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* coffee = I am a java programmer, reference to my life goal bender = this challenge will mostly be about flexibility Fit Intro: As a kid, I sucked at everything sport related and was known at my school for failing almost every time on P.E. The last couple of years I have discovered that I actually do love to push my body, but that I'm not a fan of team sports. I love dancing, yoga and strength training(free weights and body weight). My most recent victory was the 5k race that I ran in May and I hope to get a <30 min time on that soon. Nerd Life Intro: I recently graduated as a Java Developer, but still taking on extra courses like Android. Programming is computers + puzzles and therefor awesome. I love reading fantasy and scifi and playing RPG's like WoW and Divinity (it's Belgian!). Civ V is another favorite (and The Sims, but sssh). My gaming skills are not nearly what I want them to be but I enjoy myself. I also love drawing, painting (both mostly nudes) and spending way too much time on Tumblr. Main quest: I want to become the most flexible developer ever. Gymnasts are crazy impressive. Missions: Be able to perform the splits on both sides and really improve my wheel pose. Practice every day. Points of completion will be given based on improvement(I will take pictures every week) and if I have practiced enough count: 1 point for DEX for improvement of wheel pose, 1 for STA for training every day, same for splits (4 total) Be able to do a handstand Practice every other day. Right now I can hold a headstand without support for 10 seconds but no handstand, not even against a wall. I actually think this is more a mental problem than not having enough strength. count: 2 for STA, 1 for WIS Run 5k in under 30 minutes Run 3 times/week with Zombies, Run! app. Not flexibility related, but I really want this too. My current time is 35:27. count: 2 points for DEX based on improved speed, 2 points for STA based on consistent trainingImportant note for week 1: The first week of the challenge I will be on a trip in Berlin and the idea is to make it cardio week: swimming in the hotel pool every day, lots of walking and at night dancing. I will also spend some time in the sauna, to train myself if an assassin mission would ever take me to the desert Life quest: Get a job and move out First job, then move out, so this mostly means applying for a lot of jobs, creating stuff to add to my resume and improving my skills count: 3 for CHA, 2 for looking for jobs, 1 if I actually get one Side quest: (apparently split related) Go climbing or bouldering with my friend C. We have been talking about this for over a year, but he messed up his shoulder in February. Last week he said he would probably be ready for it this month, so here we go. count: 1 point for STA Motivation: I want to be amazed by what my body is capable of, what I am capable of. I want to proof that I am not lazy and that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. This will be a serious challenge of persistence but I like challenges! Why be less when you can be more?

I've decided, like many others it seems, to take a short reprieve from the challenge format. Either I haven't been doing a good job of selecting SMART goals in the challenges or I just haven't been doing a good job motivating myself to care enough, so we're going to play it loosey goosey and try a daily diary format for a while. This is my free-for-all, spaghetti on the wall diary. Watch for falling rambles. I intend on faithfully reporting my daily workouts and food intake with a sprinkle of my general musings on health. I'm also starting a serious cut with a somewhat high deficit because attempting to do a low deficit, gradual cut has given me six weeks of absolutely nothing, despite a number of tweaks. So we're gonna go hard or go home with a focus on hitting protein requirements, eating a fuckton of vegetables, and keeping a sharp deficit most days of the week. Measurements will be reported here as well. Luckily, it's super easy to eat a ton of vegetables when you get to pick up a box of beauties like these every week: <3 vegetables I'm also unsure of what I want my focus to be these days, so maybe a battle log will help me refine my thoughts and allow me to play around with things like running, climbing, and hiking while also finding balance with my lifting and gymnastics goals. It's hard to be interested in so many things and not very good at any of themmm. Starting Stats Height: 5'6" Weight: 150.8 lb Neck: 13.5" Waist (natural): 28.5" Waist (at belly button): 33" Hips: 37.5" Right thigh: 23.35" Right calf: 15" All of these measurements are up significantly from my very first measurements last September. I'd love to get my waist down to my Sept 1, 2013 measurements by Sept 1, 2014, but we'll see how feasible that is. Other Sites/Logs Fitocracy - https://www.fitocracy.com/profile/julipher/ Myfitnesspal - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/raptronx Instagram - http://instagram.com/jujiboos

So last challenge, I worked on pull-ups, core strength, and finally achieved a 10-second handstand... and also created a compilation video of all my handstand progress in the last 5 months: I intended to work on Spanish, but failed thereI intended to sleep early most days, but only half-completed that.I intended to be more fearless, but that was a bit too vague. So what next? Challenge #1: new movements! I've found that recently I've been focusing on an increasingly narrower set of skills and exercises... to to change this, I'm going to get my body to do something new nearly every day These will be things like:try movement X on my left-hand sideattempt a new gymnastics skillattempt a gymnastics skill a completely different wayuse a new exercise in my strength work-outI'll be listing below here the things I try. To make things practical, the days are flexible +/- 1 day... grade A: 37 days (+2 DEX, +2 WIS) grade B: 34 days grade C: 28 days grade D: 19 days Jul 28 - clapping pull-ups Jul 29 / arch hold Jul 30 / power cleans Jul 31 - assisted 1-and-a-bit-handed pull-ups Aug 01 - () Aug 02 - blind 1-leg balance for ankle stabilityAug 03 - handstand kick-up on opposite side (left foot on floor, right foot kicking up)Aug 04 - scapular shrugsAug 05 / glide kip (solid attempts)Aug 06 - hula hoopAug 07 - clapping push-upsAug 08 \ weighted dipsAug 09 - 5k runAug 10 - ()Aug 11 - ()Aug 12 / bar pull-downs (gymnastics)Aug 13 - assisted backward walkovers from heightAug 14 - ()Aug 15 - ()Aug 16 - ()Aug 17 - inverted pressAug 18 - 20 pull-ups as quickly as possibleAug 19 - Y-handstandAug 20 - ()Aug 21 - ()Aug 22 - rotating handstandAug 23 - deliberate handstand walkingAug 24 - pull-up jumping around apparatusAug 25 - bridge walkingAug 26 / bouldering *with climbing shoes*Aug 27 / no-handed kip-upAug 28 - one-handed lat pull-down machineAug 29 - ()Aug 30 - ()Aug 31 / gymnastics at Huntingdon gymSep 01 - flips into foam pitSep 02 \ handstand rollsSep 03 - ()Sep 04 - rowing machineSep 05 - pole climbingSep 06 / Spartan RaceSep 07 - swimming in trainers 31/42: grade C Challenge #2: whole-body strength training: I want to regularly do three sets of exercise for each of the following muscle groups:legs - including plyometricsupper body pushing musclesupper body pulling musclescoreEach day I get 2 points for doing one of these, 3 points for two, 4 points for three and 5 points for all four. grade A: 84 points (+2 STR, +2 STA, +1 CON) grade B: 78 points grade C: 66 points grade D: 48 points Jul 28: 3 2 2 4 2 _ 2 (15) Aug 04: 4 _ 3 4 _ 2 _ (13) Aug 11: 2 _ 2 5 _ _ _ (9) Aug 18: 3 2 _ _ 4 3 _ (12) Aug 25: 5 _ 2 4 _ _ 2 (13) Sep 01: 3 3 3 3 2 _ 4 (18) 80 points: grade B Challenge #3: habit optimization: you know how most of the things you do each day are done without thinking? Well this is a good thing, and means that our minds are free to think about important stuff rather than obsess over minutiae. However, I thought it would be interesting to find some of my automatic habits that could be replaced by better ones and change them. They should be easy to change, as they'll mainly be very minor things... I'll keep a list below, and strike them out once I'm happy that the habit has been implemented. grade A: 37 changes (+1 WIS, +3 CHA) grade B: 34 changes grade C: 28 changes grade D: 19 changes write notes with left hand to learn to be ambidextrous (except when in a rush)keep some frozen peas in the freezer as another option for a healthy snackhave larger portions of "meal-quality" food so I don't need to make up the calories later with less healthy fooddon't eat a huge meal late at night but make up the calories next breakfastavoid caffeine after 2pmavoid alcohol when tireddon't automatically get unhealthy food from train stations etc.neglected: grade F Challenge #4: sleep before 00:30: this is a re-run of part of the last challenge, but two things will be different:If I'm late to bed one day because I'm doing something interesting then I can score 0.5 points for that day as long as I sleep reasonably earlyI'll consider 00:20 to be a signal to get ready for bed... rather than staring at my laptop until 00:30 and beyondgrade A: 37 nights (+2 CON) grade B: 35 nights grade C: 31 nights grade D: 25 nights Jul 28: +++__+= (4.5) Aug 04: _+++___ (3) Aug 11: ++++=+= (6) Aug 18: +++_+_= (4.5) Aug 25: ++++_++ (6) Sep 01: +++++_+ (6) [note: each entry refers to the bedtime the night before] 30/42: grade D Let's go!

