Search the Community

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” - Bilbo Baggins Walk to Mordor and Back Again (2024) Whether you have been trekking to Mordor for years or just looking to get started, you are welcome to join us at anytime. All miles/kilometers count. You decide how you want to accumulate distance. This is your adventure! (Frodo's journey included canoeing, horseback, and eagle-back, so anything is fair game!) Sign Up and Track Here: SPREADSHEET Open the spreadsheet, click on the 'Sign Up' tab at the bottom of the page, fill in all fields labeled in yellow, and begin tracking and logging your distance in the appropriate monthly tab. Some links that might be helpful: Nerd Fitness Post on Walking Eowyn Challenge - an in-depth description of each stage of the trip. P.S.: Spezzy (who I stole this post from) also made a template of the spreadsheet for future years but also in case anyone wanted to copy and use on their own or for groups outside of the forums. You can find it here - just go to File --> Make a Copy

DareBee's Daily Dare is a great way to get in a little movement every day! Do you dare try these surprise movement snacks? The goal is to try the suggested exercise every day. Need to adapt it for your needs? Go for it. Can't quite do the full count? Do what you can. Rocked the whole thing and kept going? Amazing! Did it go better this time than last? Share here that you tried and how it went. Drop a 🐝 if you tried and tell us how you did! The first person here for the day may need to head on over to darebee.com to copy over the link.

Welcome aboard one and all, once again and once more to... The 10/12lbs in 10/12 weeks weight-loss Player-versus-Player challenge! NEW YEAR! 2024!! Now's the time to sign-up for a Player-versus-Player accountability challenge sure to motivate you to tackle those weight loss goals! Of course, we only advocate losing healthy weight and using healthy methods to get there, this playful side quest is less about beating your peers to the finish line than it is about challenging yourself, making some new accountibilibuddies, and having a place to share your battle plan along the way. Feel free to set your goals online with either the 5 weeks of your next two challenges, or include both Week Zeros for a full 12 weeks. Set goals that you think are realistic (that could even be 6lbs/12weeks or whatever works for you) It's okay to need a break sometimes, even if it’s not Week 0. If you find you need to take a week off, that’s okay. Take the time you need, and hop back into the spreadsheet when you’re ready. Stick around for the excellent company and to cheer on your fellow pirates. Weigh-in sometime this week, and again every week. Share your data in the spreadsheet mentioned ad nauseum below! Post your successes, struggles, and tips. The Rules 1. Sign-up using the SPREADSHEET. Add your name & starting weight, waist measurements optional. Don’t enter a value for “Current Weight” just yet. That will update automatically. 10 or 12 lbs in 10 or 12 weeks (roughly 1lb or 0.5kg per week) is the goal but feel free to increase or decrease the difficulty as you see fit. Whatever your goals are, you are most welcome to participate (even if you'd like to join in late)! 2. Introduce yourself to your fellow competitors! Feel free to mention your goals, any battle plans for getting there, and what your primary motivation or inspirations are. Feel free to mention your Challenge goals or BattleLog too! This is an excellent place to get to know others from the forums. 3. Update the SPREADSHEET with your weekly weigh-ins. We're using Monday as the 'official' day, but if Sunday, Tuesday, or any other day work better, go nuts! Just keep it at roughly a week for tracking purposes. This challenge is aligned with the current and next 5 Week Challenges, with optional weeks off for Zero Week at the start and in between. 5. Have fun, encourage everyone, and keep each other accountable! Get hype but stay safe! Also, anything done confidently cannot be considered failure! Double also, did I mention the SPREADSHEET? Tips for Success! 1. Make with the exercise (maybe the cardio zoomies, maybe the heavy uppy-downies or the flippy-dippies?) 2. Do-do the (calorie) deficit. 3. Gobble up the veggies. 4. Gulp down the waters. 5. Visit and update us (and the SPREADSHEET) regularly to build that accountability network. 6. Share your workout playlist for MAXIMUM HYPE!! 7. Make your inner critic WALK THE PLANK! arrrrrrr!!! (we're still pirates) This group concept and spreadsheet were created by Rurik, stolen ruthlessly and edited by pirates. Additional Thanks to The Most Loathed and TimovieMan for coding help with the spreadsheet

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” - Bilbo Baggins Walk to Mordor and Back Again (2023) Whether you have been trekking to Mordor for years or just looking to get started, you are welcome to join us at anytime. All miles/kilometers count. You decide how you want to accumulate distance. This is your adventure! (Frodo's journey included canoeing, horseback, and eagle-back, so anything is fair game!) Sign Up and Track Here: SPREADSHEET Open the spreadsheet, click on the 'Sign Up' tab at the bottom of the page, fill in all fields labeled in yellow, and begin tracking and logging your distance in the appropriate monthly tab. Some links that might be helpful: Nerd Fitness Post on Walking Eowyn Challenge - an in-depth description of each stage of the trip. P.S. Spezzy (who I stole this post from) also made a template of the spreadsheet for future years but also in case anyone wanted to copy and use on their own or for groups outside of the forums. You can find it here - just go to File --> Make a Copy

