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Hello friends! I'm Epsilonte and I like to stand on my hands. Sometimes. I want to spend more time on my hands. So that is what this challenge will be all about. Two challenges ago I started doing regular handstands and really noticed a difference. Last challenge I took a break from challenging because life was busy. Well, life will continue to be busy, but I miss having a thread. So a mini-challenge it will be. Coincidentally the time frame of this challenge is the same as the remainder of my theoretical studies (so 5 plus one weeks of "going to school" and studying for exams. After that, with the start of next challenge, a year of practice/internships/however you call it in english starts. Wheeeeee. xD). It's fate. So my one and only goal this challenge will be: do a few handstands every day. That's it. I have a handstandable wall now (we rearranged the living room, sooo much more space with the couch facing a different direction!!), so it shouldn't be too hard, right? (Famous last words... xD). Might even start doing a few belly-to-wall handstands or conditioning exercises with my big fitness ball. Who knows. Not me. xD My current handstand level is: using a wall, kicking up, sometimes floating for a few seconds while looking like a banana. An upside down banana. It's nice to be back. ❤️ (as usual I'll surely talk about pole/bellydancing stuff, gym, work, school, maybe a little food as well. )

Updated: 07.11.21 My ever-evolving battle log. I change this summary up occasionally. As a nerd trying to get fit, what motivates me? What kind of character would I most like to emulate. A sailor scout or a precure, anything mahou shoujo. And why not? They're pretty, some are very bright, they transform into a cute outfits and fight with cool weapons. What's not to like!? Giving it my all! Unabashed girly-ness - I'm girly, for an engineer, in construction, Moderation - desserts in anime, look so amazing! and they enjoy but in real life, balance is a must. An awesome transformation sequence - all the twirling, flips, gracefulness, etc. . What's the purpose of transformation sequence? "Through this power the main character transforms into a more adult, more beautiful, more skilled version of herself and she needs to be in that form to be capable of performing magic. " About Me I'm in my mid-thirties. I'm an electrical engineer, my specialty is lighting. For 7 years I worked in construction for energy efficiency in the SF Bay Area. In 2020, I moved to South Carolina, closer to my hometowns of Augusta and Charlotte. For fun, I enjoy watching Pretty Cure, Sailor Moon and other anime. I play Stardew Valley. These days most of my fitness comes from my Nintendo Switch: RingFit, Just Dance, and fitness boxing. I love to dance and look forward to getting into dance community in my new home. I had gastric bypass surgery when I was 16 in 2002 . Because of the surgery don't absorb nutrients as well through food so I have to take vitamins. I tried most 2014-15 to get nutrients exclusively from food and ended up getting blood/iron IV treatment for almost 2 months. I know for many people vitamin supplements seem like a waste of time but for some of us, it is a necessary addition to eating well. Occasionally, I use protein supplements. My highest weight was 415, when I was 15 and a few inches shorter(I'm 5'3" now). Until recently I was bouncing between 250-265, keeping 150+lbs for over 15 years was such an accomplishment for me. After my mom died in September 2018, I've gained 20+lbs and clocked in at 288 on 12/03/18. The highest I have ever been since my surgery. In the apocalypse also known as 2020-2021, I recognized I have an eating disorder. Dieting and weighing myself tend to lead to trouble with me. Being overweight, I won't lie that I'd like to lose weight but I'm focusing on living a full life. Which includes staying active and eating regular healthy meals. And treats in moderation without punishing myself for being human. Living a full life also means actually living and not obsessing about my weight and looks. Future Quest Ideas Set a schedule a follow it as reasonably as possible Build up to 10 regular push-ups without dying Remove a bag a day of stuff from the house Set of mini-quests revolving around home repair Having 3 hours of fitness as a goal for 2 consecutive challenges Take an outfit of the day pick X times a week Stay off Facebook (not including business) Previous Challenges How much do I love mahou shoujo? If you're a fan of Sailor Moon or any of the precure series, you'll notice a pattern in the name of my challenges. 😅 Episodes always have titles like "You Want Us to Transform? No Way!" or "Let's Become a Princess: Usagi's Bizarre Training" or "Women Must Be Strong and Beautiful: Rei's New Special Technique". That's where I get the inspiration for my challenge names. Sometimes it feels really corny. But I am a nerd and this is nerd fitness afterall. Some challenges I completed, some dropped off but still I keep fighting the good fight! Doe says "Challenge Accepted!" Summer Ends with a Bang! Doe strives for Victory! Dance Doe! Dance! A Chubby Girl Shows Courage Doe has Kujichagulia: Prelude to a new year 4: Doe's Sparkling return! Let’s Begin Again! Doe, You Must Carry On A senshi must be! Doe learns from Sailor Mars Get back to basics. Doe needs a routine. What do you even do all day? Doe tracks everything. Who are you again!? Doe plows ahead! Are you Kidding!? Doe respawns...again! Easy does it! Doe eases into a routine (current)

My last challenge went so well and kept me happy even though life was (is) stressful, so I want to keep doing what I've been doing. Never change a running system. I'll just tweak my numbers a bit to make it more doable. So my goals are: 1. Sleep 7 hours during the week and over 8 on the weekends* 2. Do 150 mins of activities a week (as judged by my watch, pluspoints if it's cardio ) --> this one will be a goal until February, it's one of my school semester goals. 3. Keep eating all those veggies (makes my skin pretty) Bonus: After teaching pole (2-3 times a week) I want to at least dance to two songs or practice two combos OR take one pole class as a student per week. Both is fine. ❤️ If it's any good I'll post videos, probably on instagram. ^^ * Last challenge 8 hours of sleep were my goal... Mostly I did around 6:30 to 6:45 during the week, I think 7 might be doable if I really try...

Summer is over! School starts up again (actually already did on Monday). I'm filled with good intentions and motivations, we'll see how long this holds. xD It's the start of my second year out of three, I'm really excited. Since my days are already quite full with school, work and teaching pole (as long as we are allowed to, I don't have my hopes up for winter...), I want to keep the challenge light and easy. Biggest goal is to do SOMETHING for the challenge, since the last few were quie a disaster, challenge wise (but awesome and fun life wise. xD). So my goals are: do the recommended 150 mins of training a week (as judged by my smart watch, since I need to have my heart rate high enough for a long enough time for it to count). Doesn't matter HOW I achieve this - pole? gym? running? conjugal duties? all fine. (Bellydancing as well, though that rarely bumps my heart rate up high enough). eat more veggies! I had waaaaay too much meat in the last weeks and want to be a bit more plant based for this challenge. Finishing up what I have at home right now (i.e. some sefmade pizza and stuff) is fine, but I'll try to choose the veggie option when eating out and won't buy any more meaty stuff for this challenge. get enough sleep - that means going to bed at a time, that makes it possible, to get 8 hours of sleep (don't have a fixed time since I'm not getting up at the same time each day) That's it. Other that that it's just surviving daily life. xD

