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So in my last challenge I noticed some interesting things about my habits. I have noticed whenever I over eat or drink, I do the other one. So if I would have a bad lunch at work, it was followed by drinking in the evening, or if I had a drink in the evening I would eat some shitty food and miss my calorie goals. It seems like I have a defeatist attitude for the day as soon as I mess one thing up. Now that I have identified this I am going to hopefully correct it. For this challenge I am going to attempt to continue to eat properly(2,000 calories and < 100 grams of carbs), really cut out drinking(I can think of one event this challenge where I will drink), and focus on having productive days. If I mess up at lunch or during the day, I need to suck it up and continue down doing what I need to do. Each day I will post what I did that day, what I am doing tomorrow, and what roadblocks/problems I had. I also hope to hit smaller weekly chore tasks I assign each week.

Alrighty, so I am back once again, trying to get any kind of momemtum going. #1 Food: Paleo, no added sugar #2 Lifting: 2x Week, Continue NRoLfW plan #3 Walking/Hiking: 2x Week minimum Starting Stats Weight: 163.3 lbs Body Fat % (per scale): 42% Waist: 35/40 Hips 42 Thighs 37 Neck 13 Calf 14 Bicep 10 Bust 40/36

Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 47.5 | STA - 41.75 | CON - 72 | WIS - 41.5 | CHA - 44.5 Weight 173lb Waist 31" Belly 35" Hips 40" Thigh 23 1/2" Body Fat 27.11% Previous Challenge Goals Sleep 10:30pm bedtime. Pay attention to the reminders on my phone re: getting ready for bed/getting to bed. Cardio Minimum 1 "long" (read 30 minutes/5kish) run per week + 1 intervals session. Extra is encouraged Reading Haven't been reading as much as I would like, so 210 minutes of reading per week (equivalent of 30 minutes/day) Mini Challenge Strength Feat - 1 extra lifting session COMPLETE Ranger Feat - start next knitting project. Minimum 120 minutes of working on it throughout the week. COMPLETE Distance Feat - 1 extra cardio session COMPLETE Recovery Feat - Go to a yoga class COMPLETE

Jarric: As Yet Untitled So for those of you who may not have seen this, there's a show on British TV called Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (Wikipedia link) in which Alan Davies sits at a round table with 4 guests (mostly comedians) and shares stories and talks nonsense for an hour, with no agenda, no plan, just having a chat. At the end of the hour they pick a title for the show based on what they've talked about. I've only just discovered the show and love it, so in the interest of sharing stories and talking lots of nonsense for this challenge I want to do the same - at the end of the challenge we'll pick a name for the challenge based on what's happened this month. Format! Last challenge (which I will go back and wrap up soon, promise!) fizzled out a bit at the end, so I'm jumping straight back in and making this one a 5 week challenge. Building on my 2017 road map and my last challenge the goals will be similar to last month, with a few minor tweaks... Goals! Move! - 15XP What? Exercise every single day. Why? Working towards my OCRs this year, and I find I work better working every day than trying to have rest days. How? Follow Juggernaut lifting plan MWF and Runkeeper sub-55 minute 10k plan TTSS. I'm rolling the 4 days of lifting over three days (until I become ruler of the world and make standard weeks 8 days long), so if one week is Monday Bench, Wednesday Squat, Friday OHP, then the next week will be Monday Deadlift, Wednesday Bench, Friday Squat. Make sense? The running program is a faster version of the 10k plan I ran last year (and briefly injured my hips on), and I rather enjoyed it so I'm trying it again. Snooze! - 10XP What? Don't hit snooze! Why? Because I set that time for a reason, and I need to remember that! And I don't like rushing (more than usual) in the morning. How? On weekdays, when my alarm goes off at 05:30, get up without hitting snooze. Track! - 10XP What? Track calories every day Why? Because I've lost sight of quite how much I should be eating, and I want to find that again. And it wouldn't hurt to lose the barrel I'm carrying around my waist at the moment either! How? Track calories using Fitbit (and best guesses where necessary) every day. No target amount until I work out how generous Fitbit is being with the calorie burn. Budget! - 15XP What? Stick to my weekly budget Why? Because getting out of debt and saving is one of my main goals for the year, and ultimately because I want to own my own house before I reach retirement age! How? Every week I have a weekly budget of £80 for random sundry expenses (this feels like far too much, but whatever). This doesn't include groceries, work travel or exercise expenses, or bills/rent which come directly out of my account. Basically it's food and drink out and random stuff. And to get us going on the random chat, and icebreaker (I may do a few of these): Icebreaker: Have you ever won a trophy or medal? So for me, I won a couple of trophies when I was about 14 in a pool competition. Run by a caravan park in Wales. I think as a way to shift off-season tickets. But it was the start of something and I've had a string of pool and snooker trophies since, so I have fond memories of it .