Welcome aboard one and all, once again and once more to... The 10/12lbs in 10/12 weeks weight-loss Player-versus-Player challenge! Now's the time to sign-up for a Player-versus-Player accountability challenge sure to motivate you to tackle those weight loss goals! Of course, we only advocate losing healthy weight and using healthy methods to get there, this playful side quest is less about beating your peers to the finish line than it is about challenging yourself, making some new accountibilibuddies, and having a place to share your battle plan or struggles along the way. Feel free to set your goals online with either the 5 weeks of your next two challenges, or include both Week Zeros for a full 12 weeks. Set goals that you think are realistic (that could even be 6lbs/12weeks or whatever works for you) and stick around for the accountability and camaraderie rather than opting out, beating yourself up, or quitting partway through! Weigh-in sometime this week, and again every week. Share your data in the spreadsheet mentioned ad nauseum below! Post your successes, struggles, and tips. The Rules 1. Sign-up using the SPREADSHEET. Add your name & starting weight, waist measurements optional. 10 or 12 lbs in 10 or 12 weeks (roughly 1lb or 0.5kg per week) is the goal but feel free to increase or decrease the difficulty as you see fit. Whatever your goals are, you are most welcome to participate (even if you'd like to join in late)! 2. Introduce yourself to your fellow competitors! Feel free to mention your goals, any battle plans for getting there, and what your primary motivation or inspirations are. Feel free to mention your Challenge goals or BattleLog too! This is an excellent place to get to know others from the forums. 3. Update the SPREADSHEET with your weekly weigh-ins. We're using Monday as the 'official' day, but if Sunday, Tuesday, or any other day work better, go nuts! Just keep it at roughly a week for tracking purposes. This challenge is aligned with the current and next 5 Week Challenges, with optional weeks off for Zero Week at the start and in between. You're also welcome to hop in at any time, including the bonus holiday challenge! 4. This time around we’ve got Bonus Weeks over the Holidays! You can choose to add to your weight loss goal or set a maintenance goal to survive the family gatherings and multitudes of desserts. Or If you need a break over the holidays, the final weigh in day for the Official Challenge Dates is November 27. Do what is best for you. 5. Have fun, encourage everyone, and keep each other accountable! Get hype but stay safe! Also, anything done confidently cannot be considered failure! Double also, did I mention the SPREADSHEET? Tips for Success! 1. Make with the exercise (maybe the cardio zoomies, maybe the heavy uppy-downies or the flippy-dippies?) 2. Do-do the (calorie) deficit. 3. Gobble up the veggies. 4. Gulp down the waters. 5. Visit and update us (and the SPREADSHEET) regularly to build that accountability network. 6. Share your workout playlist for MAXIMUM HYPE!! 7. Make your inner critic WALK THE PLANK! arrrrrrr!!! (we're still pirates) This group concept and spreadsheet were created by Rurik, stolen ruthlessly and edited by pirates. Additional Thanks to The Most Loathed and TimovieMan for coding help with the spreadsheet

DareBee's Daily Dare is a great way to get in a little movement every day! Do you dare try these surprise movement snacks? The goal is to try the suggested exercise every day. Need to adapt it for your needs? Go for it. Can't quite do the full count? Do what you can. Rocked the whole thing and kept going? Amazing! Did it go better this time than last? Share here that you tried and how it went. Drop a 🐝 if you tried and tell us how you did! The first person here for the day may need to head on over to darebee.com to copy over the link

Greetings and welcome! This is a place to post a daily accountability for whatever helps keep you sane, balanced, and on track. Post yes/no, did my morning thing or didn't? had a toxic day or didn't? or whatever helps keep you on the track to leveling up. We are stronger together.

Hello Friends! Starting a continuation of the No-Spend Summer the lovely @Sovalis put together. This one will also coincide with the current challenge which will last until October 14th. Feel free to join now or when the challenge officially starts on September 10th. This challenge is for those who wish to have support reducing spending in whatever way you need in your life. If you want to reduce you grocery bill, great! If you want to limit mindless splurges, we're all here to support you! If you're here to try to pay down debt, we'll cheer you on! The possibilities are endless, so long as you're supportive to everyone here 🙂 I, personally, will be focused on limiting spending. I will be spending as little as possible on wants or mindless items that can wait. Any wants will be converted to loot and put on my loot list. Any extra money I have will be put towards debt. I have a credit card I'd like to pay off by the end of the year so that will be my primary focus. Second, I'd like to focus on my no-interest account. I'm on track to pay it off by maintaining my current payment plan but I'd love to pay it off early and use that payment for something else.

Welcome aboard one and all, once again and once more to... The 10/12lbs in 10/12 weeks weight-loss Player-versus-Player challenge! (PIRATE EDITION, arrrrrr!) Feel free to set your goals online with either the 5 weeks of your next two challenges, or include both Week Zeros for a full 12 weeks. I want you to set goals that you think are realistic (that could even be 6lbs/12weeks or whatever works for you) and stick around for the accountability and camaraderie rather than opting out, beating yourself up, or quitting partway through! So weigh-in sometime this week, and again every week until the Week Zero of June's first challenge. Share your data in the spreadsheet mentioned ad nauseum below! Post your successes, struggles, and tips AND WHERE THE TREASURE BE, MATEYS! Now's the time to sign-up for a Player-versus-Player accountability challenge sure to motivate you to tackle those weight loss goals! Of course we only advocate losing healthy weight and using healthy methods to get there, this playful side quest is less about beating your peers to the finish line than it is about challenging yourself, making some new accountibilibuddies, and having a place to share your battle plan or struggles along the way. arrrrrr!!! Pirates never surrender! The Rules Sign-up using the SPREADSHEET. Add your name & starting weight, waist measurements optional. 10 or 12 lbs in 10 or 12 weeks (roughly 1lb or 0.5kg per week) is the goal but feel free to increase or decrease the difficulty as you see fit. Whatever your goals are, you are most welcome to participate (even if you'd like to join in late)! Introduce yourself to your fellow competitors! Feel free to mention your goals, any battle plans for getting there, and what your primary motivation or inspirations are. Feel free to mention your Challenge goals or BattleLog too! This is an excellent place to get to know others from the forums. Update the SPREADSHEET with your weekly weigh-ins. We're using Monday as the 'official' day, but if Sunday, Tuesday, or any other day work better, go nuts! Just keep it at roughly a week for tracking purposes. This challenge is aligned with the current and next 5 Week Challenges, with optional weeks off for Zero Week at the start and in between. You're also welcome to hop in at any time! Have fun, encourage everyone, and keep each other accountable! Aye, Aye!! Get hype but stay safe! Also, anything done confidently cannot be considered failure! Double also, did I mention the SPREADSHEET? Tips for Success! Make with the exercise (maybe the cardio zoomies, maybe the heavy uppy-downies or the flippy-dippies?) Do-do the (calorie) deficit. Gobble up the veggies. Gulp down the waters. Visit and update us (and the SPREADSHEET) regularly to build that accountability network. Share your workout playlist for MAXIMUM HYPE!! Make your inner critic WALK THE PLANK! arrrrrrr!!! This post has absolutely been stolen with Brazen Pirate Swagger. @Rurik Harrgath We all hope you feel better soon, buddy.

