Search the Community

The last challenge went well overall and I believe that it's because I really didn't have a specific plan for training. My decision of not taking an in person Karate class made me feel a little lost but I finally started to get back on track after a few weeks passed. I can still get in good training even if I am not in class and I can still learn some new things as long a my mind is open. With that said, this challenge is all about just doing something and going with my gut instead of my mind. I often heard that the gut is the other brain and it seems to be pretty smart and many times smarter than the one in my head. 1 - 30 minute workout for 30 days The Apple watch has had a big impact on my training and the information it contains has kept me moving even when I don't feel like moving. I found that getting it makes me feel guilty if I don't workout and I think getting at least 30 minutes of workout time is a good place to be. I have done it in the past and even had a pr of 75 days in a row but over the last few months those numbers have dropping and it's time to get them back up. 2 - Find time for sleep I have had sleep issues for years and I notice that if I have even 20 minutes more sleep in a day, I feel much better overall. The goal is to get 6 hours and 45 minutes of sleep each week night and one weekend day. 3 - Read 10 minutes a day This part of the past challenges has been going well and I want to continue it going forward. Extra credit: Publish that one elusive blog post. I almost had it in the last challenge and I think I can do it this time around.

Last challenge was lovely but rather wishy washy and I didn't really challenge myself. I got into a pretty good headspace though with plenty of outdoor time and mindful chill time. This challenge however is about getting shit done and taking action on some of the things that have been on my ignored epic quest list for the longest time! ||| Physical ||| I've been using my elbow injury as a poor excuse to not train much lately, even though I could've done plenty enough really. Honestly I've just been enjoying all the down time and feeling recovered since I'm not climbing 4 times a week. But now I'm itching to get back to it properly! Because of my elbow I'll have to go a bit free form, but you can expect to see the usual - climbing, handstands, backbends, rings and pole/floor flow. Deliverable: Do all 22 6 minute floor flow sessions at least once Experiments: Time box one hour for training in the morning, unless I go swimming Gratitude meditation/get psyched before training |||| Creative ||| I used to love to draw but I don't know how to art anymore and I want to relearn. Using baby steps so I don't rage quite because I suck. Deliverable: Complete all anatomy sketch exercises from my workbook Experiment: Doodle on longer public transport trips instead of reading/dicking around on my phone ||| Mental/Eating ||| I talked a little about my somewhat disordered relationship with food at the end of my last challenge. This challenge I'm going to take some first steps to fix it. The steps are all about enjoying food, making it plentiful and avoiding the biggest binge habit trigger, in a very roundabout way in order to not make it feel like I'm restricting. Deliverable: 10 new recipes from my cookbooks Experiments: No grocery shopping straight after work (when poor choices are made) Batch cook on Tuesday/Thursday (remote working days) New challenge wheeeeeee!

