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Follow along as I search for the true slayer among the crowd of promising potentials - the true slayer is a comedian who can excel at the the four marks of destiny - laughs per minute (LPM), story telling, presence, and X factor. I also shouldn't have to say this, but because of woke I'll be very clear, a comedian is a woman. I have no time for so called "male-comedians", those men who make a career of voice acting r/incel posts. I understand there are queer men, disabled men, BIPOC men, Jewish men, and men with hilariously exploitable trauma who can do a passable job as actual male-comedians; but the true slayer slays, without a hyphen.* To find the true slayer, I need to train like a slayer, and I'm focusing on the following areas for this challenge: Lore Head on pillow in bed reading fiction by 11pm - 5x/week Continued Duolingo streak by noon - 7x/week Meditation Ass on meditation pillow for 5 minutes or more - 7x/week Bodhrán meditation 3x/week Strength 3x8 65% work - 4x/week 15 mins HIIT - 4x/week Punching Empty the attic Attend one Stammtisch Attend one open mic Learn "the Ballad of Jed Clampett" Complete the book and workbook "Change Your Story Change Your Life" (CYSCYL) by Carl Greer Design and produce statuettes St Sebastian / Apollo The Norns The Black Madonna of Czestochowa / Erzulie Dantor St Rita of Cascia / Marsha P Johnson Produce pre-designed statuettes Eve-Asherah Gullveig-Freyja Redesign and produce statuettes Brigid Persephone Fro-ingvi Produce prayer beads Green agate and oak choker Unakite and rose quartz counting bracelet malas Obsidian and agate counting bracelet malas Jasper and copper counting bracelet malas Jasper "dude" bracelet Coffee-tone steel "dude" bracelet Get two tattoos *Expect lots of standup clips, and a decent amount of AI generated images of vampire slayers as comedians

This is me for the past… long while. Tired and unmotivated. And frankly, I still am. I know I’m capable of so much more, but I just haven’t had the energy for it. I have noticed that I get the most done during the school day. I am not able to wake up any earlier than I already do (trust me, I’ve tried); and by the time I get home from school, I’m so exhausted that I usually just lay down in bed for the rest of the night. So, I’m going to try a new exercise strategy this time around: Go to the gym while I’m on campus. Don’t expect to get it done at home. GO TO THE GYM. I also need to get a better handle on the things I put in my mouth! I am pretty good about meal prep and having healthy foods available; but while I’m at school, if I run out of snacks, the moment I become hungry I am tempted to buy food and drinks! That is a problem. I know I’m capable of much more than I’ve been doing, because I’ve done much more in the past. So I’m going to do my best to push through this tough time in my life, even if it’s a nanomoment at a time. I have it in me, somewhere. I just have to figure out how to unbury it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I’ve started a bullet journal, and I’m going to design a spread in it to keep track of my goals: ~ work out AT THE GYM [3 times per week] ~ eat healthy [5 days per week] ~ didn’t buy consumables at school [5 days per week] [weekends don't count, cos I'm not at school anyways!! has to be during the business week] ~ read my Bible [3 days per week] [getting back into the habit, so starting small]

Hey, everyone. I was thinking about what kind of fun little continuation of my Trashcan Carla story that I could do for this challenge, but I haven't had enough coffee and just want to get the bones of the challenge down. I'll come back to this. === I know that 5 habits being worked on simultaneously may seem excessive, but it is very important that I make progress with all of these things for my physical and mental health. I will be lenient with myself if I don't do all of these things every day, of course. Objective: Get started establishing positive habits in self care, fitness, home finance and creativity. Tame my stress eating. Motivation: I am really feeling the pandemic fatigue, particularly as a first-time mom of a one year old whose husband works a six hour drive away during the work week. I need to focus on taking better care of myself and that starts with paying more attention to my self care and finding ways to reduce my stress that are well within my control. 1. Stress Eating Pause Button – Habit: Pause for 5 minutes before eating or drinking any foods that are high in fat or sugar and by so doing, avoid stress eating. +2 points for every day of no stress eating 2. HIIT with kettlebells, shadow boxing or jogging – Habit: Keep heart rate up with intense exercise (70% of max heart rate to max) for at least 20 15 total minutes a day, five out of seven days. +1 point for every day 3. Home Finance – Habit: Review spending against our budget every day. +1 points for every day 4. Creativity, Writing or Art – Habit: Spend at least 25 10 minutes writing or drawing, using the Pomodoro timer to stay focused. +1 point for every day of writing or making art 5. Habit Stack Self Care – Habit: When my son takes his first nap of the day OR whenever I can find a little uninterrupted quiet time meditate+brief yoga sequence+free time. +2 points for every day of self care Experience Points Level Up Scheme: 165-187 points || Increase 1 level 188-212 points || Increase 2 levels 213+ points || Increase 3 levels