Hi All! Putting together a quick thread for a No-Spend Summer challenge that will run from today (or July 30 if you prefer to take Zero Week off) to September 2 to coincide with the current Five week challenge cycle. Tagging @Heidi and @Darciana to join me here, but really, anyone is welcome to pop in and celebrate their restraint and re-prioritization of goals! For myself, my parameters are no casual spending, no eating out if I'm alone, and no online shopping at all. Regular household purchases like groceries, gas, etc., will continue as normal. My exception/reward will be a sticker and stationery order to be placed during an annual sale that takes place August 6th that I will not get to open until the end of the challenge and that I commit to giving away should I fail to meet the parameters I have set for myself. Looking forward to cheering us on!

Credit for this game goes to @Aerisand who started this PVP. Disclaimer: A large part of this is @Briniel's star introduction to Monkey Taming, digivolved for efficiency. TL;DR: For Tamers coming back, the changelog is at the bottom of the post. This group is for those of us who suffer from procrastination, "the action of delaying or postponing something". Or, more specifically "the act of ruining your own life for no apparent reason". I thought it would be a good idea to get together with other serial-procrastinators and tackle this bad habit together. Concepts taken from this brilliant article on waitbutwhy.com A point based game to beat the instant gratification monkeys, help our rational decision makers get out of the dark playground through the dark woods and help both of them enjoy themselves on happy playground territory (or the rainbow of flow, if we get lucky) together. If that sentence didn't make any sense to you, go read the article (including part 2). Do it now. Don't wait until later. (Unless you're procrastinating from some other thing you should be doing right now, then do that thing first and read the article right after that.) So, now that we're all on the same page and know what's going on and who keeps us from our goals, let's teach our rational decision makers how to tame a dragon monkey!!! Monkey Tamers United Step 1 - Figure out which bricks to lay Take a task that you find yourself procrastinating on a LOT but that is actually really important to you. If you've done some challenges you probably know which of your quests give you the most trouble. If you don't, go by what's written in the article or decide for yourself. You could even chose several things if you're feeling confident. Make sure you have a clear plan of what task it is that you will not procrastinate on any longer. Then break it down into smaller tasks, if necessary. The idea is to end up with nice 30 minute bricks that you can lay down one after the other. Make sure you phrase those tasks in a non-icky way. Step 2 - Figure out when to lay the bricks Designate a certain timeframe for brick laying. It could be an hour at 9am every day, or wednesdays from 6-8 pm or any other timeframe that works for you. These first two steps are supposed to be a tool to help you be successful. If you'd rather go at it without the planning or in between doing other stuff, that's totally fine. Step 3 - Lay bricks and earn points When the time comes to lay your bricks, put them down. CONCEPTS The goal is to score higher than the monkey. Your score depends on how you lay your bricks: Productive Brick For every brick (30 minutes of focused work, not disturbed by the monkey), you will get one point. It does not matter if you lay these bricks right after the other or if you do other (productive) stuff in between. Even if you over-estimated the size of your bricks and still have work left after 30 minutes, don't fret, you still get the point. Adjust your brick sizes for next time (or live with the fact that you won't finish the task with one brick... it's up to you). Halfassed Brick If you're not happy with how you set the brick, because the monkey and rational decision maker kept dragging you in and out of the dark woods, you'll end up in mixed feeling park and your points will suffer. Monkey Poop If the monkey should manage to take over the steering wheel so much that you can't lay the brick at all and end up in the dark playgrounds, the monkey gets points instead. Of course this is all up to your reasoning, but I think you'll know whether you're in the dark woods or the dark playground (procrastination anyone?). Be honest with yourself. If you didn't finish your bricks for the day, any bricks not laid become monkey poop... Of course, if you manage to procrastinate for longer than you were supposed to have time for, feel free to add more poop, lol. Once the productive bricks are all done that day, you don't have to track any more and are free to go wild! About taking breaks You can take scheduled 5 minute breaks every brick (so you'll work 25 minutes, then have a 5 minute break. Or you could work 50 min and have a 10 min break. Taken from the Pomodoro Technique ). Just remember that the monkey will do his very best to drag you out of the woods during break time. It might help to have a plan for how you spend the break. Do what works best for you. It might also help immensely to actually set a timer that lets you know when it's time for bricks and time for breaks. There's lots of apps for that EXPERIMENTAL: Alternative way to track Productive Bricks For rewarding task completion instead of time a.k.a. "I always forget to track time". Reveal hidden contents Estimate the amount of bricks needed for each task you need to get done (blocks of 30 minutes of focused work, not disturbed by the monkey). After completing a task, you may enter the estimated amount of bricks instead of counting the actual time it took to finish it. Remember to still count halfassed bricks and monkey poop. If you notice a task took a lot more Productive Bricks than you estimated, add more bricks to your total. If you notice a task took a lot less Productive Bricks than you estimated, use the middle point between the actual amount and estimate. (Why: daunting tasks probably weigh more) DIFFICULTY MODES Choose your own mode. Easy: +1 point per brick, +0.5 points per halfassed brick, x5 monkey points per monkey poop = The original system Normal: +1 point per brick, +0.0 points per halfassed brick , x5 monkey points per monkey poop = Against halfassing! Kong: +1 point per brick, -0.5 points per halfassed brick, x8 monkey points per monkey poop = Like a boss JOIN US If you want to join the Monkey Tamers, let us know what you're planning to build, and join our colorful Google Spreadsheet for tracking your progress! In the spreadsheet, all you need to do is fill in the black squares: Write your name and difficulty mode. Enter the planned amount of bricks - for each day. You can fill those as days go by, just make sure to enter the planned amount before actually starting to lay bricks. Write the amount of bricks laid where they belong (productive bricks, halfassed bricks, monkey poop) *For those coming back, what's different: We've added a spot for Week 0. It won't count towards points but it may help in getting started, testing things, or just doing something so you won't lose momentum.

