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1. Sleep; Get in bed before 11 PM or as early as 10:30. Gotta get that sleep. I'm still shooting for 10:30, but shooting for earlier seems to help occasionally. If I try to go to bed earlier, I procrastinate earlier. 2. Food; Eat healthy stuff that makes you feel good; avoid junk food. I still feel that i've been doing well with this goal. However, I have been essentially skipping breakfast for the past few days. That's not good. I'm going to try to remedy that as best I can. 3. Workout; Practice Aam Ka Jutsu and work with the kettlebell. I still want to do kettlebell workouts and work toward justifying a heavier bell. I am also going to continue my martial arts training (my main focus). However, i'm going to switch my workout schedule around so that my lifts will be on Monday and Thursday, and my martial arts training will be on Tuesday and Friday. I don't know if that will stick, as I have yet to register for classes. I do know which classes I want, but I can't be certain that i'll get them. We'll see how that pans out. 4. Code; work on your projects at least once a week, hopefully more. I need to keep improving my skills, so i'm going to commit to doing as much work as I can when i'm not working on homework. Feel free to follow along and call me out if I need it. Keep being awesome. Hail Hydrate!

I am a middle school math teacher looking to my fitness my new career. I currently have a USAW level 1 coaching cert as well as a personal training certification from ACTION. I am currently studying to get my personal training certification from ACE so I am more hirable, as well as get my StrongFirst kettlebell certification. I have just put myself back on the autoimmune protocol as I have hypothyroidism and celiac's disease and have been run down and prone to the cold the past couple of months. Of course I have some pounds that I would like to drop, but I am more concerned with my goal of getting the kettlebell certification. If there is a fellow AIPer or KB swinger looking for an accountability partner, let me know.

This is kind of a placeholder... more details will be edited in soon. MOAR WEAPONS! Of late, I've been neglecting my weapons training somewhat. I've barely picked up a sai, bo or katana recently. I've done ok as a HEMA teacher but my own skills have been somewhat sidelined in favour of teaching, so I want to make an effort to do more weapon training. I need to practice my current kobudo katas and get learning the next one(s). I need to get my arse in gear and sort out a HEMA syllabus for longsword and maybe cutlass. I miss practicing with my boken / katana. Will include it here. Additionally, I'm interested in looking into spear fighting - I'm curious if a safe facsimile can be cheaply constructed for HEMA class... AND I want to use weapons training as body conditioning / cardio / muscular stamina training to help get me back in the habit of regular exercise. more to follow...

1. Get in bed before 11 PM or as early as 10:30. Sleep is still my biggest problem. I'm working on it. My spring break gave me some time to get away with sleeping in, which did help. However, i'm going for the long-term here, and that ain't good enough. If I can, I need to drop everything i'm doing between 10 and 10:30 PM. I've got a plethora of alarms to help with that. 2. Eat healthy stuff that makes you feel good; avoid junk food. I still feel that i've been doing well with this goal. However, I have been essentially skipping breakfast for the past few days. That's not good. I'm going to try to remedy that as best I can. 3. Practice Aam Ka Jutsu and work with the kettlebell. I still want to work on kettlebell exercises. My focus has kind of shifted more toward improving grip strength, and upper body strength. Right now, i'm working toward the point where I can get 35 lb kettlebell, as I think that alines with what i'm trying to accomplish. I can do heavier lifts and essentially hack doing two-handed farmer's walks (doing what i've been doing to achieve 35 lbs with a 25 lb bell). The weakest link is my arms and it really shows with the clean and press or any kind of overhead press. Now, in the past i've gotten really discouraged because of the lack of strength in this area. I'll figure out how to gauge that during the challenge. I've been doing martial arts on days that I have school (Wednesday and Friday) and kettlebell work on days that I do not have school (Tuesday and Thursday). This pattern has been working well so far, so i'll keep at it. 4. Code stuff; work on your projects at least once a week, hopefully more. I need to keep improving my skills, so i'm going to commit to doing as much work as I can when i'm not working on homework. School work right now is primarily busy work. The general ed. stuff is a PITA. I'm doing my best to get it all done, and trying really hard not to procrastinate by working on stuff that i'd much rather work on. Feel free to follow along and call me out if I need it. Keep being awesome.

