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After years of not feeling good about my (lack of) athletic ability, and of feeling like shit because I couldn't do full push ups in gym class, I have just done 3 reps of 10 full push ups during BBWW for the first time. They're a little shallow, but goddamnit they're the real deal. I was so happy when I did it that I burst into tears and am still crying. Finishing my workout while crying happy tears is really cathartic. I've been doing BBWW every other day consistently sonce January 12th. It took me a month and a half to get here. If my gym teachers and classmates all those years ago had been supportive rather than making me feel incapable, years of self esteem issues might have been lessened or avoided. If push ups are a thing elementary school kids are expected to do, then train them to do it, because apparently it doesn't necessarily take that much. I'm so fucking proud of myself right now.

With your powers combined... Strength: 100 Push Ups (and finish 200 Squats) Physical Therapy for the ankle everyday (42 total) 97%97% Constitution: 1 orange vegetable, or fruit pretending it is a vegetable (and 2-3 greens per day) (42 total) 95%95% DexSinisterity: Practice writing left handed (everyday) 97%97% Stamina: Swim 5 miles per week (52800 yards all together) 101%101% Charisma: There will be no dishes on my counters before I go to bed 42 Days of Dish Free Counter Space 66%66% *BONUS ROUND* Wisdom: Lets extract all of our DNA! (from our collection of samples) Extract Samples, (80 total) 7%7% Scouts Mini Challenge Logic Assessed, Challenge Accepted Holding Doors and Less Cursing at Bad Drivers, Lovely walks in the rain Animal Yoga! Cosmic Cowgirl Collective Week 1 Ice breakers Week 2 The Core! Week 3 Get em' done The Numbers Current Jean Size --> 16 American (whatever that means), one of six size 14 American (whatever that means) Height --> 5'7" Weight --> 216 lbs Neck --> 15" Chest, over --> 42" Chest, under --> 38" Waist, natural --> 46" Waist fitted --> 44" Hip --> 47" Thigh --> 29" Calf --> 16" Upper Arm --> 16" Forearm --> 12" Wrist --> 7" Body Fat% Calculation --> range 38.43% - 50.64% with an average of 43.7%... Conclusion: I should get some calipers if I am truly concerned

I call up the message one more time at my private terminal and run my fingers nervously behind my neck. Being tapped for this mission is a dream come true; they've afforded me the highest level of security clearance, opened the sealed archives, even opened a comm channel with Silent Step. The resources they are pouring into this into this endeavor are unprecedented, much like their sudden faith in me. There's a lot riding on my success. I know my brain is up to the task but is my body... STG ops need more than just a sharp wit! It's going to take strength, endurance, and of course, stealth. With that in mind, here is the outline of my STG Training challenge. Main Quest: Pull ups -- how are you going to crawl around those vents gathering intelligence if you can't get your chubby salarian butt up there? But, since I am pretty far from being able to do pull ups, let's focus on the... Sidequest 1: Strength -- Continue strength training at least 3x per week. By the end of the six weeks, move on to standard push ups. Not up against a wall, not on my knees (huh, that went to a weird place), but real toes-to-the-ground push ups. Sidequest 2: Stamina -- Endurance training at least 2x per week to include jogging at least 1x per week Sidequest 3: Flexibility -- Yoga at least 2x per week [Edited to update sidequests]

I've been doing a modified version of the beginner's body weight workout, and at first, the number of push ups I could do in each set was progressing. At my best, I could do 8 for the first set, 8 for the second set, and 4 for the last set two weeks ago, but lately, those numbers have been getting progressively worse, while everything else has been progressing smoothly. This is what I have been doing: 10 barbell squats (35 lbs, including the bar) 10 push ups 10 dumbbell rows (35 lbs) 35 second plank I do this every other day, and so far, my squats, dumbbell rows, and planks have been getting better. In fact, I will need to increase the barbell and dumbell weight for next time. But my push ups have degraded to 7 for the first set, 3 for the second set, and 0 for the third set today. I honestly have no idea why its happening, or what to do about it. Has anyone else experienced something like this?

All right. Let's get this party started. So, in case any of you didn't get the chance to see, I've been working on new goals. I've desired to grow stronger and fight better, and my goals to that end have helped me with that a lot. But at the same time, I've been exposed to my limits. I've done manual labor and found that strength training has its limits in terms of what it can do to save you. And I've seen what it's like to wake up in the morning and not feel pain. I like those things. I like them very much. The overarching mission of this year is twofold - one, to make my body move better, and two, to make martial arts indelibly part of my life. No one challenge is going to be enough to make that happen, anymore than any one goal can make those things happen. As such, I'm ultimately going to spend this year focusing on building and maintaining systems that put me in a better place than I was before. GOAL 1: Hip Flexibility System This is something I've heard a lot of good things about. I'll be in the second week of the program by the time the challenge officially starts, and my challenge for myself is to not miss a single workout here. I have no real excuse to - at this point, it's mostly just a couple minutes added onto my warm up, and I've seen some good come of it already in my hill sprinting exploits. But at the same time, I feel so impatient with this, and it's implausible. I don't know why it's that way. But having the public accountability to all y'all is gonna help me with that. I don't quite know what the exact number of sessions is going to translate to, but we'll grade this as: +2 CON, +1 STR, +1 STA. GOAL 2: Active Recovery This has two opportunities to happen. Strength training that acknowledges martial artists tends to say that technical work - being in class and training, etc. - is a form of active recovery. Since I'm seeing my sensei on a semi-regular basis, that's one way that this can happen. The other way is to use the active recovery routine that I have on hand. I've also begun to slip on my morning mobility, so I'm going to go ahead and throw that in for this goal too, so that I can rebuild that habit and put some new stuff with it. +1 CON, +2 STA, +1 DEX GOAL 3: Solo Practice I still can't believe that the last challenge was too ambitious for this. But I'm gonna shake it off and learn from it. We're going to focus on just ten combos and ten uchikomi. Feels pathetic, but the seed has to be planted somewhere. +2 DEX LIFE GOAL: Finances So, this is going to be interesting. The job situation has gone chaotic, and without going into a full-blown rant, I stand to lose both the writing gig and the UPS gig. I don't know how any of this is going to shake out, although I do have a personal training interview to go see to on the tenth of January. As usual, no guarantees. I've begun to take a look at my finances to see what I can cut that I don't really need anymore. Unfortunately, she's pretty much been cut to the bone. I managed to drop out of some training communities that were charging me that weren't benefiting me, which was a win. I still need to find a way to drop out of the gym membership, given that I'm not going to be there any time soon. This one is really, really vague. The clearest form of success would be to cut that gym membership, but as for the rest, I honestly don't know how I'm going to define success. Survival? Bleak, maybe, but that suits me rather well. ; Maybe I'll know at the end of it. +3 WIS, +2 CHA We'll see how this all goes. I'm genuinely excited to have a new mission for 2014, an overarching focus to drive me. It's nice. We'll see what happens.

