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Okay so I don't know if this weird, but the same thing happens to my mom. So whenever I do any type of workout where I'm laying on the ground and have to life up my upper body, like crunches/sit ups, any variation of either. I don't feel it in my abs, nothing, I feel it in my neck and jaw. My neck and jaw feel so tense and it's Really hard. I almost get a sour taste in my mouth. Its like that feeling in your jaw when you bite into something way too sour or you feel like puking. I'm not sure how else to discribe it. Do I just have a really weak neck or something? I do have long thick curly hair that drops to my waist. But my mom has short hair... Anyone else ever experience this? Anything you recommend to help? I feel like just doing abbs exercises that I don't have to be on the ground for. Like hanging from a bar and pulling my lower body up. But it kinda limits where I can workout.

Howdy folks. I'm Quickdraw. This is my second challenge, and I've known since Day 1 that I am a Ranger. I train simply, I eat very paleo, and I live a highly primal lifestyle. Now that my noob challenge is out of the way, I'm here to join up. My Motivation I'm an active duty Marine, hunting for a 250+ (out of 300) Physical Fitness Test. I already had that goal in place when I began the previous challenge (my first), but shortly after I was offered my dream job as long as I can get my fitness test above... 250. SO. Whether you call it Fate, fortune, luck, God/s, the universe being itself, my path is set. MAIN QUEST As above; 250+ PFT. I'll be performing the test in mid April, just after this challenge ends. The 3 events are: (up to) 100 crunches in 2 minutes, (up to) 20 pullups in a single max set, and a 3 mile run as fast as possible (18:00-29:00, since I'm old). I used to get 20 pullups/100 crunches/SLOW run, but right now I'm coming back from a long time on the couch. I'm framing my whole thing as doing battle with a horde of monsters (sloth, selling myself short, etc), so my daily achievement thresholds are in terms of damage done as if I were a character in an RPG. My subquests/battles: PULLUPS (+STR) I am using the Armstrong Program (link goes to a simple write-up if anyone wants to try it for themselves!) to attempt to go from my current 12 pullups to 20+. The program calls for M-F pullups with weekends off. Success criteria: MISS (0): Failing to perform at least the daily Armstrong Program workout on a weekday. BLOCK (0): Weekend. HIT (1): Performing the day's Armstrong Program workout. POWER ATTACK (1.5): Performing the day's workout, plus a second round of the day's workout OR a weighted negative set. CRITICAL HIT (2): Double workouts AND a weighted negative set. Notes: Weekends off are mandatory. An "A" week requires at least 7 damage done; letter reduction per point less or weekday skipped. CORE (+STR) I have been doing 5+ minutes/day of planks to build core endurance. I am already at max (100) crunches with >20 seconds to spare, but would prefer to actually complete 120+ in the test's 2:00. MISS (0): No core work, no excuse. BLOCK (0): Sunday, or other day if I then make it up on Sunday. My one "shield" to use as I see fit. HIT (1): 5 minutes of planks. POWER ATTACK (1.5): 10 minutes of planks, or 5 minutes planks +50 crunches/leg lifts/other core exercise. CRITICAL HIT (2): 10 minutes of planks, +50 reps of some core exercise. Notes: Sunday is the only mandatory recovery day. "A" week requires 8 damage. RUN (+STA) This past year, I ran the 3 miles in 25:30. Lame, by Marine standards. Just last week, I set a (trial run) PR of 22:40. My goal is to see that time under 22:00. MISS (0): No run, no excuse. BLOCK (0): I have 4 BLOCKs per week, as I am trying for a 3x/week run schedule. HIT (1): At least a 2 mile or 20 minute jog. POWER ATTACK (1.5): 3 miles, 30 minutes, or moderate speed work. CRITICAL HIT (2): 4 miles, 40 minutes, heavy speed work, or 4th/5th run for the week. Notes: No specific recovery day is mandatory. "A" week requires 5 damage. LIFE QUEST I'm busy. Like, stupid, stupid busy. I'm responsible for a large group of subordinates, and I have my own full-time classes and responsibilities besides. I would like to build a mindfulness/meditation habit that I can then share with my juniors. I'm pretty well read on the concept, but I have not taken the time to actually implement it. Life is not going to provide me a "good" moment; I need to seize it for myself. But as I try to be more zen (I know, not usually something you associate with a leader of Marines), I recognize that setting elaborate structures on such a process is inherently counterproductive. So I'll leave this goal as follows: I will be more mindful. (+WIS) Implementation: I will meditate for at least one stretch of 2 minutes per day. ------- I look forward to sharing this journey with you all. Edit: Summaries for my personal quests, the Ranger Guild miniquests, and the RPG Fanatics miniquests. RL craziness being what it is, I may subjectively adjust point-value scores later on when I have enough time to figure out what's going on. Won't be adding my point values to my sig until the challenge is over, though. QUEST/SELF Zero Week QUEST/CLASS W1 QUEST/PARTY W1 (+1 CHA)

