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I have been slowly working on learning a handstand. The previous challenge I did them 6 out of 7 days for the entire challenge. My shoulders/elbows started to feel that strain and this challenge I have practiced 3-4 days of the week. I have seen some improvements,My hands are closer to the wall, I have better form, and can point my toes. But still, I can only hold for max of about 20 seconds. Then my arms start doing that shaking , muscles are done thing. I thought I just wasn't strong enough yet, and have been working on building shoulder strength. But, as I understand the 28 day handstand blog, it is more skill than strength. So why am I stalled and moving so slow? I have also been doing hollow hold work to strengthen my core.

Today started so well, and although there was one major slip-up I'm still fairly proud of myself. For breakfast I had half a jar of kefir (fermented milk- it just tastes like fizzy greek yoghurt). For lunch I had half a grilled chicken breast wrapped in 10 slices of lettuce, with some coconut oil and sea salt. For dinner I went to a burger restaurant with my friends and had a hot-dog with loads of toppings, fries with loooooads of mayonnaise/ ketchup and a chocolate honeycomb milkshake. I haven't eaten gluten in so, so long so this meal was such a bad idea, but I think it was worth it. Everything was delicious and I enjoyed it so much Recently, I haven't been great at drinking water, but I have been guzzling it like there's no tomorrow all day which I am very proud of That then brings us to the major triumph of today- I haven't drank any alcohol. That doesn't seem like much, it's Sunday! However, today isn't just any Sunday- it's RAISIN SUNDAY which means it is the drunkest day of the entire year. Tonight I am going to be house-party hopping completely sober, not ''two beers sober'' but ''there is literally no alcohol in my bloodstream'' sober, which is kinda scary actually. I guess I'm about to find out what it's like to be the only sober person in a ten-mile radius... If I can stick to this I should be awarded a Nobel Prize for Health. I'll update tomorrow.

Celebrate -Good Times ! It’s my 2 year Nerdiversary. Two years ago I joined the Rebellion, and stared leveling up. During that 2 years I’ve learned how to do push-ups, pull ups, swing press a kettlebell, more squat variations than I knew existed, gymnastic moves like headstands and crows, learned swing dance, and went climbing for the first time ever. Wow, writing that list makes me realize how much stuff I’ve been able to do, thanks to the encouragement of the Rebellion. This place has been great at encouraging me, giving me tips on improving, helping me when I am discouraged, cheering me on, and competing with me. As I celebrate my Nerdiversary, I raise a toast, to all of you who cheered me on. I have been pondering what great things I would do to celebrate my Nerdiversary. I considered trying for a grand feat, like 100 pushups or 3 pull ups. Then I decided I just wanted to take time and enjoy what I have already accomplished. I wanted my Nerdiversary be a time for me to play. I don’t need to make a goal to workout. I already have that habit. This challenge I am going to do whatever work I feel like. I plan on some kettlebells, gymnastic skill work, Hugh’s Jedi Work outhttp://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34210-more-themed-workouts-please/, and when someone posts fun work outs, I am going to try them Having taking forever to say what my goal isn't, perhaps I should now say what my goal is. My Main Quest: To eat healthy Goal 1 I will make bone broth and eat it 5 times a week (healthy and a lovely way to celebrate fall) POINTS; 3 STA Goal 2 Eat at least 100g of protein a day ( so I can continue my leveling up) POINTS 4 STA Goal 3 Eat no bananas ( eat better carbs and more protein instead) POINTS 3 CON Life Quest: No computer until after I work out. If I’m using the computer for working out, that is fine, but no surfing the web. This will help with two things. One, I’m wasting too much time on the computer. Two, one drawback of doing random workouts is my tendency to spend waaay too much time finding the perfect one on the computer. This way, I will have my workouts decided the night before at the latest. POINTS 5 WIS Side Fitness Quest: Try 5 new exercises, flows, or balance skill. No points, just for fun Other stuff: I am going on vacation the first week of vacation. Not taking bone broth with me, so that won't happen the first week. And the protein may or may not. And I'm taking the week off exercising.Guess I'll just celebrate and work on the challenge when I get back.

Last time I fought to prepare for Zombies, this round I’m fighting myself. In the last year I have gone from pretty underweight to my goal weight and a fair amount of muscle. I’m still struggling to have my life in order and get things rolling smoothly and get myself set properly. I’m a Lycan assassin, and the wolf in me is still wild. She must be tempered. Click here for a quick Catch up! Rise up! [Perform a handstand.] Consume – Paleo, no crap. I have gone to some pretty heavy extents to prepare paleo foods for two weeks out. Next pay day I will do the same. Ghee, chicken bone stock, shredded steak with onion, chicken(both a simple one and one with mushrooms), yellow squash, zucchini, bananas, eggs, and a breakfast puke looking dish are all on the menu. I need to add more fruit, but am struggling with storage, will have to get dried. [End Goal] Do not eat anything that is not Paleo. First two weeks 80% - 100% by 4th week. Condition – I’ve decided my days of being jealous over all you sillies who can do a handstand needs to be over, so everyday I’m… struggling? [End Goal] Be able to enter and hold free handstand. Minus points for times missed due to laziness. Graded on completion. First week; Build up. Second week; Wall-up. Third week; Hold at wall. Fourth; Move away from wall. Fifth; Enter without wall. Sixth Enter and hold w/o wall. Contort – I picked up some yoga starter gear. Lets see, Try this. On my longer scheduled workout days, 30 minutes should be spent on yoga. [End Goal]30 minutes 3 times a week. Minus points for times missed due to laziness. Side Quests [Life] Control - When I moved in my last challenge, I got super depressed. I have really struggled daily to be okay with my choices and getting used to not seeing my kids more than two days a week. My work schedule just limits my seeing them that much, and they are my everything. I need to regain control of my life and schedule my time better so that I’m not coming home a sobby mess, and am getting things done, especially waking up to do my workout. Order [Motivation]