The journey continues... Last we saw our hero, Wild Wolf aka The Wolfitrator take on demons of unknown origins. The challenge was steep, and while not perfect, Wolf crawled out of the fire more battle hardened then before. Where there was magic and swords before, what lays before you is gun powder and frag grenades. This new journey is unforgiving. One simple mistake, one slip up can mean the difference between a look at your kill cam and a victory dance while tea bagging the enemy squad. Wild Wolf will need to dig deep and become a wraith on the battlefield, something more than mere human. He must become a tactical human. Not only in body but in mind and spirit, too. He must hear the rifle report before the 7.62x39mm round lands home. He must see the enemy before they see him. He must infiltrate the spawn points and take up every power position he can get his grubby hands on. Nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is promised. But success is there for the taking. Stay tuned as our tattooed hero checks his magwell and gets down to brass tax! *Click Click BOOM* Goal 1: Firing on all Cylinders Workouts. Diet. I started a perfect trend the last two weeks of the last challenge and want to keep up the momentum. I still haven't established the discipline I want and so the journey continues here. 3x a week workouts. At least 2 meals with veggies in them. Ready-set-GO! Possible Stat Points: +1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON Goal 2: Safeties Off Truth Time: I've been avoiding HIIT style workouts because they suck. They're hard. I sweat a shit ton.... but these are just whiny excuses that the old me would be ok with. NOT. ANY. MORE. On top of the 3x a week strength training, 1x a week (bare minimum) will be dedicated to a HIIT workout. These can be quick too. 10, 15, or even just 20 min will get me so much bang for my buck, it's unreal. Utilize my 35# and 45# KB's as well as the gyms array of KB's to get in a sick metcon that melts the fat and explodes the metabolism into overdrive. Possible Stat Points: +3 END, +2 DEX Goal 3: House Hunting April 1st marks the end of our tenure at the apartments we are in. And so begins a new chapter for the Wolfpack™. We're going to do everything we can to ensure we get into a house! WOOT WOOT! My mom is a real estate agent and has been sending us various houses to look at and the time is NOW to get things rolling. We are about 45 days away before we need to have something nailed down so when I say it's crunch time, it truly is CRUNCH TIME! I don't work 2 jobs for the hell of it. I've had my site set on getting us into a house every since I started working at Costco back in late-July of last year. Heather and I and our kids are soooooooooooooooo looking forward to this new chapter. We need to be diligent. First things first, we need to get our income tax filed. We should have that done in the next 2 weeks. Then... we start house hunting! Possible Stat Points: +2 WIS, +3 CHA Is there a word that exceeds being focused? If so, that's what I am right now. I'm BEYOND focused right now! Thank you for taking the time to support me during this crazy and exciting time in my life right now . Let's rock n roll! Wolf

Activation routine - 5 10s plank, 5 10s superman fly, 20 slow lunges, 20 slow pushup, 5 min run Main routine - 5 rounds of 1 minute on 1 minute off hands off explosive push-up followed by high plank knee tuck My reps was 9-9-9-9-7 lost steam at the last set 186 calories (18.6 chips, couldn't get up to 20 :() with 175 bpm Stretch - some yoga stretches for knee and back Used soft pad to reduce impact on my shoulder (left one had arthroscopy) and elbow. Not too happy with my pushup form yet would love to get some advice. if you are going to try this out let me know your rep counts, calorie and heart rate also. https://youtu.be/ZRcNSIv_5fo

For those of you who haven't seen my recent challenges, they have been a bit...scattered. Mostly they end up reverting to running and counting net carbs. The start of the year everything was more focused - beat the blood sugar monster and reverse Type II diabetes. While I'm still working on that one, the end of this last challenge had my blood sugar numbers averaging under 100 for the last couple of weeks. This despite the fact that my exercise goals have been ping-ponging all over the place and the ability to focus has been non-existent. So we're going to try to change that with more of a plan. I don't know if it's already an acronym or not, but as I laid these out I realized they spelled out NEST. Hmm, not sure its a good acronym as I'm not sure what it gets at (building a foundation? a new life home? a comfy place??????) but what the hell, let's go with it! I'll even move it into the title and bold the first letters of each category! (stream of consciousness goal setting and I wonder why my mind has been scattered lately) Nutrition This is working for now, so I'm not going to change too much initially. If I'm too tired or not recovering as well as I think I should, I might look to add more to some of my macros. Total carbs under 100 grams per day, protein around 150 grams per day and the rest will be fats (no trans fats and poly unsaturated fats should be kept to a minimum). Find/create some quick and easy low carb smoothie recipes for breakfasts on the go. This will be especially helpful when the kids go back to school in September and my mornings get crunched for time. +1 point for each day the macros are hit and +1 point for each new recipe tried. 36 points possible (28 for macros and 10 for smoothies) Exercise The context here is that the running and net carb counting has helped me drop 30+ pounds over the last 9 months. While my heart, lungs and blood-work are much improved, my strength (as well as my ability to do things other than running) is lacking. So, I'm going to try to set the foundation for the upcoming months of getting stronger. Resistance training 3x/week - This could be body weight training, weight lifting, etc. But, something that requires me to use more muscles than my legs, heart and diaphragm. Running 2x/week - I'm cutting this back but not out. I enjoy it too much to get rid of it. Could be some sprinting, slower distances or a temp run. But, just get outside and move quicker than walking from point A to point B. Interval/circuit training will be some component in each of the above workouts. I will somehow integrate them together to keep things fun and interesting and then post them here to be kept honest. +1 point for each instance of exercise completed. 28 possible (I'm not counting zero week) Sleep I've been bad lately about staying up too late and then getting up and expecting to function. I've done okay in the mornings but run out of steam as the day wears on. Could be caloric intake, but during a week of vacation last challenge where I got almost 8 hours of sleep a day, I didn't have that problem. During vacation I slept in. Now I need to go earn a living, so I need to go to bed earlier at night. Be in bed by 10:30 each night as a goal. No phones/tablets/computers after 9 PM. +1 point for each nighttime routine completed successfully for a total of 28 points. Time management I can't stay focused without being organized. Being organized is something I suck at. So, baby steps. 10 minutes each day checking/planning the day's calendar. Can be simply looking it over to make sure I have things set in my mind, or it could be time boxing my day planning it out. But, this is to avoid not being prepared when something pops up on my screen saying I have something going on in 15 minutes. 15 minutes each week checking/planning the week's calendar. Ideally, this will be Sunday night (starting at 8:45 PM at the latest) getting the week mapped out. +.5 point for each day and week for a total of 16 points.

