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Helloooooo fellow assassins! Onwards & upwards... or upsidedownwards. Or something. Backstory for the uninitiated: I am a 40 year old recreational circus athlete & aerialist. Yes, I am a completely ridiculous, quixotic chimera, and I don't care. It's super freaking fun. I will be coming up on 5 years of circus training this summer, it has totally changed my life. Last year at about this time, I was in a minor car accident that gave me a moderate case of whiplash and I couldn't lift my arms over my head... obviously, for a circusy person, this was a biiiiiiig freaking problem. After 8 weeks of PT (which I attacked like a lion), I was cleared to get back in the air, weak as a kitten. Since that time, I've shifted my circus training to be more oriented around disciplines & apparatuses (apparati?) that are more strength and stability focused. I have a lot of natural flexibility, but was lacking in stability. Before my accident I was training my natural flexibility, now I'm really training for strength. Epic Quest: Be circus awesome! Goal #1: Circus every damn day. In particular, handstands or handstand cartwheels nearly every day, and other training when I need to give my wrists or forearms a rest. Last challenge, I started getting a new trick that I hadn't even expected when we got a new handstand coach. Cartwheeling into a handstand is my first actual handstand trick, it's really good for learning lateral stability in my handstands, and most importantly, it's REALLY fun to train. This challenge I want to focus some daily practice on it... this can look like practicing my regular cartwheels, like practicing regular handstands or like practicing the cartwheel handstands. Things to work on are getting my lower body UP and straight (no piked handstands), getting more consistent at holding the balance in the middle, and pushing off strongly to complete the cartwheel rather than just randomly kicking my legs down. Days on which I do aerial training, I can skip the handstand training or do it... whatever I feel like. If my wrists & forearms are giving me problems, I can count a day of stretching my splits as training. Also, on the advice of my coach, I'm adding a couple minutes of alignment drills on the floor to my daily training. Goal #2: Keep following the consistent training schedule that's been behind my gains in the last challenge. I've got something that seems to be working, don't change it. This looks like: 2 days of circus tricks training with coaches (hand balancing and straps). 2 days of conditioning based on the GMB P1 program. 2 days of lifting in the gym. [sometimes 1 day of aerial yoga combined with a conditioning or lifting day.] 1 day of full rest or going for a gentle hike. I want to also put some focus into adjusting the P1 rest day work (the warm up & cool down) to something I will actually do every day. Goal #3: Pretty legs. So back in November I got diagnosed with a bone spur & arthritis in my toe. This means that I can no longer do the occasional dance class to work on my lines and movement, since I can't go into releve AT ALL. I've been putting some thought into how to work on this without having joint pain and foot cramps. I've hit upon the concept of floor barre... however, I'm actually going to need to learn it, since it's not offered any place that's accessible to me right now. I have the NYCB workout DVD which has a super short floor barre segment and I'd like to try doing that twice a week... I also got another DVD directed at actual ballerinas and that's going to take some watching a learning before I can start working off that. And there's at least one book out on the topic as well. So basically, try the super short floor barre segment 2x a week and spend some time educating myself on the topic. Goal #4: Better engagement with the NF Assassin community. This has 2 parts: A ) Find 2 new (to me) assassins to be inspired by. The assassin community is HUGE and I'm often overwhelmed by it. I've got my few people who I check in on and like to hear about their progress (even if I don't always have anything to say), but I'm ready to find some new amazing, interesting folks. B ) Write up what's going on with me about food and eating. I've been pretty reticent to tell this story since I'm still working through some stuff, but it's made me really reluctant to engage with people for whom eating habits are a major part of their challenge. It's time for me to start talking more openly about it, since it's been a huge evolution over the last year. Bonus, non goal thing that I'm doing that I might talk about even though it's not a goal and will take several challenges: I am working on a project to landscape a large portion of my backyard with native California plants. We moved last year and now live on a 0.75 acre lot with a hill. A hill that is slowly sliding downward. The hill needs to be stabilized... we have someone to help with the placement and installation of the retaining walls at the bottom, but the hill itself needs plants with strong root systems to hold in the soil better. I'm starting a landscape design workshop to do the planning and will probably do at least some of the planting in the next few months (be on the lookout for some major landscaping goals in the fall). Landscape design is surprisingly geeky and doing the actual landscaping is a surprisingly good workout. Also, I have a very nerdy surprise coming up in this challenge, but you'll have to wait.