The Story So Far: It was bright and sunny the day the Assassin came to town. I was standing at my new, high-tech standing desk, which was absolutely not just my regular desk with an old toy chest on top of it, when I heard a knock at the door. I went over an opened it, and an Elf stood there. I looked him up and down; I'd never seen an elf before. He towered over me, six feet tall if he was an inch, all covered in lean muscle. He wore leather armor, carried a long bow slung across his back, and had strange things on his feet that I'd never seen before. He would later tell me these were called "shoes", and protected his feet from hard surfaces. If only I'd had some of those last challenge! I realised I'd just been staring for a good five seconds, and extended my hand as I spoke. "Hi. I'm Salivanth. You must be the one Hazard told me about." "That's right." he replied. "Where's the shrine?" "You don't want a drink or something?" I asked. "No thank you." he said. "I'd rather just get to the shrine. Besides, I've brought my own. It's only a few kilometers, correct?" I confirmed this, so we left my hut, stopping only so I could grab a torch. As we did I noticed a horse standing there, tied to my fence post, with saddlebags attached. I concluded he must have provisions in there. Without further ado, we began our walk. I'm sure the Assassin must have been impatient with my glacially slow pace, but to his credit, he hid it well. I tried to pick up the pace somewhat, but lacking these foot-coverings, there was only so fast I could move. On the way, we made small talk. He didn't give particularly detailed answers, but I did find out the elves lived in a forest a couple of days northwest of Rushforth, and a bit about these "shoes" he was wearing. We reached the cave, and I gave him the directions, just in case something happened. Swiftly we made our way to the shrine and approached it. Absolutely nothing happened. "So how do we open it?" the Assassin asked. "It...should just be opening by itself. It did when I approached it." I said. "Alright." he said. "I'll head back up a little bit, see if it opens then. If it does, shout out." He headed up the corridor, and was swiftly out of sight. After a few seconds more, the door opened. "It's open!" I called out, voice echoing off the narrow walls. As soon as the Assassin walked back into sight, the doors closed again. "Alright." the Assassin said. He stroked his chin. "Either it's only opening for you, or more likely, it only opens for one person. Head back two caverns, and I'll come back and let you know what happens." I walked back to the cavern that was two caverns away from the shrine, and waited. After a minute, the Assassin walked up. "No luck." he said. "Do you have a Warrior's guild in the village?" "No, sir, I'm afraid not. We don't have any guilds in Rushforth; not many hobbits join up." I said. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Very well. I'll have to check my briefing materials and go check with the nearest one." We left the cave in silence, and then the Assassin spoke again. "I'll be back in a day or two with the equipment we need. I'll require your help, so be ready. Goodbye." The Assassin broke into a jog. It looked like he could do it all day, but it was still much faster than I would be able to muster. I settled for walking at my usual pace. When I returned to my house, the Assassin and his horse were gone.

Story: Having achieved his goal of holding handstands and making considerable advances with his back handsprings, Nightcrawler now plays a major part in making the small circus he was adopted into a success. People are flocking from around the globe to see The Incredible Nightcrawler! A wealthy businessman from Texas takes notice and buys out the circus, moving it to America! However, after learning that his demonic appearance is not a costume; rather, his natural, crazy-awesome form, the new owner cages Nightcrawler, drugging him and forcing him to a part of the freak show instead of the acrobats. Crazy, right?! How could you waste such amazing talents as handstands (ok...so they arent held for very long and not very consistent...) and back handsprings (ok, so these aren't mastered yet either,,,but are definitely improving!) on the freak show?!? Nightcrawler should be the star of the show!! Determined to escape his imprisonment, he immediately starts fighting the effects of the drugs. He will need his mind working properly if he hopes to escape! Freedom from his barred cell will also require flexibility and a lean body. And so the struggle begins! Main Goal: Still working on back handsprings. This is my ongoing goal: To be able to do these on any ground, consistently and with proper form. I worked on shoulder strength and range of motion with handstands in the last challenge, this time I will focus on leg flexibility. The goal will be the splits! I don't expect to actually accomplish this within six weeks, but I am going to try! Specific Missions: 1. The solution to pollution is dilution! Time to nix the drugs holding Nightcrawler back and flush the system! a. No more artificial sweeteners! The exception to the ban on artificial sweeteners will be protein shakes to get enough protein in (I already have a large tub that is sweetened with sucralose) b. Drink more water! I will drink at least one Nalgene bottle per day of WATER. 2. Flexibility! Getting out of this tight confinement, Nightcrawler will have to increase his flexibility! I will work on the following set of stretches for achieving the splits: a. In straddle position, lean to each side and center for 1 minute each b. Hold pigeon stretch for 1 minute on each side c. Hold butterfly stretch for 1 minute d. Attempt each split as far as possible for 1 minute each This set will be completed once daily on work days and twice daily on my days off (three per week), making a grand total of at least 10 sets per week. 3. Lean body! Nightcrawler will have to be in shape and get rid of unwanted body fat in order to fit through the bars on the cell! This will be achieved via: a. Tracking Weight Watchers points daily b. Earning at least 30 exercise points weekly (up from 20 last challenge) c. Including at least 130 grams of protein in my points allowance daily (This is changed from 170g on workout days and 100g on off days as this ended up limiting my exercise for the week, choosing not to do a workout so I could eat other foods that didn't contribute to the large protein goal.) Life Goal: 1. Bilingual! Continuing work on ASL interpreting certification. I do not believe I require any more pre-requisites to get into the program, but found a class that would definitely help with review and getting me back into ASL thinking. I will sign up for this class or a similar one if that one is not offered this term. 2. Teleporting! Continue the ongoing search for a car. I will search car ads weekly to find the right match. Utilizing my parents' car at the moment, but will have to return it come October. Fine Print: My birthday falls within the span of this challenge and reserve the right to take time off from my goals to celebrate! I have requested the weekends before and after my birthday as well as the day itself and the following day off from work...During this span of a little over a week, I will continue with the challenge as stated on days I do not have celebration plans, but I plan to eat/drink what I want when partying with friends!!

My last challenge was centered around an irresponsibly enthusiastic list of feats of skill and strength that I wanted to achieve. I did actually make good progress, but it hardly scratched the surface of what I intended. Now I've learnt to set more realistic targets, my next challenge is going to be more process-based than success-based. Challenge #1: PRIORITISE SLEEP I demand quite a lot from my body and myself - so the least I can do is to keep it the healthiest state possible at all times. At the moment, the weakest link is sleep. I feel so much better when consistently getting 8+ hours than when I'm getting 7 or 7.5 hours. Therefore, for the next 6 weeks I will go to bed at 00:30 at the latest, giving me at least 8 hours and 20 minutes to rest before my morning alarm. A: 36 times in 42 days (+2 CON) B: 34 times in 42 days C: 30 times in 42 days D: 24 times in 42 days 09-JUN: ++++++_ (6) 16-JUN: ++_++_+ (5) 23-JUN: +++__++ (5) 30-JUN: +++_+_+ (5) 07-JUL: ++++_+_ (5) 14-JUL: ++++___ (4) (grade C) [Note: entry for each day refers to the sleep from the previous night] Challenge #2: TRAINING Two things that have been noticeably beneficial already this year are consistently doing core exercises, and consistently doing pull-up/muscle-up exercises. Other parts of my fitness are currently not limiting factors for anything I'm working on, so I'll concentrate on these for a while and see how that goes. What counts as core exercises? - 3 sets to failure of V-sit sit-ups or leg raises of some description - a gymnastics session involving lots of flipping What counts as muscle-up exercises? - a climbing/bouldering session - 3 sets to failure of appropriate dips - 3 sets to failure of an advanced pull-up variation - 3 sets to failure of pull-down machine I want to be doing one of these 5-6 times per week, so I'll have a slightly silly scoring system for this: - 1 point for doing some mixture of core and muscle-up exercises - 2 points for doing one or the other - 3 points for doing a full amount for core and full amount for muscle-ups A: 70 points in 42 days (+2 STR, +2 STA) B: 66 points in 42 days C: 58 points in 42 days D: 46 points in 42 days 09-JUN: 3 2 2 2 _ _ _ (9) 16-JUN: 3 2 _ 2 _ 3 2 (12) 23-JUN: 2 2 3 2 2 _ _ (11) 30-JUN: _ _ 3 3 3 3 _ (12) 07-JUL: _ _ 3 3 3 2 2 (13) 14-JUL: 3 _ 3 3 _ 3 2 (14) (grade A) Challenge #3: HANDSTAND EVOLUTION VIDEO I've been working on my handstands quite a bit this year, and at the moment my best handbalances are 5-6 seconds and look super unstable. I've been recording some handstand examples when I'm practising, for feedback so that I can learn. My intention is to compile a selection of these examples into an "evolution" video, annotated with training notes. For example, things I'm trying differently and other training I've done, and whether these are helping me balance. Hopefully it will be useful to some people learning handstands, but also it will just be cool to see the evolution. However I need to actually finish getting good at the handbalances first! +1 DEX for staying on my hands for 10 seconds +1 DEX for improving my form irrespective of how long I can hold the handstand +2 CHA for posting a useful video including footage of me doing good handstands (grade A) - see video here Challenge #4: SPANISH I've been learning Spanish on-and-off recently, and it's time now to restart, after a 9-week break. Previously, I was practising 4 times per week (process-based goal) so now I'm going to mix things up and aim to be able to understand spoken Spanish (currently my weak point). I'll assess how much of general conversation I can listen to and grade based on that. A: understand 85% (+3 WIS) B: understand 75% C: understand 65% D: understand 55% (grade F - totally ignored this!) Challenge #5: FEARLESS One major thing that I find is holding me back - especially in gymnastics - is being too risk-shy. For example, freaking out of trying scary moves even when its exactly what I need to be working on. Plus in general life I sometimes find myself avoiding opportunities that are obviously worthwhile risks. So I have an entirely subjective challenge, to be graded subjectively, to break past as many fear barriers as is sensible (Don't worry, I'm not planning to do anything ridiculous). +1 DEX, +1 CHA is the maximum score (for an 'A' grade) (grade C) As usual, I'll update reasonably regularly whenever I have news

