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FRIGEDÆG, AUGUST 03, 2018 | JUST STARTING OUT ODYNNE'S INFO: Former: MMA fighter, lifter, owner of a healthy confidence and a sick 2-pack Current: tired, out-of-shape, overweight, bored, and frustrated normie... but in the process of getting back on track Near future: getting healthier, getting more confident Far(ther) future: getting healthier and more confident than I've ever been PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 0.5%

I just got back from my shift as a bouncer at a local club last night/this morning (2000-0330 GMT. This shift caused a significant disruption to this month's challenge but I'll post about that in my challenge thread for people to shame my weakness after I've slept) and I got into a bit of an altercation without any backup due to circumstances and it looked pretty dire. Luckily things were resolved relatively easily. But this got me musing about fighting multiple attackers. When I say fight I mean specifically street fighting, which will generally be in self-defense unless you're either a sexy Brad Pitt who makes explosive soap. The following are my thoughts; I can't speak for their originality but I think I make some sound conclusions and I'd like to hear the thoughts of people with a wide range of different disciplines and experiences. Just a note I'll be using two dichotomous shorthand terms: being "hot" (which is where you're in a high stress/adrenaline situation where your training becomes of limited use due to either panic, freezing up, uncertainty or just the sheer pumping of the adrenal gland) and being "cold" (the total opposite. In a controlled environment which you will have certainly had time to prepare for. This is where your training is useful in a conflict situation.). So fighting two people is like fighting anyone on the street: you should think about the worst thing that could reasonably happen and you should act based on that. This logic works well for me because it reminds me to remember that people get their heads stamped on and get paralysed in street fights or even just hit their head too hard crashing to the ground and get disabled. In street fighting, as people interested in the sociology of violence might be interested in, adding an informal group element to violence tends to lead to an equally informal "cumulative radicalisation" element where people act more violently than they would have done in the same situation independently. This is how we get people getting attacked and kicked to death by gangs of "hooligans" like you see in the papers (this might be a very British joke, sorry). The basic point I'm trying to here is one we should all know about street fighting and especially attempting to fighting multiple people: don't do it you numpty. No matter how good you are it's something you can only do with luck and it's better to not be in that situation. That said there are occasions where you might not be able to escape a violent attack from a group of two or more, in which case you should think about whether you want to risk getting kicked to death and fight as if your life depends on it (because it realistically might). There is therefore some relevance in thinking about the plausibility and method involved with fighting two or more attackers. Also on a website called NerdFitness I can't be the only person who fantasised about being a badass secret agent or ancient warrior capable of dispatching many opponents. So it seems to me that the old adage of "the best defense is a good offense" applies here, because if you rely on counters you run the risk of two attackers attacking at once in a combination of ways you're both not prepared for and wouldn't be able to even if you were because you were "hot". By this logic the aim is to stop your attackers attacking you in the quickest way possible and avoid being attacked at the same time. For that reason I think the best approach is to use strikes rather than grappling and locks because these latter two things require too much focus on a single opponent while you run the risk of getting walloped in the back of the head. I also think throwing would take slightly longer and even only being fractionally is not insignificant in such a fast paced event. However, even with this, if you want to win a fight against multiple people with strikes you have to put them down hard and fast. This is because you can only fight them one at a time whereas they can gang up on you. This leaves you with time for one, or two strikes on them if you're fast, to put the first person down to engage with the second. So you're basically relying on perfect power, speed and precision. Not only do you need to be able to land a better hit than Led Zeppelin IV (one for the oldies) but you also need to be able to do this while you're "hot". If you can do this you're Bruce Lee meets Hannibal Lectern or just a real life super hero. But we can make the situation a little less impossible through two ways. The first is by controlling your distance between yourself and the two attackers; by being significantly closer to one than the other you have more time to engage with the first opponent and put him down. The second is through the use of positioning, where you will place attacker B inbetween yourself and attacker B, preventing an immediate attack. Both of these things can be accomplished by controlling footwork and moving yourself around the attackers with clever and fast footwork. This, however relies on you having the time to make those crucial spatial alterations as well as the clearheadedness while "hot" to manouvre in that way. It doesn't seem theoretically impossible but it does seem extremely difficult and down to chance again. In terms of changing the distance between yourself and your opponents this can also be done by pushing one attacker further away from yourself, giving you time to close in on the other opponent and engage. I would personally use a teep for this, which is a fast and effective Thai variation of a pushkick, although most martial arts have a push kick or at least attack in some form. Another Thai move I could use is a clinch, in order to maneuver one attacker between myself and another attacker; again this is only what I would use as a Thai boxer, most martial arts will have a way to gain leverage over an opponent and move them in a desired way. There's no real point to any of this. I was just thinking about the plausibility of making the odds more favourable in a fight against more than one people. If none of this makes sense I'm sorry I've had a smoke of a "funny cigarette" since work to help me sleep. If it does make sense I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts. Nak out

