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Lift weights “There must be someone strong enough to bear the weight of decisions.” —Commander Zavala Some kind of routine (likely will pick up the Viking routine I started with a challenge or two ago) to get me off my behind and get stronger. 3x/week. Period. Run "Survive. Sometimes when you just survive, everything works out fine" —Cayde-6 Treadmill or park. 1x/week minimum. Meditate or Yoga “Let me tell you what I wish someone had told me in my early years: embrace the stillness.” —Ikora Rey Sun salutations in the am, yoga class or youtube video, or guided meditation. 3x/week. --------------------------------------- Alternative title meaning: Not just a video game reference... For the moment, I've decided to step away from circus. I really have reached the plateau point where significant improvement from here will take a greater time and money investment than I am willing to put in right now (and to be honest, watching my classmates who do have this time surpass me stings a bit). It doesn't preclude me from going back to it some time in the future, but for now, it's not for me. Whether this means I'll be run out of the assassins on a rail remains to be seen. Job stuff is still a big question mark. House reno/junk purging is progressing nicely, though whether we'll stay and enjoy the fruits of our labor, sell the house and depart the state, or follow some other path remains to be seen. In the meantime, while I ponder the meaning of life, the universe and everything (whoops, wrong franchise reference), I'll re-solidify some habits and lift some heavy (well, heavy for me now) things. It's been awhile since I've done a themed challenge and I know there probably aren't many who know the Destiny universe as deeply as I do, but feel free to follow along anyway.

So I am back from my crazy trip to Korea for work, I am a year older now as well since I hit 33 while I was there, and I am already back to the weight before I left (because I lost while I was there, and my boyfriend has cooked all the horrible amazing things for dinner since I got back). I need a change of pace, and I need to have a serious cut. I know that strength training is important but it's easy for me to get strong, so I am going to focus on what is hard for me to accomplish. For those of you that haven't seen my IG, I am all of 5'1" and built like a Shetland pony. Great for manual labor/lifting things, not so good for running.... My goal this challenge is to hit an average of 13k steps or 1.5 hours of cardio a day (my max trainer brings out a low step count but maximum effort so this is why time is also track-able) for 4 days a week, with a lower 10k step count and HIIT/Workout 3 days a week. *This is by the end of the challenge, not overall, next time I will be required to hit these goals all 4 weeks. To complete this goal I will need to: Do All The Cardio - Work up to 1.5 hours/18k steps of cardio daily. I am going to start with 4 days of cardio, with a minimum of 2 hitting that count/time. Week 2 will have me at 3 full days, and weeks 3 and 4 will have me hitting 4 full days with week 4 requiring me to hit the 10k step requirement on HIIT days as well. I can already tell I am going to need a tracking sheet for this go. Just Work It - *This went out the window a bit when I joined the new gym on Wednesday, and I will be taking 3 classes a week so I am switching things up a bit. 3 classes a week, with 10k steps on those days. Snacks! - I already have dealt with increased hunger due to cardio, this time I plan to prepare by having a solid meal plan, AND veggie snacks on hand at all times. I'm not going to worry about tracking them too much since this is more about having the correct snacks instead of all the carbs I know I will be craving. *The gif I wanted to use here isn't working and I need to go be productive.... perhaps another time, lol.

Hey everyone, I’m new to these forums and I’m hoping someone can help me out. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to working out and all this new information is making my head go a bit fuzzy haha. At the moment my only workout is stair climbing for half an hour the steps behind my house which is three flights of sixteen steps. I’d like to do this three times a week and from what I’m reading, this should basically count as my cardio and works my legs completely as well as my core? I’m hoping that sounds accurate haha. That basically leaves me with no idea how to work my upper body and I could really use some advice there. A bit about me, I’m a 28 year old male, 5’9” and 190 pounds with a herniated disc which further complicates my workout goals. Though from what I’ve read I just need to avoid exercises that require a lot of twisting...Anyway, any help would be really appreciated!

I'm still pondering my exact goals but I am looking at something like this: Drinks water - DRINK MORE WATER. Aim for finishing two 16 oz water cups at work and 16 more oz in the evening (so 16 oz x 3 minimum per day!) I could probably also bump up my usual 8oz glass with my pills in the morning to be a 16 oz if I want to be extra! Does cardio - I have not done SHIT for cardio lately except dance and when my trainer decides to make me do HIIT every now and then. Which consequently HIIT feels terrible because my body is like WTF ARE YOU DOING, DUDE?! Cardio 3x per week. This can be as basic as going for a lunch walk to doing an HIIT video. (I'll count dance in this area unless we are doing something super mellow and slow and flowy that doesn't get my heart rate up!) THIRD GOAL OF MYSTERY - Tracks calories? Grip strength? Pull up stuff? HMMMMM. TBD! I am leaning towards doing grip again because it still sucks and my intuitive eating plan seems to be going well; I'm losing fat while not being totally dead for workouts. If I feel that "YOU NEED TO EAT MORE" hanger and grumpiness I make myself eat more and I generally eat more on training days/ days after training days and less when I haven't had time to get in workouts. Life Goal: Declutter - need to decide on specifics but I am thinking I need to require minimum of 30 min declutter per week. But I am almost thinking if I make myself do smaller chunks vs one big chunk all together that will help it become more of a habit. Hmm. Basically I've been BUSY so what declutter progress I had made is now all gone and my room looks terrifying. (admittedly I did intentionally sort of spread around my clothing piles to make my room look ransacked when we were getting the house fumigated so if anyone broke in they'd come in and be like NAAAAH. Hahahahahaha.)

