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Red1263 coming in and out consciousness, he hears voices... he thinks. "Hey!... I think he's de..." "... yeah? What ever gave you that idea?" "Well, he fell..." "Yes! When he fell through the ceiling!... Just grab wh... and go..." "Uhhnn... Who dat? Who dere?" "Whoa! He's alive!" "Ahh!! Run!" Red1263 struggles to get up, searching for his sword. "I'm... I'm still alive! Where are you?" His vision starts to get clearer. "Ohhh... My head... Lousy Gravity Knight... Where did he send me?" He scans his surroundings, there's no one there, but Red1263 sees himself in a winding, but narrow tunnel. "Huh, weird. I could've sworn I heard other voices around me... I guess it must've been the wind." "Heh, Idiot! There's no wind down here." "SHHH! Shut up you idiot! He can hear us!" "I can hear you! Show yourselves!" Red1263 started doublechecking his gear, he noticed his Crystal shard collection. "The shards! My Sword! Thieves! I'll find you! You can't run from me" "Quick! Run!" Red1263 only barely saw movement but it was enough to see which direction and give chase! The tunnel's twists and turns doesn't let Red1263 see whom he's chasing, but he can tell there are two of them. The chase lasts a few minutes until he gets to an opening. He stops, scans the area. 'They're here... I can sense the shards... they're close... I think...' Suddenly there's a flash out of the corner of his eye, something swipes at him! "Whoa!" His legs get kicked out from underneath him, causing him to hit the ground, he instinctively rolls away and jumps back to his feet. "Attacking me from two sides, eh? Smart." The battle continues for a few minutes until a distant boom caused all fighters to stop in mid action! "Uhhh... Please tell me that was you." "No... Was it you?" "Uhh... heh heh, ahh, no. Was that you?" "SWEET CID'S BEARD!!! TALKING CATS?!" "Crap... he saw us." "What do we do?" BOOM "That... doesn't... sound good..." the three of them say as they turn to see what was the source of the sounds. What the three didn't realize was that the opening was home to a former sleeping Giant Centipede! As they're running, Red1263 decided that this was an excellent moment to ask the other two cats some questions in a calm manner, whist running for their lives, "Give me back my stuff!!" "What stuff?!" "Yeah! We didn't steal your stuff!" "I know you have the shards and my sword! Give it back so I can fight this thing!!" "Your sword isn't going to do anything to that thing!" "You idio--" "HA! I knew you had my stuff! Now give it back!" "OK OK We'll help you if you can get us out of this!" "You have to give me your word! Otherwise no deal!" "Fine! I give my word! We'll give your stuff back if you can save us!" "Deal. But I'm going to need your help!" "Let's do this! It's all about outlasting the creature. Pushing yourself when you're really not wanting to!" "That's great! Because I really don't want to!" "Just follow my lead!" * * * So life became rather hectic for me lately (hence my absence about 2 challenges ago). But the goal of this challenge is one word: Discipline. I give in too easily to not working out or studying because of a minor setback. Some of these goals are a checkmark everyday, while others require focus and persistence. All of them reflect (in my humble opinion) an act of discipline that I can practice. Bruce Lee once said, "the Successful warrior is the average man with lazer-like focus." This is going to be my Mantra for this challenge! Challenge Goals: 60 Push-ups everyday Read/Study for 30 mins everyday Reach 5 Pull-ups without breaks Live with Aster and Iris* *So one of the things that been the cause(s) of the hectic-ness of my life, is the simple fact that I have adopted 2 kittens: Aster and Iris (pics coming soon). Both currently around 10 weeks old, I'm going to learn how to take care of them and try to establish something of a routine with them as well as maintain my sanity with work, studying for boards and being on-call.