The Main Quest - Be inspired and inspire others Last challenge I set out to find my Inspiration. Inspiration was found from my husband, Lexphoenix, and dancers in general. Despite my inspiration and my great start I struggled with illness, stress and life issues in general. I stopped reading the forums and disengaged from the NF community (which I am not happy about). A fortnight again I revamped things and changed how I was thinking and started again with the mantra "Fall down 7 times, stand up 8" The life quest remains and I am standing up again! Inspiration - YouTube I have been watching a range of workout videos and bodyweight work with my husband. Our comments range from "WTF" to "No Way" and after a few seconds "I want to do THAT!" Goal 1 - Pistol Squat A - unassisted 2 per leg B - unassisted 1 per leg C - assisted 3 per leg Goal 2 - Forward walkover A - Practice 3 times per week and successfully do a forward walkover! B - Practice twice per week C - Practice once per week Goal 3 - unassisted handstand A - 10 seconds B - 5 seconds C - 3 seconds How to stay on track This challenge I am going to measure these exercises each week to see my progress. My husband and I have started a spreadsheet where we record a range of exercises including my 3 goal exercises this is to keep us accountable, on track and allow us to see progress. I am also going to post my starting stats and weekly achievements here each week! Inspiration - Music On Sunday I went to listen to some free live music as part of our yearly city festival. I cried, laughed and smiled. The evening of entertainment was exactly what I needed as I had a horrible week. After the show I went up to the singer and thanked her for making my day and reminding me of my musical past. As part of starting NF I have noticed other parts of life that are lacking and music is one of them. I am currently working with a friend to record my own CD of covers and I need to improve before then. I know that I am putting a lot into this goal but I am not happy in my life and I need to change it now! So I have picked one area to work on for now even if my goal is ambitious. Life Goal - Practice my vocals 3 times a week and write 1 song per week. A - 5 times and 2 songs B - 4 times and 1 song C - 3 times and 1 song Progress Base - Pistol Squats - assisted using beam 11 each leg Front walkover - assisted from standing to bridge but I can't get up from bridge Handstand - on wall 60 seconds, 1 second unassisted