Right now I'm unemployed and it's great! I'm finishing a semester of school, and I've got a job lined up to start on May 21, pending a physical and such on Friday morning. But until then, I've got plenty of time to get into the gym and work my butt off and prepare good meals and track nutrition. If I really buckle down, I think I can get below 240 lbs. by the start of my new job. I've also just read How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci. I've always had a spiritual and philosophical streak in me, and I've had problems with depression, anxiety, and some anger. I often go down youtube rabbit holes about philosophy, religion, and society. Recently, I came across some videos on Cynicism and Stoicism, and decided to give Massimo's book a read. As those who've followed me a while I'm fond of Zen Buddhism for its mindfulness, discipline, and compassion, but one thing that always bothered me with it is its disregard of rational thought in favor of spontaneity and emptiness. Stoicism seems to compensate for that well while by replacing these with rational thought, and it's virtues foster mindfulness, discipline, and compassion. So let's shoe horn some goals into the cardinal Stoic virtues... eh? And for once, I'll actually grade things with points. Because a Stoic would collect data and use it to inform future decisions, even if it was time consuming and sometimes frustrating or annoying. Zero week points = bonus points to be distributed freely at challenge end. Goal 1, Wisdom: Practice Stoic meditations in the morning and evening. Journal the results. Morning meditation questions: Reminder of the previous day. What challenges do you anticipate today? How will you overcome these challenges while maintaining your virtue? Evening: What good deeds did you do today? In what deeds did you fail to maintain your virtue? What is left to be done, or improved upon? Do it everyday. 28 days. 1 point for morning, 1 point for evening, 1 point for journaling. 3 points/day. 84 points total Goal 2, Temperance: Track nutrition, regulate food intake for healthy weight loss. MFP everyday. Hit BMR calories, ~2167 cals. Stay below, 3000 cals. At least 100 g Protein 1 point each day for tracking. 1 point for keeping cals in range, 1 point for sufficient protein. 3 points/day. 84 points total. Side quests: Limit coffee to one cup before sun up. And avoid alcohol. This is for GI health, and mental clarity. And avoiding alcohol for weight loss. Goal 3, Courage Go to gym. Because lifting stuff makes you braver or something. Go to the gym and lift something then do cardio. 6 hours each of four weeks. 1 point / hour. 24 points total. Goal 4, Justice. Do good deeds. Help other people. Or at the very least, be a fucking adult. 1 point for each good deed or adulting task completed. Aim for 1 per day. 28 days. 28 points. LUYL_1: Figure out what the fuck cardio means in spanish. I spent 90 minutes on an elliptical, while I'm glad I burned 900 calories (supposedly), that time might have been better spent studying my Spanish textbook, or consuming some other reading material. Hmm... maybe I should have tried to find a Spanish channel on one of the TVs while I ellipticaled. Basically, this goal is to bring a book to the gym to make good use of lame cardio time. LUYL_2: Keep studying spanish. Duolingo changed everything all of a sudden and now it annoys me. But I should start incorporating and moving on to new ways of learning. Such as: Working through the Spanish language course Watching Netflix shows in spanish Reading Kid's books, newspapers in Spanish. I should still try to finish the Duolingo tree tho. LUYL_3: Flamenco guitar Daily practice. My teacher dropped hints last week he might invite me to join his Flamenco orchestra this summer. So I ought to keep practicing daily and dilligently. Ugh. Why are my initial posts so damn long?

The last challenge was primarily about 2 things; getting my squat up to what I deemed an acceptable level and setting a foundation for upper body work by getting my Row form and technique correct. I managed both of those, so for this challenge I'll be building upon that foundation and easing off the intensity of the squats. Despite being overweight for much of my life, you wouldn't be able to tell if you just looked from the waist down. Above the waist, however, I look like a sack of potatoes. Mashed potatoes. And functionally I'm not as strong as I'd like to be. And SL has kinda reinforced this (or at least made the difference more obvious) with squats taking up the majority of time and effort. With this in mind, my challenges for this month are as follows: 1a. Prioritise Upper body. Do my upper body exercises first. Hopefully this will get around the problem of running out of energy in the latter part of a session. 1b. Add 10kg to all 'none squat' lifts. Assuming that the theory above is correct and I have more energy for these lifts, I should be able to add 10kg to my Bench Press, Overhead Press, Bent-over Rows and Deadlifts. 2. Concrete on bracing. Whilst I'm pleased with my squat, I need to work on my technique, especially where my core is concerned. I'll be lowering the weight and concentrating on bracing my substantial middle section. 3. Cardio day. Once a week, do a day of cardio. I hate cardio. But I need to get rid of my substantial middle section. Once a week do something cardio-ish. Half an hour on the exercise bike, go for a walk and so on and so forth. Something. Anything. Not much, but a start. Now, watcha gonna do, Brother and/or sister, when Kong-a-Mania runs wild on you?!

I'm not doing an organized, graded list of goals. With a nice theme. It just won't be possible. Here's a whole list of the crap I'll be doing this challenge. Working 30 hours a week 12 credit hours in school Practicing Flamenco guitar studying spanish studying mandarin hitting the gym (cardio, kettlebells, weightlifting) eating paleo-ish publishing a journal article (leftover from grad school) painting prepping for a journey overseas I guess I'll at least organize these somehow, and Oh shit, maybe there's a theme after all, with goals named for famous Chinese sages. Goal 1, Sun Ssu Mo -- TCM Paleo. Sun Suu Mo was a Taoist sage whose main claim to fame were his writing on Traditional Chinese Medicine, and much of what he wrote concerned how the diet affects the balance of chi. All in all, the dietary aspect of TCM seeks to balance out elements, and the result is a well-balanced variety of foods, which is the same finding that modern/Western biology based nutritional science has come to... go figure. I'm going to brush up on my TCM. I had a phase in college where I was obsessed with Traditional Chinese Medicine so I have a few books, including a cookbook with a big ole reference describing how foods fit the elements and such. Getting familiar with this may also help me understand the foods I eat when I go to China. Basically, it's paleo with rice. Most of what I eat now is meat, veggies, and rice or potatoes. And, I'll play around with trying to balance elements in my meals. (but without forgetting macros). I'm going to allow variance on this for breakfast, because right now I'm not sure how to comfortably avoid bread at that meal. Everything that I can cook myself from scratch is pretty much acceptable. And stop eating donuts you fool! Goal 2, Ta Mo -- Exercise and Discipline Ta Mo was the Chinese name of Bodidharma, the wandering Indian yogi who travelled to China in introduced Shaolin monks to yoga and founded Chan, aka Zen, buddhism in China. Basically, as a yogi he believed that physical fitness provided the foundation upon which one could build a practice of mindfulness and spirituality. He was known for enduring extremely long periods of meditation. He is said to have cut off his own eyelids so that he wouldn't fall asleep during mediation. He preferred to meditate in the caves surrounding the Shaolin temple, and when a fellow monk asked him about what he focused on, he said he would "listen to the ants' screaming." Exercise and discipline. Go to the gym. I'll repeat last challenge's goal. 1/week is passing, 2/week is good, 3/week is great. Goal 3, Kong fuzi -- Be Rational and Responsible AKA, Confucius. I actually don't know that much about Confucius. And I just spent a few minutes on wikipedia and I have a lot to learn. But basically, what pops into mind (other than fortune cookies) are notions of being rational, responsible, and dutiful, etc. So this goal is just about doing my research on how to make this voyage to China happen and work on being responsible about it. The whole ESL teacher in China thing can be either my downfall or an opportunity for positive change and self-improvement, or I can just go to China and hide from my personal problems by drinking shit tons of baijiu and fucking around for years. Make a thoughtful To-do list of things to do to get to China and make this an adventure of self-improvement. Goal 4, Lao Tzu -- Learn the Way Yeah. yeah... supposed, but probably mythical, founder of Taoism. Taoism is all about understanding, accepting and adapting to the Tao, the way, and trying to live by it. Keep studying Mandarin and Chinese culture so I'll be able to adapt and roll with the punches while I learn a new culture.