I finally got a new laptop. It's been 2 years. So, hello, forums. You look different! Jumping back in with a super basic 4 week challenge. 1. Orangetheory workouts- 5 to 6 a week, with one designated a green day. Track on activity app on watch 2. Keto (20-30 g carbs) 6 days a week at least Track on MFP 3. Water - 100 oz a day Track on MFP 4. Six Sigma - Complete Data Analytics for Six Sigma on Coursera by end of challenge

folx, we're getting dirty for this one i probably should be doing this challenge with the assassins but i'm a warrior at heart and like it here so deal with it. this challenge i'll be training for my first tough mudder - i have done short spartan races but these obstacles look crazyyyyy sooooooo goals! 5 workouts per week go outside once per week – a deliberate outdoor walk or activity don’t buy a drink at a bar unless out for a meal; keep restaurant food to less than 3x per week roll over goals: track fiber track yoga Other things. 5/25: dinner and bowling 5/27: light hike? 6/5: mom’s birthday 6/9: dress fitting, boston pride 6/10: meet with photog., book club 6/15: friends bday party 6/17: Spartan workout class 6/23: tough mudder buy wedding shoes, moar décor, and gift for brothers practice handfasting let's do this

So I am back from my crazy trip to Korea for work, I am a year older now as well since I hit 33 while I was there, and I am already back to the weight before I left (because I lost while I was there, and my boyfriend has cooked all the horrible amazing things for dinner since I got back). I need a change of pace, and I need to have a serious cut. I know that strength training is important but it's easy for me to get strong, so I am going to focus on what is hard for me to accomplish. For those of you that haven't seen my IG, I am all of 5'1" and built like a Shetland pony. Great for manual labor/lifting things, not so good for running.... My goal this challenge is to hit an average of 13k steps or 1.5 hours of cardio a day (my max trainer brings out a low step count but maximum effort so this is why time is also track-able) for 4 days a week, with a lower 10k step count and HIIT/Workout 3 days a week. *This is by the end of the challenge, not overall, next time I will be required to hit these goals all 4 weeks. To complete this goal I will need to: Do All The Cardio - Work up to 1.5 hours/18k steps of cardio daily. I am going to start with 4 days of cardio, with a minimum of 2 hitting that count/time. Week 2 will have me at 3 full days, and weeks 3 and 4 will have me hitting 4 full days with week 4 requiring me to hit the 10k step requirement on HIIT days as well. I can already tell I am going to need a tracking sheet for this go. Just Work It - *This went out the window a bit when I joined the new gym on Wednesday, and I will be taking 3 classes a week so I am switching things up a bit. 3 classes a week, with 10k steps on those days. Snacks! - I already have dealt with increased hunger due to cardio, this time I plan to prepare by having a solid meal plan, AND veggie snacks on hand at all times. I'm not going to worry about tracking them too much since this is more about having the correct snacks instead of all the carbs I know I will be craving. *The gif I wanted to use here isn't working and I need to go be productive.... perhaps another time, lol.

Mentally, spiritually - whatever you want to call it - I'm all about balance. I've lived with mild depression for as long as I can remember, and through accepting the dark; welcoming discomfort into my emotions, I can see the light even brighter. You can't have one without the other. I'd now like to take the cerebral into the physical. Since the beginning of this year I've been on a quest to reduce my body fat, and been generally pretty successful on the beginner's phase of Strong Curves. That's now over, and although I've lost only 3kg / 6.5lbs, I've also got my waist down from 31.5" to 28.5" (I'm 5' 4", all the body fat is on my belly), my shoulders are now slightly wider than my hips (never thought that would happen), and my estimated body fat percentage is down from 33% to 26% Here's some NSFW photos of my butt I didn't know that I had so much cellulite in January and was really shocked when I saw that photo, but look how it's almost disappeared now! Just through lifting and a slight calorie deficit. That being said, I could keep eating at a deficit, but after 4 months of weighing and logging everything, it's grinding my gears and affecting my strength gains. If there's no difference after this challenge, I'll have to reassess, but I don't think a bulk is a good idea right now. Here's my goals! Ben Swolo Reduce body fat percentage from mid-twenties to low(er)-twenties. Start to round off that butt by building muscle in the intermediate stage of Strong Curves. Use tape measure and calipers to monitor this. Green Milk Is Good For You Eat at maintenance. I'll attempt to stay at my day one weight for the length of this challenge. To begin with I'll have to find what my maintenance calories are and adjust my protein macros accordingly, so I'll use MFP and the scale for that. Once I get used to what that number is, I'd like to eat intuitively and just weigh daily. Grey Jedi Fitness Weight training 3x per week with Strong Curves: Gluteal Goddess Running/HIIT 3x per week with Nike Run Club and Nike Training apps Yoga as much as possible, dependant on schedule. Yoga routine should complement that day's training. Thinking of doing something about my upper-body posture. At the moment it's looking like Iyengar. Or at least something with lots of shoulder stretches. There's all sorts on ongoing heath and career issues which I'll have no real control over this month. I've found such peace of mind by nourishing and challenging my body this year I'm happy just to focus on that for this challenge!