Hi, I'm Heather Raptron. I do gymnastics, lift heavy things, wear lots of costumes, eat everything, and try to fit too many fitness activities into my life on a regular basis. I am currently in Week 10 of the Danger Method for my lifting program and my gymnastics team is gearing up for their Nationals competition in April, which I am not competing in this year because I've chosen to focus my efforts a bit differently this year. I'm also looking to diversifying my workout plan once again since I've moved into lower rep lifts, so conditioning is on the slate for this challenge. This challenge is centered around Westerberg High School royalty (both in movie and musical form): 1. Heather McNamara Splits progress photos at start and finish Standing split work 2x per week Heather McNamara, head cheerleader. I'll channel her flexibility to ascend to the top of the high school food chain. This is a repeat goal from last challenge, but this time with photos. 2. Heather Duke Meal prep in advance for all lunches per work week Meal prep in advance for at least 1 dinner per week Heather Duke, runs the yearbook, no discernible personality, but an intense social climber. Bulimia is so '87, Heather Duke. I'll be prepping healthy food for Hubstron and myself every week so that he can stay on track for his 60 Day diet reset and journey to fitness. Plus, maybe it'll keep me on track to fuel my body well! 3. Heather Chandler Climb and/or conditioning 2x per week Bonus point for hitting 2x conditioning and 1x climbing in a week's span Heather Chandler, the almighty, the mythic bitch. I'll both need to climb (socially) and maintain my fitness to keep this queen b off of the top dog slot. Unless I just find a way to slip her some Draino... 4. Veronica Continue creating weekly planner page in bujo Actually check bujo lists at home at least 3x per week Veronica, the former nobody, monocle'd frantic journaler. I can map my ascent alongside hers through my journal. Let's goooo.

About me: Hokay… so I have been a part of Nerdfitness for almost 5 years (!!!). I have mostly been a lifter and paleo person, but since my move to Alaska and pregnancy and new motherhood all really threw off my routines and habits. I haven’t been around as much this past year, but I’m determined to change that. I’ve been in Alaska for 3 years, my husband is military. But we are fortunate enough to be staying here for another 5 years! I love to hike year round, so this place is perfect for me. My kiddo is almost 11 months old, and a little hellion! I also have a german shepherd who I do obedience competitions with. My overarching goals are to get stronger and lose the baby flab. If I lose weight, awesome, but I know better than to think just seeing a certain number on a scale is going to make me happy. I want to look and feel fit, and gain back the strength I lost while life has been so crazy and hectic. I also want to be developing good routines, because in July, Mr. Princess will be deploying overseas so I will be taking care of things at home solo. Current stats: Weight 163.8 BMI 29 Body fat % Waist at Belly Button 38" Natural Waist 35" Hips 42" Calves 15" Arms 11.5" Neck 13" Goals #1 Lifting with NROLW and Core Program #2Whole 30, No exceptions https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5ztkZUPLqzJddYbi38QTKfObn3jcT3ATUg753sYjFc0YLX51M6-uzrecHoLRIptE04iSPTIXS7ilfbwGQalVSzRhs1yIeQfD7sLfQycUCUNyG-uzXQfNSGDzMuUjvu6-EmSIWXr3 #3 Home Routines Meal Planning Dishes Laundry Bathrooms Here's to a beautiful, whirlwind of a 2017!

So, for zero week we are keeping it simple - post every day! Challenge will probably revolve around lifting things, eating things, and maybe a slight dash of cardio. There will also be random gifs, because I am terrible at themes and completely okay with that! And we have GOALS! This is not a drill people! I finally did the Challenge Planning worksheet (hey, I'm only one challenge behind!), and it was super helpful (Planning worksheet is here if you haven't seen it yet) My four smart goals for this one will be: 1) Fruit or veggie each day 2) Track in MFP 5x per week 3) One relaxing or nice thing a day (mental health) 4) 2x per week - do a yoga class or 10 minute mobility session   And since excel doesn't work, posting daily doesn't work, I'm going to try.... STICKERS! I love stickers lol. So I'll give myself a sticker for each thing, and then I'll post a pic at the end of the week of my calendar At least that's the plan - can always be adjusted. Maybe I'll buy some cute star wars stickers or something.... hmm....

Jon Firestar Superhero: It Begins! The best hero's aren't born heros, they train hard to become legends! I have 12 weeks until Tough Mudder so the real training begins now!! Let's do this!! It's time to put your head down and forge myself into the form I want it to be! Honestly, very little is changing. I'm kind of simplifying things this time round. Rather than have a lot of different goals I've found that I do better and feel less overwhelmed when I keep it simple. Eat Well: Don't eat like an asshole. Simply stick to my calorie goal. I've settled on about 2600-2700 calories at the moment. This is subject to change but the goal is simple. Stick to the calories, track and plan my food. Drink at least 2 liters of water per day. Cardio! Can't expect to be a badass if you can't chase down the supervillains!! The running program is simple: 3 days per week. Tuesday: easy run (approx 45-60 minutes), Thursday: Hill Repeats or tempo run (approx 30-45 minutes). This will alternate between the two. Saturday: Long Run (approx 60-120 minutes). I'll alternate my route each week to account for different terrain. I live in a very hilly part of the country and have gentle hills that roll upwards for miles. I feel like I can take advantage of these. I also have some very gorgeous terrain along the two rivers that join each other nearby. If I can range far enough (and that is the plan). I also have woodland to run through. So it should be interesting. The overall goal for the challenge is so slowly extend my milage but I understand that there is a practical limit to that while I am running 3 days per week. Be Strong! Lifting plan is three days per week. Monday: Squats and OHP, Wednesday: Deadlift and Friday: Bench. Stick to the days and stick to the program. Little is changing over the next four weeks although I will be adding dedicated grip work and some more functional body weight movements. Just to get used to hurling my body around. Get some sleep! The obligatory sleep goal. I'm still aiming for 9:45 bed, up at 5:45, 7 hours sleep. If I get even close to that I might try extending it. I've tried a bunch of different scoring methods but the one I liked was the health bar, because it is quick and easy to deal with. There are 98 possible points over the next 4 weeks, I want to be good 80% of the time. Which give a number near enough to 20 so I have a health bar of 20 points which will deplete as I miss my goals. If it hits zero I fail, so long as it remains above zero it is a success. I like this method because it really illustrates how a couple of bad days doesn't ruin everything. ------------------------------------ HP:=========20========= | ------------------------------------

