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Liberator's 3rd Challenge: Building habits for a Beautiful Back & a Masterful Mind #1 AM Gratitude StatementsLove writing these things! I aim for three a day but it gets hard to stop at just three. 5 minutes daily AM#2 AM Meditation and Yoga Practice and Light Therapy10 minute daily AM meditation with red light 5 minute daily AM yoga routine - sun salutations A x5 5 minute daily AM back stretches and chest openers & foam roller #3 DietCarb Nite Solution w/Bulletproof coffeeHigh fat, med protein and ultra-low carb; 30g w/weekly carb nite refeedCurrent: size 8, weight 145-150lbGoal: size 6, weight 140-145lb#4 PostureAll Day Posture work; mindfulness awareness of my shoulder blades to open chest.I need a reminder to fix my posture when I am sitting; a poster, a bracelet, a thing on my finger… something visual…A photo of Kelly Starrett telling me to "organize" perhaps #5 Strength Weight-lifting 2x week 20 minutes after workMonday or Tuesday then Thursday or Friday at School/WorkBig Five WorkoutChest Press - 60lb inc to 75lbPull Down -85lb inc to 100lbRowing - 85lb inc to 100lbShoulder Press - 25lb inc to 40lbLeg Press - 275lb inc to 325lb5:00 PM Home Workout (for off days)50 squats50 lounges 50 jumping jacks25 pushups Side Quests: Organization & PlanningThe biggest challenge for me in my life is organization.Creating habits & Planning to get more out of lifeUse Identity Statement: I am organized and focused 1 - Create Daily routines2 - Declutter & Organize my home3 - Address Health Issues: Skin/Allergies4 - Plan Summer of Awesome 2014; Rome?, Chicago?, Savanna?, ??? 5 - Review and address Bucket List Items Grading A = 6-7 times per weekB = 4-5 times per weekC = 3-2 times per weekD = once per week RewardsNew Spring Clothes in a size 6 Massage(Need to add something awesome here!)

Hello, assassins! Fair warning: long post ahead. My very vague master quest is to survive a semester in Rome, which I hope to take in Fall 2014. I need the strength to haul heavy suitcases through airports and up hotel stairs, the stamina to spend entire days or weekends walking through Europe, the discipline to finish my final paper in history during the semester while making time to explore the world, and the skills/charisma to order meals in multiple languages and meet new people. The main focus of this challenge is discipline and habits. Fitness goals are based around establishing habits of exercise, establishing a habitual bedtime, and not eating food that makes me feel sick. (I may change the latter to keeping a food journal.) My “life goal†is to stick to a study schedule. This is to make sure I develop habits of working ahead, instead of surfing the web until 9PM and realizing I have twenty pages in Italian due the next day. Anyway. Habits are good. Habits are wonderful. Habits means that I have time, energy, and willpower to study Italian, write a book for my Italian prof (in Italian!), study music so I can serenade Stephen random people in Italy, and finally finish a paper without pulling all-nighters. In Italy. Yay, Italy! I continue with the nitty-gritty below: definitions, the grading scale, examining pitfalls and their solutions, and possible rewards/motivations for succeeding in goals. Grading scale (I may edit this to reflect NF "standards" of grading): Workouts: Do 3 NF Beginner Body Weight Workouts every week. A+: All 18 workouts! (Cool beans! I bet you could literally catch a bus by now!) Graded by percentage on a ten-point scale. Sleep: Go to sleep between 10:30 and 11:30 every night. A+: Get to bed on schedule every night! (That’s 42 nights!) A: Miss 2 nights. (You were skyping Stephen random people, weren’t you?) B: Miss 4 nights. C: Miss 6 nights. D: Miss 8 nights. F: Miss more than 10 nights. Food: Eat no bad food or keep a food journal (while still eating no bad food). A+: No bad food during the entire challenge! Recorded every meal! A: Only 2 slip-ups! Only missed 2 meals! B: 4 slip-ups. Missed 4 meals. C: 6 slip-ups. Missed 6 meals. D: 8 slip-ups. Missed 8 meals. F: 10 or more slip-ups. Missed 10 or more meals. (I’ll get the stomach pump.) Life: Stick to a study schedule. (I’m still working on the schedule, but it essentially means doing homework before dinner and not fiddling on the internet before work is done.) A+: On schedule every day! Graded by percentage on a ten-point scale. Definitions: 1. BWW—the NerdFitness beginner Body Weight Workout, linked here. 2. Bad food—things that make me feel sick. Right now, dairy is the major offender as I am lactose intolerant. I’m also avoiding super-sugary or processed foods (i.e. Cheerios, most cereals, and anything that might be classified as "candy"), rice milk, and most chocolate. (I get that you would add milk to milk chocolate, but why would you also add in milk protein, milk fat, whey, butter, AND lactose?!) Good food is healthy stuff that I can eat—most veggies, some meat, and most fruits. Grains (especially those with gluten) are currently questionable but probably okay. A food journal would help identify possible food allergies. 3. Habits—things or routines to which I become accustomed. Right now, my habits involve “surfing the internet after class†and “devouring the souls of the unborn.†Future habits may involve “studying for two hours after class†and “going to bed at 11.†4. Bedtime—for this challenge, between 10:30 and 11:30. End goal: get to bed around 11 every day to maximize sleep and productivity. 5. Stephen—shhh. 6. Study schedule: still working on this one, and it may become more/less specific as I need it to be. Essentially, I go to the library and study after class, try to do my homework on the day it is assigned, and work a little bit on big projects every day. Potential pitfalls: In the past, anxiety/depression due to major life shifts kept me from finishing. I also seem to recoil from words like “challenges.†Luckily, life moved on and the anxiety has mostly gone with its source. For this challenge, I expect the biggest issue to be my health; I quit yoga last year because I my carpal tunnel (which still plagues my wrists), and I seem to be developing new food allergies. Yay. Solutions: 1. Remember that fitness resolves a lot of health problems, like wrist/back pain. 2. Good form. I can do pushups on my fists because it keeps my wrists straight and happy. 3. Avoid bad food. This week, I’ve already had to cut out rice milk and chocolate. 4. Possibly keep a food journal to identify bad food. 5. Schedules. Schedules. Seriously. Schedules smash excuses. 6. Fitness gives you more energy, which means you can do more stuff. 7. Puns and cat gifs. Join me in my quest! I am excited to join you in yours!