Welcome welcome this is my ... 14th .. er 15th challenge so I'm just saying I might be out of ideas ... here have a laugh Alright enough of that, let's get to it! QUEST 1 - Refocus! Of late I've gotten seriously off track on food'ing and boozing! Time to clean the diet back up and talk with the wife about adjusting all the things we've gone wild on. A - 5 bad meals a week - this includes boozing and eat out B - 6 bad meals a week F - 7+ bad meals a week QUEST 2 - What am I doing here? Feeling sort of lost around here ... so I'm going to try and be active on Scout threads and posts as much as I can! A - 3/week talk in 3 scout threads! F - less than that QUEST 3 - Kettle bells a kicking So I've got kettlebells ranging from 10 to 60lbs my Tuesday/Thursday workouts are mine to plan... so I need to make kbs a priority. A 8 KB workouts B 6-7 KB workouts F less than 5 KB workouts LIFE QUEST - Read More I'm seriously behind on my reading ... both for fun and professionally. Before this challenge is up I want to finish the book I'm currently reading - Kill Switch (Joe Ledger #8) by Jonathan Maberry - and start the next book in my queue - Priest (Ratcatchers Book 1) by Matthew Colville. A Finish book and start new F ... obvious.

Mostly placeholder for now. Goals are going to be simple (with an eye on sinister >.>) for this month: 1. Train the kettlebell swings & get-ups 5-6 days/week. I'm at 8x10 two-hand swings now (15 secs on, 30 secs off), should be at 10x10 for this pace by the end of the week. Then I'll start decreasing the rest time and start working on the one-hand swing. 2. Keep going to Kung Fu & lightsaber class regularly. 3. Maintain close control over intake to restart my downward weight trend. Could maybe see 199 this month, if I'm very disciplined. Current weight is 202.8, confirmed on 4/30. May Events: Finish my Dao form (should be tonight!!) and crush the demonstration on 5/21. Preparing For: June 05, 2016 -- Wu Dao Tournament, Cambridge MA June 18, 2016 -- TOUGH MUDDER

Challenge #12 SHIELD Agent Waldgeist in Hydra Prison I Infiltration This is part two of a three challenge cycle with ring training at the core, surrounded by kettlebell work and nutrition habits. Part one is here. OVERALL GOAL: to transform my body into a solid foundation for the life I choose. More precisely: 1) get a flat enough stomach so that I can workout shirtless without feeling embarassed and at the same time reducing the health risks associated with belly fat, 2) be able to move myself around in space as I need/want to Quest 1 - Survive the artistic compound of the Hydra prison [GMB Rings 1 : Phase A2] Easy enough, workout three times per week. This will continue to be my main workout, but obviously improving my muscle-to-fat-ratio with the other quests is gonna be immensely helpful with leveling up on this quest series. Quest 2 - Don't forget your SHIELD training [S&S V of XII] This has been good in April, hopefully I can keep the momentum. 100 Swings and 10 TGUs per day. Hopefully gonna progress to doing one-hand 24kg swings regularly and maybe start 32kg two-hand swings (might get a 32kg kettlebell for my birthday in late may). Quest 3 - Don't fall into the Food Trap [Nutrition Part A: Snacking & Portion Size] Eating habits are hard, but I'm not giving up. Not snacking between meals and control portion size of the meals. Quest 4 - Prison work is supposed to break you, but it will make you stronger [Increase active minutes every day] Active minutes will be defined as those over my heart rate threshold. The goal here is to have more than the day before Quest 5 - Avoid prison food, it's supposed to make you weak [Nutrition Part B: Reduce sweets] One of my big bosses, which needs more continuous attacking.

"Focusing on many things" is an oxymoron. Time to focus. Hardstyle. THE QUEST: 300 Kettlebell Swings every day, for 28 days. SIDE QUEST: Track the macros 6 days a week. Roughly 184 grams of protein daily.

Hi Rebels! Ensi here I'm a 23-year-old Rebel from Finland. I've been around for a couple of years, done a few challenges and found a place among wonderful people. Right now I'm very busy with my studies, so instead of participating in the next NF challenge, I'm going to put up a battle log... Which you're reading right now! I like to keep things simple and short, so here's what I do: - The Sweetest Day of the Week I'm a bit of a chocolate addict. I've been working on it since last summer, and I've reached a level where I can deal with having a small portion of chocolate daily (2 pieces) and a little bigger portion once a week - so, deploy The Sweetest Day of the Week! I can have some extra chocolate on Saturdays. I used to eat about 50-150 g of chocolate daily, but currently I can go a whole day without it: even though I might want to buy some chocolate, I just don't. It's been a slow progress, but what's my rush? - Dairy, nuts, caffeine ... are something that I need to consume with moderation. I avoid buying these at home, but none of these foods are as problematic as chocolate. All in all, I'm trying to eat as paleo-ish as possible, but I don't sweat about it too much. Portion size control is much more important for me! - Exercise Three times a week until I sweat like a pig and feel like a fox. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN7lt0CYwHg I love going to gym, doing kettlebell workouts and walking/jogging. Where am I now? Since last summer I've lost 6 kg/13 lbs. Doesn't maybe sound all that much, but I have PCOS and I'm studying hard. I'm currently at 83 kg/182 lbs, and I'm aiming for 75 kg/165 lbs. I'm 170cm/5 feet 7 inches tall. I had a massive break-down a couple of years ago, and I've made a very slow recovery. I gained 10 kg/22 lbs while the break-down, and it's been difficult to lose it again while recovering. I'm starting to be ok again, though, and I'm making small changes in my life in order to lose weight and get fit D8< Nevertheless, I'm doing my very best to maintain a positive, forgiving attitude towards myself, the lack of which led to my break-down. So, here you will find positive and happy stuff!! Unless I'm not feeling positive and happy... In which case you will find a lot of animal gifs! Enough talk for now. Let's fight!

