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NEW CHALLLENGE! Oh My God So Excited ... This is just a placeholder, though. I'll be back later today. Just wanted to let you all know what you're in for.

Balsquith - Dragon Slayer reloaded My last challenge was a themed dragon-slaying challenge and was great fun and went well for the first 2 weeks until I went on holiday and let it fizzle out. This challenge will be almost identical (except for the fizzling-out part) with a few minor modifications to keep things interesting. I will start this challenge on a Monday as I found the change to a Sunday start didn’t work for me at all. This challenge bases itself thematically on the book I am reading ‘Die Mächte des Feuers’ by Markus Heitz, which is set in 1925 in a world just like ours with the big difference being that dragons have survived and are not very likeable. The book follows the dragon slayer Silena, a descendent of Saint George, who works for the church to hunt dragons. For this challenge I will once again be Balsquith Dragonslayer, from the line of Saint George, dedicated to hunting down the terrorising beasts and bringing peace and harmony to the land. I will be facing the same four dragons in this challenge as in the last challenge, as they all escaped with only relatively minor injuries and have had time to recover and return at full strength to terrorise the land. Dragons 1. Sirath the somnolent – Getting up to my alarm (Health = 50pts) 2. Bredolth, bane of the Morning – Morning routine (existing routine + daily MITs) (Health =30pts) 3. Tavorth the unbending – Evening routine (existing routine + stretching) (Health = 30pts) 4. Cenolth the abeyant – Exercise/injury rehab (Health =40pts) Hero Balsquith Dragonslayer – Starting health = 10pts Rules I will fight all dragons daily with the following combat rules: Success – Dragon loses 1 health point Partial success – Parry, no change in health points Fail – Balsquith Dragonslayer loses 1 health point and dragon regenerates 1 health point Bonuses for chains Chain (7 day+) => Success = 1.5 points Chain (14 day+) => Success = 2 points Chain (21 day+) => Success = 2.5 points Bonuses for completing all daily tasks Frenzy (4 tasks/day) => Success = 1.5 points Wrath of the Gods (4 chain tasks/day) = 3 points Apothecary Earning gold crowns Reading ‘Die Mächte des Feuers’ = maximum 1 gold crown earned daily In dire need I have a list of unpleasant tasks (only when health falls below 5points) = 5 gold crowns Shopping list Healing potion = 2 gold crowns (recovers 1 health point) Dragon’s Bane = +1 hit points on dragon (1 day expiry date, use must be announced day before) (3 gold crowns)

Sandwiched I'm late to the challenge because I was on vacation. In Australia. Where I managed to catch one of these guys... One of four region exclusive Pokemon!! And it turns out I need to exit the challenge early because I'm heading to Mexico September 11th-17th (I'll be building houses in Tijuana!). Therefore my challenge shall be called "Sandwiched." Like sandwiched between traveling? Do you see what I was thinking when I came up with the title? I am very tired from Australia so maybe it's not clear to a well rested nerd but I'm going with it... Haven't totally thought this through but its been a long time since I've been able to do a 4 week challenge that even though I can only put in two full weeks I still wanted to play. I'm going to keep it simple - get back into my crossfit (heading there now actually), play a little more Pokemon Go with my youngest before he goes back to school, maybe a squat/sit up challenge. oh and it's my birthday next week so something fun for that... lots to think about. I'll be back.

Hi Rangers! After a month off, I'm back and ready to get stuff done. I'm focusing on 3 things this challenge: Core, and mobility from my hips to my shoulders. 2000 sit-ups by the end of the challenge. That's 500/wk, or 100/day for 5 days/wk. GHD's count as double! 8-minute Abs must be subb'd at least 1 day/wk NO BINGES for the next few weeks! I have dealt with disordered eating, and it's sort of like having been an addict. You always have to be on your guard for relapses. I've gotten tons better in the past several years, and my bf has helped so much with with me giving permission to eat and also questions me when I know I'm at risk. Work on my French. I'm going to do something every day. My bf's little sister and I were doing once-a-week French practice, and putting together projects for that in conjunction with Coffee Break French was excellent. She starts school in a few weeks, but at least we'll have a little time to practice together! Finally, I need to stay on track, and one of the best ways of doing that is to stay plugged in. 5 posts in my own thread, 5 posts in someone else's thread every week. Best of luck to everyone in their challenge! May the Force be with you!

Expect this post to be edited heavily in the next week! Today, I went back to work after my summer break. The students aren't on campus yet... that happens next week. This whole challenge is going to have to revolve around me implementing the good habits I've been trying to build while on break... during the stressful school year. Diet: bump up calories to 1800-2000 per day while still following 21day fix protocol. This isn't so much a challenge, just a declaration so I don't try to restrict too much, because in addition to crossfit 3x a week, even just today I walked about 13,000 steps I think. TDEE is about to go up, and I won't be able to function well if I'm on too steep a deficit. Meal plan and grocery list every Saturday seriously. plan every single meal and snack! Stick to meal plan 6x per week. I did 4x per week pretty successfully last challenge. Let's step it up. Fitness Crossfit 3x per week. 10,000 steps per day, 6x per week. I don't always get all of 'em! If I'm going to eat, I gotta walk. Go catch pokemon or somethin', Trax Level Up Life Lay out workout clothes and work clothes, pack lunches, prepare work bag every school night. No screen time after 9 pm school nights. I'll be back to fix this up more later. Just wanted to stick a framework here

Oh hai guys! Kinda fell of the face of NF for a while there, but I’m back Intro The time I’ve been away has allowed me the room to do some much needed reflection and truly figure out where I need to put my focus. I’ve been dealing with some pretty severe waves of depression and anxiety for the better part of a year now, and especially since the start of 2016. There are definitely good days and weeks, sometimes even a month or more, but overall it’s affected just about everything I do in the real world - from work to socializing to diet and exercise. That’s where this challenge comes in - and I’m so ready to be back! (Plus, I really missed you all!!) The general focus/goal for this challenge is self care: something I thought I had been doing, but in which I’m actually quite lacking. I’ve touched on the below goals in some shape or form throughout my previous challenges, but not so much as a way of caring for myself. They always felt like things I was just supposed to do or be doing as an adult. In keeping with the self care, this challenge is going to be kept pretty relaxed as to not add additional stress, but structured enough that it shouldn’t be a problem getting everything done. Now, on to the goals!

