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Many children of the 80s revere "The Lady" as the finest helicopter in existence. I am among them. Fixed wing aircraft must maintain a minimum forward velocity in order for the air to move over the wings fast enough to create sufficient lift to keep them in the air. Should an aircraft slow the to the minimum speed safety devices should warn the pilot they are at "stall speed." If the aircraft dips below stall speed, the wings will no longer generate sufficient lift and the aircraft will fall from the sky. Rotary wing aircraft, however, generate lift by moving their blades in a circular motion at very high RPM. If the tail rotor provides sufficient force to counteract the rotation of the main rotor, the helicopter can hover, appearing motionless in mid-air. Maintaining a hover is considerably difficult, as constant adjustments must be made to allow for the natural air currents around the aircraft. In fitness, when progress stops unintentionally an athlete is said to have stalled. However, when someone stops their progress intentionally, they can call it a "hover" and make it the theme of their challenge. I've been slowly progressing with KettleBells after a complete respawn. I'm writing all this out a week before zeroweek starts, and assuming I'll be at six reps for all exercises on the NF beginner KettleBell workout. My plan is to stay at six reps for at least four weeks beginning with zero week before adding anymore reps. I'm doing this to let my body adapt so I can improve safely and steadily, and also to work on form on the reverse lunges. Those who have followed me in the past know the only thing I hate more than burpees are lunges, and the only thing I hate more than lunges are burpees. I still don't get down to full depth on the reverse lunges, my knees freak out and I stop about halfway down. I'm going to work on getting lower in the lunge. I'll shoot for two to three KB workouts a week. Stretching or going for walks on off days are a bonus. I'll also keep cooking. Those of you who don't know me, be warned. Don't come read this thread if you are hungry.

I spent the last part of last challenge with breathing issues due to Saharan Dust. I didn't get any fitnessing in due to that, but wasn't very consistent for some time before. Since having a child I've let fitness take a back seat. This isn't helpful. I'm going to rebuild, and completely let go of old expectations that held me back. Part of me thinks I should still be as flexible and strong as I was back when I was powerlifting and doing tons of Yoga. I'm not powerlifting anymore, and while I may pick it up again (ha) in the future, it's not on the radar and I'm ok with that. What I do want to stick with is Kettlebells, some flexibility work, and walking. Part of letting go means focusing on consistency of workouts rather than progression or results. To that end I'm going back to the smaller (15 pounds) of the two bells I have (the other is 20) to signify it's better to consistently do "beginner" workouts than to sporadically do more advanced ones. I'm still on the NF Beginner KB workout. I don't care if I move past it or not. What is a priority is consistent workouts. Ideally, a week consists of two or three Kettle Bell workouts, one or two stretching sessions, and one or two walks. That's not hard. That's ok. I don't need hard, I need consistency. I'll also cook and eat intuitively. For those not familiar, it is inadvisable to read my updates if you are hungry. Less this: More this:

I turn 40 on the Thursday of zero week. Accurate or not, that seems to me to be the beginning of middle age. Middle age gets a bad rap in the US, there is the mid-life crisis in popular media, for example. I have decided not to fear the onset of middle age, but to accept it. I have also decided I'm not worried about whether I have a "dad-bod," a big gut, or to focus on my waistline at all. I accept my body as it is. I really don't have too much trouble accepting my appearance, aside from how large my stomach looks when I see it at any other angle than straight on. Having said that, there are some functional aspects of it being as big as it is I don't care for. One is that when I bend over, the excess fat presses on my diaphragm and makes breathing more difficult. I'd like to tie my shoes without holding my breath. The other is clothes. I have a long torso which makes finding clothes difficult. I'm about 6 feet tall, but only have a 30 inch inseam. I have to buy tall shirts so that my shirt tails don't keep slipping out of the front of my pants. Also, the waistline of my pants wants to slip down off my mid-line down under the gut. The problem here is that my torso is so long this often exposes the bottom part of my belly if my shirt isn't tucked in, or even causes the shirt to come un-tucked if it is. Those two problems are my main motivation for having a smaller stomach. One thing I do like about aging is the experience and wisdom I gather along the way. It's fun being able to help people with things I know simply because I've been around longer than them. As I type this out, I realize that "Distinguished" is more about attitude, and how I carry myself, than it is my body size. Aging realisticaly means my body-care is more is more and more important as time goes on. I can feel the wind changing to indicate I'm coming out of my COVID slump. At the end of last challenge I began to feel confidence come back, and determination to stick with movement and nutrition. I'll continue embracing intuitive eating, while cooking as much as possible and relying on restaurant food as little as possible. I'll stick with the NF Beginner KB workout, aiming for 2-3 sessions a week. I'll continue with Bare Minimum™ stretching (30 seconds forward fold and 30 seconds frog-pose) 2-3 times a week, preferably with more stretches than the two required ones. I'll try to get some walks in. Here are some gifs because gifs. In honor of the theme, but only tangentially related to it, all gifs below are from the google image search "Middle Ages Gifs" The search algorithm really seems to like Hieronymus Bosch:

I've not been happy with my weight or my activity level lately. This is not about body image, I can see many positive things about my appearance. This is about function. I have enough extra weight around my waist that it pushes on my diaphragm when I bend over and makes it hard to breathe. I don't like that. I have enough extra weight that makes it harder and more tiring to move. I don't like that. I'm not moving as much as i used to, and it negatively affects mood and energy levels, I don't like that. What I do have is this amazing community, and the knowledge that the only way to lose is to give up. I like that. This article about not giving up is very helpful. Therefore, I'm not giving up. I'd rather do 10% of something than 100% of nothing. Goals: Yoga, Walking, KettleBells, Cooking. Do them. Preferably regularly. Here are some gifs:

I was wondering what to title my challenge and I decided I'm doing the same challenge I've done for quite a while, so I'll just slap a theme over the inital post. I doubt I'll stick with it much past zero week, but here we are. For those unfamiliar, Pucca is a Series from South Korea. Seasons 1-2 are available on Tubi, a free streaming service (with ads, but they are tolerable) and season 3 is on netflix. Season 1-2 Intro: Season 3 End Credits: There are apparently not a lot of Gifs easy to find. Goals: Eating and Cooking: Pucca lives with her Uncles in a Noodle House called Goh-Rong. The uncles use good ingredients and cook with passion for their craft and love for the food and their customers. I often talk about cooking on here, and I do hearby warn thee not to read my thread while Hungry. I also have been working on learning Intuitive Eating for a couple years now. I'll try to cook 5-7 times a week to feed myself and my family. Kettle Bells: Pucca is essentially a One Punch Man type character in that there may not be an upper limit to her strength. Indeed, by the end of season 3 villains are terrified of her. I can get stronger by maintaining consistency with Kettle Bells. Done properly, they let you get in strength and cardio at the same time. Yoga: Many Pucca Charcters are more Martial Artist than Yogi, but Yoga is a goal. I'll do the Yoga program on the NF Journey App. That's it, I'm not gonna overcomplicate things with more goals.

Last challenge I realized I have compassion fatigue and early stage burnout. This is not surprising given my profession (Hospital Chaplain) and the state of the world (pandemic), and the fact that our team of chaplains at my facility was at 50% strength for some time. I have a session during zero week with a counselor to begin addressing the burnout and compassion fatigue, and one chaplain who was out on leave is coming back, and we are getting another chaplain transferring in to bring us up to full strength. I also have a week off from work during week 4 of the challenge. Those will help. Good news from last challenge is that I got my A1C back down out of the pre-diabetic range. What will help along with the counseling and week off is Not Giving Up (a title I also considered for the challenge) on fitness and nutrition. I will stick with walks, KB workouts, and Stretching. I will continue to cook healthy meals and eat intuitively. Also, as I write this, the leaves have finally finished coming off my red oaks and I can already see the buds of new leaves on the tree. We are in the waiting stage of winter (such as it is for South Texas) and The Vernal Equinox will happen right after the end of the challenge. So as the plants wait for spring to bud forth, I wait for the effects of continuing on with fitness and nutrition to become visible. This is a challenge of patience, of healing, and of hope. Always hope. P.S. I tend to write about what I cook in ways that induce hunger, so don't come here if you are hungry, and even if you aren't hungry, it's not a bad ide to have a snack to hand before checking on my thread. You have been warned.

