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See? It's topical. Sorry I'm late. As I like to say, I think of challenges as things that we do first and foremost, and I started the challenge but I never posted it. So here are the big goals for the year: I want to get my freaking apartment cleaned up finally. I want to lose a significant amount of weight, because I have a significant amount to lose. I want to graduate to pain free movement. I want to complete a draft of the novel and get it before some beta readers. I want to go to therapy. I want to start dating again. A lot of these goals are... in progress already. After asking @The Most Loathed and thinking about it some, I decided to download the Renaissance Periodization diet app. Not because I need someone to tell me what to do but because I think it's useful to have something to help me track general trends in weight and tell me, "Hey, this is looking good," or "Hey, this is looking not so good and maybe you should change some things." I started up a weight loss phase for myself officially on the 17th and so far I'm looking good. You wouldn't think having a line chart trending the proper direction would make a big difference, and maybe it doesn't make a big difference for most people, but it sure does help me. My training, in the meantime, is helping my knee feel better, and work got off my back enough for me to start making mat time again, which is heckin' dope. So, looking back at my goals, I'm kind of vibing with the cleaning goal the most. It feels appropriate to the season, and a bunch of stuff kind of started to happen to convince me that it's just time: found some apartment repair opportunities that I don't want to haggle with my landlord about and I'd rather do myself I'm meditating more lately and it's cleaning out my headspace something nice I got another calcium score for my heart and it looks like there's more calcium in there despite our best efforts. This is an early warning of potential coronary artery disease, and given my family history of heart attacks, it's only a matter of time. After talking it over with my primary care provider, we're looking at starting up EDTA IV treatment, which is something that's normally used for things like lead poisoning and the detoxification of other heavy metals. It's not guaranteed to do anything about my heart, but it's not contraindicated either and there's a chance it could do me some good. I'll be paying out of pocket for it, I think, but that's what my HSA is for and I'm always under budget on that thing anyway, so it's not like I can't afford it. I think. I guess we'll see. So, just a lot going on to make me feel like it's time, and with the onset of spring, I figure, what the hell? The goal is a riff on my standard thing. Normally it's been clear up one piece of trash or properly store one thing. The riff is, I'm going to double that - two pieces of trash or 2 things properly stored, or a combination thereof. Each of these is going to be from the 2 spaces in my apartment: one from my job space, and one from my personal space. I'm also going to spice this up with some rewards, too: I picked up a book on home repair and it includes some tool lists for some of the jobs I want to get done. Every week that I do 80% or better, I will reward myself with a trip to the hardware store to pick up a tool. By the end of these 5 weeks, I should have the tools I need to start on the repairs I want to do. Whether that starts or not at the end of those weeks is gonna depend on where and how I find myself, but that'll be a problem for future Kishi to solve when he's collected enough data and changed his circumstances enough to make an intelligent decision. As I said, I've been at this now for a bit and the stats are as follows: Goal: 2.5/4 That is not 80%! So, I'm going to have to pick up (harrrr) my pace a bit if I want to get what I need to get my work done. The week's been decent so far. I've been missed at the academy, which warmed my heart some to realize, and so this week I've been pushing myself to get my "Strength At Length" work done in the morning. It's worked the past couple days, but it didn't happen today, so tonight is strength/rehab and rest. I've been recommitting to home drilling too to keep myself honest and sharpen up a little bit. Today's been kind of shit show, enough to derail my training but not more or worse than I've complained about before here. And hey, it's a short week on account of Good Friday, so a 3-day weekend will be nice. Only bad part is, they're gonna hold me to a full week's worth of productivity without a full week to do the work. That's never fun. But that's par for the course, and I did manage to solve some significant problems today. So that's good news. This is fine. Yup. Nothing to see here, folks. Just keep on moving. Fire cleanses, after all.

Kind of inspired by @Red1263. And I like the vibe of this one. Even though it is a monastery, and a separated space, it doesn't feel as isolated as the other fantasy pieces do where the monastery is built in the mountains. That is, it doesn't feel as removed from day to day concerns as the other pieces tend to. I like it for that. Feels truer to life somehow. Also, I like the feeling that it mixes East and Southeast Asian aesthetics for a real fantasy vibe. But that's just me tho. Anyway, howdy, y'all! Welcome to another challenge. Peace and be welcome. Last challenge, things went really great. I stopped leaning so much on caffeine and got really sensitive to it as a result, and I ranked up to a blue belt in BJJ, which caught me by surprise, and I advanced in my writing to the point that I'm writing prose on my novel, and... I just feel good. Good enough that I feel like I can make some significant changes in my life this year, things that I want for myself. This was my wishlist as I was able to articulate it to myself: I want to get my freaking apartment cleaned up finally. I want to lose a significant amount of weight, because I have a significant amount to lose. I want to graduate to pain free movement. I want to complete a draft of the novel and get it before some beta readers. I want to go to therapy. I want to start dating again. But you might notice that my topic and my tags, along with my tendency to only do one goal for a challenge, kind of makes it sound like I'm not getting after any of these. I beg to differ. It's been my observation that nothing exists in isolation; rather, everything relates and exists within a context. Training exists in a context with sleep and nutrition, and these exist in relationship with job and income and privilege, and these exist in a social context within which I have to live and move and have my being. It sounds like highfalutin nonsense, but what it basically boils down to is I can't change one thing without changing a whole bunch of other things at the same time. In this case, a movement goal helps me get after the clean up goal, the weight loss goal, and the pain free goal, because my place is messy enough that it interferes with my movement I weigh enough that it impacts my joint health (although it also provides free resistance too, so it's not like it's all bad) moving pain free is dope So, big ol' wind up. What does it all mean? Well, those of you what know me or followed me for a while know I've got a tendency to mix and match stuff from a lot of different trainers/training philosophies, but it's only been in the past month or so that I've really come to internalize the concept of "Junk Volume," or Bruce Lee's maxim of "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own." I thought for a long that what I was doing giving myself an opportunity to express my body in a lot of different ways, and maybe that was true, but I wasn't being truthful with myself in terms of why I was doing what I was doing. Truth is, I was mad at myself for developing obesity, and I've been punishing myself for it, working beyond my ability to recover, and really failing to develop the attributes that I actually want for myself. That's not to say I don't want cool shit like front lever rows or heavy kettlebell snatches or long-distance heavy rucking or things like that, but I don't want them at the expense of pain free movement or the ability to do striking and grappling well into old age, and I suspect that that's what I've been doing. So after a lot of thought, I've elected to go with Ben Patrick/Knees Over Toes Guy's programs, specifically with the goal of building toward the BJJ strength program that he put together along with Nsima Inyang. As I mentioned to @The Most Loathed, I've been listening lately to Dr. Mike Israetel, a jiujiteiro/bodybuilder/Dr of Sports Physiology, and I eventually stumbled across one of his videos from some years ago where he talks about blending strength work and grappling, and he specifically recommends that there be as much separation between these as is possible so that they don't interfere with each other. And you might not think that a knee/body rehab program would count as bodybuilding/strength work, but Mr. Toes has personally said that he considers his work to be a mix of bodybuilding and yoga, specifically because he seeks to develop "strength at length." 7 weeks in, I think that claim is worth taking seriously, especially since I do have a feeling that my martial arts and my strength work have been in conflict with one another. So, what is my goal? My goal is to get myself to the point that I'm doing my strength work 4-6 hours before I go out to the mats. This will mean doing my strength work in the AM, and doing mat time at night. Night time mat time isn't going to be an option all the time, however, and my scoring for the challenge is going to account for that. Knees Over Toes (KOT) program presently runs Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday are rest days. Night training is only available Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Saturday and Sunday are noon and morning, respectively, but it doesn't matter, because those are rest days. Therefore, Monday, Thursday, and Friday training will each be worth half a point. So KOT is half a point, and mat time is half a point. Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday trainings are each worth a full point, because only one kind training is available to do on those days if I assume that the goal is for these to harmonize with one another rather than interfere with one another. Half points are still possible on days where I follow one program and not the other when I could have feasibly followed both. I will bias toward KOT because of its rehab benefits and its carryover to more of my life than mat time. If you followed me last challenge, you might recall that I could have a potential obstacle in that the building's washing machine busted, but I'm pleased to report that my landlord actually took care of this in a timely fashion and I have laundry facilities restored on the premises. So that's good news. Making this work is going to mean getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier, something that I've allowed to slip. It's also going to mean balancing my work-life balance a bit since I'm cleared for OT with the job right now and I need to work as much as I can/they'll let me before it cuts off at the end of the month again. Not sure how it's going to bear out since our legislators can't budget for shit these days, so I might get more next month and I might not. Just gotta be like water, I guess. But hey, here we are, on time for once. Cool. Looking forward to seeing how this one goes.