SuNoYo Want to Be A Cat 'Cause a cat's the only cat Who knows where it's at. 'Cause ev'rybody digs a swingin' cat. Previous challenge My last challenge was pretty awesome, though there were some stumbling blocks and, somewhat stereotypically for a Brit, 'rain stopped play' at times. Well, I say 'rain' it was more like hurricane force storms, floods and structural/property damage to my local area (and the country at large). Equally stereotypically, I put on my stiff upper lip (well, with one or two exceptions) and kept on going. Not one to let my momentum tail off when I'm on a roll, I'm dropping straight into my next challenge. It's themed and everything. Main Goal: SuNoYo Want to Be (More Like) A Cat Cats! Cats are adorable, cuddly and a source of adorableness, silly antics, cuddles, comfort and a whole host of other things. F'r'instance: Cats Are (Usually) Flexible and Agile Cats are masters of agility and flexibility, regularly contorting themselves into small balls of adorableness and just strange pretzel shapes with no sign of discomfort. They climb high things with ease, perch on top of narrow things without care and are generally graceful little things. - Complete the beginner's programme on doyogawithme.com OR do yoga exercises a minimum of three times a week, paying particular attention to the wrists, forearms and upper body as I find that my wrists and shoulders (and butt, but that's another thing altogether) always ache the most after a BBWW, even with a cool down incorporating T'ai Chi stretches. - My hips, alas, are not equally flexible or mobile, I would go so far as to say that while they are both equal, one hip is more equal than the other. I will do a hip specific exercise every day, be it hip related mobility exercise from Gold Medal Bodies, MWOD, yoga or even Pilates. Or something else entirely. I'm open to suggestions. Success Markers - I can touch forehead to right knee about half the time; I want to be able to touch forehead to right knee all the time and at least lessen the distance between the forehead and my left knee from three inches to one inch. - When my wrists and forearms in general no longer hurt after a BBWW or other strenuous exercise (or is markedly less painful/frequent). - Doing the yoga three times a week minimum. - The hip thing. Self-esteem challenge: Splits. Do them. Cats Are (Usually) Calm and Quiet Cats are masters of being calm, able to sit down and (seemingly) contemplate the mysteries of the world for hours on end, rather than facing a problem or conflict head on they will think about it beforehand so as not to get in too deep. - Meditate every day for at least five minutes at any time about my day, my feelings and my life. My sleeping meditation doesn't count. - When faced with a significant problem or someone spoiling for a fight, rather than rising to the fight or getting into a panic about the problem or event I will breathe. I will think. I will calmly evaluate the problem or argument at hand and find a way to defuse my growing negative emotions. - Sleep. Do it. Six hours a day minimum at a sensible time. This means no more composing posts on NerdFitness at half past four in the morning. Yes, this is actually the very last sub-goal I'm writing given that I just saw the time. Success Markers - Meditating every day and by the end of this SWC be able to meditate for at least forty minutes a day (in chunks or all at once). - The reason I added 'someone spoiling for a fight' in my little challenge is that I have a relative who enjoys nothing more than calling me horrible names and accusing me of being a Jew killing Nazi, a member of the KKK and saying things in my presence about slavery being good, that all gay men should be gassed and basically the kind of appalling things that would get you insta-banned almost everywhere online or, should you say it in the wrong place in the real world get you beaten up. And because he's autistic he more or less gets excused everything and I'm the one to blame for trying to defend myself. I won't rise to him. I won't. I can't calmly argue anything he says because he takes it as an excuse to say worse things and start screaming. I can't ignore him because then I'm at fault. I will simply . . . breathe. And agree. - I have awful social anxiety/crippling shyness/people problems. Even applying for jobs (and Master's courses) scares me to the point of nausea so, depending on my general mood I actively avoid it. This is a Bad Thing. I will have figured out what exactly makes me feel like this, and begin finding ways to address it. - Sleep is happening at a sensible time. Self-esteem challenge: Leading on from the above I will have applied for at least three jobs AND/OR at least one MA course. Cats Are (Usually) Creatures of Habit Indoors and Outdoors Cats, once they fall into a pattern stick to it like no one's business. Her Majesty will be in this room, sleeping on your feet for four hours between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon; then you will walk with her to her next room, opening doors as you go. From two in the afternoon until six in the evening she will sleep on the router, the meagre space between your laptop and your crossed legs on your laptop if necessary, and on your feet. At six you will share your dinner with her. At twenty-five to seven you will open the room's door, escort her downstairs to her place on her 'table' where you will feed her and pour a precise mix of water and milk into her cup. You will also turn on the tap and ensure there is a clear space in the sink and on the draining board so that she may drink at her leisure and so on and so forth. - Keep doing T'ai Chi once a week at class and after every BBWW. Therefore, keep doing your BBWW three times a week even when I'm tempted not to because this challenge 'technically' isn't focussing on strength. - Cats shouldn't be kept indoors, they need to go outside. So do humans. Spend more than an hour outside the house every day, even if it means spending time inside another building, such as visiting another person or shopping, though it's preferred to be simply outdoors. Success Markers - all T'ai Chi classes attended unless they're cancelled - all BBWWs and T'ai Chi work done every week unless excused due to injury, illness or pushed back a bit due to The Icky Period. - I'm voluntarily spending time outdoors every day, for longer and longer periods of time. Free passes for: bad weather, especially if it puts me at risk or could affect my health; actually being properly ill/injured. The missed daily hour is still expected to be made up wherever possible. Self-esteem Challenge: most of this SWC involves getting into the habit of doing things; at least one of my other goals/sub-goals must be maintained 100% while maintaining all all my other good habits. - stop my usual form of self-harm (ripping and biting at the flesh around my fingertips) or at the very least drastically reduce it to no more than once a day. - doesn't actually belong here, but I don't care - there's an all-day T'ai Chi course some time in early April. Attend providing you have the funds. Life Side Quest Cats Are (Usually) Clean and Fastidious Cats are obsessed with being clean, while simultaneously being cursed by their owners for making a furry mess everywhere, they groom themselves nigh on hourly and they (almost) always look well-presented and cared for. For much of my teenage and university years I struggled with (and still do) undiagnosed depression (and those social issues I previously mentioned) and, to be frank, I would often neglect my personal hygiene for days on end. I wouldn't bother showering, washing my teeth, changing my clothes; and in many ways I just didn't care for myself in any way at all. I didn't live in my head, I lived in my books. - I will shower every other day - I will maintain my morning and night time facial routine, including the cleaning of the teeth. - I have too many belongings, some of which I almost never use. Not including my books, I will systematically go through my clothes, jewellery and other items and sort out what to keep, what to throw away and what to donate to charity. I currently have one suitcase, one (and a half) drawer(s) and a box of clothing; four or so boxes of college and uni work and other items and who knows what scattered around the house. I will get rid of at least ten percent of it, particularly the clothes. Self-esteem challenge: pitch in more around the house; learn to do the laundry properly for when I move out. Rewards: Ehm. We'll see.

