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Honestly, I didn't plan this, it just kind of happened on its own. Hello! I'm Kishi, sometime GL of the Monks and newly itinerant wanderer. Nice to meet you. I've wandered into the Assassin's Den because I'm trying to learn how to play with movement, and I hear y'all the best around for that kind of thing. Specifically: I am learning myself how to juggle. Why? Because I want to. And also because it's got a lot of benefits that should in theory carry over to martial arts. My situation is thus: I have settled down at a local academy that teaches both BJJ and kickboxing; it bills itself as a Muay Thai school but it is, in fact, Dutch-style kickboxing, which means less knees and elbows and more long combinations whilst standing in the pocket. I enjoy it very much. It's a new set of challenges, and coming from my background it's a lot to adjust to. But there's a problem: we have a space that is too small for the amount of students that we have. So we can't actually spar, which means that as much as we drill and drill and drill, it's actually really hard to develop the skills I need to develop myself further. Since I can't get what I need at school, I'm on my own. And my belief is that the attributes required to juggle - hand-eye coordination, mental processing, relaxation, fluidity of motion, etc. - will have carryover to my main thing. It's no replacement for sparring or anything like that, but perhaps when the time comes I will find that I'm a little sharper than I thought. And worst case, I'll have some fun along the way. As far as goals go, I'm more of a process guy. Ideally, I'd like to pick up a three ball cascade: But I don't have a deadline for it. The journey will get me there when it does. The real trick is showing up. So my goals will be as follows: Goal 1: Juggle 10 Minutes A Day Most likely to be done as two five minute sessions at different times of day. Half credit for one session, full credit for both. Goal 2: Shadowbox Mostly with the idea of staying up on the balls of my feet and keeping my pelvis scooped so that I have tension in my stomach. This is opposed to my Shotokan upbringing, which is big on these long, fencing-style lunges. They can work together. But they won't if I don't put in the work to make them. Goal 3: Grappling To be broken up again between standing work and ground drills. Half credit for one, full credit for both. Goal 4: Clean 1 thing per day So, I've had an issue with my place which is that I have entirely too much stuff. I don't like it. I don't like the lack of space and I don't like how it makes this place feel. I want to be rid of as much of it as I can. In the past, I've tried to go through an entire box of stuff, but that turned out to be too much. Gonna try again with this and see about getting rid of just one thing per day, with the idea being hopefully to finally start clearing some space out. Rewards Because I find that I like them, especially those things that help me get better at what I want to do. 80%: Juggling Balls. I decided to start with tennis balls. That was... a choice. By showing up to practice, I will unlock tools that will make the whole thing easier. That'd be dope. 90%: New Rashguard. Something like this. I like the design, and I could use more. But definitely make sure it's white, because it's a signifier of rank, and I'm crazy, but not stupid enough to show a rank I haven't obtained. I'd get beat up for that. 95%: Djembe Drum. Another thing that would help my martial arts and also make me a more expressive human being. Drumming is a good way to study rhythm, which is better than speed. Depending on how much space I clear out, there's a whole range of options to choose from. Nothing too fancy, though. I'm not looking to master it. I just want to play. And... yeah. That'll do it. I'll make my round to everyone as I can. See y'all when I do!

...on Asgard Yes it’s another Loki themed challenge. I have so many gifs I didn’t get to use lol. Last challenge I didn’t do so great in some of my goals, and even the one that I smashed, I’m not content to let it stagnate. So much of this challenge will be carried over, with adjustments to my methods. 1. Training grounds Loki isn’t only proficient in daggers. I'm itching to get back to some staff work, but I also haven’t lost a microt of my love for knives, and I’m stoked about my new bow. Having goals in all of these areas would be too much to focus on, so I’m making one simple overarching goal that contains them all. Goal: a collective three hours per week weapons/props work 2. Learning halls This is a two parter. For the first week of the challenge I’ll be attending an intensive 6 day course. Zero week I’ll be studying for it, and although I usually don’t count zero week, I’ll be tracking how much I study to keep me on track. Then week one, the class itself is going to count for this. I have lots of books that have been sitting on my shelf begging for my attention and I’ve been neglecting them due to making myself too busy. I know I’ll be a happier person if I get reading back in my regular habits. Also, NaNoWriMo will be starting and I’ll be half-heartedly participating in that (not pushing for the 1200/day, but ramping up the volume and putting some effort into it) After the class is over, the goal will be: read or write 1 thing per day. I’ll post a snipit of what I wrote, and try to share something I learned from what I read, if I learned something. 3. Harness my powers I will do the friggin mindfulness!! I remain dedicated to making this a daily habit. If I have NOT done it when I post my daily update, I will take ten minutes to do it BEFORE I post. This is the new rule. Everyone is allowed one free swing at me if I don't do this. Pinned to the first page for easy location, the table of code names for the people in my life: That being said,