Happy New Year, everyone! "Kishi! What the hell, man, you disappeared last challenge!" Details. I had a meditation goal and I basically struggled with it until I found my way back to "Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Everyday Radicals," which imposes some external structures that I find useful for consistent meditation. As a result, I've been meditating more and it's been helping me. I feel good about that. So what am I talking about as far as slowing down? Well, in the course of my ongoing research about how to care for myself, I found out about this idea of caffeine cycling. Basic idea is to lay off the caffeine a bit - lots of low-caffeine days with some high days as needed. Highlights include cutting off mid-afternoon caffeine, instituting no-caffeine days, and regularly attempting to reset the sensitivity for it rather than coming to rely on it. Because I'm finding for myself that I don't really care for the degree to which I'm coming to rely on this stuff. I think my sleep is better when I'm not using or when I use less late in the day, and I worry that it's bad for my heart long term. So, my goal is to institute the "Green Tea Protocol" listed in the linked article - 2 days of coffee, 4 days of green tea, and 1 day of rest/decaf. The trackable for this goal is a 3 PM cutoff. Not sure how far the cutoff goes - might eventually go to 2 PM, then 1, but I want to take this challenge to watch myself and see how I'm doing. If my sleep improves to a satisfactory degree, then I see no reason to go any further, but that remains to be seen. The other hope in slowing down, ironically, is that I'll be better about being here and being present for y'all rather than focusing solely on myself and my problems. I find that the caffeine causes me to hyperfocus - very useful for work and training, but very difficult for transitioning over to being here. Here's to a New Year. I have a kind of Epic Challenge in mind for the course of the year which I'll write about once I can articulate to myself what the hell it is I'm trying to accomplish.

Took a week for me to figure out the one thing I want to change, and the way in which I want to change it. I've known for a while now that I need to get up earlier. I'm pretty good at starting to for a bit, but it doesn't take: eventually, something goes haywire somewhere and I wind up being up late and needing to sleep late to make up for it, and before long I've regressed to the old mean. Meaning (harrrr) that I need a new mean. Instead of getting up at 9:30 AM, I'm going to spend the next few weeks focusing on just getting up at 9:00 AM. Get myself used to what life looks like there get a feel for making happen what needs to happen when it needs to for me to hit that target consistently. I don't need to be perfect, but landing there 80% of the time should get me somewhere like where I need to be. Exciting news on the job front. I put in for a promotion last week, which I've said before I'd be a shoe-in for. Didn't have the means to put in previously as HR didn't open up any slots, but when they did this past month, I went for it. It's a decent bump in pay and apparently the extra work isn't that much harder. Other good news is that the job opened up overtime again! It's only a little bit, but it'll help the paycheck and the caseload, and that's all I really want. Also, figured out that the head cold is actually just seasonal allergies based on its responses to medication, so I'm cleared to get back to the mats. Though I still need to figure out how to honor both the job and my desires. Because the writing's going well and I'm not willing to negotiate on that. Ah well. It'll be sorted. In the meantime: Goal: 1/1.

Howdy, y'all! Hope you're doing well today. In a sign of how well I'm rebalancing my life, I'm here early, just like I used to be in easier times. Because it turns out I have a lot more say in how I get here than I thought. For those of you just tuning in, I'm Kishi. Been around a while, and still a work in progress. I'm coming off a big win challenge where I challenged a lot of my assumptions about training and lifestyle and the choices I have. It's been freeing, in a lot of ways, although these new freedoms come packing a bunch of new responsibilities with them that you might not necessarily expect. For example: I have learned that I can effectively strength train on 10 minutes of work a day. It's true. I'll tell you some more about it sometime. But the responsibility that comes with it now is to actually spend that 10 minutes well, and not put it off and put it off until the end of the day when I really need to be eating dinner and winding down. It's a virtuous thing in the sense of promoting wellbeing, but it's a virtuous thing that can feed into a vicious cycle if I let it, and I don't really want to do that. Figuring that out was a big part of last challenge. It's dialed in pretty well now, though. So now that I have a minimum effective dose for training, I want to turn that to my writing. Although maybe not in the way you might think, because the trick with minimum effective doses is that you don't necessarily know where that is and it's very easy to go below that minimum and maybe not even necessarily know it. I've had a minimum effective dose for my writing for a while of just showing up and staring at the draft, and sometimes that's felt like enough, but on the whole I'm dissatisfied with it. I feel like I want to do more, but more than that, I want to feel good about the amount of work I've done in a given day. And I know that feelings aren't a thing I control, so chasing a writer's high might not be the most responsible thing to do. But OTOH, "If I do what I've always done, I will get what I've always got." I want something different, so I gotta change it up somehow. The goal of this challenge - single goal, because that's how I roll - is to show up daily to write and to work on the story to the degree that I feel good about it. How much is that going to be? I dunno, man. I think it might vary depending on the task and where I am mental health-wise on a given day. I want to give myself grace and space for that. But I also want to have discipline too. I want to work. And I want to feel good about it. That's what this challenge is about. And also, you know, being part of an awesome community that I genuinely like too.