Previously in Raptron's Thread... I rekindled my love for gymnastics, re-learned some old skills, joined a recreational team, competed at Nationals, and embraced the suck with my NF friends at a GORUCK Challenge. For the first time since last fall, I am without a serious training deadline and it feels kind of awesome. This challenge, I am going to try out a combination of hitting the basics and mixing up my bodyweight work to try to advance cool human body trick progression in a meaningful way. I will still be attending gymnastics practice probably 7-10 times over the challenge and give you guys updates on how that goes. I don't need it to be a goal for me because it's something I'm going to do anyway. Goal 1: Just kidding -- Every day IS leg day Lifting 3x weekLearn how to power clean properlyFilm form checks and get feedback on things to fix (especially for deadlifts)Back to the basics, linear progression style with squats, bench, ohp, and deadlifts. I feel like I should be able to wring linear progression out of 6 weeks of regular work. Part of this goal will to actually work on power cleans and get to a point where I'll feel comfortable subbing them in for deadlifts by the end of six weeks. Goal 2: Roll them Bones Inspired by some of the gamification in other assassins' challenges, I'm going to try out some randomized bodyweight work. Roll a die 3 times and do the work assigned to each number below. 5 minutes includes rest between sets/hold attempts, so I'll just set a timer for each exercise (other than the the pull/chin up work). Partial and negative handstand push-ups against the wall -- 5 minutes of work Chin-up, pull-up, and wide arm pull-up work (negatives, assisted, and as many unassisted as possible [usually 1]): one set of 5 each Back lever progression work -- 5 minutes Floor or hanging straddle holds -- 5 minutes Floor tuck sit or L-sit holds -- 5 minutes Straddle press handstand work -- 5 minutesAiming to do this 3x a week. I want a total of 60 minutes of static hold/bodyweight work per week, with some from these workouts and the rest coming from gymnastics practices. Goal 3: Run (in the) Forest, Run Go for a trail run at least six times over the course of the challengeGo for hill sprints 3x this challengeI did sign up for a trail run in July, so I guess I should probably do some running. Plus this gets me outside more to enjoy the summer, and I actually don't mind running when it's hot because it's cooler than walking. Life Goal: Blogdor the Bloginator I signed up for my first community supported agriculture program this year and received my first farm share yesterday. (More info about CSA and the farm I've signed up with: http://picadillyfarm.com/csa/about-our-csa/ ) I'm creating a blog that will mostly focus on what I receive each week and how I use it, including recipes and general usage ideas + tips as I figure them out for myself. Pre-challenge goal -- Get the blog set up and ready to post on, perhaps including a post or two about this week's CSA share.Update at least 2x per week. I'd love to set a higher goal for this, but I figure it should aim low for the start.Bookmark http://eatdrinkbemighty.com/ if this sounds like something you'll be interested in. First CSA haul of the year:

Salivanth breathed heavily as he trudged out the door to check his mail. That last set of rows had been killer, and it wasn't going to get any easier when he moved up. Still, all the pain and sweat was worth it, as he was definitely noticing changes. He'd gotten much stronger. His clothes fit looser. His arms were a bit more defined. He'd even had a couple of friends ask him if he'd lost weight. He'd had to assure them that he wasn't feeling sick; weight loss was almost unknown among the hobbits of Rushforth. Opening his mailbox, he found an envelope with a strange seal; a cloaked man, and what looked like a bird behind him, or perhaps more cloak. A seal he had only seen once before in his life, two months ago, when he was first contacted. Carefully shielding the envelope from any onlookers, he walked back into the house. He knew what this was. The Assassins had claimed to be watching him, had sent him an intricate (and presumably expensive) magical device to assist in his endeavours, and now they had contacted him again. Excitement and nervousness warred in him as he carefully cut open the seal and extracted the letter inside. He sat, and read. Dear Salivanth. On behalf of my order, I would like to officially welcome you to the Assassins. You have continued to work hard towards bettering yourself, and becoming the kind of agent we can make use of. You have passed our test, but rest assured, the work has only just begun. In the bushes next to the creek that flows near your house, you'll find a package. It contains a device known as a foam roller. Your Laptop of Limited Omniscience will provide you with information on how to use it. Learn to do so over the coming weeks. Not only does it require a base level of strength to use effectively, it will also aid in flexibility and recovery. An injured agent is a useless agent. A useless agent is a liability. The Assassins do not like liabilities. Normally, we would not assign you a mission for many months, until you had reached an above-average level of physical strength, flexibility, and endurance. However, it just so happens that we have a minor role for you to play, and we have no other agents in the area. Hobbits do not typically join the Assassins, or indeed, any of the guilds. One of our archivists has uncovered mention of a shrine dedicated to the long-lost Dwarven people; a race of small size, but legendary strength and physical capabilities. This shrine is mentioned to be near the village that today is known as Rushforth. The shrine is hundreds of years old, and likely naught but a ruin by now. The dwarves were known to build their most sacred structures underground, so the shrine may not be easy to find. This is not a priority mission, but we would like you to search for it as time allows. Do not allow this to distract from your primary role of improving your capabilities. Best of luck. Sincerely, Hazard, Ambassador to the Assassin's Guild. Salivanth looked at his soft, weak feet, and thought of the rocky terrain surrounding his village, and the thoroughness he would require in order to search the entire area for an underground entrance that was last used centuries ago. With a sigh, he headed out the door and began walking towards the creek. He had work to do.

Hi knowledgeable Rebels - I've read heaps of good advice on these forums so I thought I'd throw my first try at making a bodyweight calisthenics program in here and see what you awesome people have to say! As background, my goals for the next challenge are in my shiny new Battle Log (link in my sig below), and I've tried to make a workable program based on those goals. My background before finding NF was in weight lifting, though I did gymnastics as a young kid and do Pilates when I have the chance. I understand the progressions for BW and especially strength-building calisthenics/gymnastics are quite different to lifting progressions, so any suggestions or comments are most welcome! My goals themselves aren't for any specific reason except to try and build an overall strong, flexible and resilient body using little to no equipment, plus pistol squats and handstands are cool party tricks I pulled most of the flexibility work from the Assassin's guide for working on Pistol squats, plus splits development I learnt at Pilates. The rest is my best guess from several hours of internet trawling. Aaaaaaand....go! Daily: Handstand work (start with stomach to wall) for 5min; SMR; 2min mini workouts every 20mins (dynamic movement training such as traverse lunges, sit throughs, supermans); walk 10,000 steps Week 1 and 2 plansWorkout 1 (Push, Abs, LB, Flex)Warm Up: Hip mobility (incl leg swings and squats), shoulder mobility, skipping Push up progression: 3 sets 8 reps - knees, flat, one-leg Teaser progression (Pilates): plank, side planks, V-Hold, roll ups, 1-3 reps full Teaser no hold at top Flexibility & LB: bottom squat/pistol squat holds, forward bend, seated forward bend, pancakes, standing leg raise, splits work Workout 2 (Balancing, Flex)Warm Up: Hip and shoulder mobility Foot Balancing: Tree pose, Warrior III, Standing Leg Raise (hold 5-20sec at top) Hand Balancing: 5min freestanding handstand work Flexibility: forward bend, seated forward bend, pancakes, back bends, splits work Workout 3 (Pull, MetCon, Flex)Warm Up: Skipping or light jog, hip mobility, shoulder mobility Sprints: 20 sec run, 10 sec rest, 6 rounds (3min total) Inverted Rows: 3 sets 10 reps Negative Pull Ups: 3 sets 10 reps (OR max reps if too hard) Pull Ups: max reps for 2 sets (OR dead hang 30 sec if too hard) Flexibility: Forward bends, pancakes, leg raise, quad stretch, calf stretch, shoulder/arm stretches Workout 2 (Balancing, Flex) Workout 4 (Push, LB, Abs, Flex) Warm Up: Hip mobility (incl leg swings and squats), shoulder mobility, Bear Crawls, frog hops Crow Pose progression: work up to max hold on flat hands, or fingertips if able Horizontal Jump: work up to maximum Full Teaser progression: plank, side planks, V-Hold, roll ups, 1-3 reps full Teaser 5 sec hold at top Flexibility & LB: bottom squat/pistol squat holds, forward bend, seated forward bend, pancakes, standing leg raise, splits work Workout 2 (Balancing, Flex) Rest Day+ Assassin's Guild mini challenges if they suit Week 3 and 4 plansWorkout 1 (Push, Abs, LB, Flex) Warm Up: Hip mobility (incl leg swings and squats), shoulder mobility, skipping Push up progression: 3 sets 8 reps (or maximum) flat, one-leg, spiderman Full Teaser progression: plank, side planks, V-Hold, roll ups, 1-3 reps full Teaser 10 sec hold at top Squats, Weighted Step Ups, Assisted Pistol Squats Flexibility: bottom squat/pistol squat holds, forward bend, seated forward bend, pancakes, standing leg raise, splits work Workout 2 (Balancing, Flex)Warm Up: Hip and shoulder mobility Foot Balancing: Tree pose, Warrior III, Standing Leg Raise (hold 5-20sec at top) Hand Balancing: 5min freestanding handstand work Flexibility: forward bend, seated forward bend, pancakes, back bends, splits work Workout 3 (Pull, MetCon, Flex) Warm Up: Skipping or light jog, hip mobility, shoulder mobility Sprints: 20 run 10 rest for 8 rounds, 4min total Negative Pull Ups: 3 sets 10 reps (OR max reps if too hard) Pull Ups: max reps for 3 sets (OR dead hang 60 sec if too hard) Flexibility: Forward bends, pancakes, leg raise, quad stretch, calf stretch, shoulder/arm stretches Workout 2 (Balancing, Flex) Workout 4 (Push, LB, Abs, Flex) Warm Up: Hip mobility (incl leg swings and squats), shoulder mobility, Bear Crawls, frog hops Crow Pose progression: work up to max hold on flat hands, or fingertips if able Explosive Jump Squats Horizontal Jump: work up to maximum Full Teaser progression: plank, side planks, V-Hold, roll ups, 1-3 reps full Teaser 10 sec hold at top Flexibility & LB: bottom squat/pistol squat holds, forward bend, seated forward bend, pancakes, standing leg raise, splits work Workout 2 (Balancing, Flex) Rest+ Assassin's Guild mini challenges if they suit

