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Almost 50 yrs old and returning to fitness with some fear of injury (suffered a fracture two years ago and a sprain last year). Would love to find someone with some fitness knowledge who wouldn't mind me tagging along. I'd like to get back into weight lifting I think, maybe some Parkour. Always down for a spin on the dance floor (80's R&B, Hip Hop, House, Dub-Step). If you're of a certain age and looking to level up, let's do this!

Running Up That Hill Nerd Fitness Challenge #41 I heard this song on the radio the other day - Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush (1985). Since then it keeps coming to mind, especially during the running part of my crossfit class. I figured I might as well use it to keep me motivated! Main Quest: to prepare myself for Unleashed at Stadium Bowl Unleashed 2015 will take place up and down the 1,628 stairs of Stadium High School (Tacoma, WA) August 2nd and raises money for the rescue animals of Kindred Souls Foundation. http://unleashedatstadiumbowl.org/ Mini Quest 1 “be running up that road†add 3x weekly running to my routine. +3 STA 600-1600m per 3x weekly run. can be counted if completed during xfit class and/or combined with stair training. Mini Quest 2 “be running up that hill†continue uphill battle of maintaining my current weight and bf%. +2 WIS +3 CON struggled with this goal last two challenges - thus the "uphill battle" feeling. my plan is to continue to log my meals daily on MFP (keeping net carbs between 70-100g and protein between 96-107g) to help maintain current weight and body fat% (120-125lbs/20-22%) - knowledge is power, right? will be weighed every other week on scale that shows bf% to hold me accountable. Mini Quest 3 “be running up that building†1x weekly training to run up that "building" aka Stadium Bowl. +1 STA + 3 DEX train on stairs (60-100 steps in elevation) for 15-25 minutes and keep track of total steps climbed. Life Side Quest: a Greater Understanding “And if I only could I'd make a deal with God And I'd get him to swap our places I'd be running up that road Be running up that hill With no problems†Kate Bush commented on the song saying “I was trying to say that, really, a man and a woman can't understand each other because we are a man and a woman. And if we could actually swap each other's roles, if we could actually be in each other's place for a while, I think we'd both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would lead to a greater understanding.†While I’d love to swap places with my boys (that includes the husband unit) so we'd have a better understanding of each other instead I'll be using these lyrics as inspiration to prepare myself for a different kind of understanding... Work daily on my Spanish (10 minutes – 1 hour) +3 WIS In September I will be traveling to Mexico to volunteer with Esperanza International. It’s my hope that if, between now and then, I put forth a regular effort to learn/understand some Spanish the experience will be that much better! If you've followed me before you know I track my progress the old fashioned way (with pen and paper) in a journal and then I post a picture here to NF. Here is my starting stats/goals page for this challenge! Looking forward to getting started June 8th! Check back often - encouragement and support needed (and appreciated)!!

Main Goal: to prepare myself for the 2015 Unleashed at Stadium Bowl. This event happens August 2nd and is held at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington. The race will cover the entire Stadium Bowl, ‘weaving the stairs’ by running up one staircase, and down the other. Total steps climbed 814, total descended 814 for a grand total of 1,628 steps. The event raises money for the rescue animals of Kindred Souls Foundation. Kindred Souls Foundation provides sanctuary to abandoned, abused and neglected dogs and cats, a holistic approach to their care, and education on the rewards and responsibilities of animal companionship. Mini Goal 1: add 1 day weekly stair training to my exercise routine. +3 STA +2 DEX will record my workout in a journal and post the summary page here weekly. Mini Goal 2: maintain body fat percentage between 18-20%. +2 WIS +3 CON will record my meals daily in MFP (keeping meals to macronutrient goals of 20% carbs, 50% fat, 30% protein). also, no eating after 7:30pm. will post my efforts/results (ie: from weigh ins) here weekly. Mini Goal 3: 3x ring rows before Crossfit Amped class. +3 STR this is a holdover from my last challenge (One. Freaking. Pull Up.) I think will benefit my Unleashed training by ensuring that I stick to my regular exercise routine. If I am unable to use the rings before my classes at the gym I will do BWRs at home. I will record my workouts in a journal and post the summary page here weekly. Life Quest Goal: post artistic endeavors 2x weekly. +2 CHA This fits in with the Unleashed theme in that the definition of unleash is "to free from restraint or control." I rarely put my art "out there" for others to view. I'm just now, within the past six months, opening myself up to sharing. I'll post here or on the Artistic and Creative Accountability forum.

