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**Warning: There will be an excessive amount of quotations, parenthesis and ALL CAPS throughout this message** It's no secret. My last two challenges have sucked butt. I have the time to hop on NF, update, and check in with folks, I just don't. This doesn't have anything to do with mood. Depression. Or being to busy, it's just, that I make time for other things. Mostly "non-important" things. My gym has been open since the beginning of June, and, this has been a VERY good thing. I was getting SUPER bored at home with my push-up/pull-up routine. And the funny thing... is I actually saw some really good strength gains from doing it. My bench press numbers leaped significantly since being back in the gym. My weighted pull-up jumped as well. Overall, I'm maintaining a healthy weight (sitting around 195-198 on a given day) and feeling all around "pretty damn good". So what's the issue here? Me. I am my own worst enemy and my greatest ally. Last Saturday, the 6th, I strained my back at Jamison's bday party and ended up having to go get a steroid pack and muscle relaxers. It was THAT bad. And it all happened on the silliest of things. I had been running around all day: dancing, having a fun water balloon fight and doing my normal, "wild" stuff. Granted, I was drinking whiskey and coke most of the day, so I was slightly dehydrated, but I was chasing Racer around, my oldest son, and being a goofball. I sat down on the couch and stood up really quick and that's when the "pull" happened. Instantly, I was like, "EFF THIS!" because I knew it was bad. I even said something to my dad on the lines of "I think I just fuckin pulled my back doing that." I laid down for a bit to let the intensity of things settled and tried to do some light stretching but I was pretty incapacitated. So, I told Heather that I probably needed to go to a Care-Now or something and get a steroid shot. 2 hours later and making a last ditch effort to get to Walmart before their pharmacy closed, I got a steroid pack and some muscle relaxers. The next week was slightly rough. I had to take 3-days off from Costco, I barely worked my day job (which I'm still working from home) and just tried to continually stretch throughout the day as well as take my meds. My closer friends on here probably no my stance on marajuana. I don't see it as a bad thing. I used to be a pot head...BIG TIME. But, since Trixie was born, I've been clean nearly 15-months. The muscle relaxers knocked me on my ass and I found myself wanting more of them because I was essentially getting high off them. The steroid pack made me SUPER irritable and short tempered. I found myself wanting to be done with those ASAP. I'm glad I'm finished up with both of them, tbh, cuz I can have an addicted personality and I don't want or need that stuff in my life. Sunday, yesterday, was the first day I was off light duty since hurting my back and I felt really good. I asked to be put on carts because the day was absolutely beautiful and lo and behold, it was a BUSY day when it came to heavy purchases. Couches, tool cases, 300lb grills seemed to be in rotation. I was initially shying away from the lifting because the last thing I wanted was to reset my injury. I started small, and before I knew it, I was lifting all the things (with help of course) from my co-workers. Yesterday was a really good day. I felt like myself for the first time in a while and it felt amazing. 2020 has been.....less than stellar for the most part. The only thing good coming from all the Covid-19 stuff is I could potentially be working from home with my day-job indefinitely, which would be AWESOME! And I want to try a different approach to training. I wanted to sweat. I wanted to be challenged. And, I wanted to build a lot of muscle and hit a goal I've been shooting for for as long as I can remember. I wanna be 200+ pounds, and I want to be shredded. I'm talking, 6% BF shredded with veins-on-my-lower-abdomen-type-shredded. I've been there before....but I was smaller. MAYBE 180-183 pounds. 2020 is halfway done already, which blows my mind. So, there's roughly six months left of the year. Come Christmas of this year, I WILL be 200+ pounds. And I WILL be close to that 6% BF goal. But.... let's start with the small goals, first. I have a tendency to get WAY ahead of myself. Small Goal #1: Consistency It's been quite the bitch to grasp each and every day. Week in and week out. Month in and month out. This all boils down to mindset and "how bad do I really want this?". The answer is: pretty damn bad. The low BF is gonna boil down to clean eating. There's just 10000% NO WAY I can get low BF without eating clean. Life isn't that fair, lol. The extra 5-7# of muscle I want to gain and maintain boils down to the right exercise program coupled with the right amount of calories. I know this. I've studied it. I've lived it....but half assed it. I'm starting a new 6-week program that started TODAY. Dear Lord, please keep me healthy and let me keep up the protocol! Small Goal #2: Better Dental Hygiene I see people have this goal, like @Jarric and @Yasha92 and think, "That's a great goal. I should add that." But I never do. I get lazy with my dental hygiene and think I'll be ok, but this is the only set of teeth I'll get and I'll be damned if I let them rot away because "accidentally" forget to brush my teeth. OR Floss. Flossing is CRAZY important! NO! Not that kind of flossing! Muuuuuuch better. 2x daily for brushing and flossing! Bonus points for dancing at the same time. Small Goal #3: Make time for the IMPORTANT things I'm a gamer. But here recently I've become a GAMER. Like, I actually make time for it by staying up late, or using my lunch hour or, hell, even just "hey, I'm feeling like playing CoD at 10:47 AM" type of deal. This isn't neccessarily a bad thing...except I wear a lot of hats in my house. I'm Dad. I'm baby (or babe, or sexy beast, or handsome fuck depending on the day). I'm also provider. I'm chef. I'm workaholic (and not by choice but by necessity). These are the things that are important. Being there for my kids and being PRESENT is what matters. Making sure my wife knows I love her and care for her is what's important. Gaming days will be limited to no more than 4x a week. The only exception is if the wolfpack is gone for the day and I'm not shirking my responsibilities. Small Goal #4: Checking-In NF is a valuable part of my life. The friends I've made and progress I've achieved has been world changing for me and I want to give back more than I take. But we all know this isn't the "wolf thing" to do. Ok, maybe not strippers and cocaine. Sorry @Mr_Willes... The goal is to update at least once a week and check in with 5 others 2-3x a week. This is my "challenge". The goals are set. Mindset and discipline meters engaged. Hype thrusters set to MAXIMUM EFFORT...let's do this! Wolf