Guys, it's that time again! I recently recorded myself giving the L-sit my damnedest. My goal is to do this on the floor, but haven't tested it in a while -- when I first started I was having trouble elevating myself enough on my palms. How's my form look? Particularly in the shoulders? Anything wonky?

just signed up for GoldMedal's Movement Multivitamin, a 30 day program, starting Monday. I know TheMostLoathed has also signed up, and was wondering if anyone else was going to be doing the program this time. http://goldmedalbodies.com/vitamin/

Background: The past few challenges have been focusing on preparing me to compete in gymnastics competitions. That culminated in competing at Nationals last weekend, which finishes out the competition season. It went okay. Normally, I would take this time to have some fun, learn new skills, and enjoy the freedom of a looser training schedule. However, Past Me hates Present and FutureMe and decided to sign up for the May 23rd GoRUCK Challenge in Boston, which is officially 6 weeks from tomorrow. I have 6 weeks to go from a bouncy, gymnastics sprinter to an endurance and strength machine. Motivation: To be an asset and not a hinderance to the team in May. Goal 1: Girl, You're Gonna Carry That Weight Attempt to mostly follow the GoRUCK 6-week training plan (lol really?) subbing running for other endurance cardio work as necessary aiming for at least 4 of the 5 prescribed workouts a week and absolutely following the plan with regards to ruck out days. Goal 2: Every Day is NOT Leg Day My upper body is severely lagging behind my legs. While the GR plan and just having the ruck on will do some good things for my shoulders and the rest, I've got to prepare better than that. I will be following the hundred push-ups plan with a 4+ brick ruck for the duration of the challenge. Will be aiming to hit all 3/3 prescribed push-up workouts per week according to the plan. Initial test put me at 10 push-ups with the ruck, but I may follow the 1-5 program to start because I've found that these things ramp up a bit too quickly for me otherwise. Goal 3: Flippin' Awesome While gymnastics will be on the back-burner, I still want to try to go on Saturdays at the very least. This goal will be to attend at least 8 gymnastics classes during the course of the 6-week challenge and work on SKILLS. Ideally, I want to make progress on one or several of the following skills: front handspring + front tuck + front tuck on floor, back handspring on balance beam, valdez on balance beam, round-off + back handspring + layout on floor, press handstand on floor, and aerial cartwheel on floor. These are all skills I could do when I was younger, so they're a continuation of my quest to be a better gymnast than I was when I was 12. Goal 4/Life Goal: Don't Fear the Meter I am going to hard track calories this challenge. The only challenge-related aspect of this will be to track daily and to report back to you folks about how my food's going. I may also share a MFP log or something like that. I want to lean back out, but I have no desire to do it quickly. I am still working on a rewards scheme for this goal. I think I may create an achievement system for myself that allows me to purchase goodies off of my Amazon wishlist for things like 5-day on-target calorie streaks. Disclaimer: I know this is not a super assassin-y challenge, but <3 you guys and I'm not going anywhere.

Story: Parents presumed dead, Kurt Wagner grows up in a small Bolivian circus. Admiring most the acrobats with their badass feats of strength and agility, Kurt decides: “Heck! I could do that! Ich bin fantastisch!!!†And so his training begins. Kurt is determined to become the best acrobat in the show. In order to become the best, our favorite blue elf will of course, need to be able to perform the awesome tricks the acrobats are performing, requiring strength and a diet that will both keep him lean and provide enough protein to develop the muscles he is working so hard to build. Main Quest: Overall main quest is to move my round off-back handspring from the trampoline onto the ground so I can do this anytime. This will likely take several challenges to complete, so my goal for this one is to be able to hold a handstand. This will help develop shoulder and core strength, which will definitely help with my back handsprings. Specific Missions: 1. Earn a minimum of 20 Weight Watchers activity points per week with at least three strength workouts built into this. 2. Track Weight Watchers points daily and stay within my weekly points allowance. Within this, I will require a minimum of 56 100 grams of protein, increasing to at least 90 170 grams on days that I am doing a strength workout. If I earn more than 20 activity points in a week, I will allow using these. 3. At least five minutes of handstand work daily Side Quest: 1. Our friend Kurt is bilingual, fluent in German and English. I will need to work on this ability as well. My language of choice however, will be American Sign Language. My goal will be to sign up for and (hopefully) get accepted into one of the two remaining prerequisite classes required for the ASL Interpreting Program. 2. His most renowned ability is that of teleportation. This is how he travels from one location to another. For me to do this, I will require a car. I am car-less at the moment, but will be borrowing my parents' car for a few months while I search for the right one to become available within my price range. This is ongoing challenge to challenge until I find the right car now that I am able to borrow one.