The last 2 challenges have been about me getting used to this whole diabetes idea and figuring out who to handle this sans medication. As a result, I've lowered my glucose numbers from the 200's down to around 105. I've also dropped 7 pounds after dropping 15 before getting this wonderful news exactly 2 months ago to the date. But, being a data guy, I've been tracking all of the data I can think of as well as reading every study I can find, watching tons of talks on diabetes and asking the nutritionist in my diabetes education classes a bunch of questions. I think I've got a pretty good idea at this point as to what works for me and what doesn't. I'm still open to other ideas and viewpoints and will still be trying some different things out, but I will mostly be zeroing in on what provides the best benefits to me. Why? Because, ultimately, life your life or mine is lived as n=1. Yes, there are tons of studies and stats suggesting one thing or another, but you have to live your own life. I had neighbor who was diagnosed with some kind of cancer in his nasal passages. The doctors told him that 95% of patients come through treatment with no more cancer found and go on to live many more years of life. Unfortunately for Jim, he was one of the 5%. Before he died he mentioned how he knows why doctors use statistics, but it doesn't really matter if the odds are 1 in 10,000,000 if you're the one. So, I've found what I think works and I'm building my challenge goals around that. Ultimately, I have new lab tests coming up in 1 month. I want to get my average blood glucose readings under 105. I'm not going to track that as a challenge goal. I've decided rather to track the process instead of the goal. I believe if I track the process the goal will take care of its self. Carbs under 100 g. I'm not going to concentrate on sugar this time around or even net carbs. Just carbs. My numbers get better the lower my carb intake goes. I'm also not going to use an average for the week. Each day that's under 100 get +1 points, between 100 and 150 is 0 points. Over 150 is -1 points. HIIT workouts 3x/week. These beat the crap out any high numbers I have. For example, on Tuesday before one of these workouts my glucose reading was 143 (highest reading in 2 weeks). Immediately after Tuesday's workout, it was 80. So, these certainly burn up a lot of excess sugar in the blood. The down side is that I'm completely spent afterwards and need some recovery time. So, only 3 per week. +1.5 pt for each workout completed. Fiber over 30 g/day. I'm upping the ante and probably getting into supplementing. Why? Well, first of all 30 g is getting closer to what most people should be consuming. But, someone who is not eating grains really needs to make sure they are getting enough fiber. Plus, on days when this is higher, my blood sugar is lower. So, +1 pt for over 30, 0 pts for 22 - 30 and -1 pt for under 22. Weightlifting 2x/week. These workouts seem to have a bigger impact on blood sugar than long runs or walking does. I'm much better at doing the long runs or walking. Hence, I have no goal for those things since I'm already doing a good job of those. +1.5 pt for each workout. That creates 86 possible points with almost a 2:1 ratio of nutrition to exercise. Nutrition plays the biggest part in this so that ratio feels about right. Grading of this challenge will be as follows: 77 - 86 is an A (this challenge ends on my birthday and includes Easter so there may be a few days of lost nutrition points) 68 - 76 is a B 59 - 67 is a C 52 - 58 is a D 51 or lower is a FAIL Additionally, there may or may not be extra credit granted to the overall score depending on how my A1C test turns out in a month. Let's see how this goes.

LIfe happens. It's how you deal with it that counts... On the downside, I've recently being diagnosed with a hiatus hernia and GERD. By the end of this challenge I will hopefully will have had the final tests to determine what kind of surgery - if any - will be right for me. For those of you who don't already know, I've been on the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole for about 7 months now. Long term effects of it are pretty nasty - the one bothering me in particular is that it inhibits calcium/magnesium absorption. This became apparent over the last challenge when my legs started to twitch all night, and I found myself pausing Strong Curves for a couple of weeks, only to find the twitching came back as soon as I resumed my workouts. As someone who was fine lifting way more on Strong Lifts I'm inclined to think it's the medication that's to blame, and not the intensity of my lifting. On the upside, since supplementing with calcium and magnesium this seems to have disappeared. If it comes back I'll start on the creatine. I can't bear the thought of putting all those hours in at the gym and having to do the same workouts with the same weights. I'm now on the home stretch (weeks 9-12) for this beginner's Strong Curves routine. I hope I'll be able to move into the advanced programme after, but if not I'm happy to repeat this last bit again. HERE WE GO! 1. Lose fat, get stronger Progress was depressingly slow last challenge, I lost a grand total of 1.1kg / 2.4lbs and 1" off the body. My calories seem to be somewhere between the low end of maintenance and the high end of deficit. I'll do my best to push comfortably into the deficit end of the spectrum by cutting calories to 1500 per day. I'm less hungry on 'active recovery' days, so I could cut more drastically on those days if I find I'm finding it hard to restrict on Strong Curves days. If I find my recovery suffers then I'll have to hang back from increasing weights, as losing fat is a higher priority right now. So, Strong Curves four times per week. 2. Climbmill HIIT routine It's 18 mins long, I'm doing it twice per week, and I've already modified the speed as it's a killer on the quads. I'll change up if it ever gets 'easy'. Due for another hiking holiday in October, which is why I chose that particular cardio machine. 3. Recover I don't know if this will be simple foam rolling or all-out yoga, but I think this would aid recovery. I still haven't worked out which days to do this - perhaps after workouts B and C, as they hammer the thighs way more. Obviously keep up with food supplements too. 4. Simple timetabling Tech on Mon-Wed; Creative on Thu-Sat. Brain doesn't like switching fast between the two disciplines and I find myself doing nothing instead. I've left this deliberately vague so I don't pressure myself too much, and then quit the first time after I fail.