Hello lovely people! It’s been a loooong time, and a very eventful time, since my last challenge. I did my first challenge way back in 2019, and was all set for a second, when I discovered that I was…pregnant. Irish dance when one is pregnant usually doesn’t work so well! So I took some time off, helped with teaching, etc. Had a sweet, healthy little baby boy who loves his older brother. After a few weeks of maternity leave, I got him settled in daycare, went back to work…and COVID hit. Literally - we all got very sick on the first day of lockdown. The doctors now think it was COVID (testing wasn’t available at the time, but it hit my area hard at that exact time and we tested negative for flu), and my beautiful baby has struggled ever since. I’m happy to report that he is now back on his growth curve, is beginning to catch up with his peers, and after extensive physical therapy, he just started walking independently last week. Woo!!! Anyway, to handle the extreme emotional stress of illness recovery, lockdown, and watching my child struggle, I have turned to exercise as a form of self-care. I started working with a friend who is a personal trainer, first doing body-weight and resistance band exercises and progressing now to some light strength training. I have also been working with a registered dietician to get a good balance between losing the baby/COVID weight and supporting my increased exercise. My major dance competition season starts in September with the championship at the beginning of December, so it’s time to get real serious about training. With that in mind, here are my goals for this challenge: 1) Find and maintain a cardio workout plan. I have been doing jogging intervals, and between dance and running I have stressed out my Achilles’ tendons. So yesterday I switched to stationary bike and that seemed to work much better. I will test out some other options too. But regardless, I need to maintain my 2-a-week interval training sessions and continue increasing the intervals according to the plan my trainer made. 2) Drink a glass of water before breakfast every day. Staying hydrated is my toughest nutritional goal so far - it is hard to drink at work because I work in a lab. I find if I get a good big glass of water in before I leave, I can keep up with hydration, but if I forget, it’s a struggle to catch up. 3) Work on reversing my self-critical mindset. At dance class I am quick to be self-critical, and I think this contributes to my propensity for choking at competitions. So every time I complete a routine, my goal is to first tell myself at least one thing I did really well before I think of things to improve. And after every class I will post on this thread something that I excelled at that night. Back in the game!!!

Greetings In this challenge I will be keeping it pretty simple Running/exercising: follow the training program I worked out in April up to the date of my 10k race, then come up with a new one. Eating: sensible eating at the start of May. Its my birthday soonish and I'll just eat whatever then and afterwards I'll go full paleo, no exception, no excuses, just lose some weight, fatso. Meditation: not really. I have a couple of weeks left on my subscription to the app. I'll be listening to the remaining courses but not planning to make meditation a big part of my life, just probably trying to explore the implications a bit more in my day-to-day. Or something. Dancing: starting out fairly easy: I'll practice some dance for 5 minutes a day - probably the running man just to get used to the leg coordination (I think that's what is going on in this picture 👆 right.... Right?) After the race I will go much harder, aiming to get passably OK at one thing (I am thinking the piu-piu dance) Not kelladactyl level good or anything but not actually shamefully shit. I'll settle for that. I feel good about this goal. I don't know how it'll end up but it'll be fun to try and I am going to throw myself into it. Ad Victoriam!

I am so not reliable when it comes to these things.... But I'm back again! And pregnant! It was planned. It's exciting - aaannnnndddd I hate it. I've been super sick. I puke all the time. Still. At 18 weeks. Figure I'll be the person who's sick the whole time. So this is my attempt at keeping going as the weather cools off and my body continues to not be my own. Goals: Yoga Every. Damn. Day. Sliding scale of increasing awesomeness I feel better when I move. I have class Tuesday and Wednesday. I have the knowledge to make my own flow. I have NF Yoga and all of youtube if I want a directed flow. Week 1: 4 times (no class due to Mom in town and then cancelled due to Halloween, so all 4 at home) Week 2: 5 times Week 3: 6 times Week 4: all 7 days Walking. I picked up Pokemon Go a while back, so yay walking. Plus, it's easy. I can walk with the pony too, since riding is getting more difficult as I get bigger. I'd like to hit about 10 miles a week. Try to find food that I will tolerate, and cook it. Hubs has been taking care of most of the cooking as of late, because I'm on the couch and miserable. I'd like to get back to some cooking. Let's say 2x a week. Other updates: Still at a job I don't like. Tired to find a new position this summer with no luck. Currently hanging on until this kiddo comes, and then will not likely go back. Memorial Day weekend we hit national parks #8 and #9 - Wind Caves and Badlands in South Dakota. We also hiked Sunday Gulch trail in Cussler State park which was scary and incredible!! Even if the trail was actually closed - which we didn't know until we were finished!! Highly recommend! In August we went to DC for a veterinary conference for me. Sightseeing was neat, but I struggled with recently being off medications for fibro for the pregnancy. Food scene in DC was insanely good. Would go back just to eat. At the end of September, we took our last big trip before kiddo comes - Hawaii - and got national parks 9 and 10. I was sick so. much. but the islands were really beautiful. Kiddo is due March 24.

This is the first stanza of a children's spring song we sing here in South Africa, with English translation in brackets. I tried finding a YT video but alas... Dis heerlike lente, die winter is verby, (It's wonderful spring time, winter is past) weer vrolik die velde vir jou en vir my! (joyful are the fields again, for you and for me) Ryde the Spring Wave Blooms are opening up in an array of colours; grass shoots are pushing their little heads through the dark, nutritious soil; the warm sun is shining bright, and every now and again the soft swish of rain comes down to quench the thirsty soil. I'm just trying to keep my balance between stress, life, and continuing with a 'normal' routine. Not aspiring to reach any level of fitness, not training for anything, just keep moving. Oh, but I am trying to reach 100 (maybe aim at 150?) push ups at some point in time. I am going to try and learn line dancing with my youngest son, and I am going to try and loose a bit of weight. Again, nothing serious, just... cut down a bit on food, think seriously before I eat, weigh myself every Saturday and see how I do. The extra stress-causing-things going on in my life at the moment are... nr. 1 probably the current situation of our country (South Africa). nr. 2 our plans to try and emigrate (and all the preparations it entails). nr. 3 my mom, and the usual little foxes that happen in life to throw you a curve ball. NOTE: My birthday is going to be end of week 3/beginning of week 4 and I am going to have cake/chocolate or something in that line. Goals to focus on this challenge: (only going to check over week days - will continue over weekends, and try to stay in control over weekends, but only check weekdays for the challenge) Bible/Quiet time doing bible study with/without my boys and/or quiet time sometime during the day to gather my thoughts, praying, or just unwinding and relaxing (catching my breath). Water/Herbal tea, fruit/veg water drinks +-2 bottles (just under 2Lt) per day. Go to bed at the latest 21h30 (give or take 5min.). Food: keep gluten to one day a week only (Fishy Fridays), and try to cut down on how much I'm eating. Check weight every Saturday (report on Monday). Let's see if I can loose 1kg (2Lb) this challenge. I'm the heaviest that I've EVER been in my life. Finances: monthlies and dailies. Monthlies are up to date, but will need to be done by end of September again. Dailies are done +-3x/week, or as necessary. Clean house: I have a schedule for the month. Certain chores that I need to check on every day. My vacuum cleaner just burnt (basically brand new) and I'm back to using a broom. Will know whether they'll fix it within the next two weeks. Burpees at least 3x/week, which will include a pushup, which will count to my pushup challenge if they are full pushups. Pushup count: currently 39 Other exercises: Walking (Wednesdays for a long walk, and short, steep uphill on a Thursday) and Dancing (going to try and learn line dancing with my youngest son) on a Friday.