Hi guys, I had a great workout yesterday and realized that I just plain love carrying weird sh*t. I was also relieved that there were no HSPUs. It got me thinking - What are your favorite movements? Oly lifts? Gymnastic moves? Anything that destroys your core? if you were going to combine them into a WOD, what would it look like?

Balsquith - Dragon Slayer I love following-along with themed challenges but have never braved one myself, so this will be a themed challenge for beginners (read: slightly half-hearted). I have recently started reading an excellent book by Markus Heitz titled ‘Die Mächte des Feuers’ (something like – The powers of fire), which is set in 1925 in a world just like ours with the big difference being that Dragons have survived and are not very likeable. The book follows the dragon slayer Silena, a descendent of Saint George, who works for the church to hunt dragons. For me the big catch here is that I will be trying to read this book in German. Over my past few challenges (and in my life in general sadly) I have been somewhat lacking in motivation and drive. Therefore for this challenge I will be introducing something external to fight against (rather than myself!) – namely dragons! So for this challenge I will be Balsquith Dragonslayer, from the line of Saint George, dedicated to hunting down the terrorising beasts and bringing peace and harmony to the land. In order to keep myself entertained I have scribbled down some rules to make the challenge much more complicated than it should be – hopefully they will keep me engaged! I will be facing 4 dragons in this challenge, which are largely the same goals as in my previous challenge, I figured that a budget dragon would mean instant death for me, so he gets to sit in his cave a bit longer! Dragons 1. Sirath the somnolent – Getting up to my alarm (Health = 50pts) Getting up to my alarm = Success Delayed but still got up = Parry 2. Bredolth, bane of the Morning – Morning routine (existing routine + daily German study cards) (Health =30pts) Reviewing for at least 5 minutes = Success Reviewing at least 1 card = Parry 3. Tavorth the unbending – Evening routine (existing routine + stretching) (Health = 30pts) Stretching routine from GMB 'focused flexibility' = Success Any other stretching effort = Parry 4. Cenolth the abeyant – Exercise/injury rehab (Health =40pts) Either crossfit upper body session or injury rehab (leg) = Success Any other 'exercise' = Parry Hero Balsquith Dragonslayer – Starting health = 10pts Rules I will fight all dragons daily with the following combat rules: Success – Dragon loses 1 health point Partial success – Parry, no change in health points Fail – Balsquith Dragonslayer loses 1 health point Bonuses for chains Chain (7 day+) => Success = 1.5 points Chain (14 day+) => Success = 2 points Chain (21 day+) => Success = 2.5 points Bonuses for completing all daily tasks Frenzy (4 tasks/day) => Success = 1.5 points Wrath of the Gods (4 chain tasks/day) = 3 points Recovering health Reading ‘Die Mächte des Feuers’ = maximum 1 health point daily Healing potion => In dire need I have a list of unpleasant tasks which I can complete = 5 health points

Hello everyone! This challenge shall be themed after one of my favourite games evah, The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim. I’ll be channeling 3 in-game groups of characters: The companions, The Restoration Mages at the College of Winterhold and the Graybeards. The Companions: Tamriel's Fighters Guild has no presence in Skyrim. Instead, warriors seeking adventure and kinship may join the Companions, in Whiterun. The members of this brotherhood favour honor and physical prowess. The Companions represent training, 2 Crossfit classes and 2 Bodyweight sessions a week. The Restoration Mages: Restoration is a rather unpopular specialization among the wizards of Skyrim, especially novice ones, since the harnessing and conquer of nature’s destructive powers seems more appealing to them. Until they need a healing spell to save their lives, that is. Restoration represents nutrition, the most unpopular element of body recomposition. Sure, exercise is all nice and fun; harnessing and conquering the destructive powers of fitness. But no amount of exercise will recompose your sorry arse if you keep stuffing your face with pizza and cake. Eat paleo with a weekly variance allowed, making daily posts of macros and caloric intake as shown by MyFitnessPal The Greybeards: Masters of the Thu’um, the Way of the Voice. The Greybeards live in silent isolation atop Skyrim’s largest mountain called The Throat of the World. The Greybeards represent study. They study words of power to develop(in the course of a lifetime) a deep understanding of the words in Dovah-Zul, the language of dragons. Hopefully it will not take me that long to achieve sufficient understanding of the psychology textbooks to get my degree. I'll study for at least 2 pomodoros every day Companions(Training) Restoration Mages(Nutrition) Greybeards(Study) Got good news from the surgeon after a complete check, which I absolutely hated BTW TMI ALERT! He confirmed that the hernia was A-ok and the pain was caused by a swelling in the blood vessels around the area which would mimic the symptoms(pain, dissconfort,etc), probably due to a physical effort done with improper technique, causing to much preasure inside the abdomen while bracing. I descibed in detail to him what CF is and he cleared me to do it but sad to give it the rest of the week to rest, so I'm starting again just in time for week 1! Watch the sky travellers!

“Hither came Rurik Harrgath, wild-bearded and sullen-eyed, axe and bow in hand, a ranger, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the wild places of the world under his booted feet. A paragon of primal fury, his wild rage harnessed and tempered through a far-strider’s wisdom and insight. Keen senses, swift motion, and flawless strikes; to the barbarian ranger, these are the key to survival. He channels the terrible majesty of his great ancestors and finds himself mightier with their ancient blessings upon him.” Starting weight baseline: 199 lbs. CrossFit Skill spreadsheet: CrossFit Metrics NATURAL REMEDIES: Nutrition accountability measured through Health Points. (+1/day). HEART OF THE WILD: Experience meter focusing on two walks per week and other activity. (+1/10% +XP). FAR-STRIDER’S INSTINCT: Day-to-day inspiration & Big 3 tasks for the week. (+3.3 per task complete/10). A brief list of Heart of the Wild (XP) activities... CHALLENGE INSPIRATION: Of late it seems like I need all the help I can get. With that in mind, I turn to the most powerful and majestic of my Ranger-tropes to summon the Barbarian Ranger once more. This Warrior-Poet knows we can’t fight our nature; it’s as unrestrained and wild as the restless roaring river, but maybe we can subtly influence its course. For ages, months and challenges gone by, I’ve tried to shoehorn activities and adventures into my routine to little enough success. The master key then is small efforts to supplement my already formidable training routine, and as I'm spending the summer alone the focus shifts to making sure I am looking after myself and finding reasons to leave the house rather than shutting myself in like a proper hermit. A change of avatar hearkens a reminder of my earliest fitness and creative inspiration in Madawc the barbarian ancient of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. In what should be a triumphant return for this Skald of yesteryear, we recognize the woodsy, earthen scents of cedar wood, birch bark, and smoldering tobacco around a roaring bonfire on the wild steppes, alongside an exotic melange of heady urban musk, notes of amber, bourbon vanilla, and roughly cured leather of a trading town or adventurer's waypoint, and the chaotic elixir of the battlefield, of blood and smoke and sulfur on the winds of war. It just feels good to be home amongst so familiar a trope and I trust its inspiration to see me safely through another 4 Week Challenge! “I am Rurik Harrgath, of the blood of the Old World, and I will take what is mine with Blood & Thunder!”