I’ve been in a bit of a funk the last couple of months and have managed to get up to ~170 pounds/~35% body fat. It’s frustrating – very frustrating – but I know it’s my own doing. It’s a constant struggle for me to focus on getting healthy versus getting skinny, but I’m working on it. I’m doing my best to start 2014 off right! My main quest is for this challenge is to build some good habits. It’s easy for me to get discouraged when I don’t see my body changing quickly, even when I know I’m being unrealistic. So, I’m using this challenge as an opportunity to focus on habits versus my body. Goals/Habits 1) Yoga 2) Fruits and veggies 3) Food log 4) Posture Attend yoga classes. I have not been exercising like I should. I keep getting overly excited, burning myself out, and then not starting up again…until the next time I get overly ambitious. I need to get into the habit of exercising regularly. Fortunately, I found a great yoga studio and it’s on my way home, which is really important for me. I’ll be going three times a week, Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. Tomorrow will be my first class. (STR +3, DEX +1, STA +1) Eat two fruits and/or veggies at every meal. I’ve been sorely slacking in the fruit and veggie department. To get back into the habit of including them, I’ll be eating two fruits/veggies at every meal. That’s either two whole pieces or two cups. And it has to be two different fruits/veggies, not just a double serving. (CON +4) Keep a daily food log. I have never been successful when I’ve tried to limit and track my calories/food intake. That being said, I feel that I need to get into the habit of seeing/tracking what I eat every day. So I will be keeping a food log (using my Fitbit account). Though my goal is to eat no more than 2000 calories and no more than 150 grams of carbs a day, that’s not what I’m tracking. I just want to have a realistic idea of how much I’m eating every day. (WIS +3) Sit and stand with proper posture. I used to be the girl that received daily compliments on how lovely my posture was. That is not the case anymore. I want to redevelop the habit so that it’s not something I have to think about anymore. (CHA +3)

End of the Year Habit Building Main Quest: Build Habits For a Life of Fitness Attend Krav Maga class twice a week. (Tuesday and Thurday.) Execute MadBarz Basic Beginner routine 3x a week Follow Body Building Revealed diet routine Side Quest: Bring GPA up to 2.8 or better Find an app that reminds me of homework Input homework after every class that has homework Complete homework as soon as I get home Motivation: I don't know why I started to lack in my habit of working out everyday. I was seeing results and I have a dream of becoming a fitness model and personal trainer. Maybe I didn't have clear goals, but now I do. So this time, next year, I can hope that all my hard work has landed me in a gym where I can start personal training. I just want to help people. I guess my ultimate life goal is to be a kick ass lifesaving firefighter. That should be my ultimate motivation. So every day of my life from now on, I will act as if my life and other lives depend on it … because it does. Just a side note: I will be recording my physique and progress via workout journals, pictures, and videos! I'll be making a YouTube Channel tonight! Hopefully I can get some subscribers! And Eventually I will make it BACK to the Assassins guild. This is my 3rd challenge, but the first challange I shall fully commit to!

