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Welcome everyone to my first challenge for 2018! My (user)name is DarK_RaideR and last month I turned 31. I’m Greek, I recently switched from government work back to being a self-employed lawyer and I refer to my girlfriend as my Special Ranger Lady Friend, or SRLF for short. That’s pretty much all you need to know…. oh, I’ve also been on this forum for about three and a half years, which is also how long I’ve been a crossfit athlete. For those unfamiliar with Crossfit, the start of every year is the Open season, this year happening from Feb. 22 to Mar. 26. During that time, a workout is announced every Thursday, people go to crossfit boxes and do it under the watchful eye of a certified judge or upload a video of themselves doing it so they can be judged, then ranked on a global leaderboard, with the best of them moving on to Regional qualifiers and the Crossfit Games in the summer. For most of us who aren’t professional athletes, it’s a chance to participate, celebrate, compete with friends and compare results with where we used to be. This year will be my third Open and unless @Endor decides to chicken out (injuries don’t count, since I did the 2017 Open with a blown knee) this challenge is devoted to preparing me for the 2018 Open so I can have him shedding tears of loss onto his Crossfit Pireaus shirt. Of course, even though some folks here might disagree (Warriors especially), life is more than just eating and working out, so I’m including a few other life quests in line with my 2018 Roadmap. Speaking of which, I got my benchmark numbers on the morning of Jan. 1st (87kg, 100cm waist) and looking to take those down by the end of the year. Quest 1: Not a single day lost. 3 Crossfit workouts per week minimum and active recovery during days where I'm not going to the box. Quest 2: Get in the Zone. Measure my home cooked meals and use the 30/40/30 rule for the rest. Make sure everything is balanced and zone-compatible. Quest 3: No distractions before 15:00 on workdays. hat includes NerdFitness, Videogames, Steam, Gamersplane.com and the Grey Dog Software forums. Also, no social media, unless specifically asked to look up something. Quest 4: Housework. Keep up with the day to day stuff (laundry, ironing, dishes etc) and do something beyond the usual stuff at least once every week. Quest 5: Continue using a Bullet Journal. t keeps me organized and makes sure the little stuff gets done. As a final note, for those who haven’t followed any of my 2017 challenges, I will be using a wrestling manager videogame (way cooler than it sounds) called Total Extreme Wrestling to provide a narrative for your entertainment. This has nothing to do with the challenge itself, it’s just a way for me to make my favorite game a bit juicier and hopefully put a smile on you readers’ faces. I’m aiming for 3 weekly updates (Mon-Wed-Fri) in general, but that might change on occasion.

The Crossfit 2018 Open starts on Feb 23. I'll be prepping by targeting the following goals this month: - No Alcohol - 1 hour walk or 1 hour gym every day - Track Calories - "Never 2 in a row" I'm also going to try intermittent fasting as my main goal is to lose weight. Looks easy on paper, will be tough in practice but I'm spending the next few days getting my eye on the prize. Bonus motivators: 1. I'm in a weight loss competition with a friend at work from 8 Jan to 31 Jan, every 500g one of us loses more than the other is $5 you owe them. 2. I bought some new gym gear 3. I bought some BCAA's to try. 4. I've set myself up for success with 20 pre-packed Paleo meals. 5. I've setup an NF Indoor Climbing meetup for 2nd Feb, I'm far too heavy to be climbing at the moment so need to drop a few kg's before then. (not so) Secret driving force:

The 2017 Crossfit Games Open is almost upon us! (I know there's an Open sticky above but it's full of old posts from previous years and I wanted a shiny new one ) Here's the 2017 schedule: http://games.crossfit.com/article/2017-reebok-crossfit-games-season-schedule The Open Five Weeks | Feb. 23 - March 27 17.1: Feb. 23 - 27 17.2: March 2 - 6 17.3: March 9 - 13 17.4: March 16 - 20 17.5: March 23 - 27 Countdown: http://free.timeanddate.com/countdown/i5iscft5/n240/cf111/cm0/cu4/ct0/cs0/ca0/cr0/ss0/cac000/cpc000/pc66c/tc66c/fs100/szw320/szh135/tatTime left to Event in/tac000/tptTime since Event started in/tpc000/mac000/mpc000/iso2017-02-23T00:00:01 I'll be taking part, who else is in?

This challenge will run for 85 days from 1 Jan 2017 to 27 March 2017, that's 85 days. The Crossfit Open starts on 23 Feb, I'll be doing the first workout, 17.1 on Sat 25 Feb. January goals - control the Spice: - No alcohol, I do this every year. - No sugar - No bread Supplementary: - walk 100 km's (24 per week) I'm not going to include any training goals because I already *know* I will train hard. February goals: TBA - will tweak as required depending how Jan goes. March goals: TBA - will tweak as required depending how Feb goes. Inspiration: - I'm destroying my numbers from this time last year, I've put 30 kg's on my deadlift this year and I can squat 110 for reps, I've got TTB's, DU's and CTB, none of which I had in more than a handful of reps last year. - I've overcome some horrific injuries this last year and have been training consistently the last few months. - Time to realign the nutrition to support the training commitment. - Crush the Harkonens!

As stated in my Roadmap for 2017, my goal for the year is to be more me. To implement that, I’m going back to the basics, the good ol’ 3 fitness quests plus 1 life quest format and a challenge theme to keep things interesting. Goal 1: Eliminate sugar. Holidays have been heavy on the sweets and the first step towards getting my nutrition back in line is to drop a returning habit of casual treats before it settles in for good. Goal 2: Eliminate coffee. Probably have tea instead. Morning coffee at work has become a habit and I gotta get off the caffeine hook. This should also reduce water retention, make me feel less bloated and maybe drop some weight or at least points off the waist. Goal 3: Crossfit 3x a week Life Goal: I’m using a wonderful agenda gifted by the SRLF as I’m getting into Bullet Journalling. Should help me get shit done and pull my head together. Goal is to update the log nightly To keep things interesting, I’ll be adding a little theme and narrative. I’m playing Total Extreme Wrestling 2016 and doing the Road to Glory challenge, essentially creating a newbie 18 year old alter ego in some backyard wrestling promotion as I try to headline the Main Event of a big promotion’s Pay Per View event. Technical details and rules can be found here. I am using the game’s database of characters, but set in 1997. Considering the first TEW was set in 2005, it's pretty early in that universe and if played well, I should have the chance to rise together with the game's most famous characters. This challenge will run from January 9th until the end of the Crossfit Open in March 27th. My aim is to prepare for the Open, do it and be better than I was last year. This will be my second ever Open, so if the repeat workout is one from last year, I’ll have some direct way of comparing, otherwise I’m aiming for better than 15.863 Overall and 47th in my country, which were my ratings last year. Last but not least, to add extra motivation and work towards a major life goal, I will be setting money aside according to my progress in order to buy a motorcycle. 1 Euro will be saved for every day without sugar, without coffee, every night of BuJo-ing, every workout and ever 3 workouts per week. Reserving the right to add extra rewards, such as a lump sum for doing better than last year in the Open. Tracking spreadsheet is here.

Who can gain the most pull-ups? To join, just post with the number of full, good-form pull-ups or chin-ups you can do now. Just to push yourself, you might also want to add how many you aim to be able to do in a set to the post. At the end of the challenge quote your first post and reply with the number you can do at the end. I can do zero pull-ups and zero chin-ups right now, and by the end of this challenge I aim to be able to do one of each.