Time for the new challenge! Really, it’s ridiculous how excited I get about these things. I am going to start a 3-part challenge cycle, in part because I had such a good run with my “Predator” series at the beginning of the year, when I was prepping to go on my trip to the keys. It was a good mix of short- and long-term goals, and since I have three months to prep for my next big athletic event, it fits perfectly. The whole series will be organized around the concept of “taking control” of some of the areas of my life that just constantly go spinning off the rails. I need to get a firmer grip on some of the fundamentals; I sometimes agonize over stuff like should I be taking certain supplements, should I go gluten free, should I take up meditation, etc; I’m usually pondering these things while stuffing my face with nachos, so you can perhaps appreciate the irony. I need to go after the low-hanging fruit, before I stress about esoteric ingredients in my protein powder. Also I thought it would be fun to do a challenge that was filled with dominatrix memes. So for this first segment, I want to focus on my nutrition, which is the lowest-hanging fruit of all. l mean, I am terrible. I whipsaw between super-clean paleo eating and utter binge-o-rama, and it’s a testament to my love for my workout routine that I do not resemble the stay-puft marshmallow man. Which is not to say I’m not still 40 pounds overweight, but I live in a much healthier body than I did a couple of years ago. It deserves to be fed better, so I need to untangle my relationship with food. THE GUIDELINES: - Allow “natural” sweets back into my diet. This probably requires some explanation. I tend to cut ALL sweets - not just pastries and such but things like fruit and honey- out of my diet, and then I rebound by eating shit like frosting out of the can. Seriously. I wish I were making that up. So I am going to start eating more fruit, with my meals and as snacks, to see if it calms my sugar cravings down. - Unleash the carb hound. I already eat a ton of carbs, but in a very roller-coaster manner - almost no carbs some days, then way too much others. And not good ones. I’m about to start building my biking mileage up, and I need to feed the machine, so I’m setting my carb-o-meter at 200 grams a day - as in, I have to eat that much. It doesn’t all have to be from powerbars and croissants - wouldn’t that be great, though - but I have to hit that number. I may - I cannot believe I am saying this out loud - begin to eat noodles again, without guilt. I feel dirty just saying that. - No skipped meals or self-punishments with food I’ve played around with intermittent fasting, but it seems to make me more likely to binge-eat, and there’s a growing body of research that indicates women don’t respond to it as well as men, and that it can cause the body to hold on to fat, because it freaks out your hormones. I’m 47 years old and on the edge of menopause, so my hormones don’t need any help freaking out. No more skipped meals. Likewise, no sending myself to bed without dinner because I slipped up during the day. I’m not a child, refusing to eat their brussel sprouts. I’m a grown woman. Mistakes will be made. I will deal with it in an adult manner, and not cry and throw my toys. Meal Prep Standby of bodybuilders, overworked moms, and obsessive-compulsives everywhere. Just do it. THE PLAN: Set (repeated) Meals: I’m trying to eat smaller meals, more often, but the thing that always hangs me up with that is coming up with all these meals and counting the calories, macros, etc. I’m going to experiment with eating the same meal consistently for my first and second meal of the day, to see if taking the brain work out of it makes it easier. Especially for my first breakfast, I don’t care what I eat; I’m a fucking zombie in the morning and I spend the first hour stumbling around and bumping into walls, so it hardly matters what I stuff in my face as long as coffee is included. First meal: 8 AM Two hard boiled eggs, 1/4 sweet potato (roasted cubes; I do a big pan of these on Sunday). Coffee w cream. Calories: 306 (approx) Carbs: 15g Second Meal: 11 AM 3/4 cup chili (homemade; again, made on Sunday), plus fruit. Calories: about 400, depending on the fruit. Carbs: 25-ish, again depends on fruit Third Meal: 2 PM Light lunch. Chicken and vegetable combo of some sort - I cook a bunch of chicken breast or thighs for meal prep, so using that. Fruit. Calories: 400 Carbs: 25 OR A meal replacement of some sort (Kind bar, protein shake) I know that this sounds incredibly boring, and it likely will BE incredibly boring, but I’m hoping that by taking the “decision fatigue” out of the menu planning, I can be more consistently nutritious. Dinner can be free-form, as long as it’s not stuffed crust pizza or something. I’m very partial to yummy things made in the crockpot so I’ll use my culinary creativity points for that meal. Snack: 100 calories worth of protein/fat before bed. Probably a bit of ricotta cheese with fruit - I know that cottage cheese is the snack of bodybuilders everywhere, but it’s disgusting and I can’t make myself eat it. All my workouts will stay the same, except I'm starting to increase my bike mileage and I'm working up to 4 rounds of my circuit training (which I managed for the first time yesterday). Additional Challenge Thingy: I know everyone says you have to "win the morning" or "control your first 60 minutes" or whatever organizational shiz they want to phrase it as, and I just. Cannot. Do it. I am literally a mental defective until I have been awake for at least an hour. If I want to "hit the ground running" I have to get up at 4 am just to shake out the cobwebs. But it IS true that a more organized morning is better. So I am going to revive my "Evening Routine" concept that I used a few challenges back to make my morning less disastrous. All of these things need to be checked off the list before I call it a night. They don't all have to be DONE right before bed - I'm usually pretty wiped by the end of the day** - but just checked off gradually thru the afternoon. EVENING CHECKLIST: - prep coffee (I have an automatic coffeemaker that my be my most prized possesion. Getting up and the coffee is already made makes me feel like I have house elves.) - Feed birds (outdoor bird feeders) and fish (in tank) - 10-minute clean up, empty dishwasher, laundry away (I am the WORST at what a friend calls "leaving a trail"... discarded books, clothes, dishes everywhere) - put all electronics on to charge (I hate going to use my ipad and the battery's dead) - make next day's to-do list If I can do most of those things every night I can be productive much sooner the next day. (At least I think so...) GOALS: World domination. I mean, obviously. **possibly one of my future challenges should be finding out why I'm so tired all the time. Low iron? Thyroid? Rabies? Who knows. I'm kinda willing to bet it's just the 40lbs overweight thing, though.