Hey y'all! Delinquent on posting a challenge thread, but not on tracking a challenge (picked out goals day 1 of zero week, made a janky journal tracker, and...didn't update. This challenge week 4 happens to fall on the week of US Ballroom Dance nationals, where I'm competing, so I won't be ramping up fitness too much and instead focusing on training and eating like I need to for the big event. ...Decidedly not my pre-competition nutrition plan Here's the goals this time around: 1) Maintain successes from last challenge: Go to mass every week Do financial stuff every week (budget tracker, money shuffling, paying off all CC balances) - this is a bit extreme (paying cc's weekly) but has been the best approach to stave off daily money anxiety for me Lift 3x per week, Pilates 3x per week - I fell off the Pilates wagon towards the end, but I need it to counterbalance the spine stiffness / tightness that comes from my strength training Dance solo 3x per week - every weekend is with the partner, so this needs to be three nights in Mon - Thurs 2) Clean up my nutrition / eating: Follow a basic nutrition plan every day - this means eating veggies and lean proteins for every meal and not eating peanut butter straight from the jar, no matter how tasty it is No emotional eating (or getting emotional about what I just ate) - I have a pretty broken relationship with food - I eat to soothe emotions and also get really emotional when I feel like my eating is "out of control" - my goal is to recognize that neither of those behaviors is rational in the moment and substitute a more appropriate behavioral / emotional response (lofty ambition) This pair is really tough for me, there was a 5-day stretch already where I failed on both... 3) Self Care: Sleep 7+ hours every night Pray daily ...self-explanatory. 4) Step up my work game: Limit personal stuff to no more than 30 mins / day Make a to-do list daily and prioritize it to focus on the highest value stuff I've been less-than-stellar at work lately, although apparently still good enough to be an "associate of the month" for my department (apparently I'm good at faking it). I'm gunning for a promotion at the mid-year point, and these two are the first of many actionable steps to help me get there. 5) Educate myself Read "10-minute toughness" (short-ish book with practical steps for athletes and business people to be mentally tougher / more resilient) Go through the first course on Swirl to learn R (data analysis tool) Both of these support my work success, I'm expecting the first to also help in my dancing - mental / emotional toughness is a consistent weak point for me across both. I wanted to pepper more gifs in here, but I apparently hit the max total size with my first one. Still infinitely more than my last challenge, so progress? Image of bujo-style tracker coming soon - it's not very aesthetically pleasing, so don't get your hopes up @RedStone.

I missed the last challenge and learned a few important things about myself. - If i'm not writing it down, keeping a record and having other people see that record, i tend to make up excuses not to exercise :/ - My eating habits went out of the window last month; Nothing too bad but i didn't eat for weight gain, i ate just to get by. - I kept up with my protein shakes which was unexpected! - On a positive note, not exercising freed up so much time and i cleaned, uncluttered and sorted my house. My kitchen is super organized, i'm so proud. This challenge i have a few goals some exercise related and some life related. At the beginning of March i'm travelling to London to attend my graduation ceremony from the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine, i spent 5 years getting a masters degree and it'll be amazing to go and actually celebrate that. Life Goals: Go to the hairdresser before my trip, get my hair trimmed and neatened up. I need to look vaguely respectable when i go and not like i was dragged feet first through a hedge. Continue with my romanian lessons; i am on lesson 13 of the pimsluer course and lesson 5 of my reading and writing course. I think it's going quite well. So romanian work at least 4 times a week. Clean my garage if the weather allows. The rest of the house is clean but the garage is a state. Have a great time in London and try not to get to sassy with my brother when i see him. Exercise Goals: Lift at least twice a week. Stretch and warm up before hand. Yoga everyday. Bonus for attending hot yoga which is maybe the best thing in the whole world! I found a 30 day yoga challenge I can do at home, it's 20-30 minutes a day, I can use it as warm up on lifting days. Being cold and miserable because it's winter is not an excuse to huddle under a blanket. Work out! Put the heater on in the workout room and get on with it! Ride the horse if the weather allows and the horse allows (sometimes it's not worth risking my life with his friskiness).