Let's have a snowball fight! Just tag (@ and username) someone you want to "throw" a snowball at, and they have to "dodge" it by doing one burpee for each snowball thrown at them! Everyone starts with two snowballs. Each snowball dodged = two snowballs to throw. Dodge as many snowballs as you can. If you can't do a burpee, feel free to sub squats or push-ups. You can "throw" a snowball at anyone you want by tagging them; not everyone will respond, and that's okay. If you're tagged but don't want to participate, simply don't respond to the mentions. The fight will officially begin at the start of the current challenge (January 5th) and will last until the last day of winter (March 21st). Have fun!

Greetings, young pupils. I understand you wish to lean more about how to be a master bender. Well, in order to master bending you must prove you are disciplined in the daily practice of training your body and mind. To prove yourself worthy of learning bending skills and to learn which of you is worthy of reaching the Avatar state, let's have a friendly competition, shall we? Every day, you will complete a "Daily Dare." There are two levels of difficulty: normal and extra credit, which usually consists of completing the physical challenge in one set. To prove yourself a capable student with enough discipline to learn bending skills, we will use a scoring system based on completed dares. Each challenge completed equals 1 point; extra credit adds an additional point. Just record your name, your goal, and your daily dare progress on the scroll that the monks have provided for this challenge. The more challenges you complete with extra credit, the more bending skills you will unlock. The totals needed to unlock are: 15 Points: Air Bending 30 Points: Earth Bending 45 Points: Water Bending 60 Points: Fire Bending You have 35 days to complete this challenge, beginning October 28th and ending December 1st. At the end of this challenge, the bender who has unlocked all four bending skills and has the most points will be deemed worthy of becoming the next Avatar. Good luck, young pupils, and have some onion-banana juice before you go.

The Harry Potter Themed House Cup PvP is open to all guilds and will be running from 19 March to 15 April 2018. <PvP Entry closed for this challenge, check back to see who wins the cup and join us next challenge> The goal is to get some inter-guild banter underway, have some fun and improve your health at the same time! Each of the 4 houses from Harry Potter will be made up of a max 5 players of mixed ability and hopefully balanced if the sorting hat does it's job! The sorting hat: To join the PvP enter your name in the sheet below on the Sorting Hat tab https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A2Rvhbn_9AXMME0uzTRPF2L-xGlLkee4dzOqbv8mGa0/edit?usp=sharing The night before the cup starts you will be assigned houses by the Sorting hat! Feats to win house points: Week 1: Km's walked or run over the week (capped at 70) Week 2: 1RM Plank in secs (capped at 120) Week 3: Burpees completed over the week (capped at 100) Week 4: Pushups (see scaling below) completed over the week (capped at 84) Bonus: Catch the golden snitch! - At any time during the challenge measure your 3RM Deadlift (heaviest weight you can deadlift for 3 reps in a row). - The snitch score will only count if a score is entered for all the other 4 weeks. Snitch alternative: Ride Buckbeak! - Edit: **Snitch alternate movement** if you can't Deadlift you can do a max time Wall-sit, this will be capped at 160 secs and result divided by 4. Can be done at any time during the challenge and multiple attempts to get your best score allowed so see how much you can improve! Rules: 1. Results must be entered into this sheet weekly by 9am Monday in your timezone to count https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A2Rvhbn_9AXMME0uzTRPF2L-xGlLkee4dzOqbv8mGa0/edit?usp=sharing 2. Honour system for recording results. 3. Fitbit, pedometer etc. is allowed for week 1. 4. Pushups can be done at whatever your current level is, i.e. Wall, Benchtop, Knees etc. all count if they are your current capability. 5. Snitch score will be divided by 3 (deadlifts) or 4 (wall-sit) to give final bonus score. 6. Anyone at any level of experience can join in, this is a team effort for fun. Prizes: 1. Add House Cup winner to your signature! 2. Glory! 3. Bragging rights!

New challenge = new profile photo! Continuing down the PvP road with Hatter from last challenge, plus publicly available PvP ab/core torture videos this time around. Whee! Abs - PvP ridiculousness! +5 points for each completion of a weekly abs vid Inverts - I want a straight arm, straight leg invert on the silks or the rope SO BADLY. To that end, +5 points for focused practice around that. On apparatus or off, but not inclusive of the core PvP stuff above. This is dedicated hollow body work, pike reverse crunches, etc. Also (perhaps not intuitively) this is also some types of lat work--of the straight armed push down variety, so don't be weirded out when these get scored for points. Flexibility & PreHab - Flexibility is important for circus folk. So is staying healthy (shoulders in particular). To that end, I'll finally be taking my flexibility and prehab seriously. (For serious) All kinds of things count for points here--random 5-10 minute stretching at my desk because my shoulders are tight (and similar) +2 points. Actual stretching routine, such as Starting Stretching or What should stretching feel like +5 points. A real and actual prehab routine such as something from CirquePhysio or similar +8 points Choreo & Flow - Stringing together at least two skills in a clean and/or interesting fashion. Specific skill practice +2 points. If I happen to shoot a video of choreo or skill linking? +5 points. (Note: in-class stuff generally won't count for this as most things we do are at least two skills strung together) Diet - I've been hanging on to some extra fluff for way to long. I have about seven pounds to lose. From past experience, counting calories works well for me on this. Track every day, stay within calorie limits +2 points per day. Other things to know: Next week I'll be on staycation, which alters my schedule dramatically and puts a huge cramp on my ability to get to the circus gym, so lots of off-apparatus stuff going on next week. US Holiday, Labor Day is on 9/4. Circus gym will be closed (this is my usual open gym day, so boo) Destiny 2 releases on 9/6. I will be binge-playing this game for many days. Will not be attending circus class on 9/6 (Wednesday is my usual class day) I've also got some cardio work that I should be doing and at least one muggle workout per week (woman cannot live on circus alone, especially if said woman is trying to lean out a bit) Title, in case anyone is confused: tightens up = weight control; stretches out = flexy and prehab; turns over = inverts Official scoring start date TBD, but getting all this down in electrons will get it out of my brain.