And maybe always has been? Hello friends its been like...actual years. How goes it. Knife to see you again. With the seasons changing and some of the crises of the last few years calming down a bit (literally covid-19 was like a 4 out of 10 of what’s been happening since I was last here,) I got the urge to work towards some goals! A little over a month ago I was up at 3am and was like “I need to learn to juggle knives” and since I had bought some dulled knives for our Roomba (and they came in a large pack) I dug those out and started messing around. I was, predictably, terrible. I couldn’t even throw them from one hand to the other or flip the knife one time in my hand and reliably catch it. No I don’t know how to juggle other things already. Should I have looked up a youtube video on juggling? Anyway I’ve been screwing with that for about a month and sent a progress video to my friend and he was like “I expect to see a Loki cosplay in the future now that you have the skills” and this was on the same day I took a ‘what superhero are you’ uQuiz and got Loki (and a scathingly accurate mental health commentary? uQuiz you don’t need to go so hard.) I hadn’t thought about this character in like 6 years lol, but it keeps sliding into my orbit (especially since the new show came out, which I have Opinions™ on.) Since it fits all my goals for this challenge I’m going with a Loki theme. Skill Goal: Get to 10 reps with juggling three knives I am currently solid with 3 reps in a row. I have ONE time done 7 in a row. I think it was a fluke, however I believe that with solid practice, I will be able to nail 10 reps in a row at least once, even as a fluke, in 5 weeks. Method: Daily juggling practice, even just for a few minutes. Preferably for about a half hour a day. For reasonableness, I’ll call this a pass at an average of 5 days/week. Motivation (why I want it): I’ve been getting seriously into circus arts lately and a variety of knife tricks is just one of many things I’ve wanted to do since childhood. My eventual year-long goal is to hit 100 reps, which might be a long shot, but I’m taking it in steps. Fitness Goal: 360 Inward Dive Roll Ehhhhh sort of lol. So the roll itself is actually a long term goal. It’s well outside of my current skill level. Fitness Goal: 360 Inward Dive Roll Improve overhead strength so that I do not break my fragile little neck Method: This is a little more free-form than I usually like my goals, but I’m going to be working a variety of things. The Specific and Measurable part of the method is to do a full handstand workout each Monday. It’s a 30 minute routine that really works on the handstand strength, for holding duration and also HSPU work. The less specific and measurable part is when I’m messing around with my tumbling practice (Wednesday Thursday Friday) I’m going to squirrel around with some roll variations, getting my easy dive rolls dialed in, trying different ways to roll out of a handstand, ect. Not too much strength work, but movement exploration/making new neural pathways. Motivation: The 360 inward roll is one of the most advanced rolls in a list of rolls I want to know how to do, to throw into parkour stuff and tricking and just cool looking flows. I’m going to work my way through them piece by piece until I get to the “Final boss” lol. This video shows a lot of the rolls I want to get locked in: Life Goal: Mental Friggin Health Because we all know Loki is the poster child of a stable mental condition. Interestingly enough, I have just started the therapy that Loki actually needs lol. With all the latest Loki hype on tumblr I’ve been seeing a lot of meta, and many by actual psychologists that say he has all the diagnostic criteria for Borderline personality disorder (not narcissism, frell you Michael Waldren?) And I just got officially diagnosed with BPD this week (*worlds most pathetic party sounds* yayyyy…….) But while that sucks, I have been told that if someone takes therapy seriously and does the work, symptoms can be reduced to almost none in an average of 5 years. I am nothing if not a hard worker. So. Method: It’s a two-parter. 1. I’m supposed to do the mindfulness thing. Back on the headspace app I go. I need to restart this habit into something long-term and really focus on making it happen EVERY day. 2. Do all my therapy homework. It looks like this therapist is into that pretty often. Motivation: While I’ve always been hostile toward therapy, honestly I’m really ready to stop being everyone’s problem. So I’ll even try this. And any scientific endeavor is useless if you don’t commit to the experiment. Alright guys,

I am restructuring this for clarity, both mine and others. I am also tweaking some goals to be more honest with myself about capacity. Balance Exercise: Crow Pose Baseline: 6 seconds Weekly: train and record 3 to 7 days per week Weekly win: at least 3 days of training Challenge win: any progress above baseline Strength Exercise: Turkish Get-ups 16 kg kettlebell Baseline: 1 set of 1 rep performed 3 days per week Weekly: train and record 3 to 4 days per week Weekly win: at least 2 days of training Challenge win: at least 3 weekly wins Coordination Exercise: Weighted Juggling 5 lb sand balls Baseline: 11 continuous tosses without dropping Weekly: train and record 3 to 7 days per week Weekly win: at least 3 days of training Challenge win: exceed 50 continuous tosses without dropping Challenge party: exceed 100 continuous tosses without dropping Conditioning Exercise: Weighted Juggling 5 lb sand balls Baseline: 22 accumulated successful tosses without rest Weekly: train and record at least 2 days per week of accumulated total successful tosses, or juggling for time Weekly win: at least 2 days of training Challenge win: exceed 200 accumulated successful tosses without rest Stretch goal: exceed 500 accumulated successful tosses in a single session (rest allowed) Play My space for whatever. Not required, but may be fun for me to do, or fun for you to watch.

so more or less in time this time! this challenge will be done on 4 different fun activities 1: Poi 2: Juggling 3: Contact Juggling 4: Handbalancing. The plan is to shoot progress videos on the different things following each sunday, if everything goes as planned .