I've done a few challenges in the past, but haven't done a challenge in quite some time. What better time to get my butt in high gear! I'm determined to have the healthiest pregnancy yet. My previous pregnancies have been medicated due to hypertension and full of heartburn and unnecessary weight gain and muscle loss. So here are the goals! Add a new vegetable into my weekly meal plans Diet is key to any healthy body, especially for my newest internal addition! I plan on staying away from all processed foods, wheat, dairy, etc. However, I will keep our needs in check and eat the calories I see fit. Grazing, snacking and mini meals will be a standard. I also found a perfect prenatal vitamin that does not have any of the funky additives and is GMO free. I am currently consuming a good amount of vegetables, but I always get the same vegetables over and over again. I need to increase my intake by adding new vegetables and adding even more nutrients and vitamins into my diet. Be active 45 minutes a day I know it is not recommended to have a broad goal. However, I know that some days I will be too nauseous to go for a run or too tired to do strength training. I can vow, however, to walk, dance, do some bodyweight exercises, play with the kids harder and whatever else I can manage to stay fit/get more fit. I will allow myself to break up this time if needed. No matter how important exercise is, not pushing myself is even more important at this time. Pay off remaining balance at my grandmother's home I want to pay off the last $760 of my grandmother's balance at the nursing home she is at. The balance is my fault and I need to clear this! It's caused some tension in my family and I hope to get it paid off in the next 6 weeks. I want to keep my two major end goals in mind at all time 1. Go through this entire pregnancy without having to take medication for high blood pressure 2. Go into labor naturally instead of being induced again due to high blood pressure

HAFA ADAI ! love from Guam where America's day begins =] I'm from the future :3 just kidding! Anyways I did join a while back , but as I was gaining momentum in my journey (check my Album out!) I decided to have my 2nd child before my husband left for deployment 2012, Gave birth on Sept. 5, 2013 to a beautiful girl named Scarlet. Now the family is finally all together. This year will be very eventful/challenging I can just feel it! I am challenging myself to do what was unfinished business! Full time mom and will be taking care of the kids more often to let my husband attend college and online classes . So for the time kiddos are asleep i plan to PUMP up the iron ! First goals: Quit coffee! drop a pant size at least 1 by April (i'm a 17 at the moment) Master the " robot mode" to just get up in the morning! ( I love my sleep =/)

I'm know I'm late to the 6 Week Challenge party, but as Steve said "Start today!" Background: I'm a new mom that is trying to get back in shape. When I was in high school, I was thin and did a lot of sports. All that changed when I graduated from college and had to move back in with my family. A year of mom's home cooking, a sedentary desk job, and too many MMORPG's took their toll. Eventually I got talked into joining my local Roller Derby team and got moving again. I made great progress and was a pretty good player, but then I decided to take some classes at my local community college to possibly help improve my job prospects. I had to quit roller derby but knew I would come back as soon as I completed my classes. Of course, life likes to throw the occasional curve ball and just as I was planning on returning to derby, my husband and I found out I was pregnant. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl about 10 months ago but have sadly had trouble motivating myself to get moving again. I recently returned to Roller Derby, but I'm worried that I won't be able to keep momentum. And so I have journeyed and found myself here, hoping that willpower and motivation of my fellow nerds will help make me successful. Stats: Age: 31 Ht: 5' 3" Wt: 170 lb Arm: 12" Waist: 40" Thigh: 27" Main Quest: -Defeat 5 Adipose (Lose 5 lbs) Missions: - Increase cooking skill to Apprentice Level (Cook 3 healthy meals/week) - Battle the tribe of She-Orcs twice a week (Attend 2 roller derby practices/week) - Choose and fight one additional battle per week: Gym Demon, Wheel Monster, or Evil Twin (go to the gym, ride stationary bike, BBWW) Motivations: Getting and staying healthy for my baby daughter. Loving my body the way that I used to. What I'm really needing is a team off ass-kickers to help keep me on my path. I respond well to small amounts of guilt and knowing that someone is looking over my shoulder helps keep me focused. I know I need to start small and be consistent. Newbie Mistakes I suffer from: Overeager Beaver Accountability Slacker Emotional Rationalizer "I'm too busy" Liar Help me, Nerd Fitness. You're my only hope!