Hey, BRHemp here (my name, not my hobby.) 44 yr old Batman wannabe. LV1 and 2 CF instructor who makes most of his own stuff. I have a family and child support so I'm not exactly rolling in the dough. I am one of those guys in green who run around in the desert looking for people and drugs that shouldn't be here. You might have seen me on Border Wars. Anyway, I'm always looking for people who want to get fit and have fun. Me??? I was 245 lbs two years ago with a 40 inch waist. Not the image of law enforcement that I should have been. I started doing Crossfit and loved it. Dropped 35 lbs, and 6 inches off my waist. Got a ton of certs. But wasn't real happy with how some of the things were promoted i.e. pay lots of money for things that you can make on your own (sand bags, bulgarian sand bags, tires, etc.) So I started researching on my own and lo and behold found Nerd Fitness. WOW. People like me who want to get healthier and not spend their entire paycheck to do it I have my own garage gym where I train and train family and friends, The Old Bastard's Gym. Come and get your snatch fixed at the OB GYM heh heh heh. Most of the stuff I started with I paid handsomely for. Now I try to make as much as my own stuff as possible. I look forward to hearing from like minded people. And yes I am a nerd, or at least I'm told on a daily basis by my fiance, kids, co-workers and students. Yeah, I said it, so there. and Yes I really do want to be Batman. Always have, always will. Hope to hear from my nerd fitness brothers and sisters.

Greetings fellow Rebels! I've been following the NF blogs for a while, but this is my first post. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all. I have one "simple" goal: I turn 50 in March and I'm determined to be in the best shape of my life by then. My primary focus is weightlifting because it's what I enjoy and it gets me to the gym at least 4x per week. Diet is definitely my weak spot. I'd love to get advice in both areas because I'm still learning. May the Force be with us all!

Hi there! So, my last challenge kind of died off. Right after the beginning of the challenge I found out my mom had cancer and things really kinda went downhill from there. I had two major infections then I had to help my mom through surgery and life was just... it wasn't happening. Once I got to feeling better I was able to get back to training, but the whole situation with challenge goals totally fell by the wayside. That's life. The good news is, things are looking up! First of all, my mom is in pretty good shape! (YAY!!!) She's got some follow up stuff to deal with that she'll need my help with but the big scary part of it is done, and prognosis still looks positive. The other good thing is that my circus school is having a recital! So I have something fun and exciting to plan for. Recitals are great because they're lower pressure than our showcases (which are pretty much a full 1-ring circus show performed by amateurs), but still a chance to practice putting together an act to show our friends, family & classmates. This is really nice for me because it gives me a great incentive to dive back in, while not having to be so stressed about my mom or my own health. PLUS, today actually marks 5 years since I started training in aerial, so I've got that to celebrate too. So... onto goals! Goal 1: Develop a 1.5-2 minute straps piece focusing on things I can do with my feet in the straps. Work on really polishing up what I can do, within my current skill level. I've been really holding back on working on performance stuff until I have more straps tricks... but I realized it would be good to refine what I have, so I have some grace and polish to bring to the table when I start to add more advanced work. Subgoal: Follow training schedule with extra act development workshops.Subgoal: Spend some time on reviewing music and getting ideas from friends & youtube.Subgoal: Use mental rehearsal techniques. Goal 2: Stretch my splits 4-5 times a week. The performance piece is going to need to use my left split. So I need to work on my left side oversplit and on regaining my right side flat split. (For whatever reason I woke up one morning in February with a cramp in my right glute and haven't been able to get my split back on that side ever since.) Goal 3: Work on my foot extension & expression 3 times a week. Goal 4: Get busy on my gardening goals. Planting time is coming up in late September and all the chaos so far this summer has really hamstrung me from getting stuff done. (I will post some pictures from last challenge soon.) I need to finish turning the wire mesh in my garage into deer protection cages for my plants.I need to work with our landscape guy to put in our retaining wall and finish clearing last year's storm debris.Once a week I need to prune the seed heads off the feathergrass.I need to start some preliminaries on the parts of the hillside that are going to be planted with wildflower seed. (I.E. water it to sprout the weed seeds and then remove weeds).Only one thing... I'm going to be away from my computer all next week, so hopefully I'll have a chance to keep up with the forum from my phone... otherwise, I'll check in again on Sunday August 3rd.