Brutal Bears Tanks Diablo Intro: Keep Your Footing -Track meals/calories every day and stay on top of Rising Heroes Keep the Sword and Board Strong -Lift 3x a week and do PLP daily Battle Cry and Pull Aggro -Practice Language Every day and Keep up the Apollo Philosophy daily posts Dodge attacks -Run Twice a Week Keep Threat Up -Support your NF peeps, stay up on here, and try to find time to help on other peoples Reward: Armstrong's Family Tunic Begging Weight: 198.6 Pic:

For the current challenge I am getting back to the basics and battling one of my oldest enemies. Lift - 3 days per week. Make it a routine - make it important. Track - Record what I eat every day on the LoseIt! app, and stay under my allocated calories for the day. No Pop - This has been super hard for me - I have cut way back on pop over the past couple of years (and lost 60+ lbs to go with it). I don't buy it for my house anymore, but when I go out I have way too much. Over the course of this challenge I will have absolutely no pop. Game On - I have a lot of table top games (seriously, it's a problem) that I play all too infrequently. My goal for this challenge is to play some of my games at least 2 nights per week. I will also try to provide some recommendations as I go through some of my favorites.

Hey ya'll! First time on the challenges, long time lurker of these amazing forums. Just gotta say you all are super motivating and the way people encourage others to do cool stuff around here is really uplifting. Ok, enough of that, Its time for a challenge! In 4 weeks, I'd like to get some things DONE: I want to do 5 towel pullups. Done, and now I guess I can crush things with my super hands. I thought I was decent at pullups, but I like, can't hold onto a towel. I want to get strong and do that. I will fast til noon every weekday. When I eat, the real hunger starts, and the floodgates open. Lets keep busy and focus on food for later in the day, yeah? I want to run 5k. Not a 5k mind you. 5k distance. This is mostly contingent on my leg fully healing, as I'm still feeling the aftereffects of overuse from last fall. I want to run again. I will finish at least two books. Easy and done. Moved on to more. Fahrenheit 451 anyone? I've got a stack of books by my bed, and they need to be devoured. Between the bus and bedtime, I am going to crush this. I will talk to my boss about the future. Done, and now the future is less murky, yay! I have a contract job. That contract will end this year. I am scared of the future, and of talking to my boss. I have to get strong and talk about the future. I'm going to deadlift 315. Done, now to do it again with even better form. I've been chasing this for years, stymied by leg injuries and poor form. I'm going to get there in 4 weeks . I will finish my 3d environment. I fancy myself an artist, or at least, my art school degree tells me I am. I still do some 3d art on the side, and I've been noodling on an environment piece. I'm going to finish it in 4 weeks and its going to look awesome. I got a bullet journal and aim to plan out every week and be all productive and stuff. Its gonna be great. Heres to progress! Go forth and reap the gains.

For this challenge, I'm just modifying what I've been doing so that it works a little better for my life. Last time around, I did pretty well, with a paleo-oriented eating plan, and a pretty strong weights and cardio routine. This time, I'm taking the other responsibilities and activities into my life and hoping to work with them to find good balance. 1. Determine the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow! Every week, I've got aerial class twice a week. This includes low-flying trapeze (YAY!) and fabric (um, yeah, whatever). So that's two hours or more of aerial core and strength work, plus warmups and cooldowns. To make the grade, I'll go to both classes, work my transitions really slowly, and for bonus points, head to the open gym at the aerial studio once a week. 2. Continue to Seek the Holy Grail! This is all about diet. I had a very successful five weeks on paleo, and have continued into week zero. But starting week one, I want to expand my options just a tiny bit. Two times a week, I can have whole grain oatmeal or cornmeal mush. No instant anything: I'm talking either rolled oats or steel cut oats, and a little maple syrup. If this doesn't "sit" well in my stomach or triggers GERD, then back off it right away. Also, I'm allowed one extra non-paleo breakfast, lunch, or dinner a week. If it causes GERD, I have to write it down and avoid it. Previous things that caused GERD included: a store-bought slice of pizza, a buttery croissant (mmmm so delicious but sooo very painful). I'll have more things on the list. 3. Ride the length and breadth of our lands This is to make sure I'm saving the planet and getting healthier at the same time. Any day when it's 40F or warmer out at 6:30, and the forecast doesn't include precipitation or wind speeds over 25 MPH, I'll be riding to work. Oh, also, unless I have to pick my son up from school and take him to Karate. There's just not enough time for all that... I know, that's totally a fair-weather plan, but it's fine by me. 4. Say "NI" again! Finally, I'll continue with my PT. It'll be part of my workouts this time, and will need to be done 4 times a week. I'm a lot healthier, and am feeling stronger all the time. Because of this, I've been slacking off on my PT. While I don't think I need to do easy PT 6 times a week, I think I need to keep doing the harder stuff (weighted lunges etc). So four times a week it is. There are some caveats: If I'm traveling, I get a pass on the paleo diet. It's just too hard and/or expensive to always find what I need. I'll still eat healthfully, I just won't be such a draconian caveman about it. Same goes for ski days etc... if we're skiing, it counts as exercise because really, 4-6 hours of doing lunges down a mountain is a LOT of work. So that's it!

