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Greetings, fellow rebels! I'm Riviera16, writer, artist, ninja-in-training, and space/physics geek. I'm a huge fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, LOTR, GOT, and many others. Currently I'm in the process of watching Babylon 5. I love cosplay and wish I could wear my costumes all the time, wherever I want, whenever I want. I play D&D 3.5e and 5e and am currently in three campaigns and am working on running one. I first heard about NerdFitness from my dad and have been reading emails/articles for a while but only now am actually getting on the forum. This is my first challenge and I'm excited to see where I can go over these next few weeks. But first, a little bit about how I got here. The Backstory: I started following NerdFitness 2+ years ago. Back then I pretty much sat around the house 24/7 and barely did anything active (with the exception of some swimming in the warmer months). Weight hasn't been an issue for me, but muscle weakness certainly has. It had caused a number of injuries for me (an otherwise healthy older teen/young adult) and I was sick of it and decided it was high-time I do something about it. I'd known about NF for a little while at that point and had been reading the emails Steve sent out and the free workout/guide articles. They inspired me to start learning more about fitness and how to build strength. I started exercising at home, but wasn't really getting anywhere. Then my dad and I got together and joined a gym, and suddenly it was like a whole new world opened up for me. There were so many more things I could do there than at home. I did few months of personal training sessions to help myself get started, then moved on to working out on my own. Over the next year I watched as I gradually went from being barely able to do a bicep curl with a 1lb dumbell to doing 0.5 bodyweight assisted pullups. It felt great to be making progress, slowly but surely, and having new milestones to look forward to. The Latest Episode: ...Then the coronavirus hit. The gym closed and I was stuck at home. We have some basic workout equipment at home, a few dumbells and some resistance bands. It was enough for me to do a full workout, but with far more limited options than I was used to. In other words, it got boring fast. I'm the sort of person who craves newness and excitement and I can't stand excessive repetition and monotony. One of the things I like most about the gym was the wide variety of exercises you can do. Doing something different every time I worked out was part of what made it fun for me. Without that, workouts became a chore and it became harder and harder to actually get myself to do them. I've looked for new things to incorporate into my workouts and have had some luck, but only some. I'm still trying to find ways to make my workouts more interesting, but in the meantime I know if I want to stay on track I need something more than interest to get me through. Having come such a long way already I really don't want to lose momentum or set myself back. I know from experience that I need accountability in a situation like this or sooner or later I start slipping. So, I decided taking on a challenge like this would be a great way to stay on target! My Main Quest at this point is to keep building strength with the hopes of one day doing full bodyweight pullups, over 1x bodyweight barbell squats, and (more importantly) learning/doing parkour and/or martial arts (All while avoiding more injuries, because injuries suck.). Basically, I want to be a butt-kicking ninja action hero in real life. My specific goals for this challenge are: Do a strength workout 3x per week. Do a lighter workout at least 1x per week (yoga, jogging outside, late night dance party, etc.) Learn 1 new exercise every week and do it in a workout. I'll be focusing on achieving these goals over these next few weeks, but if I'm inspired I might try a little more. Who knows? I'll keep track of what I've done in follow-up posts and I look forward to seeing where these coming weeks take me.