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I just finished my first rotation of my final year of pharmacy school. Only six more to go and then I graduate in May as a for-real practicing pharmacist! I enjoy what I'm doing but it gets tough, and between work and commuting and training I've been a little down. My sleep has also been suffering, I've been more on edge and have had a short temper with my husband lately. I decided to try and cut weight for this meet, and for the last 2 months that has not gone according to plan. BLERGH! So I thought I'd come back to the challenge forum because then I'll be better at following other warriors, and that always cheers me up and motivates me. 1. Continue meet prep This week begins week 7 of my 15 week training plan getting ready for my first official powerlifting meet. It is a no-frills (okay some frills) progressive periodization: Mon = squat + accessories Wed = bench + accessories Fri = deadlift + accessories Sat = Strongman fun 2. Keep eating ~2600 cal, 290g carbs, 100g fats, 130g protein 3. Add 45min walking twice a week (Tues and Thurs) to burn some extra calories (and health benefits I SUPPOSE) 4. Start meditating again 10 minutes per day.

We are into August and the battle continues! What the next five weeks look like: Week 0: August 15 to August 21 - Week 8 of current programming, featuring 5x5 + 3x8 Week 1: August 22 to August 28 - Week 9 of current programming, featuring 5x5 + 3x8 Week 2: August 29 to September 4 - Week 1 of new programming Week 3: September 5 to September 11 - Week 2 of new programming Week 4: September 12 to September 18 - Week 3 of new programming The next Week 0 is September 19 to September 25 and coincides with CNF 2016. So there will be a taper week and an informal PL meet. So the goals will be pretty much the same as before, but keeping CNF and the PL competition in mind. Goal 1 - Programming Current mission is nearing completion. Acquire new mission. We are finally done with the 10x10 cycle and got to 10x10x225 pound squats and 10x10x325 pound deadlifts. Now we are on three weeks of 5x5. The most recent round was (almost) 5x5x275 pound squats and 5x5x405 pound deadlifts. Two more weeks I am planning a quick little bit of linear progression to get to 5x5x295 pound squats and 5x5x425 pound deadlifts. Similar linear progression for the 3x8 that follows 5x5. Sometime during Week 1, I should get some programming to get us to the CNF PL Meet. I think it will be a six-day hybrid program, but time will tell. Goal 2 - Tracking We still have a good bit more of the Parental Visit Bulking Program going and then it is back to normal life. The general goals are: Maintain weight around 205 pounds / 93 kg. This leaves an option open for a PL competition sometime next year. Keep "outings" to one time per week. Batch cook one time per week - even if the batch cook only lasts two days. Compare shopping list to what I have been given. (Vague - but I will know exactly what this is when I read it at the end of the Challenge cycle.) Goal 3 - Battle Yup. There is another battle coming up right after this Challenge Cycle! That would be the CNF PL Meet! No idea just how much stronger I have become since the April 23 PL meet, but we will be finding out soon. We were discussing openers a couple of weeks ago - and who knows? Maybe the idea was to throw some numbers out there for us to laugh at when I actually try openers. Squats should see some big gains because there was a lot of squat work in all of that Olympic programming. Bench Press will look about the same. Deadlift is looking a lot stronger. Goal 4 - Other Goals as they come up No real Challenge theme this cycle because too much stuff going on around the house. So....

Okay, so, to try and commit myself fully to the process, I'm making it public. I'm intending to compete in a Powerlifting Australia meet on December 19 in Adelaide. I'm kind of freaking out a little about heading in to my first meet, and there are still some logistical issues I have to get past before I can guarantee that I'll be able to make it. Until then however, I had better make sure I’m doing everything I can to give myself the best possible result from my first competition. Before I step onto the platform I would like to drop at least 1, but ideally 2 weight classes before I felt comfortable with my numbers. So, goal weight: 104kg, minimum target: 119kg. And right now I’m running about 135kg. And, because we’re nerds, and the laws of thermodynamics are constant, this shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. 31kg, in 13 weeks requires a weight loss of a little less than 2.4kg per week. For a safety margin, I’m going for 2.5kg per week. And yes, I know that that is overly ambitious, and faster than would normally be considered healthy or sustainable. I can consistently burn 4500-5500 calories per day according to my fitbit. So if I aim for 2000 calories per day, I should be on the right track. I’ll adjust as necessary as the weeks go by and my results provide more data for analysis. Now I just need some goals that help me get there. Goal 1: track everything. -1 point for less than 3 days a week, 1 point for 5 or more, 2 for 7 days a week. Goal 2: Prepare calorie friendly standby’s to keep you on track when everything else falls apart. -1 point for no meals prepared, 1 point for 1 bulk meal prepared per week, 2 points for 2 bulk meals per week. Goal 3: Maintain the deficit. -1 point for a calorie surplus in a given day, 1 point for 2500 calorie deficit in a given day. No points for extra deficit, it’s not the sort of thing I want to encourage myself to do. The target is 37 points, but I’ll consider myself a winner with anything over 30. Reward: I’m still angling for those squat shoes. So, that’ll be my reward if I can hit my goals. Wish me luck, I suspect I’m going to need it…

Hey all, question for those of you who have some experience lifting heavy. I've been running Stronglifts since the spring, and am very happy with my progress - planning to keep doing it until I can no further with the program. Recently the weight has become what I would call quite heavy. For example, the past couple weeks I've felt like I may actually fail a squat rep (haven't yet though). Along the same timelines, I've noticed that I'm experiencing a lot of additional DOMS. Like most people, I was pretty sore after the first few workouts but it got better pretty quickly. Now that I'm lifting 'heavy' (for me anyways) I feel sore again. Is this normal? Should I just power through? Does it get better? Your excellent wisdom is appreciated!