I got a little buried under work last time (or two... or three) I tried to do a challenge, so time to give it another try. It would be a lot to try to explain here, but long story short I went from functionally being the only person doing my job (it's a 2 person job and the other person wasn't interested in actually working) to literally being the only person in my job for a few months, which also meant I was pulling some crazy long weeks. This is thankfully no longer the case, and the person working with me now is doing a fantastic job so far and eager to help out, meaning I get to have a life outside of work again! (...now I just need to get my mind to understand that I don't have to work nonstop, because brains are complicated and annoying) Unsurprisingly, my main goal remains the same: RECLAIMING MY TIME (honestly most of this challenge is basically going to be a repeat of my Grumpy Cat one, hence keeping with the silly cat theme. There's also a lot of overlap of the quests because of their relation to time) Quest 1 : Sleep (4 points/wk) Kinda hard to claim time when I'm tired and want to sleep most of my not-work time. I went to a doctor last year right before things went crazy and he gave me some things to try to do to improve my sleep that I want to start doing this challenge: Going to bed near the same time every night (I'm going to be aiming for between 11:30 and midnight) Getting up at the same time every morning, when my alarm goes off - this one is DEFINITELY going to be a struggle, I tend to snooze and I absolutely hate getting up in the morning Exercising 4-5 hours before bed, this is the window the yoga class I want to go to falls into, and I can try to add swimming or walking on days without yoga too with my Y membership that I really need to use one point per day I'm up before 7:30am, I'm not expecting myself to be able to roll that back all days hence not doing 7 points on this one Quest 2 : Food prep (6 points/wk) I've had issues with eating a lot of fast food because I haven't always prepped food ahead that I can eat/want to eat when I've gotten busy, so I need to prep food ahead for both work and outside work so I don't wind up eating more Burger King due to lack of preparation. Get meals made ahead - lots of Instant Pot recipes left to try Make sure lunch and breakfast are packed ahead the night before a work shift (when I actually prep ahead, I throw a frozen breakfast sammich in my lunch bag and leave it in the fridge so I can just run in the morning) Reduce eating out to 1-2x / week, preferably an intentional meal rather than just hitting a drivethru because I didn't have anything better available. 1 point for packing ahead (4 work days/week, 'cause 10 hr shifts) 1 point for batch cooking ahead 1 point for staying under 2x eating out/wk Quest 3 : Schedule outside of work (especially exercise, 4 points/wk) (not Pusheen, but adorable and my cats would never let me do it) So... I'm still enrolled in that yoga class that I have NOT been able to go to for months, some of which was because of it being cancelled for a month because of lack of enrollment (I just had them roll mine forward a month each time that happened) and some of which was the fact that I was still at work when the class was happening. I do also want to get exercise in on other days as well per sleep doc's recomendation, not to mention it helps my ADHD as well and I would definitely get a lot of physical benefits as well. I do also want to get some other things I've neglected back on my radar as well, like crafting and gaming. Attend yoga classes (M,W) work on setting up schedule for exercise besides yoga (T,H,F) - likely swimming at the Y or doing a Zombies, Run! session as a walk set aside time weekly for at least one of the following: solo gaming, painting minis, knitting, playing music 1 point for making a yoga class 1 point for making a non-yoga workout 1 point for planning for and following through on one of the above activities Life quest : Japanese (2 points) Like most other things on my challenge, this got shoved to the back burner (and then promptly dumped off the stove entirely) due to lack of time and energy. Use Duo min 5x/wk Study 1 lesson/wk from my text books (I think I was on the second one when stuff went crazy? I'll be starting back at one though) 1 point for Duo 1 point for studying from the text books So, hey NF community, I've missed you folks. LETS DO DIS!

I’ve got a lot going on…marathon at the end of week 1, traveling for all of weeks 3-4. I’m stripping down the challenge a bit, but even stripped down, I know the goals will help me stay on track. 1. Run 3x per week. This is a maintenance goal for me. Did it this way to allow for recovery and travel. If I have a legit reason for missing a run, I can make it up in the following week. 2. 20 days of 30 pushups. When possible, add a set of 10 narrow pushups on the stairs. 3. 8 days of strength training, ideally 2+ per week. I’ve written out my program, including acceptable substitutions while traveling. It does include chin-up negatives, but I’m not setting a target because I won’t always have access to a bar. 4. 20 days of tracking calories. My target is 2000 per day with a reward (I-tunes song) if I get under 2100 avg/week. Day before and day of marathon are freebies. This is hard while traveling, but I’ll do my best. It’s particularly useful to do it now because I won’t be burning as much running. And for fun, here's a sort of minimalist cat My goals collapse down to 12 + 20 + 8 + 20 = 60. Just do 60 things in 28 days. No problem.

Hi everyone! I've been here before, but now I'm here as kind of a last ditch effort. I'm here because I've had a hard time with some disordered eating habits that have hit me again more recently. I'm weak, unfit, and my mind is suffering. My goal in coming here is to feed my body and inner nerd. I'm really really hoping to meet some people here. I have a really strong support system when it comes to my disordered eating and I am hoping to break all ties and fill the void with something healthier. I'm excited to be in a place that loves the nerdy. I'm less of an RPG nerd and more of like a reading/harry potter/cat loving/doll collecting nerd. I actually hope to learn a bit more about RPGs though. That's the best I've got as far as an introduction goes. Look forward to seeing some of you around and getting strong, fit, and well!

