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Howdy there, fine folks! My long-term life quest is to become confident, and as part of that, I'd like to lose the big fat tummy I've acquired since having a baby in January. Things have been going overall ok: - I've lost 14 pounds in the last 5 months, and I'm down 23 pounds from my top pregnancy weight. - I'm a pound over the weight I was when I became pregnant. However, I want to lose another 10 pounds and tone up the tummy, which is much bigger than it used to be! So... goals 1) Eat less sugar At the moment my sugar consumption is mainly down to biscuits, so I want to reduce those down from several biscuits a day to, maybe 1 a day as a 'pudding'. Biscuits allowed per day in week 1: 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 Biscuits allowed per day in week 2: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 Biscuits allowed in week 3: 5 I'll re-evaluate how it's going by the end of week 3. I shall also make a pact not to eat shop-bought sugary goods, especially sweets. Dried fruit or baking ingredients are okay however. 2) Ramp up the exercise I have bought an expensive DVD workout program - "Brazil Butt Lift" - after being taken in by an infomercial. So I gotta start watching it. Breakdown for week 1: Step 1: Learn how to use my parents' DVD player. Step 2: Check that none of the DVDs are scratched/all are working Step 3: Try a workout in the early morning I'll set out more steps after I've got to this point! Other Quests 3) Be More Productive I'm alright at getting in those 'Quadrant 2' goals (important, not urgent). But I'm a bit shoddy at fitting in the 'smaller rocks' into my timetable, and end up feeling overwhelmed by how much I have to do. So my mantra for the next 6 weeks will be: DON'T DAWDLE Relaxing is okay, even having a flick through facebook is okay, but when I have a pocket of time then I should seek to make the most of it and not get waylaid by other stuff. If possible I will have a retrospective every 2 weeks to see how this is progressing. I would also like to aim to make most emails no more than 6 sentences long. 4) Play More With Baby I've got so much life tasks to deal with I don't seem to ever feel relaxed enough to have playtime with baby. This makes me sad. As a minimum, I want to spend at least 20 mins a day with him in the playpen engaging in free play. Yay, challenge time!!

As always, I'll be logging all of my parkour classes, rock climbing sessions, hand balancing, yoga, swimming, and all of the stuff I normally do. But, the main focus of this challenge is actually controlling my headspace, not being too much of a perfectionist, and just taking joy in all of the fun stuff that I'm doing. 1. Be mighty like Thor and the Hulk - If I ever want to be able to do large sets of pull ups or even reach a muscle up one day, I need to give my pull ups a little more care and attention. For the most part, I've been just getting my pull exercise through climbing, parkour class, and messing around at the playground. Goal: Pull ups after every climbing session using the rock holds. A total of 3 pull up sessions/week, with a full session filling out any remaining ones after the post-climbing pulls. 2. Be agile like Black Widow: To be agile, I need to be more flexible. Goal is to do splits progression stretches (low lunge, half monkey sequence) + pancake 3x /week. 3. Take aim like Hawkeye Goal: archer stretches and shoulder dislocates 3x/week to keep my shoulders nice and healthy. 4. Be industrious like Iron Man I waste too much time on my phone. This will only get worse when the kids are out of school and underfoot all day. I don't want myself or the kids to be lazy lumps. So, the goal is to spend more time reading, drawing, playing the piano, practicing German, cooking, cleaning, or other productive tasks rather than being lazy. If possible, I need to turn these into family activities. 5. Be virtuous like Captain America. The Cap wants me to watch my language. Goal is to do 20 burpees as punishment (or if my leg isn't up to it, do V-ups) every time I use a "naughty word" in front of my kids. Since I hate burpees, this will hopefully encourage me to clean up the language a bit. 6. Defeat Quicksilver To defeat Quicksilver, I need to be fast. To be fast, I need my knee and leg to function properly once again (had ACL reconstruction 16 months ago. Still dealing with IT Band syndrome by throwing myself into too much parkour too soon). Goal is to do my leg prehab routine (hip opener stretches, calf stretches, quad stretch, IT band rolling) every day and my PT strengthening stuff (lateral band walks, one leg squats, clams) 3x/week. 7. Defeat the Scarlet Witch I've really been struggling with controlling my headspace lately, and at times, my anxiety has been out of control. To keep myself better balanced emotionally, I'm going to aim for these two rules: a. No office visits with Dr. Google. If I'm that concerned about something, I need to see an actual doctor rather than make myself paranoid after symptom searching on the internet. b. If I'm in a bad place mentally, I need to do one of my headspace balancing activities, like: yoga, walking outdoors, mindless household chores, or comfort reading, rather than sitting around, brooding, and making it all worse. 8. Defeat Ultron - In Ultron's view, if humanity can't be perfect, it should be destroyed. I often fall into the same trap of expecting too much perfection from myself and becoming too negative as a result. Rather than being down on myself because I couldn't execute whatever move in parkour class or couldn't send whatever route when climbing, I want to just stop comparing myself to others, stop letting myself get overly frustrated, and instead just take joy in what I'm doing. It doesn't need to be perfect. Instead, I just need to be having fun. Whew. 8 goals sounds like a lot, but basically I just need to do 5 minutes of PT every day, have a session 3x/week where I do splits stretches, shoulder stretches, and PT strength, do more pull ups, stop swearing, and adjust my thought process a bit. So really it's not so much. I don't have a set schedule, but generally it'll be: -parkour class and/or parent& child aerial silks - 2x/week (will probably be 2 hours of parkour one day and silks another day) -climbing + swimming 2-3x/week. In the summer, we like climbing for an hour, followed by swimming for an hour. -home yoga when I feel like it. I'm also going to be on a 1 week vacation right in the middle of the challenge. I haven't yet decided how I'm going to handle that with my goals.