Hello everyone. This is my second challenge ever, and given than my main overall health goals are to be leaner, have control over my own body weight, and be dexterous and flexible, I think Assassins sound perfect for me. That, and I already wear a lot of black. Seriously. Like, half my wardrobe is black. A brief history of my quest to be healthier is thus: I started eating better in February of this year. Cut a few bad things out of my diet. Then cut some more. Then I started running (C25K), then I learned more about lifting and decided to try bodyweight circuits since I can't afford a gym membership. Then I went (mostly) paleo. And now it's mid September and here I am, 20 lbs lighter and many, many inches thinner, and much stronger than I've ever been before. But I'm not done yet. I still have a fair amount of fat to lose, and more muscle to build. My first challenge focused on general health and keep up the habits I had already formed and/or was working on forming. This challenge I wanted to be a bit more specific. Main Quest Learn how to do a handstand. Why? Mostly just cause I wanna. It looks cool, and I would love to impress people at parties with this neat thing I can do. Seriously. But also because I just always wanted to be that person that does all those cool tricks with their body like handstands, flips, etc. But also I recognize this as an excuse to build some more strength (especially upper body) and gain some balance and grace. Cause I'm kind of a klutz. Here's my motivation. I drew this on a post it and stuck it to my desk, right above my computer. I'm doing this because it's fun, and slightly silly, even. I think this is the perfect motivator. Side Quest #1: Push Ups Be able to do one complete, full body push up by the end of the challenge Currently, I can't do a full push up. I do the beginner's bodyweight circuit and I can do 10 halfsies (with my knees on the ground) just fine. In fact, I've been thinking about upping that. So, my goal is to be able to do a full push up. I don't know if this is too easy of a goal or not. If I am able to complete a full push up by, like, week 2 or something, then I can increase the number of push ups I want to be able to do in a row for my goal or something. But right now I'm really not sure what I'm capable of doing. The Breakdown I decided I'd do this in phases that I sort of tweak as I go, since I don't know what a reasonable pace is. Phase one (9/17-9/22) Hold my body in a full push up position for as long as I can, 3 times a week. 9/17 I held it for 7s. A little disappointing. Worse than my first ever plank. 9/19 3 sets, held for: 5s, 7s, 10s 9/22 Held for 10s, then tried to lower then lift myself slightly. Was able to successfully lift myself back up after lower halfway to the ground. Phase two (9/24-??) Since I successfully managed to raise my full body from a partially lowered position I will continue to work on that instead of just holds in push up position. 9/25 3x3 halfway to the ground push ups For this phase, my goals in terms of reps are to do: Day 1: 3x3 Day 2: 2x3, 1x4 Day 3: 1x3, 2x4 Grading Will be phase by phase, and the all the grades are averaged at the end for my final grade. If I manage a complete push up by the end of the 6 weeks, every week's grade goes up by one letter grade (10%). Practice 3x a week = A 90% Practice 2x a week = B 80% Practice 1x a week = C 70% Practice 0x a week = F 50% Special for phase 2 grading: meet all daily rep goals +10%, meet 2/3 rep goals +5%, meet 1/3 rep goals no grade change, meet 0/3 rep goals -5% Side Quest #2: Wall Walks & Stands Be able to hold a wall stand (hand stand but I can lean against a wall for support) for 5 seconds by the end of the challenge I got some advice from Waldo and he suggested a good way to start is by learning to do wall walks and wall stands. So that's where I'll be starting. The Breakdown Also will be in phases. I attempted to wall stand and it was a no-go, so then I tried a wall walk, and that went slightly better. Phase one (9/17-9/24) Walk up the wall and hold it for as long as I can. Then get in wall stand position and stay for at least 10s in order to start getting comfortable in that position. Do this 3x a week. 9/17 I didn't time myself. Oops. It wasn't very long, though. Let's call it a 5s wall walk. 9/19 Held for 15s 9/22 Held for 10s Phase two (9/25-??) Walk up the wall and work on getting closer to the wall. Once I'm close enough, hold the position for at least 20s. 9/25 The heel of my hands were 44" away from the wall. I held position for 20s. Grading Will be phase by phase, and the all the grades are averaged at the end for my final grade. However, I'm starting to think a full-on wall stand might even be too much at the end of 6 weeks. I'm going to reserve the right to adjust that part in the future. Practice 3x a week = A 90% Practice 2x a week = B 80% Practice 1x a week = C 70% Practice 0x a week = F 50% Special Phase 2 grading: every whole inch closer I get to the wall by the end of the week counts as an extra 1% on my overall grade. Side Quest #3: Eating Right I will eat (mostly) paleo for 6 out of 7 dinners a week. (The 7th night is usually reserved for eating out, which I try to keep as paleo as I can, but it's not always possible.) This seems pretty basic, but this past week I've found myself doing some serious slacking in the eating healthy department. I think making this part of my challenge will give me extra incentive to stay on course, and of course, dropping more pounds will help me with my main quest of doing a handstand, cause less weight means easier to support, right? And just for full disclosure reasons, I still eat dairy when I do my "paleo" eating. I can't really survive without cheese. But I do try to keep it at a minimum. Grading Eat paleo 6 or 7 nights a week = A 90% Eat paleo 5 nights a week = B 80% Eat paleo 4 nights a week = C 70% Eat paleo 3 nights a week = D 60% Eat plaeo <=2 nights a week = F 50% Life Quest: Find Students I have a part time day job, but during the school year I also tutor to make some extra money. The husband and I have our own small tutoring company, since we both do it, but it's been a dead summer for me. I'm also going to school part time, which means I'll be busy, but not busy enough that I can't pick up a few hours a week of tutoring to help pay off some of the bills from this summer (we had a few big emergency things happen where we had to spend more than we had budgeted). Until recently, I worked for a different tutoring company, and they always found students for me. But now I'm on my own, so I need to get on things and find me some students. Once a week I will post a Craigslist ad and do at least one other tutor-related thing. This could involve doing maintenance on our website, putting fliers on a local college campus, really anything that's going to help me find some students. Grading Post ad and do one extra thing = A 90% Do one or the other = C 70% Do neither = F 50% If I find a new student who commits to a session on any given week, I automatically get 100% for that week. Other Things I'm still going to be doing my bodyweight circuit 3x a week and running C25k with my friend when we can manage it (supposed to be 2x a week, but sometimes life gets in the way). I also would like to go back to sprinting once a week, but we'll see how that goes. I will also be going on a short weekend trip in early October. That's definitely going to interfere with my eating healthy plan, but I usually try not to stress things on vacation. I eat as healthy as I can without stressing myself out about not sticking to my diet.

Wow, lots of changes around here for this challenge, totally threw off my planned structure. But this'll work. So, main quest: get stronger! Specifically, upper body strength. I've just started climbing recently, did a beginner aerial silks class, and want to do a freestanding handstand. All of these things rely on upper body strength, so that's what I'm working on. 1. Bodyweight workout 3x a week. Pull-ups and rows are a major part of this, and I'll add them in separately if I'm still doing coworker bootcamp that doesn't include much pulling. 2. Handstand time! 3x a week, be upside down with my weight on my hands. Crow pose, headstands, and handstands all work for this... But mainly handstands. Next year at the juggling fest, I want to be able to use the handbalancing rig. 3. Eat well. Gaining strength isn't possible when I'm undereating, and I'm having a hard time convincing myself to get enough calories. I didn't track at all while on vacation the past two weeks, and ended up losing 4 pounds - this is counterproductive. 2100 calories a day minimum, to be adjusted at week 3 based on how the tape measure moves. Life goal! Go to a meetup. I've been a hermit in this town for too long - I want local friends, and they are not going to find me if I stay in my house alone. There are cool people in the world, and some of them have to live near here. As usual, I'll still be swimming, juggling, and limiting my soda intake. Time to get stronger!