HELLO; Dollism again and I am here for my third challenge. Just to recap, my goals are directed toward getting over my over-burdensome fears of everything (effects of PTSD). I would also like to develop a fluid motion in my body mechanics. While it is true I would like to lose weight, I am more focused on not being too scared to jump from one log to the next when I go to the beach or thinking everything is unsafe. I don't want to be without a healthy amount of fear but I do want to feel as though I am fearless. To accomplish this my goals will be focused on learning Poi Spinning, Ballet, and Parkour. NOW THEN; Sadly, during the last five-week challenge I fell down a couple of stairs and broke my finger (spiral fracture). Thankfully it was just a finger but it still affects and limits my exercise choices. To head in the right direction my goals for this 5 Week Challenge (that I am starting in the midst of) will be: Diet/Fitness Quest(s): 1. Attempt to do as many reps in the following routine as I can possibly do (Maximum of 10); And do it at least twice a week (prefer every other day). Bodyweight Squats Leg Lifts ( On Back; Both Legs) 10 Reps Each; 2 Sets 2. 30-60 Minutes Jogging or Biking at least three times per week. 3. Yoga at least four times per week. Work toward daily. Avoid poses that stress hands. 4. Drink ten cups of water per day, at least. Push or sixteen for BONUS. Level Up Life Quest(s): 5. Finish the book "Fit For Life" that I just started. BONUS: Purchase Kitchen Scale. If anyone has any exercise ideas that avoid hand use but still will help with building the skills I need for parkour, let me know. For those of you who are curious about how I broke my finger (of all things) when I fell down just three stairs or how I even managed that: I shall share the story to satisfy curiosity. I was at my friend's house and it was dark out. I am night blind and can't see at all in the dark. I had told my friend several times he needed to install railing or at least a porch light but he never got around to it. It started raining and I love the rain so I decided to go outside and step into the rain so I could feel it. Bad idea. I couldn't see anything, so when I went to take a step down the stairs I missed one step and toppled down them. I landed directly on my ring finger. On top of that, to hide my shame, I pushed myself and rolled a few feet and pretended I did it on purpose so I could "lay in the rain" which I often do. My friend knows I like to lay in the grass when it's raining so I figured it was a good cover story. Sadly rolling is probably what turned the break into a spiral fracture. THE END.

So possibly unsurprisingly if you followed my last challenge which was So You Think You Can Danced themed, this time around I'll be inspiring myself by sprinkling Dancing with the Stars (and Strictly) gifs around this challenge . I'll get back to my regularly scheduled nerdery in September XD So let's see, for anyone just joining me the main thing to know is that in the last year I have very seriously gotten into ballroom dancing, mainly latin (so cha cha, rumba, samba, jive, paso doble) but I dabble in smooth/standard (waltz/viennese waltz/foxtrot/tango/quickstep). I have my very first big competition the first weekend of the challenge on August 3 which I have been prepping like CRAZYYYYY during the past challenge. After that I have a small window to chillax and not be prepping for an impending big event (I've got an intramural/between studios/unofficial competition in September but it's not really a big deal) so I'm going to try to use this challenge to get a handle back on some of the things I've been slacking on in my life. Like domestic rangering, food stuffs, general organization, and being more consistent with lifting (for the past month I've pretty much just been lifting whenever I have time which sometimes is 3x/week and sometimes was 1x/week so it's just been all over the place). Here are my goals (bonuses are nice-to-dos but I won't consider it a failure if I don't do them): Goal 1: Lift Stick to a real lifting schedule of Monday Wednesday/Thursday and Saturday. My HRC meetings and private dance lessons vary from week to week in terms of Wednesdays/Thursdays so I'm OK with keeping that particular thing up in the air but I have to make a decision in the beginning of each week which day it will be. Bonus: Don't skip accessories! (usually I try to do curls, crunches, push ups, pull up work, and calf raises but I've been skimping on the accessory work as of late) Goal 2: Organize Use my bullet journal - post my weekly spreads here in the beginning AND end of the week. Bonus: Post my monthly spreads at the end of the challenge too! Goal 3: Eat Only eat out 3 meals a week or less. Bonus: Share my food log from my bullet journal here. Goal 4: Maintain ROMWOD (mobility work for those unfamiliar with it) and meditation 6x/week Bonus: Attend one or more restorative yoga class during the challenge Goal 5: Dance Continuing on from last challenge, share a dance video once a week. Next challenge I'll probably have to cut this down since I'm running out of material (I don't take the time to take videos every single lesson and don't really want to) but for now, especially after the comp, I should have 5 more weeks of stuff to share Bonus: Practice on my own 3x/week. I haven't really done this before aside from running my routines, but one of my teachers has been giving us great pointers on how and what to do for targeted practice on our own so even if it's just for 15 minutes I want to start doing this.

Starting late! I wasn’t sure I wanted to do one because of the timing of other things in my life. Then one of those “things”, the Irish Festival, gave me inspiration. I was dancing and bouncing around while watching some of my favorite Irish a Fest bands and my friend mentioned what a great workout we were getting. I think we say that to each other every year, but I never put the thought to good use. So this challenge is about music and dance. I am going to use music that motivates me to move and then just go with it. I may dance, do jumping jacks, pushups, etc. Whatever I’m inspired to do I will do for my exercise that week. I got sloppy with my food during the festival and never and never got back on track. So I’m also going to monitor my food with my weight watchers app. I want to be down 3 pounds by the end of the challenge. I may add a weekly adulting challenge here and there, but that is basically it for the next 4 weeks.

A almost accurate picture of a classical Roman feast Everyday I get to pick from my menu of things to do. Some days I'll just want appetizers, and some days it'll be a multi-course extravaganza. It'll depend on what I'm up for and how "hungry" I am. Tasks are organized into categories based on time involved, location, and level of concentration needed. Bread Basket Just like some restaurants bring bread, there are some things that I'll get for "free" regardless of if I really want them or not. These are non-negotiables. Dance: Sunday and Wednesday Yoga in studio: Tuesday and Thursday Pony: Sunday after dance, plus Tuesday and/or Wednesday, possibly also Saturday after work Healthy foods, no snacks at work, lots of tea Appetizers Easy to eat, grab-and-go kind of things. Drop and do a plank, lower as far as I can with elbows in Facial stretches for jaw pain Take a breath and think before eating In-the-moment meditation Review of Italian words with phone app Salads Quick to fix up and good for you, too. Short home yoga flow Plan meals for the week Pull an oracle card and journal about it Read something for fun Entrees Take time to make. Please be patient. Go for a bike ride Meditation in my special place Sat down Italian or chakra study (write things down) Therapy related work (deep reading, journaling) Dessert Special order things that you don't get often. Make meatball #5 (20) Make jam/jelly #1(30) Make creme brulee #1 (it's a dessert dessert! dessert inception!) (30) Work on striping furniture (10 each time) Complete craft project #1(way behind on these) (50) Go to social outing #4 and #5 (20) Have date night with Mr. Vibrant #4 and #5 (20) Because point systems work well for me: Appetizers are 1 point each Salads are 10 points each Entrees are 20 points each Desserts are pointed as marked Chef reserves the right to make changes to the menu as she sees fit. Related goals that I'm working towards: 1 date night/social outing per month 14 non-pressured bike rides this year 1 real pushup/hold chaturanga Master my headstand 30 consecutive days meditating 40 books read this year Have basic understanding of conversational Italian