I have a quick survey for the rebellion, mostly since I'm trying to help motivate some friends: What is the earliest you get up in the morning? And, what would you do with the time if you were to get up earlier? For those of you who already do get up early, what motivates you? Thanks!!

Meesa avoids beating up the grass [Level 4] So the soccer pre-season is finally here; so I am getting 2 really solid training sessions + a game of indoor a week in (for an idea of timing - this challenge will take up most of pre-season and end right at the start of the regular season). I am going to use this opportunity to focus on the general ‘life’ stuff that should make fitness and soccer easier. Proposed outcome - a consistent; organised and healthy lifestyle off the pitch; so I that when I am not at work I can be focussed on the soccer outside of that time. Proposed method - I allow myself to get away with the small things; and therefore the bigger things. This challenge I’ll be using a daily and weekly checklist and will need to check in at least once every 2 days on the progress. Challenges Waking up + Morning Routine Productivity at work Food Fitness Waking up + Morning Routine I basically suck at doing this consistently and it has a run on effect. Weekdays. Wake up at 6 and make bed before leaving for work. Have time to properly do my hair. Eat breakfast. Weekends. Get out of bed by 9; make bed by 10. Eat breakfast. Productivity at work I haven’t so much been slacking as have been very unproductive. I need to take on new responsibility - and at this stage my lack of work; but 1 important thing I need to do that not having done reflects badly on me. I need to leave work each day feeling like personally I was productive; and that if things were blocked or I was unproductive it had nothing to do with me. I know that this means some serious over time in the first week or 2 of the challenge. Food This is always my major hurdle. I let myself get out of sync once and then it all falls in a heap. At least now I have a bigger and better fridge so I can actually fit a week’s worth of food in there (maybe needing a small salad vege top up) but it also has a big enough freezer that I can cook and store in. Weekdays. Actual breakfast ⅘ days a week. Lunch from home 5/5 days. Dinner at home ⅘. Snacks are fruit/nuts (not chocolate) Weekends. Eating 3 meals a day; 4/6 being at home. The other 2 healthy versions of eating out. Fitness Training will help with this Meet my step goal on my fitbit 6/7 days a week (provision for 1 lazy weekend day) Get 5 sessions in a week. (Monday and Friday or Saturday forming a rest day). Training Tue + Thurs. A run and body weight session on Thurs. Walk to indoor + bodyweight session on the walk home. Side Goals - Beep test - I scored an abysmal 2.8 (copped out with some serious knee soreness) the Tuesday before the challenge started. Our coach is having us do it once a month so we have our own personal tracking. My body isn’t built for that kind of running but I need to get better at it. By the end of this challenge I’d like to be in the mid 4’s; and to be in the 6s by mid season. Weight - I know its not all about weight so this is a side goal. I’d like to get to be closer to under 70kg by the end of this challenge. I’m a few kg off but as long as I notice the difference in my body I’ll be happy. Long term to be under 65kg. Rewards. I decided I was going to save up for the ridiculous and unnecessary Fitbit Surge. I am already putting $50 away a month (I told myself no more unnecessary sporting purchases until July). I will have a $150 a week food budget; which is more than enough to stuff myself with decently delicious and healthy food. Any time I eat out it will also come out of this budget). I will get a tick for each thing I complete each day to be worked out percentage wise at the end of the week. If I have made it to 75% this money goes into the ‘Surge tin’; if I have not made it to 75% it will go back into regular savings. Example (Monday)Day Got up at 6 Made bed Proper breakfast Did I feel productive at work Proper lunch Cooked dinner Dish dishes If I did every thing other than my dishes I made it to 6/7 which is approx 85%.So I passed that day. I will be posting my plan for week 1 later today as this is already a massive post. PS. I hate using the word goal - seeing as less of those is my goal for the season

The short story for any new followers: The past few years I’ve been learning how to balance academics and health (esp. how to work around PCOS). I joined the Rebellion this past April, started powerlifting during my first challenge, and have been with the Warriors ever since. In September I hopped across the pond for grad school. I’m keeping many of the same goals from that first UK challenge and carrying on… MAIN QUEST: Do my first pull-up. Mini-main quest: Continue my "year of consistency." I'll get my time in under the bar, continue working on mobility, figure out how to eat in a way that supports my health, strength, and happiness, and see what happens... Goals for this challenge: GOAL #1: Take all of the supplements. [+1 CON, +1 STA] Right now, all of the supplements are Vitamin D, myo-inositol, and