I need to get this week's competition out of the way, and then it's just over 9 weeks until nationals, which lines up nicely with the next two challenges. Main goals will be the same for these, with maybe a few smaller ones added in if that feels like a good idea. 1) Train. Lift all the things. 3 sessions a week, accessories not optional! 2) Eat vegetables. A lot of them. Every meal, unless they make me gag at breakfast. 3) Stretch. Romwod 3x per week minimum. More is more. First mini goal will be for week 1: M1) Jog. I want to make sure I don't lose my cardio fitness. Used to be excellent but I haven't done any running and very little walking. I've been feeling the itch lately, so will add in at least one very gentle session per week. Zombies, run, methinks! And off we go.

I'm still new and people don't really know me but we're getting there. Here's a tidibit about me: I'm a high school teacher. (cue: Ohhhhhhh *that's* why she has so much time to futz around this forum). My 10 week summer break ends August 12th. I will not squander the last days of my break. I lost 6 pounds the first 5 weeks of summer vacation, and then I backslid and I've gained back a few this past week after visiting my parents/grandparents. No, no no. So here we go with my first official challenge! Challenges: Diet Stick to 21DF 4x a week [++++|++++|++++|++++] (4 = Poor; 8 = Fair; 12 = Good; 16+ = Excellent) Fitness Lift 2x a week [++|++|++|++] Run 2x a week [++|++|++|++] (2 = Poor; 4 = Fair; 6 = Good; 8+ = Excellent) Level up life Meditate 3x a week (this is the hard one) Yoga 3x a week -- I did yoga today while sore from lifting and realized how badly I need it. [+++|+++|+++|+++] ( 3 = Poor; 6 = Fair; 8 = Good; 12+ = Excellent) LOOT I've got some benchmarks above, but I think I'll run this on a weighted percentage. 90%+ completion: A! You get... a BRAND NEW Lululemon Sports Bra! 80%+ completion: B! You get... The Magic Blue Leggings that took the internet by storm! 75%+ completion: C! You get... This Physics Charm Bracelet to spruce up your teacher wardrobe! (if it's not fitness related, it's nerd related ) 70%+ completion: D! You get one of those $10 Ozarka water cups from walmart! <69% completion: you get nothing!! Boooooo. Oh yeah... 100%+? Go ahead and pick any two, baby. You earned it!

Placeholder because Hawaii. I'm in it. Be back next Monday! Goals: Powerlifting something something Zombies Row and stuff NF daily (when not on vacation) Adult Ranger minis Catch y'all later nerds! sent from the depths of the Ionian Nebula EDIT: So here are my goals!

Just about 5 weeks until my first power lifting competition so this challenge will be the final countdown in preparation for that. The challenge goals are pretty basic (lifting and eating as per usual) and adding in some checklist goals that will help me prep as competition comes near. For those that have not been around my challenges before, the competition in August is strictly Man vs Barbell(No weight classes). Its part of a custom GoRuck weekend-long event thus per GoRuck tradition the idea is to earn a ruck patch, in this case for lifting either 1000lb, 1250lb or 1500lb total. Want to pull 1000lbs and get a shiny new GoRuck Iron patch for my ruck. Lifting Goal: Current 1RM Estimates Squat: 335lbs Bench: 260lbs Deadlift: 415lbs Competition Total: 1010lbs (OHP: 160lbs) The goal is to get that Estimated total as high as possible. I would like to see that estimate at 1025lbs so that I have some room to play with I am running the 4 day a week mass building program from my coach again this challenge. Really need to focus hard on the three lifts. Schedule is getting less busy now that I have moved and am not working crazy 50+ hr weeks at work. No more excuses to skip out on accessory work! Food Goal: Last challenge I did I half-hearted cut. This challenge I am not worried about cutting and rather am going to focus on fueling workouts and recovery. Only goal is to not gain a large amount of weight. Bumping my daily calorie intake up to 2500 from 2200 and want to see if that aids in recovery and gym performance without drastically affecting weight. At current weight and activity level, that should be right below maintenance but I haven't seen that trend in the past. Also, going back to a low key version carb cycling. Tend to perform better and recover better when carb heavy meals are just before or after workouts. One thing I will keep from the last challenge - don't eat like an idiot on the weekends. I've got a couple of weekends of summer parties and events between now and the competition and they are always the thing that drives my weight up so got to minimize that. Pre-competition Checklist goals: 1) Need to figure out what opening lifts are going to be. I've never had to plan something like this before so that will be a new adventure. 2) Want to verify format. I believe the competition is Wessel's rules so once you fail a lift you are out for that lift. That would affect the above checklist item as you wouldnt get another shot at a failed lift. 3) I will likely add more to this list as competition nears! And just for good measure since everyone is thinking of the song from the thread title...

"And I get so overwhelmed till it's hard to tell what I'm thinking We get down down down we feel sorry for ourselves we get down down down we all need somebody's help let's get loud loud loud till there's love and nothing else cuz the more that you give the more that comes back around..." What it says in the title, guys. Life has been pretty chaotic lately - pretty good, but CRAZYSAUCE - and I just need to focus on basic things. Like, wow, super basic. I'm putting my life back in order now, and have been for the last few days, so this challenge is going to be all about continuing that momentum. My goals: Quest 1: Keep Cutting (+3 CON) After eating like an asshole for awhile, I need to cut. Ughhhhhhh cutting. Okay. Easy scoring. Did I eat under 1800 calories? Or did I not? DO THIS AT LEAST 6 DAYS PER WEEK. Quest 2: Keep Lifting (+3 STR) No more travel = no more excuses. Did I lift 3 times a week? Or did I not? Quest 3: Keep Flying (+3 DEX) Work on some aerial thing I suck at at least 1x per week. This oldie but goodie is always a great goal for me and gets me results. Life Quest: Be Present (+1 CHA) Check into the forums at least 2x per week.