It has been almost 3 years since I attempted a challenge here on NF. I have an unusual attraction to the syntax of Shoujo episode names, hence the title. One of my life goals is to be able to have a transformation sequence. This isn’t just new year, it’s a new chapter of my life without my mother. She unexpectedly passed away in September. My world came crashing down. The last months of 2018 are a blur. When I hit rock bottom and bounced 30lbs heavier, the wise words of Queen Serenity came to mind: "Serenity...You must always keep the star in your heart shining strong to defeat the dark and evil souls." So here we go, time to begin again Lose Weight I gained 30lbs in two months. Most of it is water weight and bloat from food sensitivities(corn and dairy). Getting my diet back on track hasn’t been difficult, exercising more on the other hand. My goal may seem ambitious, but I have been exercising some just not enough. I’m in a dance group, and we have 90-180 minutes of practice on Saturdays. I get in another 60-120 minutes between home workouts and the gym. Quest: Exercise 300 minutes a week Understand Money Better My parents taught me a little something about money: have your income be more than your expenses, live within your means, pay your debts, and save something for a rainy day. Living in the most expensive area in the country, I've managed to keep my expenses low. I save but not nearly as much as I should. As for a retirement plan, home ownership, entrepreneurship? Plenty of dreams. No plans. I’m in my 30s, and I’ve never done my own taxes or had any notion of retirement. Sure I contribute so my job matches because that’s what you do. I don’t really understand money beyond the basics. Now, I'm being forced to deal with these things. My mother left me some life insurance/retirement, and she had recently bought a house that I want to take the mortgage over for. I started reading a book on finances and it recommended going back old school. Quest Write down every purchase. Everyone, even the ones using credits. Blog More A couple years ago, I had a great idea for a blog about being a woman engineer with ADHD/depression. Of course, having ADHD has lead to this not being super consistent. Social media and its search for perfection is intimidating. I have dozens of draft posts. Time to get them out there. Quest: Publish 2 blog posts. Engage more on instagram Learn Python My freshman year of college, I was a computer engineering major. My sister snagged me a great internship, I spent the summer in a basement staring at code. The thought of spending my life in a basement or cube prison staring at code sounded awful, so I went the construction/project management route. I immediately switched schools, switched majors to electrical – only to discover I still need 4 more programming classes. Sure, I’ve had to program an Excel macro or PLC for motors but it’s stayed pretty basic. As iot invades building science, the gap of understanding between the field engineers and coders is leading to personal frustration. My work would be so much easier if I had better understanding I needed to learn some basics of Python for an ongoing project. I know I’m using my limited knowledge in an inefficient matter. The syntax was the easy part, the implementation on the other hand… Nothing has made me feel more elderly than talking with the IS department at work. When I asked “What compiler do you use?”, They politely held back laughs. I started with this course, recommended by some coworkers: https://www.coursera.org/learn/python Quest: Spend 5 hours a week on course. Let's do this!

Welcome one and all - to Weirdmaggedon! Something you probably didn't know about me - I EFFING LOVE GRAVITY FALLS!!! Like seriously, probably one of my top 5 favourite shows of all time - up there with Buffy, Farscape and Doctor Who. The opening theme song was even Mr. Raxie's and my recessional for our wedding (I walked down the aisle to something off a Doctor Who soundtrack though so it's not like it was a startlingly nerdy thing for us). We also dressed as Dipper and Mabel for Halloween this year. Seriously, if you haven't watched it, even if you aren't into cartoons - just go do it. It's only 2 seasons and it's just so warm hearted and simultaneously nerdy and really down to earth, and the overarching plot is seriously pretty amazing and it ends so beautifully and I literally cry every time. Ugh so good. Ok anyway so after taking the last challenge off due to my life basically exploding (many many weddings/rehearsal dinner/bachelorette parties, about 900 extra dance lessons to prep for an upcoming performance, and some cat illness drama, and meeting Jonathan Van Ness which I needed approximately a full week to emotionally recover from) I am really hankering for a serious high spirited challenge. And what better than a Gravity Falls themed battle challenge to rev me back up and start prepping for the new year? I have the excites. So with all that said, here's my challenge. I'll be fighting Bill Cipher, the final and biggest of Big Bads in the show (he's the pyramid dude in my gif up top). He has brought Weirdmaggedon down on Gravity Falls and it's up to Dipper and Mabel to stop him! Each of the five weeks (starting this week!) they will be fighting one of Bill's cronies and gathering friends for the bigger fight to come. If I succeed with my goals for the week that week's minion will be subdued and a new friend will join the party. Week 4 all the party members I've gathered will fight Bill and any undefeated minions. If I've collected enough friends we will be able to handle some undefeated minions at the end, but also if I don't collect any friends but manage to beat all the minions then just Dipper and Mabel will be able to beat Bill on their own so that's where some flexibility on the challenge comes in. My goals will be the same each week so it's just a matter of keeping them consistent to take down Bill. The final showdown with Bill will have different rules than weeks 0-3 which I'll post in a follow-on post. Initial rules are below with my goals! The Goals: "Reality is an illusion the universe is a hologram" - Bill Cipher Dance 4x/week = 100 HP damage to enemy per party member Usually I don't set a goal for dancing because I'm going to be going anyway, but I really need to push myself to practice separately from my lessons and classes for the upcoming performance we have in December so I'll be tracking it. "This party never stops! Time is dead, and meaning has no meaning. Existence is upside down." - Bill Cipher Lift 3x/week = 100 HP damage to enemy per party member I've been pretty consistently been able to work back in 3 sessions vs 2 for the last 3 months ish, I find that the only time I fail to do this is when I don't plan ahead so I've just got to make sure I know when I'll be doing what each week ahead of time. "Songs Are Like Hugs that Mouths give to Ears" - Mabel Pines ROMWOD 6x/week = 1 new friend added to party I've been pretty good about ROMWODing, a few times a week but I need to get back to prioritizing it since I really started seeing improvements in my flexibility last time I did it almost every day and I want to be flexy. "If you're curious don't wait." - Dipper Pines Updates 3x/week = 1 new friend added to party One MAJOR thing I will be working on this challenge is my perfectionism. You know the whole "if it's not perfect why bother doing it" feeling that causes so many people (myself included) to say oh I can't stick to my meal plan so I might as well eat 100 slices of pizza? Or if I don't have time to clean my entire house why bother doing the little that I can? I've somehow gotten over all of this in my real life, but for the forums I somehow have not. I always want to post all my happy (or not so happy things) and battle-log style catalogue how things are going with me, to the point that if I don't have time or space to do so I just...don't. I need to seriously get over this because it has hindered me from keeping up with a lot of my past challenges, and ultimately I probably could have done the last challenge if I had just been OK with myself doing it all through Tapatalk. So this challenge I am redownloading Tapatalk, and I will be using Habit Bull to track my goals. If I don't have time to say anything, I can just post my Habit Bull progress screen shot and have that be that. Yes Tapatalk results in ugly posts and it makes me sad but it makes me sadder that I'm preventing myself from being here.