Last challenge, my theme was “to be a cat, or to stop being a cat?” The answer was quite clearly to continue being a cat, so this seemed like a good follow-up theme. #scientificmethod Last challenge was not my best challenge. I continued my workout and meditation streaks, and learned some things, but my overall scores were kindasorta not very good. Near the end of my challenge, I found myself suddenly feeling very worn out and uneager to do anything. I suddenly felt like I was fighting with myself just to do basic things. But, y’know… I thought about cutting things out so I’d be less rangerbrainy about everything. But when I listed all of the things I’m working on, there was nothing I really felt like I could cut out. There was no one thing that was really causing me stress or exhaustion. I’m doing a bunch of different things, but I genuinely don’t think I’m doing TOO much when I put it all together. There are the 4 building blocks of physical health that I know work for me – walking, working out, yoga, and eating primalish. Those are my essentials. And then I’ve added some supplemental things more focused on mental wellbeing – meditation, dishes, and the like. None of those things are that strenuous. So, instead of trying to edit my goals, I’m going to try to edit the space around them. I’m going to start tinkering with how I spend my time when I’m not working on goal stuff, and see how that impacts my energy. I’m going to finish this fight. Goal 1: Maintain Fitness Workout 3x/week (usually 1 bootcamp class and 2 workouts on my own) 1 run per week – I’m working on increasing from 5K towards 5 miles. I also need to remember to do ankle alphabets before and after each run Walk 16 miles per week (64 over 4-week challenge) Goal 2: Spartan Prep Burpees I’m going to finish the burpee fight. Last challenge, my goal was to try to do 30 burpees in a row (with breaks as needed) every day. I only got about 12.5 days in. So, I want to get in 17.5 days over the course of this challenge to hit that nice symmetrical 30x30 number. That’s roughly every other day, so I can leave them out on days that are already packed with other physical activity. That might help them feel like less of a burden. Climbing I made great progress on the jungle gym at the park, but I did not actually conquer it. I’m going to keep working on this and try to conquer it this challenge. I won’t require a certain number of attempts. Either I make progress or I don’t, but I can do it at whatever pace that works. Goal 3: Food Food happens in 3 categories: things that work, conscious eating, and some sort of experiment or test I focus on for a month to try to learn more about my eating. Part 1: Maintain What Works (23 points / week) Don’t eat after 8pm (or within 3 hours of bedtime) (-1 point for failure). Exceptions on Thursdays where workouts and Aikido coincide. Don’t eat more than 1 bad food/meal in a day. Desserts are counted separately from meals in most cases. (-1 point for failure) Eat primalish most of the time (19 meals / week allows for 2 variance meals) (-1 point per failure, +1 point for extra primal meal) Aim for primal snacks on 4 days/week and then non-primal snacks ok 3 days per week (out of 4 points/week) Aim for at least 1 primal meal and 1 50% meal per day when travelling or hosting (-1 point per failure, +1 per success) Plan/prep meals over the weekend and prep/freeze meals for weeks when this doesn’t happen (+1 point when done successfully) Write down bad reactions to food choices in an ongoing spreadsheet to dissuade myself from making that choice a second time. Not connected to any points. Doing this is slowly starting to help me make better choices. Slowly. Part 2: Conscious Eating (28 points/week) Think about what I’m about to do before eating something. Ideally, pause and take a few deep breaths. If I eat something unhealthy, recognize and acknowledge that I’m about to sell out my future self. (4 points per day – 3 meals and snacks) Part 3: Experiment – Carbs (14 points/week) Fiber I decided to repeat the carb experiment this challenge, since I feel like there’s still more to learn from doing it. I don’t plan to count carbs permanently, but I want to continue to experiment with it for one more challenge. I hypothesize that I already instinctually know when I’m eating a good quantity of carbs – on the days that I ate well, my carbs were also good. But I want to confirm that through science. I’m aiming to stay under 100g/day. I won’t track during travel or hosting. 1 point for tracking and 1 point for hitting goal. ½ point if I don’t know the nutritional info for a thing, but I still write the thing down. In light of cholesterol issues, I'm changing this to fiber for the challenge. Aiming for 25g at least of fiber per day. Goal 4 (Life Goal): Sleep & Play Here’s where I try to manage my energy. I’ve known for a long time that I should work on my sleep habits, but I’ve also avoided doing so because the idea really intimidates me. I’ll try something small. Sleepy Sundays Get to bed at 10pm on Sundays so that I start the week off with enough sleep. This means I’ll have to wait to watch Game of Thrones until Mondays, since it airs at 9pm on Sundays. Try to clear Sundays so that I have a whole day where I can recuperate / prep meals. I should try to avoid letting workouts fall on Sundays. I should try to get groceries on Saturday so that I don’t have to worry about that on Sunday. I should try to get laundry done before Sunday. Play 1x per week physically – Roll around on the ground, try primal movements, dance, try cartwheels, splash in the pool. Whatever. Cat stuff. 1x per week mentally – doodle, color, whittle, solve a puzzle, etc. Bonus Goals These goals earn me bonus points that can balance out any other areas where I struggle, but these goals cannot happen at the expense of my main goals. Yoga 4x/week Meditate 7x/week Clean the sink before bed 4x/week

