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As theme I picked some of the things that a true rebel should never do. And twisted them completely My wife and me are in a long distance relationship at the moment. It sucks to live in different countries, but for the time being we have to cope with that. So, when we are together we try to make the most of our time together, which means also leave on the side some of the interests and activities that we do no share. Of the 42 day of the challenge we have 17 days together this time. So I split the challenge in a "alone"-challenge and a "together"-challenge. The "together" bit is still my challenge, in the sense that I want to take the initiative and the lead, but if she is really not up to it, then we will do something different. I am not going to force her into this Collecting pants (alone) If I collect enough pants I will achieve world domination. I mean this one quite literally. My house is a mess most of the time and I end up doing emergency tidy-up every 3-4 weeks. That must change. So I start collecting pants. That is: pick the clothes up from the rack where I hung them, fold them and put in the proper drawer. It will happen within 2 days from the washing (3 for hand-washed things, they need time to dry out) CHA +3 for the more guest-friendly house DEX +1 for the getting better at folding clothes I don't like boring (together) While my wife is here, I'll walk with her every day, for at least 1 hour, every time on a different place/path. Just to start some good habit. CON +1 for the good habits and the movement WIS +1 for finding the way STA +1 for the walk itself Lift light (together) I know that when we are together we tend to eat more. Because we go out, we have dinner with friends, we enjoy cooking and we don't throw away anything (everything that land in our dish is eaten). So, portion control is the word here. Not to eat less, but to eat "as usual". So, my dish will be lighter even when going out CON +2 for the food CHA +2 because nobody like to eat with a pig like me Don't change anything (alone) I was happy with my previous challenge. So I keep it as is was: push-ups, pull-ups, handstand, run (but 2.5 times/week), climb, check the food. This part of the challenge will happen in the days that I am not with my wife. If I manage to sneak in something, good, otherwise I still have the point for family life STR +3 STA +1 No yoga as a challenge this time. Maybe I will do something anyway, but just as recovery or for the fun of it. And the monkish bit as always is the background for all this The usual spreadsheet will follow

Main Quest Be able to keep a pace of 15km/h for ten minutes when running. Test how close I am every other Monday. (This is in the effort of learning parkour.) Goals for this challenge: 1. Run at a pace of 10km/h for five minutes, running twice a week. 2. Perform 50 squats and 15 pushups, 5 pullups and 10 leg-lifts twice every sleep-wake cycle except for the two sleep-wake cycles per seven sleep-wake cycles when I run. Increase the number when possible. Changes to this will go directly into the main post. To clarify - two sets of squats and leg-lifts every morning, two sets of pushups before bed, two sets of pullups whenever I have the opportunity. 3. Walk home from school every day when at the place of residence closest to school. (This I estimate to be about half a kilometer.) Life Quest Get a grade equivalent to a B or better in chemistry, as well as a C or better in physics. * Read the relevant material for at least an hour every day I have those classes. Motivation I wish to be more confident in my own abilities, primarily my physical abilities. I'm plenty confident (overconfident and arrogant, even) in my mental abilities. Edit: I do realize I am a late arrival, but that's okay. I'll do my best to accomplish this regardless of the reduced time. Also, feedback on whether my goals sound realistic would be appreciated.

Before starting, please scroll down and look at my signature. Do you see it? no? Well, I do: my strength and stamina suck. As I said a two challenges ago, I need to find a new balance, and that includes re-equilibrate my stats (which reflect reality quite well….). That is why for this challenge I move in with master Roshi, aka the Turtle Hermit. As always, consistency is more important than numbers for me, so all the points will be for "doing the job". I am not giving up my martial arts activities (teaching, training, practicing on my own), but they won't be my main target in the coming weeks. In my tracking sheet I marked the rest days and the vacation days when I know that my wife has better plans for me than to let me go training ;-) Push and pull Basic push-ups and pullups. Nothing fancy here. As starting point I can do 20ish pushups with good form. But not even a single pullup. Shame on me. For the progression I will follow the programs of Brett Stewart. Simple enough and short. I am alternating the days, odd gets pull-ups, even gets push-ups, Saturday is rest day and Sunday is even STR +3 STA +2 Run and climb I haven't run in ages. So I pick up a podcast based on C25K, with someone telling me when to run and when to walk and some music in the background. Runs will happen on even days. For the odd days something different: walk from my desk to the CEO office, 21 floors above me. STR +2 STA +3 Balance I am not ready to give up on the handstand. So it stays here for another challenge. The usual 5-10 minutes of daily practice. Any kind of upside-down or hand balancing is acceptable. This gives me stamina points just because I am not giving up And charm points because hand balancing is cool DEX +2 STA +1 CHA +1 Eat (side quest) I tend to eat when I am nervous/bored. That is not good. Plus, my metabolism has changed in the past months and I want to put numbers to that. At the moment I only have the feeling that I am eating more without weight changes. The first 2 weeks will be just tracking. From the third on I will start taking control of the beast. Week 3 and 4 I am allowed to chew on raw vegetables. Last two weeks only chewing gum (max 3 per day) CON +1

My Main Quest I want to improve my core stability. To do that, I would require: 1. Bodyweight training: Do 20 reps of squats, push-ups and leg-lifts every day, then increase the number of sets by 1 per week. 2. Pull-ups: Train until I can do a pull-up. 3. Paleo diet + cut out junk food Side Quests Life Side Quest: Choose a time during the day to invest in learning a programming language. Motivation I want to become a traceur, and the only way I can start learning advance techniques for it is after I become fit and trained my muscles properly.