My goal is to definitely chatter in here on a daily basis. Even if it's to say "Hi! I took a nap today!" or that I managed to finish four loads of laundry when I'm not posting things about the gym/working out/general health hubbub! So, back in February, my Step-dad and I joined our local gym. Since then, we were going every other day. I did skip a few days because 1) I wasn't feeling all that great mentally or physically or 2) I was feeling lazy. Lately, I have been far more diligent at pushing myself to go. Even if I'm feeling mentally exhausted or gross, I go because it actually makes me feel better. Much of my first month was cardio on the treadmill. Walking for 20-35 minutes and I liked it! Then I decided to do some weight training on the various machines they have there. I LOVE that. So, I'm going to find a happy medium as we are talking about working on going every day. Which I believe means I would do weight/cardio/weight/cardio throughout the week, or weight/cardio/cardio/weight. I think. I do know that tonight I am going to do some cardio because my muscles are ACHING after probably overdoing it the other night at the gym. Here is some info that I have either written down or recorded: February 3, 2018 Treadmill Work 199 calories burned 35 minutes 0.8 miles February 9, 2018 Treadmill Work 133 calories burned 25 minutes 0.63 miles February 12, 2018 Treadmill Work 136 calories burned 25 minutes 0.7 miles February 17, 2018 Treadmill Work 227 calories burned 35 minutes 1.17 miles February 19, 2018 Treadmill Work 154 calories burned 25:04 minutes 0.74 miles February 22 Treadmill Work 242 calories burned 35 minutes 1.06 miles February 27, 2018 Treadmill Work 229 calories burned 35 minutes 1.23 miles March 6, 2018 I want to note that some of the weight amounts may not be correct as I did not realize the weights have an adjustable handle to set it to 0, 5, or 10 lbs on top of what you have the lock bar set to. Therefore, these could be greater, equal, or less than what I wrote down. I also did not realize how you should set the weights when doing these as this was my first time going through them. I'm better informed now, I hope! 10 10lb leg extensions x 2 10 75lb seated leg curls x 2 10 10lb seated leg press x 3 10 75lb back extension x 2 10 35 lb chest press x 2 10 35lb pull down x 2 10 140??lb seated leg curl x 2 10 75lb calf extension x 2 10 35lb shoulder press x 1+5 Treadmill Work 78 calories burned 13 minutes 0.38 miles March 7, 2018 10 leg extensions 130lb x 2 10 seated leg curl 130lbs x 2 10 back extensions 180lbs x 2 10 seated leg press 130lbs x 2 10 calf extensions 130lbs x 1 10 calf extensions 180lbs x 1 March 10, 2018 10 pull down 75lbs x 1 10 pull down 85lbs x 1 10 pull down 90lbs x 2 10 chest press 75lbs x 2 6 shoulder press 20lbs x2 10 triceps press 210lbs x 2 10 bicep curls 85lbs x 1 6 bicep curls 85lbs x 1 10 row 75lbs x 2 10 seated leg press 140lbs x 2 My Step-Dad and I have become a great gym team and I'm really enjoying it!

Current status: still on Accutane, still low-key have a perma-cold, body is less achy, turns out that running in gross weather is my jam (wtf, self?) Keeping the same goals from last challenge. Accidental ASOIAF/Game of Throne theme #WinterIsHere Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 53 | STA - 54.25 | CON - 89 | WIS - 56.5 | CHA - 50.5 Waist 30.25" Belly 34.5" Hips 37.5" Thigh 22" Weight 162lb Body Fat 26.52% Goals Goal 1: Cardio Run 2x per week. Run outside as much as possible, if the weather is too cold then treadmill intervals instead. +3 STA +2 DEX Goal 2: Food Blah, blah, macros, blah. Variances twice a week, I'm thinking. Points I can get, cause fake internet points motivate me: - 2 points for being within 5% of my goals - 1 point for within 10% - 0 points for being out more than 10% I want 10/14 possible points a week +5 CON Goal 3: Sleep 11pm bedtime, follow my bedtime routine to help make that actually happen. Bedtime routine: get clothes/bag ready for the morning when I get home; do any food prep that I need to do while I'm making dinner; 10:20pm get ready for bed; 10:45pm in bed with a book/journal/etc +3 CHA +2 WIS Stuff and Things You have a journal. Write in it. Post here daily cause accountability and whatnot Also post in at least one other thread daily Do the Mini #TeamHawk #CA-CAW The Road So Far Week One Cardio 0/2 Macros 7/7 [didn't track Saturday/Sunday cause other people's home cooking] 11pm 1/7 Bedtime routine 0/7 Week Two Cardio 2/2 Macros 10/10 11pm 0/7 Bedtime routine 0/7 Week Three Cardio 2/2 Macros 8/8 11pm 2/7 Bedtime routine 2/7 Week Four Cardio 2/2 Macros 9/8 11pm 0/7 Bedtime routine 0/7

I'm Brogo. I haven't done an intro in a while. I've been on NF for over 4 years, and if you've seen any of my previous challenges you know fondness for consonances in my titles. I still weigh about the same as I did when I started even though my main goal when I started and often throughout has been weight loss. I mostly try to lose weight by lifting weight. I was a warrior initially, but now I just kinda bounce around from guild to guild trying to maintain a balance of things. I'm a disgraced geneticist trying to fix my situation with underemployment. Right now, I work 30 hours a week in a warehouse, and I'm a full time (12 cr hours) student at a community/tech school (after a PhD's worth of time getting a Master's at one of the best Universities in the world) trying to learn about machining/metalwork and controlling CNC machines to make stuff. I'm also an artist and musician, and I'm trying to get back in shape. Right now, I'm dead set on losing weight. I'm at around 255 and dropping from a bloat at the moment. Pre-Christmas I reached 244, the lowest I've been since I joined NF. I'm going to shoot for a new weight loss PR, and get below 244 during this challenge. The rest is all based on terminal "o" asonances, my growing interest in learning Spanish which my main go to is Duolingo, a slightly older interest in learning to play Flamenco guitar, and my even older appreciation for great Spanish artists, such as: Picasso, El Greco, Joan Miro, etc. Goal 1, Cardio: Go to the gym at least once a week. I have to go at least once within 7 days for each week of the challenge. I can't make up for it, or make excuses on that. Twice a week would be good. Three would be great. Four means I'm probably slacking off on other things. Do at least 2 KB circuits. I've been doing circuits with kettle bells the last couple of workouts. They are kind of a beast, and I sweat and pant like hell. Today's workout was: 3 KB circuits; KB Swings, 2x12kg 10, 20, 20 KB Front Squat, 2x12 kg, 10, 15, 15 KB Press, 2x12kg, 10, 10, 10 Plank (breaths), 10, 15, 15 KB Rows: 2x15kg, 10, 10, 10 Russian twist: 4 kg ball, - -, 10, 10 Jump Rope: (17,20),(13, 20) (- -) No rest until I get through them all if I can help it. I'll continue doing the same or similar with slight variations. Goal 2, Paleo: Well not strict paleo. Here's my rule. I will only eat things I make from scratch, from whole foods and basic ingredients. With that, I can eat bread, but only if I make dough and bake it and shit. Rice and oats are easy to make from scratch, and I know from experience my body handles them well. More often, tho, if I want carbs I'll probably grab a banana. That said, this makes not eating paleo a pain in the ass. So long as I batch cook meat, and keep vegetables and fruits handy I'll be fine. Goal 3, No bebo vino: o cerveza. Alcohol is my perennial nemesis when it comes to weight loss. Extra calories, diminished inhibitions and planning. 1 drink usually becomes 4 or 5. I gotta stop for a bit. Plus I usually have a dry month every year just to prove to myself that I'm not an alcoholic. LUYL 1, Duolingo: Don't break my streak. I've been on Duolingo and done at least one exercise every day for the last 22 days. I want to see if I can maintain it till the end of the challenge. Read one chapter in my Spanish book each week: I also recently bought a set of books and CDs (Living Language, Spanish, Complete Edition) and I should be using that too. Duolingo is great for quick drills, but it doesn't present a whole lot of info or nuanced details of expression and grammar or variation in exercises. So, I need other stuff. Practice Spanish during my commute twice a week: The audio CDs are in my car, and the first one is in the stereo. Just gottta hit play once in a while. If I get bold, maybe I'll start an embarrasingly simple conversation with a Mexican coworker and count that here too. Write a new sentence in Spanish every day, post it here. Just some simple thing I did that day or whatever. I need to practice finding my own words more. LUYL 2, Flamenco: I ordered a new guitar and it is supposed to arrive Thursday. My first nylon string guitar, which is necessary to play flamenco properly. Daily: Fingernail maintenance: Flamenco players depend on long well maintained fingernails to play guitar well. They have to be the right shape to pick the strings, they must be clean with no rough edges, and they must be strong for playing golpe and making other percussive sounds and other fast strumming techniques. This will be done before practice. Daily flamenco practice: 15 min. a day. No excuses. This is really nothing. Once I get going there's a good chance I'll be losing sleep to guitar practice. But, I'm going to stay focused on learning flamenco. No more Metallica and Deep Purple covers. No more noodling around on the same old blues scales. Learn new shit, don't fuck around. Study a new technique every week. New strumming/picking technique, new chord, new scale. The technical stuff. Study a new palo and its compas every week. Flamenco music is made up of a collection of styles, palos, and each has its own compas, the rhythm, meter, and chord changes, that define the palo. LUYL 3, Picasso: There's a lot going on, I don't want to forget about my artwork. Finish one painting or 8 hours of painting (whichever comes first). Aye, Dios mio!