D-chiro-inositol. Omega-3 might be added. This is just a matter of remembering to take them every day (morning and evening) and sticking with the regime long enough to see if it helps. For anyone who is curious, the inositols are interesting critters. They’re the precursors of second messengers in various signaling pathways, including the insulin signal transduction pathway. There’s a growing amount of evidence that these processes are disrupted in PCOS, perhaps due to an inositol deficiency, and that inositol supplementation can alleviate symptoms. They also have little to no side effects—in fact, massive doses of myo-inositol (18 g/day!) have been used to treat psychiatric conditions such as OCD and depression. So, if nothing else, the molecular biologist/neuroscientist side of me is intrigued. I don’t think it will be a cure-all (and I don’t want to get my hopes up too much), but I’ll be very happy if it makes my other lifestyle choices more effective. Grading (at end of challenge): A = miss <= 2 doses, B = miss <= 6 doses, C = miss <= 12 doses, F = miss > 12 doses GOAL #2: Whole30+ [+2 CON, +1 WIS]: The Whole30+ continues (although I might add back occasional goat cheese soon). I started on Sept. 28, so at the start of the challenge I’ll have completed a Whole43 so far. Grading (weekly): somewhat subjective because there are a lot of Whole30 guidelines, but shooting for an A = Whole30 + mind fruit and nut portions + no tracking + eat enough to support lifting. Goal #3: SLEEP [+2 CON, +1 STA]: Turn off lights by 10:30 pm. Try to be in bed by 10 pm. Minimize evening putzing around on the computer. Grading (weekly): A = on time 6+ nights, B = on time 5 nights, C = on time 4 nights, F = on time <= 3 nights And, last but certainly not least… Goal #4: LIFT [+2 STR, +1 DEX] This includes maintaining mobility so I’m able to lift. More specifics: I’m doing Starting Strength at least 2x/week (almost always 3x/week). I’m microloading the upper body lifts. I joined my uni’s lifting club last challenge, so I have people to lift with! My “for fun†goal: this challenge I want to surpass my old 5 RMs from July/August: Squat: 70.5 kg (155 lbs) Bench: 45.5 kg (100 lbs) Deadlift: 79.5 kg (175 lbs) OHP (with good form): 25 kg (55 lbs) Latest pre-challenge, successfully completed working weights were Squat: 62 kg (136.4 lbs) Bench: 42.5 kg (93.5 lbs) Deadlift: 75 kg (165 lbs) OHP: 30 kg (66 lbs) so I can already cross off OHP . I should have plenty of time to make my other goals, but I know from personal experience (see Challenge #2…) that progressing isn’t as straightforward when the weights are heavy. Also, theoretically I could attain a bodyweight+ squat during this challenge, which would be fantastic (once again, see Challenge #2), but I’m not sure if I’ll hit it using my current programming. I’m going to use all of the tricks in the book (the book = Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training) to drag out the progression as long as I can, though. I’m also working on power cleans, but have been focusing on getting the form down (with the help of a coach from the aforementioned lifting club) rather than increasing the weight. Grading (at end of challenge): A = 16+ training sessions, B = 14-15 training sessions, C = 12-13 training sessions, F = < 12 training sessions And a couple of fun smaller quests: Fitness Side Quest: Climb the Tower [+ 2 STA] The uphill climbs on my hiking trips have been leaving me breathless—lifting just isn’t good preparation for walking up a seemingly never-ending natural staircase. Luckily, though, my graduate program’s home base is on the 9th* floor of a tower, so I have plenty of opportunities to walk up man-made stairs! I’m pretty good about taking the stairs when I only need to go ~1-4 flights, but I need some extra motivation for the long trips. With classes on floor 6 and my computer cluster on floor 9, I should be able to easily hit 50+ flights up the tower stairs every week. *That’s the 10th floor according to U.S. floor-counting rules. In the U.K., the floors are counted Ground, then 1, 2, and so on. Grading (weekly): A = 75+ flights, B = 60-74 flights, C = 45-59 flights, F = <45 flights Life Quest: Make a Weekly Work Plan [+1 WIS, +1 CHA]: Regular swing dancing is coming second to sleep at the moment, so in the meantime I want to work on some small time-management/productivity habits. This technique is from the Study Hacks blog (mentioned in a recent NF blog post). Grading (at end of challenge): A = 5 weeks, B = 4 weeks, C = 3 weeks, F = <3 weeks Note: I’ll be travelling the last week of the challenge and will modify my goals accordingly: “Supplements,†“Sleep,†and “Lift†will continue as usual. I’ve already started looking for gyms with day passes/free trials.“Whole30†will change to 1) Do the best I can with the options that I have, and 2) Allow a few deviations from Paleo, in a Whole30-sensible way (i.e., be mindful of what my body will tolerate, watch quantities, and return to Whole30 guidelines afterwards rather than spiraling into never-ending poor food choices).“Climb the Tower†and “Weekly Work Plan†will no longer be applicable (although I’ll do plenty of walking).