I AM not a performer! Last challenge I got roped into trying out for a pole performance group, and I GOT IN! This is a crazy exciting development, and a scary one. I have never, ever been a stage person, rather I've been more of a... run and hide from the limelight person. But I'm also a person that jumps on opportunities when they arise, because you never know what will come out of them. So now it's time to rewrite my story and stop telling myself "I'm not a performer", because until next summer I've committed to being one, whether I feel comfortable with it or not! I do have A LOT to learn though, and I'll have to put in hours and hours of hard work to be able to create something performance worthy! Choreo & flow - The more I practice the less I'll look like a complete dork. - This goal is about dedicated practice to stringing together moves and working on making them pretty and flowing. For each combo worked on I get +2 points, with additional +5 points for grabs if I take video. I'm going to really try to make this happen this challenge as it's by far the most effective way of figuring out and perfecting movement. Even if seeing myself makes me cringe. Inverts - The stronger I am the smoother I'll be able to flow. - In this goal I'll be aiming towards shoulder mounts. I've been able to do them before, or more accurately exactly... one. On low gravity days. Either way I'd like to get it back as it's an important type of invert as it leads into a bunch of moves. +5 points for any practice directly related to improving shoulder mounts, but this can be done both on and off the pole. I'm NOT scared I've had a few injuries in the past years, nothing major but enough to prevent me from moving freely and doing all the things that I want at times. After my last injury (finger injury while climbing, over a year ago!) I lost a lot of ground and confidence in my movement. It's mostly been affecting my climbing, but it's seeped into many other movements and worst of all into my head and my language. Even if it's true it's not an identifier that I want to associate myself with. So I'm rewriting the story to be a person that tackles her fears instead of avoiding them. There are a few things going on here, but one example is that for the longest time I've been avoiding serious stretching because of an old, old longtime healed hamstring injury for fear of re-injury. Last challenge I started to get into the stretching habit again, this challenge I'll up my game and take it more seriously! But of course that has to go with proper prehab in order to prevent new injuries. Really. I mean it! Flexibility & prehab - Bendy joints need to be strong joints - Everything goes for this goal, but more work = more points. Maintenance stretching is worth +2 points, flexibility training ´+5 points and a proper prehab routine is worth all of +8 points as it's the thing I love to avoid the most. Abs - A strong core makes everything better and safer - I'm participating in the abs PvP where we do one ridiculous torture abs video each week. For each time I do my abs I'll get +5 points I'm NOT tired I think I'm often using "I'm tired" as a substitute for "I don't really feel like it", or mix up mentally tired after a long day of work with physically tired. But now when I'm training for other people as well as for myself I can't use that as an excuse and I'll have to make better choices in order to keep up and train hard. The most obvious one is of course diet. Besides from sleep, but that's already pretty solid. So a diet goal it is. Diet - Food is key to keep up energy levels. - This is a pretty basic goal, +2 points for each day that I have 2 meals with protein and veggies. My eating has been extremely erratic lately so I need to start small. In summary, this is what I'll be doing: - Abs - Shoulder mounts - Stretching - Prehab - Choreo - Eating proper food Plus a whooole lotta pole dancing!

Okay! First, read this. I'll wait. http://www.laurawitwer.com/2017/06/29/post-laura-witwer-ego-smashed/ That blog post hit me preeeeetttty hard in the feels. When my circus gym reopened after >1 year, I somehow expected to pick up right where I left off. Amazingly, this did not happen. I spent a few months bootcamp-ing, aerial style and when i had some strength back, jumped back into a skills class. My ego did not take this well. I'm finally to the point where I'm feeling somewhat strong most classes, but I definitely have the "Comparing myself to myself" moments come back and bite me in the butt. So, it's time to focus on improvement from where I am now rather than comparison to where I was then. To help with keeping my focus in a forward direction, Hatter and I are going to do a PVP-ish challenge. Goals and scoring are below. Structured Circus – Class at least once per week (silks/rope) +5 points per class Stretchiness – At least 2 out-of-class stretching sessions (at least 10 mins each) per week. One of these can be body-maintenance type stuff (foam rolling, etc.) if desired. +5 points per session (additional sessions per week can count for additional points) Abs – Video Challenge at least once per week (alternating who chooses each week or we each choose one each week for both of us to do). +5 points per video completed (each video can count more than once if done in the week it is the Video Challenge) Life goal – Mindful eating. Cut the random snacking. Eat meals. Consider whether you're actually hungry or just bored. Don't eat just because it's time to eat if you aren't actually hungry. Unscored Bonus – Photo or video progress on crow pose. Eventually I'd like to get to firefly, but one thing at a time, here. Unscored Extra Double Bonus – Plan vacation. Huge work stresses mean our usual summer vacation plan has been pushed back. Something not terribly far away or stressful to get to and inclusion of some fun activity and forced relaxation all at the same time. Alrighty, aside from all that, work next week is going to be exhausting as we have a huge inspection/accreditation visit that will take up most of my working hours for the entire week. I'm hoping circus will help keep me sane. And on the fun side, the beta for Destiny 2 is out on July 18. yay! Right after hellish work week, some time to play. Is that it? I think that's it...