Helloooooo! Here is a new game geared towards body weight skills! It is focused on exploration and transition between skills, and complete mastery of your own level (including strength AND flexibility). It is NOT restricted to parallettes players. Floor, blocks, parallettes, high parallel bars or even rings if you feel like it. Everything is fair game! It is NOT video-based. If you want to share your work via a video, please do but you don't have to. You can simply describe what you have done and which level of mastery you have reached. Ok so what's the game? We have 4 families of moves: ~ The bent arms family ~ Anything involving bent arms. Examples: low plank, push-ups, dips, elbow levers, bent arm stand, crow and crow variations ~ The straight arms family ~ Anything involving straight arms. Examples: plank, swings, crane, planche, handstand ~ The compression family ~ Anything where you have to lift or pull your legs towards your upper body to the point where you get serious abs spasms and/or leg twitches. Examples: V-ups, straddle hold, L-sit, V-Sit (variations with bent knees or a single leg lift are acceptable), handstand or bent arm stand with a straddle or pike float ~ The pretzel family ~ Any move involving a bit more flexibility than usual. Example: table top, bridge, splits (or progressions such as lunges), pancake, pike, back and front bends, eight-angle, crow flying splits, grasshopper Every week (or 2 weeks, we will see as we go), we will define a new family ordering. For instance: straight arms → bent arms → pretzel → compression. Each player must find a sequence that fits this order with ONE move per family, that is FOUR DISTINCT moves (i.e. you can't use your flying crow as both a bent arm and a pretzel move). Example: plank → crow → middle splits → straddle hold You can choose whatever move you like as long as it fits the family. The moves I listed above are examples, but don't restrict yourself to those. I would recommend using skills you have already some fluency in because the real unnamed killer of this game will be TRANSITIONS. Make sure moves are connected. It's not a set of moves, it's a FLOW. You will try to complete the following levels: Level 1 (Inspired): execute a 4-move sequence fitting the requested order. Level 2 (Rebel): execute the same sequence of moves but in reverse order. Level 3 (Master): execute the sequence both ways in a single flow (= 7 moves). Strategy advice: when preparing your sequence, have a good think about what it will require for Level 2. Reversing the order can make transitions much harder, especially when you have to work AGAINST gravity (e.g. crow ↔ straddle hold, HS ↔ bridge). When you have reached your max level, you can bonus on it with the troll mode: Troll mode: execute the sequence at your maximum level with a twist of your choice. For instance smiling at all times, or looking miserable, or during a Wim Hof retention, or flexing one foot, or looking obsessively at your left hand, or balancing an object... Pictures or videos of that one would be very much appreciated Scoring: 1pt per level achieved. If you manage the troll mode, you add 1pt to your score. You can troll all the levels if you like but you will only get points for trolling your max level. When you do so, you will basically get as many points as the level above you. For instance, an Inspired Troll will get as many points as a Rebel, which will probably annoy the Rebels and encourage them to troll the Masters. I regret to say that Master Trolls cannot be beaten. Grid: Inspired = 1pt / Inspired Troll = 2pt Rebel = 2pt / Rebel Troll = 3pt Master = 3pt / Master Troll = 4pt You can join/leave at any time. This is a PvP write-up draft so feel free to suggest modifications / ask questions etc. We will be testing the format as we go along. I thought for instance that maybe we could have a squat family to spice things up? The pull family is also missing but since it requires some kind of apparatus (pull-up bar, rings, tree...), we should probably leave it aside. I'm also not sure where to put the headstand and the elbow stand, if you are doing inverted lotus or splits, or a scorpion, that would qualify as a pretzel move I suppose. Elbow stand could also qualify as a bent arm move. It's open to discussion! Anyway, we are starting on Monday! Say hello if you want to join.

If you have followed me for some time, you know the origin of this challenge title. I have decided to reconnect with my wild self and reboot and modify one of my favorite past challenges. Expect lots of wildness and nature. True to My Nature: Wolfen Goes Wild Get Rest: Wind down at sunset (limited/no technology), moderate/light physical activity (yoga, stretches, etc.) In bed no later than 10:30 pm (unless impossible because of work, etc.). Nap in late afternoon if necessary/possible. Get Fit: Barefoot/shirtless walks and stretches in the morning Three options: MovNat inspired workout (see video above) Or: Follow the Primal Blueprint Exercise Plan; below is the simplified version: Monday – Sprint Tuesday – Lift Heavy Things/Bodyweight Exercises Wednesday – Move Slowly, Play or Rest Thursday – HIIT/WOW Friday – Move Slowly, Play or Rest Saturday – Lift Heavy Things/Bodyweight Exercises Sunday – Move Slowly, Play or Rest Or: Get back into Jonathan Mead's Uncaged Body routine 10,000-12,000 steps/day Cold showers daily Meditation/WHM daily Get Spiritual: Morning prayer Daily Scripture reading/devotional Integrate prayer throughout the day Get Fed: Eat as close to Paleo/Primal as possible at least one meal/day. Avoid processed foods. Listen to your body: eat when you're hungry rather than when you "should." Intermittent fasting at least 3 days/week; this must be mindful rather than just "skipping breakfast." No soda for the entire challenge (none, zero, not even a tiny cup). Drink at least 64 ounces of water/day. Get Connected: Kiss wife and daughters every day before leaving for work Call mother daily; visit at least once a week Speak to a stranger at least once/day (irl, not online). Visit with a friend at least once/week (irl, not online). Spend evenings with wife and daughters, unless impossible because of work, etc. Get Smarter: Read everyday for at least 30 minutes Use a brain-training app such as Peak daily. Listen to a podcast at least once/week. Get Some Sun, Sand, and Surf: (No beach trip this year, but I really like the title). Spend at least 30 minutes/day outside. Get at least 15 minutes total/day of direct sunlight. Get near, in, on, or under water every day. At least one hike/week. Get in close contact with the earth: walk barefoot, dig in the dirt, rub against a tree. Again, I'll quote Frank Forencich here: "...get out of the house and into the world. Scratch your back up against a tree and bushwack your way up a hill. Climb some rough rocks and plunge your feet into the creek. Give your eyes a rest and massage your body with the biosphere. Your body will love it."