I know I'm a bit late for this challenge, but I've been away from the forums for a few months with my self improvement struggling. So I'd rather start late than wait until next time. My overall goal is to better myself, I struggle with a definite reason other than it makes me happy, better at achieving my life goals and helps me to help others. For this challenge my aim is to focus on rebuilding that habit of habit building. Challenge 1: Exercise (focusing on strength). My exercising is all based on natural movements, but I also like to keep it playful and interesting meaning fixed programmes are not a good match for me. I'll update on this later today when I've thought about it more. Challenge 2: Protein not Puddings. I've been eating way too much junk food recently, I eat a lot anyway and I've been doing farm labour for the last few months and I've just been eating whatever is in site to fuel my body. So this challenge is about replacing the snacking on rubbish foods with snacking on healthy foods. There's 35 days left in this challenge, let each day without unhealthy snacking be a point, and each idea I have for a healthy snack be an extra point (Max 5) 31+ points = A 28+ = B 25+ = C 21+ = D Bar the time of year I think this is going to be a fairly easy one to do so 1 for Cons and 1 for Wisdom. Challenge 3: Track the monies I'm actually very good at tracking my money, I have a big nerdy excel spreadsheet with how much I spend in different categories and what i bought. Recently I've got very slack at updating it. Today i did 26th Oct to 17th Nov which resulted in a big game of hide and seek with the receipts. So I'm going to update every week. On a Monday evening (Tuesday is also allowed). I'm also going to get a box for receipts. Nice and simple every week done is full points, one missed is half points, less than that is a fail. Wisdom: +2 Life Challenge: Be productive everyday. I've done this one before and it was brilliant I achieved so much. There also isn't much better a way to get off the sofa and do something. Again we have 35 days left so 31+ = A 28+ =B 25+ = C 21+ = D For this I think Charisma +3

During the last 4 months of ACL rehab, my lifestyle and activities have been hugely limited and dictated by my injury. Feeling like I have a huge list of things that I have to do but take no joy in, and another long list of things I'm not permitted to do has made me feel quite depressed and helpless. So, now that I've reached the magical 12 week point in my rehab and can do a lot more activities, it's time to take back control of my life. Goal 1: Play every day Yeah, I still have to do PT every day, and I still can't do most of the fun things I love, like climbing, acrobatics, playground parkour with the kids, or handbalancing. But, it's time to find more things that I enjoy. Rather than forcing things for this goal, like requiring pull-ups 3 times per week or whatever, I'm keeping it simple. Every day, I need to do some fitness activity simply because I want to do it and will hopefully find some joy in it (and this will be a lot easier, now that I'm cleared for yoga!). I'm sick of having my exercise routine be either physical therapy stuff or boring stuff that I'm only doing to stay in shape for climbing. It's time to do things just for myself. Grade: #/42 Goal 2: Control the kitchen I'm an okay cook, meaning I have my handful of things that I can make without a problem. But, I'm a pretty timid and boring cook. I would love to reach a point where I have full control over my diet, meaning that if there's something I want to eat, I have the ability and confidence to look up a recipe and make it for myself. To gain confidence in the kitchen, the goal is to try one new recipe each week. Grade: #/6 (Thanks to Hatter for inspiring this one) Goal 3: Reclaim the minutes I'm trapped in the horrible vicious cycle where I'm overwhelmed by my to-do list, so I shut down and just play on my phone a lot. But, wasting that much time playing on my phone makes me even more anxious, to a point where I can't motivate myself to do anything. On top of that, I have a lot of 10-20 minute intervals in my life (from dropping off kids, picking them up, shuffling them to activities, etc.), where the easy answer was to just play around on my phone. So, I've reached a point where I'm always distracted by my phone. The plan is to reclaim some of that time for productive activities. I'm first going to come up with a list of more productive things I can reasonably do in 10-20 minute intervals of time, and then do them rather than always mess around online. I'm also going to make more of an effort to put the phone away when I'm spending time with my family. So far, the productive list is: Playing the piano, cleaning/house chores, reading the news, and watering the plants. I'll almost certainly come up with more ideas over the course of the challenge. Grade is #/42, where I pass if I feel like I did a reasonably decent job with setting down the phone and being productive.