In my challenges so far the focus has been on trying to master a narrow choice of skills - handstands, backflips and Spanish. I've had some good progress, but there seem to be a few dangers with focusing too narrowly: even the most well-intentioned training can fail to produce success on a specific skillthere's a risk of overtraining (haha maybe not with Spanish, but seriously I can feel I've stressed out my sternum with excessive handstands this year)adding more variety to a narrow choice of hobbies makes it all extra funTherefore, the theme for this challenge will be variety! My motivation will remain to become proficient at gymnastics/tricking and related interesting Assassin skills. You know how in some video games they have those bonus levels, where you just run around like some beserk Supermarket Sweep contestent collecting extra point or lives within a short time limit? Well this challenge for me is going to be like that. I have 43 days and a checklist of items to collect. I'll never get them all, but the challenge is to get lots of them I'm going to have to take it easy with the handstand-type skills, so the minor injury in my sternum disappears rather than becomes a major problem. for that reason, I'm taking a three-week break from anything of the sort. Challenge #1: Make as much progress as possible with a variety of acrobatic skills! Rules: each item selected is worth 0.25 stat pointsthere are 4.00xSTR, 6.00xDEX and 3.00xCHA availablemaximum possible loot: +3 STR, +4 DEX and +2 CHA (and I'll be astonished if I get anywhere near this!)I'll mark each one with an 'X' if/when I achieve the goal __slackline: a friend bought one and so I have an opportunity to learn this! So far I can only balance for a few seconds and taking a step makes me fall off DEX (X) : walk a full 10 metres without falling off CHA (X) : + bonus points for doing this DEX (X) : consistently change direction without falling off __frontflips: currently doing them from a springboard to a crashmat but they look more like a forward roll that somehow avoids the ground, so I need to work on actually jumping before the flip DEX (X) : get some height so these are landed consistently on crashmats DEX (X) : no longer need springboard for this move DEX ( ) ; can consistently land onto the thinner mats CHA ( ) : + bonus points for the item above DEX ( ) : can safely land on thinner mats without needing prep beforehand (only counts if it's safe) CHA ( ) : can safely land on grass CHA ( ) : + bonus points for the item above __hopak: there's this crazy move some Ukrainian dancers do that requires some insane leg strength and I want to learn it: STR ( ) : learn to do this half-decently STR ( ) : able to keep this going for 20 seconds __cartwheel: embarassingly, I never learned to do these, and when I try them my feet only go to shoulder height. Time to learn them! DEX ( ) : some definite progress DEX ( ) : can sometimes do proper straight cartwheels CHA ( ) : can consistently do proper straight cartwheels DEX ( ) : can do these properly on both my left- and right-hand side __round-offs: cartwheels with extra movement! DEX ( ) : decent examples on the tumble track STR ( ) : can do these well on hard surfaces DEX ( ) : can do these properly on both my left- and right-hand side __backflips: I've been practising these for ages and still need a spotter to make it around safelyDEX (X) : any definite progressDEX (X) : no longer need spotters on the tumble track!CHA (_) : + bonus points for the item aboveDEX ( ) : safely unassisted on a hard surface (only counts if it's safe!)DEX ( ) : + bonus points for the item aboveCHA ( ) : safely unassisted on a hard surface without needing any prep beforehandCHA ( ) : + bonus points for the item above __handstands: had myself balancing for 4-5 seconds before taking a break to avoid over-trainingSTR (X) : 5-second holds again after taking a breakDEX (X) : 6-second holdsCHA ( ) : 7-second holdsDEX ( ) : 8-second holdsSTR ( ) :10-second holdsCHA ( ) : + bonus points for achieving 10-second handstandDEX ( ) : comfortably handstand into a forward roll (I only pirouette or bridge flop out of handstands so far...) __front handsprings: I can do poor handsprings on the tumble track. I should learn to do good onesDEX ( ) : considerably improve at doing theseSTR ( ) : have good form and powerful front handsprings on the tumble trackDEX ( ) : become able to do these without the tumble track for supportCHA ( ) : become sufficiently consistent at these that they can be done on grass __backwards walkover: going from a bridge to a handstand and going over the other side... I've never tried this!DEX ( ) : some useful practice of kicking up in a bridgeDEX ( ) : some useful practice of backwards walkovers from a raised position (to make it easier)CHA ( ) : able to do this moveSTR ( ) : + bonus points for doing a backwards walkover __muscle-up: I can do 5-10 pull-ups with good form. Next step is to learn a muscle up:STR (X) : some decent practice of the different componentsDEX ( ) : learn to do a "kipping" muscle-upSTR ( ) : able to muscle-up with less leg swingingSTR ( ) : able to muscle-up with good form __L-sit: tried this for the first time last week and it's haaard to even do a cheat version... This will be awesome for training my core:STR (X) : 10-second tuck holdDEX ( ) : split-second L-sitSTR ( ) : 5-second L-sit __plyometric pike jumps: jump up and touch your toes with straight legs on every consecutive jump. Excellent leg, core, and active flexibility exercise.STR ( ) : able to do 20 consecutively __powerlifting: in my first challenge I wanted to get to a combined strict press + bench press weight of 100kg, but abandoned this because of an injury. I'm now at 41kg (90lb) strict press and 56kg (123lb) bench press and have a small plateau to fight through in order to accomplish this:STR ( ) : improve at all (98kg total)STR ( ) : succeed (100kg total)STR ( ) : + bonus points for achieving 100kg Challenge #2: consistently do conditioning exercises 5 times per week. I must do 3 conditioning exercises each day for this to count. Suitable examples include:gymnastics, weightlifting, capoeira class etc,pull-ups or variations in the parkcore exercises such as V-sit sit-upsplyometricsanything else suitable (grip trainer doesn't count as I found it to be ineffective)+3 STA: A: 30 times in 6 weeks B: 28 times in 6 weeks C: 24 times in 6 weeks D: 18 times in 6 weeks __Progress: week 1: ___+_++ (3) week 2: +_+++++ (6) week 3: +_+++++ (6) week 4: +_+++_+ (5) week 5: __+_++_ (3) week 6: +_+++_+ (5) (B) Challenge #3: explore food! I eat pretty healthily, and also in huge amounts. Especially vegetables and porridge. However, I don't know how much I actually eat in terms of macronutrients, so I'm going to find out, by tracking everything I eat for a week and calculating the following macronutrients: carbs (all)carbs (sugar)fatsproteintotal caloriesI'm also going to experiment with Intermittent Fasting to see how that works. There are several ways of doing it, so I'm going to briefly try two contrasting ones, and report back with my experiences. +1 CON, +1 WIS: track macros A: accurate track for a week C: something less that is still useful to me tracked macros on 01 May - 07 Mayanalysed it for conclusions and posted results to this thread (A) +1 CON: try IF A: try two ways C: try one way tried "skipping dinner" fast on 30 Apr - 01 May (19 hours, successful)tried "skipping brunch" fast on 9 May - 10 May (14 hours, didn't work so well)tried "skipping brunch" fast on 16 May - 18 May (16 hours, felt lame afterwards) (C+)

I was gonna sit out this challenge, but what the heck … I'd miss this forum. A little bit of background. I did gymnastics for a few years in early adulthood - roughly from when I was 19 until I was about 22. I wasn't very good. Eventually I got discouraged by my lack of progress, and was losing my nerve as well. So I stopped. Fast forward about 10 years, and I'm fitter, stronger, more flexible and a little lighter, missing gymnastics and wondering if a fitter and smarter approach might yield better results. So I signed up for a gymnastics class, which started last week. And it was AWESOME. And thus I've decided to make it the theme of this challenge. I can't promise that this thread won't devolve into a place to post gymnastics gifs, but I'll try. Okay, goals. I'm keeping them simple and vague this time around. My last two challenges were very quantitative - lots of "do x, y times per week". My exercise habits are fairly well established at this point, and I need to provide myself with the flexibility to work around both my body's limits, as well as the limits of what might be a fairly hectic period. Anyway - goals! 1. Do gymnastics. 2. Be smart, listen to body, listen to instructor. 3. Over the next six weeks, research and try out progressions or drills for the following skills: -aerial cartwheel -front tuck -back handspring -glide kip -back tuck -cast straddle squat onto low bar (let's be reasonable and start with the most basic variation) Together, these goals are worth 2 STR, 3 DEX, 1 CON, 1 WIS, 1 CHA That's it. No side quests, no life quest. Not taking the full attribute points as this is a fairly scaled back challenge. Really, I just want a place to hang out with assassins and revel in the awesomeness of gymnastics.

MAIN GOAL: STEAL PATRICK SWAYZE’S METAL TRAIN MAIN GOAL: COMPETE ALL-AROUND AT NATIONALS THE BIG KAHUNA NAIGC Nationals Open Division When: April 3 – 5, 2014 Where: Chattanooga, TN Events: All-around (Vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor) Description: I will be competing with at least 3 of my female teammates in the Women’s Open Division on Friday, April 4th on all events. Saturday, we'll watch the Finals from the more competitive division, cheer on any teammates who make it to Finals, and enjoy an awesome awards ceremony and banquet. Background: Former gymnast from ages 3-13, competed between ages 4-12, reaching USAG JO level 8 before leaving the sport. Diving team in high school, but dropped off the sports radar after that. Rediscovered gymnastics as an adult in July 2013, joined an adult recreational team in October 2013, and will compete in my first meet as an adult on 3/8/2014 as a precursor to the NAIGC Nationals on 4/4/2014. Goal 1: KEEP IT TIGHT It’s already habit for me, but it’s essential to my main goal, so we’ll keep it here for keepsake purposes. I’m dropping the cardio and WODs as part of this goal. I’ll still do them on days that I have the time and inclination, but I don’t want to include them as gradable criteria. Gymnastics 2-3x/week [3x a week every week it is possible]Strength training 3x/week [Weighted or bodyweight]Conditioning 5x/week [Conditioning after every gymnastics practice and 2x rest of the week]Goal 2: DR. GOODBODY Injury has been an issue for me the past few challenges (pulled tricep, wonky left shoulder, sprained right ankle, and probably others I’ve been forgetting) and I believe it will likely continue to be. This goal will focus on strengthening the joints that have been an issue for me (shoulders and ankles) and general upkeep and mobility work. As I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks, nothing cramps my style like injury, so this is gonna be my prevention route. Shoulder Shocker 3x/weekBand pull-aparts 5x/weekAnkle strengthening routine 5x/weekStretch 5x/weekGoal 3: PUT DOWN THE COOKIE I am officially calling quits on my somewhat ridiculous eating habits. I’ve been pretty lax on them over the past two challenges because I didn’t really care, but with such a large competition looming ahead, I’ve got some real motivation. I really want to look and feel my best at Nationals, which means adjusting my snack habits and leaning out so I can rock my high cut leotard and tumble with more confidence. Plus, it’ll just help out with my gymnastics over all, and I really do need to chill out with all the chocolate and cookie snacks. Follow my plan to reduce my snacking habits:Breaking fast at 12:00 PM every daySnack seshes limited to 1 at work and 1 in the eveningNo eating while standing around in the kitchen – must be sitting downKitchen closes at 9:30 PM on normal days and 10:30 PM on gymnastics daysLimited alcohol consumption to 1x a week (up to 6 times before Nationals)Life Goal: THIS IS NOT SUNNYVALE With my previous attention-sucking hobby of video games and my shiny, new(ish) energy-sucking hobby of gymnastics and working out, our house is constantly under Shit Siege. I hate the Shit Siege because it feels like a constant losing battle. This challenge, I am going to gain some ground and try to break the Siege once and for all. Go through our clothes, make donation bags, and ACTUALLY GET THE BAGS OUT OF THE HOUSEClean out fridge 1x/week and keep list of items use-by dates on the fridge to prevent food wasteLaundry at least 2x/week to get rid of that floor laundry clutterClean out pantry 2x/month for clutter maintenance All grading will be on the standard % scale per week. [90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, etc...]