so they may not have a cool catch phrase before going into battle, besides, "try not to die" but they're a fun and mostly smart team. i would like to be fun and mostly smart this challenge. Exercise. MOLLY – keep up that mutant strength. 5 workouts per week. I’d like to get at least 3 lifting sessions and 2 cardio sessions GERT – use what you have. like a telepathic link to a dinosaur or, ya know, a pull up bar. pull up bar play 6 min per week. especially do this on non-work days. KAROLINA – embrace your free spirit and solar energy absorption. do yoga on sundays (65 mins/week total). read/watch a new mobility article/video each week. I’ve pinned a lot of mobility stuff “to read later” time to do that. Food. CHASE – as the oldest, he knows it’s not all science and fun gloves. consume 25g fiber on weekend days. plan out what will be available to make this happen each Thursday: beans, berries, prepped vegs, etc. NICO – just because you can magically summon food to your door, doesn’t mean you should. eat out or take out less than 7x over challenge. i have 4 already planned meals out this challenge. no more than 3 more beyond those. let's do this.

Damn. 2018 is almost here. I just survived a third Amazon.com holiday peak season at the warehouse. I am not doing another. I plan to be out by June at the latest. To do this, I'm going back to school. With my class schedule, I can kick back to 30 hours of work, and I get an extra day "off." I have classes Mon and Tuesday morning, and Thursday afternoon, and Sunday off with the full days of ten hours of work. THIS MEANS I CAN RUN AN ACTUAL 4 DAY POWERLIFTING PROGRAM AGAIN!!! Goal 1, POWERLIFTING: I had an idea for another overly elaborate and thought out POWERLIFTING program a couple of months ago. I'm gonna do that. I'll explain later. It's very taoist. Goal 2, CARDIO: What? Don't we hates that? Yes we does. But we musts. Yeah. Fuck cardio. But I really do believe that if you can't run, 5k... slowly is fine, you're not in great shape. I'm going to include some HIIT on workout days. Then try for at least one long endurance run each week with the goal of making it to 5k with no breaks. Goal 3, ABZ! Abz every workout. Nuff said. Goal 4, STOP FUCKING SNACKING Granted I recently set a new 4 year weight PR recently, but I'd have done it in September had it not been for the Twix bar I typically have on my second break at work, or the other stupid food choices I make frequently. LUYL_1: LEARN FUCKING SPANISH ALREADY Gonna get a Spanish language course and practice it. Seriously, I'm an American. Why don't I know Spanish yet? LUYL_2: COMPLETE THE FUCKING TFA APPLICATION If I'm a couple months into my machine tool program and not loving it to fucking death, I'm joining up with Teach for America, and I'm gonna teach science in the ghetto or the sticks somewhere.

Past attempts to challenges in NerdFitness led to dissapointment and failure on my side. This was due to having no time because of a grueling internship, my work, my study and excercising. I simply had no time to get on here and check in every day. Since my last challenge i passed my internship which frees up a lot of time! After some thinking i realised that NerdFitness is brought me a lot of great things and that i find it a waste that i didn't show up annymore. New year, new challenge, new me. So starting this new year i will get back to NerdFitness. In order for this to be succesfull i will need week write ups, clear goals and some community interaction. Goals 1st january to 4th february These are related to my general health, challeges i set for myself or community interaction. Go vegetarian For this challenge i will go vegetarian for a month. In order to experience vegetarianism but also to force myself to eat more veggies and fruits. Reporting results One of my big issues is accountability. I tried to counter this in the past challenge, this worked for a while but after that it faded. Starting january first i will pickup on the accountability aspect again by sending weekly weight updates to a friend. Since there is a health issue with my weight i set a prety steep goal of 1 kilo per week. If i do not hit this goal i will have to do extra excercise the folowing week in the form of half an hour a day walks on top of my regiment. Managing the budget One of my biggest issues is that i go to the shops to often and pick up to many shit. In order to counter this i am allowed to go to the shops twice a week. No more. If i miss something, well that is shit for me. Diary In order to stay engaged to the commmunity i will have to write weekly progress reports on my thread. I hope some of you will stick around!

So I've been sticking with cardio as my main form of exercise because of an injury and I've noticed 2 things. I feel like I really need to do something with my hands while riding a stationary bike, besides messing with my MP3 player. Should I buy some weights to use while riding? I don't ride very fast or hard so it could be doable I suppose. Or is multitasking like that asking for trouble? Assuming it even works, I've heard it does and doesn't. #2 How do you guys fight the urge to nap after working out? I've noticed every time that I'm done, I feel incredibly sleepy.