Greetings, fellow rangers. Please, ignore the fact that I am 10 days late for this challenge. I was just going to wait for the next one, but yeah. Screw that. I am a 25 year old living in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, who actually has this whole exercising/healthy living thing down. I Crossfit 4-5x/week, I don't eat like an idiot 80% of the time, I enjoy martial arts, meditation and I own a pair of Kettlebells for those times I am bored at home doing nothing. I am 5'2'' and currently weight 55kgs (110lbs). I decided to give NF challenges another chance because I absolutely suck at setting goals for myself if there is no accountability involved. So, for this challenge, my main goal is to do a proper push up. Yeah. As a newbie crossfit addicted, I am learning to do all these awesome things with my body (I can squat 120lbs, deadlift 160lbs and swing a 20kgs kettlebell with awesome form and a smile on my face), but I can't still do a decent, honest to God, push up. With that in mind, here are my quests for this challenge: Strenght Quest - Master the push ups by training them EVERYDAY. 5 sets of 5 reps, following the Convict Conditioning progression. Dexterity Quest - Stretch my hamstrings EVERYDAY for at least 10min. - NF Yoga 3x/week. Constitution Quest - Aim for 1800-2200 calories a day. - Eat at least 110g of protein everyday. Inteligence Quest - Finish reading the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. Wisdom Quest - Meditate everyday for at least 10 minutes. Charisma Quest - Reach out to a different friend/acquaintance everyday. It can be via Facebook, e-mail, SMS, whatever.

Welcome to the adventures of the Queen of Diamonds, otherwise known as the Other Red Queen! Don't worry, I'm the good one ;-) I'm full of love and enthusiasm, with just a hint of snark. None of that "off with her head" garbage from me! Unless you deserve it.... Anyway! My journey brought me to live in Bavaria, Germany this year. While I've been here I've refocused on creating a shiny new and exciting life for myself, which involves losing 60lbs or so and developing some cool hobbies. Status: I'm 30 lbs down, and have been adventuring around central Europe! Primary Goal: Lose Weight This challenge I want to focus on getting from 195 to 185 before I leave for my 2,000km cycle tour on August 10th. Dropping that will make the ride easier! To get there: 1. Continue "Keto-Primal" 90% of the time. I started a "primal" diet in January, but have been very inconsistent. I dropped from 225 to 210 in one bout of seriousness, and from 210 to 205 in another....but they were months apart and involved gaining much of the lost weight back inbetween. All I felt was tired and unsuccessful. Its been a couple weeks on the Keto version of that real-food primal diet, and I finally feel great! I also started crossfit at that time. I finally fit into some smaller clothes! Note: The 10% is the odd day with 30-50 total carbs not a carbtastic extravaganza! 2. Track all the food! 3. Crossfit 3x a week (okay okay this isn't really for weight loss....It just makes me happy and feel strong! I'd rather drag muscle around the North Sea than Fat!) 4. Walk every day Goal 2: Learn some more German: I live here for another year...I need to take advantage of it 1. Enroll in classes (check) 2. ATTEND classes (follow through!) 3. Use Duolingo and Memrise daily 4. Set Rosetta Stone up. Use it. 4x a week. 5. Suck it up and actually speak to people. In German.

No one...no one's ever made that joke before, right? I started CrossFit a couple weeks ago, and so far I'm really enjoying it. I've always wanted to play around with different ways of getting stronger—barbells, kettlebells, bodyweight...—but it's been hard to know how to try them all out in the context of consistent strength training. I know some people wouldn't necessarily call CF consistent strength training, but it's what I'm looking for right now—an equipped place I go to at predetermined times where someone has already done the programming for me and is there to help me with any doubts and encourage me to push past roadblocks. (It's even better because at the time of day I go, I'm either alone or one of two or three people, so I get a lot of attention from the trainer.) I'm still at a point where the warmup already somewhat wears me out, so by the time we get through mobility and strength the (super scaled) WOD can be pretty tough, but I'll only get stronger by continuing to go and push myself. Even with this big new workout, though, I don't want to stop running—but I need to scale it back if I want to be able to keep up with both things without risking injury. At least for the duration of this challenge, I'm going to do just one mile three times a week (with the third run occasionally being replaced by a longer run with my running group). With the warm-up and cool-down walks, it's still something that will get me out and moving for a bit, but it's so short that it'll be hard to find excuses to not go out and just do it. I'm also hoping to see my mile time improve over the course of the challenge. On Tuesday, it was 10:55. Can I get it to below 10 minutes?!? I'm running in my local park with some ups and downs, not on a totally flat track, so this won't be scientific, but I'm looking forward to seeing some progress. My two other goals will be pretty simple - 1.5 liters of water a day (even more important now that I'm working out more and the weather's getting warmer) and finishing a book by the end of this challenge. I've made a conscious decision to not focus on food too much for this challenge, at least at the start. Long story short, I just don't have much spare brainpower and time to spend on it right now. I'm still going to make an effort to make more good decisions than bad ones, but I'm not going to set any rules for myself for now. My boyfriend is talking about eating a lot better, so I'm hoping that he's serious about it—that would help a lot. He makes delicious salads. I have another trip during this challenge, a long weekend in London with my boyfriend at the end of the third week to go to a conference and celebrate our five-year anniversary. Trips tend to throw me for a loop. I'm hoping this one doesn't! It's relatively short, and I don't think I'll have to go too crazy preparing beforehand and catching up afterwards. I'll have to adjust the number of times I work out that week, since I'll only be home Monday to Wednesday, but otherwise...it should be okay...?!? To sum up: 1. Go to CrossFit three times a week. 2. Run one mile three times a week. 3. Drink 1.5 liters of water a day. 4. Finish a book by the end of the challenge.