Main Quest: Create a healthy lifestyle that I am proud of. I want to look good, feel good and know that I am doing good things for my body the majority of the time. Three Goals to Achieve my main quest: Eat at least four servings of either fruit or veggie a day. (CON +3) Track everything I put in my mouth as follows: 7 days on, 9/23 off 8 days on, 10/2 off 9 days on, 10/12 off 10 days on, 10/23 off (WIS +2, CHA +2) 2 sessions push-ups/crunches/plank and 2 sessions of either an aerobics class or one hour workout per week (STR +2, STA +2) Life Side Quest: Beautification. I have to admit that for at least 75% of my life I am slummin' it! My primary hair do is the bun/pony tail. I have been eeking the last bit of foundation out of my basically empty bottle for two weeks now. I would like to get into doing pretty things with my hair/make-up/clothes. I'm not trying to buy myself something new all the time, although that will count, but maybe try curling my hair or a new way to do my eye shadow. You know.. actually trying. 4. Do something with hair/make-up or clothes once weekly. (WIS +2, CHA +2) Why are you doing this challenge? Because God gave me this awesome body, and instead of abusing it I want to take care of it and strive for excellence. Because you can't have a completely sound mind without having a sound body, and you can't have a sound body without creating healthy habits. Because I want my husband to think I'm hot without any effort . Because I want my daughter to love herself and know she is beautiful, and the best way to do that is to live it out in front of her. Because I want to show my daughter how to eat healthy and be active instead of just telling her. Wednesday morning weigh-ins weekly, measurements and pictures at 3 and 6 weeks. Weekly challenge reviews and grading. A - 100% B - 75% C - 50% D - 25% F - 0%

Hi all! This will be my first official quest. I joined the Level 1 Rebels in the last week of the previous challenge, and am looking forward to being able to level up this time around. My quest is the same as last time, although with my previous week of experience I am far more knowledgeable about what works for me with regards to exercise, and what will keep me motivated and on track. So here is my mission: Krunchy's Main Quest: to lose fat and gain muscle. Ideally at a fat loss of 2 lbs a week. My Three Dragons: 1. No flour and no glucose, every day. Note that I didn't say 'no sugar'. This will allow me to enjoy my homemade preserves, but avoid any of the processed crap in the store. I will lose a grade for every day that I do not accomplish this goal. Exceptions to this rule: planned Girls Night out this Saturday and my sons 2nd birthday in October. 2. Work up to drinking 10 glasses of water a day, at least 5 days a week. I will keep track on my calendar to ensure that I am meeting this goal. Week one I will drink 5 glasses/day, and for each week after that I will add another glass/day. For every week that I do not accomplish this goal I will lose a grade. 3. Get moving, every day. Strength training one day with cardio the next does not work for me. I lose motivation. I like variety. So 'Get moving' can mean many different things to me. It means any combination of the following, 30-60 minutes a day: working with free weights, HIIT training, running on the treadmill, biking with my family, interval training outside, playing and working out at the playground with my kids, hiking, basically anything that gets my heart rate up and my muscles moving. I will lose a grade for every day that I do not accomplish this goal. The grading system may seem a little harsh, but I have been on this path since the beginning of August, so I have no excuses. I should be able to do the above realistically. The thought of losing a grade WILL keep me on track. Life Quest: Continue to read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman My Motivation: To be able to do a chin-up. To be a healthy and active role model to my sons. To be good to my body so I can live a long and healthy life. To make up for all the damage I've done to my body up until now. To do a Warrior Dash next year and not have my ass handed to me. To be an inspiration to others so that they can live long and healthy lives too. To vote with my pocketbook so that the current food system is forced to make changes that benefit our society as a whole.