I'm rewatching through Boy Meets World right now (thanks Hulu) and I decided to make my theme this challenge based on my very first original TV spirit animal - Topanga Lawrence! There are so many reasons I love her but I think the above two quotes pretty much say it all. If I have a moment of non-motivation during this challenge I'll just ask myself What Would Topanga Do? Be a badass independent woman and do what needs to be done, that's what. Prologue My first love is powerlifting, and have recently-ish started getting back into trying to lift heavy instead of just for maintenance. I'm still living the Stronglifts life right now but will probably be looking to graduate to an intermediate program before the end of the year. I also have semi-seriously been getting into ballroom dancing since December 2017 and it's kind of taken over my life. I love it. I'll be doing my first competition on my own (ie not with the formation team I'm on which I've done one competition with earlier this year) the end of the first week of this challenge doing a waltz to Hedwigs Theme. I recently did a huge decluttering of my apartment and am trying to settle on a good method of keeping-it-that-way. Last challenge I tried small daily tasks, I don't think it worked for me, so this challenge I'll be focusing on a new approach to this. I am really also into mobility (ROMWOD and Unbreakable Feet are my two go-tos, I've been dabbling in GMB's Focused Flexibility program) and fit that in where I can. I am a sufferer of Rangerbrain and earlier this year had to declutter my goals in order to focus on a smaller amount of things more seriously. I'm thinking of maybeeee trying to squeeze one of those things back in maybe before the end of the year? Things I wish I could do but just don't have time for and had to cut out but have potential to bring back: yoga, OCRs, rucking, boxing, rowing. Honestly I've got my eyeball on boxing but we shall see. It may make an appearance this challenge. It may not. I also volunteer for HRC and it takes up a lot of my non-work time. I've got meetings every week if not twice a week with them and then have to actually do the thing aside from that. Between that and dance my calendar is pretty much always full. I like it that way though. Goals 1) Lifty Lift Lift Strength Train 3x/week Self explanatory methinks. 2) Dancey Dance Dance Practice outside of dance class/lessons 1x/week I'm going to go to dance class and take lessons regardless of this challenge. I literally rearrange my social calendar so as to not miss classes sometimes so I'm in no way worried about that. I think the next step in upping my game is practicing things I'm struggling with at home. I'm not going to go too hard on this, I just want to get a feel for what it would entail. So 15 or more minutes once a week is all I'm shooting for for right now. That's enough time to practice one figure or something a few times. Or run a routine a few times. 3) Cleanity Clean Clean Comprehensive maintenance cleaning 1 day a week. No more daily tasks, do all of them in a few hour block once a week, for now scheduled for Friday but I think it might switch between Fridays and Sundays depending on the week. Reward I think I want to get a pair of practice dance shoes. I don't really neeeeeeed them, I have a pair of latin (strappy sandal-y) and a pair of smooth (closed toe and bendy) shoes but for days when I'm doing a few classes in a row and my feet hurt, or for salsa and hustle where I don't really want to be wearing either my latin or smooth shoes and feel weird when I do... I would really like to have a plain practice pair. So if I 100% this challenge I will get them - which sounds like a lot but I'm really only asking myself to do 2 things a week (ie goals 2 & 3, lifting is in my habit now so it's not something extra I'm doing but I'd like to keep track of it here), one of which is a 15 minute thing... so 100% is reasonable. I'll probably get black but like, there are also some crazy ones that I really like. I almost certainly won't get them, but look how cool they are: There are also ones with lips all over them hahah. Not sure if I'd absolutely love wearing them or regret it instantly. Anyway, that's my challenge. Here we go!

I think I may have done a Harry Potter themed challenge semi-recently BUT I'm doing it again because I have a dance performance coming up and it's to Hedwigs Theme so I'm feeling pretty Hogwarts inspired right now However since I probably exhausted all the good old fashioned Potter gifs in my challenge a few months ago, this challenge will be hilarious and no-good HP gif themed. #sorrynotsorry Yeah we will see how long this lasts. Some background on me - my two main pursuits are powerlifting and ballroom dancing. Powerlifting I've been doing for a long while now and ballroom dancing I just got into back in December. I did ballet for 15 years when I was growing up so dance isn't super foreign to me but ballroom is SO FREAKIN' different and it's been 13 years since I've danced at all so it's definitely a challenge. I've actually got my first ever competition coming up in September (AHHHHHHHH), even though it's a super friendly not serious between some studios competition and not like... a real one. I did something similar with a performance team back in March but this one it will be just me doing a showcase (it's the Hedwig's theme dance I am basing this challenge around mentioned above). I'm ascared. But also still pretty darn excited. Lifting wise I've been more or less doing as a maintenance activity but the past 2 weeks I've been starting to step my game up again because I want to be stronger and I am finally feeling I am in a place where my body is used to how much dancing I am doing and it won't exhaust me. So far so good. As far as my challenge goes I usually end up using them kind of as a glorified battle log but I here are some goals anyway: Goal 1: Clean Fly Lady Daily Tasks 5x/week Last challenge I mostly focused on decluttering and making my apartment presentable and I succeeded! I have had people over semi-regularly and don't feel a wave of nausea inducing panic anymore at the thought of house guests. My first goal this challenge will be to maintain this as the status-quo. Honestly, I've been trying to do the Fly Lady thing for 3-ish years but I've never had a good baseline to go off of and it always just feels so overwhelming. Now that I've got a clean baseline apartment I feel like I can *gasp* actually do some maintenance cleaning?!?!?!? Should be interesting. Goal 2: Lift Strength workout 3x/week I have generally failed every darn time I tried to re-up my strength training from 2 to 3 days a week over the last few months and I think it was because I was still adjusting to my new dance schedule. The last few weeks I've been actually doing it super successfully and feeling pretty great about it so I want to keep this up. Goal 3: Dance Private lesson 1x/week I probably don't need to make this a goal because I'm going to do it anyway, but it's an easy win and I want an excuse to talk about it so there you go. So there you have it, a few days late but what are you gonna do. Time to do the thing!

