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Hi guys! It's been a long time... I'll make a quick recap of the last couple of months. First, CrossFit got way too expensive to be economically sustainable so I had to quit my box. I drifted aimlessly for a while, looking for a new gym that was close to the office and affordable. In the meanwhile I kept on training Krav Maga twice a week as usual. After a rather depressing month, I gave up on trying to find an affiliate with a reasonably affordable full pass (I work in a really expensive part of town). Just when I began looking for a regular gym, one of the Team Leaders at work told me he got a memebership at a really fancy gym only three blocks from the office. Through a Union discount he was paying half the price... close to the office and really affordable, it was what I needed. I joined the gym with thedame discount and engaged in a bodybuilding style routine while my TL-now-gym buddy got acquainted with the big lifts. Two weeks ago we started a linear progression program as layed out by Brian Alsruhe in one of his videos. So far it has been great. I still train KM and mess around with some mace movements on the weekends. It's really light, fun stuff So for now my goals remain: - Lift 4 times a week - Do one conditioning/cardio workout a week - Attend 2 weekly KM classes - Practice mace movements once a week -Eat like a grownup(enough protein, around 2100kcal, booze no more than once a month, no flour/sugar/etc.) I've been away from my Internet home, but now I'm back to being a Ranger

Hi! It's another challenge already! I'm going to lean in on reinforcing some good habits as well as potentially introducing some new ones related to general life rather than diet or exercise. If you are new to the party -- I practice gymnastics, lift heavy weights, run sometimes, bake tasty treats, and love my social engagements. I've got a fun run the first weekend of October and a trip planned to Montreal to watch the gymnastics Worlds competition from Oct 7-9, but otherwise fall is looking pretty calm compared to the last few months. 1. Rat nest Pick a gym/coach/program Do the work 3-4x per week Proper mobilization/activation pre-lifting 3-4x week 2. Ratbbit food Eat real meals at home 7x per week (Real meals include protein and vegetables and are eaten while sitting down) 3. Rat dance Finish mixing floor music Start working on floor choreo with 3 choreo sessions Try out new mounts on balance beam 4. Ratsponsibilities TBD...

so the end of last challenge was... hiiiiiiiii, i'm CM and i like lifting and eating and fun runs and short OCRs. i got a bit side tracked the last couple weeks after a vacation and now some stomach pains that won't go away. i'm going to take this challenge week by week and adjust as things progress. ZERO WEEK 1. move everyday. either a walk or yoga with some pull up bar hangs. 2. figure out your stomach issues. go to the doctor as needed, make those appts, take supplements, eat at least 30g fiber from food per day. 3. lift. if I can, i'd like to get in an do some light sets of 10 on each lift. just to get back in there. but it will need to happen tomorrow or friday so we'll see how i feel. we'll re-evaluate for WEEK 1. work has been crazy busy so forgive me if I haven't stopped by your thread yet! also i have this stuff going on during the challenge... 9/15: friend’s wedding 9/16: cape cod with fam 9/23 – 9/24: Maine trip 9/29: dress shopping 9/30: outfit and dress shopping 10/1: NH 5K 10/7: friend’s wedding 10/13 – 10/16: Acadia Nat’l Park camping

Vincent van Bro, formerly known as Curl Brogo, is an American painter, powerlifter, and Adonis with bat wing lats and biceps big as your head. Partly a renaissance man, he paints meditative, impressionistic still life and landscape, surrealistic allegorical depictions of small animals, and abstract expressionist paintings and drawings depicting musical ideas. He lives and works in Indianapolis. There's my Wikipedia intro paragraph. I've made up my mind to go back to school and study art in the spring, end goal being an MFA. So this challenge will be centered on preparing for that, while improving my health and fitness... and lats and biceps. Goal 1: Hunger. Carrying over from previous challenges. Eat only when the thought of steamed broccoli and fish makes me drool. Goal 2: Pickup the barbell 6 days a week. Pretty straightforward. I'll do whatever feels right. As long as I do a set of something. Expect bear complexes. Goal 3: one morning walk each weekend. I just want to put a couple miles on my shoes each weekend to avoid stagnating over the weekend. LUYL goals: Art school prep Basically a list Sidequests to prepare for school. Assemble a portfolio: I need 18-25 works for the MFA application. 10 to start the undergrad/transition. -- Create new works -- gather old work -- Take photos Complete application steps: -- meeting with art school admissions (Sept. 19) -- complete school application -- browse courses Roommate search: I want to stay put, but I'll need some financial relief. I have an empty second bedroom, might as well get a roommate and cut the rent in half. -- talk to leasing office -- make an ad -- spread ad on various media/networks