So i missed some challenges, and the last few haven't ben good. So now I have a relative easy challenge where I hope to succeed 4 simple goals, to finally get a good challenge. 1: read for 30 minutes at least 4 days pr week 2: check up on this treat at least 4 days pr week (everyday doesn't seem to work so now it should. 3: Be upside down at least once pr day. Can be just one time, might make it harder later. 4: juggle for 5 minutes pr day: can be contact juggling, scarf juggling or cascade juggling. Weekly video to see progress

New Challenge, more update will come as normal ill start with a monday, since well it makes more sense for me 1: Hang for your life Hang, brachiate, play or anything else, relating to hang above the ground 2: Hand downs Daily movement on my hands, locomotion, handstand, headstand, inversions or anything else related 3: Clear your mind: Meditation: Do a daily meditation, can be 5 minutes or an hour depending on the time and what else the day is (this is including savanna at yoga practice) 1: Balance your life: Train juggling, contact and cascade juggling 20 minutes pr day.

I'm back after 1-2 challenges not participating because of vacation and such. And since its also my "sort of" 1-year anniversary here on the challenge forums & the recent release of Destiny 2 i decided to do another Destiny theme. So lets do this!! Shaxx - Fitness Get stronger & faster - Continue Startbodyweight & running (both 3x a week) Now that my light is gone, my power is gone. Now i need to train and make sure i can survive. Hawthorne - Nutrition Improve my nutrition - Drink 2 liters of water everyday, eat 1 apple everyday, cook something new on Saturday. With the vacation my nutrition went a bit bad, so this challenge i'm going to get back to proper nutrition. And it start with water, fruit & new recipes. Cayde-6 - Life Goals Work on my "Level Up" goals/skills - Practice everyday for 5 minutes on a few goals I want to learn new skills and the skills i want to practice for coming month are: juggling, headstand, lockpicking & language training. I'm going to schedule an hour everyday and in that hour i'm going to do 5minutes of Juggling & Headstand training and 20 minutes of Lockpicking & Language training. Zavala - Update regularly on here & my Daily Log Update regularly on both this challenge & my daily log. I started a daily log as a bit more of a diary. So i'm going to focus mostly on my challenge right here and keep a diary in my daily log. Both with links to both pages. Oke lets do this:

Happy New Year! This year is going to be AWESOME! Now on to the challenge... Complete my morning and night time routine at least 5x a week I am experimenting with a new morning and night routine. I have always had healthy teeth and I generally have good brushing habits, but I have been noticing that my teeth have not been looking so great. I have been doing a lot of research lately about natural oral hygiene and want to give some of it a try. Every morning: Oil pulling, relax with kitty while waking up, workout (strength, yoga, elliptical, etc depending on the day), brush with homemade tooth powder, floss, homemade mouthwash, wash face, get ready for work. Every night: repeat teeth routine, wash face, get ready for bed, stretch, read Healthy Meals My husband and I have been struggling to plan meals lately. We love to cook, but we often do not plan ahead, so come meal time we are stumped about what to have. We are experimenting with planning a day ahead. The goal is to cook 5 days out of the week, but hopefully we will be able to do all of them. Mastering the Pullup For those of you following along. The last few challenges have been focusing on push ups. I can happily announce that I can now do 5 push ups (15 in a full routine)! When I started NF I could not do a single regular pushup! Now I am aiming a little higher. It's time for PULL UPS. My plan is to work on pull ups 3 times a week. Right now I can pull myself up half way and hold it (couldn't do that when I started NF!) Seeking Knowledge and Improved Skills Complete a combination of 30mins of skill advancement 3 times per week. This can include studying programming, practicing clarinet, juggling, etc.

Inspired by the recent Nerd Fitness article "Want Results? Be like Groot. I am Groot." The past couple of months with Nerd Fitness has been life changing. In just a few weeks I have accomplish more than I have in years of trying to lose weight and be strong. I do not want to become stagnant, but what I have been doing has worked. So I am going to keep on keeping on and continue with some of my quests from previous challenges. I AM STRONG Q1: Do Bodyweight Work Out 3 times per week. Measurement: A) 6 weeks; 5-4 weeks; C) 3 weeks Reward: A) 3 STR & 2 STA; 2 STR & 1 STA C) 1 STR I AM AGILE Q2: Juggle for 20 minutes 3 times per week Measurement: A) 6 weeks; 5-4 weeks; C) 3 weeks Reward: A) 3 DEX; 2 DEX; C) 1 DEX I AM HEALTHY Q3: Go outside for at least 10 minutes 5 times per week Measurement: A) 6 weeks; 5-4 weeks; C) 3 weeks Reward: A) 4 CON; 3 CON; C) 2 CON I AM WISE LQ: Skill advancement: 30 mins studying 3 times per week Measurement: A) 6 weeks; 5-4 weeks; C) 3 weeks Reward: A) 3 WIS; 2 WIS; C) 1 WIS