Hi all! I am going to start my journey towards healthier me now (like so many times before, Underpants Gnome anyone?) This time, though, I feel that I've found a great attitude from the Nerd Fitness community. Healthy lifestyle definitely shouldn't be overcomplicated, and it really is all about babysteps! So now I've put up a plan and I will stick with it for this challenge. So my main quest for this challenge will be to get more fit. I plan to be able to do 20 pullups, 40 pushups, 1 min planks and 50 bodyweight squats. Of course exceeding those is acceptable. Here is my journey in bite size chunks: Every other day I will do the pushups and pullups with two and one more rep than on the earlier set, respectively. When not pushuping and pulluping, I will do planks and squats. Those will gain three seconds and two reps every time, again respectively. The third chunck is to drink eight glasses of water/day. Grading for these will be the same: A for missing no excersises or glasses and every miss will drop one grade until F means missing one or more. I am sure there is more efficient ways to make things happen. This time I won't look for the best, though. I think this being so simple approach that takes no more than 5 mins in the morning so I can't excuse myself out of it. Also, it is truly a habit occurring every day instead of being only every 2nd, 3rd or somethingth day., which should make it easier. My motivation is getting great start for every day and thus feeling so much better. The life quest I have at the moment is learning JavaScript and web design in general. -Petri

Howdy folks. I'm Quickdraw. This is my second challenge, and I've known since Day 1 that I am a Ranger. I train simply, I eat very paleo, and I live a highly primal lifestyle. Now that my noob challenge is out of the way, I'm here to join up. My Motivation I'm an active duty Marine, hunting for a 250+ (out of 300) Physical Fitness Test. I already had that goal in place when I began the previous challenge (my first), but shortly after I was offered my dream job as long as I can get my fitness test above... 250. SO. Whether you call it Fate, fortune, luck, God/s, the universe being itself, my path is set. MAIN QUEST As above; 250+ PFT. I'll be performing the test in mid April, just after this challenge ends. The 3 events are: (up to) 100 crunches in 2 minutes, (up to) 20 pullups in a single max set, and a 3 mile run as fast as possible (18:00-29:00, since I'm old). I used to get 20 pullups/100 crunches/SLOW run, but right now I'm coming back from a long time on the couch. I'm framing my whole thing as doing battle with a horde of monsters (sloth, selling myself short, etc), so my daily achievement thresholds are in terms of damage done as if I were a character in an RPG. My subquests/battles: PULLUPS (+STR) I am using the Armstrong Program (link goes to a simple write-up if anyone wants to try it for themselves!) to attempt to go from my current 12 pullups to 20+. The program calls for M-F pullups with weekends off. Success criteria: MISS (0): Failing to perform at least the daily Armstrong Program workout on a weekday. BLOCK (0): Weekend. HIT (1): Performing the day's Armstrong Program workout. POWER ATTACK (1.5): Performing the day's workout, plus a second round of the day's workout OR a weighted negative set. CRITICAL HIT (2): Double workouts AND a weighted negative set. Notes: Weekends off are mandatory. An "A" week requires at least 7 damage done; letter reduction per point less or weekday skipped. CORE (+STR) I have been doing 5+ minutes/day of planks to build core endurance. I am already at max (100) crunches with >20 seconds to spare, but would prefer to actually complete 120+ in the test's 2:00. MISS (0): No core work, no excuse. BLOCK (0): Sunday, or other day if I then make it up on Sunday. My one "shield" to use as I see fit. HIT (1): 5 minutes of planks. POWER ATTACK (1.5): 10 minutes of planks, or 5 minutes planks +50 crunches/leg lifts/other core exercise. CRITICAL HIT (2): 10 minutes of planks, +50 reps of some core exercise. Notes: Sunday is the only mandatory recovery day. "A" week requires 8 damage. RUN (+STA) This past year, I ran the 3 miles in 25:30. Lame, by Marine standards. Just last week, I set a (trial run) PR of 22:40. My goal is to see that time under 22:00. MISS (0): No run, no excuse. BLOCK (0): I have 4 BLOCKs per week, as I am trying for a 3x/week run schedule. HIT (1): At least a 2 mile or 20 minute jog. POWER ATTACK (1.5): 3 miles, 30 minutes, or moderate speed work. CRITICAL HIT (2): 4 miles, 40 minutes, heavy speed work, or 4th/5th run for the week. Notes: No specific recovery day is mandatory. "A" week requires 5 damage. LIFE QUEST I'm busy. Like, stupid, stupid busy. I'm responsible for a large group of subordinates, and I have my own full-time classes and responsibilities besides. I would like to build a mindfulness/meditation habit that I can then share with my juniors. I'm pretty well read on the concept, but I have not taken the time to actually implement it. Life is not going to provide me a "good" moment; I need to seize it for myself. But as I try to be more zen (I know, not usually something you associate with a leader of Marines), I recognize that setting elaborate structures on such a process is inherently counterproductive. So I'll leave this goal as follows: I will be more mindful. (+WIS) Implementation: I will meditate for at least one stretch of 2 minutes per day. ------- I look forward to sharing this journey with you all. Edit: Summaries for my personal quests, the Ranger Guild miniquests, and the RPG Fanatics miniquests. RL craziness being what it is, I may subjectively adjust point-value scores later on when I have enough time to figure out what's going on. Won't be adding my point values to my sig until the challenge is over, though. QUEST/SELF Zero Week QUEST/CLASS W1 QUEST/PARTY W1 (+1 CHA)