Well, howdy there, folks! Good to see you again, or for the first time. I'm Kishi, a monk prone to itineracy and general quietude. I hope you are well. I had a challenge last time and I disappeared. Unfortunately, I can't say it's because I was really doing my challenge, but fortunately I can say it wasn't for any dramatic reasons. Life just got busy, and instead of developing my meditation like I told myself to, I found myself falling back on a lot of other challenge habits like my cleaning and my writing. I'm pleased to say those are all doing better, and my own drilling/shadowboxing/chess and such are doing better too as I've been prioritizing mat time and responding to the input I get from people. Also, the reward I chose for myself came to make less sense, and I just didn't feel driven to press the reset button. I guess to continue the game metaphor, I got lost in the side quests, and by the time I cared about my main, the game was over. But you may notice I have a meditation tag again, along with some others, and I reckon that deserves some explanation. My reasons for meditation, beyond the mental health benefits, are also physiological: I have heart issues to worry about at the ripe old age of 36, and meditation is a useful practice for heart health. Fortunately, there's good science to say I need less of it than I've been trying for to get the benefits I want. Which is good news. More is not always better; sometimes it's just more, and in order for more to be better, sometimes it has to be less. Because less is more. Huh. Right. Cool. There's some other stuff going on too. I've finally returned to striking sparring, and it's proving to be a real shock to the system. The caliber of striking here is relatively high compared to what I've seen in a while, and it's Thai-Dutch style boxing, which means high volume striking at close range with the head as a viable target. It's a lot to work with, and this in a hot academy in the opening of an NC summer. It's not going to get colder. So I need to work on my conditioning; going back to the GST folk, the two recommendations they have are running and skipping rope. Running would take a lot of time and wouldn't come with the coordination benefits or the raw lightness of foot that comes from constant bouncing, so skipping rope it is. Another thing I need to work on is my recovery. I've been using glucosamine to help out with joint pain, and while I did find an effective brand, it's also pricey, and I'm getting real sick of having as little money on hand as I do at the end of the month. (especially since my job is just being icky with pay right now). So I'm looking into recovery methods and found the work of a Shaolin monk named Shi Yan Lei, which I'm finding fascinating on account of his pedagogical preferences. He has a book on qigong for longevity, which I'm willing to gamble would help with recovery, so I'mma do it. My goal with this is to deal with and prevent joint pain over time without having to go the supplement route. Between this and the mobility training in GST, I'm hopeful. The goals are as follows: Goal 1: Training The qigong routine calls for 3-4 times per week, but before I even get into that, I need to learn to breathe. Shi Yan Lei calls for a kind of "reverse breathing" in his method, which is a kind of chest breathing for energy. I need to practice that first before I even get into adding extra movement. Also, the skipping rope is going to be done 1-2 times per week to start with, per the recommendations of the Jump Rope Dudes and Crossrope. These will be very small practices: 5 breaths, and skipping for 1 minute, because what I need is consistency right now and something to build on. These are being lumped onto/into my general training as it stands, so this is really about making the logs simple. Goal 2: Meditation Meditate 10 minutes a day after whatever nightly stretching I'm doing. I've fallen into the evening routine of coming home from mat time, showering off, and stretching while warm. This is a really freaking nice way to end the day. Meditation afterward would suit, I think. Goal 3: Breathe So, out of left field: the Wim Hof Method, which is fantastic for grappling because it teaches you not to be afraid of time without air. I just grapple better when I'm doing this. I like grappling better. I like the lack of fear, and I'm already taking cold showers these days just as it is. Might as well complete the process. As to my reward? Well, if I get the breathing right, I'll be taking the next challenge to begin work on movement. But Shi Yan Lei isn't just talking about movement. He's also talking about massage, with a possible avenue toward Iron Shirt training. This would be incredibly useful and has been something I've tried to cultivate on my own without any success. The Shaolin method for this training involves the use of very specific brushes to massage the body. The first step would be a bamboo brush. This is used in conjunction with the qigong program anyway, so once I've demonstrated my seriousness to myself, I'll reward myself with the brush. These goals excite me. Can't wait to get started... so. Might as well.

Many origin stories spin a tale of humble beginnings, of loss or hopelessness and perhaps finding purpose in life again. History writes our mythologies. But not mine. There is no one left to carve words onto the pages and I have been at war for so long I have exhausted every memory. My story and sacrifices have faded to the transitory mists of time with no beginning in mind and no end in sight. For too long has a shadow and a doubt chased at the edge of my thoughts; the Void is never far away. Embracing Chaos has suited my needs thus far. Though dreadful in its means and terrible in action, I know the debt will rack up and all must pay. This is no manifesto, creed or prayer; only the facts as we dare to handle them with a gatekeeper’s silk gloves, showing the care and reverence expected. It gets no easier going forward but that does not mean the struggle cannot be without any small comfort. Like a tsunami or avalanche builds up momentum, or a raging conflagration continues to seek fuel for combustion, there is a flow state here as in anything else. Even though the night is dark and full of terrors, those same demons are my most familiar company and I welcome their haunting. It has become my fire, my fuel, my momentum. I shall not let them overtake me. Let them come. Madness is my ally and Chaos itself hardens the aegis of my hide and sharpens my claws for war. Where once few dared to resist the Void and even they failed, let now the dark hordes innumerable tremble in terror at my coming. The Path is forgotten, sundered now and in ruin. I have rewritten the Tarot. I am the way now. There shall be no peace, for I am war. Welcome to the Sanctum Parabellum, the Last Stronghold and Fortress-Monastery of Harrgath. Continuing with my 2020 challenge theme of a sanctum from which to launch my campaign against bad habits and negative behavior or thinking patterns, this challenge will be my Fortress Monastery to prepare for whatever undertakings I shall embark on in the New Year; and my life/body is the [Artifact] to be forged. Here is a very simple checklist to serenely rebuild a foundation and return to healthy habits both within and outward. [Sanctum Parabellum Quest Log] Apothecarium: Whole foods and intuitive nutrition. Monastery Maintenance: Complete four home tasks per week. Artifact Research & Armory: Muay Thai three times per week. Kettlebell & Yoga each once weekly. Chamber of Reflection: Daily Self-care activities. Librarium: Self-improvement through NF forum participation, stoicism studies and writing pursuits, or memes.