I am going to properly fill this in when I have a bit more time so this is more of a placeholder as I want to at least get my goals set down seeing as the challenge has now started. Goal 1: get back into the routine if doing bodyweight exercises 3 times a week and for this six weeks I'm going to focus on upping my endurance so high number of reps for smaller number of sets. My targets will be for 2 sets of 20 push-ups, 2sets of 20 assisted one leg squats, 2 sets of 20 assisted pull ups and 2sets of 15 hanging knee raises. Of course, if I hit those targets before 6 weeks, I will move on to harder variations but I'd like to be getting some good rep numbers in first. My actual success with the goal though will be measured by the number of workouts per week rather than reaching certain rep counts as I want this challenge to be more about building good habits rather than hitting specific progress goals. STR +3, STA +2 Goal 2: continuing my already running 28 day handstand challenge, I hope to go beyond holding a one minute wall handstand which is the focus of that and try to get to 2 minutes and make some attempts at possibly managing some freestanding handstands. Like goal 1 though, my real target is to practice every day and establish the habit of getting upside down on a regular basis. DEX +3, Goal 3: increase my supple strength by doing active stretching every day. My introduction to bodyweight was through the first Convict Conditioning book so following on from that I'm going to be doing the three active stretches of the Trifecta in the second book- the various progressions towards bridges, L-sits and twists which tie in nicely with my longer term goals of eventually doing handstands, bridges and L-sits. CON +2, STA +2, Goal 4: get creative by doing some writing of any kind for at least 5 minutes every day. Some days it'll maybe sketching out ideas for stories, maybe I'll experiment with some poetry, whatever takes my fancy- I just want to do something creative. It may well be that my writing for the day will be an update to this thread, I certainly plan to update more often than in previous challenges, so in future I'm going to attempt to be more entertaining or interesting with my updates. I don't know how that'll end up or if there will be any kind of style running throughout them but I do hope that I'll have fun finding out. CHA +3 I'll try to do a bit more of a thorough explanation tomorrow, listing how I'll measure things and what I'll count as successes or failures and I might even try to find a way to link my title with what I'm actually doing as at the moment it's just really a mildly amusing misquotation of Spider-man rather than actually having anything to do with my goals. P.s. In future I'll also spell check before I post too!

THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!!!!! And there may or may not be zombies involved.... Technically it's just the end of the year, but this is the time of year when all of my plans, to get healthy and lose weight and build good habits and suchlike, go flying out the window. For one thing, I've got two weeks left of NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writers Month - where crazy writer-types sign up and attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This means most of my time and energy is devoted to writing. And when I'm not actually writing, I'm plotting, planning and otherwise ruminating over what I'll be writing next. That's why I'm only getting around to joining the current challenge today. I've been writing. And I'm behind. In fact I've only got 10,000 words right now when I ought to have16,667 as of yesterday and 18,333 by the end of today. So as soon as I finish this, I'm gonna go write. Right! In addition to NaNoWriMo, I've read about a certain phenomenon, and have experienced it to be true, that people tend to gain weight in winter. Why? Well, lots of reasons that I've read about for example that we tend to feel more hungry and crave more food in a cold house than in a warm one. It's harder to be active in the winter months, especially around here in Wisconsin - in fact it just started snowing. We tend to choose carbs - aka Comfort Foods - as a quick fix for hunger and for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). We eat more under stress, and let's face it, the holidays can be very freaking stressful. Not to mention the holiday's themselves which tend to turn into multi-day food extravaganzas. The fact is, since the start of November I've already gained back a few of the pounds I so recently lost. My Life Quest continues to be achieving the weight that I had in high school, back when people made me feel fat, but I really wasn't. Still aiming at 152, though the other day I looked at my driver's license and thought it would be nice to weigh the 170 that I claimed I weighed the day I got it. Goal #1 - Escape PlanCircumstances may require that I need to relocate very quickly. To that end I've discovered that going up and down the stairs at my office, which has 1034 of them, is a great weight to get in shape. In fact, I'm doing a charity stair climb on Thursday. But, I want to continue on with the climbing after Thursday, and working out at work is a good thing. On days when I don't do stairs, I plan to bust out my mini-trampoline and start running from zombies again. And there may be some rock climbing thrown in there too, from time to time. Get 30 minutes of cardio exercise at least 5 days a week. Days missed - 5 or less = A, 6-7 = B, 8-9 = C, 10-11= D, 12 or more days missed = F. +2 STA +1 DEX Goal #2 - Stock Up (and Ration)I've been slacking off a bit, and I do have a general tendency to eat prepackaged everything. But I'm gonna be packing my own lunches and avoiding eating out like its... well, the plague. My focus will be on whole foods, fruits and veggies, on keeping my meals simple, and on actually cooking my own meals from scratch every now and then. Also, I'll be tracking my points and not spending more that I've been allotted, but this isn't something I'll be tracking on Nerd Fitness since I already track that with Weight Watchers. Eat one 'from scratch' meal every day. No vending machine purchases or fast food, and no more than 2 prepackaged microwave meals per week. Days missed - 7 or less = A, 8-11 = B, 12-15 = C, 16-19 = D, 20 or more days missed = F, +1 CON, 2 WIS Goal #3 - Get StrongI may have to fight my way through hordes of the undead, or worse, the shoppers on Black Friday! I may need to kick ass in multiple ways. And even if I don't need to, just knowing I'm able to kick ass on a moment's notice is always nice. So I'm going to start, and STICK TO, a body weight workout that will get me strong enough to face whatever comes my way. Body Weight Work out 3 days a week. Days missed - 3 or less = A, 4 = B, 5 = C, 6 = D, 7 or more days missed =F +3 STR Side Quests Fight the Winter Blues (fitness) I'm going to sleep. Okay, this sounds weird as a fitness quest. But honestly, everything I've read and heard points to the fact that the more good sleep you get, the more likely you'll be to lose weight. And right now I'm getting about six hours on the weekdays. Of course, this whole writing thing, and the fact that I tend to not even start writing until 11:00pm and then don't wrap up until 1:00am, is definitely a factor right now. But even in general, I don't get enough sleep. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. Days missed = 6 or less = A, 8-11 = B, 12-15 = C, 16-19 = D, 20 or more days missed = F +2 CON Communication (Life) There's safety in numbers, so I'm going to stay in touch with my fellow survivors by staying active with the Guild and encouraging my fellow Assassins on their quests. Check in with one fellow assassin every day, at least 5 days per week. Days missed - 5 or less = A, 6-7 = B, 8-9 = C, 10-11= D, 12 or more days missed = F. +3 CHA