Today's slice: Walk 10 min to gym Warmup - walk 5 minutes 2 Rounds of: 10 bodyweight squats 10 push-ups 10 situps Cooldown - walk 5 minutes Walk 10 min back to work It aint much, but it's a start... I have officially gone from couch to standing

There’s a lot of things I’d like to do in 2017. Some of which I think the support of the NF community can help me with Losing some weight (enter nutrition and cardio), keeping on lifting heavy, and getting better at yoga just to name a few that will be the focus of this challenge. also, I’m on season 4 of Alias so. Goal 1. Nutrition Make at least one fun recipe each weekend. this should help me get back to the habit of cooking on the weekends. i love going out to a good restaurant and cook/prep my meals monday-friday but the weekend hits and all i want is GF pizza or pho or brunch. Pack more snacks to work and eat before any work goodies. if i make a conscious effort to eat all of my packed snacks before diving into the candy jar or whatever daily goodies work has provided that day, then maybe i'll be full enough to say no. Goal 2. Cardio 10 cardio sessions. 2-3/week. running, zumba, hiit, whatevs. Goal 3. Weights 12 weight-lifting sessions, 3/week. keep doing what i love. Goal 4. Yoga At least 60 minutes/week. will be counting foam rolling and mobility exercises towards this. i easily got in more than 10m/day last challenge so i shouldn't have a problem with this. there's a complete and utter lack of good Flinkman gifs. sad nerd is SAD.

I'll write one... Edit: I wrote one!

Time for bed, deets tomorrow Mmk, technically bedtime now but I should do this to so... Last challenge: didn't take holidays into account, didn't end up tracking food at all due to not making my food for probably half the challenge cause I was home, continued sleeping not-enough, etc. etc. So, time to try and do the things that I've been trying to do for ages? Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 47.5 | STA - 41.75 | CON - 72 | WIS - 41.5 | CHA - 44.5 Weight Waist Belly Hips Thigh Body Fat Goals Cardio I have a 5k coming up in a couple months, so that and rugby starting up again are my cardio motivation. I should do a "long" (5k-ish) run once a week, and intervals once a week. Sleep This is the big one. Bedtime is 10:30, gotta figure out how to meet it. Mobility Gotta do this 5/7 days a week to keep my body happy Food Food prep + IIFYM are gonna be the order of the day here. Aiming for 5/7 days of IIFYM. Mini Challenge Week 1: You Must Gather More Resources Before we can begin rebuilding the Guild Hall, we need something to build it with. So for week 1 we will be quarrying stone, chopping down trees, and gathering dirt for mortar. This will be represented by several activities from which you can choose. Wood Choppers will represent cutting down trees and milling them. Kettlebell Swings will represent mining for stone. Shovelglove workouts will represent gathering supplies for mortar. We will track it by multiplying reps times weight. It would get to technical trying to keep the three separate, so any of the three, in any combination, counts toward the goal. Keep track of how many reps you do at each weight, and post your totals in the mini-challenge tracking spreadsheet. Week 2: Return To Base We have gathered all the supplies we need to re build the guild hall. Now we need to get them to the construction site. This weeks feat is a distance feat. We need to log 220 miles as a guild to get all the wood, stone and mortar supplies to the fort so we can use them. The barkeep is getting positively giddy with anticipation. Apparently the rubble we cleared from the old hall was organized in our absence, which means the new hall will be even bigger and more impressive than the last. Any mileage counts, whether its real world stuff or on some sort of cardio machine, just log your miles on the tracking spreadsheet. Count anything from 12:01 am Sunday morning your time to 11:59pm Saturday night your time. Week 3: Construction Commencing We have gathered all the supplies we need to rebuild the hall and transported them to the construction site. Let's build this thing! To represent moving the supplies into position, shaping them, and actually assembling them, we will work with over the head weighted exercises. By that I mean anything that involves moving something weighted over your head. That could be any of the Olympic lifts or their variants, over head press, push press, thrusters, squat thrusters, squat press, Turkish Get Ups, any of it. Again, multiply weight times reps to get yours score and post it on the tracking spreadsheet. We need 50000 lbs to finish. Week 4: Putting The Tent Away Well done everyone, we've got the project done on time and under budget. The only thing that remains is to give the guild tent a thorough cleaning before folding it up and putting it away one last time. That's right, it's time to do your Domestic Rangering feat. When you finish, put a 1 in the week 4 column by your name in the tracking spreadsheet. At least twenty of us need to get our feats done to get the tent cleaned and fully packed into the cart. To Do List 2017 Roadmap Mitts for Dad Kitchen Organize cupboards Work on Imagining Other Earths on Coursera Shrink sweater sleeves Stretch NY shirt Rugby team website/image gallery/design Account/password list Finish white skirt Drawing Change address Tidy Closet - started Grey drawers - started Bed drawers - started Clean green purse Get watch button fixed Living Room TV out Magazines - working through the stack Tray on coffee table (actually a trunk) Mending (socks + leggings) Send @Wild Wolf that prehab stuff (I promise I didn't forget - I scanned the stuff I had and then realized that it's not super helpful without visuals so I have to find videos/pictures to go along with it) The Road So Far Week 1: Cardio 1/2 Sleep 0/7 Mobility 4/5 Food 4/5 Week 2: Cardio 2/2 Sleep 1/7 Mobility 5/5 Food 5/5 Week 3: Cardio 2/2 Sleep 0/7 Mobility 3/5 Food 5/5 Week 4 Cardio 2/2 Sleep 0/7 Mobility 5/5 Food 5/5

