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So I've been away from the forums for awhile...life & all that. I have been exercising (just started a plank challenge); but feel the need once again for a sense of community that I've only ever found in these forums. So I'm back & gearing up for the next challenge.

Four. Minute. Plank. Four minutes!!!!! I was shaking like crazy, but I held it! *doing antler dance*

Life is still pretty hectic right now, so this challenge is going to be simple and to the point. 1. Continue the cardio challenge. Every 60 min of cardio earns me $5. This is the save up for a camping vacation next summer. 2. One side plank each night before bed. My coach has side planks in my program, but I can't really do them and it's embarrassing and I feel like I'm just faking it. >_> I'll report the plank times. My left side is weaker so I'll be reporting the time I can hold that weaker side. 3. Edited & Added: post daily calorie totals Shout out to Urgan for inspiring the challenge title.

HI everyone, I've been a runner for 5 years now and found your site while trying to Google and get some advice. I injured one of my abdominal muscles pretty bad a week ago. Should have stopped running but pushed threw it and ran a hard set for an hour and really messed myself up. Stupid, I know. I waited a day and then ran and it started to hurt right away so I quit after 5 minutes. I'm now waiting a week before I try again. The injury is in the front of my abdomen below my belt. It's the muscle you would use to raise your feet from the floor if you were on your back. It only hurts when I run or if I move in a certain way. It's a dull pain at first but was really painful after a while last week. I haven't been doing any core training at all. Someone suggested planking would help strengthen my core and not aggravate the injury. I tried it last night with some other variations I can't explain but you do on the floor. Today I feel a little sore but nothing you wouldn't feel after a set. What you you guys think?

The past two challenges I've been with the Rangers but for this challenge I wanted to take a step back and join the Adventurers again. I've found over those two challenges that while I was exercising and eating ok, there were far too many cheat days. I need to start back near the beginning and work on getting that consistency. Make exercising and eating healthy the norm. My holiday starts the beginning of week 2 but I'm determined to keep this up while on holiday. Main Quest To be stronger, faster and happier! (Same as always) 1. Fitness a. Exercise 3 times a week. b. Hard Hat challenge - Planking 30 day challenge I'm not consistent with my workouts, I start out well but then one minor slip and I loose the routine. I will be doing the BodyWeight Level 2 from the academy. I also want to improve on my core so am doing the 30 day plank challenge as well. Will do this as soon as I wake up. 2. Diet a. Hard Hat Challenge - No Coke/Pepsi b. Food Log Drinking coke/pepsi is something I have struggled with for months. I managed, about Feb time, to complete 30 days of No Coke. I want to match that and even exceed it. I got a lot better last challenge in making the better choice but about midway through I struggled and fell several times because my parents brought cans for the fridge. I've talked to my parents and they will no longer buy coke for the house. There's only one bottle which is for when my sister visits. It is so much easier when the temptation is not there. I've started my food log this week and I'm finding it quite interesting. I didn't realise I ate so much bread or chocolate/ice cream (dessert like things). I am going to keep doing this and in week 2 reduce intake of one food and then again in week 4. 3. Life a. Chores everyday b. Driving at 3 times a week. Now I am back living at home with my family I want to help out more around the house. That means making sure certain chores are done everyday - e.g dishwasher emptied, dinner tided up, hoovering, washing...things like that. I don't like driving. But it is essential. I need to make sure my driving skills are kept up. That's means taking the car out 3 times a week - even if it is just to the shops in the next town over. (The only weeks this won't be possible is the first and last in august as I'm on holiday and the last week my sister will have the car) Anyway that's my challenge: I'll actually be starting on Monday as I have a job interview tomorrow (Yes!) and then moving all my stuff down from Newcastle to Bristol over the weekend. My uni life will be officially over