Hey, everyone! I'm curious what people are doing for their workouts. I only go to Muay Thai twice a week. What can I do to improve my stamina and strength? One routine I saw is run 2+ miles, jump rope 3 rounds, shadow box 2 rounds, then heavy bag 3 rounds. Should I try to fit in things like pushups, squats, situps, etc? I do my workouts at home, where I have a heavy bag, but I don't have a gym membership where I can lift weights or anything. Thanks, ninjas!

As planned and promised, here is my month-long challenge for the month of April. Featuring my favorite Star Wars alien species: If those creepy looking aliens with breathing devices look somehow familiar but you can't quite recall, go back to when Palpatine pulls the trigger on the execution of Order 66... That'd be Plo Koon, shot down by his own Clone Troopers flying behind him So why Kel Dor? Why Star Wars? Well, in case you've missed it, NerdFitness' resident Jedi Master @EricMN has booked his flight tickets and will be visiting Sparta this Fall for the races. It is only fitting I go with a Star Wars theme and try to make it as the Padawan to his Jedi Master and that's more than a figure of speech: the man has been knocking off OCRs left and right to the point where he qualified for the World OCR championship last year. I've done like 4 or 5 in my entire life these last few years that I got into it. And sure, maybe he hasn't kept it up since the WOCRC, but neither have I since running my back to back Super&Sprint Spartan in 2017. We're still Force-sensitive, all we gotta do is get back in line. Comfortable with (self produced) toxic gases, check Breathing issues (messy nose diaphragm), check Sight issues (5 degrees of myopia), check Goggles (so I don't loose my contacts in water obstacles), check Sharp sence of social justice and a drive to do something for that, check Sounds about right. The Challenge Prepare for the 2019 Spartan Race in Ancient Sparta How Part 1: Continue to track food & water intake on my phone app as well as my weight on a daily basis. Make a conscious effort to cut down on sugar and eat more meat&veggies. Part 2: Train. Attend 2 Muay Thai training sessions a week. While irrelevant on the surface, MT's done a good job of building up my upper body strength (major weak point) and conditioning, especially the "power under duress" part of it. Still, my running and quad/calf endurance could do with a bit more running and following @Endor's C2K PvP challenge, I wanna introduce some running into my weekly training, especially if I'm making up for missed MT sessions. Part 3: Accountability and Logistics. Keep my Jedi Master accountable, including Facebook harassment. Get more info on his schedule and race intentions so I can plan accordingly and get my tickets in time. Obviously, the NGW wrestling narrative will continue this month as well. On with the challenge!

I bought a Muay Thai bag. It's 6 ft, 150 lbs, unfilled. Does anyone have any tips, or instructions, or links for how to fill one? I've found a couple of videos, on YouTube, but I wanted to see if anyone, here, had any other good resources for this. Thanks, everyone!

I just had my 5th class. It's super fun! However, I'm extremely out of shape. A positive thing, though, it's that I started this to motivate me to exercise, and it's working. There are a couple of things that I'm wanting to do, to get better in my classes: 1. Become Staminus Maximus, the god of stamina. 2. Inject Hulk serum into my limbs, to improve my strength. 3. Get better at eating the right things. Any tips for the kinds of exercise I would be doing, and food I should be eating, outside of class? For perspective, I haven't exercise for a full year, before starting Muay Thai.

Hello! I've just started Muay Thai, a few weeks ago. I was wondering if I could have some tips on strength training, mainly bodyweight stuff? This would be for striking power, but I also would like to just be a stronger person, in general. Help me, Strength-trainers Kenobi, etc., and so forth.

I've always felt that, if I had a reason to be in shape, instead of just to look and feel better, it would be easier to motivate myself to exercise. So, I had my 5th Muay Thai class yesterday, and I freaking love it! I want to keep doing this, long term. I'm just a beginner, but I can already tell, I'm going to love this, long term.

Jumping in mid-challenge. I'm going to throw down my basic goals for the month here and try not to fret about how disorganized I'm being (but secretly actually fretting about it). I had some progress during the last challenge (going to Muay Thai 3x a week now, yay!) and some setbacks (screwed up my glute med so I can't do half the stuff I want to do, boo!). So I'm just going to maintain as much as I can of what I was already doing, with an emphasis on actually, you know, *achieving* the other goals. Mostly that means prioritizing because I suck at that and end up chasing after whatever shiny urgency flits across my field of view. Because productive procrastination is my forte! too...many...rocks!! Exercise Muay Thai 3x/week - this was achieved last challenge, I'm just going to keep it up. A little PT each day - because if I don't fix this &$^%# glute I can't *do* any round kicks, or slapping knees, or most of my conditioning drills for Muay Thai, so ya, I'm motivated. Diet 6-8 glasses water a day - I don't really need food goal. I've been doing my tracking and protein and whatnot for so long it's second nature now. But I have slipped on hydration. Life Coding - OMG I just need to do this already. 15 minutes a day. Which is a laughably small amount but I just need to kick my own butt into gear on this one. Priorities, people. Declutter - I need to toss, donate and sell stuff. Preferably sell, because the hubby and I have gotten serious about paying off our debt and have a plan in place. But every bit extra we can bring in helps. And that's it. I'm going to keep cutting down the number of goals each challenge until I finally get a working baseline. I am a bit dense and it takes me a while to get the whole 'start small' thing, but eventually I'll beat my head against it long enough to drive the point home!

Emboldened by all the returning rebels, I'm putting myself in the game and coming back to play. I missed the structure and the accountability, but most of all, I've missed you lovely people. So hopefully, and slightly shamefacedly, I'm going to try - for the third time! - to finish my last challenge. A few tweaks for the new goings-on and priorities in my life, but mostly the same. I'll include the original challenge below in a spoiler, but here's the basics: Exercise: Muay Thai 3x/week. One of the changes that happened this year is that @Bighara and I switched from our school's Fitness Kickboxing class to their Muay Thai class. We've been going for four months now and I am completely blown away by how incompetent I feel at it. Physically, it's not much more challenging, but mentally....whoa. I need to practice practice practice because I am just sad out there, people. Strength Training 3x/week. On the days I don't go to class, I'm switching things up - normally I've been doing a bodyweight routine, but I got to a certain point with my progressions and just stalled. And I think the problem is that I'm simply not strong enough. So I've started lifting weights with Phrak's Greyskull LP variant, which is recommended for total beginners, which I am. Do a cartwheel. I could do these as a kid. But then I stopped, because...grownups don't do cartwheels, I guess? So now this grownup *can't* do a cartwheel. I plan to fix that this month. I'm going to go slow and do stupid-looking ones until I can do something that a person would look at and go, "I *think* she might be doing a cartwheel!" I'm not going for perfection, is what I'm saying. Extra bonus points if I manage to do cartwheels from either side (which I have never been able to do, I'm strictly a left-handed cartwheeler). Diet/Health: 75-100g protein per day. 35+ hours sleep/week. Life: Spanish. So, this past May I fulfilled a very long-awaited dream and took my kids to visit my family in Argentina. We were there for 4 weeks and it was everything I hoped it would be and I'm so very happy we did it. But now I need to solidify the gains in Spanish the kids have made by continuing to speak it. My eldest especially has gotten so much better and I want to encourage both her and her younger sister to keep it up. But it's on me, and I need to really push myself, because it's just So. Darn. Easy. to speak in English instead. FlyLady. Doing the Babysteps, oddly, was part of what made me fall apart last time. I just couldn't keep up. And so this time I'm going to be even more basic than that, and just commit to spending 15 minutes each day either decluttering or taking care of a Job Jar item that I've been putting off. Later I'll worry about systems, but right now I need to get out from all these 'shoulda-dones' staring at me all the time. Coding. One of the best things I got out of the challenges before was doing steady work on my freelance coding. And that's one of the things that has totally fallen apart. So this is a big one, I want to spend at least 25 minutes a day working on code. More is better! But that's my daily minimum. Wish me luck - I'm seeing this one to the end this time, come heck or high water! (this is some seriously high water, though, guys)