Challenge #12 SHIELD Agent Waldgeist in Hydra Prison I Fresh Meat Introduction: Hi, I'm Waldgeist, a 28 year old male German. I used to be very skinnyfat, but I've packed enough muscle on in the last years to consider myself average, not really athletic and I'm still carrying around some belly, but I'm working on it. This challenge will be the first of a three challenge cycle, connected by a consecutive Ring quest, a consecutive S&S KB and generelly being active quest and consecutive nutrition quests. None of these are new. I've been doing similar quests or specifically preparing for those for the last challenges. Hopefully in July I will begin a new cycle, probably concentrating on kettlebells and strength. Themewise this cycle will focus on Waldgeist, agent of SHIELD who (after the rise of Hydra) finds himself surrounded by Hydra agents and gets captured. He is sent to prison at an unknown location, where Hydra sents all sorts of troublemakers: Hydra agents who can't be controlled, SHIELD agents who might be recruited into Hydra later or prove useful in another way, low-level enhanced criminals and other scum. Master of this nightmare of a prison is a former Director of a very weird circus, whos has more than one crazy and saddistic streak. It will require some effort, but he has been in worse situations (actually not, but you gotta keep a positive attitude). OVERALL GOAL: to transform my body into a solid foundation for the life I choose. More precisely: 1) get a flat enough stomach so that I can workout shirtless without feeling embarassed and at the same time reducing the health risks associated with belly fat, 2) be able to move myself around in space as I need/want to Quest 1 - Survive the artistic compound of the Hydra prison [GMB Rings 1 : Phase A1] Easy enough, workout three times per week. This will me my main workout, but obviously improving my muscle-to-fat-ratio with the other quests is gonna be immensely helpful with leveling up on this quest series. Quest 2 - Don't forget your SHIELD training [S&S IV of XII] This has been working good for two of three challenges. Need to get back on the track of regular training here. Quest 3 - Don't fall into the Food Trap [Nutrition Part A: Snacking & IF] Still working on two eating habits here. First is no snacking between meals and second is not eating for a period of about 24 hours twice per week. I've had mixed results last challenge, but with some more work this challenge I'm sure I'll get this habits ingrained. A habit that is working out pretty good though, is drinking a litre of tea every day. Therefore this will no longer be part of my quest, but I will still track it. Quest 4 - Prison work is supposed to break you, but it will make you stronger [Accumulating active minutes every day] Active minutes will be defined as those over my heart rate threshold. Judging from my more active days, a baseline of 120 minutes per day should be a good goal for this challenge. Quest 5 - Avoid prison food, it's supposed to make you weak [Nutrition Part B: Reduce sweets] I've made some progress in cleaning up my diet again, but I haven't started to tackle my personal big boss aka SWEETS yet. This will change this challenge.