Even the summer winds are chilly this far north. The lone figure trudging up the mountain path gave a brief shiver and pulled his cloak tighter about himself. The slow crunch of his feet on the path and the sigh of his breath was the only sound, the birds had all gone. He continued his way towards the base of the mountain, the great hulking shadow sending a cold chill down his spine. It wasn't until later that day that he reached the true foot of the mountain. He could tell because the pathway suddenly veered upwards, almost into a vertical climb. The figure paused as his eyes followed the slanting path, searching up for his destination. And there it was. The top of the mountain shimmered and almost seemed to shine, ignoring the closing darkness as the sun made its way below the horizon. The light from the mountain gave everything a mystical sheen, as though he had just stepped into a fairy tale. And the figure squinted as he looked up, trying to see the top of the mountain clearly. After a few moments he saw past the enchantment and with a sigh of relief saw what he was looking for. The top of the mountain wasn't the normal colour of rocks and mud, or even the pure white of untouched snow. The mountain peak shimmered like a multicoloured wave, and the rainbow that enveloped the peak shot off into the sky. His quest could finally begin in earnest. He had found it. The road to Asgard. This challenge I shall be performing a slight experiment, I'm going to try and have my next few challenges (at the moment I'm tentatively saying 5) shall be part of a larger story with each fitness challenge becoming more difficult as I reach the end of the larger quest. You might have guessed that this quest is going to be stealing Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor! I know thievery isn't strictly Assassin territory But I might push further with it and use Mjolnir to assassinate someone else. We shall see! But anyway, that's getting ahead of myself! On to this challenge! Main Quest My main quest is very faraway from completion but I want to finally start working towards it. Well there are a few so I'll just say a couple Basically it's a handstand. Ultimately I want to be able to do a one-armed handstand push up (DBZ reference for bonus points) and a 90 degree push up. So for now what I'm going to focus on is working towards a freestanding handstand that I can control my motion up/down. And by that I mean I don't have to kick to get up to a handstand and I don't just fall down on my way down. At the moment I'm still at wall headstand stage, hopefully I will be able to do some form of handstand (probably against a wall) by the end of the challenge. Fitness Goals 1: The Skillful Ascent Do at least 2 skill workouts per week (+3 DEX +1 STR) To do my best to try and get to a controlled handstand I am going to do 2 skill workouts a week doing about 20-30 minutes of practice with things like crow stands, headstands. I have some idea of what I'm going to work on but am by no means an expert! So any help on that front would be appreciated! At least 2 skill workouts a week to work on: Headstands Crow Stands L sits Grading: A = 2+ Skill Workouts every week B = 5 weeks with 2 Skill Workouts C = 4 Weeks with 2 Skill workouts D = 3 weeks with 2 skill workouts E = 2 weeks with 2 skill workouts F =1 week with 2 skill workouts, or complete failure 2: Strength To Match the Gods Do at least 2 Strength Circuits per week (+4 STR) For this goal I will do circuit training at least twice a week, to try and give me extra strength to help with the free handstands. At the moment it's a fairly standard circuit: push ups, dips, one legged squats, bicep curls, dumbbell shoulder press, and then pull ups/negatives to failure. Mini Goals: Make it to 10 pull ups Do a proper one legged squat (all the way down and back up again) Grading: A = 2+ Skill Workouts every week B = 5 weeks with 2 Skill Workouts C = 4 Weeks with 2 Skill workouts D = 3 weeks with 2 skill workouts E = 2 weeks with 2 skill workouts F =1 week with 2 skill workouts, or complete failure 3: The Build of the Aesir Lost 3% Bodyfat (+2 CON +2 STR) Current bodyfat: 18% Weight: 159lbs (Lean Bodymass: 130lbs) Plan: Sprint twice a week Eat at a deficit (2000 calories should mean lose 1lb a week) Eat as paleo as possible going for about 80/20 With this plan I hope to lose 2% of my bodyfat. I hope that's achievable but I somehow manage to confuse myself whenever I figure out how much bodyfat I will have lost for 6lbs of fat I'm pretty sure it would be around 3%, but not 100% sure but we'll go with it anyway! The plan is to keep up with weight training, eat clean and at about a 600 calorie deficit (which should still mean I retain muscle) and make sure I eat about 140 grams of protein per day. And just to really embassy/motivate myself a few pictures to mark the beginning of the challenge and hopefully there'll be a slight different by the end! So here are the pictures with all the appropriate stupid faces: Front, Front, Side Life Goal 4: Record Your Quest Write 1000 words a day. +3 WIS Based off the last challenge I'm also going to add in that if I write more than 1000 words that day I can take that off my total for the next day. So if I'm feeling particularly verbose I don't need to stop and if I have writer's block another day, I won't feel so bad. And this is also so that I can try and write up some blog posts before they're due and schedule their publication. Grading will be percentage based, depending on how well I achieve this goal, so a percentage of how many days I achieved this. A = 100% B = 80% C = 60% D = 40% E = 20% F = Total failure Side Quest Bonus Points for this one: Get a fitness blog up and running I've had the idea for a bit now to start a health and fitness blog, to help me along with my own progress in between the NF challenges and also see if I can help other people. I'm kicking around the idea of calling it "Saturday Morning Fitness" because I'll probably be using 80s/90s saturday morning cartoons as my main inspiration! (power rangers, teenage mutant ninja turtles, dragonball z etc) But if you have any name suggests I would love to hear them! That's it for now! Sorry for the wall of text! And I'll probably come along and edit/add in a couple of bits later! Good luck assassins!