The Elders gather at the top of Mt. Erin, eager to watch how the final act of the Winter Trials plays out. It has been an unusually harsh winter. The warriors have already endured crushing snows, treacherous floods and traveled great distances. Yet there is still one more Trial before they can claim the honorable title: Winter Ranger. Months ago, when the Trials began, some of the Elders voiced their doubts. They worried that one warrior in particular was not up to the task. “She is too small†some said. Her speed and agility are unmatched. “She is too weak†they claimed. Her will is strong; capable of turning boulders into feathers on the wind. “But her temper,†they argued “She will panic at the first sign of trouble.†She has tamed the Red Mist, and harnessed its power for her own. Now, as the final clash approaches, as one Ranger stands out above the rest, the voices of the Elders carry a new song. “Her mind is as sharp and swift as her blade†“Did you know her sword is Valerian steel?†“I heard it has an obsidian core.†Now, they sit on the edge of their seats and watch for her sigil. “The Badger will slice them to pieces.†Jennifer Stark steps out of the dark tunnel. Giant shadows from fast moving clouds sweep across the ground and over a large hill on the far side of a vast field. The bright light dances across her ebony armor. Her golden shield blazes with a black and white badger. She is ready. The only warning she got was the flash of sunlight off the blade of a spear in the distance. A wave of White Walkers descended from the hill. They were countless and angry, armed with swords of ice and shields of stone. The Badger feels no fear. She draws her sword and runs to greet her enemy. Now imagine that the White Walkers want their taxes done. That is my Monday. Tax Season has ramped up and there is nothing left but the brutal gauntlet to the finish. Goals: Productivity- More of the same here. Pushing the benchmark to 60% for the next six weeks. Not sure if this is possible, we’ll see in six weeks. Stress Management- Yoga every night before bed. I have been doing this for the past week with great results. This must continue. Screen Free Time- I spend all day at work staring at a screen then I get home and end up doing more computer things or watching TV. I need to build time into my day that does not include being in front of a screen. More time for reading, playing with cats, cooking, cleaning and listening to podcasts. I’m going to start off with 4 hours a week as a goal. If that turns out to be unreasonable I’ll make adjustments. Let's get started!

A restless night, followed by a hollow day... I live in an island paradise for which many a queen would lay aside her crown. I command the loyalties of free men and women such that no empress could compel. Yet I look across the sand to a clear, cerulean sky and vivid turquoise waters and I am only aware of the dark storm brewing within my mind. I have fine ships and treasure aplenty, and yet... And, yet. What has it gained me to have escaped the confines of that narrow life reserved for so many others of my sex? I pursued freedom on the high seas and won it, only to realize that I am still in chains. My days pass in an endless stream of responsibilities and tasks. There are so many that I must provide for and watch over. Even my twin loves of the sea and of the art of the sword are fading. I no longer take joy in plotting my attacks, nor in my daring escapes. Would that I could find again that glad simplicity of my younger years... But, wait! Have I grown so weary as to have forgotten the simple truth that once filled the sails of my ambition? It is my choice and my choice alone that steers the ship of my future. Dare I take my sword to those things that grind down my days and steal the precious hours of my life? Will I make my fears and failings my new enemy and win my way to freedom and joy once again? Do you dare to become the Pirate Queen of your own life, to cut away all that stands in your way of epic awesomeness? How many ships can you realistically command, anyway? What is your joy? Where is your freedom? What is your true treasure? Ahoy! I'm ShadowLion, and I started this thread after reading a conversation between Starpuck and Wufkar. Their discussion contained this, among other wise and useful insights: I realized how hard it can be to make the sorts of choices that would simplify our days, allow us to take back our freedom, and live life on our own terms. Come on up the gangplank and let's plan our adventure over some rum laced with tea...

Hey sexy fit nerd rebels! Happy 2014! Its time for a new challenge! And not just any challenge, the first of a brand new year. Smells like...fresh grass and...possibility... Now usually, this time of year is littered with people making mad crazy plans, massive life overhauls and vowing to be a completely different person by February. But rebels, we know that huge, sweeping changes are not the way forward. Oh no, it is the small daily shift, one more rep, ten minutes earlier, saying 'I don't', that breeds habit change and true transformation. So, with that in mind, I am keeping it simple. This challenge will focus on something I have neglected for too long, a small change, that will transform everything. I recently re-read a few of of Steve's old articles, personal responsibility, 3 words and productivity, plus this link about doing things once, because I've been feeling lately that I've been leading an inefficient life of unfulfilled potential. I have some big plans for this year, including moving out and getting into vocational dance school, and for those things to happen I need to make more effective use of my time. #1. Do it now. Do it once. This applies to all aspects of my life. If I am reading an email, I respond to it straight away. If I strip my bed, I remake it with clean sheets right then. If I am cooking, I wash up as I go. If I use something, I put it away as soon as I'm done. Obviously this will be a work in progress, and I won't become perfect overnight, plus there are some things that I simply won't be able to do immediately, but I need to complete the things that can. I'm not too sure how to grade this one yet. Watch this space. #2. Multitasking is a myth. One thing at a time. Again, this applies to my whole life. No more watching TV while reading a book, eating and texting. One thing, done well, at a time. The exception to this will be listening to music while doing things such as working or cooking, working out etc. Again, unsure about best way to grade... And, a little something on the side... I don't eat sugar, aside from the honey in my morning yoghurt or my post training smoothie, and I don't eat bread. This is a goal I brought over from last challenge. The bread went well, as did the sugar...for the first two weeks. After that it got a bit messy, so this time around I'm making the sugar slightly easier but giving myself Sundays to have sugar if I really want it. I am a massive perfectionist, and often when something goes a little bit wrong I have a huge overreaction and decide I may as well give up because I've ruined it already. (Brilliant, well done Ems). So, in a bid to prevent this, I'm hoping that by building in some flexibility I will be able to tolerate less than 100%. Seriously am my own worst enemy sometimes. Grading will be simple for this, no bread, and only non-honey approved sugar on the six Sundays. Maximum. Hey girl, I think your challenge sounds great. Thanks Ryan Let's do this. NB: I'll update with better grading.