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger This challenge, the overarching goal is to get better. I've been doing pretty well for the last few challenges at just showing up and doing things. This time, that won't be enough. At the end, I'll outline the final grading criteria for this challenge. Quest 1: Harder Last challenge I simply did the same workout over and over. No additional reps, no progressing into harder iterations of a move. Well no longer! This time around, I will add reps or switch into a different version of an exercise each week. One point will be awarded for each week I add more reps (or hold time) or change up exercises. Not all exercises need to be added to or modified each week. Seven additional points will be awarded at the end for successfully adding reps or modifying all exercises in my bodyweight circuit (it has 7 exercises in it). This is all or nothing. Quest 2: Better Last challenge I added some paleo(ish) cooking to my weeks and watched my macros. That was great and all, but I noticed that my protein intake was usually not up to snuff. This time, I'll be watching two things: my macro and my protein gram count. Macro goal is still 50-30-20; protein goal is 85g on a regular day (the count goes up when I exercise since I'm adding calories back to my total) so that's what we'll shoot for. Macros will again be graded by week; protein will be graded by day. I will not deduct points in the event of going over on protein and under on both fat and carb. I will deduct points in the event of going over on protein and fat or carb. One point will be awarded for each day I meet my protein goal. Five points will be awarded for staying within 3% of macro; three points will be awarded for staying within 5% of macro; and one point will be awarded for staying within 7% of macro. Zero points for going outside of that. Quest 3: Faster At least one workout each week is to be a running workout by our apartment (with additional arm nonsense either before or after). It's a 5k route. Last time I did that, it took 42:28, average 12:53 min/mile (first mile was 11:45, second mile was 13:22, third mile was 14:01, change mile was 11:14). I want to get more awesome at that. Faster, if you will. I'd like to improve my minute/mile times, and by extension, the total time. I've been thinking about it, and I don't think I can run a 5k each week without other shorter runs in there too. So I do not have to run 5k each week, but I will do 5k on the last week for comparison. Point system below still counts for shorter-than-5k runs but I'll be grading myself against the last time I ran a particular route instead of the 5k numbers. One point will be awarded for each running workout. One additional point will be awarded for running faster/better than this posted time (for the first week) or the week previous (for all following weeks). I will also accept running a better first, second, or third mile as additional point opportunities. Life Quest: Stronger I'm going to learn to juggle! OK, so it doesn't quite fit in with "Stronger" but I basically covered that with "Harder" so... Just roll with it. I don't currently have juggling balls, but I do have k-cups! And they're actually a pretty good size and a light, forgiving weight. I'll carry 3 cups around with me and practice juggling when I have spare moments. I can currently toss one cup back and forth well. Two is iffy; they keep going not straight. Three is right out. At the end of this, I'll be juggling three. Two points will be awarded for each day I practice for ten minutes (to a total of 10 possible points per week). One point will be awarded for each day I just practice here and there for a few tosses at a time (no limit, but does not combine with above). Final Grading Total points up for grabs here is 109. 98-109 = A This is what we strive for 87-97 = B 76-86 = C 65-75 = D but that's basically failing Hitting in the 103-109 range calls for a piece of treasure to be determined before the challenge begins (so I don't cheat later). Hitting in the total A range calls for a slightly less lustrous piece of treasure, also tbd before the challenge begins. Couldn't figure out prizes before the challenge started, so we're not going to go with them. However, I may at the end purchase a new camelback for running and/or a foam roller since both of those have been on my list of things to get for a while. They are not rewards, but tools for my continuing advancement. (But who knows what finances will look like...ugh.) Nerdwarts OK, here are my AMRAP numbers for Nerdwarts. It's not specifically a quest this challenge, but I want to significantly increase my ability with each of these things over the course of the challenge. Each, or a variation thereon (like regular squats and foot-assisted pull ups) are included in my bodyweight routine. So each will be seeing improvement through Quest 1 (or should be). I don't know what the Leaders have in mind for Nerdwarts minis, but I look forward to challenging myself this challenge! standard floor push ups (7) jackknife pull ups (4) split squats (19 with left leg forward) elbow plank (42 sec) (Still on the fence about giving myself additional points for listening to "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" every time I wok out.) LET'S DO THIS! (OK, you got me. The quest images really don't have anything to do with the quests. What can I say? I really love Hawkeye.)

[Why do I make these things so dagone long!? o0 -ed.] Main Quest: Become My Own Hero Motivation: Off-the-shelf heroes are cool and all, but I went a step further and created my own made-to-measure role model so that I’ll always have the perfect set of coattails to chase. While I’m emulating him, I’m also writing a novel about his adventures as an electrically superpowered government intelligence agent. This (somewhat underwhelming) challenge is designed to appease my inner Red Mage and even out my stats. If I can ace all of these missions and complete all 6 weeks of the mini then I will have a DEX and STR of 32, and all other stats at 30. Jack of all Stats, FTW! If you’re mostly here for what passes as my special brand of offbeat “wit†and/or amusing animated gifs, then please click the spoiler tag below. If not, then you’re in luck, because I’ve added a special feature to this challenge! tl;dnr EM Pulse: 10min Penmanship training 5x/week. Radio Telemetry: 10min Speed reading training 5x/week. Mission Flexibility: 5min+ Prasara Yoga 3x/week. Bleeder Resistor: 1 hour per week having fun. Coulomb Continuity: All battlelog goals met. Bonus Round: Participate in all mini challenges. Let’s get versatile! --- Week 1 so far: EMP: 0/5 Telemetry: 0/5 MissFlex: 0/3 Bleeder: 0 min Continuity: 0/5 Bonus Round: ??