Last month didn't go so well, I let timer get away from me and ended up doing very little to further my goals. Near the end of last challenge I decided to treat my challenge like a 12 round fight, me versus my shadow. Last round went to my shadow, but it was just a warm up. Time to embrace my inner Rocky and turn this fight around. I'm prepping to move, even though I'm not sure when, so my heavy bag has been taken down and my gym membership is canceled. Train Like Thor Time to train like Rocky in Russia. I'm going to do a strength training workout 4-6 days a week. Most of it will be bodyweight work. Depending on the weather (they're calling for more snow and ice this week) I will try to get outside and use my jump rope and do some sand bag work. Eat like an Einherjar Last challenge I did well maybe 70% of the time on my nutrition. This challenge I am aiming to up that to 90-95% of the time. I won't eat anything I haven't prepared at least 6/7 times a week and will choose the healthiest option the times I deviate from preparing my own food. Knowledge of Mimir Some of the Doodlies are working on the Khan academy course "Crash Course: World History" I will continue with this course but as it is short and covers a lot of history in small videos I will spend at least an hour a day either on this course, checking out other courses, or reading books/articles that in some way improve my knowledge Monday through Friday, on weekends I will either strive to learn more knowledge or I will try to learn/re-learn physical skills that I have let grow rusty as I got caught up in life.

Hey everyone, My names Mike Caulo, pumped to be apart of the Rebellion... So I am 28 years old, a Health and Fitness business owner and Amateur Martial Artist looking to get back to fighting in 2016. I took 2015 off after struggling through 2013-2014 with 8 herniated discs that are fight related. I originally started seriously competing in Martial Arts when I was 12 years old in TKD but after a few years of competition and realizing the future as a martial artists as a sustainable career wasn't realistic I turned to athletics and school. As an athlete i have never been anything special but when I have a passion I will busy my A$$. I have always been chubby and overweight as a kid and teen, however when I turned 16 years old I was cut from my varsity baseball team and decided enough was enough. That year I went from 230lbs at around 25% body fat and 5'11'' to 155lbs 18% body fat. I ate relatively clean with a caloric intake of 2500 calories, ran everyday and lifted. I realized very quickly however I wasn't doing the right combination of habits to reach my goals or being strong, lean and athletic. Fast forward a couple years I am 19 years old about 180 lbs 16% and was going to Stony Brook Unviersity for Athletic Training. I discovered a local bjj club off campus and immediately fell in love with martial arts again. After a year or so of dedicated training I decided that I wanted to be a pro fighter and with the support of my coaches and teammates I packed up everything, left college in my junior year and moved to Las Vegas. I spent about a year out there and trained with some of the best in the world at Xtreme Coutures, Drysdale JJ, Mark Beecher Muay Thai and Gil Martinez Boxing Club. While out in Vegas I also started blogging about my life of a fighter and BOOM I indirectly started my company The Life of a Fighter Ltd, which is now a health and fitness website. Anyways I really started getting the ball rolling in the fight world, I got picked up by Prilosec OTC as a sponsor, moved back to NY and started taking fights. I know you maybe asking why did I leave Vegas, but for me as great as the training was the lifestyle outside the gym just wasn't cutting it for me. Most people living in Vegas don't really take care of themselves... plus I am an italian home body that missed my family and friends. Honestly I also saw that even though Vegas was great we had just as good if not better training in NY. So with more connections back home, more support and a little more of a financial stable situation I came back and worked the amateur circuit. From 2010 to 2014 I had 4 sanctioned MMA fights 2-2 and 2 sanctioned muay thai fights 2-0 with some boxing and kickboxing smokers mixed in, a few grappling superfits and about a dozen or so grappling tournaments. So I was competing, growing and staying busy. Throughout it all I was taking a lot of abuse from the constant training and competing. Eventually found out I had 8 herntiations and with a focus in 2015 of rehab and treatment have gotten that down to 2 herniations. That brings us to current day, I am a full time student finishing my bachelors degree from Stony Brook in Bio, Soc and Bus since i cam not fighting currently, plus running my business and working with a hand full of clients because I just love working with dedicated people. I am always looking to join great health communities for motivation, sharing knowledge and nerding out. If there is any fellow martial artists out there, hit me up and if you can recommend a good forum thread, I'd appreciate it.