When last we left Elastigirl, the Dark Knight had recruited her for a mission, and they were racing toward Gotham in his batmobile. As we return to our story Batman briefs Elastigirl on what awaits them. Dark Knight: Gotham is in trouble and we need your help Elastigirl: That’s what I've trained for. Tell me how I can help DK: Mr. Freeze has frozen the entire city of Gotham with his freeze gun. The people of the city all sit huddled in their homes, afraid to venture outside. We need to unfreeze the city, and free the people from their fear. EG: Let’s do it! Elastigirl will have to use all her resources to thaw Gotham from the perpetual freeze that now envelops the city. It will take bravery, cunning, strength, and of course her super bendy powers. Be in Fighting Shape: In order to defeat Mr. Freeze, I will need to have all my superpowers energized, and that means I need to eat good stuff Eat healthy foods-meat veggies fat some carbs/Continue with carb monitoring; 70 grams or less, no need to count salad or foundation veggies Reward 2 CON Defeating the Freeze Gun Mr Freeze wants to keep the city of Gotham under his frozen power. His goal is to keep all the occupants trapped in their homes, afraid to move outside, in fear of being frozen. I will defeat him by not yielding to his diabolical plans and showing the city it is safe to be outdoors. Walking-walk before breakfast 4 times a week- Reward 3 STA Bendiness- In order to defeat Mr Freeze, Elastigirl will need to use her super agility bendy powers. Handstand-video it one time a week, take notes on improving Play- do some sort of fun exercise after workout 2 times a week- whatever I want-gymnastics, kettlebell juggling, a new exercise-for 10 minutes Mr.Freeze’s powers will melt even more if I do these outside, so I will perform these feats outdoors when possible Reward: 3 DEX Life Goal:Power in Words; The right words can summon hope to those who feel there is no hope, bring courage to the fearful and strike terror in the heart of the enemy. Elastigirl needs to begin gathering words that matter. Work on a commonplace bookhttp://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/ start index cards,have 6 by challenge end, and add at least one quote to my signature Reward 3 CHA Side Quests: Finish the mobility squat PVP strong and keep doing some hip mobility work successfully learn to kick up into a wall handstand Workout plan: I am going to be using GMB's Floor 1 program, with a few modifications. I am subbing out their leg work for more pistol oriented stuff, so that I can keep moving forward on my pistol goal. Also going to start work on learning the L-sit I will continue with my 5 minutes a day handstand practice. I will do a mix of learning to bail (almost have that skill) my 60 second handstand(video and work on form ) and learning to kick into wall handstand side note: I am only giving myself potential of 11 points, as part of the time I will be on vacation, and I will do none of these things while on vacation, because, well, I'll be on vacation. Even superheroes need vacations.

Guten tag Assassins! Main Quest: I want to move my back handspring to the floor. I want to be able to do it anywhere! I just moved it from the tumble track at gymnastics to a mat on the springy floor after about a year attending adult beginners gymnastics classes (only 1-2 times per month working on floor stuff), but my car got totaled and I have not been able to go since then. I expect this will not be something I will be able to accomplish during this six week challenge as it is still hard for me to get to gymnastics. Because of this, my goal will be more to get back into shape to be able to do this as it has been a few months since attending. Specific Missions: 1. Lose weight by tracking Weight Watchers points and staying within my weekly goal 2. Increase fitness by exercising enough each week to equate to 20 activity points when logged into Weight Watchers. 3. Discontinue the bad habit of eating in bed. For my last challenge (which was also my first), I tracked my WW points, but did not have the stipulation of staying within my points allowance. With some effort, I did stay within those points anyway, so I feel this is an acceptable goal to have this round. I also worked to make exercise a habit, but did not dictate an amount of activity; just that I had to do some form of physical activity daily. I believe I averaged about 15 WW points per week. I feel increasing by five points is something doable for me. Side Quest: BUY A CAR! I have been without a car for a couple months and am just too indecisive. I need to do some serious searching and get one soon! Missing out on a lot of things just because it is hard to get to them (such as gymnastics!) Motivation: Nerd alert! I made a Nightcrawler costume for Rose City Comic Con last year and will be remaking parts to improve it for this year's con in September. I want to be able to do a back handspring while in costume!

I'm really excited to be joining Rangers this challenge! Woot! I'm coming over from Adventurer's for my third challenge because I think my goals are pretty ranger-like. I want to be flexible and do backwalkovers ninja style, but I also want to kickbox and be strong like bull and be able to squat heavy. I also enjoy the occasional run. So, here I am! First off, Happy New Year everyone!!! I'm really looking forward to kicking some major butt his year as only a nerd can. Anyway, last challenge I began my battle for recovering my backwalkover. For those of you who don't know, the first half of this is a back walkover: Last challenge I just foucsed on getting stronger and more flexy. I succeeded, and can now do a backbend without fear of falling on my head! This challenge I want to work on handstands. They use pretty much the same muscles as a backbend kickover (which will be my next phase to backwalkover awesomeness) and will get me used to the feeling of being inverted again. In order to do this I'll be doing the 28 day handstand challenge, and I'll also continue to work on my cardio, strength and flexiness... Cleaning has also been a big part of my past two challenges and I am going to continue with that since I am really happy with the results I am seeing so far in my sparkly apartment. I started using FlyLady last challenge and am going to keep with it for this one. I whittled down what parts of FlyLady I'm going to focus on a little more than last challenge, because even my already mini-Fly-Lady-ing was a bit much. I gained a bunch of weight over the holidays, despite my holiday mini challenge to not over eat and to exercise a bit. I guess it could have been worse, but I am seriously teetering on the edge of 200 lbs (199.6!). I've never actually gotten on the scale and seen 200, and I feel like as much as I don't care about weight and only care about how I feel that would make me feel completely awful. So here's to the new year and getting far far away from 200! Anyway, on to the specifics of my challenge! MAIN MISSIONS: GET STRONGER I have aspriations to eventually start doing some real weight lifting (probably next challenge!) so I want to build up my strength even more with body weight work outs before moving up to the next level in the strength training world. I'm also having trouble finding a gym near me that doesn't charge $8 billion a month due to the fact that it offers yoga/pilates/kickboxing/whatever classes included in its fee. I just want to lift things up and put them down! Hopefully by the next challenge I'll have some success with that. So, I am going to continue with my ABWW routine, modified with assisted pull ups and chin ups, and replacing the one legged squats with sumo squats. This time around I'm only going to do it twice a week, but with 3 circuits per work out. That's the same amount of circuits just crammed into less days. I'm hoping to be more motivated to actually work on the other physical aspects of my challenge with the extra free day every week, since they definitely fizzled last challenge. And here is my motivation, the ever adorable Samantha Wright: What a bad ass. This mission can get me a potential +3 STR. It is based on purely percentage completed, but I rounded off boundaries for points earned so I don't end up with crazy decimals like I did last challenge. 90-100% = 3 points 75-89% = 2 points 50-74% = 1 point 25-49% = 0.5 points 0-24% = 0 points GET MOVING I will do yoga or cardio 2x a week, depending on my mood and schedule. That can be two cardios in one week, two yogas, one of each, whatever. Just get moving! This mission can earn me a possible +3 STA. Same percentage system as above. GET INVERTED 28 day handstand challenge. It will happen. I can do this for the last 28 days straight, or spread it out as the challenge goes on (obviously what I'm going to try to do). But by the end of the challenge, I should have 28 days on handstand practice behind me! Grading will be in 2 parts. First, just a pure percentage of if I completed all 28 days. This is a potential +2 DEX. 90-100% = 2 points 75-89% = 1.5 points 50-74% = 1 point 25-49% = 0.5 points 0-24% = 0 points The second part is if I can successfully do a "good" wall handstand by the end of this challenge. This is purely pass/fail. If I can do it, I get +1 CHA. If not, I don't. Hey, if a cat can do it I feel like I should be able to, too. SIDE QUESTS: Diet Side Quest: Get 11,200 healthy calories a week. This is an average on 1,600 calories a day. I am going to grade myself by week because I don't mind if I eat a little over one day and fast a bit the next, as long as I am on target for the week I'll pass. For now, healthy = no obvious cheese and no obvious bread. I am not going read ingredients, if a jarred tomato sauce happens to contain parmesan or something that doesn't count. I will eventually take it that far, but not yet. "Obvious" bread means something clearly bread-like as a part of my meal. This includes bagels, pasta, pizza dough, etc. Again, not checking labels just yet. I will allow myself 3 cheat meals a week to include one of both of these items (read: PIZZA), but only if this does not put me over my weekly calorie goal. So the grading for this is in two parts, for a total of a possible +3 CON.The first part is worth +2 CON, and is based on the number of the weeks I hit my calorie goal. 6 weeks met = 2 points 5 weeks met = 1.5 points 4 weeks met = 1 point 3 weeks met = 0.5 points 2 weeks met = 0.25 points 1 or 0 weeks met = 0 points The second half of this grade is based on the healthiness of my meals and is worth +1 CON. Basically, if I limit myself to my 3 cheat meals a week, and therfore have 108 or more healthy meals under my belt at the end of the challenge, I will get the whole point. The amount of points earned is based on the number of healthy meals I eat during the challenge, the maximum being 126 (which is 3 meals x 7 days x 6 weeks). 108-126 healthy meals = 1 point 87-107 healthy meals = 0.75 points 65-86 healthy meals = 0.5 points 42-64 healthy meals = 0.25 points 0-41 healthy meals = 0 points Hopefully the healthies plus the staying more on track with calories will make me feel fresh and not so bloated and awful, as I have been the past few weeks. By the end of the challenge me and my tummy will feel fabulous. Life Side Quest: Fly Lady it up! I will do the weekly home blessing, and the week's zone detail cleaning each week for +1 WIS, based on the same point to percentages as the above missions. I will do at least one load of laundry each week and fold/put it away within 24 hours of getting it out of the drier for +1 CHA, and do the week day daily missions and swish & swipe each weekday for a total of +1 WIS. Here's my grading spreadsheet that I will update throughout the challenge, which will automatically calcuate my grades at the end: And that's that. I'm out.