(waves to all the nice people wearing black) Hei! I've been making my way around the Guild halls, and for this challenge I've decided that the Assassins are the place to be. I have a rather odd collection of goals this time around: Main Quest: Body recomposition and weight loss A bit about me: I'm 57 and work in a super-sedentary desk job (I type medical reports all day). Most of my hobbies, including playing clarinet in concert bands and writing novels, also involve an inordinate amount of sitting. Currently I'm at 215 pounds but would much rather weigh 155. For the next 6 weeks, though, the goal is to get my weight down under 210 and keep it there. Subquest #1: Circus arts I found this list of circus skills and want to learn the basics of a few of them: Juggling. I've tried it before but didn't master the 3-ball cascade, so I want to finally get that figured out.Basic acrobatics. In particular I want to be able to get better control of my leg muscles throughout their entire range, both for strengthening and muscular endurance. By the end of the challenge I'd like to be able to do a pistol squat with either leg (at least 1 rep, down and back up, with good form), and be able to slowly lift either leg to waist height and hold it there for a few seconds.Stage magic. I want to be able to manipulate a coin between my fingers, making it appear and disappear smoothly.Balance. I have a wobble board, but I'm waxing nostalgic for the balance beam in my high school gymnastic classes 40 years ago. Somewhere in my workshop I'm sure there's a suitable piece of 2x4 that can be commandeered...Stat points to be awarded for DEX and STR (plus CHR if I manage to put together some good magician's patter along the way). Subquest #2: Diet Time to start keeping a food record so that I have a better idea of what's going in the front end. Stat points for CON and WIS. Side Quest: Circus music Specifically, I want to lock down the fingering and increase the speed on the chromatic runs in Fucik's "Entrance of the Gladiators." Life Quest: Get back to some serious writing, every day I have stories to finish and stories to edit. They aren't going to write themselves. Now, where did I put that -- (grabs a black sweater and pulls it on) -- Ah, that's better!

I don't like spreadsheets, so I would rather keep conversation in this thread for all to benefit. I am a skilled juggler, contact juggler. I can spin poi, baton relatively well. I like to dabble. Such is the nature of circus arts... you want to collect them all! I would like to know if there are others like me or if you want to learn. I would love to point you in the right direction.

[Fun fact: some letters are much easier to make alliterative sentences out of than others. -ed.] Main Quest: Become My Own Hero Motivation: In my last challenge I created an original hero for myself to look up to, but like any good hero he’s evolving as quickly as I am. I need to keep up! I’ve done lots of work over the past year or so to get my fitness stuff “baked in†enough to justify moving it off to my battlelog, so with that as my foundation I’m ready to put a little more effort into my “dump stats†and play around with some fun new ways to push myself, without sacrificing my usual skill-emphasis. Clever Spark: Redux (WIS+2, CHA+2) When we last left our hero, Superpowered Government Agent Drew Zimmer, he was in deep cover with a mysterious religious cult that was harboring strange secrets! What dangers lie in wait for our intrepid investigator? Find out in the next episode of “Nobody’s Heroâ€! Keeping track of word counts when you’re erasing and rewriting walls of text is really, really hard, so rather than tracking words as I progress with my writing project (started during the last challenge), I’m tracking time. This allows for editing, rewriting, adding, subtracting and planning for (maybe even starting on) additional stories about Drew and the strange world of Espers and Espionage that he’s been drawn into. 5 days per week, I will spend 20 minutes (or more!) working on “Nobody’s Heroâ€. Mmm.... spaaaarky.... Electroreception (DEX+2) In addition to his ability to generate electricity, Drew also has an affinity with EM fields that he likens to the way some sharks hunt by sensing the electrical activity in the muscles of their prey. In real life, it’s more like proprioception. Twice per week, I will spend 5 minutes of my regularly scheduled playtime practicing my skills (rope dart and/or breakdance) while wearing a blindfold. Zatoichi style! Phaneron Projection (WIS+3) Some speculate that the source of all esper powers is a more fundamental ability to project one’s own subjective view of reality, their “phaneronâ€, onto the real world thus making the perceived indistinguishable from the actual. Others speculate that this idea is utter nonsense. Even I’m not convinced of the whole “phaneron†thing, honestly, but it never hurts to try. 8 times per work day (not all at once!), I will attempt to do something small, but impossible such as push my hand through a desk or generate a spark gap between my fingers. If it actually works, then I’ll know that I’m dreaming and will hopefully become aware enough to take advantage of the opportunities presented by a full-blown lucid dream! You thought I was losing it for a minute there, didn’t you? It’s okay... you’re probably right. ^^; Doesn’t looks so hard... Electron Flow Control (DEX+1, CHA+2) Just cranking out amps is easy. To really maximize the usefulness of his exotic skill, Drew has had to learn to dynamically regulate the “contour†of any electrical current on the fly, whether he’s producing it or not. I went off on a bit of a rant a while back about my strong belief that “flow†(in the context of movement and performance arts in particular) is a skill in itself that must be learned and practiced independent of the “tech†that one embellishes their flow with. Time to put my proverbial money where my big, fat mouth is. I will practice freestyling (rope dart and/or breakdance) for 2-3 minutes 5 times per week. When I can do that, I will totally be posting videos of it. Stubborn Stick-to-it-ivness (STR+1, STA+1, CON+1) Everybody answers to somebody, even exotically skilled secret agents, and when Drew falls short of his mission requirements he’s given over to the claw-like grasp of the merciless Professor Marion for participation in extra experiments in the Esper Lab. At least she lets him play with the railgun sometimes, so it’s not all bad. My battlelog stuff may be fairly well “baked inâ€, but that doesn’t mean that a little accountability isn’t worthwhile. Once again, my regularly scheduled activities have been rescheduled a bit, so I’m keeping this mission on the list for a third challenge. Full details are in the battlelog, but here’s a rough outline: The following things will be done daily: 5-10 min “Shotgun†Training (hands, neck or calves depending on the day), 5 min Mobility training, 2-5 min handbalance training (working on elbow levers), 15+ min Skills/Movement (dancing, juggling/spinning, etc.), 6 min stretch, 10 min meditation. Also: Strength Training 3x/week and eating raw garlic 3x/week. I reserve the right to completely change anything and/or everything about this schedule at any given time, and to award myself “rest daysâ€, for which no points will be available, given that I have sufficient reason such as illness, injury, holiday, burnout, etc. “Stubborn†isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Bonus Round! For the last two challenges, I’ve managed to participate in all six weeks of the Guild Mini Challenge, which has been a fun, and sometimes educational, bit of bonus work. I want to see how long I can keep my streak going! Let’s get versatile!

