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Alright, THis is not my first attempt at a 6-week Challenge, though I dearly hope that this one goes much better than my last attempt. A brief bio: I'm a 27 y/o male Marine stationed in Parris Island. I'm 6'3" and 220-230 lbs depending on the day. I've been in the Corps for 8+ years, and have only in the past 3ish years really begun to take my fitness into my own hands. I've competed in 3 triathlons, including a 1st in age group, and a 2nd in Clydesdale. My life has been really crushing me as of late, with hobbies (Triathlons, Magic the Gathering, Bowling, Auto Racing, Gaming), Parenting (2 y/o daughter and 4 m/o son), School (jut finished my A.A. in Communications, starting my B.S. in Mathematics), and a busy work schedule. I need to crack down and schedule my life better, and really commit more time to my family. My first challenge will likely simply be challenging myself to meet my schedule requirements, and clearing up some of my hobbies. I identify as a ranger mostly because I'm a "heavy" lifting triathlete, not so much of a crossfit-er. Anyway, on to the Challenge: Main Quest: Strength: 5x5 workout 3x a week. I really enjoy doing the 5x5, and it's the most lifting I've ever done in my life. Currently I am making it 1-2 times a week, not because of any schedule conflist, simply because of sleeping in too much. >.< A: 3 Workouts C+: 2 Workouts D-: 1 Workout F: 0 Workouts Tri Training: 3x Bike 60min+ 3x Run 20min+ 2x Swim 30min+ I have begun commuting to work by bike, so I intend on using that 3x a week to get my bike time in. Running can be done anywhere, and Im lucky enough to have a big pool next door to my shop on base to kick out training during lunch. A: 8 Workouts B: 6-7 Workouts C: 4-5 Workouts D: 2-3 Workouts F: 0-1 Workouts Paleo: Mon-Fri strictish paleo Strict paleo is expensive, so my goal is to eat meat, veggies, sweet potatoes, water, and coffee during the week, while limiting milk to coffee and my protein shakes in the evening/breakfast. (Milk, yogurt, fruit, spices, chia seeds) Also, of course, garbage overprocessed food is out as well. A: 5 Days B: 4 C: 3 D: 2 F: 0-1 Life Goal: There's a bunch, and unfortunately I really really need to be doing all of them >.< I'm going to cut it down to 2 hours of family time, 2 hours of studying, and 6 hours of sleep every day. I'm currently getting about none of these things, so I know this is a little ambitious... These may change a little during the next couple weeks. There it is. I'm looking forward to heckling, err, interacting with all of you, and I promise I'm more fun than this post conveys. I'm just more interested in being held accountable right now... Thank you all!! Semper Fidelis, Tom

Alright! Let's do this! My ultimate goal is to sign up for the Marines THIS year. And I'm hoping to do that on my birthday, or if anything, get really close to the weight goal I'll be using Sgt. Melgoza's 300pft workout program to get me there. You can check out his blog here By 8 weeks I should be ripped, and ready to roll! It's very simple to follow, only train 3x a week, keep a record, eat 90/10 Paleo, and have a free day to eat what I want. I've already signed my pledge to stay committed to the program and not quit Goal 1: Complete the 300 pft program 100%. A: 100% B: 90% C: 80% F: 70% Goal 2: Write in my journal everyday. A: 7/7 B: 6/7 C: 5/7 F: 4/7 Goal 3: Take at least an hour a day to just draw. A: 7/7 B: 6/7 C: 5/7 F: 4/7 Goal 4: During rest days, no TV, computer, or video games until 7p.m. A: Nothing till 7 completed! B: 1 slip up. C: 2 slip ups. F: Electronics have my soul!! Life Goal: Join the Marines by my birthday! I've come a long way, and I'm ready to finish my journey Before:

Looking for other military nerds who can help each other keep in check. I'm an active duty Marine, so I believe in once and always, so it doesn't matter to me if you're a Poolee, Recruit, Active, Reserve, Retired, Spouse, Brat, whatever. This will give us a venue to complain about how our Unit's PT just isn't quite cutting it for us, how the 1st Sgt still has his head up his butt, and talk royal smack to each other for falling off our goals. I'll start even if there's no interest: Active Duty Marine Sergeant, been in for about 7 1/2 years. Currently stationed at Parris Island (no, not as a Drill Instructor, though I do have a story about that). Radio Technician, Deployed to Camp Fallujah 07-08. Have spent the past 7 1/2 years convincing my fellow Marines that you can be a nerd and a Marine, and be enthusiastic and efficient in both. PFT - 245-ish - 21:00 3-mile, 13 Pull-ups, 100 Crunches CFT - 298 - 2:55 1/2 Mile, 100+ Ammo Can Press, 2:02 MUF Eligible for promotion this year, and considering the draw down and the fact that I weigh in AT my max weight every time, I figure nows a good time to step up my PT and health game. Links for my 6-Week Challenge and other stuff are in my signature. A little food for thought (NSFW): Here's the List: CommMarine - Ranger Draken273 - Ranger Kalmar - Ranger dr3wcifer - Ranger Gllarso - Ranger I notice a class trend >.< Semper Fidelis

Looking for other military nerds who can help each other keep in check. I'm an active duty Marine, so I believe in once and always, so it doesn't matter to me if you're a Poolee, Recruit, Active, Reserve, Retired, Spouse, Brat, whatever. This will give us a venue to complain about how our Unit's PT just isn't quite cutting it for us, how the 1st Sgt still has his head up his butt, and talk royal smack to each other for falling off our goals. I'll start even if there's no interest: Active Duty Marine Sergeant, been in for about 7 1/2 years. Currently stationed at Parris Island (no, not as a Drill Instructor, though I do have a story about that). Radio Technician, Deployed to Camp Fallujah 07-08. Have spent the past 7 1/2 years convincing my fellow Marines that you can be a nerd and a Marine, and be enthusiastic and efficient in both. PFT - 245-ish - 21:00 3-mile, 13 Pull-ups, 100 Crunches CFT - 298 - 2:55 1/2 Mile, 100+ Ammo Can Press, 2:02 MUF Eligible for promotion this year, and considering the draw down and the fact that I weigh in AT my max weight every time, I figure nows a good time to step up my PT and health game. Links for my 6-Week Challenge and other stuff are in my signature. Here's the List: CommMarine - Ranger Draken273 - Ranger Kalmar - Ranger dr3wcifer - Ranger Gllarso - Ranger I notice a class trend >.< This is the second 6WC I've brought this group up in, looking forward to seeing everyones input here Semper Fidelis