TOTAL REWORK OF CHALLENGE 6/21/14: Here's the deal. My laptop has been down for a while and I've been sitting pondering what to do with this challenge. I think I'm going to keep going at it, but seriously re-work the whole thing. New challenge title: This is Why I Train. My mom has breast cancer. I have to go down (next county over) and help her with things like understanding the info she gets from her doctors and several days of recovering from surgery. The good news is that every sign is that this is going to be 100% treatable with a very low chance of recurrence if she does everything right. So my job right now is to support her in doing everything right. With that being said my new challenge goals: Goal 1: Support my mom in what she needs. Surgery/recovery. Company for appointments. An ear to listen or shoulder to lean on. Goal 2: Support myself. I can't help her unless I take care of myself. This means following a skeletal version of Ye Olde Training Schedule focusing on not missing any training opportunities with my friends. (Workout & social support all rolled into one? Perfect!) At home training will either be handstands or stretching splits. I don't need to be killing myself with squats or wearing out my shoulder on the P-bars right now. This also means eating consistent, healthy meals. A protein shake is not a meal. McDonalds is not a meal. I know from the past that subsisting on both of those leads to binging (and feeling crappy) and I just don't need that right now. Get some good solid food, good hard workouts and time with friends. Goal 3: Get some of the basic landscaping work done for my yard. This was originally a main focus of this challenge for me, I've got some big, physically demanding hardscape work to do. So a slightly lighter set of goals would be: Mini-Goal 1: Weedcloth and rocks over the succulent planting area next to our driveway.Mini-Goal 2: Build 15 deer cages to keep the deer out of our new plantings next fall.Mini-Goal 3: Dig out an infiltration basin in the side yard (about 75% done right now), fill in with rocks and re-fill top with soil to plant in.

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

Ah... it's challenge time again. And once again, my epic quest is to become moderately good at a really hard thing. I had all these other ways to couch that quest before, more romantic, sexier, more "epic"... but frankly, it is what it is. I am an intermediate level recreational aerialist. And I'd like to keep working at becoming moderately good at it... which is a loooooooong slow process. Sure, anyone can learn the first few tricks, but to keep progressing, to start to develop into the major strength skills? It's a day-by-day, brick-by-brick slog. You know when you're grinding out to level up your experience and get to the next level, yeah... that's where I am. It may seem like a miserable place to be, if you're a jumpy 18 year old. But as a 40 year old mom, I really just love playing the game. I love that my body even can play the game. And so this challenge, I'm coming into it with a different attitude. Gratitude to my body for bringing me this far, and the patience to grind through calmly till I can hit the next level. Even if that takes a few challenges or a few years. I'm cool with that. My actual EPIC goal for the year would be to achieve either a press up handstand or a roll up on straps. That may not be do-able, and that's OK, but I'm working hard to make it happen. With that out of the way, my goals: 1. Stick to my new and improved circus+GMB training schedule, now with 100% more squats. Basically, Monday & Saturday is handstand or aerial training. Tuesday & Thursday is some basic lower body compound lifts in the gym (squats & rom deadlifts). Wednesday & Friday is phase 2 of the first level of GMB P1. Basically my goals are to continue to stabilize my back and get a good strong handstand position (to enable progress in aerial moves requiring back stability), as well as add some overall power and strength in the gym. Sticking point here is actually doing the GMB wrist & shoulder conditioning even on days when I'm training something else. Also, I'm going on vacation to Palm Springs for part of the challenge, so I get a few days off of extra rest and playing in the pool with my kiddo (and just maybe a massage!). (If you remember my last challenge, we were supposed to go on vacation at the end. I was going to try skiing. It was going to be great! And then my whole family caught the flu 1 day before we were supposed to leave. No vacation. My challenge ended with a fever and sinuses clogged all to hell, so that sucked. I'm really hoping the family vacation happens this round!) 2. Six days a week do at least one, 1 minute handstand hold at the wall and stretch my hip flexors. 3. Three days a week do theraband & bungee conditioning for my shoulders. This takes maybe 10 minutes, but is going to be critical for injury prevention. And lucky #4, my life quest: Continue to unpack one box a week. We moved last summer and we still have a garage full of boxes. And a couple of boxes in the master bedroom. And a few in my son's closet. If I just do one box a week, that's 6 boxes by the end of the challenge, solid.