About Me: I'm a mom who works 50 hours a week, commutes 2 hours a day and tries to keep everything together . I am on track for a week or two, but in the past that's as far as I've gotten. I've been learning/reading about Paleo for the past 6 or 7 months and the weeks I eat with those principles, I feel 100x better. I haven't fully committed yet - and that's one of my how to's. My Quest: I'm currently just at 200lbs (gulp) and would like to lose at least 6lbs in this challenge. How I'm gonna do it:- Cardio 5x a week - whether it is a walk/bike ride/run- Weight train/strength 2x a week- Grain/Gluten free Life Challenge:- spend 5 - 10 min a day doing deep breathing excercises My Motivation:Feel better for me, my husband and my kids - so I am more fun to be around! : )

I am a mom of children (9yo girl, 7yo boy, 5yo boy and a 2yo boy) who has lost weight and been fit after having her fourth child, but then gained a fair bit back due to dietary issues. And lost the muscle tone So, let's see ... my four goals to reach by the end of this challenge are: 1) (4 CON) eliminate wheat from my diet, with no intentional cheating (I like to bake, and this is my weak area!) 2) (3 STR)be able to do five proper chin-ups, in a row 3) (5 STA) be able to run 5km in half an hour (or less), without stopping 4) (3 WIS + 2 STA) finish the editing for my November 2012 NaNoWriMo novel before the end of June so I can get five copies printed - for free! - though technically not published My starting point - conveniently down here at the bottom (ha!) is: Height: 5'5" (which better not change!) Weight: 156.2 lbs I'm a Level 1 elven adventurer, with the following attributes: STR: 2 DEX: 2 STA: 3 CON: 3 WIS: 2 CHA: 3

I somehow feel like this is a harder commitment to accept than the wedding vows I took 10 years ago, but what the heck...let's do this. I am 5'4'', 180 lbs, and almost in the worst shape of my life. I have 2 young children and started grad school last fall - which somehow turned our healthy family into a time-crunched-fast-food-eating-out-of-control clan. My ultimate goal is to get my family healthy again and run a 5K Mudman race in September. My accepted challenges for the next 6 weeks: 1. Run a mile without walking. I know, this doesn't seem like a hard challenge, but it's something I haven't done in 5 years, so it's a big enough challenge for me! 2. Do a pull-up. One stinkin pull-up. I have never been able to do a pull up, even when in the best shape of my life. This must be done before I die. 3. Family "Yoda"... We have recently tried doing yoga as a family and the kids love it. My 2 year old keeps asking to do "Yoda" so I would like to get us all to enjoy at least 20 minutes of family yoga 5 times a week. 4. No drive thru's!! Starting today, we will not eat anywhere who's main kitchen equiptment is the deep fryer. By the end of six weeks, we will also be completely free of processed foods. 5. My life goal is to chill out. No more "Mommy Dearest" episodes when the bathroom is dirty. No more "flare gun" Breakfast Club moments when grad school is not going as planned. I will accomplish this by taking my kids outside to blow bubbles whenever I feel anxious about anything. I want to be an in-the-moment mom who finds the joy with her children, not constantly looking for it for them. 6. Okay, I know 6 is a lot, but this last one is imperative. We will get our lazy rear ends back outside. My husband and I met as backpacking guides and will come full circle by having a family backpacking trip planned and ready to go before the end of these six weeks. We will accomplish this by turning our nightly Jammer-Walkeys (usually short walks with the kids in their jammies before bed) into mini-backpacking sessions. There it is. Let's ride.