Frank Castle aka the Punisher is probably the ultimate Determinator, and I'm going to be channeling that determination and discipline in the lead-up to the holidays. Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 52 | STA - 53.25 | CON - 85 | WIS - 56.5 | CHA - 50.5 Waist 29" Belly 32" Hips 37.75" Thigh 22" Weight 159lb Body Fat - 26.31% Goals Goal 1: Rest I'm not the greatest at taking care of myself, and it's kinda a problem. If I would do things like sleep enough and do mobility, I would be a lot better at the rest of my life. So I gotta work on that. +2 CON +2 WIS +1 DEX 11pm bedtime Daily mobility Remember to fill out my Pixel A Day tracker Journal once a week Read - to hit my Goodreads goal I need to read three books by the end of the year Goal 2: Refuel Track my food, hit my macros. 2-3 variances a week, depending how big the variance is. Log it, track it, and make sure it’s worth it. Avoid all the sweets and cookies and such at the office. +3 CON Goal 3: Resupply Get shit done: Christmas shopping - K/B, mom, dad, M, J/A (have ideas for dad + M + J/A) Do some (more) baby knitting - socks, mitts, etc. Go through kitchen cabinets - especially the cupboard where all my plastic bags are and the cupboard where my beer/wine empties are Do the mending Clean out my desk drawers Work on to-read magazine pile - 7 magazines read +3 WIS Goal 4: Move 5k x2/week Pullups Lift x3+/week - get my accessories in +2 STA +2 STR The Road So Far Week One 11pm 0/7 Daily mobility 4/7 Pixels - up to date Journal 1/1 Macros 6/14 Get shit done - got some of my Christmas shopping done, and have (some) ideas for the rest. Why are guys so difficult?! 5k 0/2 Pullups 7/7 Lift 4/3 Week Two 11pm 1/7 Daily mobility 5/7 Pixels - Dec 7 Journal 1/1 Read - working on book 1/3 Macros 12/14 Get shit done - Christmas shopping progress, did some knitting 5k 2/2 Pullups 6/7 Lift 3/3 Week Three 11pm 1/6 (not counting the night we went to the late show of Star Wars) Daily mobility 5/7 Pixels - Dec 17 Journal 1/1 Read - finished book 1/3 (Slaughterhouse-Five re-read) Macros 5/14 (didn't bother to track while I was at my parents', I know it was bad Get shit done - Christmas cards sent, shopping progress, knitting progress, reading progress 5k 1/2 Pullups 3/4 (3 days away with no pullup bar) Lift 2/2 (had to cancel one day because my body wasn't cooperating) Week Four 11pm 0/7 Daily mobility 3/7 Pixels - up to Dec 20 Journal 0/1 Macros 3/10 (not counting Sat/Sun) Get shit done - Christmas shopping done, made progress on the magazine pile and knitting 5k 0/2 - weather didn't cooperate and I didn't do it on the treadmill Pullups 2/6 Lift 3/3

makes you wonder who that woman in white is on the venga bus. 90s mysteries! 'tis the season for parties! i'd like to enjoy myself as much as possible. and also keep up with my routine Exercise. 5 workouts per week I’d like to aim for 3 lifting sessions and 2 cardio sessions. 4 lifting sessions would be better. duh pull up bar play 6 min/week yoga on the weekends (60 mins/week total) gotta keep up that mobility on the weekends where it's currently slacking Food. consume 25g fiber on weekend days i do well during the week but need to focus on more fiber on the weekends plan out what days you’d like to indulge in alcohol just trying to be mindful about this during party times eat out or take out less than 6x over challenge with all the holiday parties I shouldn’t need to order take out or go out to eat much at all! parties/gatherings/events 11/19: brunch, hurling matches (dranked) 11/23: thanksgiving (plan to drink) 11/24: black Friday shopping; movies with dad (not drinking) 11/26: make engagement party centerpieces (not drinking) 12/1: SO’s work holiday party 12/2: powerlifting meet (just watching/cheering!); Christmas market 12/9: engagement party (plan to drink) 12/14: star wars? (not drinking) 12/15: dr appt 12/16: send save-the-dates 12/17: jingle bell 5K (plan to drink) 12/22: friend’s family’s xmas party (plan to drink) 12/23: friend’s housewarming/xmas party (plan to drink)

Hello fellow Rebels to my latest 4-week challenge! After the success of my last challenge I realize that the best way for me to be the best Ranger I can be I'll need to stay disciplined and be proactive. One way I plan on doing this is through skill-building instead of Questing. But since I like to do things ranging from cardio, strength training, yoga, and more it means I will need to tackle my skills like a ranger. Training Like A Ranger To be the be ranger I will to be keep up my habits in a diversity of skills. This means getting familiar with a variety of different classes. So I divided my challenges for these 4-weeks based on it's class. Skillin' Like a Warrior A warrior is strong and swift. Capable of overpowering what faces them while enduring the great lengths of battle. Skills Strength Training - 5 Days A Week Each week I'll be doing either calisthenics or weight training. Cardio - 5 Days A Week Done after strength training. Working primarily on stamina. Skillin' Like a Monk A monk remains grounded and nimble. A master of their own body and mind. Skills Yoga - 2 Days A Week Stretching- 5 Days A Week Take an Akido Class Take a Yoga Class Skillin' Like a Wizard A wizard is wise. Dedicating their lives studying to learn abilities beyond their physical self. Skills Photography Class I enrolled in an online 4-week photography class on Coursera. Hoping to see improvements in my photography. Free Code Camp Certificate This is part of a 500-hour course I started this year. I am on the last project before earning that sweet Front-End Web Development Certificate Read a Chapter From a Book on Productivity Skillin' Like a Bard A bard is inspiring. Through their music they motivate those around them to keep going. Skills Guitar Practice - 6 Days A Week _______ Will be keeping track of all my challenges via spreadsheet! I have this spreadsheet set up kind of like a game. If I manage to stick to 6 of my challenges for 4 weeks in a row I unlock a virtual die called Chance Cube. Rolling the cube randomly select an item from a list of rewards. Spreadsheet

I'm carrying over similar goals from the last challenge. I don't have travel or anything planned that will disrupt my schedule in the way I did last challenge, so it makes it a lot simpler to plan out! So that means I have no excuses for not meeting my goals, right? Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 51 | STA - 51.75 | CON - 83.5 | WIS - 55 | CHA - 50.5 Weight - 164lb Waist - 29 3/4" Belly - 33 3/4" Hips - 38 1/2" Thigh - 22 1/2" Body Fat - 26.6% Goals Goal 1: Sleep Sleep is the foundation of everything, and it’s time that I buckle down and just do it properly. I know it effects my abilities mentally and physically, because I’m always tired, so it’s time to see what I can do when I’m sleeping enough. I wake up at 5:30am during the week (sometimes 6:30am if I’m extra tired), so that’s going to drive my bedtimes. I’m not sure how much sleep I actually do need, so I’m going to start with an 11pm bedtime (6.5 hours sleep) and see how that goes. If I need to, I’ll move it earlier in stages until I hit a good spot. CON +3 Goal 2: Cardio Yep, for some reason I decided to play a sport that’s cardio-heavy… So I have to do cardio between now and spring training, otherwise I'll die. I’m thinking 2x 5k, and 3x intervals/HITT/sprints. STA +3 Goal 3: Food Track my food, hit my macros. 2-3 variances a week, depending how big the variance is. Log it, track it, and make sure it’s worth it - quality variances only! Meal prepping is going to be a big part of this one. CON +3 Goal 4: Mobility I have 3 key lower body and 2 key upper body mobility protocols that have really been working for me. Ideally I would do all 3 lower body at a time, and/or both upper body ones, but it takes a bit of time to get through everything, so instead my goal will be to do either my upper or lower body protocols every day. DEX +3 Goal 5: The List WIS +3 Do some baby knitting - socks, mitts, etc. Go through kitchen cabinets - especially the cupboard where all my plastic bags are and the cupboard where my beer/wine empties are Do the mending Clean off the top of my desk and my desk drawers Work on to-read magazine pile Unofficial Goals Grease the Groove - use the damn pull-up bar! On Sunday I was able to do A Pull-up, I want to do more! More NF! Regular updates here and more keeping up with other people's challenges Remember to fill out my Pixel A Day tracker Be on time to Toastmasters Journal once a week The Road So Far Week 1: Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/2 Intervals 2/3 Macros 7/14 Mobility 4/7 The List - no progress Unofficial Pullups 1/7 NF 2/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Oct 26 On time to TM 1/1 Journal 1/1 Mini - done Week 2: Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/2 Intervals 1/3 Macros 5/14 Mobility 3/7 The List - cleaned off my desk - now to keep it that way! Unofficial Pullups 1/7 NF 6/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Nov 5 On time to TM 1/1 Journal 1+/1 Mini - done Week 3: Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/1 Intervals 1/2 Macros 9/14 Mobility 1/7 The List - nope Unofficial Pullups 0/7 NF 3/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Nov 12 On time to TM 1/1 Journal 1/1 Mini - done Week 4 Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/2 Intervals 0/3 Macros 8/14 Mobility 3/7 The List - lots of knitting! Unofficial Pullups 0/7 NF 3/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Nov 15 (currently caught up fully) On time to TM - N/A Journal 1/1 Mini - done