I'm keeping this challenge modest because I'll be on vacation for a week in April (Las Vegas and San Diego area), and because in March, I was struggling with some overambitious parts of my challenge. The main goal is to keep a routine despite taking a vacation. I've also got a few mini-challenges in mind for my weeks at home. Fitness and diet has been going well, so I just want to keep up my established routine, and continue the slow, steady progress I've had for the past three months. I want to become a better writer, but I've been really struggling to make steady progress on this goal the last few months, in part because I keep splitting my focus between a whole bunch of related writing goals and then doing nothing. I've thought about what long term goal would give me the most satisfaction, and that's either fiction writing, or well-researched science writing. I've got a couple of stories I'm in the middle of, and I don't have easy access to scientific journals. So I'm working on writing fiction. I want to finish a long fan-fiction story I started last October. I've got a couple of short stories I'd like to improve. That's enough for this month. No writing a blog, no looking to write for other people, just a chapter a week of a story I'd love to finish. I'm giving slightly different goals on vacation than I have at home. Normally I eat out about once a week, plus every day at the very predictable, accommodating work cafeteria. On vacation, it will be something different every day, usually with too much food. Trying to lose weight when I can't predict my meals is very difficult. Instead, I'll focus on not overeating. If I do that, I won't gain any weight, and I won't loose the mindset of thinking about what I eat. My bike will be unavailable, as will my gym. On the other hand, I'll be walking in general a lot more than I would at home. So I'm going to focus on not losing my workout routine, and using the hotel gym at least twice. I'll have more time for writing than I would at home, and no job to sap my mental energy. But I don't know how much time I'll actually have. So I'll just stick to the same goal both at home and on vacation: sit down and get wome writing done. Home version: Fitness: Keep up what I've been doing. 2 exercise classes per week, plus biking. Biking can be replaced with something else if I want. Goal now is 12 miles per week or more, which is my usual 6 mile loop at least twice a week. I'd like to up this, so I'll be recording how far I actually bike each trip. I've given myself a long term goal of buying myself a new bike if I ride this one 2000 miles. Basically, I want to buy an expensive new bike, but I can't justify it when I don't use the one I've got very much. Diet: Same as usual. Moderate carb. Once serving carbs per meal, plus unlimited veggies and 2-4 fruits per day. At least one veggie per meal. And if I feel like I'm not doing this, start tracking my food again. Writing: Write at least 100 words towards my fan-fic story per day. Better would be 1000+. If I finish the story, I can switch to editing at least one page per day. I'd really like to write a chapter a week, but writing any amount will beat writing nothing. Cleaning: At least 10 minutes per day. I need to set a timer, and clean until the timer goes off. Vacation version: Diet: Don't overeat at restaurants. Ask for a to go box before I start eating, if needed, just to get the extra food out of sight. Have at least one fruit or veggie per meal, even if I have to bring it with me. Buy fruit and veggies to keep in the hotel room so there's something healthy to snack on. Celery or cucumber and hummus are always good, plus a bunch of apples and bananas and probably a can of peanuts. Fitness: I'll generally be more active than usual. Goal number one is Don't Irritate the Plantar Fasciitis. This means no hiking. This needs to be mentioned, because hiking is normally a central feature of my vacations, and the people I'm with know this. I've gotten enough better that I think I'll be able to be on my feet all day with good shoes and pavement, but rough terrain irritates it fast. I've found some kayaking to do instead one day, and if there's enough interest, I'll look into a bike tour day. For strength and conditioning, I want to do a structured workout in the hotel gym at least twice during the week, even if it's very short. Depending on whether they have kettlebells, I'll either do a Simple and Sinister kettlebell workout, or a weighted beginner bodyweight workout variation. Writing: I'll bring my computer. The goal is the same as at home: write every day, finish a chapter per week. Cleaning: Yay for maid service :-). Oh, and I also started a long term tracking log. I'll be tracking leveling up there, as well as marking progress towards the long term stuff that doesn't show up directly in shorter challenges. I couldn't get the link to work, so here's the long version. http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/80494-fiddles-long-term-log/#comment-1860623

1. Get in bed before 11 PM or as early as possible. Sleep is still my biggest problem. I'm working on it. My spring break gave me some time to get away with sleeping in, which did help. However, i'm going for the long-term here, and that ain't good enough. If I can, I need to drop everything i'm doing between 10 and 10:30 PM. I've got a plethora of alarms to help with that. 2. Eat healthy stuff that makes you feel good; avoid junk food. I feel that i've been doing fairly well on this. My body has been happy with what i've been eating over the last few months, which is an awesome feeling. 3. Practice Aam Ka Jutsu and work with the kettlebell. I finished my 20,000 side-kick challenge, so I set up a new goal at 40,000 side-kicks. I'm not working toward any crazy number after which i'll never throw a kick again. I find that having a small goal like that acts as a reminder for me to work on my kicks. I like doing the small number of kettlebell exercises that i've tried. I'd like to do more of them, and possibly get to the point where I can justify buying either another 25 lb bell or a heavier one. I haven't got a clue which I should or will go with. We shall see. I think i'll rotate between martial arts and kettlebell stuff each day. 4. Code stuff; work on your projects at least once a week, hopefully more. I need to keep improving my skills, so i'm going to commit to doing as much work as I can when i'm not working on homework. Feel free to follow along and call me out if I need it. Keep being awesome.

Hello, so here comes my challenge. I want to use this one to get back on track with the stuff that worked previously. So this means: Each day: 7 Hours of sleep 10 Minutes of meditation 5 minutes of training (taiji or KB Swings / TGU's) 2 Liters of water During the challenge: log every expanse in ynab don't miss taiji class Sorry, for not writing that much. During the weekend i had a quite unpleasent conversation with a buddy. I'm not sure how the handle the relationship between us after this conversation. So my thoughts are elsewhere at the moment. Anyway i will track the stuff with habit bull and try to post updates on sundays.