(We're just gonna pretend this came at the end of Terra Prime and not that other episode that came after but did not, in fact, actually happen) I really like Star Trek, and with the new stuff out this year have reignited my love for same. I was wondering what to do for a challenge theme, but this is it. As it has been for a while, I'm really just slapping a Star Trek Patina over the same challenge I did for most of last year. Kettle Bells The NF KB workout has goblet squats, so this works. I'll do the KB workout 2-3 times per week. Yoga Yoga is good. I'll shoot for 2-3 sessions per week. Intuitive Eating Eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. Also, don't read this thread if you are hungry. Trust me. Walking I'll go for walks with the baby when possible.

I crack myself up. Weeeeeeellll ... it’s another year. Which will hopefully be better than the last. Fingers frickin crossed there. Let’s turn to a fresh page, shall we? Let’s start this year off on the right foot with continuing to stay the course on most things, while peppering in a few extras for spice. Goal 1: As always, Nutrition Staying the course on my more recent nutritional guidelines: Smaller portions, less meat, more veggies, nutrient dense food options, no GI issues. Drink enough water. Eat with an eye toward Base MFP goals for slow weight loss: 1,260 calories, 20% protein, 50% carbs, 30% fat but without judgement if I go over or under on calories. Basically, eat what I’m going to eat - but by the fact of tracking, that tends to be more reasonable. I’ll also be continuing onto my third year of daily food photos (to go along with my Picture of the Day), since y’all seem to enjoy that and get something out of it. Goal 2: As always, a Fitness Component Staying my Druidy course of action (shocker) with 4-5 yoga classes per week - hoping to mix in live 3-D classes with my Zoom schedule. Not sure as of writing this how exactly that’ll take shape. Will update later. Also adding my wrist, ankle/quad/glute, and breath work rehab exercises here for accountability. Wrists & breath work are daily, along with trigger point massage; ankle/quad/glute work is every other day. Goal 3: Fulfillment This goal encompasses a bunch of small things I have going on a daily basis already - with a couple tweaks. The secondary digital project is new, but I’m enjoying learning how to create in this space so I think I’ll keep it up. Pup training is back - I think they’re ready to move on from just working on reactivity; we can find another project aside from deep naps. [ - ] Duolingo Arabic classes [ - ] Primary craft project [ - ] Secondary digital project [ - ] Enrichment feeds for the pups [ - ] Training for the pups Goal 4: Do Some Shit That Feels Adulty We have a few things on the fire at the moment, or hope to in the near future, so I will have goals & targets there. More on those as they materialize. Hopefully. I also still want to focus actual (step up from minimal) effort on my blog, so that goal is staying. Picture of the Day has been going strong for 10 years; I’ll be continuing that Weekly recipes are staying I’m hoping to add weekly ingredient spotlights e-Book(s) are happening this year At least a modicum of Pinterest effort is happening Working on yet again revamping my food photography style for this year And aside from that, I need to find something else to work toward so my brain doesn’t mush. Pulling sentences for the last big blog post I wrote was harder than it should have been, and it isn’t a great post, tbh. More on this one when I pick a course of action.

I've put my narrative energy into the Mini Challenge this time around, so here is a place for me to report on daily activities: Goals: Cook and eat intuitively. Do KB workouts. Do mobility stuff or Yoga. Those three things are the core of my fitness plan right now. Here are some gifs because my initial post is simple.

Intuitive eating, KBs, mobility work, walks, and meds are all working right now. Meaning, my BP is controlled, my waistline is slowly going down, my energy levels are up and I'm feeling better. Therefore, the theme of this challenge is: I'm gonna keep at it without letting up or overdoing it. I will also keep my fingernails cleaner than above. Intuitive Eating: I finally feel like I am getting better at not only being aware of my body cues of hunger and fullness, but actually taking appropriate action based off of them. I'll cook as often as I can, and eat out as little as possible. KBs: The NF KB workout is doing well for me. The Goal is 2-3 times a week with this workout. Mobility Work: NF Prime is doing a mobility challenge that started week five of the previous challenge and runs through this one. The goal here is to stay up with the challenge. Walks: Once or Twice a week I'll go on a walk of at least 1 mile with the baby. It would be nice to strap the baby on, but stroller is acceptable. Meds: This one is easy, stick with meds (hasn't been a problem, but I mentioned it above so I'm making it a goal).

