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I'm chronically overbooked with my fitness stuff, and this challenge is going to be more about scaling back a little bit and addressing the non-glamorous, not-so-fun foundational work that I'm always neglecting. I'll still be doing 2-3 parkour classes/week, 2 or so climbing sessions/week, and filling in around that with yoga, hand balancing, swimming, hiking, playground workouts, and a little extra strength training, because that's what I always do. And I'll still log all of that, post videos, etc. in this thread, because that's also how things run around here. This challenge is also coinciding with a 10+ day vacation, as well as the start of the school year for the kids, so it's especially important for me to keep things kind of simple and unchallenge-like. Goal 1: Foundational work. Between the parkour, climbing, being 1.5 years out of major knee surgery, and being kind of middle-age-ish, I need to take better care of my body if I want it to continue functioning at optimal levels. 1a) Do a mobilityWOD video, one of GMB's unbreakable series videos, or any other similar mobility work at least 4 times/week. If I find any particularly good or useful videos, I'll be sure to post the link. 1b) Prehab - stick with 5-10 minutes of prehab work at least 5 times/week. This includes rolling my IT Band, shoulder stretches, quad stretches, soleus stretching, and some of my other leg PT stuff. 1c) Be a good leader - My husband also does the parkour and climbing, but he can never self motivate to do the stretching and mobility work. So, at least once/week, I have to nag him into joining me for a quick stretching session. Goal 2: Clear the mind. The goal is to meditate, do meditation focused yoga, or do some directed breathing for at least 5 minutes every day. I'm hoping that this improves my mental well-being quite a bit. Goal 3: Mudhole? Slimy? My home this is. Yeah, the house is chronically cluttered and messy, largely because the children are underfoot all of the time. I've had success in the past with following Flylady, so I'm going to start it again. Goal is to do all of the Flylady weekly tasks + the weekly cleaning, with substitutions if there's something in Flylady that isn't particularly relevant or useful for my house. Edit: Goal is to get maximum points in the cleaning/adulting PVP for my non-vacation days. Goal 4: Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. I made a lot of progress in the last challenge with just enjoying what I'm doing without letting jealousy over people who are better than I am or general frustration get in the way of my enjoyment. I really do believe that constantly comparing myself to others, letting myself become insecure, or letting myself become so frustrated that I'm flat out angry are poisonous attitudes to have. After all, I'll always find people who are much better than I am, and I'll always have off days here and there. The goal is to just have fun with everything. Goal 5 - Let the wookie win. While I love the Assassin minis, I think they've become a little too epic for me to handle with everything else that I have going on. Last challenge, I got a little carried away, to a point where the minis were adversely affecting my parkour, climbing, and actual challenge goals. While I hate sitting out and feeling excluded from what I feel is a major part of the guild, I really either need to make the choice to do exactly that, or to establish very clear boundaries for myself as to what I'm willing to do for the mini, and then learn to stick with that. If I go that route, I need to learn not to be swayed by the feelings of letting down my team, and I need to learn to just say NO if the mini isn't going to be conducive to meeting my actual goals. The vacation grading will be: Goal 1 - Just stretch a little every day. Goal 2 - Still meditate. If that's not possible, then take a moment to catch my breath and re-center myself each day. Goal 3 - Not really relevant on vacation Goal 4 - Let's face it, people in large crowds are pretty obnoxious and rude, which in turn tends to make me angry. Since I'm going to be at the "happiest place on earth", I need to take a lesson from Elsa and just Let it Go. Goal 5 - Not really relevant.

Background: I started barbell lifting right before the last challenge began, and launched into my lifting challenge with gusto. I LOVED going to the gym, feeling badass, racking up new PRs every time - I even enjoyed the DOMS. But after three or four weeks of lifting, my body started complaining. My left shoulder (trapezius) sort of seized up, my back got super stiff and tight, and my right hamstring and glute got all knotty. My body felt so bad and out of sorts that I made myself slow down on the lifting. Thus my new challenge: Goal the First: Get Supple I got Kelly Starrett's new book, Becoming a Supple Leopard, and have been doing a MobilityWOD faithfully every day. My goal is to improve my shoulder mobility (which has ALWAYS sucked) and get rid of all this annoying new tightness. I've been working with my Pilates teacher to improve my posture, and just today saw an awesome bodyworker who gave me a new perspective and new things to work on. Plan: do a MobilityWOD for at least 15 minutes every day. Kstar pretty much insists on this as a minimum commitment. Goal the Second: Get Strong I'm going to continue barbell lifting. Unfortunately the gym I go to is closed on Sundays for the whole summer, which was my favorite day to go! Boo! Plan: strength training twice a week, tracked on Fitocracy. If I can't get to the gym, I will substitute bodyweight/dumbbell/kettlebell stuff at home. Goal the Third: Get Serene Continue with the meditation, but bump it up to 45 minutes a week. Goal the Fourth: Get Sweet-Free (sort of) I did very well limiting sugar during my last challenge, except for the giant loophole of unlimited ice cream. In fact, I ate a shit-ton of ice cream. Can you say cop-out? No more. Plan: I can have something sweet twice a week - this includes sugar as well as any other added sweetener. I will keep track of everything on a spreadsheet. I find this very helpful!