Nak here This is my second challenge and the first one I'm posting on the Monk topic; if I get lazy shame me into being not so lazy. If anyone's interested my discipline is Muay Thai. Anyway, on with the challenge. Goal 1: All eight limbs Last challenge and the break between that and this one were the opportunity for me to rebuild the fundamental skills of Muay Thai after a year of being lazy with inconsistent training. My first goal is to continue to develop those skills to reach and surpass my previous level. The best way to do this is through consistent Muay Thai training, that means: Bagwork at least once per week (preferably twice) Technique training once per week Padwork once per week Sparring once per week A little shadow sparring every day (even if it's just a few minutes) Goal 2: Powerful body, powerful strikes When two fighter's clash it's always in the first instance an issue of skill, but to think skill alone is enough is a fatal illusion. A fighter's body has to be powerful and it has to endure the pain from without and the pain from within. We all know what this pain from within is: when your heart's pumping battery acid, you feel like the next time you move your legs they'll send you crashing to the ground and your lungs can't take in enough oxygen to fuel your body. So while you're fighting the external enemy you're also waging a full on war with the internal enemy, your own weakness. To help me win this war, on top of the workouts in the training sessions outlined above I'm using a variation of the "Good Behavior" program from Convict Conditioning, except with ab wheels and my own core circuit in place of the leg raises variations he recommends (my doorway pull up bar makes hanging leg raises awkward). Additionally I'm throwing in a circuit of burpees every single day. Doesn't matter if I have training later, if it's midnight, if I feel like I might die. If I can drag my carcass out of bed I do these burpees EVERY SINGLE DAY. Additionally I like to run a little bit because it clears my head so I want to do that at least once per week. Goal 3: No shame in pride I need to drop 2-3 kg (depending on if I've been to the toilet!) to get back down to my fighting weight. Once I'm there my goal is to stay there and continue losing as much fat as possible and replacing that with muscle to get ripped. The logic of this is twofold: firstly a fighter in a Thai match should try and have as little excess fat as possible. Secondly I'm going to Barcelona soon and I want to look sexy as fook (no shame in pride I tell you). Train well, fight well. I welcome any input you guys might have. Nak out

Last we left our hero, he was wandering a swamp searching for a new shard of the crystal. "Man, what's with this place!? I feel like I've been stuck in one spot for days! I think I better take a breather over here." Red builds a small fire and tries to observe his surroundings. "The crystal hasn't changed it's brightness in a while. I wonder if I'm making any progress in this swamp." After a short rest, Red decides to continue walking. The fog continues to make his body feel weaker and stiffer, yet, he knows he must press on. He then stumbles upon a peculiar clearing, and upon further examination he realizes that this place was where a severe battle took place. "What on Midgard happened here? It's just... horrible." As he slowly paced around, he heard a voice, "It's terrible, isn't it?" Jumping back Red looked for where the voice came from. "Who said that?! Why does it always have to be a random disembodied voice?!" A cloaked figure stepped forward. "I didn't mean to startle you, I'm sorry. I just saw you here, and thought you'd might like some company." Red after catching his breath, introduced himself, "I'm Red, I'm... looking for something in this swamp, but I think I'm lost. Actually, I'm certain I'm lost. What's your name?" The Cloaked Figure hesitated, "I'm... umm... I... Don't... Know?" the Figure looked away shaking its head, "I can't remember... I was here with... some... one? And then every... thing... was gone... I looked up and saw you..." Red looked at him puzzled, "You don't know who you are? Well, maybe I can help, Why not take off the hood, an--" "NO!!!" ".... Ooook. So the hood, stays on." "I'm sorry, but this is... you shouldn't... I'm sorry." Seeing the sad Figure, Red decided to comfort him. "Nah, Hoods are all the rage now a days. As a matter of fact, I--" Before he could finish his story, Monsters appeared! They slowly approached and Red and the Figure stood back to back, preparing to fight. "Uh oh! Looks like we'll finish this conversation la--" The Figure disappeared in a blur! Each monster was dispatched as quickly as it came and the Figure reappeared. Red was completely astonished by what he saw! "That. Was. Incredible! How did-- where did you learn how to do that?! You moved like a Lvl 99 Monk with Haste!" Red asked. The Figure hesitates again, "I... I don't know... I just... Moved." "Well you did a hell of a lot more than just move! I only saw a blur! You did something like this?" Red swung his elbow terribly outward. "Heh, no it's more like.. Well, I'll tell you what, why don't I show you? Maybe I'll remember something in the process?" * * * Red learns a new Technique! - I've decided to teach myself a new Muay Thai technique: Elbow Combos! Using a video from a very successful Muay Thai instructor, I'm going to learn 5 Elbow combos. Utilizing my 3 rounds, I'll start slow so as to perfect form, and then I'll speed it up to add more speed to the combos. Now I'm teaching myself by watching said video carefully and then imitating what I saw, so I might have it perfected by the end of this challenge, but I'm giving it my damnedest! Body still feels different! - I liked stretching every day, but I slacked off on it last challenge. So I'm renewing it for this one. Stretching 5 times a week! "I.. I think I remember something..." - A few nights ago, I lost sleep to an idea that I want to learn something new, it didn't matter what it was or how random said thing was, I was inspired to learn SOMETHING. This list was random, but I'm going to start learning something new and broaden my horizons. This is what my quick 1am list looks like Knot-tying Face Reading Lock Picking Finances Language Learning (Tagalog) Astronomy How to fly a plane General Business And that's about it. I am not going to have a fourth goal this time, if I did, it'd probably be a list of chores I need to/plan on doing. Changing an (expensive) fuse in my SUV, Rearranging my entire room, Selling stuff on Ebay, Shipping the thing that someone bought from me on Ebay, And general cleaning that my room desperately needs... Probably when I rearrange the room...