Main Quest: To be able to do a freestanding handstand. One of the first mini challenge I participated in was an upside down challenge. That was the first time ever that I had done a headstand. I did it against the wall and I was terrified. When I realized that not only did I not die, but that I could actually do a headstand , I felt like I deserved an Olympic Medal. I was so pumped. After conquering the handstand, I looked on with admiration at my fellow Rebels who could do handstands, but it seemed like too big a goal for me. As I got stronger I started thinking that maybe, it was possible to do more. Maybe it was possible to do a handstand. I started practicing and slowly increasing my skills. My last challenge I increased my wall handstand to 20 seconds. This challenge I want to focus even more on my wall handstand form. I still have many more steps until this quest is complete, but one day, my avatar will be of me doing a handstand at the park. #1 Upsidedownness: I still have some fear of being upside down and I need to work on my form. The best way to get better is to practice. Do handstands every day for 6 days of each week of the challenge* *disclaimer and exceptions- If my body tells me it needs a break and wants me to take a day or so of rest, I will be a wise assassin and listen to my body POINTS: 2 DEX; 2 STR #2 ) Be Hollow One of the most important factors in a handstand is the hollow hold. My goal will be to spend the following amount of time practicing hollow body holds/hollow body planks: Week 1 300 total seconds total Week 2 350 total seconds 600 seconds Week 3 400 460 total seconds week 4 450 480 total seconds week 5 455 510 total seconds week 6 505 600 total seconds Edit: Goal tweak Weeks 3-6 600 seconds 6 week total 3000/50 minutes (if one week is short I can make it up the next week) edited the time after week 1.Realized I could do more POINTS: 4 STA #3) Fluidity Drinking enough water will help me combat DOMS and help my overall health I will make it a habit to have drink a glass of water at these times: A)First thing upon waking B)right after exercise C) mid afternoon D)after dinner POINTS: 3 CON Life Quest: Enjoy our new deck: Invite people over to eat dinner on our new deck at least 2 times POINTS 4 CHA Side Quest: Write my own Epic Quest

I've always been "slim" and fairly active (cardio), but until recently I was getting squishier by the day. I gave up wheat around Christmas of last year, which lead to a pretty substantial weight drop, but the squishiness was still there. I decided enough was enough, and started Crossfit about 3 months ago. Since then I've gotten a lot stronger and lost a few inches, but I want more. Ultimately, I want to be stronger (able to lift body weight+ in big 3 lifts), faster (able to run sub 30 min 5k), and leaner (<20% body fat) before my 40th birthday in December. In addition, I’m getting married in October, and want to have beautifully sculpted arms, shoulders, and back. These goals are specifically aimed at improving the look of my arms while adding functional strength and working towards my ultimate goals. Current Stats: Age: 39 Height: 5’2†Weight: 129lb, ~25% BF Crossfit 5X per week 1. Stronger – Strength 3 + Stamina 2 Currently I can only do 2 strict pushups, no pull-ups, and I can hold a 30 second handstand against a wall. By end of challenge I will be able to link 10 at least pushups, at least 2 strict pull-ups (or 5 kipping), and hold a freestanding handstand for 30 seconds. I will work on each daily and weekly grading will be based on the number of days worked. GRADES: A - worked on each at least 5 times per week, B – 4 days, C – 3 days, Fail - less than 3 days. Overall grade will take into account whether I pass or fail at this goal. 2. Mobile – Dexterity 4 + Stamina 1 Since I started Crossfit 3 months ago, I’ve stopped my yoga practice. As a result, I think I’ve lost some of my flexibility. To combat this, I’ll add 20 minutes of yoga and/or mobility work twice per week to my schedule. Grades: A – twice per week C – once per week 3. Leaner - Constitution 3 + Wisdom 2 I currently eat “mostly paleo†which is perhaps more like “sorta paleoâ€. For this challenge I’ll clean it up to 80% paleo. Grades: A - Fully paleo 5 days of the week. B - 4 days, C - 3 days, Fail - less than 3 days Life Quest - DO more Until very recently I did not own a television. Now I seem to watch hours of TV per day. I will restrict my watching to not more than 1 hour per day. During my reclaimed free time, I'll read, play with my dogs/family, or complete various projects around the house. Motivation Aside from the aforementioned wedding in October. 1. I want to like what I see in the mirror. It's not bad, but it could be better 2. I want to be a good example to my family. Eating better, exercising, and watching less TV will help motivate both my fiancé and soon to be step daughter to do the same.

Guess who's back? Back again? Hansy's back. Tell a friend! It's been nearly one year since my last challenge, and Steve's latest post motivated me to do it again. Although, I have been doing well on my own - taking parkour lessons, converting others to paleo, adapting a Primal lifestyle and, overall, achieving the Trading Places qualities. Trading Places quality = Looking good, feeling good. Who gets the reference? Seriously though, my family gathered at the beach recently, and my uncle said to my dad, in confidence, "Dude, (real name deleted) is RIPPED!" Anyway, my main quest for the six weeks is...To become a more powerful assassin by increasing my mobility, gaining upper body strength and improving my stability while upside down. Goal 1 - Improve mobility in my lower body by 1) including squats into every workout using them in real life when I might otherwise bend over and 2) including Quadrupedal Motion (QM's) into my workouts, specifically the staight-legged gallop and the squat walk. I will eventually achieve full range of motion! Goal 2 - Gain upper body strength by including pushups....forwards and single-legged out-to-the-side...sledgehammers, iron death balls...some folks call them kettlebells, but I subscribe to the NeoSavage philosophy...and parkour wall dips into my workouts. I will workout 3 times a week, and I will achieve 2 sets of 6 reps of pushups forwards, to the left and to the right! Goal 3 - Become more stable while upside down by including handstands...wall-assisted and free-standing...handstand side-walking on the wall and handstand pushups on the wall into my workouts. I will gain the ability to hold a free-standing handstand for 10 seconds. Life Goal - Improve my entrepreneurial abilities by growing my computer side hustle. I will accomplish 3 growth-related tasks each week and have my first paying customer by the end of the challenge. For the rebellion!

