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Hello Everyone! Even though I had some of my best training session over the last few months, I didn't do the last two challenges because I wanted to spend some time finding a more structured training routine. With all the information available in the internet and YouTube, I had a period of information overload that gave me too many options and quickly moved me from one direction to another like a bouncing ball. I fell into the trap of, do this one movement for this and then do this one movement for that which turned into 50 different movements that could be covered in a few compound movements. Sometimes too many options are worse than no options for me and that took me down some paths that made me regress instead of improve. This caused me to search for answers on getting my mind in the right place and letting my body tell me what and how I need to train based on the feeling instead of trying to analyze everything instead of just doing. I had analysis paralysis in a bad way. I read a couple of great books, watched a few good videos and talked with a few people who are at the level I want to be or on the same path and I think I found some of the answers that I have been trying to find. This challenge will consist of the following: 1. Structured workouts 5 times per week This part of my training is not rigid but instead structured. I found a group of compound movements that have helped me make some great gains in a short time. I found that training two to four times per day for 15 to 30 minutes helps me get in enough work without running me down. I have also found that doing these micro workouts before my Karate classes give me an edge that I didn't have before because my entire body is awake. 2. Train to become more fluid 4 times per week After many years of Karate training, I realized that I became very rigid in my mind and this transferred to my training and my body. Even though many of techniques were textbook level, I was training with blinders on and not trying anything new. Some words said by my Sensei, who were told to him by his Sensei, is "no style", which to me means, in simple terms, just move. The way that I learned was by trying to emulate my Sensei's instead of doing what felt right. I was able to build a good foundation but my Karate hasn't started to become mine until very recently. Even though I still train Iaido and recently started working with a Jo, only now have I found that the way the body moves can be applied to each other. Even though those are all different arts, they all have a common denominator which is efficient body movement. 3. Mind improvement 5 times per week. I have been searching for mind enhancing systems, non drug type, for some time now. I have been exploring different tones and binaural beats type sounds to help improve my mental clarity. There are some great Youtube videos on Yoga Nidra and NSDR that can settle my mind along with an app I found Brain.fm that can not only slow me down but also raise my focus level when needed. 10 to 30 minutes seems to work well for me and it has improved my sleep and lowered my resting heart rate even more since I started using them only a couple weeks ago. Extra credit: Finish the book I am reading. I have recently read some books that forced me to "read", not only to get it done, but to have a deep understanding of what the authors are trying get across. I often have to read the same paragraph or even sentence multiple times to understand the real meaning of the words. I have read two books so far that have made a great impact on my training and some other areas and I am on the third book now. I am one of those people who only read non-fiction books because if I can't learn from it, I don't read it even though, I really enjoy fiction movies.