Quest 0 - Hoard of the Dragon Queen I've been letting work get in the way of my workouts ... I'm frozen! (see how I made that work?) before week 1 I'm going to do at least 2 runs and a kettle bell workout! Quest 1 - The Rise of Tiamat Stretching! Everyday I'm going to do 10 minutes of stretching! A: 28 Days of stretching! (Wis +3) B: 20-27 Days of stretching! (Wis +2) F: <19 Days of stretching! Quest 2 - Princes of the Apocalypse Movement and mobility! 6 days a week I'm going to do some running/jogging. This could be long distance running + sprinting + hill work etc. A: 24 Days! (Dex +2, Con +2) B: 23-20 Days! (Dex+1 Con +1) F: <19 Days! Quest 3 - Out of the Abyss Tuesday+Thursday Kettlebell beast mode! A: 8 Days of Kettlebells (Str+3, Sta+2) B: 4-7 Days of Kettlebells (Str+2, Sta +2) F <3 Days of Kettlebells Quest 4 - Curse of Strahd I've been letting myself mope about and not be as social or out going as I should. Plus my photography has suffered from lack of doing it.

Sorry, for being late... as always i have to much stuff on my plate. So i try to keep this short and sweet. Goal 1: Get 7 hours of sleep each night Goal 2: Meditate for 20 minutes daily Goal 3: Excercises daily (Kettlebell (10 Minutes Swings, 10 Minutes TGU's) or Taijiquan) Goal 4: Cook one meal myself per week I will plan my goals on monday each week. On a completely different note. A friend of mine worked on the vfx team of Star Wars Fan Film. The film has been released to youtube yesterday and in my opinion is really worth the watch(Go full screen):

OK, I'm going to post a tracking thread for long term stuff, and because I've rethought the whole leveling up thing. I've never really liked it because I don't like trying to shoehorn real achievements like asking for a raise into fantasy-game categories like intelligence, wisdom, or charisma. But then I realized, if I don't like those categories, why not make my own? I'm setting up a scale with Learning and Professional Development, Athletic Performance, General Health, and Life skills. I thought about an Appearance or a Social Life category, but I honestly don't care enough about appearance to bother, and social skills fit fairly easily under either learning and professional or life skills, and 5 categories is already kind of complex. If you're copying the idea, though, you might want to adjust the categories to your own priorities. For example, Athletic performance fits pretty well under general health. Learning and Professional Development: Any academic knowledge, and doing things at work to promote my career. So this includes both learning to ask for a raise, and collecting plant specimens to identify when I hike for my own entertainment. Athletic Performance: any sports and physical training related goals. General Health: Currently about weight loss, but it could easily fit other health related things if I needed it. Injury recovery could fit here, or athletics, and this is probably a good spot for any chronic disease issues. Life Skills: Everything else. Things like house keeping, budgeting, and a social life. I gave myself a point here for starting to negotiate on my Craigslist purchases, then used the same skills to ask for a raise at work for a LPD goal. Personally, I like to earn points fast, but leveling up too easily kind of kills the point of it. So I'm going to start with 20 points per category per level, and adjust as needed. I'll be posting my long term goals later. Short term and intermediate stuff may continue to reside primarily in the challenges.

Challenge #11 MAIN GOAL: THE FORCE SHALL FREE ME (from Bodyfat) QUEST 1 - THROUGH VICTORY MY CHAINS ARE BROKEN [Nutrition: Intermittent Fasting] Second try to reintroduce 24h IF. QUEST 2 - THROUGH POWER I GAIN VICTORY [Nutrition: Snacking/Tea] Those two goals worked pretty good last challenge, therefore I'm combining them for this one to solidify the habbit. QUEST 3 - THROUGH STRENGTH I GAIN POWER [simple & Sinister III of XII] Continuing the daily Swinging and TGUing. QUEST 4 - THROUGH PASSION I GAIN STRENGTH I'm doing the Armstrong Pull-Up Programm again, this time on Rings (gymnastic ones, not like in the picture ). That means 5 consecutive days a week push-ups in the morning and a pull-up workout at night. QUEST 5 - PEACE IS A LIE THERE IS ONLY PASSION [strength Endurance] Pushing and Pulling is covered by quest 4, but I don't intend to forget my hinge, core and leg work. At least twice a week.