Balsquith brings back the routine My last challenge was rather amusingly titled ‘Balsquith doesn’t give up’ and saw me disappear from the face of the earth after barely 2 weeks. The challenge itself wasn’t badly set up and I will be keeping parts of it here. This time around I will have 1 key goal, 2 goals to support it and a couple of additional goals. Key goal: Get up to my alarm everyday This goal is the key to everything, it is less about me being a heavy sleeper and groggily hitting my alarm clock and more about me already being mostly awake but just not wanting to get up, due to having no desire to and no plan. As such, success in this goal reflects me having actually got my life a little bit in order. Supporting goal 1: Morning routine. In order to give me something to get up for, I want a little bit of a plan. As such I want to re-establish a morning routine. I have many plans for this, but for the purpose of this challenge I will keep it very simple. Every day I will do the following upon getting up: 1. Say ‘Today will be a great day’ 2. Drink a glass of water. Supporting goal 1: Evening routine. As with the morning routine I have a number of ideas of how I want this to be, but will start by ensuring that I have a nice tidy place to live in. So every night before bed I will do a least a bit of tidying (no minimum). This can be clearing the table or doing the washing up. This will settle me down in the evening and ensure that I have a nice clear space to wake up to. Fitness goal: Exercise 3 times per week. I started going to a crossfit-esque gym recently and have spent much of the time recovering from muscle soreness (even with almost a week between sessions). Hopefully this will get better enough that I can do 3 sessions in a week. Money goal: Create weekly budget and stick to it. In a previous challenge I started recording my daily expenditure, which is great except for the fact that I haven’t changed how I actually spend my money. In this challenge I will set a reasonable budget and stick to it, allowing me to actually have some money to put in savings at the end of the month.

Seven years have passed since the Treaty of Coruscant established a peace between the Sith Empire and Republic. Now an ongoing cold war exists between the two faction as both sides vy for resources and struggle to gain the edge over the other however they can without igniting a galaxy-wide conflict, though there remain those who would see it so. Many grizzled veterans have returned to their mercenary roots and now act as hired guns for ambitious Imperial elements or find themselves taking whatever work they can find among the criminal elements in the seedy underbelly of the galaxy... Mandalore the Vindicated has stood down his legions of Mandalorian commandos, leaving some warriors disenfranchised and itching for another good fight. In the galactic arms race that followed, there are glories to be forged and fortunes to be won. Rurik Harrgath is one such man. Starting weight baseline: 199 lbs. CrossFit Skill Spreadsheet: CrossFit Metrics MANDALORIAN ALCHEMY: Nutrition accountability measured through Health meter. APEX PREDATOR: Experience meter focusing on rucking and Co-op missions. SELF-IMPROVEMENT JUNKIE: Day-to-day inspiration & Big 3 goals for the week. Experience Bar activities... CHALLENGE INSPIRATION: The Modern Viking theme slipstreams toward the near future in this installment of the ongoing Chronicles of Rurik Harrgath. Sure to be as action-packed and adrenaline-fueled as any other, this challenge invokes the spirit of the Mandalorians in Star Wars: the Old Republic and the Hunters of Destiny, with perhaps a taste of Overwatch and Killzone: Shadow Fall for good measure. It’s time to don my battle-scarred armor, charge up my primary weapon system, and put boots on the ground in yet another hostile environment. June’s 4 Week Challenge won’t know what hit it... “Always work harder than you feel capable. That way, your enemies will never know your limits.” “The only thing better than having a Mandalorian’s mind is having a Mandalorian’s heart.” - Mandalorian proverbs.

Yaaay, it's down-week! I'm in Quebec, which means I'm in my "travel pseudo-routine": try to not eat too much crap, go to a formal gym at least once, try to hit 10k steps a day, and wake up in according to whatever time zone I'm in. Saturday, my trip is over and insanity sets in... Fortunately, I discovered a few weeks ago that looking at what's coming at me on a week-by-week basis is a great way to stay on track and not get into "panic mode." So here's the plan: Generally Do PT/Yoga/Mob work daily (7x/wk) CF (or comprable) as much as possible. Work outs should be listed by week. BONUS for getting my first ring muscle up (I'm so close!) Eat semi-Paleo. If I'm aiming for abs, I need to eat low carb and clean. Weekly Week 0 - Quebec! Work out once, go bouldering, drink once. No running shoes = no run. Goal: walk 10k/day, don't eat too much crap at company lunches. Week 1 - Wedding Week! My sister is getting married. Also, I found out yesterday that I am going to spend 3 of those days on-site with a customer, using equipment I've never used before. Fun times in WA! CF 2x that week Don't binge at the wedding. There will be prime rib and hard cider and cake. Week 2 - Training Week (in Indiana). The Mid West has always been a problem for me when I'm training. Don't eat crap; eat light. Run 1x+ Try a local coffee shop Week 3 - Support Week (at home) This might be a good week to try keto for the last push to having abs? Week 4 - 4th of July Week (at home) Don't binge on the 4th of July party THE CHECKLIST: Fill in weekly goals (Ideas are welcome!) Get my abs to show (photo evidence to be posted at 4th of July) Set date for hiking weekend Investigate Europe trip potential with M Set date for Olympic Peninsula weekend getaway Run 5 miles