Hey there Nerd fitness world, I am new to this challange thing and I am excited to try my first one on here! After seeing many of my friends and my wonderful husband (Blamedcat) successfully win on these challanges in life, I have decided to join in with all the fun. My name is Joy and I love my name. I am actually very excited that i met another wonderful friend on here named Joy and we are going to be both lifting iron (and not the iron for clothes cause i never ever iron clothes) for the first time. My goals that I have set for myself are these: 1. I shall pump iron once a week (I shall use a barbells to learn to actually lift wieghts) and since I work 12 hour shifts I have decided that for my first challenge that this shall be once a week on one of my days off. I will do 30 minutes of wieght lifting till I feel comfortable with it and then gradually add more and add more time. 2. I will use dumbbells on my days that I actually work to get the same kind of weight lifting excercise but which can be done in my house. I want to start with the small weights and work my way up, doing 30 minute excercise and then a 5 minute break and then another 30 minutes once a week on a day that I work. (so that I shall in fact be doign two days a week of actual excersise) 3. Diet goal: I am going to get rid of all soda's. I shall not buy or drink or consume or smell or sniff or gaze longingly at a soda pop. I know that I shall cave in, so I have given this some thought, I want to get rid of all soda's for 6 of the 7 days of the week and it has to be days I am working to not drink pop. I am far to tempted at work to drink soda's but I am also so very busy i can't be bothered with going to the cafateria to get one. So those days are "safer" for me. I also have a 5 yr old daughter who I love very much and who has been told that I am not to drink soda and she is to tell me so when she catches me with one. She is very blunt and very much a good accountability partner for a kid. She is very honest and has told me many times I am fat and need to lose it and that drinking soda's are bad. That daddy says that they are bad and I shouldnt drink it but since she is so skinny she should drink it for me. *haha* I gave myself one day to drink and I have decided that the huge caffine headache I know I will get from not drinking soda will be worth it to finally overcome this horrible addiction. 4. Life goal: My life goal is one that is more personal. I am a christian and I do love my Lord very much, however I have found that I do not always find the time to read the Bible as I should and I need to do that more. So my goal is to catch up on my bible reading for the year using the app Youversion and the bible plan for reading the bible through in a year. I shall talk to my friend Joy about what I learn to have her help keep me accountable as well. I want to be a better child of God and to do that I need to know what the Bible really says and what it says to me, not what someone else thinks it says, or thinks it says to me. Bonus 5. To have a date night with my husband at least once a week. I will try to get away from work, my adorable little "demon" children (hahaha), and to spend time building my relationship with my husband. To actually date my husband and to be courted by him. I know he is making this one of his challenges and I am soo thrilled that i decided to do that same. I will make the time and the effort to make my husband feel like he is all man to me and that i shall not talk about our kids whilst on the date.. and i shall have him not use his phone for texting while on the date.. this will be some awesome fun! Holding hands, gazing at eachother like love sick kids, and then going home and sleeping. ZZZZZ night time is for tired old people like me!

I joined the rebellion a few weeks ago, and am finally starting to dive deep into the community. I started with joining Team NO Snack and feel amazing. I know it's only the first 24 hours, but I know that this is going to be a change for the better. I never realized snacking could be doing harm. I fell into the empire wasteland of eating every few hours - and will NOT go back. I'm a mom of four and looking for even more ways to stay active now that my wee lads and lasses are getting minds of their own and are already embarrassed by me. I'm married to a guy who can cut out soda and loose 10 lbs in 5 days. He also looks like he could be a weight lifter due to his job and amazing genes. He doesn't understand my obsession with health and fitness and I'm kind of lacking on support all around - that's where you fine folks step in!