“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.†- Duke Leto Atreides / Frank Herbert (Dune) On the arid world of Arrakis, the Fremen strike without warning and meld into the deserts. They use the environment and it's resources to survive and thrive yet it's harshness carves them into hardy survivors and fierce warriors. The world they live in shapes them. My world is very different and my environment is more forgiving (e.g. no giant sandworms) but it can be used to improve me just the same. My long term goal is to be more and more connected to my environment and let it shape and carve me into a fitter and healthier me. I'll be like the Fremen of Arrakis but in a much, much wetter environment. "Nathair uisce" is Irish for "water snake". I've chosen this moniker as snakes (which of course we don't have in Ireland) are often considered quite low on a scale of animal nobility... but they're still cool (especially with a Solid or Liquid prefix, for all us metalgear solid fans...). And it's water snake because, well, it's Ireland and it's usually raining. I also do a bit of kayaking and occasional camping on the islands of Lough Allen. (I did consider "bogpheist", an archaic Irish term meaning bog worm, but I thought it sounded just a bit too lowly...) I plan to move up the "animal scale" as 4 week challenges are completed So, I'm keeping the challenges simple and straightforward for now. 1: Get to bed before 1:30AM every weeknight. Weeknights are just nights when I have to get up for work/college in the morning. It is subject to change as, e.g. I often have fidays off so thursday night might not always count. 2: Eat some kind of breakfast every weekday morning. Preferably egg based for good healthy protein. 3: Exercise each Monday - full body workout. two sets of: 50 bodyweight Squats 20 incline push ups 20 bent over rows w/20kg kettlebell (each arm) 10 overhead presses w/20kg kettlebell (each arm) 60 second front plank 30 second side plank (each side) 4: Exercise 3 Fridays out of the 4 in the challenge (I'd usually be drinking on a Friday evening, so exercising will provide a dual benefit as the money I might spend on booze will be spent on the gym instead) Precise routine to be determined - will include barbell, sprints and swimming.

This challenge is about learning to do strength training and losing weight. The main thing that’s changed since last challenge is the fitness goals. In January, I was focused on recovery from a back injury and plantar fasciitis. The back is basically good now, as long as I’m careful. Therefore I’ve greatly upped my physical goals. I’ll be focusing on gaining strength for the first time ever. I’ve always wanted to do more strength training, but I really enjoy running and hiking, so I just never found the time and motivation to do more than the beginner bodyweight workout. But since I can’t run or hike now, it’s the perfect time to learn strength, and hopefully get to a level I can easily sustain once I’ve got my feet back. Diet: Eat healthy: This means no more than one small dessert per day, a moderate amount of carbs, and lots of fruits and veggies. Moderate carbs is about 1 serving per meal, lots of fruits and veggies is 2-3 of each, with more veggies being optional. If I start getting off of this, I will track my food for at least three days. Physical: I signed up for a month of small group personal training at a gym. I found it because I started reading about kettlebells, and they sound a lot more fun that lifting barbells, and a lot easier to do at home. When I went looking for a coach or teacher, I found this place. So I’ll be learning to swing a kettlebell and do other strength training. For home use, I’ve been busy on craigslist. I’ve bought 2 adjustable dumbbells with 40 pounds each, a 25 pound kettlebell, and a 35 pound kettlebell. Total cost: $80. I also have a pull-up bar. That’s my starting home gym. Since I’m in a 400 square ft. apartment, space is at a premium. The only other things I’m considering adding are resistance bands and a lighter kettlebell. Goal: Attend once weekly personal training session. Do exercise class or at-home workout on 3 additional days each week, with at least one of those being intensive.Continue to limit the amount of daily walking to under one mile. Wear shoes indoors. (for plantar fasciitis) Life: I’m trying to start my own writing/editing business. Right now, I’m at the get-the-word out stage. I wish I could say it’s harder than I thought it would be, but I knew before I started that that kind of social stuff is always a challenge for me. I want to start a blog, to be posted every two weeks. It will be about writing and editing. I’ve also got a fan-fiction novella that I want to finish. It only needs 2-3 more chapters, then some serious editing. I want to finish writing it this month, and get started on the edits. Goal: Start blog Write/edit at least 30 minutes per day.Send 3-4 e-mails per week to potential clients.

....always a Jedi? But although I've always been a Jedi, I have been called a grey one and actually had more than one lapse into the void of the dark side. As any great Jedi Master will tell you, the dark side is part of everyone. And emerging from it again into the light is what makes you a true master of the Force, if you emerge again, that is..... Challenge #10 QUEST 1 : Nutrition/Snacking This didn't work out last challenge so I need to change it. Since at the moment I can't really control what I eat, I'll concentrate on quantity instead. Also concentrating on little thing Mission: No snacking between meals QUEST 2 : SIMPLE & SINISTER [ II OF XII ] Continuing the year of Kettlebell. I'm trying to reduce the light days (swinging a16kg) to no more than once a week and start to introduce some one-handed swings on the hard ones this time. Also I usually did two days off per week last time, but I need to reduce that to one day. TGUs ar not going to change for this challenge. Mission: 100 Swings per day (either two or one-handed) 24 or 16 kg 5 Turkish Get-Ups per side per day with a 12kg QUEST 3 : Nutrition/Tea The other little thing to improve the intake side of the equation. Drink at least one litre of tea (additionally to what I usually drink). Mission: Drink one litre of tea per day QUEST 4 : STRENGTH (ENDURANCE) WORKOUT This quest is competely the same as last challenge. Mission: Minimum Strength Workout (one exercise out of two of Push/Pull/Hinge/Squat) 4x per week Strength Endurance Worktout (like EMOM or for time or AMRAP for example) 2x per week Maximum Strength Workout (2 exercises out of one of Push/Pull/Hinge/Squat) 2x per week