This will be my first challenge. The time frame is actually close to perfect. I'm traveling to Europe for the first time on the 19th of May. I guess I'll start two days early and end two days early. I am 5'10" (177.8 cm) and weigh 260 lbs. (117.934 kg.). I am overweight and I feel that my health is greatly suffering. My goal weight is probably to be somewhere around 180-190 lbs. I plan to accomplish this goal over time and definitely not by the end of this challenge. I plan to lift weighs, run, do some Jiu-Jitsu, and eat right. There's a Jiu-Jitsu tournament in August, and I plan to compete. I'm also currently unemployed and as a Life Goal, I'd like to gain some employment, because you kind of need money to pay for things like food, gas, and a house. So I'll be job hunting, trying to get some certifications, stuff like that as a long-term deal. For the purpose of this 4-week challenge, here are my goals: tl;dr Lose ~ 80 lbs. Get ready for a tournament in August Find a job Diet and Fitness 1. Go to five Jiu-Jitsu classes a week. It's often said that if you want to improve your Jiu-Jitsu, do more Jiu-Jitsu. So I plan to go to five Jiu-Jitsu classes each week. This shouldn't be too much of an issue schedule-wise. The gym where I train offers three classes Monday - Friday at 6AM, Noon, and 6PM. For the purpose of this challenge, I'll count an open mat as a class as well and I have multiple options of open mats on the weekends. I'm going to try to focus on my Half-Guard/Deep Half game. Criteria: C: The Bee attended 5 Classes B: The Bee attended 7 Classes C: The Bee attended 10 Classes 2. Do 400 Push Ups a week. I don't really lift or run or anything. I'm definitely planning to lift and run during this challenge as well but for what I want to track is 400 push ups in a week. I think this is achievable. If I split up 400 push ups in a week, I'm doing less than 60 a day. If I split it into morning and evening sessions, I'm doing 30 each sessions. This of course is a bottom line and the bare minimum. Criteria: C: 400 Push Ups B: 500 Push Ups A: 600 Push Ups 3. Limit eating out to twice a week. I'm a foodie. I love food and I got a body that shows it. I'm not huge on meal prepping all my meals a week ahead of time especially grilled chicken because I find it tends to be on the dry side. Since I am, unemployed and have more free time than most people. I'll try something out. Every Sunday and Thursday will be my prep day. I will prep all my food, but cook it the day of. So, my proteins will be marinated. My veggies will be chopped. Then the morning of, I'll cook up some rice (because if Filipinos don't have rice, we die) then cook up my meals for the day. I'm thinking the food will taste better as it's more fresh an I would be more likely to eat it and not just decide to order a pizza or go out for burgers. I'll also meal plan for the week on Sundays and check out the recipes threads to keep from getting bored. This should also help me out financially from not eating out so often. Criteria: C: Went out to eat twice. B: Went out to eat once. A: Didn't go out to eat. I want to try to keep my goals relatively small as I'm kind of just starting out. The push ups are also supplemental. I plan to re-evaluate the criteria for these goals at the end of each week to see if I maybe need to adjust the criteria if I'm not being challenged enough. I will only make the criteria more difficult with the exceptions of illness or injury. Lifestyle Goal: Study 10 Hours a week So for my lifestyle goal, I'm going to look into getting certifications or short classes to increase the different types of jobs I can get. I'm currently studying for an A+ Certification Test, which consists of two exams. I passed the first one and I take the second one on Saturday. I bought a few classes on UDEMY and I plan to take some MOOCs as well. So to make this measurable, I'll devote hours throughout the week to study something. I'll go for a minimum of 10 hours a week. That's two hours Monday - Friday which still gives me time to pursue my other goals and still enjoy the freedom of being unemployed. Criteria: C: Study 10 Hours/Week B: Study 15 Hours/Week A: Study 20 Hours/Week So yeah, there are my goals for the next four weeks. Any feedback would is welcomed and appreciated.