<excuses> So I feel like I keep starting these challenges and dropping off the face of the earth half way through. I cant even count how many times I've had a re-spawn challenge. I'm getting tired of that. So for this challenge I actually already set up a spreadsheet that I can easily edit on the fly anytime, any day and not have to update this page. So even when i decide that trying to update my "blog" is too much of a hassle (which is 90% of what causes me to stop every time) I can still keep track and still keep myself accountable. I am also going to make the spreadsheet shareable so if anyone wants updates they can keep up. okay, now that I got that out of the way, here's the challenge! </excuses> YES I WANT SOME NEW FACE! Overall Goal: Lose 100 pounds (from 260 to 160) Steps: Clean up diet Exercises - bodyweight, dance, and eventually circus arts Control finances August 13-Sept 9 Specific Challenge: Kpop dance practice at least 2 times weekly (60 min practice sessions) Save $20 weekly No Fast Food (This time, restaurants are not included in this) Walk 30 minutes on weekdays (the equivalent of walking my son to school and walking back home, school starts on the 23rd) Details: So recently I started watching My ID is a Gangnam Beauty and was inspired by the main character. I want to really take control over my life and be happy in who I am regardless of what others may think of me. I want to be healthy for myself and also "to show them that I can also do well." There are many things I want to do right now, that my weight and health are getting in the way of. There have been so many times I have said I would do something and I bailed out. I have so many regrets and I'm tired of giving excuses. I want to show I can be a responsible, healthy, vibrant person. I want to show myself I can be loved and deserve to be loved, especially by myself. I want to show myself that many of the so called "limits" to what i can do, or what is acceptable for me to be, are really self set, and is really just fear. So while I am trying to lose weight, and it does have some very superficial seeming reasons, to me these are very deep laid issues I am seeking to fix. (here's a link to a clip from the first episode, some of the inspiration for this challenge: New Face Dance from My ID is a Gangnam Beauty) So I find dancing to kpop extremely fun and a really good full body workout without needing any equipment other than a tv and some room to move. I'm starting this week with TWICE's "Likey" dance I'm thinking next I'll do a boy band... Maybe BTS's "Mic Drop"? As for saving $20 weekly this is to better take control of my finances. How does this help in my weight loss journey? well most of what I spend my money on is food. Yeah it's as simple as that. I am also trying to start up my own Tea shop so saving money will help me with my dream of owning my own business and feeling like I've made a successful step in my life. Next, by not eating Fast Food I can kill two birds with one stone, fixing my diet, and saving money! I find it increasingly hard to not just run to McDonalds (the closest open food to my work at 2 in the morning, normally i wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole) on my break, or swing by Speedway on my way home for a quick snack, but each of these small stops tend to result in thousands of calories in one go, and money spent that could have been put to better use. Lastly, walking 30 minutes each (week)day is a huge multi-tasker in this challenge: i want to save money on gas (now that i own a big gas guzzling SUV) and also get a bit more of a workout, and also spend some quality time with my son. I'll be walking him to school each day; It's about a 15 min one-way walk, so until school actually starts (on the 23rd) I'll also be walking in preparation each day for 30 minutes. I'll skip doing so tomorrow though, since I have a 5k to run(ish... i'm terrible at running) later in the evening anyways . So that's all for today I guess. I'll give the update on how I've done the past few days of the challenge in the next post, but I really should get some sleep. I'll also post the spreadsheet after making a few final adjustments. So I'll see you all again very soon.

Hey y'all!! Another unthemed challenge from your local uncreative green blob! ^^Me trying and failing to come up with any creative themes, but all gifs are welcome! Last challenge I had commitment issues but then ended up with mostly the same goals week-to-week, so we're gonna try really committing here. I recently started an "Unbreakable Body" membership - it's pricey but I think it could pan out to be a good injury prevention / pain management tool for dance, plus it means I don't have to read a ton of info then come up with my own program like I sometimes do. Two big buckets of goals for this challenge, plus an FYI bucket of other things I'll be posting about. Take care of your physical body (all from Unbreakable Body): Daily movement practice (1x+ per day, taking the place of nighttime stretching and maybe also as a workout warmup - it's a 10-minutes or less flow, nothing too crazy) Keep following Unbreakable Feet programming - noticing a difference in strength and mobility here and no dancer can have too strong of feet Work through the self-massage / soft tissue stretching movements in the program (~30) for initial assessment by the end of the challenge Do the pillars strength building stuff (basically, shoring up common joint control / strength weaknesses) at least 1x / week Take care of your soul (idk how I feel about the word, but feels easier than physical / mental / emotional health - I badly need it after an anxiety/perfectionism/depression flare up this past weekend): Qi Gong breathing exercise 2x/day, repeating my mantra (currently "I am human; I am enough" because I had a STRONG perfectionism fit over the past week) Pray daily - remind myself that I believe in some sort of spiritual connection between humans Write a daily gratitude journal about my "shadow self" (hat tip to @RedStone for pointing me to a podcast on this topic; the oversimplified version is that we have to acknowledge the parts of ourselves we don't like because they're usually the other side of a trait that makes us awesome) Read every day, even just 1-2 pages, from an actual book FYI / in the background: Strength and conditioning (juggernaut-ish) program including some warrior kryptonite a.k.a. cardio Travelling to a wedding this weekend, dance competition next weekend, then home til around labor day, I think Ballroom Dance practice (partnered and solo) and teaching (adorable little and not-so-little kids) Starting my own dance teaching stuff (I currently work in a youth program my coach organizes, would also like to start teaching some of my own adults for a little extra cash money) Continuing good sleep habits Exploring new roles in my company and navigating a recent org change (also processing some negative feedback I got last week) Still doing a kinda sorta cut but we're not calling it that - just doing the nutrition thing consistently and embracing the results as they slowly-ish trickle in (down 15 lbs since January 1st, so actually not that slowly, somehow - idk, this don't track and eat lotsa carbs thing is working pretty well for me)

I am feeling super inspired by my re-playing through all the Kingdom Hearts games lately so... I'm going to stick with this theme for the second challenge in a row. I may do it again for the next challenge too because WHY THE HECK NOT?! I'm feeling a little lacking in the inspiration elsewhere but Kingdom Hearts seriously never ceases to get me riled up in all the best ways so it's just going to have to do for now Two challenges ago I didn't have very specific goals and just wanted to stick to my routine. Last challenge I tried to add a bunch of new things to my routine This challenge I'm going back to not really having goals, but this time my routine will incorporate some of the habits I developed last challenge (and some not that didn't really work for me). This pattern of chill then go hard then chill gain seems to be working pretty well for me. So this will be a chill challenge cycle GOAL 1: SHOW UP Post my weekly schedule and goals each week by the end of the day Tuesday. Try for Sunday or Monday, but Tuesday's fine. My weekly schedules will include my usual stuff like lifting, dance, and ROMWOD plus some new stuff from last challenge like Unbreakable Feet and meditation. GOAL 2: DO THE THING Do what I said I was going to do and stick to my schedule/goals for each week. GOAL 3: REFLECT Post what I ate for each meal of the week and why (if applicable... I don't need to post why for a meal prepped meal for example) and how each meal made me feel physically and mentally. This really worked for me two challenges ago so I'm going to do it again. GOAL 4: DANCE I want to start taking private lessons again, I haven't in a few weeks. So for this one I'll make it a priority to take at least 2 private lessons this challenge. Bonus: Figure out what the heck I'm going with my dance goals (ie do I want to compete and if so how soon and in what dances) ♥ And that's it! Woop woop let's do this!