An analogy I'm rather fond of is comparing progress or healing to chopping down a tree. Each individual swing of the axe seems to have very little individual effect. However, if one keeps swinging, eventually the tree will go down. It will feel like there is no progress; if one judges the effectiveness of an individual swing by whether or not it brings down the tree there is a huge set up for disappointment. When the three does fall, giving the credit to the final swing dishonors every other swing that came before. Each swing of the axe is equally important, for they all contributed to the fall of the tree. With that said, here's how I will be swinging the axe. Workouts: I'll shoot for three KB workouts a week. It doesn't really matter how many reps or how heavy the bell, what matters is I consistently work out. I'll shoot for three stretch sessions a week. At least 30 seconds each of forward fold and squat are what are needed to get credit. That may not seem like much, but consistency even with those two stretches have positive benefits over time. Nutrition: I'll keep cooking as often as I can. I'll eat out as little as possible. Because of my pre-diabetes warning, I'll have as little added sugar as I can. As a warning, I often describe what I have cooked in ways that make people want to eat, so I advise you to come to this thread well fed.

I'm sick of Covid and Covid accessories. The vitriol has become more tiresome than the virus. I also work as a hospital chaplain, so there we are. My wife is a High School Spanish Teacher, and school will "Start" during this challenge, though at minimum the first three weeks will be online. However, life still happens. I've taken my warning signs of pre-diabetes seriously, and plan to continue with that by cooking at home as much as possible, eating out as little as possible (which includes delivery of prepared food), and having as little sugar as possible. I plan to do Kettlebells following Nerd Fitness' Beginner KB workout, and to do yoga. If the budget allows it, I'll get the bike I was given last challenge set up and buy a helmet and start riding some.

I had a bunch of grand plans as I was thinking about this challenge and the more I wrote about it, the less I wanted to do it. It didn't take long to realize that trying to structure a challenge around doing things I didn't even want to do was a recipe for disaster. So I scrapped everything. I am just going to do what I want. Luckily, what I want to do is what I have been doing already, and it seems to working fine for me. So what do I want to do? 1. Look good - I have been trying to get rid of all the excess fluff I put on while in the first month of quarantine and so far I have been generally successful. I am back down to a weight I am happy with and a body fat percentage that is pretty close to where I would like it to be. I am going to continue my cut and run a small deficit for this month anyway because at the end of this challenge I am going to participate in Sloth's Speedo Challenge by posting a picture of myself in a Speedo (or similar attire because none of my swimsuits fit anymore) 2. Move - I am working on a bunch of various calisthenics skills but I don't want to try and narrow down my program too specifically because I enjoy having the flexibility of doing whatever I feel like doing on a given day. I will probably spend most of my time on front & back levers, HSPUs and planches. 3. Eat - I have been enjoying cooking and the healthy eating that goes along with that. I have now accumulated a good supply of recipes that I will probably be drawing from, but I also want to try out some new things. I considered bringing back Food Bingo, but maybe that will wait for another challenge (unless there is demand for it now). 4. Learn - I have been doing pretty well with Duolino recently, but I think I have been pushing myself a little bit too hard and it is starting to feel like a chore. An hour a day is just too much, so I will probably just stick with one language a day unless I happen to feel like doing more. I will probably also get in some ukulele practice because I enjoy that. Some drawing practice may happen, but I am not going to beat myself up if I don't. 5. Have fun and play games. Mostly this is going to be D&D & Skyrim. I am currently involved in three D&D campaigns and maybe a fourth will start up at some point during this challenge. Skyrim will also happen but after binging on it so much over the last few months, it doesn't hold the same attraction it once did.

