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LET'S DO THIS CHUMS! It's time for another challenge this year coming right atcha with a flash step! As you all may know, BlackTezca, returning once more to make all of your browsers crash with another gif crazy thread! Ya'll also might remember me from the beginning of this insanely nerdy and awesome journey From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel!, got spoilers and news and another silliness in BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards Feline Greatness and just like it was yesterday, I have conquered and ONE PUNCHED my latest foe known as BlackTezca's 8th Trial: An Artsy Geeky Amazons Becomes The Ultimate Hero. This time around, I'm here to battle against the idea of curses and that there is no such thing as hope! I'm here to fight the good fight against witches and despair and to repeat my battle against my worst nemesis! Not only that, but with this next challenge, I shall transform into the ultimate fighting being! The greatest example of prime warrior the world, any world has ever known! I shall become...a Mahou Shoujo! Fuck you and die. Not only shall I fight the good fight towards better sleep (again), I shall also continue my story that is bristling with inspiration, heal my sore wounds from my battles and sparring matches (and skiing), as well as continue my training! Not only that, but by becoming a magical girl, I shall be bringing myself closer and closer to my main quest! We all know what this quest is, but what is my challenge without, once again, announcing my greatest goals of all greatest goals...!! My Main Quest is to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman I do have my character profile up as well! However, it has not really changed how my challenges go (other than the experience points). Last challenge was nice and short and has given me some ideas on how to approach this new format. This time with total day counts and higher flexibility with what counts towards a side quest success (as you all know, I do use 'exact' words and such with that ). Having gotten most of January under my belt, lets move onwards! Towards my quests and my allies to help me become a greater warrior! Homura - The Sleep Policy Repeats Details: If in bed by 11:00 am, set alarm to 6:00. If in bed by 11:16, set alarm to 6:15 am. If in bed by 11:31, set alarm to 6:30, so on, so forth. This is mostly for work days. Contingencies: No Contingencies. Sleep is sleep. Also, sleep policy does not apply on weekends nor holidays. Tracking: Use Fitbit for tracking and update this thread with the total time of sleep as well as when I fell asleep official compared to when I went to bed. Grading: A for 14 to 15 days of enforcement ( 20 pts - 2 Con ) B for 12 to 13 days of enforcement ( 15 pts - 1 Con ) F for all else Sayaka - Keep Fighting Details: Go to Kickboxing or Muay Thai at Easton twice a week. Aim for Muay Thai but count Kickboxing as well. Contingencies: Steamboat Springs trip may hamper this. For that week only, do a separate kickboxing work + go to an Easton class. Tracking: I'll be tracking the workouts using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well. Grading: A for Kickboxing/Muay Thai Workouts twice a week ( 20 pt - 2 Sta 1 Str ) B for Kickboxing/Muay Thai Workouts once a week ( 15 pts - 2 Sta ) F for all else Madoka - Do not Suffer; Stretch, Bathe, and Roll the Pain Away Details: Do at least five minutes of stretching and foam rolling after works out and when feeling sore. Also count taking hot salt baths to help with soreness. Contingencies: Steamboat Springs trip may not have the foam roller. But I can still stretch. So no real blockers here. Tracking: I'll be tracking the stretching and foam rolling under 'yoga' via MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well. Grading: A for Stretching and Foam Rolling 4 to 5 times a week ( 20 pt - 1 Dex 2 Con ) B for Stretching and Foam Rolling 2 to 3 a week ( 15 pts - 2 Con ) C for Stretching and Foam Rolling once a week ( 10 pts - 1 Con ) F for all else Kyoko - Strengthen My Story and Create My World Details: Continue with story planning and focus on Character Portraits. Hopefully most character summaries are done and we have moved on from Step 3 and maybe even finished Step 4. Contingencies: Steamboat Springs trip will also hamper this. I should have my laptop charger so I can work on the story planning at least. Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have a DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track. I shall also post up WIPs of my work on this thread and I will also count ideas and brainstorming I come up with during my daily status. So ya'll will be here to listen to my ramblings! Grading: A for at least 30 minutes 4 to 5 days a week - 25 exp ( 2 Wis 2 Cha ) B for at least 30 minutes 2 to 3 days a week - 15 exp ( 1 Wis 1 Cha ) F for all else Mami - Gain Skiing Experience. Details: Another ski quest! This time hoping to ski a bit more (Steamboat trip coming up soon) Contingencies: I have rented the places, booked hotels, but sickness is always a possibility. Tracking: I'll be tracking the skiing funtimes using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with the workout listed as 'Downhill Skiing' for this thread. I'll also, of course, be updating this thread with details of my adventures! Grading: A for Skiing at least two days this challenge! ( 15 exp - 2 Dex 1 Sta ) B for Skiing one day days this challenge! ( 10 exp - 1 Dex ) F for all else Looks like a full complete challenge! Really excited to get this started! The fitbit has proven to be very useful for tracking sleep and I have a solid plan for my art! With my new kickboxing body, I'll definitely be able to keep up with my routine and the only new thing will be looking for exercises with my foam roller! Let's get some starting measurements: Starting Measurements: Date: 01/26/2016 @ 6:15 am Weight: 127.2 ***Body Fat***: 20% Waist: 23 Waist @ Navel: 23.5 Hips: 33.5 Neck: 12 Chest: 32 Left Bicep: 11 Right Thigh: 16 Wrist: 5.5 Forearm: 8.5 Everyone! Always believe! Never lose hope! Keep on fighting towards our ultimate goals! We're monks! Fighting is what we learn and what we do! So keep on hoping, keep on living! KEEP ON KICKING ASS! That's what Madoka would do in order to keep hope alive and allow us to reach our finest accomplishments! Let's get this next challenge started strong!

GUESS WHO'S BACK! Back to the Monks for a brand new year! W00t! You awesome Martial Warriors remember me as BlackTezca and you may also remember me as a gif-crazy-make-your-browsers-crash-artistic-nutsy-code-MONKey! I have started out my journey in Nerdfitness in my introductory post From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel!, outlined last years daily struggles in BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards Feline Greatness and had my final, most violent, uber challenge of 2015 known as BlackTezcas' 7th Trial: An Artsy, Geeky Amazon Pumps Up! Now this time I am here with a new inspiration! I want to take on this new challenge, this quicker, fast-paced challenge with the lackadaisical care and ease as the best of the best heroes. A hero who is heroic as a hobby! Which mean that things are fun while adding strength, dexterity, stamina, and all that jazz! I want to ONE PUNCH the crap out of this challenge and begin this brand new year with ultimate power! Thus the theme of this challenge shall be... Watch this show... Not only do I have a theme that is meant to decimate, I am returning to my Monk folks in order to enhance the foundation I have laid out last year and become the amazon hero I was meant to be. I have started out kickboxing which helps with my conditioning and technique and now I want to further my knowledge of Muay Thai beyond the bag and into the (light) sparring ring! I want to work with partners to learn clinching, practice footwork, and (lightly) punch them . Also, Considering it was just the holidays, I want to have my diet strengthened further, as well as get back to enhancing my core and agility. Not only that, but I also need to get my act back together for my art and even add on my novel planning for that! This is needed to enhance my mental agility as well! All this is needed in order to continue my main quest (may change when it comes to tying in Character Creation): My Main Quest is to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman I have worked out and lined up my quests and though the format is shorter, I am still gonna tackle my challenge format as I have had before! I really have been working on the challenge format as well through out last year and while the character creation may impact this challenge, it shouldn't impact what I have laid out here. I'm gonna be interested in how to add this as a 'quest' for the character as well as what kind of background I'll give her. Also will give me some ideas for art! Without further delay, here are the first quests of 2016!! Bang Silverfang: Muay Thai Sessions for finesse and technique application Details: I have just started going to Muay Thai classes with Easton to add with my kickboxing classes. Kickboxing is about learning techniques and conditioning, while Muay Thai is about finesse and working with partners in order to practice techniques learned in kickboxing along with gaining advanced knowledge. They also include sparring drills, which are ton of fun. I want to solidify this class as part of my full training and thus I needed to come to Muay Thai at least once a week this challenge. Contingencies: Weather may prevent me from getting to class. In this case, I need to consider and acceptable substitute. Sometimes, the coaches would change up the kickboxing class to be more of a partner/Muy Thai class, so I should be able to count those here as well. Tracking: I'll be tracking the Muay Thai sessions using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with the workout listed as 'Judo, Kickboxing, Martial Arts' for this thread. This thread will also be updated with details of the class. Grading: A for Muay Thai at least 4 times this challenge - 20 exp ( 2 Dex 2 Sta) B for Muay Thai at least 3 times this challenge - 15 exp ( 2 Dex 1 Sta ) C for Muay Thai at least 2 times this challenge - 10 exp ( 2 Dex ) F for all else Genos: Handstand practice for added core stability and diligence Details: I need to get back in the