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44 days ago today I broke my right ankle in two places while skating backwards up a slight incline at the skatepark with a friend. After an ambulance ride, a constant stream of drugs, surgery to attach 8 screws and a plate to my ankle breaks, and 6 weeks of no-weight-bearing house-arrest thumb-twiddling mind-numbing boredom, I got the A-Okay from my surgeon today to start weight-bearing as much as I can handle. This means I either have to walk in my moon boot or with crutches assisting my step. It's a small step back in the direction of being a completely independent and able-bodied human being; two things I took completely for granted before the break. I miss roller derby. I miss driving. I miss working (never thought I'd say that!) And I miss going to the gym. Today I got a teeny weeny bit closer to getting all of those things back! Yay!

--- Strength, flexibility, functionality. Assassins want it all. The only tool needed is you. --- It is the year 2217. Cybernetic technology has reached the public domain. Government and terrorists alike are scrabbling to buy up and use any and all technology in the fights against each other and to control and scare the general public into submission. The general public are sick of having their lives thrown around between the higher authorities and have taken matters into their own hands; creating private armies and training to fight for the underdogs and people unable to fight for themselves. Friends of mine were part of these armies but I had no intent on joining. Not until we were walking down the street one day and attacked out of the shadows. My friend and her superior fighting skills was fine but I was hurt. I woke up 6 days later to find they had upgraded my badly damaged right leg with the very same cybernetic equipment that had started this war in the first place. I would be back stronger then ever they said... Once the technology was fully fused with my human body. It would take weeks before I was ready. Once I was, I would be working for the very same Private Military as my friend. They were the ones who paid the cost of the still-rather-expensive technology now holding my shattered ankle together... And I would be working to pay that debt off. Cyborg Assassin Wannabe Step 1. Hand-to-hand combat training. While I'm waiting for my new leg to heal I gotta get up to speed with my basic training skills. QUEST 1: Bodyweights Erry Day. After surgery with 8 screws and a plate added into my leg, I am 4 weeks into 6 weeks of no weight bearing, and started doing some basic fitness on the 1st of February. If I can't use my legs I might as well catch up my upper body and core strength up a little bit. All strength will be helpful upon my glorious return to fighting the government roller derby. Do +1 push up, tricep dip, clamshell every day. Do +5 seconds of Superman hold and V-Up hold every day. Step 2. Stay Limber Simple enough. Assassins gotta be ready for anything. Having cold muscles is the best way to get beaten in combat. QUEST 2: Warmup before each exercise session. Do a dynamic full-body warmup before doing exercise. I'll be using the one we do at training before skating. It moves the whole body and is great. Bonus points for doing it more then once, during the day, between technology sessions. Step 3. Know Thy Enemy If I'm going back into battle I have to know what I'm up against. Knowledge is power? QUEST 3: Be one with the Derby I also don't want to lose touch with my teammates and the sport I love so my next goal is to watch a few games of roller derby on the internet every week, taking notes if I like, to see how the pros play the game and what I can incorporate into my practice when I do finally get back. I will also try to go to training despite being unable to skate, because I can help the others and observe any new stuff they might learn. Bonus points for taking notes while watching games / watching training. Watch 2 games of Roller Derby weekly. (Preferably on Monday & Thursday, before training) Bonus points for taking notes at any time, or watching extra games. Step 4. Be ready at all times. Assassins always have to be ready to jump up and go somewhere, just in case. QUEST 4: Be a responsible technology user Most of my couch-surfing activities will inevitably involve the TV, Xbox or my computer, so if I'm going to be staring at screens for the next 3 weeks I need to do so in a responsible manner. This means no all-day marathons without eating or moving because that's just not healthy. 10 minute breaks every 1 hour of technology. So far it seems to be quite effective. I am forced to get up and do things like eat, or do my body weights exercises; things I could / would put off for "one more quest." Bonus points here for any extra self-care I might do while I'm stuck at home. Might as well spoil myself a bit with this forced holiday of mine. 10 minutes of break for every 1 hour of technology use. Bonus points for extra self care done. Doing nails, face scrubbing, meditating, etc. --- Strong, functional, and flexible - I was all of those things. At the end of 2016, my body was (becoming) a weapon! 2017 was going to be my year of kicking ass and taking names in Roller Derby and life and 11 days into January I had to go and break my ankle. Phooey. So I've had to take a step back* and figure out how to continue getting stronger and better while I can't actually walk. Or work. Or drive, or skate or even leave the house without help. Being at home is terribly unmotivating for me so I've returned to the rebellion for the goal-setting and motivation that I need to actually do something, instead of just sitting on the couch bingeing on Dr. Who and not moving for 6 weeks. *haha! It's funny because that's how I broke my ankle. Near the end of this challenge (on the 27th) will be my 6-week post-op appointment with the surgeon that operated on my ankle. He will hopefully say I can start weight-bearing with the moonboot on and doing some basic ankle exercises. I completely underestimated just how much I enjoyed being as active as I was, so this challenge is all about keeping up some sliver of exercise without stressing my ankle. I need it to recover so I can get back to skating and working and going to the gym!!