How it Should Have Ended is a great series on Youtube. In it, they point out plot holes and places where characters from Nerd Movies act like idiots. Here's an Example: I thought it a fitting theme because I'm at a turning point. Last challenge at the beginning I was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure. At the end I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I can either make changes to prevent diabetes, or I can do nothing and get sick. As a hospital Chaplain in a town with a diabetes problem, I see the results of un-managed diabetes all the time: patients on dialysis because their kidneys got damaged, patients with neuropathy, patients going blind (I don't encounter that as often), patients loosing toes, feet, even legs to un healed wounds, poor circulation, or both (see that all the time). I always told myself if I ever get pre-diabetes I would deal with it before it got to full diabetes, to avoid the complications of full blown type II diabetes. That way the movie of my life doesn't have a diabetes-problems sub-plot. Goals: Kettlebells: Keep swinging them. The goal is 3 times a week do the NF Beginner Kettlebell workout with a 20# bell in the first round and a 15# bell for the next two rounds. Yoga: Stretch 2-3 times a week. Walks: Take them. Nutrition: I'm going to eat as though I have diabetes. The focus is on unrefined carbs, plenty of veggies, some fruit, and good protein. I'm American, I'm gonna get fat in my diet . To get there I'm gonna make baby steps. The Baby step for this challenge is the nutrition goal I had when I came back to NF in 2015: no more than three restaurant meals (in house, take out or delivery all count) a week. Some bonus goals here: Try overnight oats as a breakfast option. If I do frozen breakfast, do carb-free versions. Realize that sugary treats exist, and I'm not saying I'll never have them, just acknowledge they won't help me treat pre-diabetes with nutrition (the intuitive eating book does say if you eliminate foods because of allergy or whatever sugar is to diabetes it's not the same as restricting it for dieting) find convenient healthy snacks, especially for work (I'm going to stop protein drinks and bars for a while because too much protein can be hard on kidneys) Good things I'm already going I want to stick with and or strengthen Keep using Emeals "Healthy 30 minute meals" plan. They have a diabetes plan but it looks boring. Keep focusing on the intuitive eating ideas of listening to hunger and fullness signals (especially fullness signals) and honor both make decisions about what to eat in the grocery store rather than the pantry Those are some good goals for now.

Well, what an interesting place the world is in right now. I used my GL powers to post this thread early, though some of you can only see it when the forums went live. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, this is magic. All that to say the world as it is right now may not be the world as it is when the forums go live, so my apologies if anything is out of date. As some of you may know, I work as a hospital chaplain and volunteer as a police chaplain. That means I'm paying both personal and professional attention to the pandemic. It also means that I will still be going to work and won't be as isolated as many during the time while we try to flatten the curve of infection rates. As I prepared to write my challenge, I knew I would address the virus and the measures to combat it. The alliteration I mentioned from the title refers only to the title. Schools are shut down at least through April 3rd, and may be closed longer than that. My wife is a teacher, and is doing a form of working from home. Fortunately she will get her full salary during the shutdown. We are very blessed as we will both keep getting paid during the uncertainty. As a matter of fact, I'm going to call the virus situation The Uncertainty for the rest of this post. I may or may not remember to keep up with that for the rest of the challenge. Before we focus on the challenge at hand, let's look at lessons learned from the previous one. Kettle Bell Workouts went really well. I stayed consistent with them, and they are working for me. I'll keep going with those. I started Invisalign to straighten my teeth. That means I have trays that I change out each week that work to straighten my teeth. Most teeth have knobs glued to them to give the trays something to grab onto and push or pull. I can only eat with the trays out, and floss and brush before putting the trays back in. That inconvenience, coupled with the fact that the trays need to be on 21 hours a day or more to be effective, means I'm limited in when how often I eat. So far it hasn't been too bad, but as I write I only have one week of experience with them in. Yoga is proving to be a challenge, I made some semblance of doing yoga most days, but it wasn't for very long. Moving forward, here are my goals: Do the Nerd Fitness Beginner Kettlebell workout on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It has you do Halos, Squats, Overhead Press, Swings, Rows, and Reverse Lunges. Doing the prescribed reps for each exercise constitutes 1 round. Two challenges ago the goal was to start, but not go past the first round. Last challenge the goal was to start the second round, but not do more than the second round. This challenge the goal is to do the first two rounds and start the third. If I complete the third round that's fine, but the goal is just to start it. The Uncertainty won't affect this much because I own some Kettlebells. Nutrition: This one is nebulous, both because I'm still getting used to the Invisalign trays and because the grocery stores here haven't fully recovered from panic buying. I'm going to try to cook as much as I can and bring food from home to work. Beyond that, I may have to adapt pretty frequently due to The Uncertainty. Our city just ordered that all restaurants go to carry out or delivery only, so hopefully that will curtail our restaurant activity. Yoga: Twice a week I will do Yoga of some kind. This is where I want to put the focus of habit making. Starting it is easy enough. Now I want to focus on getting some quality and quantity. Walking: As long as it's safe, I'll go for a walk with my daughter strapped to my chest (She's six months old, so strapping her on isn't as weird as it would be in a few years) once a week.