This chapter follows the time line of The Legend of a Banished Man. The wolf-warrior has survived the fight against Rurik, the immortal, but the injury he suffered has affected his shape-shifting. A Beast I Am The man was sitting beside the fire, carefully honing the edge of a broken seax with a small whetstone. Somehow tip had broken off inside the hunter’s ribcage taking the first rune of the engraving with it. His brother’s seax… now instead of “RAGNAR” the engraving spelled “AGNAR” “Agnarr… one who inspires awe”, he translated. “Not a bad name either” Once the blade was razor sharp he sheathed it but kept it close, there shouldn’t be anybody around, but one could never be sure. His mind drifted towards his last fight, the one he had with the hunter named Rurik in those woods. He unconsciously touched the scar left by the hunter’s axe on his chest… the only scar he’s ever had since he took his oath and turned for the first time. And since the encounter with Rurik his transformation lasted less and less. He even felt, slower, weaker; his senses duller. “Am I losing it? Ragnar is dead, Njal is dead; they are all dead. If I can’t turn my clan dies with my inner wolf”, He thought to himself “I need to recover my true form”. That’s how the brothers referred to their animal form. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound horses. Four men rode to his small fire, all wearing richly embroidered tunics, rings and necklaces. “Good evening kinsman”, the youngest of them greeted ”My men and I are scouting the lands of the Jarl, my father, in search of a poacher who’s been killing the animals that by right belong to my father. You'll tell me your name and reason to be out here alone, at once" "Of course, milord. Agnarr is my name", it was the first name that came to his head, of course he wouldn't tell his real name to those people. "And I'm just making a stop on my way to the market. I'll leave at dawn's first light, I swear" he tried to sound as simple and honest as he could. "And may I ask what you inted to sell at the market? I see no goods around here" the young nouble asked. "Damn it" thought Agnarr "I'm getting bored of this lad" "I'm the merchandize, sire! I sing for the noble, merchants and beggars alike. Would milord want to hear a tune?”, Agnarr took a risk for he was no singer, but he knew the noble man would be disgusted at a street troubadour. “Ugh. Gods, no!” he turned to his men “let’s go, there’s no point on searching in the dark”. “And you”. He looked at Agnarr. ” I want you out by sunrise” “Sure thing, milord!” the fake accommodating tone wasn’t very convincing, but the men were already on their way to the Jarl’s homestead. Of course he didn’t intended to visit the market at all, but leaving at sunrise seemed to be the smartest choice. He wrapped his cloak around him and fell asleep right there on the ground. In his dream, Ragnar called him but the warrior’s feet were slow and every step was a struggle, like he was submerged knee-deep in honey. “C’mon little brother, hurry up! Run, don’t let him get you” Ragnar kept on calling Agnarr looked over his shoulder and saw a horrible monster, made out of black smoke; with a thousand red eyes, chasing after him. “Brother, help!” he tried to run faster, but it was of no use. “What are you doing? Turn to your true form!” , Ragnar’s voice echoed inside his skull. “I can’t!” suddenly he was a boy again. The monster started to take form: now it had only two eyes of fire and the shape of a bearded man wielding a ludicrously big double-bitted axe. “Of course you can! The animal is inside of you, let it out!” Ragnar now spoke with Njal’s voice. It’s funny how dreams mix and mangle our memories, yet they seem alright at the moment. “Feel its growls, hear it howl and let it out damn it!” Njal’s voice filled his head like a sea storm. Agnarr’s heart was pounding so fast he thought it would explode. Right when it seemed that actually would happen, he turned: his growls louder and wilder than ever; the claws and fangs sharp as damascus steel blades. The transformed warrior turned to the monster in the shape of a man and slashed its face with a powerful strike of his claws. The monster let out a terrible scream and before it could re-build it took another claw to the gut. The monster seemed defeated; Agnarr raised another claw. As he went in for the killing blow, the face of the monster took form again and Rurik’s voice sounded clear as a mountain river and loud as thunder “You filthy beast! You can’t kill me”. The smoke figure off the hunter drove his axe into the werewolf’s chest and then… the sun rose on the horizon. Agnarr found himself still wrapped in the cloak. “That was rotten dream, if anything”, he stood up, ready to leave. All through that day he felt different, invigorated and at the same time, like he was still dreaming. The breeze brought the smell of flowers; he could hear the squirrels on the trees, the birds taking fly. It seemed like the country had abruptly come to life. At night he encountered a road inn, and for the first time in what seemed like years, he decided to rent a room. He traded some of his dried goods for a bed and board and spent the night sipping light ale. Around midnight, he went outside to relieve his bladder. He was almost done when he heard a voice behind him. “Took a while to find you. Missing your furry self, eh wolf?”. He turned around to face and couldn’t believe his eyes: There was Rurik alive and kicking. He was not bluffing when he said it was impossible to kill him. “How?... It cannot be! I killed you, I drove that axe of yours right into your back” Agnarr slowly reached for his seax while speaking. “You are not the only one whose injuries disappear… except for that one that is” laughed Rurik pointing at the wolf-warrior’s chest. “how do you like my axe now?” the hunter’s laughter made Agnarr’s blood boil. His hand grasped the seax handle. With a swift motion, he unsheathed, cleared the distance between the two and stroke across Rurik’s face with the broken seax, slashing it right open. Knowing it would heal quickly he kept on attacking; cutting and stabbing as much as he could. “Enough!” roared the hunter, tackling the werewolf to the ground. Weapons flew through the air, leaving both combatants unarmed. They rolled on the dirt trading vicious punches until Rurik took the top and landed three haymakers on Agnarr’s face, leaving him stunned. With a grip like a vice, the hunters hands wrapped around the werewolf’s throat. “Trust me mate, there’s no healing for asphyxiation”, Rurik said, blood staining his teeth “so you’re in for a really shitty death”. Agnarr felt himself fainting. His heart pounded inside his chest like it was going to blow; it pounded so hard he could feel it on his head. All of a sudden, Njals voice:” The animal is inside of you, let it out!”, his vision was blurring “Feel its growls, hear it howl and let it out damn it!”. He felt like his heart had exploded. All his muscles contracted violently, his blood boiled inside of him. He heard Rurik’s voice like it came from far, far away “what in the world?... “. Before he realized it, he was standing tall, bearing his true form. The hunter looked desperately for his axe, but the werewolf was in a rage. Claws and fangs tore the flesh of the hunter. He turned to human form again, but this time he did it at his will. “Let’s see how you heal once I rip your heart out” he shouted at the bleeding hunter. In the blink of an eye the scene was filed with riders bearing weapons and torches: A band of werewolf hunters. “Look what we’ve got here” started the leader ”seize him!”. A heavy club hit Agnarr on the back of the head, sending him groggily to the ground. When he woke up he found himself in chains, lying on the ground where he fell. As his vision cleared he saw Rurik on horseback, his hands tied behind his back with a rope around his neck: they were executing him. A fur bound hunter came by “wakey wakey wolf!” he was clearly drunk. “who could have thought that the fella’ you torn to shreds was mighty ole Rurik”. A much bigger man shoved the drunk aside and crouched next to Agnarr, it was the leader of the group. “He is a drunk fool you know” that man wasn’t drunk and his tone resembled more of a scholar rather than a hunter ”but he’s right. Your ‘friend’ here is very famous. He’s the one slaying entire bands of wolves like you” “Why are you hanging him if he’s one of yours?” Agnarr asked, trying to wobble his hands free of the chains without the man noticing “He’s not one of us” answered the man ”he’s our enemy you see. Every wolf he kills is a bag of silver we don’t cash and this whole being immortal business makes it quite unfair, don’t you think?” The man looked rather entertained. “Unlike your kind who heals immediately in wolf shape, and not at all in human shape” the man explained ”our mutual acquaintance here takes a bit to heal, but he does it no matter what. That said, there are ways to kill an ‘immortal’, y’know? ripping his hear out, chopping his head off or hanging him to death. Somehow hanging won the poll” He seemed disappointed. As the man spoke, Agnarr had managed to release his left hand. The man walked away a few steps and then turned around as if he had remembered something “Oh, and don’t try to turn and brake those chains, they won’t break and the change in size will cause your bones to shatter. You are wanted alive”. He released his right hand off of the chains. He would have to make a run for it. “I know I’ll regret this” he thought. As quick as he could get rid of the chains, he rushed past one of the hunters taking the sword from the man’s belt. He got to the tree where Rurik was about to hang and with a single motion hacked through the rope, then turned around and killed the first man that came at him. He took the dead man’s axe. “Don’t make me regret this” he shouted at Rurik while cutting the rope that bound his hands. He gave him the sword and kept the axe for himself. Rurik dismounted and split the head of the first attacker with a powerful swing of the sword. Agnarr watched as the bearded man dispatched another enemy and then turned around to face his share of foes. He spotted the leader of the band a couple meters away. It was a clear trajectory. The axe flew throw the air and sunk deep into the leader’s chest. Bearing a smile of satisfaction Agnarr turned again with a vicious howl. The werewolf tore up enemies with his claws and fangs alike, punching them into the air and stomping them on the ground. He took a couple spears and swords to his legs and torso, but the wounds healed almost instantly. As he slashed through the last of his foes, he searched for Rurik. Found him getting rid of the last two hunters. He had recovered his axe at some point and he was swinging it wildly, keeping the adversaries at bay. One of the hunters went for it and had the horn of the axe driven into his throat. The last one tried to surrender but a beastly blow with the axe landed on his neck, severing his head altogether. The immortal and the werewolf stared at each other for a second, not knowing what to do. Agnarr, was expecting Rurik to come rushing for a final stand, but the hunter calmly sheathed his weapon. The werewolf returned to his human form without losing sight of Rurik, who was taking one of the horses. Both men looked at each other one more time, nodded and parted ways. The dust of the riding hunter was still visible when Agnarr mounted, after seizing clothing and gear from the dead hunters, heading west. This is the last challenge of the Becoming Ulfhedinn series, focusing on the shapeshifting skill of the character(beast mode anyone?). While I'm 100% positive I can´t turn myself into a werewolf Companions style, that doesn't mean I can't get in and out of beast mode -more or less- at will. This challenge will be aimed at achieving this as well as "beasting" in other areas as well. Goals: - Find my inner beast: Meditate at least 3 times a week, 10min before bed, focusing on the positive aspects of my life and myself. - Brains and Brawn: Study every day implementing the pomodoro technique - Animal FORM: I realized the reason why I don't like high rep lifting for some movements is that I'm not very good at mantaining proper form. Practice form with light weight on my home gym every weekend, be it saturday or sunday. Aditional beasting - I'm gonna take up intermitent fasting again. It used to work fairly well but for some reason I stopped doing it. The idea is to fast for 16-18 hours and do my workout immediately after on CrossFit days. On non-CF days I'm deppending on Nare's shedule so the workouts will fall where they may. Of course I'm still eating paleo with 1 variance/week I think that's all. Let's do this!