Hello Friends! Last months simpler challenge was good, not a complete success but we're going for progress not perfection here. So I'm going further down the road of "doing less is more" and just doing ONE goal for this challenge. That's right. You heard me. ONE GOAL. In earlier challenges I sort of spread myself thin trying to do a lot at once. And it was necessary to see that while I COULD do a lot all day everyday, it's not necessarily the approach I want to take. And that led to some reflection about what type of goals work for me. All of my goals last challenge were mental/emotional health oriented. And process based. So I've decided that's where I need to focus at the moment. I eat pretty well (I focus on one meal at a time and it's working). I'm in maintenance right now. I exercise consistently. I'm writing pretty much every day. So I think it's the right time to focus on my day to day process. As a note to myself: This whole challenge is about process, NOT about results. With that in mind here's my goal: Goal: Make a to-do list every day. Post it here. That's it I think with challenges right now, it's about finding simple, do-able things that will help make the rest of my life better. Those habits that make everything else flow together. Exercise, meditation, posting, those are three of the big things. And I think daily to-dos will help too. It might be three things, we'll see. Part of it is letting this be trial and error for finding a way to get shit done without getting hard on myself and therefore overwhelmed. TO THE PROCESS *clinks glasses*

Welcome to my challenge version of Neko Atsume - Kitty Collector! For anyone who isn't familiar with this game, here's a brief description from Neko Atsume Wiki: The game provides the player of a small backyard area (which can later be expanded with an indoor area as well) where the stray cats of the neighborhood come to visit. The game currently features more than 50 different cats: white and black, tabby and calico. Rare Cats are rumored to roam the neighborhood too, but you'll need particular items to entice those elusive felines! It's completely pointless, ridiculous and 100% addictive! My Kitty Challenge Cats that visit your yard leave you gifts of fish, either silver or gold fish which you can use to buy more items to lure more cats. I'll be awarding myself fish as points for all activities I do over this challenge. Silver Fish I'll be awarding myself 10 silver fish for any "regular" activity I do. This is anything I do on a regular basis like running, lifting or climbing. When I reach 50 fish, I earn a kitty from the regular cat list. A regular cat like Snowball here: Gold Fish These will be awarded for any activity I do that I don't do every week, but will benefit my regular activity. For example yoga, hiking or swimming. They will also be awarded for anything I consider a "win", such as completing an obstacle at a race that I haven't done before. Only 5 gold fish will be allocated at a time, but only 20 gold fish will be needed to collect one of the Rare cats. Rare Cat - Lady Meow-Meow: So that's it! Very simply, virtual cats in exchange for real activity. Oh, and in true crazy cat lady style, I'll be spamming this thread with as may pictures of cats as I can. Feel free to do the same!

Meow. My last challenge was declared the unofficial NF cat appreciation club, so I figured I might as run with the theme. This will be my 10th challenge, which is pretty cool! Double digits! That means something, right? Here’s the basic structure I use for my challenges: Everything is worth points. Some things are worth bonus points. Bonus points can be applied to any category, to help remind me that health is hollistic. I’m slightly concerned that rangerbrain is creeping in this challenge, but I’m trying to be conscious about it. I removed some things from my goals that I was tired of doing, and I’ve tried to prioritize and value things in a way that keeps me from getting overwhelmed. I’ll also be travelling from May 4 - May 11th, so I’m initiating specific travel protocols for that period before moving into my main challenge goals. I realize some of this falls on Week 0 anyway, but I try to keep going on most stuff through Week 0. I plan to use Week 0 to calibrate my goals - I’ll be lenient with some of them, ignore some of them, and do others in full, but nothing will count towards my challenge score. Goal 1: Maintain Fitness This is where I stick all of my ongoing fitness stuff. These are mostly the same every challenge, but tracking it as a challenge goal still helps keep me motivated. I’ve been doing a daily squat hold for a few challenges, but I don’t think it’s helping me so I’m dropping it this time. Work out 3x/week - usually 1 bootcamp class and 2 bodyweight workouts Run 1x/week - 3 points available 1 for running at all 1 for doing something extra to prep for the Spartan in August (hill runs, extra distance, whatever) 1 for doing ankle alphabets before/after the run. I got sick of doing these every day after 3 challenges, so I’m going to see if I can get away with doing them just on run days. Walk 16 miles per week (64 in 4 weeks), 1 bonus point per extra 5 miles. 1 Pushup AMRAP / week Goal 2: Movement Focus - Spartan Training I usually do a movement focus where I do some dedicated practice for something I’m working on improving, like pushups or squat holds. This time around, I’m doing a variety of things to train for the Spartan I agreed to run with Sylvaa and fleaball in August. Not gonna lie, I love training for things so I'm going to milk this as much as possible. 30 burpees/day challenge. Done all in a row, with rest breaks only as necessary to maintain form. I’m not allowed break them up throughout the day. Ideally done first thing in the morning. No make ups. I don’t want these to pile up. The goal is to do it daily, so if I don’t do it I don’t do it. Half points available for doing 15 instead of 30, but through Week 2 only Take this one with a grain of salt. It’s a challenge, but I’m deliberately going to assign it fewer stat points/lower priority because it’s more difficult than most of my other goals and I don’t know how it’ll go. Running Points for this are covered under my running goal, but I’m aiming to increase my base distance from 3.1 miles to 5ish miles over the next several months. Bear crawls I’ve been wanting to work on bear crawls anyway, so this is a good excuse. If I tack these onto my bodyweight workouts as a warmup or cooldown, I get a point. 2-3 points available per week. Pullup work I’m going to finally order a pullup bar. The only place I can put it is on my bathroom door, so I’ve been avoiding buying one. But my pulling strength is my weakness and I’m getting to the point in several progressions where it would be good to have one of these. Add pullup progression to workouts. 