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I usually hang with the monks, but this challenge I figured I would hang with the druids. My Challenge: Daily Meditation Daily Iaido Practice Weight Loss I need to hash out the details and I have a week to do it. EDIT: First to post!!!

Running: Training for my first 100K Iaido: Relearn all 8 Kata…… again. Diet: Low carb with one cheat day. This is my tentative running schedule due to change with my fitness. I have some big miles at the end of this and I am not going to be able to do them unless I drop some weight. My 100K is October 11th and if I am not up to snuff I will put it off until April of next year and just do the Indiana Trail 100 mile ultra. Week Ending Aug 3rdrd Weight: Monday- off Tuesday- 6 miles Wednesday-6 miles Thursday- 6 miles Friday- off Saturday- 12 miles Sunday- 6 miles Week Ending Aug 10th Weight: Monday- off Tuesday- 6 miles Wednesday- 6 miles Thursday- 6 miles Friday- off Saturday- 12 miles Sunday- 6 miles Week Ending Aug 17th Weight: Monday- off Tuesday- 6 miles Wednesday- 6 miles Thursday- 6 miles Friday- off Saturday- 18 miles Sunday- 6 miles Week Ending Aug 24th Weight: Monday- off Tuesday- 6 miles Wednesday- 6 miles Thursday- 6 miles Friday- off Saturday- 18 miles Sunday- 6 miles Week Ending Aug 31st Weight: Monday- off Tuesday- 6 miles Wednesday- 12 miles Thursday- 6 miles Friday- off Saturday- 18 miles Sunday- 6 miles Week Ending Sept 7th Weight: Monday- off Tuesday- 6 miles Wednesday- 12 miles Thursday- 6 miles Friday- off Saturday- 24 miles Sunday- 6 miles

The actual quote from Firefly is "You're like a trained ape. Without the training." but I want to be better than that and be like the trained ape that actually has the training. Main quest: Like all of my other challenges, my main quest is to improve my kicks. To be more specific, my side thrust kicks have always been my main goal but I need to add roundhouse kicks to this goal because they need help too. 1 - Mobility: Cheechoe's hip routine is going to be the main focus here but I also want to add the resets to make my hips work better. The goal is to do both of these at least 4 days each week.2 - Back to basics: Do 2 full Karate workouts at home each week in addition to my Karate class. Before the Karate workout do a strength movement and at the end of the workout do a core/ab movement. (modified 8/14/14) 3 - Karate specific: Total of 1000 kicks and punches per week. Life quest: Spend more time with my wife Spending the time walking with the Typhoon and doing something fitness related while doing it really helps put my mind in a better place and it also helps loosen up my hips. Walk 5 days a week.

Hello everyone! With some arm twisting (literally) from my husband, Shotokan, this is my first challenge. I have been learning Shotokan Karate for 10 years with my husband and son and have been learning Iaido for 2.5 years. I am still active taking my Martial Arts classes but I need something else to bring me back to shape I was in many years ago. I did hurt my back, to the point that I could not take Karate class for 6 months a few years ago and it has kept me from exercising the way that I used to before the injury. I will adjust this as needed along the way but the following are my goals for the next six weeks. 1: Take off 10 pounds I don't like to lose weight because it often finds me again so I want to take off 10 pounds and not get it back. I plan on doing at least some form of exercise every day, even if it is something as simple as doing kata with Shotokan. 2: Improve my Iaido skills Do at least 50 noto's at least three times each week outside of class and do at least one Iaido kata each day. 3: Hold a plank for at least two minutes With the back problems, I had to stay away from most exercises but now that I can do a plank again, I want to be able to hold it for at least two minutes over the next six weeks. 4: Do some form of mobility or flexibility training I don't want to ever have those back issues again so I am going to do some type of self taught Yoga or Tai Chi at home and also work on the HFS program that Shotokan does. I would like to do this training at least three days a week. These might change over the next six weeks but for now these are my goals. I heard that there is a great bunch of people here and I am looking forward to spending, at least, the next six weeks with all of you.