I am still working on my "year to awesome." Some things have gone well, some have not. My biggest issue has been my diet. I have not made it a priority, so it keeps getting lost in the shuffle. So this round will be a full on emphasis on diet. As luck would have it, Lent is almost upon us, which gives me both a spiritual and physical reason to start a new diet lifestyle. I will do the following: Health and Fitness Observer the Whole 30 protocol during the days of Lent. This starts on Wednesday, March 5 and ends on Saturday, April 19. Yes, this is after the end of this challenge, but Lent is when Lent is . I will use the time between now and March 5 to do proper preparation. +2 STA, +2 CON, +1 CHR I will practice handstands for two minutes each day. +2 DEX, +2 STA I will add another day of pullups/pushups to my current weekly high intensity weight lifting routine. +2 STRPersonal Growth I will practice music at least five hours a week. split however it happens to fit. This must be at least two hours each of violin and mandolin playing. I have a recording project I would like to get done before the end of Easter (my parents would like a meditative recording of the rosary), so that should help with motivation. +2 WIS, +2 CHR

... but then I ate all the cookies. Long term goal: clean up the diet and complete 3 sets of 20 pull-ups. Be happier and stop comparing myself to others (ahem, social media). Expectations for this challenge: Get rid of the sugar and complete 3 sets of 20 pull-ups with the thickest pull-up assistance band. Stop mindlessly checking websites. Atmosphere: Work is insane because my workload has essentially doubled by taking over other projects and learning new skills. I'm working long hours and my schedule is unpredictable. Right now, my life is work and the rest of my life needs to be flexible around that. Goal 1: Slay the Sugar Dragon The Sugar Dragon is when you have epic cravings for sugar despite the fact that you just ate sugar. Moar sugar!! I've got to get rid of my Sugar Dragon, and this means eliminating all kinds of added sugar from my diet. Sodas, starbucks, candy at work, cookies, donuts, waffles, you get the idea. I've been indulging way too much lately and I just need to rein it in. I also find myself turning into a bit of a dragon when I don't have sugar. Uh oh. Goal 2: Climb up to High Hrothgar! Pullups! I can do about 6-7 pull-ups with an assistance band right now. My goal is to be able to do 3 sets of 20 by the end of the challenge. This is essentially adding a pull-up to each set in my workouts MWF. I also have a pull-up bar at home, so no excuses! Once I reach my goal, I can move down to a thinner band, rinse, and repeat. Goal 3: Be an adventurer again! Just move, and enjoy moving. My life right now is all about managing stress, so if I just want to walk on a treadmill for 20 minutes and listen to music, do it! If I want to do a hard lifting workout, do it! The goal is to just move for 10 minutes a day (even if that's stretching before bed). Most of the time I just want to lay in bed, so moving is key. Life Goal: Disconnect (oh the irony) I sit at a computer all day. And then when I come home, I watch TV, while checking websites on my phone that I checked all day, and I'll often use my laptop to check those websites some more (I'm looking at you, Facebook). So after work, there will be no more social media. Internet is fine if I'm doing something productive (booking flights, writing blog posts, etc) but it really needs to be kept to a minimum. I'm allowing 1 hour of video gaming or TV watching a night (gotta get my Skyrim in somehow) because I have a ton of other activities that get neglected: knitting, guitar, reading, puzzles, playing with kitties, preparing food for tomorrow, laundry, etc etc). Weekends are kind of free, but when I get that "hmmm, what am I going to do now" that typically leads me to mindlessly scanning pinterest, I need to shut it off and do something else. Skyrim and TV watching are mostly unlimited unless I find myself replacing my pinterest habit with Skyrim. That's it for now, more details about "scoring" later. See below! Also, this is my second attempt at a 1st challenge, so let's do this thing! Scoring Goal 1: I start every day with 3 points. If I don't eat any "extra" sugar, I get to keep all 3 points. If I go for 5 days without losing a point, I get 1 extra. A: 126 pts total (3 pts a day for 7 days a week for 6 weeks) F: <126 pts total Items to avoid: anything that is sweet for sweetness sake. Things like cookies, cakes, sodas, juice. Things that have sugar in them but are savory (like bacon) are acceptable. Also things like ketchup, bbq sauce, etc are acceptable. I'm trying to work on the treats, not every pinch of sugar in my diet. Goal 2: A: 3 sets of 20 assisted pullups B: 3 sets of 15 assisted pullups C: 3 sets of 10 assisted pullups There shouldn't be a reason I'm not an A or a B on this considering I can do 6-7 for 3 sets right now. Goal 3: Every day I move for at least 10 minutes, I get an extra point towards Goal 1. That way my motivation to move and my motivation to eat right are intertwined. A: 42 pts B: 35 pts C: 30 pts Life goal: Keep track of where I slip up and why. A: No more than one slip once a week. B 2 slips a week C: 3 slips a week

Challenge: Core of Steel Last challenge, I blew it. Just a few days before the end, I peaced out of the forums, stopped replying to threads, completely disappeared. There were a lot of reasons for that but the simple answer is that when your brother gets married right in the middle of the holidays, family tensions run high. Add a Lyme flare and you have no time for forum-ing. I did, however, stay in the gym. In fact, I've worked harder than ever. I'm there for an hour 5-6 days a week at the moment and still building muscle and joint stability like a boss. If the honorable assassins can find it in their cold, dark hearts to give a novice a second chance, I'd like to return a bit late for this challenge. My husband has kicked my butt in this direction saying, "Those nerds are why you started caring about fitness, you need to go back." So here I am. Here are my humble goals: Abs, abs, abs STR +3 A: Work abs 4x per week B: Miss 2-4 ab sessions C: Miss 5-7 ab sessions D: Miss 8-10 ab sessions Fail: Miss 11+ ab sessions Pull, pull up DEX +4 A: Accomplish 1 unassisted pull up B: Practice pull ups 4x per week C: Miss 2-4 pull up sessions D: Miss 5-7 pull up sessions Fail: Miss 8+ pull up sessions Eat, eat, eat CON +3 A: No more than 3 treats per week B: 2-4 extra treats C: 5-7 extra treats D: 8-10 extra treats Fail: 11+ treats (Treat = dessert of any kind, any dairy except greek yogurt) Rubric, partially begun as these are my standing goals for life anyway: Abs: 4/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 | 0/24 Pull: 5/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 | 0/24 Eat: 4/3 0/3 0/3 0/3 0/3 0/3 | 0/18