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo lives in a pineapple under the sea? Gurdris the Imbiber! Flimsy and flabby and lazy is she! Gurdris the Imbiber! If nerdical fitness be something you wish Gurdris the Imbiber! Then drop in the gym, and sweat like a bitch! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIIIIIIIIS THE IMBIBER! Yarr, now that the musical number is out of the way... Main Goal: Become Wonder Woman and maintain the weight loss streak I started when I needed to make my shiny new engagement ring fit. Challenge Goal: Stick to a routine of exercise, fitness and keeping on top of laundry. No more collecting underpants - my fiance needs clean ones. Fitness Complete a streak of 10 unmissed workouts, totalling 20 with my trainer. Workout days are Tuesday and Thursday after work, Sunday morning. Loot: trainer and the co-worker who works out with me offered to pay for my dinner if we go out together after 10 workouts. Nutrition Follow my trainer's diet plan (lean meat and veg, low carb, low fat, no junk). Loot: additional plates, knives and forks for our understocked kitchen Mental Read before bed for at least 30 mins every day, instead of Facebooking in bed. Loot: art supplies Life Do laundry twice a week (folded and put away) Loot: new clothes Bonus challenge: Complete listening to an 8hr audiobook (Foundation by Isaac Asimov). However, it may only be listened to underwater, while swimming laps. No swim, no book. No book... No loot. Loot: Full body massage at the spa. Ohhhh yessssss... I've done challenges before but I'm doing this one after a long time away, so consider it a respawn but I'm adding in the extra 2 because I've already been able to maintain some of these goals for most of a month. Scoring: Mental 20xp Fitness 25xp Nutrition 25xp Life 15xp Bonus 15xp -------------------- Total: 100xp Accountibility: I'll update this Challenge log daily with my successes and/or failures and/or spongebob gifs and/or other gifs/all the gifs / no jifs only gifs.

Goals: - No Alcohol - 1 hour walk or 1 hour gym every day - Track Calories - "Never 2 in a row" Big shift in my training this challenge, I got injured (again) and decided I am no longer doing Crossfit training with a Personal Trainer. I'll be going to F45 classes instead and training weights at home. I have signed up for the Crossfit Open but I'm not sure at this stage whether I will take part because I'm carrying a bicep tendon impingement injury which prevents me from doing any overhead or bicep work. The overall goal at the moment is body composition, specifically losing fat. Bonus motivators: 1. I'm in a weight loss competition with a friend at work from 6 Feb to 27 Feb, every 500g one of us loses more than the other is $5 you owe them. (This is a repeat, I crushed him in January in case you were wondering!) 2. I've entered an 8 week challenge at my new F45 gym, which runs 29 Jan to 25 March 3. I've set myself up for success with (another) 20 pre-packed Paleo meals. 4. In a PvP with @Baxtan which is a race to see who can lose 7kg (15.4lbs) first. Current status: Starting weight 93.0kg Current Weigh in: 88.9kg PVP progress: 4.1kg lost, 2.9kg to go. Super secret (not so secret) Open motivation

Hi everybody! This is my first challenge! 1) Stay on track with Strong Curves a) My periods are very painful and can put me out of action for a couple of days. At their worst I take Co-Codamol, but I imagine I probably shouldn't do anything while on opiates. If anyone can share tips on dealing with painful periods and the guilt/anger of missing a workout, please do! I highlight this because there's very little wiggle room on the SC course - four days' lifting plus two days of cardio. Having said that, I suppose I could catch up with missed cardio after a lifting sesh. b ) The gym is a ten minute walk away from my home and is open 24/7, so there really should be no excuse to miss a day in normal circumstances. c) I need to forgive myself and move on if I do miss a session. d) Sleep's pretty important, apparently. I need to observe bedtime better. 2) Active rest days a) According to Bret Contreras, 'rest' = doing cardio like a nutter. I tend to gravitate towards the spin bike, but I'm trying to give the glutes a chance at recovering so I'm opting to follow the Lean Fit Nike Training Club app. b ) Will have to look ahead and substitute any 'strength' workouts with the free HIIT classes my gym provides. 3) Log maintenance calories on MFP This should be the easiest goal to achieve. I had a crazy-long streak in the past when I was losing weight with diet alone. 4) Stay in school (I'm not actually at school, just teaching myself at home) a) Timetable study hours. With a new job and all those pretty sparkly weights to be distracted by, it's all too easy to neglect this very important and long-term goal (getting a programming job). Long story short, I'm switching careers to a more sedentary one and in that time have also been super-poor, so no gym for me for the last year. In that time I stopped counting calories and put on a load of weight; I seem to carry an entire body's worth of fat on my belly (it's not fair). People don't believe I'm bordering on being overweight, as the clothes I choose to wear hide the belly well, but the stats don't lie. Someone let me know if I'm allowed to post pics of underwear here, and I'll show you damning photographic evidence. I also have a dry sense of humour, so please read what I write with that in mind... I've recently joined the new budget no-frills 24/7 gym that's within walking distance of my house. I've also just got a short term contract job in my new chosen field, so 2018's been rosy so far. I was in two minds about joining NF, as I tend to go all-out on things - and I'm a little worried I'm going to spend all my spare time here and on My Fitness Pal (I use the same handle there if you want to be friends). Part of my New Year's resolution is finding that balance between brain and body and it looks as if I'll have to keep myself to a timetable to make sure everything's in check. I started Strong Curves on 1st January and started logging maintenance calories on MFP on 2nd. I'll do my best to post here and support you in turn! Stats: Age: 36 Height: 5'4" Weight: 63.1kg Neck: 13" Waist: 30.5" Hips: 38" Thigh: 22.75" Calf: 14" BMI: 24.6 Est. Body Fat: 32.7% Est. Body Fat Mass: 20.6kg