So I've been having a tough time coming up with goals for this challenge - I got my first pull-up last challenge, which was HUGELY exciting... but now that I've done it, I've lost the clarity that I had when I was focusing on it. So I'm zooming out a bit, doing a little exploring to figure out what my next big goal is. 1. Bodyweight workout 3x a week. STR: 2, STA: 2, CON: 1 This is what makes me stronger and got me to the pull-up in the first place - I'll be experimenting with some new goals (headstand pushups are catching my attention at the moment), but the point here is to just keep going, even if I'm not particularly focused. 2. Upside down 3x a week. STR: 1, DEX: 2, STA: 2 Still working on handstands, but this can also include bar/ring fun, now. I'm getting a little burned out on the handstands because I'm not seeing much progress on them, so more variety can only be a good thing. 3. 6 new juggling tricks. DEX: 2, WIS:1, CHA: 2 At the end of this challenge, I'm going to a week-long juggling festival. I want to have some new stuff to show off/work on when I'm there. One a week should be doable - and they don't have to be crazy hard things, just stuff I haven't done before. Unscored stuff I'm still doing: swimming 3x a week on non-bodyweight days, no more than 3 non-water drinks a week, tracking calories/weight on a shiny spreadsheet. Okay, let's do this thing!

My husband will be TDY during part of this challenge and the next one, so I need goals that will minimize stress. 10+ minutes of flow daily +3 CON, + 2WIS 10+ minutes of a Mobility WOD daily +3 DEX GTG pull ups 5 days/week +4STR Play outside with the kids every day the weather cooperates +1 STA, +2 CHA Ungraded things I will maintain: Tracking all the thingsFollowing a simple strength programLimiting fitness pages I readParticipating in the forum

#1 Balancing I will be following Gold Medal Bodies Floor 1 exercise program this challenge. I will be able to hold a wall handstand for 20 seconds: currently I can get almost vertical , but not quite, CHA: 4 points #2 Bending: Even though I am Elastigirl, the truth is I get bored with flexibility stuff and don't stick with it. If I want to be able to do the GMB flows I need more flexibility. Goal is to do the flexibility moves on required days , and to do the stretches that are part of the cool downs each workout. DEX: 3 Points #3 Groovy Graphs: In an earlier challenge, I took progress photos and measurements. However, my method of writing down the measurements on tiny pieces of paper, and then losing the paper, was not the best method for tracking progress. I decided the best way for me to keep track was to go old school, and get out my graph paper and colored pens and make my own graphs. I will take my waist measurement ,my weight, my shoulders, and my blood pressure each Monday and record that on my graph. I will also take progress photos and put them in a file on my computer. The week we are on vacation (yay vacation) I will do it later in the week. STA 4 Points This is the site I am basing my measuring on; http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/womens-body-ideal-measurements/ Ungraded: Part of the reason for charting is to hopefully lose a bit on my waist. To that end I will not eat after dinner, and I am going to try and not snack. Also limiting nuts to one serving a day. And eating Paleo 90% of the time. Not part of the grade, but I'd like to see a downward trend on the graph, so I will eat accordingly. #4 Home Improvement part II Continuing on last challenges theme. We need to have our house painted. I have some painters picked out to call, I need to call and have them give bids. By challenge end I need to have chosen a painter and have them scheduled to paint. I look forward to the end result of a freshly painted house. But this goal is tough for me. I hate dealing with contacting people, getting bids, and all that kind of stuff which is hard for my introverted self Fun Goal To balance that out, I am giving myself a fun challenge. My husband and I love to geocache. We have always talked about how fun it would be to hide a cache. I decided that now is the time. I have recruited him to help me out with this goal, and we will make and hide a cache . http://www.geocaching.com/ CHA: 3 points WIS 1 point