So I totally bombed the last challenge by getting sick and only sleeping and working for 3 weeks. Couldn't quite get it back together after that. So I'm going basic on this challenge, to get myself back in the groove. Long-term goal - to get and stay fit and healthy. Motivation: my son and husband - I want to enjoy a long and healthy life with both of them. I will be 55 when my son graduates from high-school. I do not want to be a burden to him. Also, I want the term "bad-ass chick" to apply to me! My husband and I started Tae Kwon Do 2 weeks ago (our 6 year old son has been going since April last spring). Hubby is able to go every day, but I have to work outside the house and my schedule isn't as flexible. Sigh. Goal 1: Attend 3 TKD classes per week. Practice at home 30min, 3 days per week. +3 DEX, + 1 STA. 10 Pushups and 30 situps to be done as part of home practice. More if becomes easier.Need to get go bag set up for work, so if I get off early I can attend extra class by this Sunday.Find some stretches for hips/legs to become more limber.Holiday weeks - missed classes ok if dojo closed. - Practice at home!Goal 2: Drink at least 1700ml water every day. +2 CON. Goal 3: Cardio at least 30 min. 3x/week. +2 DEX, +1 STA. 1st 2 weeks = running. 2 days intervals, 1 day distance (5k). Race on 11/23rest of challenge: any cardio that lasts at least 30min. Core work bonus! Yoga counts. Extra TKD class counts.Goal 4: 50 Pull-ups training 3 times per week. +2 STR, +1 STA. Bonus pts: Finish challenge with 90% on each goal. +1 WIS, +1 CHA. Skadi ring (or similar, depends on budget). will post some starting stats later.

Hey again! Back for challenge #6 for me. I've changed my motivation to include my hubby. Gotta be healthy to have a long life together! I will post a pic of it pasted to my bathroom mirror if I figure out how to do so. It's a pic of hubby and son with the words: Motivation: To be healthy and strong, so I am a good example for my son, and so I am around to watch him grow. Also for my husband and our life together. Yeah, the grammer sucks. That last bit isn't a real sentence. Main Goals: 1. Work out 6 days/week, at least 30 minutes. Will measure effectiveness with Insanity Fit test every 2 weeks, and 5k times. Weights 2 days per weekPlyo 2 days per weekrun 1 day per week (5k)yoga/stretch 1 day per weekSTR +1, STA +2, DEX +3, CHA +1 2. Follow nutrition plan. 3 cheats/week allowed. 1700 - 2000 cal/day. at least 100g protein/dayveggie/fruit + protein with each meal1500-2000ml H2O each daySTA +1, CON +2 3. Do a pullup by end of challenge. Currently I can do 5 partials (feet flat on the floor, bar about 6" over my head). use 50 Pullups app 3 days/week. STR +1, DEX +1 Life Quest Goal: Call one family member each week (sisters, Mom & Dad). We do communicate, but it's mostly by text, and I'd like to reach out and have a real conversation. Especially with my sister who's half the country away. WIS +1, CHA +1 Side Goal: Do 10 pushups every day with good form. Right now I can do 5-7, then I have to drop to my knees (knees count toward total). Once I get to 10 pushups, I'll make the goal 15... etc. STR +1 I will be tracking the nutrition stuff with MyFitnessPal (link in signature). I have a spreadsheet to track pushups and workouts. I will be posting the workouts in my battle log (link in signature). Water intake tracked on the Fitbit app (link in signature). 95-100% A, 80-95% B, 70-80% C, 60-70% D. Let the Challenge begin!

Croman Red 15 Sept 2013 Goal 1: Run. I can go long, but now I gotta build my speed back up over shorter distances. Shooting for a 7 minute mile average over 5 miles. Not sure the machine is up to it with all of the accumulated damage. Currently doing an 8 minute average. Goal 2: Push ups, sit ups, pull ups. As many continuously as possible. Currently good for 80 push ups and 80 sit ups continuous. Would be happy with a 10% improvement, but shooting for 20+%. Goal 3: Joint rotations, stretching, jumping drills. Gotta protect the machine. Limber and bouncy. This really needs to be a daily thing, like first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Rotations and stretching, the bouncing is still kind of sketchy. Level life: Organization and consistency. Healthy eating choices, reasonable amounts, drink only on Fridays and Saturdays (but maybe Thursday and Sunday too...depends on the waste-line:). Organization; improving efficiency over the current "good enough" systems in place. Not something worth sharing the details as it would get really tedious really quickly, and, let's face it, even I have little interest in the details of my move from Europe back to the States. Oh, and regular weights, because heavy is a good thing. This is pretty much the same as last time. The overall intent is to keep hammering away at the same stuff to up the levels. As always, the goal is to make the young-uns live in fear

Hi, everyone. Here it is. The next stage in my epic quest for physical and mental dominance. It's been epic in the way reading War and Peace is epic. This has been going on for ever! There is so much more I want to do over the next 6 weeks, but I suppose it will be good to really focus on achieving this one thing I've been "toying with" for far too long. Time to get serious. If I manage to shed a few pounds in the process, one of my other goals might just take care of itself (doing more than 10 strict-form, bodyweight pull ups). Wish me luck, and when you are all long-finished with your current Sep-Oct challenge, I'll let you know how mine is still going. My Main Quest: Maintain a strict Paleo diet. My Side Quests: Life Side Quest – Obtain BA in History and next belt in Hap Ki Do (both on track in next 6 weeks)Fitness Side Quest – TBDMini Quests – None. This is my first challenge. My Motivations: Why I’m Doing This Challenge – I promised myself I’d be in prime physical shape when I hit 40. That’s three years from now. Must keep moving! Why I Want to Level Up – As I approach 40, I also approach retirement from “Phase 1†of my professional life. The second phase has to meet or exceed the first. Must keep moving!