I'm pretty psyched to start an intermediate program, as you probably guessed, the Juggernaut Method by Chad Wesley Smith. Link to his website I definitely need the volume work and not to be wrecking my body every workout. It's not a peaking plan, but I'm not competing. Goals: 1. Do the Juggernat 3x per week 2. Track all the food all the times LUYL Goal: 1. Stop eating lunch over my keyboard.... the 'u' key is starting to stick. I'm going to run it as is the first time through for 4 months. Based on how it goes I will either run it again but increase all the percentages by 2.5% or I will find a new program. I have a feeling my body needs something like this at the moment. You recalculate your maxes at the end of each month during week 3 based on your working weight x reps, so I'll be able to monitor my progress as I go along. The writers also recommend the inverse Juggernaut where you for example would do 10 sets of 5 instead of 5 sets of 10, but I'm not interested in having 3 hour sessions.... I'll maybe consider that in future runs of the program. I bought 1.25# plates from Rogue Fitness, so for my upper body lifts I can calculate increases by 2.5#. Instead of each main lift 1x per week I'm running the program as follows: 3x per week lifting sessions Day 1: Bench, Deadlift ( + Row, Leg Curl, Curls, Leg Ext) Day 2: Bench, OHP, Squat (+ Pull Ups, Hypers, Leg Press) Day 3: OHP, Squat, Deadlift (+Rows, Hypers, Dips) So all main lifts plus rows get hit 2x per week, despite being a 3x per week plan. My squats need more work than my deadlifts, so they get to come before deadlifts on day 3. Other shtuff on other days: hiking, cardio, archery, yoga, glute band work

So this is my 45kg bench. I'm pretty happy with it but it is ugly and even though this weight is easy, when I get to 70kg I suck at it mightily, therefore it needs work. Any improvements? I know my hands are wrong, I pinched my hand beautifully, but edited out the swearing! Even though you can't see it my core is good and can get leg drive, but so weak.

Shout out to my fellow barbarians and amazons of iron! So here's the deal-o... I've got my first powerlifting meet coming up next Saturday (8-6-17, day after Suicide Squad hits and you know I've got tickets for that already) and I'm booored with squatting, benching, and pulling. I follow the Chaos & Pain philosophy of weightlifting which can be summed as the following: frequent, heavy, varied, and violent. Which is fine but I've dropped the variety for lots of back squatting and benching. A typical week for me looks like this - Monday AM 1) *Bodyweight Curcuit 5-10 Sets Monday PM 2A) Back Squat 10x3 2B) Pendlay Row 10x3 3) Bench Press 10x3 4) Neck Work Tuesday 1) Weighted Walk x15-30 Min 2) Core Circuit 3) "Light Shoulder Training" such as Kloklov Presses and Plate Front Raises for 10x10 Wednesday AM 1) *Run x1.5 miles Wednesday PM 1A) Back Squat Lockouts 12x2 1B) High Pulls 12x2 2) Bech Press 6x5 3) Neck Work Thursday 1) Weighted Walk x15-30 Min 2) Core Circuit 3) Wighted Chin-up/Dip Superset 6x6 or 8x8 Friday AM 1) *Bodyweight Circuit Friday PM 1) Back Squat 15x1 2A) Bench Press 8x2 + 2 Back Off Sets 2B) Deadlift 6-8x3-1 + Death Set Saturday 1) Gun Show...non-stop arms for about 30-45 minutes. * = Fasted This is roughly how I've been training for about 3 months while on a caloric deficiency for the last 5 weeks...I went full retard and deceided on a pseudo-paleo/keto diet hybrid monstrositie that's worked fairly well but left be constantly hungry for blood and carbs. Thank Crom for gin & tonic, totally keto. Anyway I'm looking for some input and maybe even program suggestions/structure on a dedicated Overhead Press specialization routine. The week after my meet I plan on focusing on building up my OHP specifically my Clean & Strict Press as I think it's wayyy more badass to clean that $h!t and then press it. Obviously I'm no stranger to both high frequency and high intensity and love abusing volume and will definitely be running this in a huge caloric surplus. So far I've read up on Bill Starr's methods, love the weighted dips; Paul Carter's training style, and checked out the Dreadnought OHP program. However I was most impressed with the Smolov Jr. routine for bench and was considering that. Oh, and if anyone cares...here's me stats - Age: 26 Male Years Training: approx. 5-6 Height: 'bout 5'2"... Weight: I'm competing at 130 lbs... yarp. Usually walking around 145 lbs with visible midsection. Looking to get up to 155-160 lbs. But yeah, I'm a total Neanderthal. Back Squat (High Bar Oly Style): 305 lbs no belt/315 lbs with belt Bench: 275 lbs paused no belt/285 lbs paused with wraps no belt Deadlift (Conventional): 405 lbs no belt, mixed grip. We'll see if I hit these numbers again come meet day though. So far I'm pretty damn close on a so-so day.