Since I was a kid, I always looked up to the superheroes out there, especially Spiderman, because he is the friendly boy next door you really can compare yourself with, he struggles with daily problems, girls, is short on money and the bad guys of course, but still, he never loses his courage, his hopes and tries always to be friendly. But what do you need to "become" Spiderman? I know, it's gonna be hard to find a radioactive spider and let it bite you...and survive...and become superpowers, but there are some things you can do without your gene's be manipulated to become this friendly neighborhood Spiderman, and that's what I'm gonna try the next 6 weeks! Let's see, Spiderman is a pretty good wall climber, so I need to climb! I already climb, but now when it's getting warmer outside I can start again to climb on rocks and mountains. (STR+1) He is strong and his body looks better than mine, so I have to put on some muscles on my body and loose some fat with a different kind of workouts. I prefer to do bodyweightworkouts, pull ups, spiderman push ups, etc. (STR+2,CHA+1) He is fast and persistent, that's where I'll do some running and biking. (STA+2) He can fight, protect the ones he loves and kick the bad guys asses, that's something I definitely need to learn and this is why I'm joining krav maga classes. (CON+2,WIS+1) He is super flexible and acrobatic. I need to do stretches and get more flexible, Spidey also can do flips and stuff, but for the start, I try my luck with handstands. (DEX+3) And beneath that strength and superheropowers, he is still a pretty smart guy. I wanna go to italy this summer for my holidays and can't speak italian, that's why I want to learn this language, enough to order some stuff, ask directions and the usual small talk. (WIS+2,CHA+1) and let's face it, you can't be strong, have superhuman reflexes, superhuman agility and be a smartass without watching your eating or sleeping habits. Or like someone once said: "Workout, plenty of rest. you know eat your green vegetables!" That's why I'm watching what I eat and try to get enough sleep. Sidequest: Peter Parker is also a photographer and I like to take photographs too, but didn't do it very often, I want to take my camera, go out and shoot some pictures! Oh, and I forgot the mention, Spiderman isn't invulnerable and that's something we already have in common. I hurt my right hand last friday and hope I can start soon with workouts and handstand practicing, but till then, I have to rest my hand and concentrate my power for the beginning on my other goals, like stretching and learning. Progress spreadsheet

"One fight. One more step on the path to becoming a true warrior!" Although this may be a my second challenge I have a long way to go, but with my past experience(and failures) I am ready to pick myself up and walk onward. I will be basing my challenge around Street Fighter, as I find it to be a great example of personal success and failure. I plan on making at least 3 updates a week if I can(Monday,Wednesday and Friday) with some smaller ones put in between. To those interested the rest of my challenge should give at least some insight into who I am when it comes to this challenge. - Main Quest! - "Sometimes the most important battle, is the battle within..." Ryu, Street Fighter Alpha 3 My main quest is simply a complete re-working of what I feel I currently am. I want to start off my explaining that when I was born I suffered a stroke, this hindered my left sides ability to develop and grow. Now because of this I am currently unemployed due to my inability to deal the pain this causes me.That well..sucks, the main source of pain is my back and left leg. The left side being smaller means I have a considerable limp which throws out my back and hips, it also does not help that my left calf muscles are under-developed causing my left foot to curl inwards furthering my issues. Sadly there is nothing the doctors can do for my problems other than orthotics that help correct the difference in size(which I have, but it doesn't fix the problem completely) and of course pain killers. The idea of however of working and using a load of pills sounds like a terrible way to live.