Hi Everyone. This is my very first challenge. As you can guess I'm focusing on upper body for my challenge. I know it seems like an easy challenge, but I failed at getting to my goal on my own in the last two months, but I am much closer. So I'm keeping it easy and concentrating on something very specific. End Goal: 1 Pull-Up, 1 Chin-Up, 50 Strict Pushups Sub Goals: 1.) Do Assisted Pull-Ups and Chin ups 3 times a week. 2.) Do Push ups 3 times a week, starting with 5 sets of five (currently I can do a set of 10, but barely) 3.) Keep eating clean Life Goal: Be more organized and productive at work 1.) Leave phone in car until lunch. Because that is where I lose most of my productivity. 2.) Start every Work Day with writing a list of the three most important things I need to accomplish that day. EDIT: Okay I guess I should talk a little about myself. In the past 6 months I decided to get my health and fitness back on track. I changed my diet dramatically, I've lost about 9 pounds, I've learned to run 3 miles without stopping. I tend to get overwhelmed very easy so I don't have any giant wide sweeping long term goals because I need to be focused. I should say one of my goals is to continue my lower body work outs. I just am seriously concentrating on upper body because my strength is severely lacking. Long term I would like to have body weight strength and a lot of endurance. I like mud runs and things like that. My motivation is to be able to keep up with my daughter and to be a good example. I want her to know that adults can play too. I want her to know that movement is joyous. I also want to be able to easily swing her around and carry her on my shoulders. I want to be fit for as long as I live, and I want to be healthy so I can have more fit years.

Hello again nerds, Shukar here. Quick introduction for those of you who may be new around here. I'm a runner who used to be a big fat guy, and now is just a slightly overweight tall guy. I hit my heaviest in college and decided that I was done with being fat and not doing anything about it and started running. I've done a lot of things for my health and fitness journey since then but running has been the constant refrain in my efforts. I do a number of other things mainly to improve my running but also because I just want to be the most awesome I can be. My Mission is to finish my upcoming races and be a better healthier me for having done so. The whole package of how I aim to accomplish that can be broken down into a few parts. • Running: I've got a training plan that I put together to get me to and through this race and I'm most of the way through it already, just have to keep up with it and everything should go awesome. Since I'm already signed up for a couple more races after this one I'll also be putting the finishing touches on the training plan for my next races as well. • Energy: Running takes a lot of things and energy is one of them. For me that mostly means food and sleep. Last challenge I upped my average daily sleep from 6h to 7h and that was a good change, will more be better or have I found the sweet spot already? I'm gonna try and find out by having at least 1 week with averages at 7h30 and hopefully 8h (that one is gonna be the trickier one) and see if I feel better those weeks. Food is a little more complicated but I know from experience that cutting out gluten will give me a lot of bang for my buck in terms of my overall health and especially keeping down GI issues during my runs, so I'm shooting for trying to keep as many of my meals gluten free as possible (start with 50% and work up), and the 3 days leading up to my race weekend 100% gluten free. • Power: Power can mean many things, but here it means Strength. Strength is going to take 2 approaches this challenge. First a streak. For the last few challenges I've been doing some streaking with my resistance training and found that it's good for keeping me on track with things, but that I was just adding too many things and not putting enough focus on any of them. I'm correcting that by making my streak 4 things that I'll do every day; Pistol work, Pushup work, Handstand work, and Pullup work. I say "work" because none of them is really a completed movement with good form at this stage, but I'm learning to be better at all of them and that's the point. The other part of my power play is kettle bells. Twice a week I'm going to do 5 minutes of Turkish Get-Ups, and 5-10 minutes (starting lower and working higher of the course of the challenge) KB Swings; once a week I'm going to do some lunges, squats, and single leg deadlifts using the bell. The goal of both sides of my strength work is that by making myself stronger I will become a faster, less injury prone runner, and burn off some extra fat in the process when combined with some work on my diet. I'm not looking to get huge, and I probably couldn't if I tried while being a runner, I'm just looking to lean out a little and become a better version of me. Level Up Quest: I've spent a lot of time plotting and planning for various projects over the years to try and have fun adventures. This time it's time to settle down and make some happen. This may take the form of a few life enhancements over the course of the challenge, but it's going to start with me completing the costume I'm hoping to wear for the race, and helping the wife finish hers. It's honestly not that difficult, I just could use the push to make sure I actually do it instead of just letting time get away from me again. So there's my goals for the challenge, now to go out and complete them. I'm going to try and get some starting photos and measurements into place before the end of the first week, but we shall see how that goes.