Hey there everyone. You mind if I come play over here for a while? I would have hung out in one of the other guilds, but I have too many jobs for Serenity, and I'm not gonna run (much) so the Pavement's out. I'm not trying to bulk so no Weight Gain, but I'm not planning to resist holiday treats either, so Weight Loss is out too. So, the only one left for me to join is this one. I hope y'all don't mind. Anyway, posting up today's workout: Warmed Up Chin Ups: 3x61, 5 (notation indicates the number of sets, out of the total executed, that this particular rep range was used). Pistol Progressions: 3x5/Leg Close Push Ups: 3x6 Hanging Knee Raises: 3x6 Inverted Ring Rows: 3x4 Skater Squats: 3x9/Leg Pike Press, 1-Step: 3x3 Full Bridge: 3x6 Core Work: Dynamic Hollow Body Wall Walk: 3x1 Bent Leg to Bar: 3x1 Hanging Knee Hold: 3x6 seconds Took about an hour or so. Then went off to work UPS, which proved to be... interesting, on a Christmas Eve.

A Koan that's been on my mind lately. You probably know it: * A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted! * I first learned this one when I was in high school, but I didn't really know what it meant until I was in college, working door to door selling books. I was never very good at it, and the temptation to despair was always very close. I ended up repeating this story to myself a lot, and I found it really helped me. The circumstances, as usual, have changed. I have a job now. The writing gig finally came though, and it came through in a big way. Which is great. But there are problems. I am... aware of how tenuous things are now for the company that I work with. I feel like this job could leave any day, and the money with it. Meanwhile, I have rent and car payments and property taxes and insurance jumping through the roof, and I'll be selling plasma before the week's out to make ends meet. And also, I'm writing a novel. You'd think I was completely overwhelmed, and to be honest, it kinda does feel that way. But honestly? On a day to day basis? I actually feel happy. I joke with people and say that I've lost my emotional capacity for things going right, but the fact is, moment by moment, I'm excited. I feel like I've got more and better in me than I have in a long time, and I feel like I'm stepping into the ring. There's so freaking much I want to do in this challenge, that it's hard to figure out what four I want to do. But in the end, I remember that it's about starting small and going larger. Goal 1: BREAK MY CHAINS - THREE BODYWEIGHT WORKOUTS PER WEEK BASED ON CONVICT CONDITIONING'S "GOOD BEHAVIOR" SCHEDULE I have scoffed at Convict Conditioning before. I don't really dig the glorification of prison life. I think Wade's advice is suspect in a lot of different ways, particularly in how he does progressions and what he considers to be reasonable. And don't get me started on his diet advice. But at the same time, I'm imprisoned by my circumstances. I feel the weight of my disadvantages, and he is one of the few trainers to acknowledge such things. There is a certain purity in that, I think. What I am going to do is attempt to engage some of what he talks about utilizing some of what I've learned. I'll be keeping what he says about time under tension - the 2-1-2 cadence - and I'll be keeping the schedule in broad terms. Monday is for pushing and core work; Thursday is for pulling and leg work; Saturday is all about inversions. These will be customized, however: I'm going to be exploring as many different two-arm variants as I can before progressing to one-arm. And I'll be working many different angles with these moves. I'm setting the progression standards at ten reps per set, with a variable amount of sets: as many as I can do in twenty minutes. Afterward, ten minutes will be dedicated to a finisher of some kind. We'll call this +1 STA, +2 STR. GOAL 2: RE-INTEGRATE SHADOW COMBOS AND UCHIKOMI If the MMA work last challenge taught me anything, it's that you don't need a lot of time to get a quality workout with martial arts moves. The thing is, I'm responsible for knowing moves in a couple arts already. If I'm going to go back to the dojo, I need to practice those moves. Six days per week, I'm going to practice ten striking combos and ten uchikomi. The striking combos must all end in gyaku zuki, and the throw will be uchi mata. Each week progressing, I will add ten combinations and uchikomi to the mix. +5 DEX GOAL 3: THE BEST PART OF WAKING UP IS NO PAIN So, something I've grappled with for years is waking up in the morning and dealing with pain in my lower back. Learning SMR helped a great deal with that, and learning how to traction joints helped a great deal as well. Coming back to a standing desk has helped a ton as well. I want to go one step further and start every morning off with a couple minutes of flow work. It loosens up the joints, gets blood flowing, and even has some metabolic benefits attached to it as well. +4 CON LIFE GOAL: MEDITATE This was a mini-challenge we posted last challenge, and I don't know how it went for everyone else, but I got a lot of benefit out of it. I was passed an audio from OmHarmonics and it made a huge difference to my practice. I was on my way to developing it as a habit when the tumult of getting a job swept in and nearly killed it. I want to get that back. +3 WIS And there we have it. A longer, rambling intro, but I haven't done one of those in a while. Last challenge of the year, folks. If ever there was gonna be a time to finish strong, this would be it. Let's go to work.

