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Well what do you know?? I actually am ALIVE!!!! It's been a few months since I've spent a goodly amount of time here and rightly so, I've also not been spending a goodly amount of time and energy of my health and wellness. Let's just call it my summertime hibernation Now that that's over, time for me to get my rear back moving and get this body into shape that doesn't involve keeping it in an awkward state. On that note, let's point to what I'm going to use as a focus, a show I haven't fully watched yet: Stargate SG-1 I had seen a couple of seasons and a little of Stargate Universe but the one I didn't touch enough of was Stargate Atlantis and at this point I've now powered through the first season. So, what better source of motivation to get my journeys going again?! Step One: Learning to Power the Gate When they left Earth for Atlantis, the expedition team needed the power of a ZPM (Zero Point Module) to have enough energy to get them from our galaxy to the Pegasus Galaxy. So the way I need to properly prepare for the adventures is to make sure I'm properly powered. Which means I need to very much lessen the amount of junk I'm putting into my body. While macros would probably be best, I'm going to start with something simplier, two meals per week that are cooked from scratch. Now, making food just for myself is sometimes very hard because you don't want to make too much so this might involve a lot of crock pot recipes that will then just turn into the same meal for dinner a couple of times in a row (but if it's cheaper and better for me so be it). Two Meals per week goal. Step Two: Being Combat Ready If I'm going to step out there into the big bad universe, I need to be ready for anything (that we know of). So what I need to do is get down and work on this form, get it to something more like a healthy, functional human being. So the plan is to get 30 minutes in total on days that I work out. Goal is three days per week but more are perfectly acceptable. I'm thinking variations on walking (possibly using the Zombie Run app), squats and lower body workouts, pushups and upper body work. Step Three: Staying Sane Simple goal here, a tired mind is a flawed mind and mistakes can and will be made. So what I need to do, for the sake of my sanity and some consistency, is to make sure that I start following guidelines for getting quality sleep. Now days off work I'm not too concerned with but the workdays are critical. So, typically I will wake up starting at 7 AM for early morning shifts and 8:30 for late morning shifts. The goal here is simple: seven hours of sleep on work nights. With five days of work each week, that means I will be in bed resting by midnight on early days and 1:30 on later days. That is my step in the right direction, to get me back on this path to where I need to be. Let's get this adventure ready!!!

Why So Serious Calibre?!? Why??? Because I need to be, because I have to be, because I want to be!!! Last challenge saw me having a good time at my convention, having a little depression afterwards.... then I just ghosted!! Lack of focus, lack of drive, lack of motivation. OK, OK, you're judging me, I get it Joker!!!! So what needs to happens is that I need to focus on myself. Really, truly focus on myself. No really, I'm serious!! Don't burn all my stuff!!! Now, what do I mean by focusing on myself?? I have to set some very realistic goals. I have never been the best at any kind of physical fitness so I really need to start by doing things by inches instead of leaps. I'm not moving as well as I used to so that needs to improve, especially if I want to live the next 40 years even half as well as the last 40. I can move well enough with work during the day but at night I need to keep moving. Goal is for 30 minutes of some kind of activity nightly: walking, weights, yoga, anything that will keep my blood pumping. I've had the new car just over a month and I've eaten out more than I have since getting my new start. Goal is preparing and eating a real meal for dinner 5 of 7 days per week. I need to get myself organized and orderly, in every conceivable aspect. Goal is to reorganize all my space, physical, emotional, mental. Mostly physical though (since I can actually measure that). Let's get this crazy ride going!!!!