Man already this year is passing by fast! We have another awesome challenge coming up! I am BlackTezca, GIF queen extraordinaire and I had a rough last year. You can find all my lovely details from when I first arrived in space within From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel! I have also been training for galactic defending in BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards A Much Better Year and started making my progress to recover from my Eclipse moment in BlackTezca's 15th Trial: An Artsy Geeky Amazon Survives Her Eclipse. That was a hard recent moment in my life that has not only left some scars, but could have also awakened from inner power to attune myself with an awesome new force for protection of the Universe. Out of the trash and into the awesome! Of course I can't do this alone! I have to build up a few friends to battle along side me and support me as I get stronger, more rested, more social and just all in all more awesome! Awesome enough to take on the Galra empire and prevent tyranny from ruling over the universe! I need to become a firm warrior fit with creativity as well! Not only will I be able to defend the Universe this way but it'll bring me closer to my one true goal...!! My Main Quest to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman Without further ado, let's see my new awesome quests for January 2017! Note that most of these are familiar, but this is to get back into the habit and get back into the Rebellion! It's always good to revisit the basics and what made things so great the first time around :D. Keith is hotblooded fighter with strength and agility to boot! Details: The Red Lion is perfect for this workout quest! This will account for any workouts I do! But not yoga or just walking anymore, pure workouts (which I did last challenge so building up here). Hoping to get in some nice Kickboxing time as well included here which will be awesome! Note that thanks to a trip coming up, skiing will be part of the package too! Contingencies: Sickness and travel pretty much. However considering the flexibility here, I should be able to do something! Walking, yoga, etc! Tracking: I'll be tracking the workouts using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well. Grading: A for workout (Kickboxing and Muay Thai included) 4 to 5 times a week - 25 pts ( 1 Sta 2 Dex 2 Str ) B for workout (Kickboxing and Muay Thai included) out 2 to 3 times a week - 20 pts ( 1 Dex 1 Str ) F for all else Hunk knows how to eat to be the post heavy support he can be! Details: Time to limit sugar now and try to keep up my protein! This maybe a bit of a challenge considering that this is February AND my birthday is coming up this month too, but Hunk is reliable and sturdy; he can help me stay the course of caution with foods! I have hope! Contingencies: Oh boy! Getting back to eating 100g of protein and trying to limit sugar will be HARD this challenge: I have a break coming up later in the month (birthday trip to Breckenridge and Valentines). I'm not gonna go easy on myself this first week (Valentines day) but I may go easier on myself during the Birthday week! We'll see how it goes! Tracking: I'll be tracking the stretching sessions using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with extra accountability done here. Grading: A for 100 g of protein and less than daily allowed sugar 5 to 6 times a week - 25 exp ( 3 Con ) B or 100 g of protein and less than daily allowed sugar 3 to 4 times a week - 20 exp ( 2 Con ) C or 100 g of protein and less than daily allowed sugar 2 times a week - 15 exp ( 1 Con ) F for all else Lance is one social butterfly of a sharpshooter! Details: I need to comment on the forums! I did not do so at all last challenge and I feel like I am out of place in the forums due to this! It's time to come back and leave gifs EVERYWHERE!! ALL THE GIFS FOR ALL MY FRIENDS!!! Or at least a lovely comment! I will be here for you my friends! I promise!! Contingencies: If I lack internet somewhere like on my vacation, that would be the only contingency. I may not even include the days I'm out since it's somewhat between weeks. We'll see!Tracking: Tracking to be done here! On the forums where I need to comment!Grading: A for commenting at least once on a buddy's challenge 4 to 5 days a week! - 15 exp ( 2 Cha ) B for commenting at least once on a buddy's challenge 2 to 3 days a week! - 10 exp ( 1 Cha ) F for all else Pidge is a gadgeteering hacking genius with a penchant for creativity! Details: Time to keep this up! Did a lot of model painting last challenge and while that will still be the case, I want to do some digital art again too! Maybe I need to start doing those short portraits I did during October before disaster struck...hmm let me consider that with at least doing sketches too! Need to get my muse back in gear! Contingencies: The usual! Friends being in town, going on possible trips else where, etc. Need to focus on painting! Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track. Grading: A for Arting (model painting mostly) at least 30 minutes 4 to 5 days a week - 20 exp ( 2 Wis 1 Cha )B for Arting (model painting mostly) at least 30 minutes 2 to 3 days a week - 15 exp ( 1 Wis 1 Cha) F for all else Shiro has had it rough and really needs to recover! Details: I have been working a lot...my back is sore. I haven't been doing too well with dealing with stress and just letting myself stop working and just go home. I need to focus on doing some relaxing actions. Stretch, leave work as soon as I have my eight hours (and not work over weekends), taking a bath, talking a walk, these will count for lovely relaxation actions. Contingencies: None! Just take a bloody break! Tracking: I will be using this thread for tracking my relaxation actions! Woo!!Grading: A for relaxation actions 14 to 15 days this challenge (work days!) - 20 exp ( 1 Wis 1 Con )B for relaxation actions 12 to 13 days this challenge (work days!) - 15 exp ( 1 Wis ) F for all else The quests are set! Let's see what my current measurements are for this challenge! Starting Measurements: Date: 02/13/2017 @ 7:00 am Weight: 155.6 ***Body Fat***: 26 Waist : 26 Waist @ Navel:27 Hips: 39 Neck: 12 Chest: 33 Left Bicep: 11 Right Thigh: 18.5 Wrist: 5.5 Forearm: 9 Not bad! A slight improvement over last challenge, even with how lazy I was this past week! With that's, let go defend the Universe! Time to form VOLTRON!! *** ***Awesome Summaries Index*** Week 1 Summary Week 2 Summary Week 3 Summary Week 4 Summary Challenge Summary

I'm Lieutenant Dan. Fuck you 2016. Woo...it is a new year. A brand new spanking year that I desperately need. I have been out for the forums quite a bit last year for one main reason! Quick reminder for all of you folks who have yet to meet the Queen of Gifs; I am BlackTezca and I first joined the Rebellion back in 2014! I started out with my very first post in From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel! I also started a new battle log for the year titled BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards A Much Better Year (We all need a much better year). I had a lovely challenge during my Golden age in BlackTezca's 14th Trial: An Artsy Geeky Amazon Goes Back to School!!! and the challenge ended up being a pretty damn good success! I was ready to kick the rest of Octobers' ass and really rock the rest of 2016 until...disaster struck. Monsters abounded... I know a lot of folks who have figurative (and literal) battle scars from 2016 and I have to say...I am one of them. Some of you may have know this already, but the hubs and I lost our clone, Ezekiel, better known to us as Zeke. Zeke was...too much for this small puny world to handle and went off to conquer far, far, far away celestial places. He will be miss, and his departure hit us really hard. That was the best, and the very worst, Halloween weekend I have ever experience. That was what I shall call, the Eclipse moment. If you are familiar with the anime Berserk, which was...fittingly, gonna be my October challenge theme, then you know the Eclipse moment. The moment where everything goes to literal hell in Berserk and the dark dirty world transforms into a Apocalyptic Fantasy horror landscape. I really truly believe that losing Zeke was that moment; sure I didn't lose an eye nor lost an arm, but things are definitely not the same anymore. I didn't go on a 2 year hunting down Apostles hiatus like Guts did, but I did have a hiatus so I can heal physically and start healing emotionally. Cause I'm back bitches!! Time to kickass and get back to my main quest! As we all may remember, I have one hero that I always admire, one hero that I aspire to be! Her movie is coming out soon (JUNE 02 2017) and as such I must prepare myself to follow in her awesome footsteps...!! My Main Quest to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman Without further ado, let's see my new awesome quests for January 2017! Note that most of these are familiar, but this is to get back into the habit and get back into the Rebellion! It's always good to revisit the basics and what made things so great the first time around :D. Guts will never stop, never yield. He is simply to simple minded, too stubborn, and too bad ass. Details: Still keeping things simple here. Just like Guts who will never stop to rest for his simple goals (vengeance against Griffith, protecting Casca, getting monsters to leave him alone), I too shall not stop! Time to get my ass back into gear and work out as hard as I usual do!...While taking rest days and doing some yoga (which I will count as well! WOO YOGA!) Contingencies: Sickness and travel pretty much. However considering the flexibility here, I should be able to do something! Walking, yoga, etc! Tracking: I'll be tracking the workouts using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well. Grading: A for workout (including yoga) 4 to 5 times a week - 25 pts ( 2 Sta 2 Dex 2 Str ) B for workout (including yoga) out 2 to 3 times a week - 20 pts ( 1 Sta 1 Dex 2 Str ) F for all else Casca is a strong independent woman who don't need no man to kick some ass! Details: A woman with pride, strength and an efficient fighting style, Casca is a soldier through and through. She fights with finesse and often using her opponents greater strength to her advantage. I haven't been doing much to keep up with my own fighting skills and would like to get back into kickboxing and Muay Thai! Contingencies: If I can't make the Easton classes, I'll simply do a kickboxing work out at home with focus on good technique from Easton! Huzzah!Tracking: I'll be tracking the Muay Thai and Kickboxing using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well.Grading: A for Kickboxing/Muay Thai 3 times a week - 20 pts ( 1 Sta 2 Dex 1 Str ) B for Kickboxing/Muay Thai out 2 times a week - 15 pts ( 2 Dex ) C for Kickboxing/Muay Thai out 2 times a week - 10 pts ( 1 Dex ) F for all else Ishidoro needs to bulk up and eat at least 100 gram of protein to catch up to Guts! Details: Lets' get back to focusing on eating all the protein (and watching my carbs and sugar and such). Ishidoro wants to steal all of Guts techniques and skills, but he needs to pump up for that! I mean the dragonslayer is about 400 pounds and Guts can swing that with one arm. For me to get back to the weight I use to lift, I need to eat more protein! 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 Griffith has dreams, ambitions...and let one year with a bad day lead to a pretty horrific decision... Details: Oh man...oh Griffith...you're a real piece of work. Turning from one of the coolest characters into one of the most shittiest assholes over the course of one ruthless, hateful decision. To be fair to him, he had a bad year. He was tortured for a year, left disabled and unable to fight or even speak and after being united with his friends and comrades, realized he had just become a burden. That sucks. Really, really sucks. I am not gonna be like Griffith and just hole up into myself, making horrible choices. I had a pretty shitty 2016. I have some healing to do. And while I have done a pretty good job so far, I need to stop putting off getting some grief counseling. Not sure what yet, nor when, but I need to get some grief counseling of some kind. Maybe to let it all out, maybe to hep make a plan, I'm not sure, but something could still help me get a handle on this loss a little more. Contingencies: None; I need to not put it off.Tracking: Tracking to be done here and I'll need to use this thread to do some research and let ya'll know how I'm doing so far.Grading: A for one group or individual grief counseling session this challenge - 15 exp ( 2 Wis 1 Cha ) F for all else Puck is real are so are demons, other elves, and magic in the Berserkverse! Details: Puck is the resident light in the darkness known as the Berserkverse. He provides the comedy relief and much needed lightness for the series as well as proof that there are supernatural happenings afoot. He is an elf that is visible to all but the blind and tries his best to support Guts and his crew. Due to his supernatural, magical nature, he best represents my art quest! Same old here; painting and art for 30 minutes a day, most days of the week! Contingencies: The usual! Friends being in town, going on possible trips else where, etc. Need to focus on painting! Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track. Grading: A for Arting (model painting mostly) at least 30 minutes 4 to 5 days a week - 20 exp ( 2 Wis 1 Cha )B for Arting (model painting mostly) at least 30 minutes 2 to 3 days a week - 15 exp ( 1 Wis 1 Cha) F for all else The quests are set! I should be honest and have some stats posted for the new year! They...ugh...won't be great, but here they are!! Starting Measurements: Date: 01/05/2017 @ 7:30 am Weight: 161 ***Body Fat***: 26 Waist: 26 Waist @ Navel: 28 Hips: 40 Neck: 12.5 Chest: 34 Left Bicep: 11 Right Thigh: 19.5 Wrist: 5.5 Forearm: 9 Ughhhh...I know these are looking great, but hey! Cut me some slack :P. I'm getting back into things and I'm already feeling more trim and also feeling better! Hurray! Let's get this challenge going! Time to fight against the Dark Ages and kick ass Berserk style! WOO!!