In the last 11 months, I’ve lost 7% body fat – I’ve gone from 165 pounds, 34.40% fat to 157 pounds, 27.69% fat. To finish up my first year of training (which happens to coincide with the end of this challenge), I’m going to get down to 25% body fat. Taking inspiration from my favorite lady viper pilot, Kara Starbuck Thrace, I’m going to do this by focusing on three key areas (and one life goal): 1. Nothing but the Rain – Assuming there’s a single hallway that runs the perimeter of the Battlestar Galactica, each lap that Starbuck runs is 2.45 miles (yes, I researched that). I’m going to run 20 Galacticas during this challenge – that’s 49 miles. It’s going to be rough, especially since it’s the middle of summer, but let’s face it – after months stuck on a battlestar, Kara Thrace would kill to go run in the heat and humidity. I’m not committing to all outdoor runs, but since I absolutely despise the treadmill, I have a feeling that’s where the majority of them will be. 2. All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again- Science Fiction involves action. And action means people *almost* falling off buildings and bridges into fiery pits and dark abysses. But instead of hanging on for dear life, they could just do a pullup! I bought some pullup resistance bands for the bar on our squat rack in the basement, and following my mantra for this challenge, I’m aiming to do as many reps as I can, as many days as I can. I’m starting in the chin-up grip to give myself some advantage, then I’ll switch to a pullup grip once I can do a set of 3 chin ups. The original plan is to use both bands (15-50lbs resistance) for 10 days, then just the red band (10-35lbs) for 10 days, then just the yellow band (5-15lbs resistance) for 10 days, then I’ve got 12 more days to make the magic happen! If I seem to be making progress faster (or slower), I’ll adjust this plan accordingly. *This is not a pullup. This is, however, the look on my face when I do pullups. 3. Good Hunting – eat clean. I’m going to treat food as a mission. I’m fighting to get the cleanest, leanest food into my body as possible. I’m not going down without a fight! I don’t need definitions or rules, I know clean food when you see it. I’m going to grab as many vegetables and meats as I can, racking up “kills†with each meal I mercilessly destroy. 4. Bonus Life Goal – be your own CAG: I was going to aim for 1 thing each week that makes me happy, and 1 social event each week, but sometimes those two will fight against each other. So, I’m going to aim for 4 social events (double dates, meetups, pretty much anything), spaced however I want, plus one thing for myself each week. Lately I’ve wanted to paint my nails, but haven’t gotten around to sitting down and doing it. Time to appreciate the little things!

The challenge was different and yet the same... Instead of a winding, endlessly branching path, Anim found himself on a hilltop ringed by lush valleys. From this vantage, he could view all approaches and properly fortified defend the entire area. A closer look brought a frown to his face. The hill was far from perfect; there were lumps to smooth out and weaknesses to shore up, but it had potential. Once again he had a choice, do things the easy or do things right. My overall goal/mission/endgame (summed up in 3 words or less) is: become badass ;-) To elaborate, I'm aiming for the type of body and accompanying skillset where I can confidently overcome any obstacle. I want to be lean muscled with no excess mass like the guys in Ninja Warrior and able to do the stunts you see in action movies or bust out the 300 workout just for the hell of it. I've still got a long way to go, but after ~9mo of work I'm in the best shape of my life. So now I'm trying to keep my momentum going while I tweak my workouts and diet for specific goals. For this 6week Challenge, I'm going to be focusing on getting in better shape for cosplay at Dragoncon, Labor Day weekend. All of the characters I'm aiming for have the bodytype I want, so this is really foundation building, getting a start on the required muscle and cutting the excess fat, that I'll need for later challenges. The theme song for this challenge is: Rise Against's "Architects" 6week goals: Pullup workout 3x a week: (Str +2; Sta +2) I hit a wall on pullups last challenge, so I'm going to scale back my goal slightly. I'm still aiming for a set of 25, but for the moment I just need to get off this plateau and start improving again. Going to setup a habit and vary my workouts so I can see longterm growth. 50 pushups in 1min: (Str +2; Sta +2) Didn't work on this nearly as much as I should have last challenge, but still saw improvement. If I stick to my workouts, this is doable in 6weeks and will put me in good standing for my next PT test. Reach a 30in waist: (Con +3) This is where I was at most of my life until I got a real job, moved across the country, and started eating whatever I felt like. Got up to 33.5in on a PT test before I finally cut back on the fast food and started watching what I eat. I'm down to ~31.5in right now, and have figured out what I can eat and maintain my waistline. So now I'm ready to cut the last bit of extra fat hanging on around my middle. This is going to be a careful balancing act with my diet, as I have trouble building muscle for my other two goals. Current plan is to try 4 meals a day, focusing on protein and veggies with fruit and potatoes for extra carbs as necessary for workouts. I'll reassess at the 2 week point and adjust as necessary. (On a side note, I've been using the Gold Standard 100% whey protein in my post-workout shakes, but it's been giving me some terrible gas. Anyone know of other ways to add protein that's easier to digest? My roommate suggested raw egg, but that didn't sit well in my stomach; haven't tried cooked egg, so I think that's the next experiment.) Life Quest: Master of Disquise: (Wis +2; Cha +2) I want to have at least 3 complete costumes for Dragoncon. Currently working on a KotOR-inspired Sith warrior and have the pieces for Nightcrawler for the X-man group I'm joining. Third will probably be fixing my Heavyarms gundam from college, if it still fits. I also have a generic western costume from Halloween I'd like to turn into either a Brown Coat or steampunk.