saddle for handstand practice since I have yet to actually reach the handstand last time! Thus time to get back into gear and make this a habit so I can finally each this goal in 2016! Contingencies: None for here. I can strengthen my wrists if I need to do that instead and this is a low impact practice. Tracking: I'll be tracking the handstand practice using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with the workout listed as 'Calisthenics- Light/Moderate' for this thread. This thread will also be updated with details of the practice. Grading: A for Handstand Practice at least 5 to 6 a week - 20 exp ( 1 Dex 2 Str ) B for Handstand Practice at least 3 to 4 a week - 15 exp ( 2 Str ) C for Handstand Practice at least 2 a week - 10 exp ( 1 Str ) F for all else Saitama: 100 gram of protein for an undefeatable hero! Details: I have been okay with upping my protein and have noticed that for the most part, I can hit 100 g of protein. So let's make this a challenge! Let's make sure I consistently hit that protein goal and really fuel my muscles as much as I can. Since its' still winter, I'm not limiting my carbs just yet, but that will be coming up as an idea for Spring. For now, let's EAT ALL THE MEAT!! (and eggs...and yogurt...) Contingencies: None. I should be able to stuff my face with yogurt and protein bars if I need to and while I don't want to go over my calories too much, I'm NOT cutting. Thus the daily amount should not scare me. I need the protein, I need that fuel! Tracking: I'll be tracking the stretching sessions using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with extra accountability done here. Grading: A for 100 g of protein 6 to 7 times a week - 25 exp ( 2 Con 1 Wis) B for 100 g of protein 4 to 5 times a week - 20 exp ( 2 Con ) C for 100 g of protein 2 to 3 times a week - 15 exp ( 1 Con ) F for all else Tastumaki aka Terrible Tornado: An Esper uses her mind for power...Empower my mind Details: So as I have planned and mentioned last challenge, I want to start a novel for next year! Though I aim for writing it during NaNoWriMo, I do want to start planning it out using the snow flake method (planning on getting to step 5 here depending). I also have character portraits to draw and will use this novel for inspiration! Here are my character portraits to do: Theresa (done but have a chibi fun image being worked on)Connor (second protagonist)Human 'cattle' escapee who like an older brother figure to the macguffinThe magcuffin character. May hold cure for 'vampirism'Extra Credit: character portraits for Starpuck and Mrs Feanor peeps.Let's hope I get far...without stressing out! Contingencies: I won't be able to keep track of this too much when I'm on ski trips. But while I'm not drawing those trips, I can brainstorm my novel and send ideas to myself through email, or save it on a google doc. Thus still adhering to this quest! Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have a DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track. I shall also post up WIPs of my work on this thread and I will also count ideas and brainstorming I come up with during my daily status. So ya'll will be here to listen to my ramblings! Grading: A for at least 30 minutes 4 to 5 days a week - 25 exp ( 2 Wis 2 Cha ) B for at least 30 minutes 2 to 3 days a week - 15 exp ( 1 Wis 1 Cha ) F for all else Bonus Quest- Speed O Sonic: FASTER FASTER DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!!! Details: It's ski season!! W00t! Time to work on my speed, making cleaner turns, stopping more quickly, and just getting braver on the slopes! This is a seasonal quest and I want to track and reward my efforts for these excursions! Also, gives me a fun fifth quest too! Contingencies: I have rented the places, booked hotels, but sickness is always a possibility. Thus why this is a bonus! I rather be healthy enough to make it down the blue (or even black) runs, then sick and hurt myself. Tracking: I'll be tracking the skiing funtimes using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with the workout listed as 'Downhill Skiing' for this thread. I'll also, of course, be updating this thread with details of my adventures! Grading: A for Skiing this challenge! - 10 exp ( 1 Sta) F for all else This may look like a lot for the first challenge of the year but at the same time, considering all my quests are in chunks (except for the skiing one which is mostly for funsies) this shouldn't be too bad! Maybe not one punchable, but surely worthy of an S-class hero such as myself! Here are some starting fitness measurements: Starting Measurements: Date: 01/04/2015 @ 6:20 am Weight: 129 ***Body Fat***: 21% Waist: 23 Waist @ Navel: 23.5 Hips: 34.5 Neck: 12 Chest: 32 Left Bicep: 10.5 Right Thigh: 16 Wrist: 5.5 Forearm: 8.5 I'm really looking forward to a new year with my Nerdfitness peeps and to check out all the changes that have added to the rebellion! This may look tough, however, challenges are suppose to be tough in order to be fun and make sure we keep pushing out limits. Not everything can be so easy! Let's go my fellow Monk folks and KICK SOME ASS!!! Let's become... ULTIMATE HEROES!!! (That hopefully won't get bored by being ultimate heroes...)