In my past challenges, I thought that I had good plans in place and simple goals, achievable goals. For some reason, they haven't worked as planned and even though I always start off like gangbusters, around the third or forth week, it seems to fall apart. With that in mind, I am going to throw all the specific plans away and do the plan of no planning. Instead of being detailed and strict with movements and goals, this time is going to be do what I do as long as I do something. My goal of better kicks is still the main focus but it's time to take a different path to get there. 1. Kick every day No specifics here, just do some kicks every day. I can be 1, 10 or 100 kicks with each leg the only requirement is to kick every day. The kick doesn't matter as long as some type of kicks are done. 2. One exercise every day Again, no specific exercises but they have to be related to my hips, glutes, abs or core in general. It can be one or 10 but at least something. 3. Stretch every day A single stretch every day no matter how long it's held, dynamic or static or a full routine, stretching needs to happen. Life goal: Clear my head of what's not needed This is one area where I am struggling and doing something to help me get focused on what I need to focus on and not focusing on what I don't need to focus is becoming more important. Walking, meditation, sitting in seiza for a few minutes or breathing kata could be some of the things to help me get in or out of my head. There may or may not be more to come to the plan of no planning....

[Fun fact: some letters are much easier to make alliterative sentences out of than others. -ed.] Main Quest: Become My Own Hero Motivation: In my last challenge I created an original hero for myself to look up to, but like any good hero he’s evolving as quickly as I am. I need to keep up! I’ve done lots of work over the past year or so to get my fitness stuff “baked in†enough to justify moving it off to my battlelog, so with that as my foundation I’m ready to put a little more effort into my “dump stats†and play around with some fun new ways to push myself, without sacrificing my usual skill-emphasis. Clever Spark: Redux (WIS+2, CHA+2) When we last left our hero, Superpowered Government Agent Drew Zimmer, he was in deep cover with a mysterious religious cult that was harboring strange secrets! What dangers lie in wait for our intrepid investigator? Find out in the next episode of “Nobody’s Heroâ€! Keeping track of word counts when you’re erasing and rewriting walls of text is really, really hard, so rather than tracking words as I progress with my writing project (started during the last challenge), I’m tracking time. This allows for editing, rewriting, adding, subtracting and planning for (maybe even starting on) additional stories about Drew and the strange world of Espers and Espionage that he’s been drawn into. 5 days per week, I will spend 20 minutes (or more!) working on “Nobody’s Heroâ€. Mmm.... spaaaarky.... Electroreception (DEX+2) In addition to his ability to generate electricity, Drew also has an affinity with EM fields that he likens to the way some sharks hunt by sensing the electrical activity in the muscles of their prey. In real life, it’s more like proprioception. Twice per week, I will spend 5 minutes of my regularly scheduled playtime practicing my skills (rope dart and/or breakdance) while wearing a blindfold. Zatoichi style! Phaneron Projection (WIS+3) Some speculate that the source of all esper powers is a more fundamental ability to project one’s own subjective view of reality, their “phaneronâ€, onto the real world thus making the perceived indistinguishable from the actual. Others speculate that this idea is utter nonsense. Even I’m not convinced of the whole “phaneron†thing, honestly, but it never hurts to try. 8 times per work day (not all at once!), I will attempt to do something small, but impossible such as push my hand through a desk or generate a spark gap between my fingers. If it actually works, then I’ll know that I’m dreaming and will hopefully become aware enough to take advantage of the opportunities presented by a full-blown lucid dream! You thought I was losing it for a minute there, didn’t you? It’s okay... you’re probably right. ^^; Doesn’t looks so hard... Electron Flow Control (DEX+1, CHA+2) Just cranking out amps is easy. To really maximize the usefulness of his exotic skill, Drew has had to learn to dynamically regulate the “contour†of any electrical current on the fly, whether he’s producing it or not. I went off on a bit of a rant a while back about my strong belief that “flow†(in the context of movement and performance arts in particular) is a skill in itself that must be learned and practiced independent of the “tech†that one embellishes their flow with. Time to put my proverbial money where my big, fat mouth is. I will practice freestyling (rope dart and/or breakdance) for 2-3 minutes 5 times per week. When I can do that, I will totally be posting videos of it. Stubborn Stick-to-it-ivness (STR+1, STA+1, CON+1) Everybody answers to somebody, even exotically skilled secret agents, and when Drew falls short of his mission requirements he’s given over to the claw-like grasp of the merciless Professor Marion for participation in extra experiments in the Esper Lab. At least she lets him play with the railgun sometimes, so it’s not all bad. My battlelog stuff may be fairly well “baked inâ€, but that doesn’t mean that a little accountability isn’t worthwhile. Once again, my regularly scheduled activities have been rescheduled a bit, so I’m keeping this mission on the list for a third challenge. Full details are in the battlelog, but here’s a rough outline: The following things will be done daily: 5-10 min “Shotgun†Training (hands, neck or calves depending on the day), 5 min Mobility training, 2-5 min handbalance training (working on elbow levers), 15+ min Skills/Movement (dancing, juggling/spinning, etc.), 6 min stretch, 10 min meditation. Also: Strength Training 3x/week and eating raw garlic 3x/week. I reserve the right to completely change anything and/or everything about this schedule at any given time, and to award myself “rest daysâ€, for which no points will be available, given that I have sufficient reason such as illness, injury, holiday, burnout, etc. “Stubborn†isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Bonus Round! For the last two challenges, I’ve managed to participate in all six weeks of the Guild Mini Challenge, which has been a fun, and sometimes educational, bit of bonus work. I want to see how long I can keep my streak going! Let’s get versatile!