2 points available per week from the time I get the bar set up. TBD - add in 1 extra day of pullup work or practice grip strength by hanging. 1 point. Climb stuff / Stop Being A Cat I LOVE climbing. I get the urge to climb things all the time, but when I get a few feet off the ground I freeze and have trouble getting back down. Because I am exactly like a cat that gets stuck in a tree. So, I want to work on that. Find stuff to climb. Jungle gym at the park. A nearby rock gym. Miscellaneous walls. Whatever. 1x/week - bonus points for every extra thing I work on climbing. Goal 3: Food Broken into 3 parts because rangerbrain. Part A: Maintain things that work Don’t eat after 8pm (or within 3 hours of bedtime) (-1 point for failure) Don’t eat more than 1 bad food/meal in a day. Desserts are counted separately from meals in most cases. (-1 point for failure) Eat primalish most of the time (19 meals / week allows for 2 variance meals) (-1 point per failure, +1 point for extra primal meal) Aim for primal snacks on 4 days/week and then non-primal snacks ok 3 days per week Aim for at least 1 primal meal and 1 50% meal per day when travelling or hosting (-1 point per failure, +1 per success) Plan/prep meals over the weekend and prep/freeze meals for weeks when this doesn’t happen (+1 point when done successfully) Write down bad reactions to food choices in an ongoing spreadsheet to dissuade myself from making that choice a second time. Not connected to any points. Doing this is slowly starting to help me make better choices. Slowly. 23 points per week Part B: Measure Carbs Last challenge, I learned to track protein and found that I hit my goals on most days thanks to meal prep - unless I went on a carb binge. So, I feel like I have protein pretty under control. This challenge, I’m going to repeat the exercise with carbs to get a feel for my intake there. My ultimate goal is just to understand what hitting my macros feels like and troubleshoot weight loss, not to make tracking a permanent thing. Weeks 0-2 – measure carb intake, but no need to try to hit a certain goal (1 point per day) Week 3-4 – start aiming for under 100g a day (2 points per day) Part C: Continue to practice conscious eating Think about what I’m about to do before eating something. Ideally, pause and take a few deep breaths. At the least, recognize and acknowledge when I’m about to sell out my future self. (4 points per day – 3 meals and snacks) Goal 4: Life Goal - Play Outside I have a list of life goals I want to experiment with this year, but this time around I want to keep it light since I’ll be travelling from May 4th - 11th and have a lot of other stuff on my plate. I’m cheating a bit here because this could also be considered a fitness goal depending on how it goes. But in general, my intention is just to play and have fun. I will go on some sort of outdoor adventure once per week - biking, swimming, hiking, climbing, an epic walk, playing on swings, etc. 4 points available. Bonus points available for extra outdoor play. This can totally overlap with my "stop being a cat" goal. Bonus Goals These goals all earn me bonus points, but cannot be done at the expense of one of my main goals. I removed a couple that got annoying and added a new one this challenge. Yoga 4x/week Meditate 7x/week Clean the sink before bed 4x/week NEW Practice crow pose 5x/week

The winter blahs have set in here in Minnesota... So let's start a warm and fuzzy thread where we can show off out furry (or scale-y) companions! Feel free to post pics, share funny or heartwarming stories... anything pet related is a-ok. ...Cause who doesn't love a good pet thread?

A few months ago, my boyfriend and I got cats from the local shelter. They are very nice, adorable, playful and everything else you expect from kittens, so that's really awesome. However, I have been away to Greece for almost a month for my work, and my cats and I really missed each other. Time to spend more time together! 1. Do yoga every morning on a working day My morning yoga is the moment we always start with cuddling. I start in a cross-legged position for neck rolls and arm raises, and one of my cats then always sits in my lap. The yoga makes me happy and it also releases some stiffness in my back, legs and neck. I started with this last challenge, and it works really well for me. 2. Be mindful of my working hours I can't play with my cats if I'm at work all the time! Furthermore, I have a history of depression and burn-outs, so I really must make sure that I take enough time to relax. I have a 32 hour/week contract, which I want to spread over 5 days a week, so at most 7 hours a day is reasonable, as is at most 33 hours a week. Tracking is of course part of this goal as well . I'm not sure yet how I'll track my hours, but I'll make a spreadsheet and save it somewhere where I can access it anywhere . 3. Start meditating This is not really related to playing with cats, but I want to try and see if meditation is something for me. doyouyoga.com has a 30-day meditation challenge of ~10 minutes a day, so that's an easy way to try it out. My goal is to complete this 30-day challenge during this challenge, so I'll have to meditate 5 days a week on average. 3. Play with my cats at least 5 minutes a day Just to keep me accountable . S1. Make a picture of my cats and post it here every week. Looking at a picture of my cats makes me feel happy, so I'll probably also enjoy posting pictures of them . S2. Find a music instrument I want to learn to play. I have been thinking about learning to play an instrument for some time now, and now that I have the money and the time I think I should just choose something and start learning it! By the end of this challenge, I want to have chosen which instrument I want to learn to play . S2. Practice on the clarinet at least 15 minutes a day I have chosen to play clarinet, and I want to make fast progress. I won't make progress if I don't practice, so here I go . As the first picture, I present you my cat with a not-so-happy-face: I'll also post some regular updates about my climbing, I'm back at climbing twice a week now . Although my cats are still better on a vertical surface than I am, I can of course keep practising and be awesome with climbing .