One year ago, I went on vacation and looked like this... I just got back from the same vacation this year; here I am doing a handstand one day as part of my workout... CrossFit + Paleo = Success w00t!

No Chapter 3 in The Fixer Chronicles this time. I enjoyed the whole thing and it worked for me, but fizzled out due to real life issues. The battle versus Hans Brackhaus/Lofwyr will have to wait until the weather gets rainy again. That said, this was supposed to be a more laid back, battle log style thread, until I discovered The Black and the Brave: The Black and Brave is a professional wrestling school run by Colby Lopez a.k.a. Seth Rollins (in WWE) a.k.a. Tyler Black (in the indies) in the middle of a Crossfit Box A Ranger's true answer to all dilemmas Since I can’t afford to move to Moline,IL within 2017 and pay $3.500 for tuition, even though that includes a sweet unlimited membership at said box, the next best thing is to follow the Crossfit Jesus and use it as a challenge theme. Pictured: The Crossfit Jesus Nutrition:"I've noticed that over time the intensity of my workouts is so high, that I can get away with eating whatever I want. So if I wanna eat more, I'll just work harder. I'll make that sacrifice in the gym instead of in the kitchen. There are some days where if I haven't done anything in a couple days or haven’t had a match, I will be a little more cautious in my dining selection, but those days are few and far between." Nutritionists, 4:18 Nothing fancy here. I know what’s good for me and what not. Stick to my guns and make sure any deviations are paid for with extra sweat in addition to my usual workouts. 10 Carbs for Gryffindor! Workouts: Speaking of sweat, my current box sucks for a bunch of reasons, but I’m registered until October so I might as well make the best out of it. Aiming for at least 3 workouts per week, one of which has to be on a Saturday morning; that’s when the place isn’t so crowded and we get to do all the cool stuff like Rope Climbs and Tire Flips. In addition, I will be using an adaptation of Seth’s workout routine (the parts labelled “Skill Work” and “Main Lift”)to work on my Crossfit skills and build Strength. Competition: You might be thinking Compete Live Athens on June 25th and 26th that I mentioned in the past, but that is not the case. I’ve grown complacent and my current box passively encourages such attitude in order to have everyone done with the workout within the hour and before the next class begins. In the words of Prophet Nature Boy: “To be the man, you got to beat the man” and after beating @kzacherin a Hogan vs Warrior PvP, the man now is @Rurik Harrgath a.k.a. my Canadian alter ego from another dimension. He might have been in a better shape than me when he started his journey, but I had a headstart. Right now, I can only boast about beating him on the race to a Bar Muscle Up. Everything else he’s better at: skills, lifting PRs, you name it. That’s why I’m stealing his Crossfit Skill Levels spreadsheet and gunning for his numbers.