OOC: For a quick and dirty introduction that's still in development: Lorcan Cuirc. I'm not new to Nerd Fitness, or even the Rebellion Forums to be accurate (though I haven't participated much in the last year). But, I am coming at this as if I am brand-spanking-new. Any helpful suggestions or advice would be much appreciated. I read the book in two days last summer and instantly LOVED the concept of gamifying my goals. I've been applying it inconsistently since. Now, after some life events I've decided to really look at myself, my life & goals, and rebuild. That's why I'm here and willing to really commit to this method and group. For Favourites: Hobbies: Reading and cooking, but working on starting a couple more. A potential hobby is woodworking (furniture). TV Shows: I really enjoyed Supernatural, Game of Thrones, and Parks & Rec. But I barely watch TV or movies at this time. Games: Skyrim and Fallout 4 were amazing. And I really liked Farcry Primal. Again, I barely play anything at this time. Main Quest: Begin to (re)discover and grow myself spiritually, mentally / emotionally, and physically. Quest 1: Start the NF Paleo diet at level 4. Quest 2: Continue with Couch to 5k from week 3 on alternate days from NFBW. Quest 3: Start NF Bodyweight program on alternate days from C25K. Quest 4: Continue daily reading and practicing Stoicism and other similar philosophical and spiritual programs. IC: Prologue: A Spark Catches the Spirit At the end of yet another long, exhausting workday, Lorcan tiredly sloshes through the mud as he makes his way through the streets and alleys towards home. Reaching a small shack made up of scrap aluminum, steel, and wood, he gratefully swings the splintering door open and steps inside out of the cool evening into a warm place in the world - HIS warm place. The small, leaky shack is on the marsh's edge in the dregs of town. The most dangerous, most unpredictable part of town - and part of people - is just steps away. But in here, he's relatively comfortable and safe, grinning sleepily at his floor mattress, the 'new' comfy pillows he traded 4 fish for laying on top of it, and the cookfire in front of him, he closes the door behind him enthusiastically and starts stoking to warm up some "mystery meat and I think they were vegetables" stew before turning in for the night to repeat it all again tomorrow. Plopping down on a rickety old chair as the cookfire flames flicker back to life, he begins to reassess things. With little to no sleep, the buzz of concerns, ideas, and to-do's mixed with personal affirmations to stay focused, stay in control of his emotions and perspectives, and put one foot in front of the other, are all but overwhelming. With a deep inhale through the nose and slow exhale through the mouth after a brief hold, as a now dead mentor had taught him to do two decades ago when stress starts to mount as it would when about to get into a physical confrontation, his mind calms, his body relaxes slightly, and he is refocused on the moment. He then systematically wonders how he ended up in this state of affairs: born to a middle-class family he was an athlete in his youth blessed with schooling where reading, writing, history, math, economics, and philosophy were made available to him; then a young but promising officer in the army; then a series of injuries; a series of failed relationships, the last one the closest to real love yet but he couldn't see it when it was there, when she was there; estranged from his dysfunctional family for so long he may as well be an orphan; the only close friend left that knows him in any depth lives far away - the rest were killed in action; and now a labourer in crop fields, rain, snow, or shine, so far north it's a wonder crops grow here at all, and so remote it's a wonder there are people here to buy them. He snaps out of reminiscing and can't help but laugh to himself about the futility of having regrets or trying to find blame instead of looking at now and how to grow and move forward. Then he realizes, and is grateful, his mind and feelings went that direction, and not towards self-pity and anger, or worse, fear. The stew bubbles thickly, reminding his stomach to complain and growl loudly, and he ladles himself a full bowl, devouring it almost as fast as it was poured. Dousing the cookfire back to small flickering whips of fire, he crawls into bed and lays on his back staring at the ceiling and into space. He whispers a quick prayer to the Goddess Morrigan thanking her for helping him endure, for testing him within his means and to continue to, for everything. And, finally, does a quick review of his new plan. With an optimistic smile, he falls asleep.

My City of Ruins: A select few of you may remember me. I came, I did some challenges, I dropped some weight, and then life started life-ing me and I disappeared. In early 2015, I weighed 255 lbs. I joined a gym, started eating better, found NF, and in around 18 months, I'd just about scraped under 200 lbs, got myself a nice suit, and life was going... better. But interest started to flag, and a combination of work-related stress, family dramas, injuries, illness and dark depression took hold, and I went under the ice for a while. It started with some niggling aches and pains, which, after an extended period of doctor and hospital visits, were diagnosed as calcific tendonitis in the rotator cuff, and bone spurs in the neck. As I attempted to get those under control, my wife lost her mother, and my own mother's dementia gradually progressed. She suffered a series of falls and spent a large chunk of the early part of this year in and out of hospital for weeks at a time. We're getting some support with her care now, which is helping greatly, but the dementia is only going to worsen as time passes. With all of this in the background, I completely neglected my own well-being, quit exercising, ate like crap, didn't look after myself mentally, and spiraled into a dark place. I could feel my health worsening as my weight increased, to the point where everything was becoming uncomfortable, and I felt constantly sick, tired, and sore. At the end of July, I made the decision to rejoin the gym and go completely cold turkey from my arch nemeses, chocolate, cakes and fizzy/energy drinks. On my first visit back to the gym on August 1st, I weighed myself. 257 lbs. Back to square one, literally. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $100. The Rising: There have been two weigh-ins since I rose from the ashes. September was 248, October 244, meaning 13 lbs lost, against a backdrop of having my car smashed and written off, and picking up some bumps and bruises and a mild case of whiplash in the process. Gym attendance hasn't been quite as consistent as I would have liked, but forcing myself to go even inconsistently is better than where I've been. Other than a two-day spell where two of my kids had back-to-back birthdays, the food choices have been pretty solid. I managed the best part of ten weeks completely cold turkey, had a treat around the birthday bashes, and resumed progress afterwards. The goal is to get back to completely cutting off chocolate, cakes and fizzy drinks between now and Christmas, and then take it from there. Further On (Up the Road): And so, we beat on, boats against the current. There's no grand theme, no complex strategies, no delightfully colourful spreadsheets (this time, but they're itching to make a return), just some simple goals. Get to the gym, three times a week. This goal should now be a little more attainable for me, given that a couple of changes to my regular schedule are in the process of happening. As of Sunday, my church has switched to Saturday evening/Sunday morning services, which means not having to rush home on Sunday afternoon and do a quick turnaround to get back at it on Sunday evenings. Gym goal is to keep pushing the cross trainer level up, notch by notch. It's currently sitting at 20 mins at level 12/13. I'd like to get that up to level 15, and start working on building up a second run to end each session. During my first run on NF, I was starting and ending with 20 minute runs. I can get back there. Food goals, see above. My only restrictions are cutting out the chocolate, cakes and fizzy drinks. Other than that, I generally can be trusted to eat sensibly. Mental goals: stay positive, stay connected to my friends here, stick to my daily bible reading plan. The rest will take care of itself. What's coming up in this period? We're entering a busy new season in church again as we prepare for our annual giveaway, which of course means the return of the panto. SGFS regulars will know that I regularly get roped into performing in the shows, and this year will, I've been informed, be no different. Over the past couple of years, I've played (off the top of my head), a hyena sidekick in the Lion King, Augustus Gloop (Willy Wonka), the Tin Man (Wizard of Oz), Anger (Inside Out), Shere Khan (Jungle Book), Cogsworth (Beauty & the Beast), Mr. Potato Head (Toy Story), a couple of World War 2 soldiers, a Jersey Boy doo-wop singer, and a granny tranny in a Queen "I Want to Break Free" tribute. This year's panto has just been announced, and it's Shrek. No idea who I'm playing yet. Secretly, I'm hoping Fiona... Now, as a wise man once said, "Let's go to woik."