* coffee = I am a java programmer, reference to my life goal bender = this challenge will mostly be about flexibility Fit Intro: As a kid, I sucked at everything sport related and was known at my school for failing almost every time on P.E. The last couple of years I have discovered that I actually do love to push my body, but that I'm not a fan of team sports. I love dancing, yoga and strength training(free weights and body weight). My most recent victory was the 5k race that I ran in May and I hope to get a <30 min time on that soon. Nerd Life Intro: I recently graduated as a Java Developer, but still taking on extra courses like Android. Programming is computers + puzzles and therefor awesome. I love reading fantasy and scifi and playing RPG's like WoW and Divinity (it's Belgian!). Civ V is another favorite (and The Sims, but sssh). My gaming skills are not nearly what I want them to be but I enjoy myself. I also love drawing, painting (both mostly nudes) and spending way too much time on Tumblr. Main quest: I want to become the most flexible developer ever. Gymnasts are crazy impressive. Missions: Be able to perform the splits on both sides and really improve my wheel pose. Practice every day. Points of completion will be given based on improvement(I will take pictures every week) and if I have practiced enough count: 1 point for DEX for improvement of wheel pose, 1 for STA for training every day, same for splits (4 total) Be able to do a handstand Practice every other day. Right now I can hold a headstand without support for 10 seconds but no handstand, not even against a wall. I actually think this is more a mental problem than not having enough strength. count: 2 for STA, 1 for WIS Run 5k in under 30 minutes Run 3 times/week with Zombies, Run! app. Not flexibility related, but I really want this too. My current time is 35:27. count: 2 points for DEX based on improved speed, 2 points for STA based on consistent trainingImportant note for week 1: The first week of the challenge I will be on a trip in Berlin and the idea is to make it cardio week: swimming in the hotel pool every day, lots of walking and at night dancing. I will also spend some time in the sauna, to train myself if an assassin mission would ever take me to the desert Life quest: Get a job and move out First job, then move out, so this mostly means applying for a lot of jobs, creating stuff to add to my resume and improving my skills count: 3 for CHA, 2 for looking for jobs, 1 if I actually get one Side quest: (apparently split related) Go climbing or bouldering with my friend C. We have been talking about this for over a year, but he messed up his shoulder in February. Last week he said he would probably be ready for it this month, so here we go. count: 1 point for STA Motivation: I want to be amazed by what my body is capable of, what I am capable of. I want to proof that I am not lazy and that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. This will be a serious challenge of persistence but I like challenges! Why be less when you can be more?

SuNoYo Want to Be A Cat 'Cause a cat's the only cat Who knows where it's at. 'Cause ev'rybody digs a swingin' cat. Previous challenge My last challenge was pretty awesome, though there were some stumbling blocks and, somewhat stereotypically for a Brit, 'rain stopped play' at times. Well, I say 'rain' it was more like hurricane force storms, floods and structural/property damage to my local area (and the country at large). Equally stereotypically, I put on my stiff upper lip (well, with one or two exceptions) and kept on going. Not one to let my momentum tail off when I'm on a roll, I'm dropping straight into my next challenge. It's themed and everything. Main Goal: SuNoYo Want to Be (More Like) A Cat Cats! Cats are adorable, cuddly and a source of adorableness, silly antics, cuddles, comfort and a whole host of other things. F'r'instance: Cats Are (Usually) Flexible and Agile Cats are masters of agility and flexibility, regularly contorting themselves into small balls of adorableness and just strange pretzel shapes with no sign of discomfort. They climb high things with ease, perch on top of narrow things without care and are generally graceful little things. - Complete the beginner's programme on doyogawithme.com OR do yoga exercises a minimum of three times a week, paying particular attention to the wrists, forearms and upper body as I find that my wrists and shoulders (and butt, but that's another thing altogether) always ache the most after a BBWW, even with a cool down incorporating T'ai Chi stretches. - My hips, alas, are not equally flexible or mobile, I would go so far as to say that while they are both equal, one hip is more equal than the other. I will do a hip specific exercise every day, be it hip related mobility exercise from Gold Medal Bodies, MWOD, yoga or even Pilates. Or something else entirely. I'm open to suggestions. Success Markers - I can touch forehead to right knee about half the time; I want to be able to touch forehead to right knee all the time and at least lessen the distance between the forehead and my left knee from three inches to one inch. - When my wrists and forearms in general no longer hurt after a BBWW or other strenuous exercise (or is markedly less painful/frequent). - Doing the yoga three times a week minimum. - The hip thing. Self-esteem challenge: Splits. Do them. Cats Are (Usually) Calm and Quiet Cats are masters of being calm, able to sit down and (seemingly) contemplate the mysteries of the world for hours on end, rather than facing a problem or conflict head on they will think about it beforehand so as not to get in too deep. - Meditate every day for at least five minutes at any time about my day, my feelings and my life. My sleeping meditation doesn't count. - When