I'm new around here and I love the idea of having an online Battle Log to consolidate my notes on nutrition and workout logs. This will also give me something to do before my first challenge and give me a place to organize my thoughts. I'm a powerbuilder. I train for strength in the big three lifts, but I also eat and train to increase muscle size and overall look hot. To that end, I mix in bodybuilding workouts with my compound lifting and carefully monitor my macros with MyFitnessPal Premium. I do like to have a few drinks and a cheat meal with girlfriend once or twice a week. I've found that with lifting a lot and throwing in some quick high intensity cardio now and then, the extra calories are negligible. To begin, I'll just put down my lifting program for the week and my macros for the day. I join the rebellion at a time when I am tweaking my programming, macros, and schedule. This is a work in progress. I'm also shopping for a new gym because my current one is overcrowded and full of shady people. My Slingshot Gangsta Wraps (awesome wrist wraps) got stolen during my last session. I intend to have something tentative for the next challenge and a summer routine finalized by the end of it. My goal is to gain strength while keeping my fat gain in check. I determine my macros based on my own empirical evidence and not an online calculator. Workout Program - Week of 04/24/2016 Sunday: Bench Press 5x5 Squat 3x3 Tuesday: Chest, Shoulders, Arms, and Back BB Workout 20 minutes of Max Incline Treadmill Powerwalking Thursday: Bench Press 5x5 Squat 4x4 Saturday/Sunday (Not sure which one is going to work best yet): Bench Press 3x5 Deadlift 5x5 Sunday's workout went as such (all weights are in lbs): Bench Press: Warm Up / 5x5x225 Squat: Warm Up / 3x3x375 Tonight's BB workout at my apartment complex gym will look something like this (dumbbells only go up to 50): Standing Dumbell Overhead Press: 3x10x50 SUPERSET Lat Pull-Downs 3x10x100 Dumbell Incline Press: 3x15x50 Seated Rows: 3x10xTBD (haven't done these in a while) Dumbell Bench Press: 3x20x50 Hammer Curls: 3x10x35 Max Incline Treadmill Powerwalk: 20min Time to hit up the gym. I'll get into my macros in another post. Later, nerds

GOALS NOW ADDED (original post below) I have confidence in me Say something nice about yourself every day and share with the class. Push It Eat 2600 calories a day (or an average of 18200 a week) and evaluate based on how my weight fluctuates. I like to move it, move it Do yoga once a week. Go to pilates once a week. Have a massage once during the challenge. Sing Sing. Don't care when or how or if I post video, but just to spend a little bit of time once a week singing either at the piano or along to musicals. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, so I'm hitting the post-comp low. I'm feeling like I only won because I was lucky and everyone else is improving faster than I am. I hit comp PBs across the board and still I feel like I'm rubbish! I really need to sort my mindset! I'm going to keep this challenge simple. Lift things. Make friends. Try not to whine as much. Meh... I'll try to work out the challenge in full later. Ideas welcome!

I am sure that everyone here is nerdy enough that I dont need explain what kryptonite is or what it does to Superman. But for the sake of this challenge, we are going to try and harness the power of kryptonite and defeat super(heavy)man. Goal 1: Defeat Super(heavy)man A few years ago before the IPF weight class standards, the super heavyweight class was 308lbs+ for most federations as I am told. I'm competing in a local competition August 20th which doesn't have a weigh in since its really just person vs barbell so this is more of a personal vendetta against the scale. I have been kind of stuck near current weight of 317 for 2-3 months now bouncing between 309-318lbs. I'm not too upset about the stall as focus has really been on increasing lifts so I have been trying to eat closer to maintenance to account for a new program. I know for a fact that I ruin almost every week by eating poorly on the weekend when I eat back all the calories from the week. Typical week would be a 310 weigh in Friday and 315 on Monday morning from all the bad food and bloating. No longer want to be in that super heavyweight class so going to tighten up my diet and drop below 308. Ideally I would drop to 300 and have room to gain back some weight in muscles. Goal 2: Prevent kryptonite from sapping strength New program has been rewarding with big gains and some milestone PBs. The last challenge I hit my first 3 plate(315lb squat) and am closing in on the 4 plate deadlift(405lb). Despite trying to cut some weight, there should still be a little bit of room to gain some strength since the calorie deficit already exists during my weekday lifting but is ruined during my two rest days on the weekend. I know progress may be a bit slower since the weekends wont be a big re-feed. Just hoping to see some improvement during the cut time and then start having some more gains once I reach goal weight and start eating maintenance again. Also, daily mobility counts towards my workout for the day. Have really been seeing the benefits of ROMWOD during my lift sessions and daily recovery so really want to stick to this as part of the program. LUYL Goal: Leaving Krypton Lease at current apartment ends at the end of June and already signed a lease near Boston. I got a friend to help move my big things in two weekends so I really need to start packing. There is crap everywhere and work has required long hours so packing has just kind of been second priority. Need to focus so I am not up all night the day before loading random stuff into boxes with no organization. I am super excited to be close to the city. It puts me 10min from my coaches gym which is where my friends lift at which I cant wait to start going to on a regular basis. Right now its 45+ min away so I only go to do some form checks on occasional weekends. The gym is group training focused but with emphasis on different goals throughout the day. There is a nighttime class that basically runs my current program but in a group setting. I really look forward to the group support with the class structure and being in close proximity to my coach come competition time. The only downside is the time I save getting to the gym gets added to my work commute which goes from 20 min to almost 50min. This is going to require some organizational work to make sure I can get to work early in the morning so I can constantly make the nighttime lifting session. Going to work on getting up earlier and getting to work early in the next few weeks so waking up isn't so hard when living farther away.