I've been taking a cardio kickboxing class and the girls there are amazing. They have differing body types: some overweight, many middle of the road, a few super skinny; but they can all whip out 30-40 real pushups, jump rope . . . forever, and beat the stuffing out of their punching bags. My goal is to be able to keep up. 1. Go to kickboxing 2 times a week 10+ times = A, 8-9 times = B, 5-7 times = C, 3-4 times = D, 2- times = F 2. Be able to do 35 pushups in a row. I have an app that is supposed to train me to do this if is use it every other day. Right now I can do 10. 30+ pushups = A, 25-30 pushups = B, 20-25 pushups = C, 15-20 pushups = D, 14- pushups = F 3. Jump rope for 10 minutes 2 times a week. 10+ times = A, 8-9 times = B, 5-7 times = C, 3-4 times = D, 2- times = F So that's it. My motivation is just to be one of the kickboxing girls. That would be AWESOME.

FITNESS As part of my Operation: Middle-Age Extension, I have three specific fitness goals for this six-week challenge: 1) Move my 8 rep bench press set from 135 to 170 -- that's a little more than five pounds per week. STR 4 | 170+ A 160 B 150 C 140 D 2) Move my unassisted pull up from (sometimes) one to a consistent four. STR 2, CON 2 | 4 A 3 B 2 C 1 D 3) Move my plank from being inconsistent 30 seconds to three minutes, to a consistent two minutes. Closer to washboard abs. STA 2, CHA 2 | 2 A 1.5 B 1 C <1 D All of these goals will require a consistent dedication to a workout program and a good diet. So I will not add any diet goals this time around. LIFE I have a collection of "everys" here. I will collect every receipt for every purchase. At the end of the challenge I will post my expenditures so I can find out where my money goes, cause baby, it's not staying is Savings. I will train handstands every day. Thanks for the inspiration for that, Steve. I will get up when the alarm goes off every morning -- 5:50 on weekdays, 8:00 on weekends. WIS 3 Get online more often to support my fellow Rangers. That seemed to be a challenge for me last time.

Hey all, I'm wondering if anyone has a solution for a problem I'm facing. I have recurring tendonitis in both of my wrists (worse in my right), and while I don't suffer with it all the time, when I have flare-ups it can make certain activities more difficult. I attempted to do some push ups this morning and while I powered through it, my wrist wasn't thanking me. Is there any modification I can do to my form to help, or perhaps another exercise that will work equal muscle groups? Or should I power through it, logic telling me that continuing to work at it will strengthen my wrists and possibly help to prevent flare ups in the future? (I have no idea if this logic is sound or not). Let me know if you have any suggestions! Thanks!

I know this is hardly an original theme, but show me a person who can't get pumped up listening to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, and I'll tell you to run like hell, because that's a zombie, my friend! Also, my goals for this challenge just fit so perfectly, I couldn't resist. Main Quest - Prepare to board the Interstella 555 There's a lot of things I'd like to be: I'd like to be faster, I'd like to be stronger, I'd like to be healthier, I'd like to be tidier. But really, my real and actual motivation is the desire to be proud of my vacation photos when we go to Mexico in November. I'd like to lose around 15 pounds by then, (which should be reasonable in 10 weeks). So that's my main quest de jour. In order to accomplish this, for my sixth challenge, I shall: Work it Harder: Complete 2 workouts per week (+2STR +2STA) I just started taking a kettlebell class, which I love. It's only once a week though, so I must do another similar caliber workout each week in addition. I know from past experience that I'm just not going to get three in in a week, so I'm making sure this is realistic, while still constituting an improvement over my current habits. The second workout has to be strength-related, and formal - BBWW, or a Jillian Michaels video is fine, going for a roller blade or a long hike doesn't count. A=12 B=10 C=8 D=6 F=4 or fewer Make it Better: Eat <100g of carbs, 6/7 days per week. (+2CON +2CHA) I try to eat Primal most of the time, and when I'm following this I don't even have to think about keeping my carbs under 100g. So, basically this is my catch-all way to keep me on track without setting up a bunch of rules (which will inevitably have a bunch of loopholes) . The one day off a week allows for the occasional all-you-can-eat sushi trip, potato/quinoa fix, or a night out... to be followed by getting right back on track. A=36 B=30 C=24 D=18 F=12 or fewer Do it Faster: Complete some projects! (50pts) (+2 WIS) I am the reigning monarch of starting things and not finishing them. As per usual, I have about a half dozen projects on the go, and about a million more in mind. I also have a bad habit of "working on" things, without really getting anywhere - ie. I'm not only collecting underpants, I'm folding, sorting and cataloging them. My goal in the next six weeks is to complete, or at least reach major progress points on a few of these. In order to grade these, I'm assigning points to various projects based upon my perception of how much time/effort they're going to take to complete, and aim to reach 50 points. Projects: 20pts: Finish making jewellery holder 10pts: Recover flats with fabric 15pts: Finish owl painting 20pts: Do mockup painting of mural idea 15pts: Wallpaper back of bookcase 15pts: Organize both bookcases 20pts: Fully, completely and entirely clean and organize bedroom (not a creative project, but it really needs doing, so I might as well have some incentive) A=50pts B=40pts C=30pts D=20pts F=10pts or fewer Makes us Stronger: Improve push ups (3x per week) (+3STR) I finally managed my first pull up earlier this year, but am embarrassed by my inability to do a proper push up. At this time, I can do 4 consecutive incline pushups with good form on my side table, which I would guess to be about 2 feet high. I will be following Steve's How to do a Push up guide, which means 4 sets of as many reps as possible, 3x per week, increasing difficulty when I can do 20 per set. A=18 B=15 C=12 D=9 F=6 or fewer Side Quest - Our Work is Never Over: Track everything I eat, for the whole challenge (+1CHA +1WIS) I already track (using MyFitnessPal) most of the time, slacking off when.. can you guess? I've gone off track. It doesn't matter what I eat (well, it does, but not for the sake of this goal) but I have to record all of it. Particularly because I need to know how much carbs I'm eating. A=42 B=38 C=34 D=30 F=26 or fewer I'm really excited to give this challenge everything I've got. I had my most successful run last time, and I think I've done a good job of choosing goals that really build of the habits I've been working to form, while remaining SMART. I think I'm challenging myself, but at the same time I'm excited about what I've chosen to do, not dreading it like I have at times in the past. This one's mine, guys.