Recently I was perusing the web for interesting things regarding BW training, and found this http://www.globalbodyweighttraining.com/the-animal-flow-workout-fitness-video/ It looks pretty cool and I could see it as being a fun way to warm up before a workout or make it into an actual workout on those days where you lack motivation to do traditional sets. I am just wondering it anyone has tried it or something similar, and if so, what your thoughts on it are. Worth looking into or mostly just another scammy gimmick?

Celebrate -Good Times ! It’s my 2 year Nerdiversary. Two years ago I joined the Rebellion, and stared leveling up. During that 2 years I’ve learned how to do push-ups, pull ups, swing press a kettlebell, more squat variations than I knew existed, gymnastic moves like headstands and crows, learned swing dance, and went climbing for the first time ever. Wow, writing that list makes me realize how much stuff I’ve been able to do, thanks to the encouragement of the Rebellion. This place has been great at encouraging me, giving me tips on improving, helping me when I am discouraged, cheering me on, and competing with me. As I celebrate my Nerdiversary, I raise a toast, to all of you who cheered me on. I have been pondering what great things I would do to celebrate my Nerdiversary. I considered trying for a grand feat, like 100 pushups or 3 pull ups. Then I decided I just wanted to take time and enjoy what I have already accomplished. I wanted my Nerdiversary be a time for me to play. I don’t need to make a goal to workout. I already have that habit. This challenge I am going to do whatever work I feel like. I plan on some kettlebells, gymnastic skill work, Hugh’s Jedi Work outhttp://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34210-more-themed-workouts-please/, and when someone posts fun work outs, I am going to try them Having taking forever to say what my goal isn't, perhaps I should now say what my goal is. My Main Quest: To eat healthy Goal 1 I will make bone broth and eat it 5 times a week (healthy and a lovely way to celebrate fall) POINTS; 3 STA Goal 2 Eat at least 100g of protein a day ( so I can continue my leveling up) POINTS 4 STA Goal 3 Eat no bananas ( eat better carbs and more protein instead) POINTS 3 CON Life Quest: No computer until after I work out. If I’m using the computer for working out, that is fine, but no surfing the web. This will help with two things. One, I’m wasting too much time on the computer. Two, one drawback of doing random workouts is my tendency to spend waaay too much time finding the perfect one on the computer. This way, I will have my workouts decided the night before at the latest. POINTS 5 WIS Side Fitness Quest: Try 5 new exercises, flows, or balance skill. No points, just for fun Other stuff: I am going on vacation the first week of vacation. Not taking bone broth with me, so that won't happen the first week. And the protein may or may not. And I'm taking the week off exercising.Guess I'll just celebrate and work on the challenge when I get back.

My main quest may always be to simply move better. 1.) PLP modified: Push ups, shrimp squats, tuck rows 2.) Daily mobility/flexibility work 4 MWODs that are more than just foam rolling each weekFlexibility work for at least 10 minutes each dayAM/PM bridge practiceShort morning mobility routine upon waking3.) Flow: At least 2 structured sequences per week. Can be the same flow each time if desired. 4.) Life = school Keep up with son's homework/project scheduleAt least one messy playtime each week for daughterAllow husband time for his homework, lab work, etc.Keep up with my own Coursera/edX courses Other things I'll do that won't be graded: Eat for performance/healthDrink only water and morning black coffeeMeditate for 5 minutes each dayMaintain training calendarPost on my own and other challenges regularlyHandstands, pistols and L-sits will still be my anchor movementsUndulate training intensity (No, low, medium, high)