December was a pretty good month for me. I think I've established the gym habit and I'm ready to increase on it this month. January is the calm before the storm. Rugby practice starts back up in February with matches happening March and April. I've got 2 airport jobs this spring. Airports are always more difficult than they really need to be. I'm also working on setting up a rugby tournament for the summer. I haven't fully committed to this happening but I have some more preliminary work to do so I can decide whether to jump into it or not. This month, I really have to get my food and fitness ramped up. After January I will be pulled in a ton of directions so if I don't have the habits pretty solid, I will struggle. Goal 1) Gym 3 times per week. Both lifting and bjj count towards the 3. *I changed this from 4 to 3 for realism. I got 2 per week in December, why jump so much and make it harder to succeed? I need success more than I need lofty goals* Goal 2) Rehab. I have a big case of gluteal amnesia that I'm working on with a trainer. I've already made progress but I'm not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing at home. I've got some pretty simple exercises that I'm supposed to do 3 days a week. Goal 3) Food. I just have to do it. I'm committing to primal. It's hard for me to commit because I know I'm going to struggle and be somewhat less than perfect. My wife lives on grains alone (not really but so close to really) so I know it's going to be difficult/impossible for me to do this perfectly. But if I shoot for perfect and land at 60% I'm still so far ahead of where I am now. If I don't try then I'll never know what adjustments I can make for success. Goal 4) Mornings. I suck at mornings. My goal is to be at work by 8 am each day. Eventually I want it to be 7 but that's too much of a change in one go since I'm also adding a primal goal which will require breakfast at home and a packed lunch most days. The only way I'm going to succeed at mornings is to leave all the guesswork out of it. Each night before bed I will lay out my work clothes, make sure my gym bag is ready if it's gym day and have food prepped as much as possible for the next day. My life is pretty chaotic and I'm tired of it. Tired of quitting, tired of chaos and tired of being fat. That's sort of the motto that got me through December so I hope it will carry me forward in january.

Jon Firestar, Superhero Part 1: Secret Origins I’ve said previously that the uber state is to look and perform like a superhero. Well unless you happen to be born Superman the only way to reach that state is through hard work and discipline! Every superhero has a their secret origin story. The tale of how they became so awesome. This is the start of my own road to awesomeness Discipline I need to continue to lose weight, and change my body composition. I need to keep giving my body the things it needs during this time so that I can maintain the physical stresses I am asking myself to endure. Food Plan and log: Continue to use MFP to plan and log all food every day. Stick to my calorie and macro targets. Water: At least 2 liters of water per day Time to contemplate and relax 5 minutes of contemplation per day. Super Strength I am not Superman but I am strong and I can be much stronger! My current program has me hitting the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The days rotate through the four main lifts, Bench, Deadlift, Squat and OHP, so all four takes more than a single week. The challenge is to hit the gym at 6:30 am before work three days per week for the 5 weeks. Super Speed I am driven to run! I really want to do OCRs and one of the things these involve is a lot of running. For the first time in my life I’ve started to enjoy running. I want to pick up speed and I want to run further. My program has me running 3 days per week with an easy day on Tuesday, a tempo/speed run Thursday and a long run on Saturday. These need to be done at 6am before I leave for work. I can wait for daylight on Saturday . The program is built around slowly and steadily building my milage. I’ve signed up to a little 5k run at the end of February. Not a race, just a run I’m hoping to hit my sub 30 min 5k on that run although I’ll know closer to the time if I’m ready for that. It’ll be a bit of a practice for my first OCR a couple of weeks later Tech Genius Some hero's aren't born with power and must use technology to enhance their natural gifts! I work in IT as an infrastructure and network engineer, senior support dude, occasional devops and general point of call for confused support desk guys, oh and somehow, some when deputy manager (wtf). I’m very good at my job although I am a bit of a generalist (RangerBrain!). I could be better. I work in an industry with an infinite level of depth and I’ve managed to find a niche that I really enjoy and would like to focus on advancing my knowledge in that direction. I have my network exam coming up in February. The exam is not very high level and it’s not the course I want to do. I want to do the next one but I can only get the next cert if I have this one. I already know 90% of the stuff I’m studying and while I do think it's good to know the basics and to study and brush up on the basics it is a little boring. I need to buckle down some more and commit to 20 minutes of reading a day or one instructional video plus 30-60 minutes on the weekend to do some labs. On Saturday I can play video games only after study Sunday is my day off. Secret Lair Every superhero needs their secret lair. I call mine ‘my house’! Domestic rangering at it’s finest! One of my more nebulous goals for 2017 is to be more time efficient. This means keeping on top of the domestic rangering so that it doesn’t overwhelm. Therefore, the todo list makes a trumphant return! Fill Dishwasher, remember to hit play. You do need to empty it before filling, daily Make Bed, daily, change bedding on the weekend Clean Kitchen, 4x times per week after big cooking day. Mop Floors, 1x time per week. Clean Bathroom, 1x time per week Clean Living Room, 1x time per week Clean one other room, 2x times per week. Do Laundry: 3x times per week, wash fold put away. If it ain’t in the closet it doesn’t count. Prep Lunch: 1x time per week Prep Breakfast: 1x time per week Even Batman Needs Sleep Because it is still broken, I’m still working on my sleep goal. I want to work up to going to bed at 9pm but for now I’m going to settle with getting into bed before 10 for at least 7 hours sleep. Will be graded on in bed and lights out rather than quality of sleep because I suck at sleep.