(yeah I know that title sounds real intense and then it's just a cartoon hahah - bait and switch!) Background: For those just joining - I'm Raxie! This will be my 33rd challenge here. I recently got really into ballroom dancing and have been focusing a lot on that, but my other love is lifting. I have three kitties that I love dearly and I have a severe case of RangerBrain(TM). So! I really love how I set up my last challenge where I went hard on the goals, but also gave myself a lot of cushion to fall back on if I needed it. I ended up really needing that cushion in the last week, and that's fine! I passed, and I had a high bar that was quite ambitious that inspired me throughout the challenge. This challenge I am going to do kind of the opposite. I am going to set up some really rigid rules that are simple and not too ambitious... but I'm not going to give myself much leeway in terms of a grab bag of freebies. I find jumping back and forth between these two approaches has really helped me up my game slowly over time and I love it! Part of my problem with a lot of my goals in the past is I have an x times/week goal and I'll push it off and try to squish it all in towards the end of the week, but then it's the weekend and then I either don't do it or rush it. This time around I'm going to assign specific tasks to specific weekdays. If I don't do them, I can't "make them up" later. I just didn't do it, move on and I will do the task for the next week day. AND THAT'S OKAY. My inspiration for this challenge is Rick and Morty's Get Schwifty song -- two of the most inappropriate non-musically talented people on the planet went for it and created a song that won an intergalactic song contest, saving the earth from certain doom. If they can do that... my sometimes uncoordinated self can certainly go out on a limb and do The Scary Thing that is different dance styles and start competing in the future! (OK so that's a stretch - real talk I actually I don't have a theme that relates to my goals for this challenge and just wanted to throw some Rick and Morty gifs around because I love that show.) Big Picture Stuffs: I will be dancing. A lot. My goal is to do a non-group competition before the end of the year. That may be under ambitious but knowing me and my imposter syndrome that line in the sand needs to at least be drawn somewhere. As long as that line is there I could be convinced to move it to sooner, but I want to have it far enough away for now that I don't feel like I need to push it back if that makes sense. I want to focus on Foxtrot, Jive and a yet-to-be-determined Latin dance (I'm thinking maybe Rumba because it's so darn pretty). I will also continue to lift because I love it so. I re-started the beginner Strong Lifts progression for my OHP and Rows last challenge since I've been not doing them, the other lifts (DLs, Squats, Bench) I'm in intermediate Strong Lifts, but I'm shopping around for a more progressive intermediate program that I'll probably move on to either this challenge or the next. ROMWOD has become my backbone throughout the last two challenges and I will keep on keepin' on with that as well. Cleaning. Ugh. My eternal enemy. I feel like I would be the perfect adult and have my life together SO HARD if I could just keep my freakin' place clean! Why won't it just stay clean?! I am going to go full Fly Lady this challenge in terms of daily tasks so I have more of a direction in my cleaning, since last challenge I feel like I cleaned every day but nothing really... got done. Food. I've been eating kind of boarderline bad lately. I was away a bunch last week and am feeling I need to be more accountable about it, so I'm thinking I will report every day what I eat. No calorie counting, no paleo-compliance, I've just got to say here what I ate. That's it. The accountability will inspire me more than trying to meet macros and probably forcing "compliance" upon something that I know I'm just trying to game a system with. Goals: Under the spoiler is my "skeleton schedule" that is my baseline. Each Monday I will post a slightly altered schedule based on travel or volunteer meetings I may have to skip stuff for (I'm traveling almost every weekend this challenge so that will probably be the biggest struggle for sure). Grading: Points for each week will be out of 14 - basically each day I did the things I said I'd do I get a point, and each day I report what I ate I get a point for a total of 2 possible points a day. At the end of the challenge I need to have accumulated at least 55 points out of a possible 70 to pass! I'll be starting now, in week zero. Let's do this thing!

I am an amateur ballroom dancer and my fitness is getting in the way of me being a better dancer. I joined the academy on February 1st and am feeling good about my progress but am ready to open up to more accountability. My goals in this four weeks: Stick to the Level 5 Nerdfitness diet and move up to Level 6 by the end of the challenge. Complete a gym work out three times a week. (Nerdfitness Gym 3 currently) Complete a Yoga Session at least one time a week. Go to Ballroom practice at least two times a week. Out of bed by 6:45 am 5 out of 7 days a week. So I'm about 60 pounds heavier than I'd like to be and I realize nutrition is key. That's why I want to put a strong focus on the diet. As is said all over the place nutrition is key. I feel like I have a tendency to get lazy in this realm, but as a college student it's easy for me to eat health options at the dining hall and the millions of uppity restauraunts around me plus I could make a few things myself if I'm reeling it. I have been rocking 2 or three gym workouts a week with my first six weeks of the academy I want to solidly make it a 3 workouts a week. Yoga has been encouraged for me to participate in for as long as I can remember at least since I was 13 years old. I never got into it and classes never really seemed accomodating of my body shape. So I got the Nerd fitness Yoga and have done maybe two sessions in the six weeks I've had it. I want to do at least one session a week if not more. As I mentioned I'm a ballroom dancer and I've been falling out of the loop with going to practice. Hell, I don't even have a partner picked out for competitions. To best help me with moving forward I need to go to practice at least twice a week. Since I've been on the team my amount of practice attendance has ranged from skipping weeks to 5 times a week. I have sleep issues and I think they're rooted in my inconsistent wake and sleep schedule. Out of bed by 6:45 most days seems like a good step in the right direction. Fortify! Week 1 Update: I attended my two Ballroom Practices this week woot woot. My friend finished a baking class so I tried some of the pie she made. Otherwise I've been true to the diet. I will just get back up and recover. I did do a yoga session in my apartment with the nerdfighter yoga, and it's getting easier than previous. I only did two of the three workouts a week. My sunday was much busier than I thought it would be which led to me not participating. My sleep has been a huge problem this week only two times was I out of bed by 6:45 but I was sick earlier in the week which did effect this but. I'm hoping week two will present much more productively for me. Week 2 Update: I had sweets. I work at a radio station and right behind my desk was some community candy and I ate a piece almost every time I walked by the bowl. However, I did recover. I also am starting to transition into cutting bread completely from my diet so, no tortillas, no sandwich bread, no buns on my burgers, no more pita. I have been successful for the last few weeks on avoiding just bread, that is dinner rolls, breadsticks, etc and pasta but I think this one will be a real challenge for me. I'm ready to step up.I'm still on gym level workout three. Which is good. I do feel myself getting much stronger and my form on the bodyweight exercises are much better than they have ever been. I'm thinking by the end of week 4 I will move up to gym level 4. As I continue to build strength and lose weight I am hoping to move into the bodyweight workouts instead of the gym workouts.I did two yoga sessions this week. I am really enjoying yoga as an off day activity. I am now almost able to perform a downward dog with my heels touching the ground. Which was much more exciting than I thought it would be.My sleep has peen real good for the most part. I have been out of bed 6 out of 7 days by 6:45 which is a personal best.I go the University of Michigan and due to March Madness and Easter all of my ballroom practices have been cancelled so no ballroom happened this week. But I did go to a Zouk class and made an intentional walk to just explore campus a little more.