Hi everyone! I'm part of the Rising Heroes program and I'm following the 4 week challenges too. I love finding like-minded people for encouragement, inspiration, resources, ideas and humor! I'm 44 and run an MMA and fitness gym. I've been boxing and practicing Muay Thai for years, and I'm a blue belt in Jiu Jitsu. I lift and do conditioning too with the goals of cross training and aging with strength and grace. As for leveling up.... I have too many directions I want to go, gotta narrow it down! I look forward to getting to know others here!

A little late to posting my round 2 challenge, but ive atleast been keeping up the training and eating so. This challenge will be based on mixing it up. I have a nasty habit of doing the same workout over and over until i become stagnant and plateau. Last challenge i did good with my diet and training regularly but now its time to go to the next level. Ive been on a dragon ball kick here lately so ill theme this around dragon ball super to keep me motivated. Diet Eat a vegetable with one meal every day keeping cheat food to only one cheat meal a week. Fitness Mix up my work outs to keep myself working hard every time and not become stagnant. Do at least 1 lower back exercise with each work out. Level Up Your Life Read atleast one chapter or section of a scholarly book or journal each day. post on here more

First time on here. Looking for some extra motivation. Ive been training martial arts for over 4 years and strength training for longer. I keep falling in and out of motivation to keep it all up. My goal is to lose atleast 5 lbs this month, Move up to the next stage in my current strength training program, and be better about keeping up with my diet all so i can greatly improve my skills as a martial artist. Kind of a simple post but i dont usually do the whole forum thing. I appreciate any and all motivation. Thanks everyone! Diet (pick two) Eat a vegetable with one meal every day Cut out Fast Food Fitness (pick one) Complete the NF bodyweight workout at least 1x a week Level Up Your Life (Pick One). Say one positive thing to yourself each morning when you look in the mirror

I'm kinda interested in picking up a martial art to do during the weekend on my off day. Some info about me: I recently started working out. (About two weeks ago) I am a student. Female 5"0' ~43kg What martial arts would you guys recommend? I've never done any sort of martial art before. Thanks for reading!

Back with the Monks for another round and after quite a while, I will be doing *gasp* a theme again after a very long while. Last challenge I had a goal of catching up with Lucha Underground before the premiere of Season 3 in September 7th. Been seriously addicted to that thing since I discovered it, so it makes absolute sense to use it as my theme. I also had a goal of keeping up with my fantasy wrestling blog of HWA, which led me into getting back into Total Extreme Wrestling. TEW05 is freeware but there have been several newer (and better) versions since, so I have decided to use them as a reward to motivate me for challenge success. How this works I have a list of tasks. Depending on my performance, I get to save or lose money. The more I save, the better version of TEW I can purchase at the end. Speaking of the end, this won't be the end of this challenge round but my birthday on December 24th. It might sound like a lot of time for a small amount, but since TEW works with e-licensing and I am well aware of the risks involved, I'm looking to purchase a CD hardcopy for backup, meaning an extra 24$ for international shipping and handling costs. The list of tasks I will be saving 1 Euro for every... - Week that I attend 3 classes of Muay Thai - Bonus workout, race, event, competition, seminar I attend - Day of crystal clear eating, meaning no alcohol, sugar or processed carbs - Day where I spend at least 1 hour to work on my masters' dissertation and make actual progress I will be losing 1 Euro for every... - Missed Muay Thai workout - Day where I went completely overboard with my eating - Cigarette smoked (putting this here just in case) So where's all the lucha? This challenge begins on Wednesday, September 21. Every Wednesday, a new episode of Lucha Underground airs and I get to do my weekly recap along with a little match narrative. As I save more and more, so does my wrestling alter ego win matches and earn more. My saving milestones a.k.a. saving enough for a better version of TEW will also mean milestones in my alter ego's career.