Hello again, wonderful rebellion. Gosh, it's been a while since I was here! My name is Stoney and I need help. Mostly, a kick up the pants so I don't fall into a mental abyss of doing-nothingness. I left the rebellion last year after I finally felt comfortable in the real world, keeping up a healthy lifestyle and balancing being on the local Roller Derby team, going to the gym a few days a week, and working 40 hours a week on my feet in one of the local cafes. I was meal prepping, being awesome at my job, finally getting better as a derby player, getting enough sleep and generally kicking butt. So why am I back? Well, I broke my ankle. 11 days into January this year I stacked it at the skate park rolling backwards up a slight incline and snapped it in two places. Talk about ticking things off the bucket list! First skate park visit, first bone break, first hospital visit, first surgery... It was a fun week in hospital. Being forced to keep weight off one of my legs for 6 weeks basically took away all of the things that made me, well, me. No more working, no more derby, no more gym. Can't even drive a car (right ankle broken) so unless someone takes pity on me I am housebound. Going from that amount of activity to doing sweet FA has really thrown me for a loop. Coupled with the inability to sleep properly thanks to a moonboot strapped to my leg and I have completely lost my carefully crafted routine. I was really starting to enjoy my routine! For the first week at home I moped. To be fair I was also in a bit of pain and on some hard drugs for the pain of having 8 screws and a metal plate inserted into my leg so there's that... Plenty of napping and not a lot else. Week 2 and I gained a knee scooter so I am now a bit more mobile, but it doesn't help my wanting to go do things, like food shopping or drive my car or go to the gym. And I still can't weight bear so most exercises are out of the question. Doing basic household tasks are 12x harder then they should be. I ended up with a gym membership originally because being at the gym motivated me to do exercise more then being at home, knowing I could do stuff but choosing not to. But now I have no choice. After my 2-week post-op appointment and I got to see my leg for the first time since the break I knew I had to do something. My calf was deflated, bruised, and swollen all at once. I've already lost an inch off my immobile right calf and as a roller derby player who loves her legs it scares the crap out of me. I can't let the rest of my body deflate like that so it's exercise at home or turn into custard. This is where you guys come in. Because I have a bad track record of motivating myself and keeping up new habits like this I'm back on the forums to set some goals and hopefully stop the rest of my mind and body turning to jelly while I'm stuck at home twiddling my thumbs, waiting for my ankle to heal. My plan for now is to start right back at the beginning and work up. I've picked 5 basic bodyweight exercises I can do without the use of my right leg, and I'm going to do them every day. I started yesterday, on the 1st of February, with 1 rep of 1-leg pushups, tricep dips, and clamshells. I'm also throwing in a few core holds in 5 second increments - supermans and v-ups. Every day I'm gonna add a rep / time. It won't take very long for the first week or so, and it will get me back into the habit. I hope. If I fail a number of reps I'll take a rest day the next day and continue after that. My other plan is to generally look after myself while I'm here at home doing nothing. Might as well enjoy the break (haha) from everything while it lasts. I'm not doing much else but play video games and be on the computer, so I need to do so responsibly. 10 minutes break for every hour of technologising. And stretching / warming up before every exercise routine. My long-term goals right now are to walk like a normal person again, get back on skates and skate a full training session, get back into the gym, get back on my derby team and play a full bout. If I can do those things then I'll be as close to back-to-normal as I can possibly be. My surgeon said I might never get 100% movement back in my ankle so it's going to be a long road back to the derby track, but I reckon I can do it. I just need a kick up the pants occasionally. TL;DR; Roller Derby player, broke ankle, went from very physically active to non-weight-bearing and housebound. Hate it. Gonna do exercise. Help me.