Hi Everyone, Very late to the challenge, but Im still jumping in. Luckily I have had some prep-training in the run up to this, so Im hoping it will assist in pushing me through this! Diet is a bit tricky, being Malay, food is the central point when it comes to family, luckily, family has always pushed fresh fresh everything, so its not too bad, but my family does love their rice and rotis! (flat breads flour and whole wheat flour... butter... aya) Hubby and I have been trying to elminiate much of the grains but we eat at family twice a week and refusing food is an insult, so Im going to work around that by loading my plate with extra veggies and salad just so that the mums dont start preaching about being ungrateful Fitness overall is pretty hard to come by without being totally dedicated to it, Im a software archi so during work hours, the most activity I get is walking to and from meetings. I have however started to park my car pretty far from the office just to walk and Im NOT buying take out for lunch, home packs on to the quest! MAIN QUESTI want to be strong enough to start surfing again in April 2014. This requires endurance and strength since the waves can be pretty hard in SA. By being able to surf again, I would get back my pre-op fitness and bonus, the pre-op body! Current Specs - Chest - 83cm - Thighs - 52cm - Waist - 76cm - Hips - 94 cm - Weight - 52 Kg - Height - 1m 50cm (give or take 3 cm) Body fat - not sure, some calculators have shown me 31% which means Im 1% away from being obese? Dont think so, maybe late 20s like 28% hehehe Tools - Kettlebells (5kg and 12kg) - Stability ball - Stationary stepper - FitBit Quest Missions - Loose 3cm from ALL Individual areas - Hit 10k steps 4 times a week - Kettlebell training 4 times a week for 30 mins HIIT program KB and Step Grading: 4x / week: A 3x / week: B 2x / week: C 1x / week: D None: F Centimeter Grading: 3 cm - A 2 cm - B 1 cm - C 0 cm - D + cm - F Motivation Feb 2014 - Moving into my FIRST house. 10mins walk from the sea, so I WANT to surf again! Feb 2014 - SA's First Ultra Music Festival! Want to be able to have enough stamina to dance like no one is looking I just want to be strong, Im tired of being weak and tired all the time. I have chronic Low Blood pressure, but medical insurance in SA says its a short term illness, Ive been a sufferer since 1998. Being fit keeps my blood pressure in check, Im able to do more, both at work and in life. This has to be the answer.

Hey all! I've been attending a "Boot Camp" class that focuses on strength training and a circuit training class weekly. Both classes have required me to do traditional crunches with my back on the floor, hands behind my head, and elbows out. My neck and lower back have been hurting as a result of this. Am I doing something wrong? Any advice? Julia