Cutebug's Awesome Autumn Adventure! Challenge 1: Continue Hiking throughout the fall! Rain or Shine! (Probably lots of rain!) I am committing to hike at least once per week, as I have been doing over the summer. I will continue to monitor my elevation and distance, and get to Mordor. Challenge 2: Train myself to do a Back Bend from standing position! I can do a mean bridge but it's been over a decade since I've been able to get down there from standing position. There will be lots of balance and stretching exercises! I think strengthening my arms and legs will help with this. Challenge 3: MOAR push-ups! I'd like to increace the number of push-ups I can do in a set. My greatest achievement so far was 15, but that was a one-time thing. I'd like to be able to consistantly do 15 EVERY TIME. More, if possible. I'll probably also try to do a few sets. Personal Challenge: My super cool friend got me a machete for my birthday, which I am ridiculously excited about! I must do some bushwhacking! Must slash things! I'd like to do some more Geocashing (hopefully with someone who has a better data plan than me!) and maybe even some camping or something! Basically I'll use whatever excuse I can to use my new machete. Also, I got a super crazy bright flashlight so I should also make up an excuse to go somewhere dark. ADVENTURES! YAY!

Hail and well met, Assassins! Having been among the rangers for the last few challenges, I'm coming to join the Assassins for this challenge (and perhaps many more...). As bodyweight exercises (mainly push ups), flexibility and kettlebells are going to be my primary methods of training this time round, I thought "who better than the Assassins to train with", so here I am Main Quest: by improving my general level of strength, endurance and power to weight ratio, I wish to eventually become fit enough to "kip up". Goals (I know we're soon doing away with the stat-point stuff but I find it motivating so I'm still including it for now): As part of this journey, I'm going to do ALL the push ups by way of a 100 push up 6 week regimen. This will probably be a monday/wednesday/friday thing but life might get in the way. different days are acceptable as long as it's three times a week with a day off between each. (success will be measured for following the program rather than if I hit the magical 100 mark. It'll be cool when it happens but I'm focussing on consistency in the journey rather than the journey's end.) STA +3, STR+2 I'm also going to revisit my flexibility training - something I have pretty much neglected for the last 18 years. I'm not terribly inflexible but I'm not getting any younger and I'm starting to notice a slight decline I'll be basing my flexibility exercises on Junan Taiso, which is body conditioning system I practised when I used to study Ninjutsu (a long time ago). It's fairly gentle so it should suit someone like me who is a bit out of practice, flexibility-wise. (again, success will be measured by consistency.) DEX +4, CON +1 To balance out the push ups, I'll also be including plenty of back exercises - I still can't to proper pull ups (yet) so will be looking at other ways to exercise the muscles within the posterior kinetic chain (such as rows, deadlifts, cable rows, assisted/reverse pull ups). (again, success will be measured by consistency.) STR +2 Life Goal: On Tuesday I'm running the first "lunchtime energiser" class... I'm going to keep it up for the 6 weeks of the challenge at least. If there is sufficient interest, I'll be starting up a second weekly class as well. CHA +2, WIS +1

Hi all, I'm a lurker but this challenge is coming at the right time for me, so I'm delurking. I've got a pretty chaotic life, and for years I've been thinking "I'll lose weight when...", or "I'll start looking after myself when..." and of course whatever it is never happens or there's something else in the way. However, I have made progress with my fitness over the last couple of years; I've been doing a few different things in terms of weight lifting and built up quite a lot of muscle, and I successfully did the C25K last year, thanks in large part to a pair of minimalist running shoes. Now I am finally starting to feel that I might at some point be a runner, though I'm tending more towards being a Ranger than a Scout as I get bored if I run too far, even with a talking book, and in any case I really fancy trail running. I've also just taken up geocaching which is something else Rangery. I feel that it's time to take it a step further, though, and I've had a couple of revelations that have helped me understand where I'm going. For one, I've finally realised that I'm not the unsporty type that I've always thought I was. Which was obvious, really; when I was left to my own devices as a kid I'd always be riding my bike or climbing a cliff or swimming or dancing, but I HATED team games. I was a school refuser, only in my case I loved school, I just hated PE lessons. I've also been thinking about my motivation for making changes and it essentially just comes down to being fed up with not making changes. I'm fed up being fattish (probably 10kg and 10% bf excess). I'm fed up not being able to stop eating - bread in particular. I'm fed up waiting for things to happen so that I can start having a life. I'm fed up not being in control, and wasting enormous amounts of mental energy comparing myself to other people, pigeonholing them and thinking "she's thinner than me". And it occurred to me - I've done LOADS of stuff in my life. Lived in 3 separate countries and in 40-odd addresses at the last count, I can speak 3 languages, I've started my own business which is getting to the point of doing pretty well, I drove a 7.5 tonne truck across Europe in the worst storm for 40 years, I've put on techno gigs, renovated two and a half houses, I've worked in IT support, sold property, dug potatoes (in a greenhouse - in the summer!), cleaned hotels... I've got an MA in Archaeology and a rescued cat with a very strange backstory. So it's not that I haven't earned the EXP. It's just that I've hoarded them as though they were GP, refusing to allocate them to going up a level in case... what? In case something else came along and I might need to use them for that? I'm 45, this is the only life I'm going to get and I need to start living it now! In fact, that's my motivation. OK, well that's come out a bit small, but anyway, it's there. So my first challenge to myself is to do the following: Main goals:1. Lose 3 kg2. Manage one real pushup 3. Get 8 hours' sleep a day. Comments on the above:1. Starting weight 72.3 kg, but I'll check that again on Monday morning. 2. I've never done a real pushup in my life. I'm pretty good at inclined ones, but I *still* haven't the strength to do a proper one. I think it's now down to core strength (lower back in particular) rather than shoulders, and I've just come across some good core exercises by John Sifferman, so that should help. 3. This is going to be the toughy. Given that it's currently 2.31 am, I've been up since 7 am and I'm being kept out of bed for the second night running by the brain dead residents of the small village where I currently live this is going to be impossible, but if I am at least in bed for 8 hours that's going to be an improvement. Working for myself has meant burning the candle at both ends with a vengeance. Life goal:Get my fecking website finally sorted. I've had the domain name for more than a year and done nothing with it, so it's more than time. Anyway, I can hardly keep my eyes open any more, so I'll think about grading these tomorrow and hope that exhaustion will take the place of peace and quiet in helping me sleep.