I'm carrying over similar goals from the last challenge, and adding a couple, and rearranging things a bit Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 49 | STA - 49.75 | CON - 82 | WIS - 55 | CHA - 50.5 Weight - 162lb Waist - 29.25" Belly - 33" Hips - 38.75" Thigh - 22.25" Body Fat - 26.45% Goals Goal 1: Sleep Sleep is the foundation of everything, and it’s time that I buckle down and just do it properly. I know it effects my abilities mentally and physically, because I’m always tired, so it’s time to see what I can do when I’m sleeping enough. I wake up at 5:30am during the week (sometimes 6:30am if I’m extra tired), so that’s going to drive my bedtimes. I’m not sure how much sleep I actually do need, so I’m going to start with an 11pm bedtime (6.5 hours sleep) and see how that goes. If I need to, I’ll move it earlier in stages until I hit a good spot. CON +3 Goal 2: Cardio Yep, for some reason I decided to play a sport that’s cardio-heavy… and then voluntarily decided to go play an even more cardio-intensive version of that sport on Thanksgiving/Oktoberfest weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving = beginning of October). So I have to do cardio between now and then, because in the last month and a half I’ve done basically none, especially compared to the amount I was doing from May-July between playing rugby, practicing rugby, and riding my bike to rugby. I’m thinking 2x 5k, 3x intervals/HITT/sprints, and 1x something else - maybe swimming. The weekend of week 3 and all of week 4 will be a bit different due to Thanksgiving/visiting Stratford/Ottawa adventures. STA +3 Week 1 Monday - weights/intervals Tuesday - weights Wednesday - Thursday - weights/intervals Friday - 5k Saturday - intervals Sunday - 5k/swim Week 2 Monday - weights Tuesday - weights/intervals Wednesday - 5k Thursday - weights/intervals Friday - 5k Saturday - intervals Sunday - swim Week 3 Monday - weights/intervals Tuesday - weights Wednesday - 5k Thursday - weights/intervals Friday - 5k Saturday - Oktoberfest rugby 10s Sunday - Oktoberfest/Thanksgiving Week 4 Monday - Thanksgiving [weights/intervals?] Tuesday - weights Wednesday - 5k Thursday - weights Friday - Ottawa Saturday - Ottawa Sunday - Ottawa Goal 3: Food Track my food, hit my macros. 2-3 variances a week, depending how big the variance is. Log it, track it, and make sure it’s worth it - quality variances only! Meal prepping is going to be a big part of this one. CON +3 Goal 4: Mobility I have 3 key lower body and 2 key upper body mobility protocols that have really been working for me. Ideally I would do all 3 lower body at a time, and/or both upper body ones, but it takes a bit of time to get through everything, so instead my goal will be to do either my upper or lower body protocols every day. DEX +3 Goal 5: The List WIS +3 Finish going through clothes/inventorying Left side of closet - upper and lower PJs Bras Shoes Outerwear Purses Do some baby knitting - socks, mitts, etc. Go through makeup Clean out espresso maker Go through kitchen cabinets - especially the cupboard where all my plastic bags are and the cupboard where my beer/wine empties are Update workout log from notes on phone Unofficial Goals Grease the Groove - use the damn pull-up bar! More NF! Regular updates here and more keeping up with other people's challenges The Road So Far Week 1: 11pm bedtime 0/7 Intervals 3/3 5k 0/2 Swim 0/1 Macros 4.5/7 Mobility 6/7 Pullups - tried to remember to do them, semi-successful NF - posted here or in other people's threads 5/7 days Week 2: 11pm bedtime 0/7 Intervals 2/3 5k 0/1 Swim 0/1 Macros 4/7 Mobility 6/7 Pullups 2/7 NF 4/7 Week 3: 11pm bedtime 2/7 Intervals 1/2 5k 2/2 Macros 4.5/7 Mobility 4/7 Pullups 0/7 NF 1/7 I think? Forgot about tracking this Week 4: 11pm bedtime 1/7 5k 1/1 (replaced with group training) Macros 2/7 Mobility 3/7 Pullups 0/7 NF 3/7

G'Day all my fellow rangers, I'm back for another 4-week challenge! Last month was a bit of a hectic one, and as a result, I found myself in a pretty unorganized time in my life. I didn't do so well in my last challenge and I want to bring myself back into a disciplined lifestyle. So for this challenge, I'll be focusing on sticking to good habits and building a solid routine. Quest Challenges Post to Photo Journal Every Day Been using my photo journal as motivation for taking on new adventures and challenges. Want to get back into doing it regularly Meditate 10 minutes a day, 10 Days in a Row Want to start routinely practice the Wim Hof method. Complete 4 Fitocracy Quests Non-Quest Related Challenges Finish My Font-End Web Development Certification This is part of Free Code Camp's 500-hour course for web development. I'm on the very last project of the course, but have been putting it off for a while. Do Strength/Physical Training x5 A week Cardio After Every Strength Workout Cardio use to be my strong suit, but I've been neglecting it a lot since getting into strength training. I am going to make it a habit to dedicated 30-minutes or more of cardio at the end of my workouts. Stretch, Every Day Do Yoga x2 A Week Days I don't do strength work I'll be doing yoga to promote recovery Practice Piano and Guitar, x6 a week Been taking up Piano and Guitar to help improve my memory after reading Deep Work. Goal is 30 minutes minimum a session Read 1 chapter a day from a book on self-improvement Weekly Reports: Week I Report Week II Report Week III Report ____________ I am really excited about doing all of these challenges. I feel like having my goals laid out in front of me would help me remind me what I want to work towards and make them into habits. To keep myself more motivated I am taking a page form Cal NewPort's "Power of Habit" and giving myself a reward for each challenge I complete. Since it's still week 0 I am going to spend some time today building a tracker to help unlock each new challenge and reward. Created a stat tracker and reward roulette spreadsheet on Google Sheets. More info on project

In an effort to do more cardio, I did a workout today in my employers small fitness center. I rowed 5,000 meters in 28 minutes, and finished out at 5,299 meters in 30:05! My NF goal is to do 5,000 in under 25, so that's in my sights. Amusingly enough, I was rowing on level 8 for the first 10 minutes, not level 5 like I normally do. My arms tired out so much quicker!