Okay, it's been a rough week and I've been staring at this for a while now. If there hadn't been a house guest in the beginning of the week, I probably wouldn't have been in as much of a funk. For anyone who's interested, RP is a terrible house guest. * But enough of that. It's challenge time. I'm going back to some deeply held loves. Things that are simple and elemental in the joy that they bring to me. My basics, if you will. See what I did there? I'm bringing it back. He-Man Hello, body-image. You're terrible. He-Man, for reference, looks like this: How I see myself is like this: As with most things, reality is somewhere in between. I'ma hide this so people don't have to look. Not a particularly flattering light or angle, but you get the picture. I don't want to feel like I'm the Blerch. And I also acknowledge that He-Man (and basically all popular media images) are entirely unrealistic goals to strive for. To combat this, I'm going to aspire to the attitude of He-Man and try to achieve at least a semblance of the Most Powerful Man in the Universe. My wife and I have re-committed to going to the gym together. Barbell exercises are something we both enjoy and we can push each other to go. So I'll be restarting myself at empty bar for Stronglifts 5x5, for the umpteenth time, but this time with the mindful attitude that I want it and I need to work for it. Stronglifts 3x per week. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles No one should be surprised by this. My art will continue to be my focus and there is always more for me to do. This time around, I get to fully embrace being a 2nd degree black belt and see where this new chapter of my journey will take me. Same as always, I go to two classes a week. This one is unlikely to change until I open my own school. Hapkido 2x per week. The Muppet Show Bet no one was expecting this, eh? This might be dating myself considerably, but I grew up watching the Muppet Show. It is simply the best. In every episode, Kermit the Frog is trying to put on his variety show. In every episode, guests go crazy, the acts go wrong and the audience gets wacky. But you know what? In every episode, the show goes on. Why is that? Because the show must go on. There's a theme in my life where lots of things derail me. And when that happens, I stop eating. I let the circumstances of my life dictate my actions. I must be like Kermit. He flips out. He yells. He screams. He flails his arms wildly. But the show must go on. Always. Eat 3 meals a day, every day. Astroboy How many of you know the story of Astroboy? In the pilot episode, the great roboticist Dr Tenma ignored and neglected his son such that he died in a car accident. Overcome with grief, he built the most powerful android ever and made it look like his deceased son, intending to have the robot replace him. Then he ignored and neglected the robot. Astroboy is fundamentally a tragic character both from the circumstances of his creation and also in the treatment by his creator. However, throughout the many challenges in his life, dealing with hate and fear from those who don't understand him, he is essentially a hopeful character. He sees the worst and chooses to be better. Stress has a tendency to make my depression significantly worse. By some bizarre twist of fate, I have no additional stressors in my life. I have no impending international visitors. The wiring in my house is done. My wife's insane program that has made the past year hell is over. All that I have left is to manage my home, continue my job search and generally keep my head above water. That's a lovely sentiment, but we love measurable things here at Nerd Fitness. I've made daily affirmation type of goals before and they have gone poorly. However, in the past, I've had all of those stressors I talked about. I'm going to shoot for a more realistic number. Post happy thoughts on my thread 3x per week. *RP is not actually a terrible house guest and my wife informs me that he's nice to have around.