(Recently quit my job because of it exactly.) Due to my wonderful mother I am given the opportunity to live for free for while I get all of this stuff sorted out. My plan is to lose the weight I have tacked on over the years as well as strengthen my body to help deal with pain before running my life on painkillers. I am broad guy so I would like to go from the 249 lbs I am to around 190 - 210 lbs. - The Challenges! - Walk 336 168 km! "Shoes? No, I can certainly afford them. I go barefoot for comfort." Ryu, Street Fighter IV The 1st of the four challenges is a walking challenge based partly on Steves Walking article. I plan on walking the recommended 8 km every second day! After all one of the hardest part about work is being on my feet all day, so what better way to get my legs stronger in a safe way than to do what we are designed to do..Walk! I figure this is a good jump since my last challenge of getting comfortable with 2Km. Grading: A: 168 - 150 B: 149 - 132 C: 131 - 124 Failure Anything Below 124. Eat Primal! "Your Flavor lacks punch!" El Fuerte, Street Fighter IV The 2nd challenge is my diet related challenge. I plan on trying to eat as primal as I can with a few personal expections until I get more accustomed to the primal life style. My last 6W had me to forgo anything other then water. Since then I have been very steady at keeping that a habit. I have only been partaking in an occasional drink other then water, most commonly in the form of milk. So for my dietary change I will allow myself milk on occasional as well with small amounts of cheese. Grading: A: 6 to 12 Meals missed B: 13 to 24 Meals missed C: 25 to 29 Meals missed Failure for anything above 29. Use that playground! "I'm ready for ya. Bring it on!" Ken Masters, Street Fighter IV My 3rd Challenge is my workout challenge. I plan on doing a combo variant of the Playground workout and the Spiderman workout.I don't have a lot of room where I live, but there is a schoolyard close enough for me to use whenever I need it. So I figured why not use that to my advantage and base my workout routine around it, not to mention its outside ^.^. I also plan on doing some form of a body weight circuit the days I am not able to make it to the playground that way I am less likely to miss sessions. The amount I plan on doing per week will be 3 - 4 days a week, I figured I better start out small given how out of shape I am and that the walking one alone will take effort. Grading: A: No work outs missed per week B: 1 work out missed per week C: 2 work outs missed per week Failure for anything more than 2 missed per week Wake Up! "Makin' me sleepy." Cody, Street Fighter IV My life challenge is related to routine. To anyone who plays fighting games outside of the casual route, you know that execution is an very important part of your game. I feel that this is the same with life outside the game as well. To me it takes it shape in the form of personal routines. Since I am unemployed I have found myself to have let that side of myself go. I feel that this is a poison in the veins of my progress, when I don't have a clear routine set up I find it can be hard to motivate myself to get up and go. Well no more, I want to start waking up everyone morning and when I wake up get ready for my right away no more laying around in my jammies. For this challenge I plan on getting up atleast 5 days a week and when I do, I want to actually get up and get moving. Grading: A:Woke up my solid 5 days a week. B:Woke up 3 - 4 days a week C:Woke up 2 - 3 days a week Failure for anything less than 2 days per week I plan on alternating between walking and my playground workout everyday. I found out that I might of be expecting to much of myself this early. Stats: Waist: 45" Hips: 47" Thigh - Right: 30" Left: 26" Arm - Right: 17" Left: 14" Stomach: 47.5" Height: 5' 8.5" Weight: 250 lbs