Well, here goes my second challenge (and my first as a full-fledged Ranger). It will technically be a five-week challenge for me, as I don't finish my exams until the 14th and so I will be using every spare moment up until then to cram! Main Quest: To make exercise a natural, joyful and intrinsic part of my life. I want exercise to be something I do instinctively, something I look forward to, rather than just another chore to be crossed off my to-do list. I know this may take a while, and that I may have to treat working out as chore initially, but hopefully these coming weeks can help me to take a few first steps along that path! My fitness goals: 1. Run barefoot for 20 minutes (STA - 4 points) I used to run barefoot back in high school, simply because I ran faster barefoot and found shoes so uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I have been wearing shoes to run for more than five years now and have completely lost the knack of landing on my forefoot and not my heel! I know it will take a while for my feet and calves to get used to the change in my stride so I plan on taking it very slowly to begin with. I don't expect to be able to go outside and run five 5k barefoot right away! I am planning to use the first five weeks of the couch-to-5k program that got me back into running initially, so that I can gradually increase the time I run for with breaks in between runs to walk. Grading will be as follows: A - 20 or more minutes barefoot (4 points) B - 15-20 minutes barefoot (3 points) C - 10-15 minutes barefoot (2 points) F - Less than 10 minutes barefoot (0 points) 2. Do pistol squats barefoot! (STR - 1 point, DEX - 3 points) I can do unassisted pistol squats wearing shoes with a low heel. Barefoot, I can do either box pistol squats or assisted ones (holding on the edge of a table for balance). The issue for me is not so much that my legs aren't strong enough, it's that I lose my balance at the bottom of the squat and fall backward onto my bum. Not so classy! Even a two-inch heel gives me enough of a boost to be able to perform them, but I want to improve my balance and flexibility such that I can do pistols in bare feet. Like a boss. Or should I say, like Al Kavadlo: Grading will be as follows: A - 5 or more barefoot pistol squats (1, 3 points) B - 3 or 4 barefoot pistol squats (1, 2 points) C - 1 or 2 barefoot pistol squats (1, 1 point) F - Still unable to pistols barefoot (0 points) 3. Do 10 consecutive pull-ups (STR - 3 points) In my first challenge I sought to make the seemingly impossible jump from 0 pull-ups to 1 pull-up. While I was unsuccessful in my attempt during those six weeks, I kept at it afterwards. My first pull-up happened only two weeks later! In the month and a half since then I have gone from 1 to 5 pull-ups, so I feel like 10 in five weeks should be reasonable. I really hope I am successful because that will mean I can do more pull-ups than my (male) gym-going mate who inspired me to try them in the first place! Grading as follows: A - 10 or more pull-ups (3 points) B - 8 or 9 pull-ups (2 points) C - 6 or 7 pull-ups (1 point) F - No improvement (0 points) Life-related "Side Quest": 4. Read the Bible daily (WIS - 4 points) I am a Christian and believe that spending time reading the Bible, meditating on it and praying are essential to maintaining a healthy relationship with my heavenly Father. That said, as with exercise, I often struggle to make time with God a natural, joyful part of my everyday life. I want to make Bible reading a habit. After all, "Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (1 Tim 4:8) A - Bible reading 5+ times per week (4 points) B - 4 times per week (3 points) C - 3 times per week (2 points) F - Less than 3 times per week (0 points) My motivation: As before. To "run the race and keep the faith". I want to build habits that will stick with me through the rest of my life. After all, as FlyLady likes to remind me "Motivation gets you started but habit keeps you going". I was talking recently to a colleague about the concept of a "Life weight" - of maintaining a stable, healthy weight (plus or minus a kilo or two) throughout one's lifetime (not including pregnancies I suppose!) I'm not really sure whether the concept is a sensible one or not but I certainly like the idea of striving to maintain my current level of fitness into middle and old age. If I never allow myself to get "out of shape" I never have to get "back in shape"! My Weekly Exercise Routine: Monday - Modern Jive class (unrelated to any of my goals, but I love it, so I'm going to keep going!) Tuesday - Run Wednesday - Bodyweight workout Thursday - Run Friday - Bodyweight workout Saturday - Run Sunday - Bodyweight workout

The next few weeks are going to be crazy with work and travel and who knows what. So this challenge I'm going to focus solely on creating daily habits that make me feel good and that I can take with me through my next upcoming life transition. Side quest 1 - Splits and backbends (+4 DEX) My body tends to "curl up" when stressed and tired. Daily stretching restores it to normality. And who am I kidding, I want to become super bendy. Side quest 2 - Happy meals (+4 CON) Simple, the rule is to eat food that makes me happy. Tasty food = good, binge eating = bad. Side quest 3 - Dance! (+4 CHA) Get my boogie on for ONE song a day. Bonus for shimmying, bumping and grinding. Haven't completely forgotten about my Epic Quest Life side quest - Learn to draw! (+3 WIS) I've always wanted to learn but I suffer from a severe case of blank page syndrome. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, I'm going to make one drawing every day this challenge. Quantity over quality! Handstand PvP (+5 AWESOME) 5 min of handstands every day