Hi All! Jon Firestar here, covering while Xena is off galavanting and running marathons! Round 9 of our PVP using the Daily Dares at Darebee.com has begun! All are welcome. Every day, they post a bodyweight exercise challenge no equipment needed, every day. Sometimes they're easy, sometimes they're not. Every day there are two levels of difficulty. 1) just get it done, over the course of the day, and 2) Extra Credit (EC,) which usually means all in one shot. Either do one or the other. You get either 1 or 2 points per day, no more. Miss the day (in your time zone) and you miss the points. Need a variation? Not a problem, but no points for you. This is an open PVP, so anyone can join at any time. It's a great way to try out a bunch of different bodyweight exercises, and after 2 times through, I've personally found a bunch of new exercises based on what's been really hard. If you decide to join, declare what rank you're aiming for and sign up on this spreadsheet. Then, just keep track of how many dares you complete throughout the challenge. If you're not sure about what counts for the dare or extra credit, post here and we'll rule by what seems to make sense to the most of us. Some days you might not be able to do an exercise, and that's ok! If you like, try modifying or scaling the dare to something you can do. I've added a new column where you can keep track of dares you've modified and completed. The modified dares don't "count' toward "official" totals, but we can still reward you with creative titles if you like. Sometimes Darebee likes to be cute and offer extra extra credit. That's cool...go for it, we'll all be impressed. Let's keep it simple and leave those out of our calculations. The person with the most points at the end of the challenge will be declared the Daredevil! (other titles are available, inquire within.) Leaderboard Round 8: JonFirestar (61 points) Round 7: Xena (59 points) Round 6: Xena (54 points) Round 5: Zeroh (48 points) Round 4: Rocketbikeninja (62 points) Round 3 (Tie): Rocketbikeninja and mom2sjm (64 points) Round 2: Rocketbikeninja (67 points) - May 2016 Challenge Round 1: Geek On Fire (53 points) - April 2016 Challenge Ranks Titanium: 60 points (30 days of dares + 30 days of extra credit) Gold: 45 points Silver: 30 points Bronze: 15 points Custom: A custom goal of your choice. Just make sure to state your specific target in the spreadsheet. We're starting the PVP in Week 0, but you should be able to achieve all but the highest of these ranks even if you don't join us until Week 1.

The goal? Become the manliest manly strong man ever! Build camaraderie. The motivation? Make your buddy do safe, silly, super embarrassing stuff! After a successful group fitness dare, I’m looking for a committed one-on-one silly dare PVP bro. The buddy must have a good sense of healthy, yet mildly self-deprecating humor. They must also have strong desire to make their buddy do safe, silly, yet terribly embarrassing things. Here’s the breakdown: · We agree to a pool of funny, safe, silly, embarrassing dares as punishments to choose from for each week’s defeated opponent. · Each week there are seven achievement points available. · We create our own goals for the week. · Whoever has the most points at the end of the week gets to choose a punishment for the defeated of that week. · If there is a tie (which is likely in the beginning weeks), we roll die and whoever has the lower number is the defeated. 2 points Workout 2 points 3 points Mike Follow weekly workout schedule No fast food all week Attain three perfect-form pullups in a row Joe Write epic poem and become more famous than Milton Follow weekly workout schedule Stop work when I leave the building. NO working from home or past quitting time all week. Example punishments: · Funky Chicken dance on video and posted to a social network of your choice · Ask someone to smash Pie in face ( get picture or video of pie-to-face interaction) · Dramatic reading of pop song of your choice · Dress like Magnum PI and go out in public (get pictures of course) · Dramatic conversation with any song by Adele · Etc… Are you game? -Mike

Psych: Fake Psychic, Real Detectives So, the cops think I am a psychic detective, and now I am investigating a kidnapping! Join me in my memory focused challenge as I prepare for the next step in my 'Citizen-Soldier' quest line. Thank you to those who have already volunteered for a more hands-on place in this challenge. To others who want to have some fun, we have a weekly PvP challenge called a Kim's Game prepared as well. Come on! Put some clothing on, it'll be fun! Memory Goals: Each week I will have an outline or an example of what information I need to memorize. The subject matter will involve information for my possible participation in the Army's most difficult school, Ranger School! It is not confirmed that I will be going yet, but it is likely so I need to prepare. Each week I will post a link to a document containing the information I am learning. My partner for that week will then test me on the information. This can be done through a skype call or though a posted video, at the partner's discretion. The other thing I need from my partners is a decision if they want to have me test them on something they have been wanting to learn! So let me know partners. Partners in Crime: Week zero: Yasha92 Test Method: ? Materials: The Ranger Creed Partner's Material: ? Week one: MiaulinTheCat Test Method: ? Materials: TBD Partner's Material: ? Penalty: ? Week two: Wild Wolf Test Method: ? Materials: TBD Partner's Material: ? Penalty: ? Week three: Artemis Fernweh Test Method: ? Materials: TBD Partner's Material: ? Penalty: ? Week four: Broba Fett Test Method: ? Materials: TBD Partner's Material: ? Penalty: ? Penalty: I want you all to decide what penalty I am required for each test, so let me know! Kim's Game PvP: Situation awareness is something that is imperative to life, but few people actually practice. I myself struggle with it, as I tend to get lost in my own thoughts and become oblivious to the world around me. Kim's Game is a perfect tool for increasing mindfulness, attentiveness, and short term memory. Here is how it is played. A person is showed a number of objects for a short amount of time. That person then has to remember as much detail about each item as possible and list them! The game has been used in Sniper School, by government agencies, and even the boy/girl scouts, but it originated in an old book! 'Kim' is one of the oldest spy novels in the world, published in 1901 about an Irish orphan in India being trained to be a spy. So who is ready to play? Obviously it will be easy to cheat doing it over the internet like this - so I am taking you all on your word! If you don't know what an object is, just describe it as best as you can. It's very similar to the 'how many hats' game that Shawn has to play as a child, and may even be where the writers got the idea! Ready? The first video will be posted soon! Other Goals: As usual, I will be tracking my daily chores (Sparrow's Checklist for Domestic Bliss); Behavior 'Below the Line' (Behaviors Unbecoming of a Sparrow); and work toward improving my odds for overall quest achievement (Skill Tree) I will also attempt to do three self-improvement tasks a day in order to balance the three elements of existence, the body (The Warrior), the mind (The Wizard), and the soul (The Sage). Lastly, I will work on the completion of my Quests (Sparrow's Campaign) through my method of 'The Big Three' which is where I select three to-do items that I am required to do each day. The Penalties: Three failures of any of the above will result in a book sold/donated from my collection. The Rewards: Allowed time to work on personal projects. I am so excited! This is going to be fun. I'm like a kid in a candy store!