My first 6-Week Challenge!! WOO!!1! Let's get right into the weeds. Triathlon Training 6/Week – 4 STA, 1 DEX I have laid out a triathlon training plan for the next few months before the On On Tri on Hilton Head in October. I've already done a Sprint Tri with no training (DO NOT RECOMMEND), so I want/need to be ready for this one so I'm actually competitive. This involves running, biking, and/or swimming once or twice a day depending on the schedule. It may or may not have been shamelessly stolen from beginnertriathlete.com >.< http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=46 https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=a48bcm4eoiklm1f8tpcrbakvi0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York Now, there is a time management challenge hidden in there as well. There's plenty of time to get the run and bike in during my lunch break, just gotta pull my head outta my butt and do it. On top of that, my only window for the swimming is during lunch, so I absolutely need to make it there on swim days. The training happens 6 days a week, so I'll hafta get my butt up and out the house on Sundays, oh boy... Weight Training 3/Week – 4 STR This one is SMART, but vague... Strength training is Greek to me, and I'm still doing research, so the goal here is simply me going to gym 3/week for at least 30 minutes each time. The exact plan will be made over the course of the challenge, but I need to get there and pick things up and put them down. Free weights only, no machines. Simple (to say atleast >.<) Eat Paleo 5/7 Days a Week – 4 CON Weekend splurges. That's it. I've been doing pretty good right now transitioning with that standard, now I want to be completely committed to 5/7. This is with limited dairy and liquor being ok during the week (Think a yogurt/smoothie, and a glass or two of scotch/whiskey/wine a day) Also, financially I cannot afford grass-fed-free-range-smog-free everything, but I can still do meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, and sweet potatoes. Mmmm, sweet potatoes. Dine Out 1/Week – 2 WIS I'm allowed to pay for food prepared for me once a week. Period. I work at a bar on the weekend, and I can usually get some free food there, so I will not count that (Don't worry, fancier bar, sweet potato fries, mmmmm, sweet potatoes). The goal here is to cut down the financial burden of eating out. I'm losing out on saving up for some of my life goals because of my eating out habit, which would be fine except for that whole father-of-a-1-year-old thing. I want to be an example of sensible spending and health for my daughter. And I want a race car one day dammit. So, final stat increase will be: 4 STR, 1 DEX, 4 STA, 4 CON, 2 WIS, 0 CHA = 15 Points! I also want to take the time to make my house what I want it to be. Which means organized and decorated. Cleaning up my garage and office will be my free time endeavors. Lucky Me! I have a broken 87 Mazda RX-7 that has been sitting in my garage so long that it's turned into a shelf. Bad car geek. I would like to have an environment where I can comfortably attack fixing the old riceburner so I can get it back on the track. This will not be one of my challenge goals, but it is something I would like to have started before the next 6-weeker. Measurements and pics to come. Semper Fidelis

Hello Everyone! Was seriously considering sitting down and contemplating this first post, making sure my signature and pic and goals and motivations were all ready to go before I introduced myself. Eff that. Time to wing it. First, nerd history. Been a gamer my whole life, my father swore that if he heard the background music from Dragon Warrior on the NES anymore he was going to get rid of it! I dabbled in DnD in High School, and am finally involved in a continuous campaign here. I play(ed) Dance Dance Revolution, WoW, Final Fantasy, and am currently involved in just about any game with a story worth my time. I'm also a homebrewer, with about 10 batches of beer under my belt, and an automotive enthusiast. I've done a few track days, flag at some races, and was able to work at the 24 Hours of Daytona last year. As the title declares, I'm a Marine here in SC. This, of course, put my physical fitness as a somewhat high priority in my life, if not by my own choice. >.< However, for years I've just been rolling with the training done by my fellow Marines and not looking into how to maintain myself. The past few years, however, I've begun getting into 5k's and a few bigger races, with little commitment. The breaking point for me was last year when I signed up and payed for the Savannah 1/2 Marathon, and didn't train or show up for it. I've also been consistently weighing in right at the max weight I'm allowed to weigh in the Marines, which will bite me in the butt if I'm ever over. Time for change and commitment. This year, I've ran a sprint triathlon without training for it, and survived, and now I'm hooked. My current goal is to train for and do more then just survive, possibly hit my goal of top 10%. Meanwhile, as a Marine, I need to focus on muscular strength, endurance, and power, so I can't/won't just focus on race training. My food intake was pretty terrible, so I'm switching to a more paleo mindset, though that's proving to be a difficult transition. So. I've laid out a training plan that begins next week for a sprint triathlon in October, and another go at the Savannah Marathon in November (going for the full 26.2). This begins next week. I will be researching strength exercising that will aid me in all those events, but for now I just make sure I get out and do something. As for food, I'm only filling my tiny fridge with paleo stuff (except beer and condiments), and my non-paleo stuff only happens if I eat out. Also, I promised my wife I would start going to Yoga with her occasionally, so that should be interesting. (Vinyasa, heated Yoga, wee?) This will be on top of whatever PT I do with my Marines throughout the week. Anyway. Looking forward to conversating and being motivated with everyone here. I'm a professional forum lurker, but I'm gunna try to be more involved here since it's, you know, my health in question. Semper Fidelis