Challenge Goal: Compete at the February 15th NAIGC Meet This challenge conveniently ends right after my first scheduled gymnastics meet. Perfect timing! I wish I could use a simpler challenge outline but gymnastics has a LOT of stuff going on and I really need to be prepared to tackle all aspects -- the cardio/sprint nature, the strength, the flexibility. I need frequency AND intensity of work. Much of this challenge is similar to last challenge, but I am really hard pressed on time to prepare and will be going at it much harder. 1. Head in the Game 2-3 gymnastics sessions a weekChoreograph beam + floor routinesBuy gripsAcquire new/old skills to meet the routine requirements where possible2. Pieces of the Puzzle Strength train 2-3x per weekGymnastics WOD 3x per weekRun 1-2 miles post-workout 2x per weekHIIT training (sprints or jumps) 2x per weekStretch 5-7x per weekOne arm handstand work 30 minutes per weekIt looks like a lot, but it just means tacking on extra activities when I am at either my regular gym or my gymnastics gym. A strength training session + sprints + cooldown run rather than just strength training or regular open gymnastics session with the inclusion of a WOD and one-arm handstand work. 3. We Wear Short Shorts Track macrosNo snacking after 9 PM (meals after 9 acceptable on weekends and weekdays with gymnastics)Alcohol only 1x a week (excepting TX and birthday)This challenge is 100% pass/fail. I will not be grading each goal section individually. If I compete on 2/15/14 and feel good about it, I pass. If I fail to prepare in time, I fail. I may compete anywhere between 1-4 events, but as long as I perform at the meet, this challenge will be a success. Side Goal: Wake up 10 minutes early each day. I've got a serious issue trying to squeeze out the last minute of sleep even if I don't really need it. I just don't want to get out of bed. This is silly and I should stop.

My overall goal is to be awesome like this: I’m here, making a late start to the challenge! The last month has been full of travel, studying and a lot of life changes. My husband just left for work on the other side of the country and I just started term 4 of medical school, and I am just now getting grounded enough to start this challenge. Last challenge was really good for me in terms of being active, but eating well was a struggle (especially towards the last few weeks). In this challenge, I want to keep working towards my main quest of self-acceptance and being able to do awesome stuff. I still have a packed fitness schedule. Gymnastics is Monday, Wednesday, Saturday; trapeze is Thursday (and maybe Monday); circus conditioning is Sunday; spin on Friday; aerial yoga on some Fridays; and maybe hot yoga on Saturdays. I think I need to add some more cardio in my life again, so I am going to keep a gym bag at school and try to get to the campus gym when I have some breaks. I look forward to getting into a full fitness schedule again – I have fallen off track with my winter vacation and I miss the sanity and happiness that frequent physical activity brought to my life. Goals: Diet: Eat out less! Eat out less than 6 times during this challenge. I can still get coffees at school, but any snack counts towards the total. Success à A = 6, B = 7, C = 8, D = 9, F = 10+. Prepare my food in advance. I did a big freezer cook at the start of January so my dinners are ready for the month. I need to do this again in February. I plan to make my weekly school snack and lunches on Sundays. Smoothies for breakfast every day! 6 Sundays. 1 big cook. Fitness: Do my daily workout – see attached google doc. Success = 6 times per week. Ideally, I will do the work out in the morning BUT I can still succeed if I sleep in and do it at some other part of the day. I want to get strong so I can be MORE AWESOME at gymnastics and trapeze! For those who don’t want to look at the doc, the daily workout includes handstands, kicks, splits, frog, pull ups, push ups, walkovers and bridge stuff. It may get edited down a little if what I have is too much work. Life: I am doing some traveling this year! I need to save money. Eating out less is part of saving money. But I need to start budgeting. This goal has 2 parts: 1. Finish my financial to do list (hopefully done this weekend) · Update my mint.com budget. · Update automated payments to new account · Pay tuition and outstanding bills. 2. Put every expense in my mint.com budget. Including the coffee I buy with cash. And parking. Everything!! Challenge tracker: Restaurant eating: 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 0/6 Weekly food prep: 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 | 0/6 Daily Routine: 0/3 0/6 0/6 0/6 0/6 0/6 | 0/33 Log Expenses: 0/3 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 | 0/38 Big February cook: Finish my financial to-do list:

Hello Assassin's guild! I spent my first challenge in the first timer's club and spent a time deliberating whether to join assassins or druids, but here I am for this challenge focusing on an acrobatics goal which fits more in the assassin's realm. I really enjoyed the first challenge, saw a lot of growth, many compliments were received when I got home and even my parents commented I look like the best shape of my life! So very rewarding overall. this first post will sound very businessy and numbers. kind of dry material, but my updates and other posts will be more candid I promise. I welcome gifs and other forms of support as well. Here comes round two! STATS: I'm 21 and now 134lbs. my current body fat percentage rests at 26.5% as of Dec 24th, this was measured with an electric scale, but I have purchased calipers and will update that soon. my belly button waistline is currently 80-85 cm (flex-relaxed). I'm hoping to improve these numbers in general which I'm sure will happen along this challenge, but I'm just going to keep track of them and see how they change over the course of the challenge. My goal is to be able to be able to base (in acrobatics this is the person supporting the person in the air) for my acrobatics partner for a fairly unique routine in which we play both flying and basing roles. I also want to make more progress in yoga which I practice regularly as well but will not be keeping track of that here (though I may make some breakthroughs and post some of that as well.. not my main focus for this challenge) This means I have the following tasks: Reduce my body fat percentage, be able to lift my partner's goal weight (135) and then some for safety, and prepare choreography for the Acrobatics routine. I've sorted out strength training as a main path of goal fulfillment so this is my main course, practicing is important, and the food intake is for proper fuel and to reduce body fat. the following will be my evaluation criteria each week: Goals: 1. Go to the gym and lift A = > 5x per week B = 4x per week C = 3x per week D = 2x per week F = < 1x per week 2. Practice Acrobatics A = 3x per week B = 2x with addtl practice per week C = 2x per week D = once per week F = Not at all 3. Reduce intake of foods that fall outside of the Paleo diet to 3x week at most A = < 1x a week B = 2x a week C = 3x a week D = 5x a week F = > 5x a week Life Quest: Finish at least one verse of spoken word each day A = > 6x a week B = 5x a week C = 3x a week D = 2x a week F = < 1x a week I've included my life quest which is to create and perform a spoken word piece which I hope to perform at a poetry slam on February 8th. Gym regimen and weekly grade out will be updated daily here Motivation: so that I can say honestly and with confidence the following about myself... I feel strong I am able to assess my limits I am confident in my ability to accomplish the desired performance