Challenge #3:Trials of Fire and Shadows Courage is our most powerful weapon Anyone who followed my previous challenge will know that I’ve been planning to take a trip to New Zealand to visit the woman I’ve been in love with for 7-8 years. There are so many barriers keeping us apart it feels like a losing battle in my moments of weakness. The financial barrier is the most obvious, but there are other emotional and mental barriers that are preventing this. Working out gives me an outlet to vent my frustrations, hone my body, improve my overall mood, and makes me feel like I can take on the world, and win. So this challenge I am increasing my minimum workouts to 4x/week, to keep my body functioning at its peak, both physically and emotionally so I’m prepared to withstand anything life throws at me. A: 24+ workouts - B:20+ - C:18+ - D:16+ - F: anything less (+3 STR, +2 DEX) The most difficult choices are often to best As some of you may know I officially got approval for the name of my company, which will be Righteous Blade Studios. Now the next step, I have to get my company registered with this name now that I’ve gotten it approved (Long tedious process… making a company). This should hopefully be fairly straight forward, but I want to research some more and make absolutely sure I’m going about it the correct way to meet my needs (all these legal documents are going to do my head in). I want to keep it sole proprietorship, so that I don’t get screwed by some board or majority shareholders or something that don’t give a damn about the games, and corrupt my company just to pad their bottom line. So I need to make sure I take appropriate measures so this cannot happen. This is a pass or fail. (+2 CHA) Shields up, and smite the smirking face of adversity Before I can start to publish I also need a way to protect my intellectual property, which means trademarks and/or copyrights. So I need to figure out exactly what I need for the type of products I’ll be creating and how I go about getting it. This is another pass or fail. (+1 WIS) The path to glory is a difficult one, because there is no end in sight This one will be a huge milestone for me, and my company. My goal is to release my first game, under my own company. Our first title is well on its way already, so I don’t think this will be too difficult to achieve. This one will be a bit difficult to grade, but I will consider it an A as long as all the mechanics are solidified and completed. If we are still expanding on the storyline, as it is a very story dependant game, I’ll let that slide because that’s a moving target. We won’t know we’re done until we are. (+1 CHA, +1 WIS) Fight the shadows within Now, I’m sure a lot of people think I spend a lot of time working on all these things I’ve accomplished, or are currently working on. But the truth is I spend an irritating amount of time just procrastinating, just I work very fast and effectively, so it seems like I’ve spent way more time than I actually have. And being self-employed makes it a challenge to manage my time effectively when I can spread it out however I please. So, for this challenge, I going to spend a minimum of 3 hours working on actual game development (not researching or working on business aspects of my other goals), at least 5 days/week. A: 30+days - B: 27+ - C:20+ - D:12+ - F: anything less (+2 STA) Dream of the light When you’re in the trenches day after day, just trying to keep it together and keep pushing to make a difference, it’s easy to lose sight of what you’re fighting for. And when this happens, it can be very difficult to keep moving forward. So, sometimes we need to be reminded of why we do what we do. To keep myself motivated, I will meditate for at least 20minutes a day to reflect and remind myself what I’m fighting for. I feel this is a very important goal for me, because this challenge is going to be very tough on me, both mentally and physically. Plus I tend to do everything on my own, so my triumphs are entirely my own, but so are my failures, and there’s nobody to pick me up and push me forward when I fall. So I can’t afford to lose sight of what I’m striving for, this has happened in the past, and completely devastates my productivity. This is unacceptable this time around. A:36+days - B:32+ - C:24+ - D:18+ - F: anything less (+1 WIS, +2 CON) To sum up, I know I've made some pretty lofty goals, but I feel they are definately achievable, it will just take a bit of work. The first and last of my goals are more designed to help keep me on track with the others, which are the most important. So hopefully they help keep me focused and my mood up. Ultimately I'm not sure if I'll ever achieve what I'm striving for, but I am sure as hell going to try.

Hi Rebels, I fell by the wayside (again) for my last challenge, I'm finding it relatively easy to keep my diet under control, especially having started work and not being able to snack (if I want to snack I've taken to having a multivitamin). So I feel like I've got that down and I've set up a PVP for calorie counting just in case anyone wants to join me with that particular goal! But now I definitely want to expand my health and fitness regime to get myself stronger as well as a bit healthier. For this challenge I'm going to have four goals, three health and fitness goals and one life goal. 1. Become a Smaller Target +2 CON +2 DEX I'm going to try and lose some bodyfat, after all an assassin needs to be as small a target as possible! So over here I've got a spreadsheet for the amount of calories I need to be eating a day to lose as much as I can (hopefully without losing any muscle) and how much protein I need to be eating a day as well. 2. Swift Like Lightning +2 STR +2 DEX For this challenge it's all about making myself faster, so working on reflexes and my running speed. So for this one I want to run at least once a week and my target will be to get my 6km time (as that's the length of my route) down to under 30 minutes, at the moment it's about 37 minutes. And I will also try and start attending fencing/playing squash once a week, as both of these activities need me to be able to react quickly as I would in any assassination! 3. Strong Like Thunder +3 STR This aspect of the challenge is focused on making myself stronger (All the better to kill you with!) so I will be doing strength building circuits 3 times a week. I say strength building because whilst I will be focusing on bodyweight circuits (using progressions for the major exercises from this website) but I will be trying to get to the gym to use weight training as well at least once a week. 4. Learn the Ways of the Word +4 WIS This is a life goal to write 500 words a day. This is so I can do my literary blog and also work on some of my own personal fiction with short stories and maybe some larger stories too. If I do 500 words a day, that's not very many and I should also do enough writing to work on my blog once a week but also have enough to write some short stories. So I shall be posting up the links when I've made a new blog post so you guys can keep up with my progress! So now I'm ready to help out the assassins with their weekly challenges and make myself into a Warrior of the Night!