Open PVP [12 July '13 to 8 Sept '13] This PVP is a test to see who can increase their max chinups or pullups in a row by the most during the last 4 weeks of the current challenge. Both warriors in training, Dominic has challenged Choronodon for a no guts no glory deathmatch! However the PVP is open to other participants from any guild if they wish to join in, just post in the thread. Starting number: - On the first day or the day before, using a bar, test your max strict chinups or strict pullups, state in this thread whatever you can do more of. These are strict so you must go all the way down and then get your chin above the bar to count a rep. (see video below for an an example of a strict pullup). PVP Rules - The PVP is to see who can increase max number of reps the most by end of challenge. This means who increases the most, not who can do the most. - You can train by any means you want but if you win at the end of the challenge you have to divulge how you trained. Eyes on the Prize - Loser has to write a poem battle ode in honor of the winner. (as basic as "roses are red" type is acceptable) - Photo of your amazing swollen guns at the end of Challenge is optional. So my warrior brethren have you got your war face on? Notes and assistance on form Pullup/Chinup Common Errors. Most common error on Pull-ups & Chin-ups is cheating the range of motion by not going low or high enough on each rep. Not Straightening the Arms. Start from a dead hang with straight elbows, like on the picture above. No partial Pull-ups/Chin-ups.Shoulders Going Forward. It's bad posture & bad technique. Lead with your chest up while driving your elbows to the floor.Using The Hips. Keep your legs inline with your torso.Chin Over Bar. Nose or forehead against the bar is a partial Pull-up/Chin-up. Chin over bar unless you're not strong enough yet.Example of a Strict Pullup:

This challenge I'm going to take on 30 days of PLP (Pushups, Lunges, Pullups), starting on Monday 3rd June (this Monday). I'll be following the plan here: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/plp_the_60day_challenge It's a 60 day challenge but I'm only committing to 30 days initially as I don't want to over train as I'm ramping up strength this challenge. If I get to the end of 30 and feel capable of more I may do the extra 30. Basically you do sets of Pushups, Lunges and Pullups every day for 30 days. You start at either 0 or 10 reps depending on your current level and add one extra rep each day. You can do as many sets as necessary throughout the day to reach your total for the day. Anybody willing to join me? [Title edited to add the duration of the PVP - Nuala]

So a friend of mine the other day had introduced me to the infamous Bar Brothers. I have to say, watching them was very inspiring! All body weight routine and VERY intense! It has encouraged me more to get back into the pull up/muscle up mood and now I am pushing to improve that AND succeed at doing muscle ups. They are very nice it seems, and very helpful. They encourage you, men AND women both. They are very intense and this is definitely something to work towards, but not push all at once onto yourself. They have motivational videos as well as some routines to do for yourself. This video in particular is one of my favorites: It has also gotten me into saying "Never say I can't, go beastmode!" Pretty awesome sounding statement right? Well, I do hope, that if this has not been mentioned before, it has given everyone some new ideas to go with! And I hope it has been motivational and helpful in any way possible. (:

Wait for me! I realize this is late, but I still have 24 days! This was created from this thread: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/28648-short-workout-ideas/ This is a keep it simple challenge. And it's going to be pass/try again. Here's the fitness background: I completed a triathlon in April and crushed my time goals (woot!). Now I'm just kind of in a funk because I trained for months and my body still looks the same despite healthy eating and 2 hours in the gym. What am I doing wrong? (Answer: you're not doing anything wrong) ... which leads into the personal background: I started therapy recently to deal with the lack of a relationship between me and my mother. Long story short, she's an addict, and I grew up 2nd to drugs and alcohol. I learned through her behaviors that I'm not worthy, I'm never good enough, and I shouldn't even try. (I realize this is not true). So here's the challenge: 1. Starting Strength 3x a week - I actually really enjoy this because I can watch progression happen EVERY workout. Positive reinforcement is huge right now in my life. I did this for about 3 weeks and then I was traveling and then my grandmother died, so I just started up again Monday (and without much loss in strength!) 2. Cardio/other 2x a week - I'd like this to be HIIT one day and some steady-state the other day (i.e. swimming which is incredibly relaxing, therapeutic, and tiring). I need help or ideas of HIIT other than "go run fast". Perhaps I'll go back to Zuzka Light for some suggestions. 3. Pushups and pullups Tues/Thurs/Sat - This is the same from last challenge because I've regressed, but I know now that I can get to floor pushups. I'm currently working on kitchen counter pushups and today will start chair-assisted pullups. Right now on the pullups I am going for volume. I might structure it just like the pushups, once I get to 4 sets of 20, I move to negatives. I can't hang from the pullup bar for more than a few seconds right now. Personal: 4. Dive headfirst into therapy. I bought the recommended books last night. I really need to spend time on me because I am the common denominator in all my relationships (friends, boyfriend, family, coworkers). I need to spend some time (1-2 hours) reading from those books during the week (possibly after sessions) to keep me engaged in healing. I am also writing in my journal after each session to get down some ideas that stuck with me and things I'd like to talk about next time. The overall fitness goal is to get strong. That means continual progression on my lifts AND if I stall, I don't quit. I deload and try to figure out what's going on. You know that saying, "If you don't want to keep starting over, stop quitting" Yeah... that's me. No quitting! Only reassessing! If I'm still stepping up to a barbell in 24 days, that's a pass. If I'm happy to do the "other" exercise I've chosen for myself on Tues/Sat, that's a pass. I have to be excited and "can't wait to get my goggles" happy. Or "oh man I'm going to do all the lunges and I can't wait" (Yes I do get excited about swimming and lunges). If I do 1 floor pushup, that's a pass. If I can do one slow negative, that's a pass. The overall personal goal is to gain some kind of inner peace. I honestly think this is the key to my negative attitude, my negative self-talk, my relationship with food, my relationship with my body, etc. This is going to be hard with all this emotional, personal stuff and I just need to roll with it. There's a great idea about treating your moods like the weather. So it's rainy today, so what? Wear a raincoat and get to it. If it's sunny today, go out and enjoy it. You can't control it, all you can do is react. As long as I haven't quit therapy in 24 days, that's a pass. Thoughts? Suggestions?