Shukar's back to basics challenge Hello everybody, my name is Shukar and I'm one of your Scout Guild Leaders. For a little bit of background on me read this paragraph, to skip that part skip this paragraph (simple right?) I'm in my mid twenties, happily married, and I used to be a fat guy. I got that mostly figured out, though I'm still trying to get less flabby, through cleaning up my diet, cutting out soda, and starting to exercise. Running was my first choice and it was a good one. I've done multiple half marathons and loved them and even a full marathon (loved it less but I learned a lot from it). While I'm no longer a fat guy I'm still a big guy, 6 and a half foot, and my journey is far from over. I've got limits that I still haven't found and surpassed yet. So that's me, Shukar the Scout who used to be a fat guy. A Disclaimer up front for those new to my threads. Most of my entries will be the daily updates which tend to follow the format Food logging, what I listened to for the day, what the most important lessons of the day were, my workouts for the day, and then general life updates with updates on any goals that didn't fall into earlier categories. This is pretty much the pattern I've developed over a number of challenges now and it seems to work for me, though sometimes I ends up including information that seems extraneous at first glance it does serve to give a reasonable spread of my daily activities so I'm likely to stick with it. End Disclaimer. Last challenge showed me that I was being a bit too ambitious about some things and that I need to try and focus on some fundamentals a bit while finding the balance to push beyond them. It's good to push yourself beyond what you think you can do but sometimes that can go too far. Finding the proper balance between work, family, sanity, and challenge goals is tough, but I think I'm up for the challenge. Stay on target: Might as well start with the running goal, seems appropriately Scouty. Currently I'm training, with my loving and supportive wife, for a race weekend Labor Day of this year. It's the Dumbo Double Dare at Disneyland which provides an interesting challenge: run a 10k Saturday and then a half the next morning. As such our training plan has long runs back to back on the weekend and two shorter runs during the week. Goal: Stick with the training plan. No missed runs without good reason, nothing crazy. Stay on target. Reward: Stamina 2, Wis 1, Con 1 Press the advantage: Usually I have a strength goal to go here but this time I'm combining my strength and mobility goals. Last challenge I was doing some yoga and mobility work to be able to touch my toes, and some strength work including handstand training. I'm gonna keep both of those up and try to improve. Goal: 3 times weekly yoga, daily strength training (keep that streak), work toward being able to get palms flat to the floor from standing and on handstands Reward: Str 2, Dex 2 Chew the fat: For my diet goal this challenge I'm gonna try something new. I've done the packed lunches and it doesn't really work all that well for me due to scheduling with work being rather random, my veggie goal a couple challenges back went really well and helped at least improve some stuff. So in that vein... Goals: At least 1 type of healthy* fats in my intake each day, work to reduce gluten and fast food at dinner (currently around 3-4 times a week), veggies at least 4 times a week (that's low but not my primary focus) Reward: Con 1, Wis 1, Cha 1 Dreaming while you sleep: I don't sleep enough. It's a fact I can't dispute. I stay up to late, often get up too early (at least for when I get to sleep), and its a real problem. My sleep more closely resembles the song sleeping awake than my goal song. It messes with my awareness I'm sure, there are plenty of studies to back that up showing that sleep deprivation of as little as a couple hours a night over time impairs you as much as alcohol and what not. I've cleaned up my sleep environment of light and noise pollution, now it's time to see how well I can sleep. Goal: Try and average 7 hours of sleep a night minimum (currently only getting 6 avg), experiment with temperature and pillow to try and increase sleep quality (measured with my zeo) Reward: Con 1, Wis 1, Cha 1 So there's the goals. I've got a running plan, my daily streaking, a powerful hunger, and a need for sleep. Lets do this! *Healthy fats: So what do I mean by healthy fats? Examples would be things like animal fats (ideally for grass fed or free range sources), olive oil, nuts, coconut, butter (or better yet ghee). There are plenty of options for avoiding seed oils, corn oil, and the like. Vegetables should be cooked in fats not a type of oil.

I have two main goals for this challenge: Goal 1: Begin parkour training. In order for me to accomplish this I need to focus on 3 key result areas (KRAs): strength and conditioning, balance and movement skills, and mental and physical health. Each KRA has a set of performance indicators to enable me to keep track of progress. KRA 1: Strength and conditioning Performance indicators: Advanced Bodyweight Workout twice a week (I have a spreadsheet to keep track of how I'm doing on each exercise and what to aim for each session) Yoga and mobility workout once a week STR +2, STA +2, DEX +1 KRA 2: Balance and movement skills Performance indicators: Arm balances (to be practiced for a minimum of 5 minutes a day every non-workout day (Sundays optional) Crow - increase length of timeHandstand progressions - work up to at least wall handstands facing away from wallBasic parkour movements (to be practiced for a minimum of 5 minutes a day every non-workout day (Sundays optional). Reference guide will be this website. Week 1and 2: lazy vault and kong vault progressions (start with ground kongs and work up to proper kongs)Week 3 and 4: skills from the previous weeks + parkour rollsWeek 5: all previous skills + box/tuck jumps to soft landingsWeek 6: combo movements - basically beginning to really play around as a traceurDEX +2 KRA3: Mental and physical health Performance indicators: Healthy body habits Eat at least one Paleo meal five days a weekLimit sugar/carb intake on all other meals and days. In other words, enjoy but don't binge.Get as much sleep as possibleReestablish daily early morning 10 minute Zen practice. CON +3 Goal 2: Become a more productive artist by cycling key result areas every 6 weeks. I got the idea from one of GMB's article on cycling fitness goals instead of trying to train everything all at once for the sake of balance. I have come to realize that as an artist I want to do way too much. I want to write a blog but I also want to write songs, I want to play guitar but I also want to play piano and sing. On top of that I want to practice two martial arts! So for this challenge I'm going to pick just one creative area: writing. Next challenge will be songwriting. And after that I'll pick an instrument to practice or maybe work on my singing. Performance indicators: Blog At least one blog post a week Lyric-writing I always have trouble putting words to my music. I rarely have trouble with the reverse. So I will write at least one haiku/poem/stream-of-consciousness crap a day. WIS +3, CHA +2