I am a 39 year old woman, divorced this year. I am determined to get fit enough to do the things I want without slowing others down. I like hiking. A LOT. I just finished a 3 day hiking trip with a bunch of 9 year olds. They wore out before I did... first time for that. I want to get into some gymnastics and want to build a base to start that. I am a juggler, specifically contact juggling and 3 ball/club toss. Working on improving that. I've been doing the challenges, but I don't like the gap in between. A year ago, I was a couch potato, eating poorly, not exercising much. This year, I did C25K, ate better, lost weight. I am running 3 miles on a training run now, going to do a 4 mile race in January. I joined a gym for the weight room and starting to lift. No deadlift bar available though. Still just starting out and focusing on my upper body, doing assisted dips/pull ups, bench dumbells, barbell rows. Starting stats Weight: 204 lbs Waist: 33 inches Hip: 45 in Arm 14 Thigh 24 Calf: 17 in

It had been a dark time in the Republic, and then, at the end of 2014, I stumbled upon nerdfitness.com and suddenly there was a tremor in the Force. After years of searching I found people like me, who thought like me and could relate to my struggles and find ways to break down habits that the Dark Side had built up within me and build new habits with my own Jedi council. I completed my first challenge with mixed results (better eating habits, increased personal awareness, but Christmas ), but with A New Year comes A New Hope. Main Quest: My quest for 2015 is to get under 200lbs by Dec 31, along with increasing my strength, stamina and dexterity throughout the year. To make this seem like a slightly less daunting quest, I'm going to break it down into smaller increments, and my quest for the first 6-week challenge of 2015 (and my first challenge as an Assassin, yay!) is to lose 15lbs. Keeping an eye on the horizon to the bigger, year-long goal. Task #1 Get my diet out of the trash compactor. I imagine on Kashyyyk they probably eat much like a caveman, and I intend to do the same, by making my diet 80% Paleo. Instead of going 100% Paleo right away I'm easing in to it by going 80%. It'll take some planning, tracking, organising, and new recipe trying. It should be exciting! Task #2 Even a Jedi has to train Luke did lightsaber drills, but sadly, I don't think anyone's going to let me lay my hands on one, so I'm going to go with workouts 3x a week instead. I'm going to continue with the beginner's bodyweight workout, and search out new moves/workouts to challenge myself. It's time to show my body who's boss....it's me, I'm the boss. I'll trust in the Force, and with some training I'll get this done. Task #3 Walking Tatooine with Artoo Let's be fair here, Artoo didn't let his dinky little treads stop him from traveling all over the deserts of Tatooine! Unlike that attitude filled little droid, I live in a ridiculously walkable city, and need to get out there as much as possible. I already normally get around 10,000 steps a day, so I'm going to up my goal to 10,500, or even 11,000 to increase my km/day. I'm building up to running, but I'm going to start with more walking. Additional Life Quest: Uuuhhhh, there's no juggling in Star Wars... I once starred in a play based purely on my ability to juggle. I've let it fall out of my wheelhouse over the past decade, and it's time to brush off those skills and work to improve my hand-eye coordination and dexterity. I'm going to practice at least 5 minutes every day to improve my skills. So those are the plans for the first six weeks of 2015! If anyone has any ideas for helping me improve my plans, let me know! If anyone needs a cheerleader, let me know! (I'm SUPER good at ridiculous amounts of enthusiasm)