Considering that my user name is a Doctor Who reference, and that it is one of my most intense nerdoms (I’ve seen almost every episode of the old doctors 1-8 from 1963 and on, even sat through some horrible animated and audio recovered versions of the “lost” episodes) I was shocked to realize that I’ve somehow never done a full up Doctor Who challenge since I joined in 2013?! I think I subconsciously wasn’t ready to do something so close to my heart and have the chance to screw it up, so a few times I’ve considered it and said to myself “next challenge” or “oh I’ll have to put more thought into that before going forward with it”. Well you know what? It’s time. After a couple of taking-it-easy challenges ramping back up from taking a while off last year for my wedding planning, wedding itself, and honey moon, I’m ready. Last challenge was the most successful I’ve had in a really long time, and I have recently discovered a new love (ballroom dance) and started really diving into it, and am ready to ramp it up to full gear. I’ve got my sonic and I’m ready to travel time and space and get. shit. done. So as still not to dive in too quickly, because I've learned my lesson there, I’ll be ramping up my goals all through the challenge, each week I will face off against a new Doctor Who enemy alongside a different regeneration of the Doctor. By the end of the five weeks (I’m starting this week in zero week!) I’ll be all up to speed in All The Things. Well, not all the things because I’ll still be focusing on dance and lifting (continuing to suppress the Ranger Brain and not add other things in like a nut job) but I’ll be diving in HARD. I’m also going to go back to lifting 3x/week and give up doing barre once a week. I wanted to do it to get posture work in, but I’ll just add in more core-type accessories to my lifting days instead. I miss it too much. So without further ado, I present Raxie’s Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Challenge!

I need something new and shiny to kickstart 2018, so I got myself a brand new battle log! I have a whooole bunch of shinies to chase this year, it's going to be great. My plan is to screw the four week SMART goal framework and chase them on my own terms, i.e. inefficient and haphazard, but with gusto. Everyone keeps telling me you can't do everything at once - to that I say pfffft. Here are things you can expect from this log Handstands Climbing Aerial Pole Flow Acrobatics Flexy things Strengthy things ??? Oh and fooood! Goal thingies 2018 Because what's new year without setting way too ambitious goals? Fitness goals The big theme for the year is to improve my freedom of movement. Upside downness Handstands every day yo! Yup, the whole year. (2/365) Flooow I have a bunch of Marlo Fisken flow videos. I want to master them Scary stuff This is a big one, I'm such a scaredy cat and I've developed a bunch of weird mental hangups this past year Tuck and straddle jump to HS Forearm stand HS to bridge Back walkovers HS forward roll Honestly, pretty much any kind of tumbling Some kinds of pole HS Heel kips Topping out when climbing Stop hurting myself Less fun but oh so necessary. A little more focus on prehab won't hurt me. Other Some other more or less vague goals Climb 3 6cs Become strengthier (better push ups, moar pull ups) Run a little Play on my new toy - an indoor aerial rig Don't take things so seriously Other goals Cook 100 new recipes (0/100) Read 50 books (1/50) Travel somewhere cool To contradict the last goal I also want to increase my savings by €10000 Use my hands more Get a non-movement based hobby I really don't expect to nail many of these goals, but that's not what new year's is about right?

Hooray we have made it to 2018!! I am pretty excited. The last year was a year full of ups and downs for me, but overall it was just horribly busy. Busy in both good ways and bad, but just when I look back at the year it just seems like a whirl wind of emotion and stress. I really lost track of my goals and a bit of the fun-loving, motivated person I have grown into over the past few years. This is the first year in YEARS that I don't already have 100 things planned, I can actually look at my calendar and it isn't CRAMMED full of things every single weekend. I am so beyond excited about this. I want to take this year to breathe - settle back into my habits that kind of got lost along the way, and reclaim myself, my time, and really focus on me. The last challenge was kind of a mental cleanse for me, I abandoned a lot of the side fitness projects I had been trying to do and overwhelming myself with. I really like what I ended up with, while I still want to pursue archery, OCRs, rucking, boxing, and gymnastics... I needed to break it down to the top couple of things to really focus on and I am really glad I did. I am going to continue with that for this challenge, but instead of focusing on the Rangerbrain decluttering portion of it, I am going to focus on really diving deep into those couple of things I have chosen to focus on. Those things are lifting, dancing, and food. The goals are below. Passing is meeting my goals 100% of the time for all 5 weeks. Variances are already worked into each goal so this isn't unreasonable. Fitness Goal 1: Pick Things Up and Put Them Down I did really well with reducing my lifting days to twice a week from three times a week and I'm going to keep on with that. Stronglifts 2x/week Variance: Can shift a workout to the next week and do 3x/week as a make up ONCE this challenge Fitness Goal 2: Dance Dance Dance I completely fell in love with ballroom dancing last year while learning our first dance for my wedding and I want to really focus on it. I did ballet for 15 years when I was younger, and I'm eyeing a ballet studio that I might hit up for adult classes when I work up the courage. If I don't, that's OK, I'll do online barre classes in my room. Either way I need to do stuff to work on my posture. Dance Class 3x/week Barre or ballet 1x/week Variance: Can do a quick 10-minute pilates workout instead of barre ONCE this challenge. Fitness Goal 3: Recovery ROMWOD (Range of Motion Workout of the Day) has done wonders for me, and I picked up with it regularly again last challenge and I want to stick with it. I'm going to try to start doing it in the morning instead of before bed and see how that works for me, since I really miss my morning yoga practice but I don't want to add anything extra to my plate. ROMWOD 5x/week Variance: ROMWOD Warrior (a once a week twice as long WOD) can count as 2 sessions once a week as a make up TWICE this challenge Food Goal: Eat Clean My definition of clean isn't quite paleo or gluten free, but I know it works for me. Last challenge I took it easy and just wanted to not eat like an a-hole through the holidays... which aside from one holiday and pet-loss induced binge session I did really well. I'm ready to drill this down to be more specific. Here are my rules: No added sugar to recipes or beverages Gluten-free-ish. Whole grains are OK (and not like bread, like actual whole grains I can see and pick up, like farro or wheat berries) and this is limited to once a week. No cheese or milk. Dairy is OK in the form of ghee and sometimes butter in cooking. Eat out only once a week Drink alcohol once a week, and only up to three drinks are allowed that night. Try to stick to wine and cider, one of the three drinks can be beer only. Variance on sugar and cheese is allowed once a week (probably will co-align with eating out but it doesn't have to) Life Goal: Laundry & Decluttering I've been so busy my apartment has become my dumping grounds as opposed to my sanctuary. This needs to change. 15 minutes of decluttering per day 5x/week Laundry twice a week and put away clothes within 24 hours of washing them. Variance: Can skip TWO declutter sessions throughout the challenge. Laundry can be done less if it isn't needed.

For the ones that already know me - OHAI! For the ones that don't - Yay, glad you're here! I'm a dabbler in all the shiny assassiny things like circus and pole and climbing. Some say I get easily distracted -SQUIRREL! Oh uhmm... yeah they're probably right. But that won't stop me from DOING ALL THE THINGS (badly). I'll add some more goal type thingies when I feel like it, but for now I want to take off the challenge pressure and just hang out here in this battle log. Hope you're cool with that.