I really just wanted to do a Rick and Morty themed challenge. This one is more of the same - right now my life is revolving around the 2016 Hill Country Strongman Classic YEAH!!! It is going down Saturday, June 25th at the Austin Convention Center (as part of the Naturally Fit Games). I sprained my wrist about 2 weeks ago, which really sucked. It was a giant wrench in my carefully planned training and peaking program, which was quite frustrating. Thankfully now it is on the mend thanks to bone broth, RICE, e-stim, acupuncture, and all the fruits. ALL THE FRUITS. I wish there were more weight classes for women. At this NAS competition there are only three: 1. less than 140# 2. 140-160 3. 160+ This is lame because a 165# 5'5" woman would be competing head to head with a 220# 5'11" woman. I know they do it that way because not enough women compete at local events to break the classes down further, but it just doesn't seem right. However, as a woman who currently weighs 214#, at least I don't have to worry about cutting weight. So for the month of June I'll be doing this:

Hi, I live in Manhattan and was wondering if there are any NF'ers with a squat rack/bench at their apartment? My apartment is a bit small (it could fit but I have roommates) and there is always a long line at the gym for squat racks, so if there's anyone in the area who has one at home and wouldn't mind letting me use it a couple of times a week (could discuss payment, etc) that would be great. I understand there would be liability issues, but I'd hope we can work something out. ANd mods, if this is not a sanctioned topic please let me knwo. My intentions are simply to find a better way to lift.

Something has changed within me, something is not the same. I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. Too late for second guessing, too late to go back to sleep, It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes... and leap! Okay... I'll stop with the lyrics! I realised that it's crazy that I've gone so long without a musicals themed challenge! I'm through accepting limits 'cause someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try I'll never know. I care too much about what people think... I'm not going to make that my challenge, but it's something that I'm aware of. This is more about the run-up to my next competition, which is the day after the challenge finishes. I'm fluctuating between absolutely terrified and just utterly resigned. I'm training in such a different way that I think things are going really well but I don't often push myself. I suspect that I can make some progress in this comp but it's not going to be show-stoppingly awesome. Powerlifting is all about defying gravity, as it's your real competitor. I'd like to beat it a little better than last time, kthxbai. Anyway, the goal here is to just keep training, to try to stay calm, not to tell myself that there are limits but just to shut up and lift! The other part is to do my MFing accessory work. Seriously, @Jaymul, can you nag me? Perhaps, just perhaps, I'll be unlimited... As someone told me lately, "Everyone deserves a chance to fly." And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free I'm finally getting my lifting classes off the starting line. The challenge here is to get them started. Assess after each session (I'll share my thoughts on here) and gain confidence. This is ALL me and I'm terrified. I also need to register as self-employed, set up my online accountancy stuff and remember to invoice the gym for each session! Not really going to treat them as goals, but they're things I need to do at some point. Nobody in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever going to bring me down! Two parts here... Both about being happy and doing things that make me happy. One, get back to singing. I suck now, but I spent years training as a singer and then let nasty comments bring me down. I stopped singing altogether when I got together with Grant because he basically hides when I sing. The goal here is to make time once a week to get to my piano and sing and share a short video with you guys. I'm really, really self-conscious about singing now, so I need to build some confidence back up. The second part is to make time for Grant and to spend one night a week playing games with him or going on a proper date. When it comes down to it, he's my best friend. This isn't officially part of the singing challenge, but this is a song that made me think of you guys. (Yes, I know it's not good... but it's unrehearsed and I'm ill today. )

With the return of Game of Thrones, I dedicate my challenge to every warrior’s favorite character The mountain. My goals are to eat, train, and sleep like the mountain to prep for my push-pull competition, which JUST SO HAPPENS to be the last weekend of this challenge. https://www.facebook.com/events/1531902903773755/ (If anyone is interested! I happen to be the only female registered thus far, easy way to lock up first place. Haha) https://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/the-mountain-from-game-of-thrones-revealed-his-diet-plan-and?utm_term=.ce2vemVvA#.sxqY8pdY3 http://www.gq.com/story/game-of-thrones-the-mountain-workout Now that my hip is feeling good and I’m back to moving without pain it’s going to be easier for me to get my workouts in and start getting my mind right! (and my food right!) I'm going to continue to post my workouts in my BATTLE LOG but might x-post here. I might also post gymnastics fun here, because who doesn’t want to learn about cool shit that I’m doing in gymnastics. Expect this post to be full of copious Game of Thrones spoilers and me fangirling over the Mountain. 1) Train like the Mountain I have training programmed out through the 24th with 9 sessions between now and then. Also have 4 gymnastics sessions between now and then (will be 5 adding in the following week). The goal is to complete all of my training sessions, but also be PT focused. Complete all training sessions and all gymnastics classes. Scale back if I need to. Do my prescribed stretches/therapy and/or foam roll 5x/week. 2) Eat like the mountain (Rollover from last challenge) My nutrition is still all over the place. If you’ve been following me, you know that this is a thing I've been struggling with. Injuring myself and spiraling into emotional eating did nothing to help the problem. I need to cut a little to make 132 class by my competition. If I don’t, no sweat, I’ll compete at 148, but I should be able to if I reign in the diet a bit. My challenge is finding BALANCE between tracking compulsively, yet still eating enough to fuel my body and my workouts. If I don't track, I don't eat enough or eat in proper ratios. Especially fat, I am ALWAYS low on fat, it's just so much easier to eat proteins and carbs! I also binge eat, so my calories will vary from 1400- 3100 over the course of a week; which is unhealthy, inconsistent and unsustainable! Last challenge the goal was to focus on the weekend, and I didn’t find any real improvement by focusing on that. This challenge the focus will be meal prep and trying to get back to a carb cycling type of diet. Meal prep: Ensure I always have protein sources prepped and available for lunches and dinners (aka meat). 1-2x/week prepping should be sufficient. Do that carb cycling thing again: Track my macros. Aim for P/F/C = >135/~70/[<100/~180/~250] based on that day’s activity level (rest=low, gymnastics or cardio=medium, lifting=high). Doesn’t have to be perfect, just try. Start up the creatine again. This fell off once I injured myself. I was having issues with it, mainly digestion and headaches. This leads me to believe I’m not drinking as much water as I should be. The goal is to drink at MINIMUM the half gallon of straight up water a day, in addition to any teas, coffees, diet sodas, etc I have throughout the day. Take creatine daily. At least half a scoop, more if I can tolerate it. Drink half gallon of water daily to ensure maximum pumpitude. 3) Sleep like the mountain I don’t usually have a problem with going to bed or falling asleep, but I have issues with waking up in the morning. Goals will reflect me waking up and getting a good start to my day! Similar to what Thor does! Phone doesn’t get charged in the bedroom. Must be charged outside of the bedroom so I don’t wake up and check social media in bed forever. Must actually get up out of bed to turn my alarm off and start being productive. Eat breakfast. Every day. Before I leave the apartment. (Before the move I was really good about this! Now that I have a more lenient start time at work, my habits have fallen apart) 2 days/week cardio and core in the morning. Preferably non training days to avoid multiple showers. A third cardio and core day should be done, but not necessarily in the morning. Life Goals for this year will be COMPOUNDING as appropriate. The idea is to produce HABITS! 1) Don't be a hoodrat (challenge 1) Look fabulous. Take selfies. Post here for everyone's pleasure. 2) Don't get too fat (challenge 2) Crushed this goal last time at 1x/week so I’m going to up it! Walk or bike to work. 2x/week minimum. Note: This goal is highly dependent on my hip and it’s continued healing. If I am having issues, I will nix it. 3) Read (challenge 3) Although I pretty much nixed my last challenge from the beginning, the reading stuck around. Continue reading at least 3x/week. 4) Don’t be a hermit (challenge 4) Weekends I have a terrible habit of laying on the couch watching Netflix and doing housework all weekend. It’s rare if I see sunshine. I need to do SOMETHING that involves leaving my apartment on non-work days. Go to the store, go on a date with Mr. J, go to the gym, nerd meetup for tea, or just go for a walk or bike ride. Just something so I don’t fall into that deep red glow of Netflix that is so comforting. Leave my apartment on either Saturday or Sunday. With the eventual goal of making this both days.