So, for this challenge, fitness is actually taking a secondary role. I have a few larger work-related goals that will help me achieve my overall goal for this challenge: being able to afford a trip to New Zealand. Ok, so everyone understands my motivation, here it is. I have a friend who lives in NZ, I've known her quite a while, and I've been in love with her for oh lets see... going on 7 years now. Some might ask why it took my 7 years to do something about it, and to that I would say she was in a relationship when I met her, and they eventually got married, and me being the guy that I am would never do anything to screw with something that was making her happy. And yes, that totally had me tied up in knots, trying to move on, because I never trusted the guy. Long story short, they got divorved a few months back. I had planned on giving her more time to herself, but I found out about a week ago that she started dating again, so the waiting is over, I'm doing something NOW. Also it's going to be almost another 2 months before I can actually get there. So that all being said, it's do or die time. And this is how I'm going to afford that blasted $1500-2000 plane ticket that is between me and the woman I've been dreaming about for almost 7 years: Goal 1: Get my mobile game to a Beta stage. This means the game should be almost ready for release, and it should be at a playable state, and all main features complete. I get paid several hundred for this milestone, not a whole ton unfortunately, as I get a large portion of sale profits. (+1 WIS, +1 CHA) Goal 2: Complete the arcade style flash game I'm currently working on. Most of it is already designed and I have someone working on the art already, all that's left is to build it. I'm going to be selling this, and on average I could expect anything upwards of $2000 - 7000 for it, depending on how well it's recieved and judged by the buyer. (+1 WIS, +2 CHA) Goal 3: Complete the wave style flash game I'm designing. I enlisted an artist friend's help this morning for this one. As I'm a programmer, my art skills are... sub-standard to say the least lol. So I already have a pretty good idea of where this is going, but we'll need to get all the specifics hammered out and then start building it. So this one probably envolves the most work. Again I'm going to be selling this one, and the deal is the same as the other. $2000 - 7000, ideally we're shooting for higher quality, so hopefully on the higher end. (+1 WIS, +3 CHA) Fitness goals Goal 1: Get up to a set of 50 pull- ups.(+1 STR) Goal 2: Get up to a set of 50 push-ups.(+1 STR) Goal 3: Work-out a minimum of 3x/week.(+1 STA, +1 CON, +2 DEX) My fitness goals are a bit less ambitious than the last challenge, but I'm going to have much less time for them. But I've got to keep myself lookin good for when I get to New Zealand

GOAL 1 Pep in your step Start timing your workout, do workout with purpose/focus DEX-3 STA-2 Reasoning: I tend to get distracted while doing workouts. I start to overanalyze what I'm doing, and will actually just stand there in the middle of the floor thinking. No bueno! I'm going to start timing my workout in an effort to combat this. GOAL 2 Push 10 push ups, with good form STR-3 STA-1 Reasoning: upper body strength is kinda on the low side GOAL 3 …and pull 1 real pull up STR-3 Reasoning: Ditto on push GOAL 4 Keep in touch Talk to 1 person that you’re not going to see today. 3x’s/week. CHA-3 Reasoning: This is probably going to be the hardest one for me. I tend to be very out of sight out of mind with people. Even when I am thinking about someone I'm away from, I don't contact them because I think they'll probably be busy, or I'm busy and I forget. Rules: I have to initiate the conversation, and even if they don't respond, I still get points for trying. Alright, let's do this y'all!

Greetings fellow human. My first time doing a six week challenge. So here goes. Starting point: 1) Can only do five push-ups. 2) Can only do eleven sit-ups. 3) Am too sendentary. Weight is 227. That's keeping in mind I've lost 25 pounds over the past six months due to Paleo diet and VERY light exercise. Would eventually like to get down to 195 or 200, considering that most websites indicate that's the optimal weight for my age and height. Bellybutton measurement is 42. Six months ago it was 46. No specific goal with this, but I assume it should be somewhere in the 30s. Fitness Goals 1) Be able to do 15 push-ups. 2) Be able to do 20 sit-ups. 3) Walk two miles with ease (ie: not feeling like I'm dying when I'm done.) Life Goal Get in five minutes single pointed concentration meditation every morning and every night. This is keeping in mind that in my prime, I could sit on a cushion for up to three hours. But the mind, like the body, needs to be re-trained once it's been ignored for too long. Plan to Achieve Goals 1) Do push ups every morning. 2) Do sit-ups every morning. 3) Walk two miles minimally three days a week. 4) Meditation space has been cleaned and re-organized. The plan to achieve is this simply doing it! Again, am a rookie here. If anyone actually reads this, then comments, questions, concerns are truly appreciated. Thanks for being.