I guess you know me. But I'll hang out with the recruits again, so I'll introduce myself a little for everybody who stumbles into my thread. ^^ I'm 28 years old and I'm still studying to become a teacher. I also have a bachelors degree in German linguistics, arts and philosophy - which doesn't count anything for getting a job. Before I started studying I worked for one year with old people and decided to learn to live on my own. So yeah my path is a little crocked. I always have been a dreamer and I also fight the procrastination dragon from time to time. Especially when tests are involved, because I always have been struggling with writers blocks and exam nerves. But recently I have been doing well and I guess consulting someone about this was the right decision. I guess I'm a monk druid, because a lot of my goals are more druid. But I'm also into HEMA and swordmanship and I'm much to streight forward for the druids. I love to meet new people, travelling, trying out new recipes, reading books... Oh, and I'm from Germany. Main Quest: I want to lose the five kilos I gained during the last birthdayparty-vacation-marathon. Also I want to finish my art project and keep the momentum of my last challenge. I managed to get things done and kept the procrastination dragon at bay. This challenge will consist of two parts, because I’ll be in Italy for two weeks and have to focus on different things during the two parts of my challenge. September 14 until Oktober 4: Hunt for achievements! LIVING ARTIST: Draw/Sketch/Paint … on at least 18 out of 21 days LOGBOOK: Write on your portfolio on 9 consecutive days ADVENTURER: Go for a walk on at least 15 out of 21 days MASTER TRAVELLER: Don’t pack unnecessary stuff and use everything you take with you on your trip beside the first-aid kit GOURMET: Try out three unknown recipes or food PREARRANGEMENTS: Take care of the library books before September 12 Oktober 5 until Oktober 25: Perform some more combos I’ll need 30 combos to slay the procrastination dragon. Explanation: I figured out, that I should focus on these aspects almost every day to get going. I’ll try to do one thing for every of this four aspects daily and create combos this way. I also learned that you can do more things and feel less exhausted, when you change the context a few times a day and do different things instead of focusing on one thing a day. Like cleaning for several hours. Combo of 4 = Winning combo Combo of 3 = small combo Combo of 5 = finishing move Get Artsy! List Study time! List Be Healthy! List (Mostly Exercise) Do Housework! List Do something FUN/Something for yourself-list Side Quest: Learn to delegate I’ll be giving my boyfriend and his friend – who is currently staying with us until he finds a flat – a chance to participate in taking care of the household tasks. Therefore I’ll be designing a board where the tasks are listed and update it once a week. Exemplary tasks

Welp, life has a way of happening. This was going to be my "getting back to the shape I want to be for my grading" challenge. Then I went to class and my master says to me, "Let's do your grading at the end of this month." Soooo... anyone want to visit me on August 4th? Cause that's when my grading is. This isn't super unexpected as this is 4 months later than my master wanted my grading to occur. He asked about it first in March. Then I got injured. Then I was better and then my grading partner was injured. Then he decided he wasn't coming back until September. Then some idiot wanted to come to Canada for my grading. And then this happened. Given that my grading is now imminent, I'm going to refocus this challenge on foundational fitness. And other things. Train for a second (degree) As always, I'm going to keep my training as a goal. I never want to lose sight of the fact that my great long term goal is to be in a position to self teach. Class twice a week as my wife's work schedule allows. Given that her schedule is going to improve dramatically in mid-August, I'm pretty content with that. Pause for a second I haven't been handling unemployment well. That's just a simple fact. There's a lot of stress in my home. We have a lot going on. I get lost in my head. These things are happening way too often. I'm going to try something different. At 11 o'clock and 3 o'clock each weekday, I'm going to stop whatever I'm doing (goofing off, teaching myself a new programming language, cleaning, whatever) and do some deep breathing for one minute. That's it. Something to recenter myself and get back on track. We'll see how that goes. Go for a second helping Man, why is food so hard? A number of challenges ago, I made it a goal to eat a good lunch every week day. It was a good goal and I felt I did well at it. Then I stopped eating lunch again. My food has become erratic and weird. Which is bad. Eat lunch! Food is important! Do a second set The only consistent exercise I have is my hapkido training. And that's great and all, but it neglects certain foundational strength issues. I am certainly guilty of not making that part of my fitness a priority, despite regularly coming home from class with strange pains that it shouldn't be possible to occur. They do, but they're not muscle exhaustion and rebuilding. This goal is going to be both fluid and measurable. I sit a lot. One might say all of the time. Each day, my goal is to get up and move with purpose twice. Walking to the grocery store and back. Mowing my lawn. Doing hill sprints with my wife. Do a body weight workout routine. Letting my nephew run me ragged. These are all ways that I can get up and move around. So do them. SUPER SECRET TRAVEL GOAL If you've read this far, then I admire your courage. I have flights booked for August 21st to go to Philadelphia. We'll be there until the 25th. Seems like a good way to help the mid- to end of challenge doldrums. Who's in the area? Who wants to meet up for a drink or more likely board games because I'm still unemployed and the flights came from visa points.