The WonderPhoenix has returned. YES. I was lost in the black hole of doom until I decided it was enough. (Excuses!) The bad news is now I have high bad cholesterol (250 mg) and I asked the doctor not to give me medication and he gave me 6 months to reduce the numbers. My motivations (randomly) Health: Drop my cholesterol rateBe inspiring: I want to be a better ME, healthier, persistent and fitter. I want to be inspiring to my family and my friendsSelf-appreciation: I take care of myself because I deserve it I want to be a healthier self, more energetic so I am cleaning my life from obstacles, dirt (processed carbs). I am working on building habits, train my consistency and building a fence between me and sickness. Main quest : Fit in a French size 40 (US 10, UK 12) and drop weight to 72 kg (158 lbs) Here comes the Cleaning Challenge. Challenge #3 main Goal : At the end of the challenge I want to fit perfectly in the French size 42 (US 12, UK 14) jeans I bought in October ! I want to be proud of the 180 burpees a week I have done(6/7) I won’t let processed carbs in. I will be proud of my daily morning exercise no matter what my mood was originally. Goal 1: 30 burpees a day keep the doctor away I know I am a burpee freak. I can do them in row, separately. ******Rating ****** 1 day missed per week 2 days missed 3 days missed 4 days missed 5 days missed Goal 2: Up to 4 paleo meals a day kicks the cholesterol out It’s a positive way to say no to snacking, no to processed carbs. ******Rating ****** 7 or 6 healthy days 5 healthy days 4 healthy days 3 healthy days 2 healthy days Goal 3: 30 mn of morning exercises brings the peace in I love morning workouts, so even if I will still be crossfitting 3 times a week and cardioing 2 to 3 times a week, I will exercise EVERYDAY 30 mn when I wake up. ******Rating ****** 1 day missed per week 2 days missed 3 days missed 4 days missed 5 days missed Life challenge : Productivity, efficiency and Power of FOCUS 10 pm is when Facebook is allowed in. Yeah, I am a huge procrastinor, blame it on me facebook, so for the next 6 weeks, I will not hit the facebook button until 10 pm. That’ll force me to work on more useful things (aka Job search, online training and useful books) ******Rating ****** A.After 10 pm E.Before 10 pm I’m posting my measurements tomorrow !

Main goal "I want to feel the life and be present in every moment, so that no moment would be boring and there would be time for the really important things" Mostly, when I do something, I worry over things I haven't done, or did wrong, or should do. And it made me angry&irritated, not be really with my family or enjoy things, ruining the moment I was in. And because of just screwing around doing all the other things than what should be doing (schoolwork & time with family) I don't get anything done. What a waste. - Whatever I am doing, I will give it my full attention. So no distractions, multitasking, worry of past or the future. I am hoping that feeling present fully will reveal the person that I am under all the useless mind-clutter. (Inspired by the NF article "How to become a productivity ninja" ) - Every day I will have a moment I do absolutely nothing. Just close my eyes, breathing slowly and deep from my diaphragm, letting my thoughts go. Also known as meditation. (Stumbled upon this in Leo Babauta's blog Zenhabits, "How to meditate daily" http://zenhabits.net/meditate/ ) Life goal: "I am not person who disrespects others by being late." I wrote to a teacher an email where I once again had to explain why an assignment was late. And I had no acceptable reason or excuse for it. All I could say was "Sorry, I can't say anything else than I will do my best to correct my ways". It felt bad, because I felt I was making her life a bit harder, and because I have a long time thought that returning agreed things late and not being in time at class shows -and is- disrespect for the teacher, classmates and anyone else. Teachers respect me by doing the work they do, and they are good people, so it's only fair to respect them back. To make this happen I will aim to be early in every set meeting and deadline. I will be 10-15 minutes early in class and other daily times, and more than one day early in any major deadlines. In class this time I have to wait I will use however I feel like at the moment. Meditation, thinking, going through notes... A 15 min block of completely free time is the carrot I need. (These two tips were lifted from Art of Manliness article about punctuality http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/07/18/a-man-is-punctual-the-reasons-youre-late-and-how-to-always-be-on-time/ ) My motivation is this quote, although I do not know who said it: "You can say sorry a million times, Say 'I love you' as much as you want, say whatever you want, whenever you want. But if you're not going to prove that the things you say are true, then don't say anything at all. Because if you can't show it, your words... don't mean a thing."