Hi there, Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I joined this forum a while ago but this is my first time posting here. I'm a 5'9", 29 year old guy and currently weigh 56kg/8 st 12 lbs. In the past few weeks I've been thinking of getting more into weight training and powerlifting. I'm not looking to compete or anything but I want to get stronger and build a bit more muscle. I'm not completely new to lifting weights as I had been doing bodypump classes twice a week. Whilst this helped me get lean I'm not seeing the results I'd like. I stumbled across the Stronglifts 5x5 program. This week I took the plunge and switched gyms from the small gym in my local leisure centre to a gym with a dedicated weight training and functional strength training areas. I am genuinely enjoying the Stronglifts program but I do have a few concerns about how much food to eat and how low the workout frequency is. Everything I read about building muscle states that you need to eat a lot. The Stronglifts program also suggests only working out 3 times a week with little to no cardio. About 8-9 years ago I used to weigh 89kg/14 st. I was really unhappy and had no self confidence. Between changing my diet and doing a lot of cardio (at one point I was cycling 13 miles a day) I started losing weight and managed to get down to a healthy 67kg/10 st 10 lbs for my wedding day. I maintained this weight until I joined the gym at my local leisure centre last year and reached my current weight. My worry is that by eating more and doing less cardio the weight will just go back on to my stomach and face. Is this worry completely unfounded? Everything I've read suggests that as long as I eat right (whole foods, high protein, etc) that I won't regain the fat I had before but instead will go to fuelling muscle growth. In the days between heavy weight sessions should I do any cardio? Currently I'm going on 4-5 mile runs but I'm not sure if this is too much. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. James

AHHH YOU GUYS. It was so hard to pick a challenge focus this time. Background: So next up is Challenge #7 - the tomato strikes back. I turn bright red when I exert myself, because I'm a tomato and cardio is just this endless battle. I've been struggling with running for years now. I can run a 5K distance but I struggle to run more than 1-2x/week or increase my weekly mileage above the 4-5 mile range without getting shin splints. I'm very consistent in my running, but I keep getting stuck. So last challenge, I started to shift towards running 3x/week by splitting up the mileage across runs and focusing on using a 180BPM cadence to see if that helps with shin splints. I want to keep working on 3x/week runs this challenge. Most running advice says you need at least 3x MINIMUM to improve, so I'll see if that's true. Here are the deets: Run/walk 3x/week for 20 minutes, getting used to the 180BPM cadence Continue to experiment with factors like running surface, shoe lacing, etc, to see how my shins do If my legs bother me or I can't run for other reasons, try to sub in another form of cardio to take its place so I maintain the habit of doing something 3x/week (biking outside or on a machine, jumping, burpees, etc.) Step 1 is to get used to the cadence so it feels less awkward. Step 2 is to be able to run 20 minutes 3x/week at that cadence without needing to walk. Step 3 is to increase one of those runs to 5K distance ASAP so that I don't lose my distance there. Step 4 is to start to experiment with total weekly distance, sprinting, hill work, and other types of running workouts once I have the base in place. Eventually, I'd like to be able to run a 10K distance for OCR purposes, run a 30-minute 5K, and run an 8 minute mile time for shorter runs. Mini-Challenge 1: Hiking As part of cardio-type activities, I'd like to do more hiking. Hiking is quite possibly one of my favorite physical activities, but I don't do it that often these days. It's crazy good for you and it's fun and low impact. It's also a good way to explore. So! I'd like to go on 1 hike/week during this challenge, both in my current area and in the new area. If I succeed at doing all 4 hikes, I can reward myself with a hiking backpack to encourage even more hiking. I have fantasies about doing cooler dayhikes and things, so this is a good place to start. Mini-Challenge 2: TO DO LIST EXTRAVAGANZA SEPARATELY I'm moving at either the end of Week 1 or Week 2 of this challenge, so there are a million things to do. I'll do a separate mass of to dos before and after the move. BEFORE: Cancel internet Cancel electricity Do the thing with the forwarding address?? List a bunch of furniture on sale via Craigslist and flyers at my apartment Get letter from Aikido sensei confirming my current number of practice hours Figure out what to do with my furniture if I can't sell it, and how the hell to get it out of my apartment anyway (I'm on the 3rd floor of an apartment and there are only stairs) Set up a lunch or something with local coworker-types Get in at least one bootcamp class so I can say bye to peeps there Contact my wrist doctor about anything I need in advance to be able to smoothly transfer info to a doc in the new location Donate other stuff I'm not keeping Continue with swimming lessons / make sure to inform instructor about move coming up Use my actual apartment pool at least once Hit up some of the items on my bucket list BBQ pub Italian place Local bargain store people love Cool burger place in nearby town Try running at a park that's supposed to have some soft trails Maaaaybe the racetrack? But also apparently there have been a lot of horse deaths there this year so I might just boycott. There are some other things but I don't have the list in front of me so I'll update it later AFTER: Find the local library and get set up with it Update address with work Find good places to run both right outside my front door and farther away Find a good place to ride my bike Find an asian market/grocery store Find a wrist doctor Find a place where I can practice swimming Find someone I can potentially trust to cut my hair Find a local farmer's market Find a good lunchtime/after work walking route Explore local fitness options...yoga, gyms, aikido, bootcampy classes, etc. I will not be able to do much until after my wrist is dealt with, but individual classes should be doable in the short term.) Mini Challenge 3: Minimalist Food Leading up to the move, I've got some pantry items to use up. I can get very overzealous about trying new recipes and foods, but I should focus on working my way through what I have and keeping it simple otherwise. I'll also end up going out a few times with coworkers/aikido peeps/to finish up my list of things to do locally, so I want to avoid overbuying food. After the move will be a big adjustment, because my boyfriend doesn't cook and eats out for all meals and we'll have to find some middle ground that does not involve the expansion of MY middle. So it makes sense to try to keep things simple and minimal while we adjust too. So, some guidelines: Only cook recipes I have successfully cooked before (or that are very simple - like I can try a new sauce on some chicken or something if it just involves mixing some things together and cooking it a normal way) One exception...I have a quiche recipe I've already planned to make this coming week to use up some canned green chiles. Finish as much as I can from the freezer/pantry before the move and plan meals off of those items, filling in foods only as needed to round out the meal Keep grocery shopping simple after the move (at least for the first 2 weeks) and try to avoid getting starry-eyed over the excitement of new grocery stores to explore ???