Avengers Assemble!!! Last challenge there was some misguided intentions.... but then a glimmer of hope and a new direction. So, what I need to do is take hold of this glimmer and run with it. And so I shall!!! With a little help and some charting and graphing, things shall be better. And it so greatly helps that I now have more freedom than I have had in almost a half decade!!! So now, time to call on my support system (goals)!!! War Machine War Machine is donned by Lt. Colonel James Rhoads, friend of Tony Stark. War Machine was originally one of the early Iron Man designs but was beefed up with enough armaments to level a small country. Last time I started with one very vague plan but then someone gave me the inspiration to try one of the Darebee workouts and it was going very well. So, what I NEED to do is beef up this workout program. What I will do is reset that workout and add onto it. Yes, it might sound like I'm going to possibly overdue it but I am confident that I will be able to grab onto it and run with it So, I'm going to reset the Foundation workout (hopefully to push myself into Level 2 on some of those workouts) and I'm going to add the Total Abs 30 Days of HIIT Darebee workout (after trying one day of it last week I feel that the Total Abs workout isn't going to go well because I didn't feel like I had good form... and that's just day one!!). So, here's the preview of the new workout: The plan: Do both workouts Daily, DOMS be damned!! (1 pt/each per day) Falcon Falcon, friend to Captain America (and no, I didn't purposely put both War Machine and Falcon back to back for the sake of Civil War..... or did I?!? ), was a paratrooper, using the Falcon Exo-skeleton for combat missions, until his partner had been killed in action. Sometimes, when tragedy strikes, you refocus your energy onto other activities (he decided to support others with PTSD). What I need to do is also refocus my energies again when it comes to my food choices. My new direction on food needs to be this: Firstly, I'll get back to tracking my food to visually see what I'm eating. Secondly, I'm going to give myself extra credit for not eating garbage (garbage being defined as fast food, including take out, and excessive amounts of snacks). The plan: Track food consuption (1 pt/day) and good food choices (1 pt/day) Ant Man Scott Lang was a 'thief' that was given an opportunity to help himself, his family, and Hank & Hope Pym. Donning the Ant Man suit, he is able to shrink down in size, still retain his strength, and be able in interact with ants, having them help him. I like this picture of Ant Man for two reasons: it's the first time he uses the suit and it looks like he's giving the thumbs up The other portion of this scene is him dealing with the power for the first time, which involves him running like hell from water. A great place to restart my need to drink more water in my life. While it's not the amount suggested for daily consumption, my goal is to get in 48 ounces of water daily. I clearly do not drink enough water daily and it needs to change. The plan: 48 ounces of water daily (1 pt/daily) The Vision The Vision is J.A.R.V.I.S (the computer system of Tony Stark's) uploaded into a body originally intended to be the final form for the automaton Ultron. With the Mind Stone embedded into him, he has a sense of humanity's chaos but also a compassion for humans. The Vision, to me, seems to be the wise despite everything the world has in it. So what I need to do is get back to really committing to the community and staying there with my comrades in arms. I remember back in the day that I will support the newest Rebels and keep up fully with my Assassins and other Rebels. I need to wade back into the water of that commitment to my fellow men and women! So what I will do for this is interact with no less than 4 of my fellow Rebels DAILY!!! And Likes don't count, I have to put something down in words. The plan: 4 interactions daily with my fellow people (one-quarter pt/daily) Time to get classy and in shape!!!

HELLOOOOOOOOO NERD FITNESS You are welcome here tonight to witness the second bout between these two fighters.... in the Red corner weighing in at 122kg we have Good Rich, he is brimming with confidence and a sense of achievement in the first bout. In the Blue Corner we have Bad Lazy Rich who wants to weigh a lot more, he is still a bit on the ropes after the firs fight but he knows his opponent has the additional stress of buying a house and moving during this challenge Lets see what challenges these two fighters will be competing on............ Tops Gun(s) Chest, right I finished the first challenge and in a classic RPG fashion the boss is beaten and it is time to loot the Chest. I look at my chest and it needs vast improvement, so do my biceps. So this goal will be to complete 2* 60 min Chest and Bicep workout plans each week I have a 6 week lifting goal for reps for each exercise and will be supplementing this with creatine. Simple maths on this one its STR +2 CHA+2 A = 12 plans B = 10 plans C = 8 plans D = 6 plans E = 4 plans The Dark Knight Rises (and falls and rises *repeat*) So the other thing I am not a fan of is Abs workouts, the planking from last challenge is still part of my plan and I have gotten used to it, one thing I am bad at is sit ups. So one of the guys I train with has forced me to start super sets of an exercise then 15 sit-ups on a decline bench this means I total out at over 150 sit-ups a session, this is mad I know but I have suggested doing it Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I know i will never have a six pack until i deal with my food issues but my core lifting is the target here. A very very mad Goal I know! but my abs need work STA+2 STR +1 DEX+1 A = 18 sessions B = 15 sessions C = 12 sessions D = 9 sessions E = 6 sessions Sophie's Choice I am having a serious issue with my food intake and the management of what I eat, add to this the stress of mortgages and moving over the next 6 weeks I am going to struggle. My goal here is to make the best of a bad situation (I need to credit DeathorGlory for the idea) Each food choice I make in a given situation will have either a positive or a negative outcome, If i am stuck in a situation I am going to choose the mostly healthy option I can I will track my progress with my fitness pal. 2+CON 1+CHA 1+WIS Basically I am going to go by the number of weeks where my diet was focused on the positive choices in a given situation. A = 6 weeks B = 5 weeks C = 4 weeks D = 3 weeks E = 2 weeks Look Who's Talking This is a suggestion from DeathorGlory again as she knows me pretty well, I tend to bury things and go off radar quiet a bit when the pressure mounts, I tend to go to ground and appear a few days later having done a lot of work. This hiding and lack of talking/venting/ communication makes me more stressed, the idea of this goal is to drive me to communicate while i move house rather than do nothing and let the stress build up and impact my other goals. In order to combat this I will spend a minimum of 2*30 mins talking to someone. I seems like a poor goal but it will work for me very well I am only giving this 2+ WIS 1+CHA A = 6 weeks B = 5 weeks C = 4 weeks D = 3 weeks E = 2 weeks Please tune in three times a week to see how our fighters progress through the next six weeks of challenges, sweat, gym sessions personal endurance and will power. Rich