In the past year, Elastigirl and Mr Incredible have destroyed 4 Omnidroids, saved the city from certain destruction 5 times, captured 4 villains, all while still maintaining their normal jobs. They have earned a rest, and have decided to take a vacation. Are you wondering what superheroes do for vacation? They go exploring for treasure! Several years ago, the Incredibles had found a treasure map, but had been to busy saving the world to follow it.For now, the world seems safe from Omnidroids, so the Incredible couple are going treasure hunting. The map leads them to an exotic volcanic island. While searching for treasure, they will have to be careful to avoid the lava flow. But, hey, they are super heroes, so a little lava won't stop them from their quest. This challenge my husband and I will be celebrating our 30th anniversary by going to Hawaii. Part of our trip will be hiking at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. This is part of my Epic Quest, and we have been saving money for this, and am super excited about it. Beside the Volcano National park, I hope to also get some time in hiking, geocaching, snorkeling, reading, eating, drinking, and generally having a good time. Since I'm gone for half the challenge, I'm separating it into two parts, one for when I'm home, the other for while I'm away. Part 1 :Treasure Hunting Being a super hero I will boldly explore the island in search of treasure, and like any good explorer does, will document my findings Goal 1: Treasure: Unlock some of my adventure quests from my Epic Quest : ideas include kayaking, snorkeling, paddle-boarding Goal 2: Be Bold: Superheroes and treasure hunters are bold. Do something on the trip that takes me out of my comfort zone. Goal 3: Journal Take pictures and share them here Part 2:Adventure preparing Whether she needs to take care of her family, save the world, or search for buried treasure, a superhero needs to be strong. While at home, I will Goal : 1 Log food on Myfitnesspal (note this may not happen the day I return, but soon after) Goal 2: Continue Focused Flexibility and kettlebell workouts ( not putting how many days here, giving some leeway for getting back into the swing of it after the trip)

This challenge i want to focus on my daily stuff. I keep struggeling with my daily training and meditation. I think this is because i don't have fixed time for it. Ideally the time for those things is in the morning. I'm not really a morning person, but want to use this challenge to improve a bit in this direction. Daily: * In bed and lights out by 11:30 pm (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) * Get up at 6:30 pm (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) * 20 minutes of Meditation using headspace * At least 10 minutes of taiji practice or 10 minutes of kettlebell practice Weekly: * I will prepare at least on meal at home * I will plan my workouts and my cooking During the challenge: * I will read a novel and a non fiction book.

Woot! Challenge #3! The biggest complication here will be that we'll be on the road from Feb 10th until March 1st. This is part of my normal routine, but frequently extremely disruptive to my routine. I'm still working on what exactly my goals will be for February. My working draft: Continue Pavel's Simple & Sinister kettlebell routine, every day whenever I can manage it. This shouldn't be a problem to do on the road. I can bring my two kettlebells with me. I'm not worried about this one. This is definitely on the list! I know exactly what I am doing. I just need to keep at it. I have a mini-goal to post a form-check video of my swings and get-ups. [30xp if at least every other day, or 5xp per week AEOD.] Get sleep schedule under control! I've been sleeping very poorly, and my sleep schedule has almost always been erratic. Travel will make this even harder, but I really need to be sleeping better. I can see how much it affects my performance, my mood, my health, everything. I've got a lot stacked against me on this one. It is a high priority to me though. [10xp just to track it every day. up to 4 failures is acceptable. 5xp/week wakeup between 6am and 8am, at least every other day, except where unavoidable schedule conflict.] Food - I've lost most of the weight, but my diet is a perpetual preoccupation. I have no idea what my goals are at this point. [20xp if I end February with a solid plan that seems to be working and that I feel good about. 10xp if I have no plan but I am genuinely okay with that, meaning I don't fret about it at all during week 4.] Writing, every other day, half hour minimum. I've just gotten back to writing on my spirituality blog, after being prompted for months, and I want to keep at that. [10xp when I finish this set of 12 posts.] Develop minimal bedtime yoga routine, practice at least every other day. This is a small goal, not really on a monthly cycle. The S&S routine includes a few stretches, which you can do at any point during the day, so I include them in a short before-bed yoga practice. I've been winging it with that practice, and I've been meaning to actually decide what my priorities with that practice are. [10xp if I complete this.] Daily Routine - Aside from walking the dog, the daily routine I established last month is pretty portable. (And I can tale a walk without the dog.) I'm thinking I'll continue to keep track of this on my daily checklist, but not have it as a specific goal. I'll continue to fine tune things. Ukulele - I'll be setting the uke aside for a bit, or at least not making a specific goal to play it regularly. I'm unlikely to be bringing it along on our trip. Handstands - I made some good progress on handstands, but my shoulders have been feeling a little tweaked, so I am going to see how they feel with a month of just the kettlebells.