Hi, I'm Raptron! I do... a lot, but this challenge will be an important pivot from the path I've been on preparing for my first powerlifting meet (Dec. 2) to getting back into gymnastics competition shape after a year off of competition. While I've been continuing to go to practice and work on my skills, my ROUTINES are sorely lacking in endurance and polish. My gym is closed during at least a week of December PLUS traveling for the holidays puts a kink in things, but that is no reason I can't work on my weaknesses outside of the gymnastics gym as well. SOOO, let's get our Sonic the hedgehog IRL back on. 1. Interval Training *2x per week: any kind of tabatas, sprints, stairs, etc. 2. Preparedness *Beam routines every gymnastics practice *Floor routine run-throughs at least 6x over challenge *Vault 4x over challenge *Bars 4x over challenge 3. Flexibility *Active flexibility work outside of gymnastics 2x per week 4. Brain Power *Read at least 2 books

Hey guys! Parker is back for her second challenge in a row. The last challenge was a glorious success and en lieu of this progress, I am keeping my last goals through this one because they became healthy habits that I will continue to maintain! Now I'm going to ramp things up a bit and build off of those goals and their momentum. 1. I will be counting my calories for every meal and keeping a log. I aim to consume a maximum of 1300 so that I am at a deficit, and I will be sticking as close to paleo as I can. 2. I will cook at least 3 meals out of the week at home. I will probably focus on a particular meal (i.e. cooking at least 3 dinners out of the 7 at home instead of eating out). 3. I will get 8 hours of sleep every night. Besides tonight, I will try to be in my bed with electronics off by midnight. 4. Level-up Goal - Apply to 20 different jobs within my career field. (And if it's necessary for applying, have at least 3 clips prepped to use on my demo reel) I am very excited to crush this challenge like I did the last one. I feel like Izuku when he realizes how much needs to be done before his body can handle All Might's ability. The task is daunting, but manageable, and I am so expectant for the amazing results I will be proud of down the line. Let me know how y'all's challenge is going and don't be a stranger!

I'm back from vacation, I (hopefully) have found some new motivation, and I'm ready to get back in the game. I also haven't really improved much with the parkour over the last 6 months, and I'm finally in a mental place where I'm ready to step up my training. Goal 1: Learn to Zig Zag I have been slacking on getting cardio workouts, which in turn makes me less agile when doing parkour. I HATE cardio, but the goal is to force myself to do that at least 3 times/week. Parkour class counts. So does HIIT or shadowboxing. I might even *gasp* go for a jog. Goal 2: Work that dragon ass I've struggled A LOT with knee and hip pain over the last few months. When I did some research and some physical tests, I found that I have an anterior pelvic tilt along with relatively underdeveloped posterior chain muscles and overdeveloped quads. I've already started on the road to fixing this, and I'm already seeing progress. I have stretches for the hip flexors and calves that I need to do. I also have great exercises for helping activate the glutes and hamstrings. I also have started really trying to fix my squat. I had assumed that poor ankle mobility and short calf muscles were the reason I would fall backward or tend to shift weight to the balls of my feet when doing AtG squats. But now I have other avenues to explore. I can actually do a good form squat if I'm front squatting a light dumbbell. The goal is to accumulate time over the week in a deep squat as well as stick with the physical therapy-esque stuff. I will start with a goal of 15 minutes per week in deep squat, and see how that goes. Goal 3: A Girl must Cook I got lazy. And then went on vacation and ate out for a couple weeks. And for whatever reason, it seems harder to cook when the kids are home. But I need to clean up the diet a lot. The goal is to do at least one batch cooked recipe per week and eat out at most once per week. Goal 4: I drink and I know things. While it would certainly be *fun* to have a goal of drinking, it doesn't fit with my goals. The thing I need to drink is protein, and the thing I need to know is how much protein I've been getting. My muscle recovery has been poor, but I also have been much lower with the protein intake than I ought to be. The goal is to track protein and drink a protein shake each day that I lift or do parkour. Bonus: Be mighty like Brienne Work on upper body strength by doing pull ups and grip training work. The goal is to start doing a GtG approach where I have to do a pull up or hang on something anytime I go under the pull up bar or go down to the basement.