These challenges have been awesome for me and I think this is going to be my sixth challenge so far. I have found that I start out really strong but somewhere near the fifth week, something comes along to slow me down. That fifth week has been riddled with injury, illness, job loss or some other excuse to keep me from finishing as strong as I want. Because of that, I am going to consider each and every day a new beginning and a new end. Instead of working up to a six week peak, I am going to live in the moment and enjoy every workout that I do. I don't need to peak and reach the end, instead I want to enjoy each and every workout for what it is. That way each workout becomes a stop along the way and what I did the day before or will do the next day doesn't matter. 1- Six weeks of intense HFS.: Knowing how much the Hip Flexibility System helped my kicks since I started doing it, this time I want it to be the main focus of this challenge. I am able to kick higher and better than ever before and now I want to raise the bar so that I can increase the height of my kicks. I know that doing HFS at least four times a week would really help but I am going to do what I can and not set a fixed goal. This will include the other parts of the program that include the core workout and SMR work. I will also work on any movements that contribute to my kicking success but again with no fixed plan. 2 - Add an additional Martial Arts training day each week: Even though I had a dedicated kata training day each week, I need to dig down and find the answer to training, for real, outside of the dojo. I am going to declutter my home dojo and hang up the pictures of my Sensei's to motivate me. At least one extra hour of training at home is what I want to do this time. It's only six extra hours over six weeks, right? 3 - Write a book: Even though I wrote a lot of blog posts last time, I need to get a book published. Getting my first published book will give me the momentum to publish more books, including my kata books. I have no excuses this time and if I don't get that first book finished in six week I expect a public brow beating from all of you.

I took a little break last challenge. Had my second daughter November 6th and a newborn wreaks havoc on all things. So, now that I'm not the walking dead from sleep deprivation, it is time to get back into a healthy routine. Fitness Goals: Back to the Gym SL5x5 - 3 times a week at 5:30am. 1001 Sword Swings I finally got my own sword about a month ago; now, it's time to use it. The plan is to 1001 cuts split between kesa, gyaku kesa, and suihei by the end of the challenge (24 a day). Bulking I have a set of calipers and a body tape measure coming Wednesday. So, with those and a scale, I will start the bulking process. Starting target: 2800 Calories - 396 Carbs - 160 Prot - 64 Fat Life Goal: Finances Every since my first daughter was born, I've let my finances slide a bit; but now it's time to right the ship. I will account for every penny that I spend. Edit: So, apparently I can't spell monastery. So, to someone with the power to change my title: Please fix the typo.

I think I finally posted this in the right area? I stopped my last challenge after 8 days…. Mission: I have joined the Agents of Shield. Melinda Mays, my supervising officer, has given me six weeks of training to do before I can go on my first field mission. 1- Paleo- except Sunday mornings 2- Re-learn all 8 Iaido kata. a. Daily morning practice to run through them with a video if needed. 3- Run 30 miles a week. 4- Do Convict Conditioning My 6 week goal is simply to build some discipline and the habit of training everyday. My mid-term goal is to get super fit again like I was in 2012. My long term goals are to run a hundred mile ultra-marathon, earn a black belt in Iaido and be ripped. Life-Time Goals are PhD in Cognitive Psychology, Run the Badwater Ultra-Marathon, Master Iaido, Ascend…..

I stopped my last challenge after 8 days…. 1- Paleo- except Sunday mornings 2- Re-learn all 8 Iaido kata. a. Daily morning practice to run through them with a video if needed. 3- Run 30 miles a week. 4-Weigh myself daily My 6 week goal is simply to build some discipline and the habit of training everyday. My mid-term goal is to get super fit again like I was in 2012. My long term goals are to run a hundred mile ultra-marathon, earn a black belt in Iaido and be ripped. Life-Time Goals are PhD in Cognitive Psychology, Run the Badwater Ultra-Marathon, Master Iaido, Ascend…..