So I competed in the UPA Clash of the Titans push-pull meet this past weekend in Kenosha, WI. This was my first meet since August 2015, my third ever meet, and my first with a 24 hour weigh in! I had injured my left psoas and adductor back at the end of March so this meet was a maybe for me until about 5-6 weeks out when I fully committed. So coming in, I wasn't "mentally committed" so to speak. I didn't think I would be my best, so I just came in wanting to have fun and compete, no pressure. (I think this actually helped me a lot in the end) Coming in my comp. bests were 180/100/205 (lb) at ~60kg and gym bests of 210/105/215 (lb). The cut I started my “diet” about 5 weeks out from the competition at roughly ~143 lbs. My goal was to compete in the 60kg weight class which equates to roughly 132 freedom units. I didn’t really start logging data until about 3 ish weeks out. I followed a carb-cycling type of approach, with higher carbs on workout days, lower carbs on rest days. Towards the later 2-3 weeks I upped carbs more and lowered fat because my energy was being affected. DATA!!! Averages from 5/2/16 - 5/29/16: Calories:1768 Protein:120 Fat:58 Carb:173 Starting 5/30/16 (M) I removed nearly all carbs from my diet. Carbs that I did have were trace amounts in things like protein powders, nuts, etc. I didn’t eat any dedicated carb sources. Starting this day I also was drining 1.5+ gallons of water a day. My last sodium containing meal was Wednesday at lunch. In hindsight, I probably would have made this my last meal on Tuesday, but I already meal prepped sausages and didn’t want them to go to waste. Meals were things like eggs, unsalted nuts, and low-sodium protein powders. Thursday I didn’t drink any water, only what I needed to swallow my food essentially and minimal sips throughout the day. Maybe about 20 oz total. Averages from 5/30/16 - 6/2/16: Calories:1346 Protein:133 Fat:75 Carb:38 Weigh in was Friday morning and I woke up about a pound too heavy. I went into the steam room for about 10 minutes that morning and toweled off to sweat out some of the weight. (SOOOO THIRSTY). I went to weigh in and was 0.1 kg too heavy (dammit) so I spat in a cup for a few minutes and was able to spit out the weight and weigh in at 59.95 kg. YAY!!!! Replenish and Rehydrate After weighing in, I needed to replenish my water, sodium, glycogen etc. So I relied on food and lots of it on Friday: Coconut water 2 coca colas, 1 root beer Plenty of gatorade + whey powder or BCAAs throughout the day Juices - OJ and cranberry Pringles Reduced fat oreos Donuts Pretzels Enchiladas, chips and salsa Porkchops and potatoes for dinner Sour patch kids And I think I probably should have ate/drank even more than I did. I also ensured I took my multivitamin and creatine, to replenish what I had been missing the past few days. Day Of the competition! Weighed in at the home scale about 137 lbs, so I gained about 5 lbs over the course of Friday. Breakfast was more porkchops, eggs, and potatoes. Also juice. Got to the competition site and as I’m walking up to the venue my waterbottle (with BCAAs and gatorade) spilled out over my entire gym bag. Everything got wet: shoes, belt, singlet, wrist wraps, everything. UGHHHH So I attempted to towel dry off all of my items and then get ready for the day. Lifting was scheduled to start at 10 with rules meeting at 9:30, but they were running a bit late. I was the first bencher of the day so I was getting warmed up fairly early, prior to rules meeting. Warmups went fast because #povertybench only requires a few warmup sets. Ended up having to compete with still wet wrist wraps. Rules meeting happened and I come out to find @Flex Luthor and @Laghail waiting for me! YAY!!!! Bench My opener was 42.5 kg which equates to roughly 95 lbs, which I’ve hit for as many as a set of 6 before so NO PROBLEM here. Went up quick and easy. Second attempt 47.5 kg which is essentially my current max. Also was pretty good, a little struggle on the lock out, but not terrible. Third attempt 50 kg. Speed and control on the descent was good, but I hit too low on my chest and wasn’t able to get it to move more than a few inches. Deadlift Set my opener at 90 kg which I was fairly confident in. I debated setting it higher, but I wasn’t sure how the cut would affect me so I felt safe with 90 kg. First attempt, fast, easy. No problem. Second attempt, 97.5 kg. Again no problem. This was basically my existing PR. I got some help from friends setting my third attempt. I wanted 100 or 102.5, but based on how attempt 2 went, people were saying I should shoot for 107.5 or 110! I decided on 105. Third attempt: YAY!!!!! I kind of wanted a fourth attempt because it felt FAST! Barely any struggle. I have had this mental barrier of 225 in my head for SOOO long and I absolutely smashed it. It’s soooo all in my head. It was also really cool to have all the big guys from my gym who lift 600+ cheering me on as I pulled that Results: Closing thoughts: Good to know that I CAN do a cut with a 24 hour weigh in successfully, but I’d prefer not to. I don’t anticipate ever competing in 60kg class ever again. If I compete this fed again it will be 67.5kg or stick with 63kg for IPF classes. I literally made myself nauseous from all of the food, water, and sugar that I was consuming to replenish myself! Also, everything is all in my head. All of it. I can lift more weight than I think I can if I get out of my own head.