Main Quest: Honor the Vessel. Develop a new appreciation for the body I have and start listening to it. A sort of quest to increase my intuition for what is good and healthy for my whole being as well as accepting where I am right now. I have struggled my whole life with comparing myself to others and its not fun for me to admit it. I realize I will always have goals and will overcome many things in the future, but I want to really appreciate what I've been given. Realize that it's a blessing. Sorry if this all seems sappy. I am coming back from almost 4 years of personal neglect where my biggest downfall has been consistency. I have overcome a lot lately and am noticing a renewal in self that is encouraging. I want to take advantage of this challenge to pay close attention to the things that will bring me balance: Nutrition. Put an end to needless snacking. I have no problem eating healthy but then come the pointless snacks out of pure boredom. Terrible, I know. Clean eating, whole foods, limit grains and dairy. Drink water, and lots of it. No alcohol except moderately at holidays. (Uuuu-huh...riiiight.) I'd really like to loose my last 5 pounds. Kill the media. Limit of ten minutes a day on the computer aside from the business stuff. TV will be tough since my between my husband and son it's on every night, but I can engage in something while it's on. Basically no idleness in front of the boob tube. This will allow me to: Read and journal more. I have so much to read and I love reading but I haven't done much lately. Also journaling frees my creativity, encourages self dialogue, and stimulates me mentally. Wakes me up. Early mornings at least during the weekdays. Sets my day so nice. Forces me to get to bed early throughout the week. Just helps me a lot. I want to mention that I'm not going to worry about the holidays. Dinners with family is just going to be too fun and good times to worry about it. (Thanksgiving and Christmas day only. I'm not talking other days even if I'm visiting.) I wait all year for this stuff Fitness Goal: I'm going to climb no matter what, so my focus this time is my parallette training. I will practice my routine on non climbing days. It's a quick routine so I should be able to manage. knee tuck: 10 secs x's 3 L-sit: max hold time x's 3 (I can't do the 10 secs yet..) straddle hold max time x's 3 p-bar push ups. Killer. I'm going to keep up with stretching but nothing specific. I also want to start walking outside just to try to get as much fresh air this season as possible. Side Quest: Handstands Assassin style. You know what I'm talkin about I'm going to keep that quest going past December 31st with the 5 minutes training.. Let the games begin.

Hello Nerd Fitness! I have never posted on a forum before, so this is all pretty new to me, but here goes. I grew up in Alaska as one of the fat kids in school. Started getting overweight at the end of elementary school and only got worse as I got older. By the end of my freshman year of college, I was 225lbs at 5'10''. I was determined not to gain the dreaded freshman 15 and succeeded, but for all the work I put into it, did not lose any weight either. One of my friends and I tried all sorts of homemade diets, one of them lasting a grand total of about two hours! That summer I had a moment of clarity and decided enough was enough and I did not want to be this way anymore. I joined Weight Watchers and started tracking my points. I loved it! I was allowed to eat whatever I wanted as long as I stayed within my points allowance and lost 10lbs my first week on the program! I had a lot of ups and downs, but finally made it to my goal weight (the maximum BMI before being considered overweight) after two years and kept it off for six weeks, resulting in my "lifetime member" status, meaning I do not have to weigh in every week and as long as I am within 2lbs over my goal weight, I do not have to pay anymore. I have kept this weight off now for 5.5 years and when I was at my lowest weight, I had lost 65lbs. Two years ago, I started the P90X program and finished it just before going on a cruise! I lost weight and gained a lot of muscle. I was able to feel confident in my swimming trunks without a shirt on really for the first time in my life. As soon as I got home, I did the Insanity program then repeated both programs two more times. At my 10 year high school reunion, where most of these people have not seen me since high school when I was 225lbs, I got a lot of excited responses and some friends didnt even recognize me! It felt great! When I got home though, I did not get back on the program and have done small workouts here and there, but they are few and far between. I tried to start P90X again twice in this time, and failed to make it past the first few days both times. A little over a year ago I found an adult beginners gymnastics class offered twice a week and fell in love. I am getting my body to do things I had only imagined doing, but never actually thought possible for me! After about a year, I have been able to do back handsprings and move them from the tumble track (long, skinny trampoline) to the floor! Since stopping working out though, I can tell that I am losing the strength and stamina I had and the workout before class and the actual gymnastics is getting much harder. The number on the scale is going up, I am losing the muscle mass I had worked so hard to gain. I am ready to make a change. I am very excited to get started with the six week challenge coming up and am starting to put it all together! I feel that the nerdy basis will help me stay motivated to stick to it! Wow! That was a lot more wordy than I had planned on! Sorry bout that to whoever actually reads through it!! Good luck everyone!

I don't want to wait until November 11, so this will be a 7 week challenge, starting with week 0... Week 0 is a trial week to sort out the goals & set the pace, but won't count towards the total. Inspiration: I just started another rewatch of my favourite TV series – Star Trek: The Next Generation and I have decided to draw upon that for inspiration. I love many of the characters but on is my clear cut favourite. And I think he is a great role model! Jean-Luc has many awesome qualities that I want to focus on in this challenge: he is reliable, responsible, driven, hard-working, passionate and values his health – he is in great shape! So when I am wondering if I should, for example, eat ice cream instead of practicing handstands, I can simply ask myself “what would Picard do?â€. Main Quest: Short form: feel better in my body and do awesome things with said body. My life is pretty great. I have achieved a lot of the big goals that I have worked towards. My family is rad, and I have friends that I love and hobbies that make me happy. However, I constantly dragged down by my insecurities and general feeling of self-lameness (less severe than self-hate, but still not good). My main quest is to get right with myself! I can do this my treating myself well – mind and body. I am an advocate of healthy living and I want to be a positive example. And equally importantly, being fit and feeling comfortable in my body makes me happy! Exercise is great for my soul and helps me get through my hectic life. Self-care is important, and exercise and healthy eating are some of the best things I can do for myself. Often when I struggle, I get in a rut. Ruts are bad. So to counter this, I am adding a “never two in a row†rule. That means that I have to turn it around the next day. I can’t skip two daily work outs in a row. I can’t eat poorly (self-evaluated at C or less) two days in a row. This main quest is rather abstract and immeasurable; I am okay with that. Within the framework of this main quest, I can develop many specific and attainable sub quests. Which are as follows: Diet Quest: Short form: a. log my food, grade my eating & b. lose 5 pounds. Resulting from an unhealthy relationship with food, I am a few (many) pounds heavier than I would like to be. I know what healthy eating looks like for me, and I feel best when I eat healthy. But sometimes my emotions and thoughts get in the way and I use my fork to self-destruct. I keep learning more about myself in this regard. Anyways, the quests! · Every day, I need to log what I eat and grade my eating. My grades will be assigned based on how closely I follow the diet laid out by my person. I’ll average my marks at the end of challenge and assign stat points accordingly. (2 CHA) Strategy talk: Sometimes I make shitty decisions. Now I have a plan! Before I eat, I will ask myself ‘am I hungry’. If I am not, rather than giving myself a food hug I will do something else nice – go for a walk, do some gymnastics, snuggle my dog, focus on my breathing, have some tea. If I feel crazy, I can ask myself ‘what would Picard do’? And I can watch this helpful inspirational video: · Weight loss…. The entirety of my success on this part of the quest is not dependent on the scale but my weight does matter to me. I would like to lose five pounds over the course of this challenge. That will get me a bit closer to my goal weight. Forward progress is great, even if it is slow. (2 CHA) o November 5 weigh in: 176.2 lb Fitness Quests: Short form: a. daily flexibility routine b. work out at least 5 times per week. I started gymnastics a few months ago, and I am head over heels in love. I have never loved a sport this much. I can’t get enough. What I lack in skill (I am very lacking in skill), I make up for in enthusiasm. I am still working on the basics – I want to get them down solidly before I move on to more complex skills. Currently, I am only focusing on tumbling. The ‘basic’ skills I am working on: cartwheels, handstands, bridge, kicks, front and back rolls. I am working towards: front and back walkovers and round offs. Gymnastics and aerial training have made me very aware of how weak and un-bendy I am. I want to address those shortcomings in this challenge. · Daily practice: I am going to work every day to improve in key areas – splits, shoulder flexibility, bridge and handstand. I will record my progress in this sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai4WicKAma42dFFKYzBYQ3c1RVd1SGNvSGR4YjFEckE#gid=0. The workout doesn’t need to happen at the same time, but I need to be sure to warm up for the splits, kicks and bridge work. (4 DEX) · Weekly workouts: I would go to most of these anyways, but for a few of the work outs I need that ‘extra’ motivation. Below is the general schedule – but things change week to week. Ideally, I will work out every day; however, if I work out 5/7 days of the week I am counting that as an A. (2 DEX, 2 STR) o Monday: Gymnastics o Tuesday: Strength o Wednesday: Gymnastics o Thursday: Silks & Trapeze, Conditioning & Flexibility. Optional – drop in handstand practice o Friday: Spin o Saturday: Strength until I start Saturday gymnastics in December, or aerial open gym. o Sunday: Run, strength or hot yoga. Life Side-Quest: Short form: early to bed, early to rise. Recently I have been getting up late (and getting to school late). This is probably because I go to bed late and have poor sleep hygiene. I plan to correct this by going to bed 15 minutes earlier every week. My average bed time is midnight. So I will be in bed, lights out and no TV at 11:45 in week one (one hour later on the weekends). I can read my textbook in bed after this time, but nothing else. And I can only hit snooze once. I will set my alarm for when I want to get up, and get up then. (3 STA) Revision! I flourished when I was working towards my last 'life' goal and I want to focus on that a bit more before moving on to something else. So, the goal is to study for at least an hour every day and to go to every class unless I have a conflicting academic commitment. And I will try really hard to be early! (3 WIS)