I'M BAAAAAAAAACKKKKKKKKK! As you may have noticed I was totally MIA for December because life was NUTS and then I was sick and also I wanted to hermit to get some downtime from life being nuts. OOF. BUT DECEMBER IS OVER MY FRIENDS!!!!! I took my December hibernation break to give a long hard think to what I wanted to work on for the coming year. And my conclusion is HEY WHAT ABOUT ALL THIS OTHER STUFF YOU WANTED TO DO before you got TOO BUSY with all the dance shows and more dance shows and more dance shows. Like, all your OTHER goals? Yeah THOSE! DO THOSE YO. Some examples: 1. Wanted to work towards doing a Spartan Trifecta. Had to eliminate running to save all leg muscle impact for dance. 2. Wanted to be able to do a pull up. Had to stop doing aerial because I couldn't fit it in with my dance schedule or lifting schedule. Stopped any work on hanging stuff along with the aerial. 3. Stopped lifting for 2 months because my rehearsal schedule got too hectic and the human body can only do so much exercise. 4. Stopped doing aerial for 6+ months because of rehearsal schedule. 5. Stopped doing most bodyweight workout stuff including push ups and squats and crazy core workouts because of rehearsal schedule. So basically I was doing gnarly amounts of exercise, BUT NOT THESE THINGS. And I MISSSSS THESE THINGS. I decided to skip the winter show because I need a break to do these things AND I also just need a damn break from having rehearsals. Burn out is bad. We must avoid burn out! Anywho!! Without further ado: !!!!GOALS FOR THIS CHALLENGE!!!! GOAL 1 - AERIAL Aerial at least 1 x per week (long term goal: get back to intermediate level aerialist so I can get to doing creative stuff) GOAL 2 - Bodyweight Training Bodyweight workouts at least 2 x per week and must include pull up progression work/hanging (long term goals: be able to do unassisted pull up, be able to do 30 push ups in a row & long long term be able to do handstand push up) GOAL 3 - Running Run at least 1 x per week -- this will be slow and run/walk for starters! (long term goal: be able to run half marathon distance so I can do longest Spartan length) GOAL 4 - Lifting Lift at least 1x per week (Long term goal: Awesomeness? I would like to be able to bench and squat my own weight on the bar for starters!) LIFE GOALS - Lipstick! Wear at least 1x per week to work. Bonus point if you find that special straw you bought so you can wear lipstick and be able to drink things without it fading and BRING IT TO WORK. Declutter! Continue massive room overhaul project. I can't decide how I am going to set parameters on this. Let's say must spend at least 30 minutes a week on room decluttering. (I usually will keep going as long as I can get myself started so likely will do more than 30 min/week!)

ARGH I lost my yarn stash last challenge, and I had to do street theatre in a crop top the one before that, because I am lazy and had to do my Idiot Jar forfeits. I am perfectly capable of sticking to my usual goals for prolonged periods, as I have consistently proved when I am not being LAZY. Grumble. Goal 1: 1600kcal/day 5 Freggies/day 2 litres water/day Prep at least one batch of meals every weekend. Goal 2: Gym 4 times a week. Pick up a bloody barbell this challenge, are you a warrior or aren't you? (Extra 200kcal of protein shake permitted immediately after each lifting session.) Goal 3: Work on handstands, balance, and the splits, as per previous challenge, but with some actual regularity. (i.e. after lifting sessions.) Tracking: Post daily in thread. DAILY. (Can skip weekends.) Detail Goal 1 progress, and what I did during lifting and gymnastics sessions. You can have a link to an interesting polar thing with every update this challenge. Every time I miss one bullet point in my goals, £1 goes in the Idiot Jar. When the Idiot Jar reaches £5, it's forfeit time. Except it's not, because I AM NOT GOING TO FAIL. FORFEIT: Big guns. I am not losing this forfeit. I am not losing this forfeit. I am not losing this forfeit. *Spend the first week of January sticking to a raw vegan diet.*