Hello everyone, it's been a while. I stopped logging onto NF after being here for nearly 2 years - all the things it taught me about creating a healthy lifestyle had well and truly sunk in. I was putting in time at the gym, getting better at my chosen sport of Roller Derby - passing my skills and becoming a fully-fledged bouting skater, something no one thought I had the guts to do - and was managing somehow to eat healthy and balance my 40-hour-a-week job as a waitress with all of the above and somehow not dying of exhaustion (although I'm sure I came close a few times!) 10 days into 2017 and I was kicking its butt. Meal prepping every Sunday, doing all those things, feeling good. On the 11th day I had a day off from work. It was a beautiful day, so I went for a skate with a teammate. Our plan was Skate park --> Beach Skate --> Pub. Awesome way to spend a day off, right? It would have been, had I not rolled slowly backwards up the slight incline that is the skatepark bowl, lost my balance, and crumpled into a heap right on top of my right ankle. I knew as soon as I landed that it felt wrong, so after a green whistle, an ambulance trip to the hospital, some x-rays, and a phone call to my mother, I learnt that I'd snapped my ankle in two places. All my well-laid plans to have a kick-ass 2017 shattered in front of me. Like my ankle. Haha. After an interesting cocktail of drugs and (the longest) 6-days in hospital, including surgery on my ankle to install 8 screws and a plate to hold the bones together, I was sent home and told to stay off it for 6 weeks, with at least another 6 weeks of re-learning how to walk and re-strengthen the muscles in my leg. From being on my feet 40 hours a week + going to the gym + skating 5 hours a week, being non-weight-bearing and stuck at home was NOT IDEAL. After two weeks I went into my first post-op appointment with the Orthopaedic surgeon and everything was looking great, bone and wound-healing wise. I however, was shocked and saddened; my once strong roller-derby-crafted calf was deflated and bruised all over. The bruises I can handle, the soon-to-be scars I can handle, but how quickly my leg had deteriorated after only two weeks had really got to me. I love my legs, they literally hold me up through all parts of my life. It doesn't look like my leg anymore. I want my old leg back. I am 16 days into my non-weight-bearing recovery period and I'm bored. Mentally, I'm sort of enjoying it. Dr. Who marathons and catching up on all the video games I've only half-played (Witcher 3, I'm looking at you) are great, but I miss the endorphins from exercising, roller skating, hell, I even miss the challenge of being at work, busting out coffees and doing a hundred things at once like only good waitresses can do. I really miss roller skating. I've lost my routine, my sleeping pattern (thanks for that, uncomfortable moonboot) my ability to leave the house, and all my reasons to get up in the morning. So I've come back to the rebellion to give myself some goals that I can aim for, some semblance of a routine that I can follow, something I can look forward too that I can do at home while I'm stuck here passing the time. I can't have the rest of my body wither away like my right leg is. My plan is to start small. Doing a few basic bodyweight exercises daily, starting at one rep, and adding one daily. I was never great at committing to exercise at home, hence I ended up with a gym membership, but now I have literally no choice. I have to stick to things I can do without the use of my right leg, so for now I'm going to limit myself to core and upper body workouts. I also need to stay involved with my Derby league community if I ever hope to get back to my old level of skills, which means I'll be going to training despite the fact I can't skate. As a fully cleared skater I can help the newbies, take notes on things the coaches are teaching the veterans, and get my social fix with my teammates while I'm there. I'm also a committee member of the league so while sitting at home I have no excuse not to get things done that I can do while sitting in front of my computer (filling in grant applications, making phone calls, etc.) And I need to look after myself while I am healing. This means warming up before exercising, taking rest days in between bodyweight days if I plateau or can't hit the reps I am up to, taking breaks while marathoning video games or netflix or being on the computer (and going for a "walk" or getting outside or doing housework) and eating home-cooked food most of the time (even if it is like an episode of cutthroat kitchen while cooking on a knee scooter) Come the February challenge I am going to knuckle down on all of these things, but as it's Feb 1 today I'm not going to wait three days. Today is the day to do the things. I will be able to walk again. I will get back to bouting skater level. I will get back to the gym and lifting weights. I will get back to working at my fullest capacity. But it is going to take time.