Hello 2014!!! So my theme for this challenge comes from a really lovely article from mega-surfer Laird Hamilton about training and being athletic after 40. It's about 5 years old, but it doesn't seem at all out of date to me. Some of the things he says ring totally true to how I live and train (eat well, but be flexible with food, train with other people, build strength you can apply), but some of the stuff was really food for thought... particularly about how other types of training can improve your performance (that and the potent analogy about what happens when you park an old car), and about doing different things on vacation. And with all that rattling around in my brain, I've decided that my first challenge of 2014, I'm going to use more traditional gymnastics training to shore up some of the weak spots in my aerial work. Basically, in December I wrapped up 2 months of hard training for a showcase, and I took stock of what was sore, and what was not. I realized that I work the HELL out of my pulling muscles, but my pressing muscles don't get as much use. And I had a really useful conversation with a coach and a friend about how it's easier for bendy people to build stability than for stiff people to build flexibility... I'm the overly bendy person who lacks stability. I'm plenty strong, but I can't always use it because my body & back are so loose. Both of these things are affecting my ability to learn further aerial skills. So it's time to do something about it... Goal 1: Modified schedule of GMB P1 + in person handstand training + aerial work. The key piece here is really going to be the handstand training, because it helps me a ton to have a coach who can point out where I'm not straight, but I can only fit that in my schedule once a week. P1 is definitely less hard than R1 (which I started, but was unable to finish because of performance training), but gives me another opportunity to work on hollow body holds and pressing. The aerial work is just to keep my toes in the pool... and to substitute in for handstand training when I can't get into that class. If the classes at my circus school are overcrowded the rest of the year, it's doubly true in January! I have a written out 6-week schedule, including rest days, so I'm going to score this 7 out of 7 per week. Goal 2: Three minute practice. This is a 1 minute handstand hold at the wall, and 2 minutes of the yoga lotus pose, 1 minute on each side. (See bonus section for why I'm doing lotus.) 6 days a week (scored at 6/6 per week). I should be able to integrate this into my P1 cool down on days I'm doing the GMB training. Goal 3: Stretch splits & backbend 3 days a week. I don't want to lose my flexibility, I want to stabilize my flexibility. Scored at 3/3 per week. BONUS: Two things that aren't really goals, but bonus things I'm working on. First of all, at the end of this challenge we're going on a short family vacation to the mountains, and I'd really like to take a chance to try cross country skiing. My husband does downhill and wants to teach our son, but I'm really not enamoured of hurtling down a hill. I've wanted to try cross country for a while, and there's a cross country resort near where we're staying.... plus it's less expensive than downhill. If there is actually snow while we're there (this is the mountains outside LA, so it's not a given). Also, as a long term yoga goal this year, I'd like to be able to fold my legs into lotus without using my hands. Hence the regular lotus practice. So for the active recovery days where I feel like doing a little yoga, I'm going to try to focus on practices that involve lotus, unless I'm really feeling like I need a sleep oriented practice or something else specific. Finally... I'm not doing an non-fitness level up goals this challenge! I'm just not feeling it this time.