My last challenge worked out well, and my goals seem like useful ones, so I'm basically just doing the same thing again. Goals Squat form: My goal is again to get to the point where I can do a heavy squat set and be confident that the bar will stay over my mid-foot. Last challenge, I got the point where it's possible, but it still doesn't happen every time. Yoga: I still want to do 2 yoga sessions every week. I'm playing with the idea of changing up my stretching routine so that all of my regular stretching takes places at the end of my workouts, after I'm already warmed up. That seems like it would save time, but I don't know how long I actually have to spend stretching to observe an increase in flexibility. Sleep: I want to get to bed by 11:30 pm at least 5 days every week. No rolling over to next week. SICP: I want to spend at least 30 minutes working through Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs on two different days each week. No rolling over. Last challenge, I had separate, 30-minute goals for Tuesday or Thursday and Saturday or Sunday. I'm not sure whether that helped me stay on track or just got in my way. I can anticipate one weekend during this challenge during which it is very unlikely that I will have any time to program, so I will remove that restriction this time, and we'll see what happens.

Easy Peasy: (Emelan is a tieback to the Tamora Pierce series - @Alanna) Now that I've developed a journaling framework that works for me, I need to use it. Every day. Also, now that I've gotten WAY better at planning in my workouts, my main challenge is eating. I've lost some weight lately from just.... not eating. No good when your main goal is to get stronger! Track something in MFP EVERY DAY. Peeps on MFP feel free to like the "ElvenEngineer tracked for 5 days in a row! 6 days in a row!.... and on". [my handle is ElvenEngineer - feel free to friend me, just say you're from NF] And what is the goal of all this you may ask? What does it have to do with the challenge title? Everything. Everything. Every day I journal I get 1 pt Every day I track in MFP I get 1 pt Every workout gets 5 points (gotta keep up the habit) I'm working on tying specific goals with numbers, but a la @Taddea Zhaan the goals will give me dollars towards my travel savings account. Since I *cough* keep forgetting to open/add to it. Other things that need to escape Emelan (not that it isn't great, the magic is cool, but I want to visit other places!): -Open a savings account to function as a travel savings -report stolen passport found (in true Canadian form, they dropped it in a mailbox so it got returned to me) -check to see if my middle name needs to be on my passport and why it isn't on the newest one? -make sure I can fly with my TWIC card, since my state driver's license isn't TSA compliant as of January 22, 2018 (REAL ID - I'd check if you aren't sure if your state is compliant - half aren't) Handy Map: https://www.dhs.gov/real-id -Buy new travel backpack with either amazon gift cards or travel savings -Get a credit card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees (all my current ones do) ^^ Each of these will be worth 10 points since they're all more labor intensive - the list may also be added to I always identified the most with Sandy, and she's traveled a LOT. Time to follow her example! *fun note about the Circle of Magic books - I think they're the only book I've read where in the group of main protagonists there are MORE girls than boys. Feel free to recommend other books if I've missed some. I've read plenty where there is a girl, a girl and a boy, a boy, two boys and a girl (twilight - ugh), but I can't think of any with two girls and a boy, or in the case of CoM - three girls and a boy! so many female protagonists!

So my kickboxing class is on fridays and I figured I could lift on Mondays and Wednesdays and Friday before/after class. My lifting schedule is pretty simple and clean: Monday: squats, overhead presses, and pull ups Wednesday: deadlifts, bench presses, body rows Friday: lunges, dips, chin ups Since Friday is one of the lighter days and my kickboxing class are on the same day it's one of my more active days. As for what I do when I'm not in the gym, I'm biking everywhere, I'm a college kid so I use my bike to get to class and work. (School is two miles away and work is 3.8 so like 4 miles.) I have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and work everyday I'm not in class so I'm biking quite a bit, I know cardio can stunt the progress you make in lifting but I think cycling can also stunt it? I'm not sure but anyway I'd like any feedback and advice any of you have thanks!