I'm back with a vengeance.. although a day late getting started on the new challenge.. I bailed on my first challenge awhile back due to stress and strain.. and laziness. This time I'm determined to stick with it. I won't even attempt the role playing bit this time because I think it just distracts me. I would enjoy having more friends here at NF if anyone wants to friend me pretty please?? My plan is to get back to checking in here every day hopefully, even with my busy travel schedule around Ren Fair season.. that's what smart phones are for right? I will give support in return to the best of my ability. I've been doing a bad yo-yo thing for awhile now going from periods of pushing myself hard like some kind of intense bootcamp at times.. and then being totally bad to myself especially with poor dietary habits and bad habits in general.. Well no more.. I am resolved and serious and this will be my new battle log. I'm feeling incredibly grateful right now to Steve for that "hardhat" article with the "don't break the chain" calendar idea. The calendar part especially resonated with me.. when I was a troubled teen (many moons ago now) I used to draw my own calendars and then cross off each day, counting down the days until my eighteenth birthday when I could get away from my family. Crossing off those calendar days kept me sane then.. I'm hoping it will again now with the days being crossed off in a new way. I've been at it for a few weeks and have found it surprising how much being able to cross off the day on my calendar has been motivational. Yesterday I broke the chain and felt really bad about it.. so I'm more resolved than ever now to get back to it and not break that chain again for a very very long time.. The article said just pick one thing but.. I have more than one thing I really need to work on so I came up with this approach: Rather than just crossing off the days I am making 4 lines.. an X and a cross.. I call it a Dingir (because it's a little bit like the Sumerian Cuneiform by that name that denotes holiness/deity.) I've also seen it listed as a symbol for chaos and it's called the "8 fold path" in Buddhism. I've often drawn these type things in the past when making bulleted lists in my own handwriting and I just like making them as a doodle, sometimes with a circle or square around them. What I've decided to do is make each line of the Dingir on my calendar in a different color which I can only mark on the calendar if I have stuck with the goal for that color. The Orange line is for exercise, I can only mark that line if I've done at least 45 minutes of exercise during that day. The Purple line is for sobriety, I can only mark that line if I have abstained from any and all intoxicants during that day. The Green line is for dietary, I can only mark that line if I have eaten sensibly during that day. The Blue line is for mental outlook, I can only mark that line if I have generally kept a good attitude and not allowed myself to dwell on any problems during that day. I decided to also use Red to box them in as a bonus if I complete a round of face reflexology at some point during the day (usually at bedtime) which I find helps me relax and sleep and keeps my jaw from getting tense from stress. My challenge for the next 6 weeks and beyond is to be able to mark the multicolored dingirs on my calendar without breaking the chain at all hopefully. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what is my "hardhat" (as the article describes it).. so far it seems to just be helpful to remind myself how much I want a better life and imagining what it would look like/be like when I need the "hardhat" to stay motivated. Sometimes I'm tempted to cross off the lines ahead of time to motivate myself that I then really can not slide on any of my goals.. but in some ways it makes more sense to me to wait and cross it off at the end of the day when I'm sure I have been successful. Here's what the mark looks like on my calendar: And here's the original article in case you missed it: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/09/03/the-30-day-hard-hat-challenge/

MY MAIN QUEST Pick your Main Quest - where do you want to be in a few months? I want to have a kitchen free of temptation and steady habit of eating Paleo. 2. Pick three incredibly specific goals (diet and fitness related) that will help you achieve your Main Quest 1.) Understand Paleo 2.) Systematically clear out my home and kitchen of food that calls to me 3.) Work up to 10 strictly Paleo meals a week by the end of the challenge. MY SIDE QUEST Life Side Quest: Purchase sensitive toothpaste and brush teeth at least once a day.

This time the Assassins found themselves in a place that looked somewhat familiar although still strikingly modern compared to what they were use to. They found themselves in a forest and began to explore to see where, and when, they might be. They came across a small town and met an old man who appeared to be a master at making wooden puppets. While questioning him about this world a small wooden puppet came out from a back room and spoke to the Assassins, who by this time had nearly seen it all in their leaps and were not in the least bit surprised to see a walking talking piece of wood carved in the shape of a small boy. When the Assassins had finished speaking with the puppet maker then left to explore the rest of the town. They had not noticed the small wooden toy following them, hiding behind merchant stalls and moving stealthily through the crowd. When they reached the end of the main thoroughfare however the boy was caught. The Assassins remarked that it was rare for them to be followed without their knowledge and asked if the wooden boy had a name. He called himself Pinocchio. He told the Assassins that the only one true thing he ever wanted was to become a real boy and he asked these newcomers if they could help him in his quest. The Assassins knew of no way they could help him but decided that they would try their best. The Assassins and Pinocchio started out on the quest. They traveled the length and breadth of the land in search of a way to make the wooden boy one of flesh. They told the wooden boy that being an Assassin was not all about not being seen, but also about the quest for perfection of mind and body. They started to teach him about the art of abandoning unskillful habits and developing skillful ones. They taught the boy that this was tougher then any physical training that a person could ever do, and that it is the mind that is the forerunner, creator, and master of everything else, even the concept of being a “real boy”. It was now time for the Assassins and Pinocchio to begin their battle of the mind and work on conquering a bad habit. Translation:A little different homework this time. We have 3 weeks left for this challenge, a little mid-challenge introspection won't hurt. Pick one of you bad habit (procrastination? mindless snacking? forgetting your workouts?... ) and focus on fighting it this week. That's all. If you manage to fight and vanquish one of your bad habit this week, you will earn +1 WIS Ressources:Spreadsheet of shame and cries: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At7S7lloHSubdG1PUXNIdzc2M2FCYUZsaWUwUnZINnc#gid=17Countdown: http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/to?iso=20130513T10&p0=195&msg=Pinocchio