A Brief Introduction Hello warriors! I just finished my first Nerd Fitness challenge and I'm ready to get swole. The focus was on strength training a little bit of weight loss and body recomposition. I am continuing on with these goals, but this time stepping it up. On the last challenge I managed to lose about 8 lbs and lost about 3 inches from my waist. A friend of mine, who I'll admit tends to exaggerate, said it looks like I'd lost about 20 lbs. I have lost about 15 over the summer, but we all know how weird and tricky weight by itself can be. Main Quest: Get in shape by the time I finish my PhD. About a year and a half from now, I hope to be: 40-50 lbs. lighter Swole A zen "master" - practice and live a more peaceful, mindful, and disciplined but balanced life Pushing my mind to its fullest potential so I can defend my dissertation and have a successful career. Current Goals on the Quest: Lose fat/weight Build more muscle Improve exercise knowledge and perfect my lifting form I am currently about 245-250 lbs. at 6' 0" tall. I have now done about 7 weeks of Strong Lifts 5x5 and will be continuing it on this challenge. My goals are to stick to that, eat healthy and get more protein, and to really focus on perfecting my lift form and technique. I've got my body fat calipers coming in the mail, hopefully by the end of week 1. I'll put up some measurements and starting photos soon. Goal 1: Workout at least three times a week emphasizing strength training by following the Strong Lifts 5x5 program. I should have at least 18 workouts during the challenge. I usually go every other day, so that gives me three extra workouts during the 6 weeks I can use to catch up on weights if needed. For goal 1 I will continue following the Strong Lifts 5x5 program as in my first challenge. Here are my current lifts and goals following the program: Lift Current lbs. Goal lbs. Pts. Squat 155 240 Bench Press 140 180 Barbell Row 140 180 Overhead Press 100 130 Deadlift 165 245 I calculated most of these goals using the stronglifts excel sheet to find the six week goal. For the overhead press goal, however, I calculated 65% of my bench goal. This turned out to be 120 lbs. which would result in only a gain of 20 lbs. which would be too easy. So I added 10 more to make it a worthy goal. I also add a short pilates routine and some stretching to the end of my lifts to help work on balance, coordination, core strength, and flexibility. It is the beginner's workout listed and described in The Complete Book of Pilates for Men by Daniel Lyon Jr.: The Hundred Roll-ups Single Leg Circles Rolling Like a Ball Single Leg Stretch Double Leg Stretch Spine Stretch Forward Grading: I will simply count 2 points for the number of workouts I get done. For grading strength gains, I will count 1 point for being within 10 lbs. of a goal, 2 points for meeting the goal, or 3 points if I exceed it. I will then divide by the total number of points: Points = ( 2* Number of workouts + lifting points ) / ( 36 + 15 ) Here is my grading scale. I have to get all my workouts in and hit at least one goal to pass. I get an A if I do all that and meet all goals and exceed at least one and/or get all three extra workouts in. A = 48-52 pts. B = 42-47 pts. C = 37-41 pts. F = <37 pts. Note: extra workouts will yield some bonus points for the extra effort. Attribute Points: +1 STA for 18/18 workouts +1 STR for each 5 lifting points earned (up to +3 STR) +1 CHA if I can squat my body weight or more by the end of the six weeks Goal 2: Consume Between 2400 and 2900 calories and at least 200g protein a day. My calorie intake for maintenance is calculated to be 2947. I'm aiming to burn off some fat so I'll be aiming for 500 cal. under maintenance. Getting the protein will take precedent over eating fewer calories so if I need a couple hundred extra calories to get the protein I need I'll add them up to 2900. Also, I will be avoiding sugar, and keep carbs to a minimum, and preferably only for workout recovery. I will allow myself three "free" days during the challenge. These are not excuses be a glutton, but just days when I reward myself for good work and take my mind off the challenge, maybe have a few drinks etc. Grading: I'll get one point for each day where calories fall in the specified range, and one point for each day my protein is above 200g; not counting "free" days. My grade will be the points divided by the total possible points. Attribute Points: +1 CON passing grade on calories +1 CON passing grade on protein +1 CON more than half of days have <40 g sugar and <100g carbs consumed Goal 3: Inspect and Improve form on Lifts I have a copy of starting strength coming in the mail. It should be here this week. The first component of this goal is to read all the chapters on the lifts. As I finish each I will use that knowledge to improve my form at the gym. Form-Checks: During the challenge, I will take form-check videos of myself doing the exercises and post them on my thread. The first video for each will be put up early in the challenge so that I can look at it and get initial feedback. A second video for each will be posted during the last week for a final assessment and grading. Grading: The end of challenge videos will be graded by members of the Nerd Fitness warrior guild. I expect they should be graded as follows: A - perfect form, maybe one very minor flaw that's easy to fix B - a few minor flaws that are easy to fix C - some flaws requiring some effort/attention to fix F - several flaws requiring significant effort/attention to fix, the exercise will result in injury if continued in this way Or something like that, it will be pretty subjective, and I don't have a specific points/checklist. Any warrior can grade me, and I will take all feedback into account and take an average, but I will weight your grades by your Levels so that experience of the grader is taken into account. Attribute