Welcome to Northman's Weekly-Daily Workout Log. Here I will keep track of my bodyweight workout progressions and nutrition goals. Status Update <Space for status update. How ya feelin' bud? You okay?> Weight Current WeightGoal Goal (Gain/Cut) - Calories - Macros (Carbs/Prot/Fat)Routine Exercise - Sets/Reps

I am basically here to ask for help with my weight loss. The whole thing is new to me so I am very overwhelmed and don't know where to start! I am 5'9 and around 170 pounds. I used to be around 145, I used to dramatically under eat and work out (just cardio) 6 times a week. However when I went to university two years ago that all changed and I put on A LOT of weight. And I'm now so ready to get it off. However I don't even know where to start. Ive been eating extremely healthy, but I'm not eating any carbs as I'm under the impression that this would cause weight gain? I am also going to the gym 5 days a week and doing hiit (on the treadmill). However I feel that I'm not seeing any differences (even slight differences). What would be the best way for me to lose weight? Another question i have is that I'm really really wanting to tone up as I feel my butt and stomach needs a bit more tone, should I start lifting and doing weight exercises now or wait until the weight is lost and then build on that? Im so confused!

Hi everyone! I am new to the Rebellion! I have already posted two questions and have received replies that have made me nothing but more positive. I really do love it here. I am still learning to navigate, and I am super excited to try a 4 week challenge when the next one starts. So here is my story for those who would like to get to know me: I am a young female South African, 25, 154cm height. BMI .29 (considered obese). I am a little person in this huge world that it, yes, trying to get smaller. I have been struggling on and off for over a year trying to lose weight and get fit. Of course no one ever decides to lose weight and then actually loses it without also making the decision alongside to be serious, dedicated and disciplined as well. Only the past 4 months have shown me some results. Small results, but nevertheless they are still there. I was concentrating on resistance training, and then for the past month I have also added strength training. I have about 20-25kg to lose, give or take. I have made the decision to start working really hard for it this month. My main concentration will be my weight training alone in the mornings and dumbbell routines that I do with a friend in the afternoons. I will also be adding in some HIIT and Yoga. So I am planning to have a lot of fun this month while creating everlasting habits that will keep me fit throughout my future life. I am also on a paleo diet of only meat, vegetables and now and then some fruit. The only things not paleo are my protein shakes. I try to keep my calories up to 1200. I have been told that I can eat more than this and still lose weight. I know that I can eat more because of my training and still lose weight but I eat like a bird and veggies keep my calorie count super low which makes it difficult to sometimes reach a higher caloric intake (most of the time I even struggle to reach 800). I also don't want to force myself to eat more than I can fit in and overfeed myself unnecessarily. I use the application Fitnesspal as my food diary. It helps me keep track easily. My goal this month is drop one size at least, and I have made the decision to be discipline enough to reach that goal. I will be forcing myself not to be lazy and to complete all my exercise tasks even when I really don't want to. There are posters of beautiful fit women all over my gym room to help motivate me and I have a file where I will record all of my progress and activities. This helps me with motivation as well because I love planning and recording things. I am a "list-person" if you know what I mean. I am very excited to be a part of this community and to have somewhere I can turn when I need advice, inspiration and motivation. Also, I am happy to help anyone wherever I can as well. My advice might not be abundant as I am still a newbie in all of this but I can help motivate and inspire where I lack any advice or knowledge! We can all accomplish our dreams and reach any goal that we set for ourselves. Cheers!

In 5 weeks I will be heading into a new mission phase and it's time to start preparing. My handler sent me the key skills he wants me to brush up on: Hand to hand: Krav Maga (0/6 sessions) Increase Endurance: HIIT Sessions (2/28) Study Up: Finish Pre-law school books and assignments (0/6) Get Flexy and Handstands: Handstand Drills (0/25) Flexibility Sessions (2/25) Nutrition: Calorie Counting (3/25) Internal Peace: Meditation (2/25)

Hey there, thanks for dropping by! This is my first challenge. I used to be pretty healthy but have been through a lot of intense crap in life for the last couple of years, and I've gone into deep depression/trauma/survival mode and developed some bad coping mechanisms and lost my good health habits. I'm still going through a lot of junk but am healing inside, and it's helping me be able to get out of survival mode and into life mode a little bit again. I have a long journey of healing still to go, but I've gotten really good at following the rules of failure, so now... EDITED 6/8 for clarity and working better with my actual goals: I want to get in shape, in love with my body, strong, happy, and developing my talents again. I want to rediscover life, beauty, and passion. I want to be able to fit into my old clothes again, to feel beautiful and interesting and valid and wonderful. I've had a LOT of kicks of trying to get healthy again throughout the crazy life experiences of the last couple years, and while I used to be able to do stuff like Whole30, I can't do it right now. I've tried that and similar things and I just can't. So I'm taking smaller steps. This first challenge for me is not necessarily about weight loss, achieving a certain number of squats, etc- it's about getting back to basics and establishing healthy habits of daily exercise and eating actual food. That's where I'm at right now, and this is phase 1! I hope to be able to refine my goals and work them enough to drop a size by the end of summer. I still yo-yo a lot on my trauma moments/hours/days, and I'm finding that just because I have one good day doesn't mean I won't have a really bad couple of days. But I'm coming from a place of 6-7/7 bad days each week. So I'm trying to set good goals but be gentle with myself, trusting the process rather than aiming for a certain outward result. Consistently following good goals is the most important thing for this challenge, and I'll be able to refine them as needed for the next challenge. SO- GOALS: -Do 2-3 circuits of the Basic Bodyweight routine 3x/week: 13 points total. (And 1 Bonus point every day I do 20-30 minutes of HIIT. No penalty when I don't but they can't replace lost points from other categories. They're purely bonus.) UPDATE WEEK 1: I'm not sure the bodyweight routine is really doing it for me, so I'll include it as an option, but just go for 3x/week of some kind of strength training for now, probably generally included as part of a HIIT routine. I want to listen to my body and give it the kind of exercise it needs for now, whether more or less intense on any given day. -Walk/hike outside every day I can, weather permitting; if for some reason walking isn't possible, put on a few songs and just dance! 30 points total. -No more than 3 desserts/week (not counting fruit and/or paleo ice cream/smoothies which I sometimes have for breakfast or lunch). 3 or less desserts/week: 7 points/week+ 2 points for this Friday and Saturday. 4 or less desserts per week: 4 points/week. 5+desserts /week: no points. Total possible points: 73 (+ HIIT bonus) 67-73 points= A+! Reward: Defeat the Firelord, become the new Firelord. Actually get back the $200 I gave a friend. I complete the challenge in this range, I get all the money back. Otherwise: 60-66 points= B= $100 for me, $100 to a friend. anything less: F= $0, and lose $200 to a friend. CURRENT POINTS: 21+5 Friday-Saturday (pre-challenge): 1 bodyweight, 2 walking, 2 food points+ 2 bonus hiit points= 5+2 WEEK 1: 3 bodyweight, 6 walking, 7 food + 3 hiit points= 16+ 3 WEEK 2: 3 bodyweight, 7 walking, 7 food= 17 (didn't tally the bonus points because I guess they don't really matter) WEEK 3: 3 bodyweight, 7 walking, 4 food= 14 WEEK 4: Pending

