to post pictures or videos that are technically sound, even if I think I look flabby, my hair is messy, or I'm otherwise nitpicking the way I look. And after I post those pictures or videos, I'm not allowed to say anything negative about my appearance. I also have kind of promised piano video for ages, but I tend to overly nitpick any recordings and then just don't post them. So, the goal is to post something, even if it sounds (to me) like a steaming pile of cat vomit. Bonus 3 - make my own adventure guide (travel) I need more excitement and adventure in my life. And now that springtime is approaching, it's the perfect time to look into day trips and long weekend trips. My goal is to research all of the best attractions in all of the major cities, the national parks, and the climbing sites in about a 6 hour driving radius (which is A LOT), and then come up with a bunch of 1-day, weekend, and 3-5 day trip options. The goal is to add 6 little trips to my list (which currently sits at 2). So. um.. yeah. This is a lot of stuff for a kind of burned out challenge. But I have no doubt I can prevail, because of this: And this:

Main mission: To get back into a positive and healthy lifestyle Life has been busy with two puppies and a new job. I am spending less time on my mental well-being and physical health. I want to use this challenge be a catalyst of a healthier mind and body. My ultimate goal weight is 115-120, so here’s to hoping I can get the bangin’ bod I’ve wanted. Goal 1: Fitness: Workout at least 180 minutes per week Make it to the climbing gym at least twice per week and at least two yoga sessions per week. I would like to do one day of strength training per week. A - 180+ minutes B - 150 - 179 minutes C - 120 - 149 minutes D - 90 - 119 minutes F - <89 minutes Goal 2: Paleo 80/20 6 days per week. I love cooking and felt really great the last time I ate paleo. I like the structure. I want to do mostly paleo, with a one meal exception per week. A - 6 days of paleo B - 5 days C - 4 days D - 3 days F - 2 or fewer days per week Goal 3: Keep in touch Call my parents and grandmother once per week Call at least one long distance friend per week Pass or Fail Life Quest: Daily mantras I have a list of daily mantras I want to use when negative thoughts come my way A - 7 days per week B – 6 days per week C – 5 days per week D – 4 days per week F - 3 days per week Life Quest # 2: go to a group exercise class at least once Pass or Fail