Points: +1 WIS finish reading Starting Strength + 1 CON grade C or better on form, + 1 CON Grade of B on form + 1 STR grade A or better Life Goal: Follow a M-F routine that facilitates a more healthy, productive, and balanced lifestyle I often struggle with keeping myself on a regular schedule which makes it easy to lose track when on occasion life/shit happens. Also, I need to eliminate distractions like news, facebook, email, and NF. I will make time for each rather than randomly using them as distractions. And getting 8 hours of sleep will be a priority. I originally had a scheduled, daily agenda here, but I've changed it to more of a list of essentials. Some things will have scheduled times, but I just want to make sure most things just have a set amount of time reserved. Every day M-F should have the following essential elements: Before Work: 6:00 am - WAKE UP AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF BED! DO NOT TOUCH THE SNOOZE BUTTON! A good solid warrior breakfast On workout days - a morning workout, on rest days some light stretching in the morning At Work: Be at work by 9 am Write one hundred lines of code (or three functions/classes or equivalent) 1 hour Planning or analyzing experiments 1 hour Documenting/writing Read at least one paper 1 half hour reflecting on days work/lessons 1 Brunch and two lunches (each with lots of protein, try to take an hour or less for all three) Get it all done before 6pm At Home: Be home by 6:30. Spend 10-15 minutes cleaning/tidying the apartment Cook and eat a good dinner Read and study non-work stuff (this will be my time for reading starting strength) I am also studying actuarial science as a plan B for after the PhD. This will be when I read some math texts and work on practice problems for exam P. 8 hours of sleep Each day (any time I can): 1 hour Evening computer time (facebook, NF, news) 10-15 min meditation This is the essence of my most productive days when they exist. Fridays will require some flexibility since there are usually more meetings and, of course, drinks after work so I'll have to work around that. Weekends will be off the schedule and focus on catching up on things as needed then relaxing and doing fun stuff. Then Sunday afternoons/evenings will be for preparing for the week. I'll have to have meals prepped if I want to stick to such a tight schedule. Grading: I'll grade each of the 30 possible days as pass/fail. As long as I manage to get a little bit accomplished on these things each day and it doesn't seem like my day fell apart I will count the day as a pass. Its subjective, but I'm confident that the distinction will be pretty clear. A if > 25/30 days do not fall apart B if > 20/30 C if > 15/30 F if < 15/30 Attribute points: +1 CON grade of C or better +1 WIS grade of B or better +1 CHA grade of A (because strong leaders get shit done) Final Grade: I will take the average of all four goals using a 3 point scale: A = 3, B = 2, C = 1, F = 0. Motivation -- Fuck Entropy! I am going to live a happy, healthy, successful, and well-balanced lifestyle for the rest of my life. Wish me luck. This is going to be an intense 6 weeks.

I have two main goals for this challenge: Goal 1: Begin parkour training. In order for me to accomplish this I need to focus on 3 key result areas (KRAs): strength and conditioning, balance and movement skills, and mental and physical health. Each KRA has a set of performance indicators to enable me to keep track of progress. KRA 1: Strength and conditioning Performance indicators: Advanced Bodyweight Workout twice a week (I have a spreadsheet to keep track of how I'm doing on each exercise and what to aim for each session) Yoga and mobility workout once a week STR +2, STA +2, DEX +1 KRA 2: Balance and movement skills Performance indicators: Arm balances (to be practiced for a minimum of 5 minutes a day every non-workout day (Sundays optional) Crow - increase length of timeHandstand progressions - work up to at least wall handstands facing away from wallBasic parkour movements (to be practiced for a minimum of 5 minutes a day every non-workout day (Sundays optional). Reference guide will be this website. Week 1and 2: lazy vault and kong vault progressions (start with ground kongs and work up to proper kongs)Week 3 and 4: skills from the previous weeks + parkour rollsWeek 5: all previous skills + box/tuck jumps to soft landingsWeek 6: combo movements - basically beginning to really play around as a traceurDEX +2 KRA3: Mental and physical health Performance indicators: Healthy body habits Eat at least one Paleo meal five days a weekLimit sugar/carb intake on all other meals and days. In other words, enjoy but don't binge.Get as much sleep as possibleReestablish daily early morning 10 minute Zen practice. CON +3 Goal 2: Become a more productive artist by cycling key result areas every 6 weeks. I got the idea from one of GMB's article on cycling fitness goals instead of trying to train everything all at once for the sake of balance. I have come to realize that as an artist I want to do way too much. I want to write a blog but I also want to write songs, I want to play guitar but I also want to play piano and sing. On top of that I want to practice two martial arts! So for this challenge I'm going to pick just one creative area: writing. Next challenge will be songwriting. And after that I'll pick an instrument to practice or maybe work on my singing. Performance indicators: Blog At least one blog post a week Lyric-writing I always have trouble putting words to my music. I rarely have trouble with the reverse. So I will write at least one haiku/poem/stream-of-consciousness crap a day. WIS +3, CHA +2

Foudn this on Lifehacker, thought I'd share. I have problems with this sometimes, and I speculate many others do too. more at http://lifehacker.com/5986518/the-simple-secret-to-time-management-jedi-time-tricks?tag=productivity