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A few weeks ago I started to play The Legend of Zelda - Breath Of the Wild again in Master Mode (i.e. in hard mode). I immediately fell in love again with this wonderful game. (Unfortunately, I lost my motivation to play after my vacation, mostly because it is much easier than expected.) And during the last few weeks while running through the woods I realised that Link is, more or less, my ideal fitness/health model. I want to be able to run, climb, carry stuff, fight, etc. Basically, I want to do be able to everything at least decently. Of course, with my back problems and my other health issues, that won't happen anytime soon. But I want to get a bit away from the training/exercise mindset and a bit more towards performing. In particular, I want to combine my callisthenics workouts (strength/stability) with my running training (endurance). At least, that's what I want to try during this challenge. Maybe I'll like it; maybe it's effective. Moreover, I want to continue a bit in the Thomas Frank mindset of three hobbies: one fitness related one, one entrepreneurial one and one skill-based one. I want to walk more (building up to hiking). Last challenge I tried to walk more often; this time I try to walk longer. I want to draw comics "seriously", but right now I do have neither the mental capacity nor the technical capabilities. So, I'll just try to do it at all. I want to get better at Go (ancient Chinese board game). And because of my recent obsession with Breath of the Wild, the theme of this challenge will be... Hyrule's Champions Link's Quest Working out every day I will split this in two: "Intense" workouts consisting of mostly upper body exercises and running; and "easy" workouts consisting of Yoga. (Well, Yoga is my shorthand for my combined warm-up and cool-down routine. It's more movement and less proper Yoga; but it's more of a Yoga mindset.) The goal is to do one of these each day; aiming for about 4 "intense" workouts per week. I'll track them separately, mostly to see when and how I move. If this works as planned, I'm in good shape for the 5k in June and maybe I can even start bouldering properly now that I can train with a pull-up bar. Daruk's Quest Going on an hour-long walk twice per week This should not only augment the more intense workouts but also serve as a way to clear my mind. Moreover, I want to listen to more podcasts and audiobook and walking is the perfect opportunity. I aim for at least 60 minutes, but I'll probably count 50-minutes walks, too, since I won't always find/walk sufficiently long routes. Urbosa's Quest Eating below 2000 kcal and below 130g of carbs Last challenges I lost about 1.3 kg, which is okay for a five-week period; especially considering I didn't eat as well as I wanted to. I'm in no hurry... So, I'll just continue what I did. Eat less calories and, addtionally, less carbs. (The latter for various reasons: additonal calorie control, concern about gluten, sucess in the past, etc.) 2000 kcal seems to be a nice bound. And with the carbs I want to go a little bit lower as last challenge. Not yet "low-carb" by any means, but an improvement. I aim to eat low-calorie daily, of course, but about 5 times per week is probably good enough. Revali's Quest Study/Play Go daily In order to improve at Go there are many different ways. Unfortunately, none is particularly enticing at this moment. I enjoy everything -- solving problemes, studying games, playing -- but nothing really hooks me at the moment. So, I'll just to do something for at least 15 minutes a day. No stress here, but actually doing it at least five times a week seems like a good goal. Mipha's Quest Drawing something As mentioned above, drawing is important to me, but I'm not good enough at the moment. So, I'll just try to do it at all. Side Quest Reading Finding a reasonable gaming routine Breathing Grip strength Some random things I want to keep in mind... Reading more "real" books... Finding a way to play video games without neglecting the challenge and without feeling guilt... Doing breathing exercises... Working on grip strength (both for pull-ups and for cracking nuts)... ------------------------- I'll plan to geet two rewards if I'm doing well in this challenge: The Breath of the Wild special edition artbook and a nice (expensive) bottle of whisky. Not sure about the exact goals I have to reach for this, but most likely whatever I mentioned above.

So... Last challenge went reasonably well. I need to work out more and focus much more on my diet. Moreover, I need to find a way to spend my free time. Unfortunately, all my hobbies are so interesting!! And I always have a hard time deciding what to do. So, I want to tackle from a particular angle: I'm a big fan of Thomas Frank and his YouTube channel. He mostly talks about how to be a good and successful student. In his podcast, he once talked about how everyone should have three hobbies. One movement-/fitness-related hobby that should go beyond working out for the sake of working out. One entrepreneurial hobby that you took as serious as a second career. And a skill-based hobby. I want to spend the next challenges focussing on three hobbies that fit those categories in order to find out what I really want. I will most likely change in-between challenges depending on my experiences. So... Let's start! ------------------------- Moving Working out Running A new round of physical therapy started today in order to fix -- or at least manage -- my back pains. I hope I get a few pointers on how to work out better and then actually do it. I aim for two times a week of "intense" workouts. But I will try to do yoga or something similar as often as possible. Running helps my back pain and it is fun. And in June there's a 5k at my university and I think about participating. I want to go running twice a week. Dieting Low-Carb or low-calories So... Dieting is not going too well. I'm sitting firmly at 94kg. To be a bit more proactive I do not only want to track my food intake but aim for something. I had great success with going low-carb in the past and, obviously, low-calories is always a good idea. So, I'll try both: I want to stay below 150 grams of carbs or below 2000 kcal on as many days as possible. As both correlate -- at least the way I usually eat -- I expect to achieve both or neither each day. Hobbies Walking Drawing Studying/playing Go Practising the guitar So, my three hobbies. For the fitness-related one, I want to be much more active. But I'll start with walking. Last challenge I managed on average 8955 steps per day and maybe I can get that up to 10000. Moreover, I want to listen more to audiobooks and podcasts. Thus, I want to combine these two and aim for a 20-minute walk each day on which I listen to a podcast. Next, I want to get back into drawing. I don't have a particular goal in mind -- just sketching for now. The mid-/long-term goal is to draw and publish comics. Lastly, I want to play and study Go more again. I'll try to go to the local meet-ups and read a few books. Moreover, I'll add practising the guitar as an extra hobby. First of all, it's close to meditating for me and I can easily do it daily for a couple of minutes. Second, I want to propose to my girlfriend in April with singing a song to her. So, I have to practice. ------------------------- As always, I probably have too many too hard goals. But I'll adapt the challenge.

How many pull-ups can you do in 1 hour? Use whatever strategery you like. Here's some complex rocket-science level math for your noggin to get you motivated. If you do 1 pull-up per minute, that's 60 pull-ups. If you do 2 pull-ups per minute that's 120 pull-ups! Think you can do 1 every 15 seconds? That's a whopping 240 pull-ups! Beastly. Just bust 'em out, however many reps you want and however many sets you want. Anyways, hop to it. Post your results and I'll make a leaderboard spreadsheet 1 week from now. Clock's 'a tickin'. Oh and if you try the challenge again later and post your new and improved results, make sure you put somewhere in your post "2nd Attempt", "3rd Attempt" and so on. Deadline: Friday 11:59 PM (May 19)