Main Quest: Become My Own Hero Motivation: Some people want to be like Spiderman, or Hazama Masayoshi, or Jason Bourne, or whoever - there are a million heroes out there to choose from, so take your pick. I considered that, but when it came right down to it, I didn’t know of any single hero that embodied the kind of ideal that I want to live... so I created my own! This challenge is all about developing my new hero, and developing myself in his image. So, who is this guy? Clever Spark (WIS+2, CHA+2) Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Drew was a normal guy with a normal life until he developed a strange power. He embarks on a career of amatuer crime-fighting, but it doesn’t take long before things start to get... wierd. I will (kinda-sorta) play along with NaNoWriMo, but with modified rules because I haven’t written seriously in years, and I’m a busy guy. By the end of this challenge, I will have written 25,000 (or more!) words of my hero’s story (that’s an average of about 2 single-spaced pages of Arial 11 per business day). Stun Gun Touch (STR+3, STA+2) With a little concentration Drew can accumulate and release electrical current from his hands. It’s not much, but it’s a hell of a lot more than most street gangers and drug pushers are expecting. I will train my hands 5x per week. This training will start rather easy and gradually increase in difficulty. The program (drawing heavily on Convict Conditioning 2) looks like this: Weapon of Choice (DEX+3) Having the super-amazing powers of a walking bug zapper is useful for preserving Drew’s commitment to his pacifist ideology, but among other limitations, a man’s arms can only reach so far and shooting lightning bolts at people is totally unrealistic... I no longer identify as a “fighter†so weapons aren't really a part of my life anymore, but juggling is just as awesome and involves equally cool toys! ^^ I will practice with my new homemade rope dart (he's made of rice and a sock, and I call him Onigiri) for 10 minutes, 3 times per week (minimum). Okay, so technically, that's a , but the way I'm using it, makes it an adult thing... >>Implacable Determination (CON+3) Drew feels a deep sense of responsibility and never backs down[/ur] in the face of adversity. He’s not completely unaware of the value of a strategic withdrawal, however. My Battlelog is my responsibility. 1 point is awarded for each day that all goals are met. It will be acceptable to reschedule a goal to the following day, but the future beyond that is off limits. Details, for those who want them, will be posted to the Battlelog, but the short version looks like this: Let’s get electrified!

I took a while off, but I think I could use a little extra motivation and focus for the next six weeks. Been keeping up the climbing/swimming/juggling regularly, eating what I want when I want it and discovering how awesomely that works for me. Came back today on a whim, only to discover it's the beginning of a new challenge - and it's my thirteenth. AWESOME. Goals: 1. Pull-up power. I've let this hang out at a maintenance level of 4 pull-ups while I've focused on actually climbing - time to build some more muscle, get some more reps. I also want to move my rings upstairs from the basement - having them more available should mean using them more. Ten pull-ups a day, every day for the first week. We'll see where it goes from there. 2. Core strength. While I'm hanging out doing pull-ups, might as well add some skin the cat/lever/toes to bar work in there. 3. Juggling math. I love club passing so much, my ball juggling skills have been atrophying. Now that I understand siteswap a little more, I'm going to work on at least one new pattern a week. Learned 531 on Saturday, so that's my first step. 4. Bonus points for handstand work, which I've entirely neglected for months. Looking forward to getting back on the challenge path!

Are you a (contact) juggler, diabolo, hoola hoop, devil sticks or poi person? Where in the world are you? What kind of juggling do you like to do most? I'm not the best juggler in the world, but I do like to juggle. I absolutely love doing poi and I spend waaaaaay too little time doing it. I've been doing poi for about five years now, been super active with it for about two years of it. I do it a lot once a year at a festival and I always rediscover my love for it. I can't do an awful lot of different moves but I love doing the moves I know. When I do it to some wonderful music, I can get into a flow that simply keeps me going and going and going until the music stops (and then I get sad and feel a little awkward because I kept my eyes closed all the time so I couldn't see who was or wasn't watching me ). Also, I feel kind of lonely in this. Here are some people who are pretty awesome at doing what they do. I'm not nearly as good as them, but I would love to learn those things some day. I don't have a video of myself doing poi on the internet yet, that's why you can enjoy someone else's awesomeness for now.

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone" Password accepted. Loading data. Data retrieved. Please pick your goals from previous challenges. I'm going to do a mash up of my previous challenges and put them together to get me closer to where I want to be in regards to my weight/clothes fitting better and my life in general. Beware, the return of the RAKs is here! From my First Challenge: -Beginner's Bodyweight Workout 3 days a week - no excuses anymore. 3 circuits - A; 2 circuits - B; 1 circuit - C; miss workout - F. I will be giving myself an exception on this: my son and I will start Judo on the 30th and it goes for 4 weeks. During those 4 weeks, that can replace a BBWW. 0/3 0/18 From my Second Challenge: SWIFT: Cardio three times a week, 20 minutes at a time. I am working my jump rope skills up to this, so I will run for the minutes I don’t make it on the rope. 3 days - A, 2 days - C, 1 or less - F 0/3 0/18 From my Fourth Challenge: Unicycle/Juggling/Stilt Walking - 4 days per week. I'm calling this one Skills practice. It can be anything that improves my skills. 4+ days - A, 3 days - B, 2 days - C, 1 day - D, 0 days - F 0/4 0/24 Side Quest: From my Third Challenge: I will commit 6 Random Acts of Kindness during this challenge. This goes beyond holding a door for someone. They will need to go above and beyond and it will be done because I can. I will admit now, I am doing this because I believe these acts can change the world, even if it's for the recipient and that is the world I wish to live in. 0/6 There are going to be times where I will falter, I'm sure. I am going to do the best I can on this and I am going to get back to where I was. Right now, I'm sitting at 248 lbs. (as of this morning) when I was down to an unthinkable (for me at least) 228 at my lowest since joining the Rebellion. I will not be deterred. I look forward to Monday's start, and I hope you all enjoy the show you're about to see.