faced with a significant problem or someone spoiling for a fight, rather than rising to the fight or getting into a panic about the problem or event I will breathe. I will think. I will calmly evaluate the problem or argument at hand and find a way to defuse my growing negative emotions. - Sleep. Do it. Six hours a day minimum at a sensible time. This means no more composing posts on NerdFitness at half past four in the morning. Yes, this is actually the very last sub-goal I'm writing given that I just saw the time. Success Markers - Meditating every day and by the end of this SWC be able to meditate for at least forty minutes a day (in chunks or all at once). - The reason I added 'someone spoiling for a fight' in my little challenge is that I have a relative who enjoys nothing more than calling me horrible names and accusing me of being a Jew killing Nazi, a member of the KKK and saying things in my presence about slavery being good, that all gay men should be gassed and basically the kind of appalling things that would get you insta-banned almost everywhere online or, should you say it in the wrong place in the real world get you beaten up. And because he's autistic he more or less gets excused everything and I'm the one to blame for trying to defend myself. I won't rise to him. I won't. I can't calmly argue anything he says because he takes it as an excuse to say worse things and start screaming. I can't ignore him because then I'm at fault. I will simply . . . breathe. And agree. - I have awful social anxiety/crippling shyness/people problems. Even applying for jobs (and Master's courses) scares me to the point of nausea so, depending on my general mood I actively avoid it. This is a Bad Thing. I will have figured out what exactly makes me feel like this, and begin finding ways to address it. - Sleep is happening at a sensible time. Self-esteem challenge: Leading on from the above I will have applied for at least three jobs AND/OR at least one MA course. Cats Are (Usually) Creatures of Habit Indoors and Outdoors Cats, once they fall into a pattern stick to it like no one's business. Her Majesty will be in this room, sleeping on your feet for four hours between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon; then you will walk with her to her next room, opening doors as you go. From two in the afternoon until six in the evening she will sleep on the router, the meagre space between your laptop and your crossed legs on your laptop if necessary, and on your feet. At six you will share your dinner with her. At twenty-five to seven you will open the room's door, escort her downstairs to her place on her 'table' where you will feed her and pour a precise mix of water and milk into her cup. You will also turn on the tap and ensure there is a clear space in the sink and on the draining board so that she may drink at her leisure and so on and so forth. - Keep doing T'ai Chi once a week at class and after every BBWW. Therefore, keep doing your BBWW three times a week even when I'm tempted not to because this challenge 'technically' isn't focussing on strength. - Cats shouldn't be kept indoors, they need to go outside. So do humans. Spend more than an hour outside the house every day, even if it means spending time inside another building, such as visiting another person or shopping, though it's preferred to be simply outdoors. Success Markers - all T'ai Chi classes attended unless they're cancelled - all BBWWs and T'ai Chi work done every week unless excused due to injury, illness or pushed back a bit due to The Icky Period. - I'm voluntarily spending time outdoors every day, for longer and longer periods of time. Free passes for: bad weather, especially if it puts me at risk or could affect my health; actually being properly ill/injured. The missed daily hour is still expected to be made up wherever possible. Self-esteem Challenge: most of this SWC involves getting into the habit of doing things; at least one of my other goals/sub-goals must be maintained 100% while maintaining all all my other good habits. - stop my usual form of self-harm (ripping and biting at the flesh around my fingertips) or at the very least drastically reduce it to no more than once a day. - doesn't actually belong here, but I don't care - there's an all-day T'ai Chi course some time in early April. Attend providing you have the funds. Life Side Quest Cats Are (Usually) Clean and Fastidious Cats are obsessed with being clean, while simultaneously being cursed by their owners for making a furry mess everywhere, they groom themselves nigh on hourly and they (almost) always look well-presented and cared for. For much of my teenage and university years I struggled with (and still do) undiagnosed depression (and those social issues I previously mentioned) and, to be frank, I would often neglect my personal hygiene for days on end. I wouldn't bother showering, washing my teeth, changing my clothes; and in many ways I just didn't care for myself in any way at all. I didn't live in my head, I lived in my books. - I will shower every other day - I will maintain my morning and night time facial routine, including the cleaning of the teeth. - I have too many belongings, some of which I almost never use. Not including my books, I will systematically go through my clothes, jewellery and other items and sort out what to keep, what to throw away and what to donate to charity. I currently have one suitcase, one (and a half) drawer(s) and a box of clothing; four or so boxes of college and uni work and other items and who knows what scattered around the house. I will get rid of at least ten percent of it, particularly the clothes. Self-esteem challenge: pitch in more around the house; learn to do the laundry properly for when I move out. Rewards: Ehm. We'll see.

