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After years in the wilderness (lifting weights in my local gym), undergoing countless horrifying ordeals (queuing for the one decent bench press, getting annoyed as the awesome gymnastics rings setup is used for crossfit classes), as the outside world burns I have returned to my spiritual home: The Guild of the Assassins. Whilst others may be lamenting their lack of a squat rack, the assassins know that all that one requires is the weight of their own body (plus maybe a pull-up bar and a few other bits of equipment) to maintain and even increase their strength. Solitary confinement is all too easy an excuse to allow laziness to take hold and for personal well-being to be discarded so I call upon my fellow assassins to bear witness to my attempts to not just keep in shape but to improve myself and be reborn in the forge of the fires of this insufferable pestilence. As you may be able to tell from my challenge title, in the intervening years I've also been learning 日本語 so for this returning challenge, my goals shall centre around learning from the Japanese chapter of our illustrious order: 忍者 (ninja). I aim to become more balanced, both physically and mentally, return to testing myself on my beloved gymnastic rings, and take my language studies to the next level. Goal 1: Regain my physical balance. At one time I could happily hold a wall handstand for a minute as was even making some progress with supporting myself away from the wall. Recent attempts however have revealed that 40 seconds upside is a challenge for me. My first goal therefore is to practice handstands every day with the aim of being able to consistently hold a 1 minute wall handstand by the end of the challenge. Goal 2: Regain my mental balance. Like with my handstands, at one time I was achieving great success with maintaining a consistent daily mediation routine but this has slipped in the last year. To regain my composure, my second goal is to spend at least 5 minutes a day meditating using the Calm app. The daily 'Calm' meditations are around 10 minutes so I'll try to do those most of the time but if I get pressed for time (unlikely at the moment) I'll make sure I do at least 5 minutes sitting quietly. Goal 3: Back on the rings. Pretty simple really, just create a new workout to be done 3 times a week using my gymnastic rings. I'll look through various sources including the NF rings course and Overcoming Gravity and put together a new routine. Previously, as I would have to be out of the house to got to work by a specific time each day, my workouts had to be kept to under 30 minutes so that i could do everything I needed in the morning. Now that things are much more time flexible, I want to incorporate and proper warm up, skills section, main workout and then decent cool down/ stretching session. My goal is to create this, then test and modify it over the next few weeks so that I have a sustainable workout to see me through however long we are confined inside our houses. Goal 4: Take my studies further by spending 15 minutes a day reading 日本語 text. Along with my anki flashcards and my (now online) tutorials, if I start reading some Japanese every day, I'm sure this will help both my grammar and vocabulary but also improve my reading speed. I was given a variety of dual language texts for Xmas so it's about time I started working through them. Even if I only manage to get through one sentence a day, as long as I feel like I really have a good understanding of it, then I will be satisfied. I also have some traditional folk tales (including some ghost stories) as well as the 4,500 sentences from Tofugu to work through. Those are my goals then. 1. Daily handstands 2. Daily meditiation 3. Create, refine and implement a new rings-based workout 4. Daily reading

I'm jumping in late with a three week challenge! A lot has happened since I disappeared from the forums in October, so let me explain… At the end of October I went to Wales and England to visit my friends for a month, which was spectacular. What I didn't say in my last challenge was that I was working on obtaining a PhD studentship back at my former uni in England, because life is short and I'd rather be in the UK. Studentship and funding have been obtained, so I'm England-bound at the end of March! And this also happened in England in November: Another reason I can't wait to return! GOALS 1) Track food on MFP 6-7 days/week. I'm still following the autoimmune paleo protocol, though, minus a few reintroductions, so no peanuts! 2) Sleep hygiene: Screen curfew at 8 pm (7:30 pm if I still need to take a shower before bed) Meditate every night before bed 3) Get 50,000+ steps/week LUYL Plan main daily activities (appts, work, lifting, Skypes, etc) for the week on Google calendar, tweaking throughout the week Work at least 15/17.5/20 hrs/week for challenge weeks 2/3/4 respectively (work = applying for visa, uni paperwork, reading papers, online courses, self-guided study, chats with supervisor, etc.) Misc. things to do by end of challenge: Apply for my visa. Read up on and try out the gymnastics rings my boyfriend got me for Christmas. #BestBoyfriendEver Write up an intermediate lifting program, with room for ring work.