I’m a bit late to posting my challenge as life has been crazy with work and grad school. Now I’ve found some time to settle down and actually write this out. So here goes my first challenge, counting to 4! I just put down my entry fee for a powerlifting meet at the end of August which will be my first meet. The meet is part of a bigger GoRuck weekend event so rather than strict PvP competition, the event is based more on hitting certain totals to win ruck patches. Patches are awarded for 1000lb, 1250lb and 1500lb totals. My goal for this competition is to break the 1000lb mark and I know it will require some dedicated training in the next few months leading up. Currently sitting at a 930 estimated total: 305 squat, 250 bench, 375 dead (155 OHP not included) with I think a few more pounds in reserve but haven't tested 1RM in a while. Quest 1: 1…2…UHH...3…... This was my original lifting goal before the competition signup and I’m sticking with it as a good intermediate step towards the 1000lb total. 135lb OHP, 225lb bench, 315lb squat, and 405lb deadlift would be 1,2,3,4 45lb plates per side. I have already gotten the OHP and bench but squat and deadlift are not quite there. I’ve got a new strength program with a coach that I have been running for 8 weeks now and seeing awesome improvements that helped me hit the OHP and bench goals so staying on track with that routine. Goal: Squat to up 315lb and increase deadlift (405 is stretch for 1 month of training but would be bonus PR). Quest 2: #SwoleAndFlexy New favorite hashtag. Started doing ROMWOD a few weeks ago to help with range of motion and flexibility. Its 20min a day(40min on Thursdays) which I have no reason not to make time for regardless of what else I am busy doing. Goal: Keep doing this daily. Quest 3: Eat the right things Nutrition has always been a struggle for me. I got stuck in a weight loss mentality for a long time trying to eat <1800cal at 325+lb BW and it was killing my ability to do anything especially lifting. Slowly working my calorie intake up to break this cycle, currently 2300-2500 on lifting days and 1900-2100 on rest days. My lifts feel better with high daily protein intake and carbs centered on lifting sessions so going maintain that trend. Goal: Keep tracking on MFP to keep honest with calorie intake and macros.

Deadlifts have always been my sticking point in competition. I'll go to pull the second or third lift and it'll feel tough and I'll just give up! Third attempt deadlift (135kg) - 2 December 2016 - Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships Yesterday I did my first competition for six months. My coach took charge of my attempts. I opened at 130kg (I've done it in training whilst feeling like death, so no fear on that) and then put 140kg in for my second attempt. I was terrified. It was tough. It went up but, as many of you will be aware, there are times when you go to pull a deadlift and a little bit of wee will leak out. It was just a tiny bit at 140kg but I locked out! My coach then put in my final attempt. He didn't tell me what it was. He just told me to cling on for dear life and not to stop pulling with no sense of self-preservation. Whatever happened, don't stop pulling until you succeed or the lift would fail to be legal (i.e. hitching or foot movement). So I did. I grabbed onto that bar, I pulled through my sticking point, I tried to lock it out. I tried so hard that I wet myself and the platform but I didn't let go. I didn't give up on myself! I didn't give up on myself! I may not have locked out that deadlift but I beat my deadlift demons down and I'm walking away thinking that there's a lot more there rather than hating myself for giving up when I could have got it!