Bonjour I'm a bit nervous and excited about posting, as ideally this is the start to something that could be an extraodinary part of my life/future. Currently I'm 165cm and 56kg~ and looking for a huge change in my life. I've always loved running and the outdoors- but being so inclined towards videogames, computer learnings, and other such indoor activities, paired with a sort of growing anxiousness towards strangers - it's stopped me from pursuing those activities. Because of that I've lost a lot of my athletic ability, and I've gained a bit of weight as well (having been 52kg previously). When I was a little kid, I used to be quite fat, and I remember how much it sucked - luckily when I went into my teens I changed naturally into average size. However the recent weight I've gained makes me scared that I could revert back into that stage of my life, which would not be preferrable. So I want to stop before I get too sucked in, and make myself better than I ever was! My main quest is to be able to run 10km, and so will be taking up long distance running 2x a week at first, and then progress from there. Human - 165cm 56kg. Desired class - Scout.

Cleaning the litterbox: it's a daily chore. Actually, it's a twice-daily chore if you don't want your place smelling like cat pee. I tend to look at my life like it's a litterbox. I mean, I have two cats IRL, so I already actually have to clean two litterboxes (my boyfriend helps!) - but RL is the "dumping" ground for a lot of crap, and unless I take care of it on a daily basis, things get unpleasant pretty quick! I feel like I have a strong grasp on most of the stinky parts of living: doing the dishes, doing laundry, keeping the floors swept and the countertops wiped down, making sure my half of the bills are paid on time - and of course, keep the real litterboxes clean. But some parts I don't feel I have a good handle on at all. Those would include my strength and endurance, my ability to entertain myself and/or relax without prerequisite alcohol, and my long-term financial situation. Incentives for accomlishing those things include: - Better ratings on my NCOER, which translates into a better-looking resume' when I get out of the Army - More personal confidence in myself - More enjoyment from my normal hobbies (drawing, writing, reading, crochet) - An easier transition to civilian life (without having to worry about money when I get out) I do feel that I am working through a HUGE hurdle ATT by quitting smoking, and that's been a great confidence-booster for me. I am, however, consistently terrified of losing that momentum and falling back to my old habit, so right now I have a genuine love/hate relationship with the whole episode. On the upside, since I'm not deploying (hence, my new DBL - the old one was "Sandbox Prep") I hope to have more time to devote to really leveling up my life. I may even take some college courses, if I get the chance! But first, I have to keep my head in the game and help get all deploying personnel onto the planes and safely to their respective war posts. LOL Looking back on it, it really seems like my decision to enroll in the Army's ASAP Smoking Cessation program was... well, TBH, a little premature! This is definitely the most stressed I've ever felt in my entire military career - and yet I chose now to quit smoking?! Sometimes I really do wonder about myself. But I've already come this far, and I don't see any benefit in moving backwards (again), so I'll just have to keep pressing forward. Speaking of quitting smoking, I should note that as of this Saturday I will once again be out in the field. I've been slotted to help support this next JRTC rotation. Hurray. I have ZERO clues as to what specifically that entails, but the information I've managed to glean thus far suggests it's a lot of standing around in the LA summer weather and occasionally dirtying my weapon by firing blanks at some 11B's dressed up like terrorists. There is a SLIGHT possibility that we'll be allowed to return to our own housing whenever we're off shift, in order to shower, wash our uniforms, and sleep in our own beds ... but I'm not holding my breath about it. However, I'm far less concerned with being stinky, rashy, and tired than I am with the temptation I'll face to smoke while I'm out there. I DON'T WANT TO BE A SMOKER ANYMORE!!!! Anyway, if I get the chance to update this log while I'm on rotation, fantastic - but if not, at least I'll have it waiting for me when I get back. In the meantime, I'll keep on keeping on trying to keep my "litterbox" clean. Meow.

I've always wanted to be more fit, and pursue pakour, rock climbing, and urban exploration, but never had the right motivation. Until I found Nerd Fitness. Now, I'm going for it! Time to level up, for realsies! I love cats. Great agility, speed, as well as style and grace. My challenges are based on the greatness of felines. Fitness Goals 1. Getting Ready :Do the Beginner Bodyweight Workout 3 times a week. Nuff said. +3 Str, +1 Stam, Con 2. Endurance and Speed: My wife can run a mile in 12 minutes. I'm a smoker, and have ehhhh stamina. I'm good for short distance, but not much more. Run 2 times a week minimum. This goal is to match her 12 minute mile. +2 Stam +2more if I can make it in 11 minutes. 3.Sweet Cat Agility Part 1: I was contacted by another member of the Rebellion who is also interested in parkour,(Calling you out Denniah!) and just starting out. I live a block from a nice little park, so I got some boards and set it up. My wife is also going to practice. Practice precisions, rolls, and general flexibity at least once a week. +2Dex, +2 more if I practice twice a week for all six weeks. Personal Goal: I can't dance, and my wife loves to. It's annoying that I play drums, can do 3way independents(play 3 different beats at once) and just feel awkward trying to dance. Our two best friends are both attractive women that also dance, and we go to clubs all the time. They go out on the floor, and I feel like a jackass standing at the bar drinking.That's lame. I play Call of Cthulhu with a dance teacher couple, so I'm going to tap that resource for some kinda lessons. Take my wife and friends out dancing. Do it with some style and panache, and be confident about it. +2 Cha.