The story so far: Our intrepid hero started at 500lbs and unhappy. Over the course of 3 years lost 148lbs and then got divorced. This threw him off track and he gained 85 back. Met a wonderful woman a year ago and moved in with her last fall. A month ago both decided to get on track. Got portions under control and began transition to a Paleo-ish diet. Limited alcoholic beverages. Joined a local gym that does crossfit-type workouts during the week and strongman event free-days on the weekend. Lost 18lbs and an inch off the waist in his first challenge back. And so our story begins... I've decided to compete in a strongman competition at the end of July. This one, in fact. Will be competing in the Novice division. I'm going to focus this month's fitness goals on getting comfortable with the events, so that I can spend June working on getting to a point where I can compete to win! Attempt every event I will be competing in: Sometime this month on the weekends I need to try each of the events in the competition and see where I am/what I need to work on. For those of you who didn't feel like clicking the link, these are: Straight Bar Deadlift - 365lbs - Most reps in 60secs. Yoke Walk - 500lbs - For distance. 60 sec time limit, unlimited drops. Frame Carry - 380lbs - For distance. 60 sec time limit, unlimited drops. Axle Clean and Press - 185lbs - Clean the axle once and press for most reps in 60 secs. Atlas stones - 210lbs/240lbs - Max reps over bar. Heavier stone counts for more reps than smaller one. Attend 2 crossfit classes per week: Gotta have the conditioning to go along with the strength or I'll be blown after just a couple events. Plus it's been burning fat like crazy. Eat clean: Defined by eating my version of Paleo with dairy and whey included with three variances per week. (Unashamedly stolen from Tanktimus) Life goal: Make time for my hobbies: Set aside weekly time to devote to one of my many hobbies. Whether it be blacksmithing, woodworking, homebrewing, riding the horses up at the farm, fishing, range time, that Millenium Falcon lego set my fiance got me for Christmas, or just a few hours of video games. Between full-time job (plus 2hrs of daily commute), working out 3x/week, working at the family farm on my days off, trying to be a good fiance and future step-dad, and trying to maintain a social life, I don't have seem to get much "just me" time. I need to take some time weekly to enjoy all the stuff I want to enjoy.

Hey, all, Beerzerker here, Just signed up for Nerd Fitness Academy last week. My wife's been a member for a while, and I thought I should join in the fun. I'm in decent shape, but want to improve. Currently, I mountain bike with my son during the summer and snowboard in the winter with my son and my daughter(she skis). We live in western Wisconsin, where we've been having a lot of rain recently. Looking forward to getting to know some of you and letting my geek loose a bit. One of my hobbies is making beer at home, and I love the the process as well as the end result. My goal is to get under 20 % body fat. I'm currently at 22 %. I posted my before pictures and stats over here on Facebook: I'm 39 (that number changes in August). See you in the adventure!

Hey, all, Beerzerker here, Just signed up for Nerd Fitness Academy last week. My wife's been a member for a while, and I thought I should join in the fun. I'm in decent shape, but want to improve. Currently, I mountain bike with my son during the summer and snowboard in the winter with my son and my daughter(she skis). We live in western Wisconsin, where we've been having a lot of rain recently. Looking forward to getting to know some of you and letting my geek loose a bit. One of my hobbies is making beer at home, and I love the the process as well as the end result. My goal is to get under 20 % body fat. I'm currently at 22 %. I posted my before pictures and stats over here on Facebook: I'm 39 (that number changes in August). See you in the adventure!

No one...no one's ever made that joke before, right? I started CrossFit a couple weeks ago, and so far I'm really enjoying it. I've always wanted to play around with different ways of getting stronger—barbells, kettlebells, bodyweight...—but it's been hard to know how to try them all out in the context of consistent strength training. I know some people wouldn't necessarily call CF consistent strength training, but it's what I'm looking for right now—an equipped place I go to at predetermined times where someone has already done the programming for me and is there to help me with any doubts and encourage me to push past roadblocks. (It's even better because at the time of day I go, I'm either alone or one of two or three people, so I get a lot of attention from the trainer.) I'm still at a point where the warmup already somewhat wears me out, so by the time we get through mobility and strength the (super scaled) WOD can be pretty tough, but I'll only get stronger by continuing to go and push myself. Even with this big new workout, though, I don't want to stop running—but I need to scale it back if I want to be able to keep up with both things without risking injury. At least for the duration of this challenge, I'm going to do just one mile three times a week (with the third run occasionally being replaced by a longer run with my running group). With the warm-up and cool-down walks, it's still something that will get me out and moving for a bit, but it's so short that it'll be hard to find excuses to not go out and just do it. I'm also hoping to see my mile time improve over the course of the challenge. On Tuesday, it was 10:55. Can I get it to below 10 minutes?!? I'm running in my local park with some ups and downs, not on a totally flat track, so this won't be scientific, but I'm looking forward to seeing some progress. My two other goals will be pretty simple - 1.5 liters of water a day (even more important now that I'm working out more and the weather's getting warmer) and finishing a book by the end of this challenge. I've made a conscious decision to not focus on food too much for this challenge, at least at the start. Long story short, I just don't have much spare brainpower and time to spend on it right now. I'm still going to make an effort to make more good decisions than bad ones, but I'm not going to set any rules for myself for now. My boyfriend is talking about eating a lot better, so I'm hoping that he's serious about it—that would help a lot. He makes delicious salads. I have another trip during this challenge, a long weekend in London with my boyfriend at the end of the third week to go to a conference and celebrate our five-year anniversary. Trips tend to throw me for a loop. I'm hoping this one doesn't! It's relatively short, and I don't think I'll have to go too crazy preparing beforehand and catching up afterwards. I'll have to adjust the number of times I work out that week, since I'll only be home Monday to Wednesday, but otherwise...it should be okay...?!? To sum up: 1. Go to CrossFit three times a week. 2. Run one mile three times a week. 3. Drink 1.5 liters of water a day. 4. Finish a book by the end of the challenge.

Just completed the final exam (which I apparently didn't really need to study for, because it was mostly exercise science). On top of that, I finished my graduate course on Advanced Exercise Physiology with an A-. So it has been a pretty academically productive month.