I'll start off with clarifying that I did attempt a 6-week challenge a few months ago. Unfortunately, I found myself focusing more on my academics at the time as opposed to my fitness and debt goals. Since then, there has still been some improvement in my strength, but sadly my debt situation elevated slightly. I find the biggest problem with my debt goal was that I basically assumed that I could spend 6 weeks with very minimal spending... that backfired after 2 weeks! I figured that now that summer is here, I should try again from scratch and not to dwell on the past. For this challenge, I wanted to keep it relatively simple. I've been able to run 10k twice in the past year, but it's been quite a while since both runs. For pushups, I came close to 50 about two months ago, reaching 43 consecutive pushups and I've reached 5 pullups around that same time. I'm also currently saving up my money to pay off the debt. I currently have about $150 saved up. Therefore, I'm quite confident that I will be capable of achieving all these goals in the 6 weeks provided. This is turn will hopefully motivate me to set higher goals and to carry on with the 6-week challenges in the future. Below are my goals, the attributes assigned, and how I will be grading each achievement. A failure (F) means that there was not improvement to my current status. Run 10k (STA 5) A (10k+), B (9k), C (8k), D (7k), E (6k), F(5k) I will incorporate running in my workouts by having a warmup run (2-3k) before weight training days and having specific days for improving my max distance. I found a nice program from ExRx.Net outlining some good programs for 5k/10k running goals. 50 Pushups (STR 3, STA 1) A (50+), B (47), C (44), D (41), E (38), F(35) I plan on mixing bodyweight pushups, weighted pushups, and bench press in order to improve my pushups. Core training will also be included so that my body could hold the position for however long it takes to complete 50 pushups. My ultimate goal in pushups will be to eventually reach 100, but not necessarily through the 100 pushup program. 10 Pullups (STR 3) A (10+), B (8-9), C (7), D (5-6), E (4), F(2-3) I will be following the 20 pullup plan, starting at Week "-1" considering that I could only complete between 2-3 pullups. I will also be doing rows and lat pulldowns on my chest/back day to help increase my strength. Pay $500 toward Debt (WIS 3) A ($500+), B ($400), C ($300), D ($200), E ($100), F($0) Since I am now on summer training at a different unit, I no longer have to pay for accommodations and food for the next 2-3 months. Therefore, I will have some extra money to save up to finally pay off my debt. Although $500 is not all I must pay, it is the most practical amount I can pay off in the next 6 weeks without overdoing it and without having to risk using my card for any surprise expenses. I'll be updating as much as possible in order to maintain my momentum throughout the following 6 weeks. KCCO, Plantem

Hello again everybody!! It's been a long time since I have participated in a challenge. Lots and lots of field exercises in the last few months. This is the first challenge I will be able to participate in fully. I am super psyched!! Here are my goals... 1) Run a 5k in 27 minutes or less. This was my record when I was 21 and I want to get back to that fitness level. I have finally managed to fine tune my diet and I feel like I have the proper fuel needed to rock this goal. I will be following a 3 day per week running program that involves a combination of sprints, hills, intervals, tempo runs, and long runs. 2) Be able to do 5 consecutive strict pull-ups. I am currently at 2 when I am fresh. I am going to follow the Armstrong pull-up program from Monday to Friday in order to accomplish this. I did a lot of research on it and it seems to produce wicked results. 3) Compliment my running program with at least 2 CrossFit workouts per week. Running will be my main focus over the next 6 weeks, but I want to maintain as much of my strength as possible. I will focus on some of the major lifts and lots of metabolic conditioning. I also need Crossfit to keep me sane 4) Cut back on my social drinking. I don't drink a lot, but it would be very beneficial to my weight loss goals to limit myself to a 4 drink maximum for the week. Either a beer with dinner a few days a week, or four drinks with friends on the weekend. So that's my focus for the next 6 weeks I can't wait to get started it this journey to "level up my life". It's going to be a wicked time. Wish me luck fellow nerds.

Hi folks (warriors in particular ) I've come out the back of 3 months of the Rebel Fitness Guide a lot stronger than I started, made some good strength progress with bodyweight and dumbell exercises. I'm brand new to barbell lifting and I'd like some advice from experienced rebels please. I have ordered a copy of starting strength, waiting for it to arrive in the mail. In the meantime I have started the Rebel Strength Guide, at present I'm doing alternate days of Squats/Push Press and Deadlift/Pull ups. All my exercise is done at home, as I don't have squat stands or power rack yet (working on getting one or the other) and I recognize I need to work on technique, I have started pretty light. I've completed the first week, am up to 23kg barbell for all exercises. I'm beginning to plan goals for my next 6 week challenge and I'd like to get an idea on what would be realistic for weight progress? I would like to be able to eventually deadlift my body weight, which is 77kg. I don't want to rush things as I am historically a little injury prone, what would be a realistic time frame to go from 23kg to 77kg on deadlifts? I'm a clean slate and need to educate myself so any advice/links will be welcomed. In case it's useful: Age: 38 Height: 178cm Weight: 77kg's (169 pounds) I can do 3 sets of 5 pullups then 2 sets of 5 chin ups. Thanks Dominic

I have been kicking bum and taking names at doing pullups since last Summer. when I could once do only one, I can now do a maximum of nine in one set. my goal is to accomplish four sets of twelve, and i predict that i will get there, drawing from my progression. however, i am prevented from usually doing more than seven in one set because of the pain it causes my palms. i have developed wicked calluses, but the skin on my palms still gets stretched beyond comfort after about seven pullups. i do not want to wear gloves because i prefer to keep it primal, just like an ApeMan! what do y'all recommend i do to remedy this?