So today I was working out a little earlier than usual and my husband was still home. One of my kids commented on how Mommy was getting strong and losing weight (it's showing), and he said something to the effect that I was becoming normal. I was like, "What I'm becoming isn't normal in this country (US); being fat and out of shape is normal. Doesn't make it right, though." I went on to mention, though, that the people I hang out with online (NF peeps) fit his definition of "normal". Granted, my husband is the guy who can not work out for months and then work out and not get sore, and he's got probably 15% body fat (total guess based on pictures) in spite of eating lots of (healthy) fat and, again, not working out lately (he's getting his master's and has been busy with that, besides a full-time job--he can't wait until summer!). Anyhow, even though he didn't say it in so many words, I know my husband is proud of me, and that just makes me feel good! The other news is that I'm getting better at push ups. After reading the Nerd Fitness post about how to do a proper push up, I decided I needed to skip the half-way-down ones I was doing and actually find a position were I could get all the way down in perfect form. For me, that was the kitchen counter (I was happy to skip the wall push ups! LOL!). Two weeks ago on Monday I started really focusing on them, and I did 3 sets of 9/8/8 reps, going to max reps each time. Today, my 6th workout (3 each week), I did 17/12/11! That's almost double total reps and a serious improvement over last time! Monday I'm moving to the kitchen table (which is lower), at least for the first set. Anyhow, I'm so pumped after my workout today--in spite of the fact that holding my arms straight out to peel an egg over a container on the back of the counter felt like a workout after my shower! At least, I could feel it in my arms and shoulders. I'm so excited! So glad I found Nerd Fitness! Thank you Steve, and thank you all of you for defining my normal in a totally different place from the rest of the world!

ALRIGHT CHALLENGE!!! So exciting! This is my first full 6 weeks (my last one was only half) It took me awhile to weed through my ideas, but I really wanted to pick 4 challenges as suggested. I want to keep it simple. Challenge 1: Continue to do the Beginner's Body Weight Circuit, but transition to full push-ups and leave those girly push-ups in the past! That means that by the end of this challenge I will be able to do three sets of 10 full push-ups. (STR +3) Challenge 2: Walk three times a week for 30 minutes. The ambitious part of me would love to say do the C25K program for 6 weeks, but KEEP IT SIMPLE!!! I'll just say that is extra credit. (STA +2, STA +2) Challenge 3: 12,110 calories per week (1730 calories per day). I say it this way because I work 12 hour shifts overnight 2-3 times a week and I've found I need a little extra for those days. As a result I'll prepare by eating a little less on my off days. This SHOULD result in a weight loss of 1 lb per week, BUT I won't be worrying about that (see how I'll track my progress below). CON +2, CHA +1, WIS +1 Challenge 4: LIFE CHALLENGE. Stop volunteering for stuff!!! My life is busy enough with work, investing in my marriage, church, my daughter, taking care of a home, cooking, budgets, etc. Yet, I find myself constantly volunteering for extra stuff that is just going to drain me and take time away from my actual priorities. So I will be biting my tounge for the next 6 weeks. This doesn't mean I can't do other stuff, but someone actually has to ASK me to do it! I think this might be harder than I think.... (CON +2, WIS +2) Tracking my Progress: I'll be measuring my body, weighing in and taking pictures at the beginning, middle and end of the challenge. I will NOT be weighing myself weekly like I was previously. I think it is a total distraction and can really send me for an emotional loop (then I eat to make me feel better or eat because I feel good about my progress to celebrate... crazy). I already told my husband to hide the scale so I can't find it and weigh myself and not tell anyone! (cause I can be sneaky like that) One Caveat My husband and I will be going on vacation BY OURSELVES in May for three days (for the first time since my daughter was born). I'm not saying I get free reign to eat whatever I want, but I probably will not track those days. I don't know exactly what the food situation is going to be (its not included in our stay). My plan is to make good choices with food, get outside and hike, mountain bike, paint ball, do tree ropes course (plenty of built in exercise), not stress and HAVE FUN with my best friend. So what I do with those three days will not affect my challenge goals. I'll post my starting numbers by the end of the day Monday!! Here we go!

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.†~ Chinese Proverb Last challenge I bit off more than I could chew in the perspective of the other changes happening in my life. I'm terrible with time management and without proper planning, I couldn't fit everything in. It made me think of Steve's article about a Robot's Guide to healthy living. If this Than that. I realized I really need to work on creating a daily routine, at least a loosely structured template, that will move me towards my goals. Take the brain out of the picture, and just DO certain things. Especially because I'm moving during this challenge, and this involves 3 weeks of planning, a week long road trip, staying with friends in five states, and 2 weeks setting up my new place and getting settled. Habit goal: IF it is morning THEN I will get up and go for a walk. It doesn't matter how far I walk or for how long, the point is to get myself out of bed and out the door immediately to get my blood pumping and get some vitamin D in the form of sunlight. 50 jumping jacks can be substituted for extremely inclement weather. Emphasis on extremely. Why its a challenge: Despite all of my work from last challenge, I still hate mornings. Why I want to do it anyway: I used to feel really good running every morning, and when I did this I just kind of fell out of bed into my running shoes and walked out the door. No thought involved. I just DID IT. Also I believe my gorilla workouts will be easier to start once I'm warmed up and woke up by a walk. Methods: Keep shoes by bedside. No options. Also if i'm really really zonkered, I'll grab a cup of coffee and drink it whilst walking. Double duty. No excuses. Grading: 35-42 days = A 27-35 days = B 20-27 days = C < 20 days = F Strength/Endurance Goal: IF it is Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday, THEN I will do push ups. The goal is to get back to TEN FULL PUSH UPS WITH PERFECT FORM. Why it's a challenge: These gorilla workouts for the last month and a half doing only knee push ups has wrecked my ability to do full push ups. I can now do like four. And they are wicked hard. Wobble arms. Mega sad. Why I want to do it anyway: I love push ups, they are fun, I want to be stronger, and I want to beat my best friend's husband in push up contests. End of story. Method: Mon-Wed-Fri regular gorilla workout, Tue-Thu-Sat 100 pushups challenge. Grading: 10 = A 9 = B 8 = C <8 = F Skill Goal: IF it is nighttime THEN I will stretch. Primary goal here is working towards Front splits and Backbends. Why this is a challenge: I'm wicked tight. I've never been able to get into a split, even during two years of gymnastics as a kid. Why I want to do it anyway: A. splits and backbends are good party tricks 2. My problem areas (places I have the worst posture and get the most pain) are my hips and upper back/shoulders. I can already feel after three days of splits and bridges, these areas are strengthening, my posture is improving, and i'm in less pain. Methods: 15 minutes of stretching every night before bed. Every day. No going to bed without stretching. Grading: -3 inches on splits, 30 second bridge = A -2 inches on splits, 20 second bridge = B -1 inches on splits, 15 second bridge = C Anything less = F This is where I'm starting for splits: Life Goal: IF I am practicing the violin THEN I will do drills for playing in tune. I will be working on learning the chorus for Crystalize (is it called a chorus in an instrumental piece?), but also focusing largely on perfecting the part I already know, and doing- hopefully daily- exercises specific to playing in tune. Why this is a challenge: It's a very difficult song, and I often have a tendency to go too fast and hit sour notes. Why I want to do it anyway: I love the violin and I want to be awesome at it. I want to play the things I hear in my head and not have them come out sounding like dying cats. Methods: I am hoping to have time on a daily basis to play the violin. This is especially awkward for the first 4 weeks so I will have to be creative with this. I'm staying with friends since I left my apartment, and don't want to subject them to me screechy practicing. I'm thinking of buying a practice mute (probably not for a while, i have no mailing address) or going to the park to practice after work (more likely) or a combination of both. I want to search the internets for "playing in tune" tutorials. I've also considered fretboard tape, however half the sources I read says it delays learning by ear and half of them say it speeds up this process. I don't know what to believe. I couldn't figure out a measurable part to this (S.M.A.R.T goal) as far as quality goes, so I'm grading on how many minutes of "In-tune exercises" I do per week. I'm aiming for 30. Grading: 30 minutes / week = A 20 minutes / week = B 15 minutes / week = C < 15 minutes = F So here are my four little rocks I'm going to carry away from my mountain for the next six weeks!