The earth is getting hotter. The trees are drying up and strange creatures are starting to appear. There are insects and reptilians of every description taking over the land. To touch the ground means pain, agony and burns. To be out in the environment, you cannot last more than a few minutes without respite. This is life in Tucson, AZ. Dizz wanders the desert, watching it change from a temperate paradise to a burning hell. She must adapt or die. She meets a lizard and it is glowing with a strange iridescence. The lizard is friendly and climbs her clothes to her shoulder. It whispers in her ear: I give you a gift. SUDDENLY, Dizz is transformed! This transformation into a tiefling changed her into a beast! A beast of strength and speed and superhuman powers! Strength: Lizards do push ups and so do I now! This new form is strong , it must be mastered. Goal by the end of the challenge is to do 100 pushups. Bonus points for a pull up. Speed: Continue running 2-4 days a week. Now that I can do a 5K, I must now maintain the distance and increase speed. My 5K race was a 16/min mile. I want to get to 12/min mile by the end of the challenge. With the mornings at 80 and the high is at 108, I must adapt. I will start running on a treadmill in AC or at sunset if it's cool enough. I don't like the treadmill, but it's better than overheating. Superpowers: Contact juggling and juggling! Nail the bridge down solid, (roll the ball on arms over the head and down without losing control) Behind the neck rolls solid. 3 club passing, if I can find a partner, and joggling. Want to lose 5-10 lbs this challenge. I'm 215 lbs now. Weist 36" Hip 48" Arm 14" Let's lose some inches and be a beast!

I'm halfway into my C25K app, and have a race picked out for May 31. I'm doing good, but have a hard time staying on schedule due to work... I work 12-15 hour days, 4 days a week. I run on my days off. I've been losing a lb a week since I started the program and plan to keep it up. On Sundays, I juggle with the local club. It is a upper body work out for sure! Lots of throwing things and picking them up. My skills are skyrocketing lately and I'm jazzed about that. End of April I'm going to a Flow Retreat to attend workshops to improve skills, but mainly catch up with friends and family. I've been eating clean for the most part, if I have a carb heavy meal,. I balance it with a protein heavy one or two. One night, I had a plate of tilapia. Yum! Financially, I'm building up my savings for cushion and then I'll start paying heavy on my considerable debt. My goal is total payoff in 2 years. It's feasible. Not going to set stats for this one, except for CON. I'm increasing my general health and endurance. ...oh and DEX, juggly skills!!!!

"One of the hardest parts of life is deciding whether to walk away or try harder" I'm going semi-simple with this challenge. Why? Because of my limited amount of brain power at the moment. Which segues nicely into Yoga/Meditation - 4 days minimum per week. I've got a bag full of cats in my brain recently and I need to get the smell of crazy off for a bit. A clear head can go a long way 0/24 Lifting - 3 days per week. I am going to find some lifts that I enjoy and that will increase my strength. Can't be Thor without some good strength. 0/18 Unicycle/Juggling/Stilt Walking - 4 days per week. My parade season won't start till the month after we end this challenge, but that means I need to get the practice going now, or I'll look rather foolish (and not in the good way) on on the streets. Kilt and bagpipes optional. I'm not sure when I will get stilts, but I would like to try them out. And, as a part of this, I need to get at least pictures, if not video of a few practices. We'll see how this goes... 0/24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jCmfKHzafk Side Quest 1: I need to eat less and stop snacking after 8pm. I am going to not finish the kids' food at dinners when they don't eat it all. I will slow down my eating speed and recognize when I am full. This will be hard for me, but it should help me get down to the size 38 pants I want to stay in. Side Quest 2: Find something that I want to do with my life and start doing it. I'm tired of waking up and not being excited for my work day. I will make a significant step in that direction before the 6 weeks are up. This will be either getting enrolled in school, taking an interview that I want, or getting a business plan on paper so I can have my own business. I may or may not come up with more side quests. We'll see how that goes. I now await the beginning of the challenge.

So I took last challenge off for sanity reasons, which was a highly useful break to let me see what I do when I'm not chasing specific goals that may or may not actually help my bigger goal. With some newfound clarity, here goes my twelfth challenge: Big goal: climb a 5.11 route at my gym. This isn't a thing I'm trying to do by the end of this six weeks, necessarily, just the reason I'm doing the other stuff. Goal 1: Add a morning strength session to Wednesdays and Fridays. Wake up at 6:15, do the workout, get on with the day. 12 sessions gets me full points, and the days don't have to be set in stone, those just work best around my other workouts. Goal 2: Try 4 new recipes. I've got the weight/calorie setup pretty well dialed in, but my food has been getting repetitive. I'd like to experiment with some new stuff. Goal 3: 3 juggling sessions a week. I've got a festival in early June that I'm really wanting to feel competent for, and more time with the clubs in my hands is the best way to get there. Standard juggling club meetings count for this, but more is better. So that's it for this challenge. With the added strength workouts, that makes my schedule look like this: Mon: lunchtime swim, evening 3-hour climbing session. Tues: lunchtime bouldering, evening juggle Wed: morning strength, lunchtime swim Thurs: lunchtime bouldering, evening juggle Fri: morning strength, lunchtime inner tube water polo (or swim, if not enough people) Sat: juggling club Sun: rest day!