I've been hoping someone would throw up another walking PvP for a challenge for the last couple challenges, but since no one has I'll create one. I'm too lazy to figure out how to make a spreadsheet that works, so I'm going to steal @Endor's pvp sheet and style of PvP. This challenge will run for the entirety of this four week challenge (August 21 - September 17). 1. To join, just go to the spreadsheet, add your name, and update your miles or km as the challenge progresses. 2. Also, post on this topic which tier you're trying to reach, any progress you want to share, anything you want to talk about, you know how forums work. Tiers Titanium - 128 km's (80 miles) Gold - 96 km's (60 miles) Silver - 64 km's (40 miles) Bronze - 32 km's (20 miles) Copper - 19 km's (12 miles) I'm going to be trying for Titanium this challenge and using my FitBit to keep track of my mileage. Good luck everyone!

Hi All! It's time for Round 3 of our PVP using the daily dares over at darebee. Every day, they post a bodyweight exercise challenge that usually only takes a couple of minutes to complete. This is an open PVP, so anyone can join at any time. It's a great way to try out a bunch of different bodyweight exercises! If you decide to join, declare what rank you're aiming for and sign up on this spreadsheet. Then, just keep track of how many dares you complete throughout the challenge. You'll get 1 point per dare and 1 point for each extra credit challenge. You must complete each dare on the day that it's posted for it to count - no going back to make it up if you forget! If you're not sure about what counts for the dare or extra credit, post here and we'll rule by what seems to make sense to the most of us. Because this is meant to be a challenge with a wide variety of exercises, we will not allow easier variations of the dares. Some days you might not be able to do an exercise, and that's ok! The person with the most points at the end of the challenge will be declared the Daredevil! Leaderboard Rocketbikeninja (67 points) - May 2016 Challenge is our current reigning Daredevil. Geek On Fire (53 points) - April 2016 Challenge Ranks Titanium: 60 points (30 days of dares + 30 days of extra credit) Gold: 45 points Silver: 30 points Bronze: 15 points Custom: A custom goal of your choice. Just make sure to state your specific target in the spreadsheet. We're starting the PVP in Week 0, but you should be able to achieve any of these ranks even if you don't join us until Week 1.