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.†~ Chinese Proverb Last challenge I bit off more than I could chew in the perspective of the other changes happening in my life. I'm terrible with time management and without proper planning, I couldn't fit everything in. It made me think of Steve's article about a Robot's Guide to healthy living. If this Than that. I realized I really need to work on creating a daily routine, at least a loosely structured template, that will move me towards my goals. Take the brain out of the picture, and just DO certain things. Especially because I'm moving during this challenge, and this involves 3 weeks of planning, a week long road trip, staying with friends in five states, and 2 weeks setting up my new place and getting settled. Habit goal: IF it is morning THEN I will get up and go for a walk. It doesn't matter how far I walk or for how long, the point is to get myself out of bed and out the door immediately to get my blood pumping and get some vitamin D in the form of sunlight. 50 jumping jacks can be substituted for extremely inclement weather. Emphasis on extremely. Why its a challenge: Despite all of my work from last challenge, I still hate mornings. Why I want to do it anyway: I used to feel really good running every morning, and when I did this I just kind of fell out of bed into my running shoes and walked out the door. No thought involved. I just DID IT. Also I believe my gorilla workouts will be easier to start once I'm warmed up and woke up by a walk. Methods: Keep shoes by bedside. No options. Also if i'm really really zonkered, I'll grab a cup of coffee and drink it whilst walking. Double duty. No excuses. Grading: 35-42 days = A 27-35 days = B 20-27 days = C < 20 days = F Strength/Endurance Goal: IF it is Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday, THEN I will do push ups. The goal is to get back to TEN FULL PUSH UPS WITH PERFECT FORM. Why it's a challenge: These gorilla workouts for the last month and a half doing only knee push ups has wrecked my ability to do full push ups. I can now do like four. And they are wicked hard. Wobble arms. Mega sad. Why I want to do it anyway: I love push ups, they are fun, I want to be stronger, and I want to beat my best friend's husband in push up contests. End of story. Method: Mon-Wed-Fri regular gorilla workout, Tue-Thu-Sat 100 pushups challenge. Grading: 10 = A 9 = B 8 = C <8 = F Skill Goal: IF it is nighttime THEN I will stretch. Primary goal here is working towards Front splits and Backbends. Why this is a challenge: I'm wicked tight. I've never been able to get into a split, even during two years of gymnastics as a kid. Why I want to do it anyway: A. splits and backbends are good party tricks 2. My problem areas (places I have the worst posture and get the most pain) are my hips and upper back/shoulders. I can already feel after three days of splits and bridges, these areas are strengthening, my posture is improving, and i'm in less pain. Methods: 15 minutes of stretching every night before bed. Every day. No going to bed without stretching. Grading: -3 inches on splits, 30 second bridge = A -2 inches on splits, 20 second bridge = B -1 inches on splits, 15 second bridge = C Anything less = F This is where I'm starting for splits: Life Goal: IF I am practicing the violin THEN I will do drills for playing in tune. I will be working on learning the chorus for Crystalize (is it called a chorus in an instrumental piece?), but also focusing largely on perfecting the part I already know, and doing- hopefully daily- exercises specific to playing in tune. Why this is a challenge: It's a very difficult song, and I often have a tendency to go too fast and hit sour notes. Why I want to do it anyway: I love the violin and I want to be awesome at it. I want to play the things I hear in my head and not have them come out sounding like dying cats. Methods: I am hoping to have time on a daily basis to play the violin. This is especially awkward for the first 4 weeks so I will have to be creative with this. I'm staying with friends since I left my apartment, and don't want to subject them to me screechy practicing. I'm thinking of buying a practice mute (probably not for a while, i have no mailing address) or going to the park to practice after work (more likely) or a combination of both. I want to search the internets for "playing in tune" tutorials. I've also considered fretboard tape, however half the sources I read says it delays learning by ear and half of them say it speeds up this process. I don't know what to believe. I couldn't figure out a measurable part to this (S.M.A.R.T goal) as far as quality goes, so I'm grading on how many minutes of "In-tune exercises" I do per week. I'm aiming for 30. Grading: 30 minutes / week = A 20 minutes / week = B 15 minutes / week = C < 15 minutes = F So here are my four little rocks I'm going to carry away from my mountain for the next six weeks!

Ok if I'm going to get serious about things I need a battle log to make me accountable. Just don't expect me to be *actually* accountable until April 15. This gives a squishy weak part of my brain time to cower temporarily and then get used to the idea of change..

Phew! I thought I'd missed the challenge. I have a habit of starting stuff up which doesn't stick, like checking NF forums, and then kicking myself when I miss out as a result! My goal for this challenge is to take part and complete it. Seriously, if I do just that for the duration of the challenge, I will be super happy with myself. OK, OK, some health goals. And some context. I had a snowboarding accident in February. YAY ICE. Kids, always wear a helmet. I wouldn't be here if I hadn't. This is why I am now a Cyborg (part-titanium!). Ahem. Prior to the accident I was really on a good track with Crossfit and supplemental work, but it wasn't structured, and I could really use a little more routine. I only started going back to Crossfit last week, so I am ramping up again and definitely feeling sore after workouts, so my plan is to not over-stretch myself but to set up habits gently. Starting point: 165lb, eat too much sugar but otherwise decent paleo/primal diet, 3 crossfit workouts a week and one yoga, want to improve my upper body strength and strength in general along with upper body mobility and posterior chain activation. Also want to buy a house next year so hubby & I are aggressively ramping up our savings. :] Oh, and in terms of hairy goals, I was just reading about Bronwyn and wondering... maybe I could compete in lifting? I could be strong. So here's the foundation for that. GOALS 1. Do mobility work EVERY DAY. 2. Complete a Whole May (strict paleo for the month of May) along with my Crossfit gym. 3. Two strength focused workouts per week. 4. Put $1000 into savings account by end of May. 5. Participate actively in NF six week challenge! :] PLAN Mobility - I am going to do a morning stretch before work, there's a really nice area I can go and do it outside with the lovely weather, will keep my ratty yoga mat in my car for this purpose. I als o plan to try out a new yoga class every week, my aim is to figure out a yoga class where the level/pace/instructor works for me (don't have that dialed in yet). Ideally one that doesn't cost money... Whole May - This should be doable, I've done Whole30 by myself before and with the gym doing it, I can't see too much trouble. I don't like giving up dairy, but I recently found my stomach cramping after cheese so cutting it out might be for the best. Strength - I think this is going to challenge me the most, I have Tuesday and Thursday mornings free so I plan to pick up Stronglifts or Starting Strength (I have the stronglifts app but prefer SS) and work through the program. I am going to allow myself to skip due to post-Crossfit soreness, and catch up at the weekend. The weight will be pretty light for a while so I think I will be ok without overstretching myself. Money money money - I will automatically direct money from every paycheck into savings -- and identify one thing to sell every week and put that money in savings too. $1000 is a big goal and I'll have to be mindful about my spending. Participation - I'm going to add a calendar reminder right now to log into NF. Maybe I can make a nice morning routine of doing my stretch and then hitting up NF to check in.