2016 was an adventure for many of us, taking us down paths doused in sunlight and good times as well as those dark and twisted, full of brambles. This year will be like the last, but not the same, as it is a new set of successes and challenges. The best we can do is step up to the plate ready to swing hard and aim true. I want to continue to be undeterred in pursuit of my goals in the face of the unknown and help others continue to chase theirs as well. Finding balance against the currents of so many things pulling you in all sorts of direction can be hard, so let's not focus on balance alone, but instead turn competing forces into complementing ones -- finding symmetry! 1. Opening for Closing *Standing split work 2x per week *Yoga balancing 2x per week My life already involves a lot of closing of joints, of hips, of creases, of legs. I want to emphasize the opening to counteract that. Ideally, I'll even find some symmetry in some of these poses. 2. Unilateral Work for Bilateral Strength *Single leg strength work accessories with each lifting workout My right side is stronger than my left side and I have other quad/hip/glute imbalances that will ALL benefit from more unilateral work. My practice of just adding on an extra piece to my workouts when I want to focus on something specific continues here. 3. Input for Output *Cook proper dinner 3x per week *Try 3 new recipes over the challenge -- real recipes, not just vague mashed together concepts I've achieved a lot with my output -- my workouts are going wonderfully, I'm exploring new movements, and training is great. My input, my fuel, has lagged behind my output. While most of it was just because of being busy, I'm going to rededicate myself to more wholesome food and more cooking. Getting home tired and hungry from the gym has put me on the path of cheese + crackers + ice cream for dinner too many times. While that is an okay practice, it isn't ideal when it comes to helping me effectively hit the nutrients my body needs. A 1-scoop protein shake, a piece of fruit, or some veg is totally fine to help tide myself over while cooking dinner, but I want to try not to go HAM on snacks while cooking so I'll be hungry enough to eat the dinners I make! I've also not looked through my cookbooks in some time and want to explore new recipes to bring back some of the fun of cooking. 4. Responsibility for Leisure Take on the tasks below: There are a lot of things on this list that I've been working on/meaning to do for a long time, but I let pursuits like my fitness hobbies and media consumption get in the way. I need to give more respect to the other tasks in my life as well and I've seen the challenge list method work well for others.

I've just completed my 2017 road map, and my main focus for this year fitness wise is going to be running some OCRs. This means I'm going to have to do a whole variety of training, but as the first one won't be until April that gives me this challenge to focus purely on strength. And as I'm focusing on strength I though what better place to be than over with the warriors for a challenge to see what I can learn from you lovely people. I've been working through Starting Strength since the beginning of November and I'm starting to struggle with some of the lifts, so this will also be an opportunity to find out if there any form issues that are holding me back, or whether it's going to be time to move on the an intermediate program. To goals! Eat - 15XP What? Eat the right things as much as possible, and limit the bad stuff Why? In order to lift strong I need to eat strong, and eat right. How? i. Pack breakfasts for work at least 4/5 days per week. ii. Pack lunches for work at least 4/5 days per week. iii. No buying nonsense at all this challenge. I have enough rubbish left over from Christmas in my house without buying anything on top of that. Nonsense is the food I know is just silly - chocolate, cake, crisps etc. Sleep - 10XP What? Set myself up to get a decent amount of sleep. Why? Because my body needs recovery time to get stronger, and because I aim to workout early in the morning before work, meaning I have to get up on time. How? i. In bed every day by 10:30pm, or within 45 minutes of getting home, whichever later. ii. No caffeine after 4pm on any day. Lift - 15XP What? Keep lifting! Why? Because that's the whole focus of the challenge! Also, it's fun! How? Lift 3x per week following Starting Strength, no exceptions! This should be at the expense of all other exercise - if I have to miss a workout it can be anything else but not this. Like It - 10XP What? Keep a positive attitude to lift by keeping track of the things you're thankful for. Why? Because I want to be a happy, positive person, and I hope this will keep me on track for that. How? Record one positive statement in my bullet journal every day, and share them on here unless they're really personal. So that's a wrap! Looking forward to kicking off on this tomorrow, and on looking through everyone else's threads!

Tearing down my challenge to the basics, plus two adulting goals. Lift 4x per week, do the program Average 10k steps a day Do rolling/stretching 10 min 6+ days a week Eat 95g+ protein 6+ days a week Eat 1450-1600 calories on average per week Get my old retirement plans from old jobs rolled over JUST DO IT Study a little every day Ungraded but tracked: Fat & Saturated Fat I seem to feel best between 38 & 60g of fat total The aim is for 22g or less of saturated fat (but I really aim for the 15g mark) THAT IS IT. (Ok maybe this is more than one job, but I based that on the singular focus on that retirement rollover that I hate vehemently and keep putting off NO MORE. no more. If there's anything that will disappoint me at the end of this, it will be not having done this or at least tried my very best. It sounds so stupid, but my aversion to frustrating phone calls about accounts is SKY high, plus something about this just seriously has me crying on the phone I do not understand why it's so hard for me.) Creative dropped off because I really gotta get the exam done hopefully before March, but I hope to squeeze it in sometimes anyway. Grading template: Week #: 0/4, 0/1, 0/6, 0/6, 0/1, 0/1, 0/7