Climbing the skill tree Backstory Today (Monday 1 February 2016) marks the culmination of 5 years of work as I handed in my final assignment of law school. As I turn over the page and enter a new chapter of my life I will stride out into the world again ready for new adventures. I have proven beyond doubt that I am capable of persistence and massive amounts of hard work but can I take the time and effort that I applied to school and apply it to other areas of my life? It is no coincidence that I leave for an epic overseas holiday in Europe a few days after my exam results come out. That is 4 weeks from now. So this is a standalone challenge between changes for me. I have put on some weight in the last couple of months that I want to get serious about shifting. I’m only talking about 2 kg which is doable in 4 weeks. There is more I want to lose but that will be a quest for another day. Although I am shooting for the weight loss I’m not going to earn any XP for that as it is just a consequence of success. The next quest... The Talisman of the Lightfoot To earn this talisman I must complete a minimum of 3 couch to 5k runs per week I’m using the c25k zombies run app. I need to feel the burn and get myself in a bit better shape. I do enjoy running and I worked my up to doing a 10km fun run a couple of years ago but it's been a long while since I ran regularly. Pounding the pavement is going to help me in my larger quest to lose a bit of weight 11/11 = 15XP 8/11 = 10XP 6/11 = 5XP The Rune of Rejuvenation Sleep at least 7 hours per night I’ve been on the verge of burnout for a while now. I haven’t had a break from work and uni for more than a week or two in the last year. When I have a lot of work on I cut back on sleep and I know that 6 hrs is the magic number for me. Any less and I’m too tired to work properly and any more is just a waste. Now that is all over my poor body deserves some rest. My Fitbit records my sleeping hours so this will be easy to track. I want to up my minimum sleep time to 7 hrs a night (and more if I can!) 26/26 = 10XP 20/26 = 5XP Collecting boar meat Keep carbs below 150g a day I’m not going to lose any weight unless I can get my diet under control. I should have more time now to meal prep and plan ahead. I’m aiming at 80% paleo and I think that getting militant about my carbs might be a good way of enforcing this. I’ll be tracking with MFP. I might adjust the goal and track averages or some other metric if I think it isn’t helping get where I want to be but no use collecting underpants. 26/26 = 10XP 20/26 = 5XP 15/26 = 2XP Mastery of tools · Clean out the spare room · Fit out the wardrobe in the spare room and decorate · Resilicone the leaks in the bathroom · Clean the whole house · Clean up the storm damage in the garden · Pack my bags for my awesome overseas adventure! I have a number of chores around the house that I need to do before I go on holidays. I’ve been neglecting the domestic rangering for a while so I’m going to set them as a set of mini tasks that I need to complete. I may add to this list as the challenge progresses as I haven't sat down and done a plan yet. between 2-5XP per task depending on complexity Also in this challenge I promise more frequent updates, many gifs and pics and much mead and glory!

Ok, so the last challenge ended up just kind of imploding halfway through. Stopped tracking things and just didn't follow up on things. So this time around I'm going to tone things down a little bit and try to lay a solid foundation for the new year. 1) Skill Building 1.a - Attend Kaju class at least once a week Unfortunately it looks like at the end of the month I'm going to have to pause kajukenbo classes, but until then, I can still try to make as many classes and learn as much as I can before then. I figure the more I can learn in person, the more I can have to practice on my own. We're also trying to settle into a new routine at home, so making multiple classes a week is going to be difficult. But if I can make one class a week, I will count it as a win. 1.b - Exercise Daily 10 pushups and 10 squats first thing when I wake up. I figure this will be the absolute minimum and is something that can be done in two minutes. I'd like to keep working on pistol squats and one-arm pushup progressions, but if all I do is 10 and 10, then I will be happy. 1.c - Simple and Sinister Once a work, do an actual round of Simple and Sinister. More than one, great. But one is my goal. 2) Food 2.a - Homemade This challenge I'm going to cut out breads and sweet desserts that are not made by me (or the wife). It should be more difficult to binge if I stick to this. 2.b - Track It I'm will use MyFitnessPal again. It helped me keep an eye on what I was eating and be more mindful. 3) Money 3.a - Minty Start using Mint and Mint Bills to track finances and identify where the spending is going over. Look at Mint once a day and keep on top of things. I'll flesh these out more later, but this is what I want to do.