G'day guys! First of of all, who I am: Age: 31 Height: 1,65m (5'5") Weight: 67kg (147lb) I am a brazilian guy living as a student in Sydney. I'm not really fat but within the last 10 years I developed a top belly and it really bother me and I decide to do something. I work from 6:30am to 3pm and then I go to school from 5 to 9. My workplace has a gym for the employees which I tried to use it some times before go to school. My top goals are to be successful in creating the fitness habit, eat healthy and meditate. I got the Rebel Strenght Guide and had a look on the forum, but I think that there is to much infomation and I don't know how to start everything. Need some help. Ps: I know that my english sucks but I'm working on it. Feel free to mock me.

A quick look into my last two challenges reveals: In the first one I participated in, I skipped a week or so, but managed to post a finishing post with an overall B. (But never got round to upping my character..) I did not even finish my second challenge, just dropped the ball at some point and 'what the hell' took care of the rest. I did decide not to participate in the last challenge because I was ill for the first three weeks and It would not have had much of a point. But here I am again, finally trying to stick through the whole thing for once. I'll take it a little easier on the goals, making sure they are some progress towards some of my 2013 goals without having them become too overwhelming. Some are rehashes of the last challenges, and I'll try to apply what I've learned from my failures.. Fitness / health goals: - Drink 2 liters of water each day. Hydration is a must for productivity and I've failed on this multiple times. Not this time! 30/35 of 42: +1 CON each, 40/42: +1 WIS - Cold shower or at least washing my hair (full shower seems not always necessary) with cold water each morning. More mental conditioning to start the day 28/42: +1 CON, 34/42: +1 CHR, 40/42: +1 WIS - Exercise at least 3x / week. If you're not improving, you're decaying. I need to get back into a routine. One will be BW exercises, one will be running 3k in my vibrams, no matter the weather conditions. The other(s) can be any of each or something completely different. Doing more in one week will NOT allow doing less in another. 6/9 BW exercises: + 1 STR each. 6/9 runs: +1 STR each Life goal: - Journaling each day. Will lead to insights and improve memory. I need to collect more data to evaluate. Will try several apps for this. 30/35/40 of 42: + 1 WIS each (3 WIS total) Bonus goal: - Write my personal manifesto / creed. Need to incorporate my values deep into my subconscious to have something to default to when willpower runs out. I'll have it finished at the end of the challenge. +1 WIS, +1 CHA Does anyone know why my tapatalk posts lack any line breaks when viewed in Safari? Always need to edit them once to show proper formatting..

The dark clouds of depression still hung low around the rough, battle-weary adventurer as she fought her way towards the light. Despite passing through small fields lit from within, she still managed to lose her way in the deep forest. However, after having stumbled across some assassins while they were searching for a meeting place, she was ready to stand with the guild in their training. She had begun her own fight seven weeks prior, after having been cast out of the castle that held the ever-sought scrolls. Only combating her depression and anxiety, and preparing for the life of a scholar, would allow her to return. I'll summarize my goals here, for ease of reference, and expound on them in another post. Fitness Goal #1: Exercise 20 minutes daily in the morning -Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Bodyweight strength training, to include 2-3 circuits of push-ups, squats or lunges, dumbbell rows and planks, as well as shin exercises and standing on my toes. [sTR: +2] -Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: Cardio, probably biking or dancing. [sTA: +3] -If I miss a day, exercising for an extra 20 minutes within 48 hours will allow me to not lose points; however, I can take advantage of this a maximum of twice per week. Fitness Goal #2: Stretch daily in the evening [CON: +2, DEX: +1] -Warm up well beforehand. -Sit and breathe/meditate for 5 minutes afterward. Diet Goal: Make two new recipes per week [CON: +1] Eat at least one serving of fruits or vegetables a day [CON: +1] Life Goal: Learn or study for one hour a day [WIS: +5] -Three of those days per week will be on mathematical thinking, so I'm building consistency; the rest can be on anything I choose. -Evaluate my progress and overall mindset each week, and potentially add 15 minutes to my daily amount each week if I believe I can handle it. Other tasks: Do anything other than sit on the internet. Go outside, play with legos, make art out of wire, draw, read, play on the playground, do ridiculous and silly things, spend time with people.

First time to sign up for a challenge. I've just been a little too overwhelmed here recently to post or join any of the challenges. Well, my job requires me being online all the time, and I've started out the New Year with ONE resolution (of sorts) - I want to build one good habit this year. Since I'm online all the time, I realized I just NEED to do this. No excuses. The problem is that I hate setting goals. They scare the hell out of me. It means there's an option to fail, and I really fear failure. But I realized that to develop a habit (any good habit), you have to be patient with yourself. I can't expect to be 50 lbs lighter in a month, stronger and have a perfect eating plan without starting small and screwing up a little bit. So I've already started off slowly this year -- I do something active everyday. I missed a day last week because I spend the two days prior moving and running around, and I gave myself a day off (and forgave myself for "skipping"). For this challenge, my goals are: 1. Walk at least 2 miles 6 days a week. If I don't walk, fit in the Beginner's Strength workout here on NF, or do something on Wii Fit. One "off" day a week is okay, Rachel. 2. When I'm on vacation (woohoo Cabo!), enjoy myself -- aim for 4 walks that week. Vacation is January 17-24. 3. Eat clean for at least one meal a day. This means nothing processed, ideally meat and vegetables. My Level-Up goal -- just getting through this six weeks. It's a big fear of mine that I'll just up and drop it less than halfway through. If y'all have any ideas about how I could tweak my goals, let me know. I'm starting out slow this time.