Texwardo had a hankerin' for beef, beans, beer...anything tasty. Sitting at his desk all day, and snacking every time he walked past the chuck wagon, he put on a lot of weight. In the 25 years between age 30 and 55, Tex went on countless diets, losing 10-20 pounds each time. He always lost focus, quickly putting back on even more than he had lost. When Tex passed the 300 pound mark at one checkup, he said, "Enough is enough!" Tex finally got serious about losing weight. He bought a wifi enabled scale and started logging every mouthfull of food or drink with an app on his phone. Between February 2012 and April 2013, Tex lost 145 pounds. Tex started running in November 2012. Using a couch-to-5k program, he reached the point where he could run 5k without stopping. His first race was on January 1, 2013. Since then, Tex started using the Galloway run-walk-run method and increased his stamina. Between January and May, Tex ran an 8k, 10k, 14k, and two half marathons. Tex feels great at his new weight. However, his body has not caught up with his weight loss. His skin is saggy, and he has little upper-body strength. Tex wants to change that over the next year, building muscle while maintaining his current weight. He also wants to continue improving his running speed. Tex also wants to publish a book in 2014 on his primary area of interest, the people and machines that launched the missions to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s. Current attributes: Strength 1 | Dexterity 1 | Stamina 4 | Constitution 2 | Wisdom 4 | Charisma 3 Long-term goals: (1) Run a half marathon in 2 hours 10 minutes (2) Maintain weight at or below 160 pounds (3) Be able to do 90 crunches (4) Be able to do 75 pushups (5) Write a book on Kennedy Space Center facilities during the Apollo era, to be published in 2014 Goals for the current Challenge: (1) Run a minimum of 20 miles per week: +2 CON, +1 DEX (2) Start doing "The Morning Workout" (attached) 4 times per week - initially at 1 time through the routine each day, working up to 2 times per day by the end of the challenge: +3 STR, +2 CHA (3) Maintain weight at or below 160 pounds: +1 CON, +1 CHA (4) Complete the outline of my book and send it to three people to review: +5 WIS

A big hello to all the NF-ers out there. Hello, and congratulations to my fellow adventurers for taking that first step towards positive lifestyle transformation. I'm CalBert, and I've known about Nerd Fitness for quite some time. I read a lot of the literature on this site, and now I'm here for my first NF Six Week Challenge, and I am in need for some intense accountability and support. I'm 27 years old, and I've decided to apply for OCS, or Officer Candidate School, for the US Military. I'm very inspired to become an officer in the military, and I think that it's an honorable job. I'm still in the process of deciding which branch to apply to, but while I look into the prospects, I also want to become physically ready for this endeavor. I hope that this six week challenge, and other challenges to come, will help me realize if I am both mentally and physically prepared to become an officer. After talking to a few officer recruiters, I've narrowed down the main qualifications that I need to work on: Goal 1: 3 Mile Run Candidates are required to run 3 miles in 21 minutes or less. For every ten seconds, a point is subtracted from the maximum of 100 points. A qualifying run would be under 27 minutes. Here is how I'll score myself: A+ = under 21 minutes A = 21 minutes B = 23 minutes C = 25 minutes D = 27 minutes F = 30 minutes Goal 2: Crunches Candidates are required to do a maximum of 100 crunches within a time of two minutes to get a perfect score. Each crunch is worth 1 point. Here is how I'll score myself: A+ = 100 A = 90 - 99 B = 80 - 89 C = 70 - 79 D = 60 - 69 F = 50 - 59 Goal 3: Pull Ups My recruiters have expressed that rules are changing in regards to pull-ups. Nothng is set yet, but I've been asked to be ready to do 3 - 8 pull ups to qualify. The previous rule was to do a flexed arm hang. Every second is worth 1 point from start to 40 seconds. Every second thereafter is worth 2 points. The maximum valus is 70 seconds for 100 points. Here is how I'll score myself: A+ = 70 seconds or 8 pull ups A = 65 seconds or 7 pull ups B = 60 seconds or 6 pull ups C = 55 seconds or 5 pull ups D = 50 seconds or 4 pull ups F = 45 seconds or 3 pull ups All of these numbers are are female qualification scores. Starting Day 1, I'll assess myself by performing all three events, and hopefully see great improvement by the end of six weeks. My goals do seem ambitious, but if I don't make a good grade by the end of six weeks, it doesn't mean I'm giving up. I don't expect to become Wonder Woman overnight. I love sports, but I've been out of the game for a bit. I've played sports since high school, and I've taken yoga, dance, and other cardio classes during college. I have a one and a half years experience in taekwondo, and I picked up kenpo last year. Unfortunately, I tore a muscle in my right arm from over-exertion, and I think that it will be a challenge for getting a high score in pull ups. My Goal 4 is more long-term, which is to be selected for officer candidate school in the summer of 2014. It is a long time until then, but the process is long and demanding. So, here I am getting myself back into shape and hoping to make the military part of my life.