Alright, first challenge, let's do this! Been running a battle log for the past couple of weeks and will link to it in my sig when I get to it. I'm a powerbuilder. I train to increase my numbers in bench press, squat, and deadlift while also training and eating to have an aesthetic physique. Over the course of the past two years, I lost 45lbs, gained back 30, lost 30, and recently gained back 10 rebuilding my strength. My 5'10 self has been sitting at 210lbs for the past month. I've recently been eating about 2800-3200 calories a day and I train about 3-4 times a week. I stopped doing cardio about a month ago. Main Quest: My conservative goals are to meet or beat the following 1RMs by the end of the year without getting fat (I'll make that more quantifiable in the future): Squat = 455lbs Bench Press = 315lbs Deadlift = 455lbs I haven't tested my 1RMs since last year when I was 230lbs, so here are my most recent working sets for context: Squat: 5X5X350 Bench Press: 5X5X235 Deadlift: 5X3X385 Challenge Quests 1. Training: Train Bench Press and Squat at least twice per week and Deadlift once per week. Perform a bodybuilding style upper body accessory workout once per week. By the end of the challenge, find/develop a program that I can follow consistently through the end of September. 2. Macros: Track macros as accurately as possible 6/7 days per week. I will use MyFitnessPal for this. I will be eating the 2800-3200 calories that I've been eating for the past week and I will weigh myself daily and take weekly progress pictures. By the end of the challenge I will analyze macros/weight/appearance/strength and adjust my macro goals accordingly for the next challenge. 3. Sleep: Get 7 hours of sleep each night. I want to work my way up to 8, but for now 7 is a reasonable goal. I am a night owl and I'm at work 8-5. 4. Level up your Life: Find a new gym. I don't like my current gym because it's crowded and full of shady people. I had a pair SlingShot Gangsta wraps stolen from my bag when I was squatting. They have a ton of equipment and are powerlifter friendly, but I hate the overall scumbag vibe of the place. By the end of the challenge, I want to find a gym where I can get my training done in a clean, friendlier environment. To get things started I'll report on today. 05/08/2016 1. Training: Bench Press 5X5X235lbs Deadlift 3X5X385lbs Current Week Training Progress Squat: 0/2 Bench Press: 1/2 Deadlift: 1/1 Bodybuilding: 0/1 2. Macros: Ate a TON at a Mother's Day brunch. Starting off this week with my no tracking day. 3. Sleep: I'll report on this tomorrow. 4. Gym Search: Haven't begun, but I know which one I'm going to look at first... more on that later.

i had the same dilemma many people probably face, my gym had one power rack and 8000 pieces of isolation or cardio equipment. i hated having to go late at night just to ensure that i would be able to workout without waiting forever just to do squats and not being able to take a break between sets. i started looking around at home gym setups and what kind of workout i could do to make it worth investing in minimal equipment, since i would have to purchase all of it. i found (like most people) the Stronglifts 5x5 workout. it even has a handy app and a good amount of info about each lift and what equipment you need to buy. i started with the dick's special (against many recommendations online). i got a bench/stand combo, 300lbs of metal plates, and an olympic bar. i figured it would be a long time before i would have to invest in new things or more weight (even though i had squatted 315 recently, i didn't see me banging out 25 in a workout). i flipped the cups around and squatted off the back of it, even though it was a little short me. anywho, i didn't know what any of my max's were so here's where i started: Squat 95lbs Bench 75lbs Row 75lbs OH Press 45lbs Deadlift 135lbs now i did have to take a week off because i was traveling overseas and couldn't workout. i don't recommend it, i was completely free of DOMS, feeling great, and motivated. coming back i ignored the 10% deload recommendation (recommend following it) and was whipped. i was sore and didn't feel like doing it after the first night back. ridiculous turn for only a week off, but that's why i would do it on a schedule where you will not miss. either way, here's where i'm at currently: Squat 240lbs Bench 185lbs Row 185lbs OH Press 100lbs Deadlift 275lbs if you're familiar with the program you can guess that i skipped up a bunch of weight. i think i undersold how much i could lift and the exercises were not taxing. i recommend the program. the loading schedule, exercises, and app are all great. i don't know about the guy who runs it, i've read some stuff saying he's a little out there, but i've read most of his articles about the lifts and recommendations and they're not bad. i do not subscribe to emails, and i think that's where the issue some people had were. i do the pay version of the app and i feel it's worth the $10. which of course is peanuts compared to what i'm going to say next: spend the damn money on nice equipment. here's the truth of what i spent: $500 for my whole setup from dicks. this lasted me 5 weeks and i just had to replace almost every piece of it. the only thing i kept were the actual weights. i injured my hip/lower back unracking the weight (i have to unload off of the spotter bars to make it work and it's too short), and the next day when i pulled weights off the collar slid with it. the cheap bar had come unscrewed and i was lucky it did while i was unracking 25lbs instead of repping 250lbs. so i had to buy a new stand/rack, bar, and i went ahead and got some more 45s because i was tired of using so many change plates. this cost me $1000. i'm trying to sell the old bench/rack setup now, and it would be good for someone a little shorter or who wanted to do adjustable bench work. for me though, it wasn't optimal and i put price ahead of functionality and basically burned some money. you live and you learn, but if you have any questions about my setup, my experiences with 5x5, or anything else let me know. it's been fun.

...Except for the tan because I'll look like a lobster Sugar Glider Mode: Pull-ups and dips every evening, 3xF I'm going to need lats and triceps where I'm going this year. Strength +5 #WomensPhysique: Oh god, this every challenge, stop being so fat Tanky. So aim for 135g of protein a day and calories at 1,800. STA + 2.5, CON + 2.5 (because eating good makes you feel good) Voce fala portuguease?: So I can ask for coffee, cake, steak and chicken, but I can't ask for directions, know which day it is or talk about lifting. Keep up with daily duo lingo practice. Post hilariously wrong training updates in Portuguese here. Practice reading out loud and talking to Ana Banana in the gym. Realistically, I should be able to read the first few pages of "A cat called kitty" by the end of this challenge. Charisma +5