So one of the guys from head quarters today showed up at our office- younger guy- and we joked with him that if came into our cubicle- he had to push ups (since my cubicle buddy and I do push ups all the time)... so all 4 of us banged out a bunch of push ups. The older guy did 40- but didn't really fight for any- just did until he was tired... respectable (esp after coming off vacation) he could have done a few more- but meh. The visitor- who is in his 20's did 74- we were all dually impressed. My cubicle buddy did 50- and really struggled squeezing out the last couple. My turn. I blasted through the first 30... and then 50... then hit 60 and said self. you better. So I got to 70. BAM. I'm excited for myself. Showed them boys how it was done!!! new goal- do 100 in one shot. woot woot!!! of course now my arms are kind of pissed at me- but whatever- my pride is worth more than a little arm pump. he he he he

Hallo! I have been devouring Steve's articles for about a year or so now, and this is my first venture into forums. In fact, my very first post! A little about me: I am an avid gamer of many different genres. From Elder Scrolls and Half-Life, D&D and The Sims, to Mario Galaxy and The Secret World, I think you get the picture. I am a massage therapist with my own small business. I've been in practice since October of 2011. After joining the Air Force at 18, serving for 4 years, and leaving on not very good fitness terms - my weight and health have been up and down since (with a steady climb upwards). I've tried Weight Watchers, other calorie restriction diets, and the exercise portion of P90X, and none of it really clicked with me until I started Paleo and Steve's Rebel Fitness Guide. I have been eating a Paleo-with-dairy diet (can't give up that cheese quite yet!) on and off for 10 months. I started the RFG September of last year with varying levels of discipline, but have currently progressed to and just started the Level 4 Rebel Workout. I dream of going on real life adventures; climbing mountains, canoeing rivers, hiking through woods - like my video game avatars do - all while feeling terrifically fit and ready for anything. I am the only one of a group of family and friends that is working towards and planning fitness goals. My husband cheers me on, but I lack any true accountability except for myself. My hope is that by participating in this challenge, supporting others in their efforts, and getting their support in return; I can finally stick with my plans and achieve my goals. I'm feeling pumped up and ready to see the changes made 6 weeks from now! LET'S DO EEET! Stats: Age - 26 Height - 5'5" Weight - 196.4 lb. L Thigh - 26 in. R Thigh - 26.5 in. L Bicep - 12.5 in. R Bicep - 13 in. Hips - 46 in. Waist - 45 in. Bust Over - 46 in. Bust Under - 35 in. Goals: Do 1 pull up (unassisted) I have been working towards this goal for a while now, have gone through a series of alternate moves leading up to the actual pull up. I am at 5 negative chin ups. Once a week or so I’ll hang on to that bar, kick my feet around wildly and see if I can heft myself up, but as of yet to no avail. Three plyometric push ups Being able to do these just sounds freakin' awesome. The most of these I've been able to do are 3, while on my knees. Other push ups off my knees are a 6 (one-legged) and 6 (divebombers). Only 1 "sugary treat" a week I say I'm Paleo-with-dairy, but I'm about 80% on the wagon. I am a fan of cider, frozen yogurt, and chocolate. I may treat myself to these 2-4 times a week, and I want to wean myself off this sugar addiction. So as of now, my goal will be either a few ciders or a serving of frozen yogurt or a few squares of dark chocolate (only one of these!) for the week. Eeeeep, I'm nervous about this one already! Increase non-discounted client sales by 3/week I've had my massage practice for over a year now, and besides a few Facebook ads, I've never really done anything to go out there and gain more clients. I recently ran a Groupon that will bring in a lot of new people, at a discounted rate, but the hope with that is to gain regular clients that are willing to pay the full price. I want to reach out to new people about my service (post more on my Facebook page, run ads on local websites) and gain at least 3 more regular massage clients a week. And there you have it. I think those are very attainable goals, as long as I have the discipline and motivation to stick with the RFG and my other diet/life plans. I will mainly be using the RFG at least 3 times a week, or every other day, as a strength workout, and I want to throw 1 or 2 long walks (say one hour of 3mph) a week. I will refuse to buy cider and frozen yogurt for myself, and if I want to limit such items to once a week, they will only be accessible if I leave the house to get them. I'll have to research other methods of advertising, or possibly go to a expo or health gathering to promote my business. That sounds the most scary to me, as I'm not an outgoing person, and hate speaking to large groups. Gotta find the courage! Alrighty, it's time to begin this adventure =D PS - photos of me "before"