[posting from my phone so forgive my typos & grammar] Life story; CURRENT GOALS 1. Get out of bed when your body wakes up. When I'm on work time I generally need to be out of bed by 6am to have enough time to cruise through my morning routine, but I've often woken up earlier then my alarm and tried to sleep more and made myself feel worse when I do finally get up. I'm going to make a point of hauling ass out of bed when I wake up if it's within a few hours or so of my alarm going off. 2. No screens in the morning before work. This is well-known to be counter-productive. I try to lose myself in social media or pinterest to avoid thinking/getting anxious about going to work and then I feel like shit physically and mentally. I can do anything else with this time; read, write, draw, crochet, exercise, etc... I'm constantly feeling guilty for not spending time on any of my many hobbies and the morning time is supposed to be great for productivity. As a well-known night owl, we shall see. 3. Track food; Stay within +-500cals of 2000calorie target and aim for 100g of protein. I've neglected my food tracking because I was stuck on the couch for 3 months and feeling sorry for myself. And the last two weeks I've been on holidays; no one needs that sort of stress on holidays. For those interested in how I decided on 2000cals; 4. Burpees in the morning. I have not historically loved burpees. But they work literally everything. And if I can get through burpees before doing anything else I can tackle anything else that the day throws me. Thats the plan. And I need to work on cardio and strength for derby. I still have my gym membership so I still plan to use it, but I need a baseline of exercise to focus on. I am late to this one but better that then not starting at all. I plan on starting this on Tuesday the 6th because I won't be home until then. *hi fives self* Go team!

Despite dropping off the face of the planet the last several months, things have been going really well! I'm weight stable thanks to Eat To Perform, lifting regularly, and seeing some body recomp that makes me preen just a little bit... However, I'd like to be more present in the NF world again, and as I'm counting down to my Spartan Sprint I think the accountability will do me in good stead! My entire Spartan team that I've been training with since January or so has bailed on me for the Spartan Sprint in Idaho on June 24th. All 5 of them! Lame. However, Mr. Honeybunches heard of my predicament, and since he was planning to come for a visit anyway in July, said he'd come the last week of June and run it with me! Because he's the absolute freaking best future husband ever! So, even though he can only come for a quick 8 days, it's gonna be the bestest and I can't wait!! Onto the goals! HIIT the gym 4x a week! (see what I did there?) I was floundering a couple weeks ago: Do I want to go for muscle mass? Should I focus more on straight lifts? Then I remembered my goals: I want to CRUSH those obstacle course races and enjoy myself, and not necessarily feel like dying halfway through (though that may or may not happen anyway, let's be real). In order to CRUSH THE OCR, I need muscle and cardio for days. HIIT it is, 4x a week, with a portion of each session dedicated to straight lifting because Gains Train. Run 1 to 2 times a week I did NOT learn to love running last challenge...I learned that I do NOT love running, and so I will not be doing Ragnar, the relay race from hell, after all. However, as I approach my racing season (hehe), I will be faced with running a 5k, an 8-10 miler, and a 12-14 miler plus obstacles, so I gotta get my butt in gear anyway. 1-2 times a week is all I am willing to commit at the moment, we'll see how it works for me with this Sprint, and I'll up my game for the Super and Beast if needs be, and I reckon I will need to...hills, anyone?? Drink 100 oz water/day Self Explanatory =) LISS-en More Low Intensity Steady State (AKA: getting my steps in/going for fun, easy bike rides/doing CIZE videos with mom/ walking in place while watching Kubo and The Two Strings for 3k steps like I did last night....). I walk all day at work, but on the weekends I workout on Saturday and do not much else. I want at least 8k steps on Friday and Saturday, or an equivalent activity conversion (like riding my bike or whatnot), because not all movement has to kick your ass to be worthwhile! Extra Credit: any extra gym sessions/classes/hikes/long bike rides, whatever extra activity it may be, I get to tick the EC box, just for funsies! =) Extra, Extra Credit: Check in on my thread and others' threads at least three times a week!