Hello and welcome back to another installment of Wolfie's Co-Op Adventures. If you missed the last one, well, that sucks for you. BUT, the good news is, is I still got signups going for this one and it's rumored to be as good if not better this time around! I'm adding in bad guys..PvP...and my challenge wouldn't be complete without some kickass writing involving gun fights, bravado and just plain badrangerassery stamped all over it! A little about me before we get into the nitty gritty. My name is Wild Wolf, but I prefer Wolf or Wolfie. I'm married to the love of my life and we have 3 little boys together, my oldest turning 6 today! Some have described me as the songbird of my generation...but that's neither here nor there. I love to laugh, live and have fun. Right now, I'm still nursing a shoulder injury but every day I strengthen it and slowly but surely I feel I'm getting to where I need to be. 2016 is my year of patience. With my shoulder, with my hair (cuz I'm growing it out #hairgame), with my job, with a new car...lots of things, really. I think the important thing, is that I recognize this is that year and I'm harnessing it instead of running from it. I'm also a people pleaser and last challenge...actually, my Deadpool challenge was where things changed for me. Mentally anyways. (Yeah, I went crazy, so sue me!) And I broke out of a funk within myself. I felt more comfortable here on NF then I ever have when I unleashed the vulgar swag of Wade Wilson, lol. Then, I stepped it up with my redeux challenge of The Division. That thing took an unexpected turn that I was not prepared for, but dammit if I didn't love the monster I'd created! The write-ups ending up being the smoothest, easiest writing I've done to date and I would love to continue this momentum. If you missed the epic finale, check it out on my previous challenge! This is where Wildlands comes in. It's another Tom Clancy game like The Division and I'm soooooooooo stoked for it (even though it'll prolly release around this time NEXT YEAR!) Here's the badass trailer for the game: Yeah, that trailer still turns me on.. The song is Friction by Imagine Dragons. I've been jamming to it a lot lately. Anyways, that it what this challenge will be based off of. I will be taking part of the role of Captain Wild Wolf and will be leading squadrons of Ghost (elite US Special Force team) against the Santa Blanca Mexican Drug Cartel. Along the way, I'll have to deal with the Unidad, a military force hired by the corrupted Bolivian government to protect it's dirty interest and also don't get along very well with the Cartel. I will also will be aided by the local Rebel's in my fight to disrupt the drug war going on. Bolivia, a few years from now: this beautiful South American country has become the largest cocaine producer in the world. The influential and vicious Santa Blanca drug cartel has turned the country into a narco-state, leading to lawlessness, fear, injustice, and violence. The cartel is on track to becoming a major underworld power and global threat. An all-out war is not the answer. A surgical, stealthy, lethal approach is the only way to stop the disease at its source. The Ghosts, an elite US Special Forces team, are sent behind enemy lines to wreak havoc, destabilize, and eventually break the alliance between the cartel and the corrupted government. Facing an almighty enemy in a massive and hostile environment, the Ghosts will need to make critical moral choices and engage in tough battles to complete their mission – their grittiest and most dangerous operation to date. Co-op is essential for survival, so here are the rules of the challenge: RULES & SIGN UP SHEET I will be giving out assignments 2x a week. Each faction will get their own assignment. This will be based off point total's with the completion of assignments adding points to that factions "point bucket". Whomever has the highest amount of points each week will essentially "win" that week, either by escaping with the drugs if you're the Cartel or thwarting the Cartel's plan and capturing them and the drugs if you're apart of Team Ghost Wolfpack...or something to that effect. What made the last challenge so fun for me is how organic things played out. I would like that trend to continue. *WARNING* If there is a tie, the teams will face off in a PvP WOD that will challenge everyone so we have a clear and determined winner. The assignments will range from daily WOD's to miles covered with a ruck to eating a clean meal that evening. Maybe even bring back 5 min cold showers, who knows how crazy things will get Teams will range from 3-6 depending on the match ups and the numbers, but they will work together to defeat their opponent using various battle techniques. As leader of the Ghost Wolfpack, I don't plan on taking it easy on you Drug Cartel pole smokers..and I expect the same in return! The MOST IMPORTANT RULE...HAVE FUN. PLEASE! For my sake and your own, lol. At the end of each week, I will take the weekend to work on the weekly write-up and post it (hopefully) before the weekend ends! Last challenge I didn't really have a challenge write-up. Besides my regular shoulder PT that I've been handling, I didn't really keep up with my goals. I stopped tracking The Perfect Agent as well. So, I want to be more organized going into this challenge and actually work on my goals. #1- Rucking I'm getting a rather sweet FDE color 5.11 Rush 24 bag in the mail very soon and this means it's time to get back into rucking! I also bought a nice yoga block for weight support and a swanky Texas flag patch to go my bag once I get it in. I would like to thank my lovely wife for getting me this. You're the best baby! I want to ruck at least 2x a week. I'll also be bringing my bag to work, weight and all, and start using that on my daily walks around the building. #2- Foraging Get back on this kick and find some stuff to forage. I started out good with this but then dropped the ball. I only managed to get out to the trails once I think during the last challenge and I want to change that. This is an essential survival skill IMO and I want to really work on setting up proper knowledge of plants and fruit that's good to forage. Study up on foraging 2x a week. Hit the trails 1x a week. #3- Agressive Shoulder Rehab Of all things...I hurt my shoulder playing Quidditch lol. I have a type 2 AC joint separation that's been bothering me for a couple months now. I have full ROM and really good mobility but it still hurts from time to time. It's nothing that requires surgery but I'm at the stage where the muscles around my shoulder need to be strengthened so that's what I'm doing. Spend 15 min on shoulder rehab and work Unbreakable Shoulders from GMB into your routine 2x a week. #4- Co-Op Beauty I seem to have started a wonderful trend with the co-op challenges going on this time around. I love it!! I want to be involved! So the goal is to keep up with everyone else's challenges as well as my own. Other News: My oldest turns 6 yrs old today!!! Damn they grow up way too fast My 6 yr anniversary is coming up May 14th and I'm getting some help from @T2sarahconnor to make that day one to remember! We're also going out to this restaurant called LAW. Yum, can't wait for that fine Texas cuisine! And, I found out Blink 182 will be here at the end of July, so I'm getting her tickets cuz that's her favorite band! WOOT WOOT! #EarningBrowniePoints Our lease is up at the beginning of July so we'll be doing some apartment/house shopping this month *BONUS GOAL* We have two gun ranges close to us and I want to visit each one at least once this challenge. Both are gun clubs as well, so depending on which one we like better, Heather and I can become members! I want to shoot an M1A if available and then mess around with any AR/AK platform they got. The Colt 6920 AR is another semi-auto rifle platform I'm looking to buy. And that pretty much sums things up, so let's get this party started! SIGNUP SHEET Wolf

Hi All! It's time for Round 2 of our PVP using the daily dares over at darebee. Every day, they post a bodyweight exercise challenge that usually only takes a couple of minutes to complete. This is an open PVP, so anyone can join. It's a great way to try out a bunch of different bodyweight exercises! If you decide to join, declare what rank you're aiming for and sign up on this spreadsheet. Then, just keep track of how many dares you complete throughout the challenge. You'll get 1 point per dare and 1 point for each extra credit challenge. You must complete each dare on the day that it's posted for it to count - no going back to make it up if you forget! Because this is meant to be a challenge with a wide variety of exercises, we will not allow easier variations of the dares. Some days you might not be able to do an exercise, and that's ok! The person with the most points at the end of the challenge will be declared the Daredevil! Geek On Fire is our current reigning Daredevil. Ranks Titanium: 60 points (30 days of dares + 30 days of extra credit) Gold: 45 points Silver: 30 points Bronze: 15 points YOLO: A custom goal of your choice. Just make sure to state your specific target in the spreadsheet. We're starting the PVP in Week 0, but you should be able to achieve any of these ranks even if you don't join us until Week 1.

Hi All! Let's do a PVP using the daily dares over at darebee. Every day, they post a bodyweight exercise challenge that usually only takes a couple of minutes to complete. This is an open PVP, so anyone can join. This is a great way to try out a bunch of different bodyweight exercises! If you decide to join, declare what rank you're aiming for and sign up on this spreadsheet. Then, just keep track of how many dares you complete throughout the challenge. You'll get 1 point per dare and 1 point for each extra credit challenge. You must complete each dare on the day that it's posted for it to count - no going back to make it up if you forget! Edit: Because this is meant to be a challenge with a wide variety of exercises, we will not allow easier variations of the dares. The person with the most points at the end of the challenge will be declared the Daredevil (or another glorious title of their choice)! Ranks Titanium: 60 points (30 days of dares + 30 days of extra credit) Gold: 45 points Silver: 30 points Bronze: 15 points I'm starting this in the middle of Week 0, so there are a few days of wiggle room to get ahead.