Hey everyone, long time lurker first time poster. I am excited about participating in my first 6 week challenge! I have followed Nerd Fitness for awhile but never made the commitment to sign up for a challenge. My wife and I are both on the road to improve our fitness levels. I figured this is a great way to get some external motivation and find some accountability. My name is a funny story. My last name is Lee and my grandfather's last name was Brock. My mother always loved the name and wanted to name her son after him, but when she married my dad she realized that she could never name her son Brock Lee. I think that it would have been impossible to make it through Elementary school I have always loved the name and figured that my fellow nerds would appreciate it. So for my first challenge I want to keep things simple and straight forward. 1. Stick with one dang workout program for 6 weeks. When I have exercised in the past I become way to advanced and smart to follow a program after about 2 weeks. I start changing things and then I workout less and less then two months later I start the whole thing over again. I have chosen Infinite Intensity by Ross Enamait as it incorporates many BW techniques and some weight training. The workouts include Oly lifting, sandbag training, pistols and 1 arm pushups. I can't do any of the last two but I will be working towards it. It seems like a great program and I am ready to get started. 2. Handstand. I would like to do a 30 second handstand without support. I am currently working on progressions that I found on Beastskills.com 3. No alcohol. I am not working right now but will start my new job on July 1st. Since I finished school I have been drinking way too much. Cutting out booze will go a long way to making me feel more healthy. 4. 10 minutes meditation every morning. I have a wife and 4 children here at home with me. The days start out crazy and pretty much stay that way. I feel that 10 minutes of quiet meditation before the world goes nuts will help me to be a more patient person. Good luck to all my fellow Assassins! I can't wait to see the progress we all make over the next 6 weeks.

So I think I posted my new Challenge topic in the last Challenge page. Therefore, here it is again! Hey all! The last challenge was my first ever, and I think it went pretty well. Nonetheless, it was a crazy time and I wasn't able to keep close track of my goals for about half of it. Hopefully I'll do this one better! That said, here's my goals for this round - I'm going to try for very quantifiable but challenging milestones: Toes to the Road Several years back, I tried getting seriously into running, only to discover that undiagosed flat feet, of all things, had caused damage to my right hip over time. More recently, I've found that running in Vibram FiveFingers is something that doesn't seem to cause as much damage, but it's much more strenuous for my feet since I'm not used to them yet. Therefore, I'm going to try to work up to a 5k over this challenge - the distance in and of itself wouldn't have been a problem in the past, but it's in FiveFingers over rough terrain, so it'll be rough on my feet at first. I may cut the goal out if my leg injury starts acting up from the running, but I think I can do it... Rewards: STA +4 A = Full 5k, B = 3 miles, C = 2.5 miles, D = 2 miles, F = less than 2 miles. Pushing Through I've been enamored of the 100 push-up milestone for months now, but only recently have I started training enough that it looks achievable. I'm up to about 60, but I'll need to stay on top of my training to make it happen! Rewards: +2 STR, +2 STA Grading: Deduct one letter per 5 pushups missed. Different Perspectives I'm also working on my handstands! I've never set a good goal for them, though, so this will be a start. I want to have a 15-second freestanding handstand by the end! Rewards: +2 STR, +2 DEX Grading Mmmmm, Tasty I love cooking, and I want to try new things this summer! My goal is 15 new dishes by the end of the challenge! I'll post photos. Rewards: +1 WIS, +2 CON

Okay, here we go again. I'm in kind of a motivational slump right now, so I'm hoping this challenge will get me re-energized on my goals. So, up and down: 1. Pull-up: I'm going to do one. Soon? Also working on pistols, still. So, 3x a week bodyweight workouts will get me full points. I may also try grease-the-groove for the pull-ups, because I'm frustrated with the slowness of my progress so far. 3 STR, 1 STA 2. Upside Down: I really enjoyed my handstand goal a couple challenges ago, so I'm going to revisit it. I'm at the point that I can kick up into a wall handstand without too much terror, so getting stronger in that and also working on holding freestanding. 3 practices a week is full points. 2 DEX, 1 STA 3. Tracking all the ups and downs: I'm going to face the spreadsheet of doom and actually record calories, macros, weight, measurements, and whatever else I think of to track. Wolverine, this is all your fault, so you're going to have to listen to me whine about it. 2 WIS, 2 CHA 4. Up out of bed: I have got to stop hitting the snooze button. It's cutting into my morning routine, and it's dumb. This is boring, but hard. 2 CON, 2 WIS Unscored stuff I'm still doing: swimming 3x a week on non-bodyweight days, juggling, no more than 3 non-water drinks a week. Okay, let's do this thing!

Ryan has added a very extensive course to Udemy on building up to a perfect handstand. It's well over an hour of video instruction, and it's the most complete guide I've ever seen. He's even included a manual and various programs to help you in each step of your progression. They will be doing a Live Q&A for the people who have joined the class soon.

Heck yeah, new challenge time! Current stats: Height: 5'10" Weight: 137.8 lb (I somehow lost half a pound during Christmas vacation, wasn't tracking food, no idea...) Waist Flexed: 27.75" Waist Unflexed: 30" Hips: 37.5" Bust: 35.5" This challenge, I'm taking on gravity. And inertia, too. Goals: 1. Handstand progression. Fighting gravity by being upside down 3x a week, working on handstands. Haven't tried this at all yet, so no clue how it'll go, but it's something I've wanted to do for a while. DEX: 3 2. Bodyweight workout. Fighting gravity by pulling/pushing my weight in various directions. Plus a couple dumbbells. This is 3x a week, still working particularly towards an actual pullup, and increasing my pushups. STR: 4, STA: 1 3. Recipe variety. Fighting inertia on this one - I've been eating a lot of the same foods every day, and it's great because I hardly have to think about what to cook. However, it's also getting boring. 6 new recipes cooked gets me full stats on this. CON: 2 WIS: 1 4. TV stand. Fighting gravity by keeping my tv off the ground. I've been procrastinating this project for six months by deciding I needed a Kreg jig to build it. Well, got the jig for Christmas - no more excuses! This will also make my living room look more like I'm an actual adult. WIS: 2, CHA: 2