Aaaaaand I'm back for another one! I'm feeling very good still about how I did last challenge, and am looking forward to accomplishing even more this challenge. So here are my goals for this one, shaking things up a little bit from the last 2 challenges... Goal 1: Lose pounds, body fat and inches Most of my past challenges, I've focused on one or the other of these individually. This time, I'd like to go for the combo! A win for me would be to see all three of these numbers go down, even marginally, this challenge. These may be a bit ambitious, but I'm willing to try to see where this leads. The good thing is that if 2 of these go down, they generally will be positively affecting the third metric. Starting weight: 186.4 lbs Max goal: 180.4 (6 lbs lost) Starting body fat: 26.86% Max goal: 25.36% (1.5% body fat lost) Starting midsection measurement: 38.5" Max goal: 37" (1.5" lost) Points available: 1 CON, 1 WIS, 1 CHA Goal 2: Gym time 3x per week Last challenge, this fell by the way side for the last week or two when I got sick, and I haven't been back since. But I've actually been itching to get back into the gym. I will be doing my regular routine of pushup training (wanting to work slowly towards handstand pushups), graduated pull-up training (hopefully finishing that and moving more permanently into full pull-ups and chin ups), and planking. I'm gonna shake up my leg routine, since I admittedly do not love assisted pistol squats, which is what I had been doing. So I'll be moving back into barbell squats. If anyone has any good leg exercise suggestions, body weight or otherwise, I'm open. Oh yeah, the one potential wrench thrown into this goal, is that the last 5 days of the challenge, I will be in India (part of a month-long trip). My intention is to keep up my normal workout schedule, which is why it would be helpful to have a couple of bw leg exercises I can be working on when I'm not able to do barbell squats. Points available: 2 STR, 2 DEX, 1 STA Goal 3: Supplement gym time with PLP I'm behind on my blog reading, but I just recently read Steve's article on PLP, and I got really excited about it. I started Day 1 today. Because I'm nowhere near being able to do 10 pull-ups, I'm doing the 1 rep on day 1 for each exercise and progressing from there. I have enough strength to be able to do at least 1 not so great pull up, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this helps me, in addition to the graduated pull-up training, be able to do more pull-ups with better form. Ordinarily, I would hold off on something like this until I was able to do them better, but this seemed like a good opportunity to get better at a skill I've been working up to for a long time. Points available: 2 STR, 1 DEX, 2 STA Life Goal: Back to Paleo Paleo during Lent completely rocked! Since then, I've been trying to keep my non-Paleo meals to 1 per day, which has helped me keep on track. But I have definitely noticed that my progress, while still being progress, slowed way down. I also like how I feel when I eat Paleo, which is much less sluggish, more energized and generally more healthy. Last time I tried to work in new recipes, which I had marginal success on. As part of this goal, I want to finish what I started and try another 3 new recipes. This goal will also be a challenge once I'm in India (Indian food is amazing!!), as Indians cook a lot with yogurt, and there will be many vegetables I won't be able to eat due to water conditions. Any suggestions here would be welcome as well. Points available: 1 STA, 1 WIS So there you have it! Feeling inspired and ready for this fight.

Agents May and Romanoff are my inspiration. Two ass kicking chicks who don’t need any help from anyone. As I continue to transform my body into a martial arts powerhouse I will focus on my weaknesses and prepare for becoming a full agent. I will become my own cavalry. Balance: Balance is important to an agent, and to a fighter. You never know when I will be walking along the edge of a building high over New York City. Strengthen my legs: Bad knee problems are not for agents. No. We jump, kick, climb, run. Strengthen my body: Strength overall is something I need to work on. There are no weak agents. Pull ups, press ups, planksanity. I need to do it all. You never know what an agents day will be full of, need to be prepared for anything. Stamina: Running, why is it always running? Towards danger or away from it. I need to keep up with the cardio. Agents ride bicycles right? There’s always stairs to run up too. How I will accomplish these goals: Each workout will be done at least twice a week. Balance circuit Cable machine circuit for legs Angry Birds Workout 30 Minutes of Cardio Walk up at least 3 floors of stairs at work I can pass/fail weeks by not reaching this minimum. At the end of the six weeks I need to have done at least 12 of each workout to pass. Life goal: Free the mind. Get lost for a few hours each weekend in a video game. Even finish some games for once. There are skills to learn from games. Tactics, stealth, fun times. Every hour of game play is a point, two points a week to pass my life goal. Spreadsheet for Points tracking and Angry Bird tracking here As part of being in the Knights of the GSPC i am setting myself two "boss fights" two goals i have to smash along the way. Mini Boss Challenge Core is key. Balance, strength - they rely on having a strong core. As part of my agent training you must be able to do a 60 second plank. I need to pass this within three weeks to continue my agent training Big Boss Challenge Agents test is big and bad. By the end of my challenge i need to be able to do the following - so i can proceed with my training and goal of becomming a SHIELD agent. 3 pull ups 90 second plank 100 squats