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So for the next 2 weeks(9/11 - 9/25) I will be leaving sunny wonderful Florida to spend time at my cabins in Wisconsin. Highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. It is going to be quite the change. Goals for the challenge Workout of some sort daily 10k steps daily Eat whole foods(mostly paleo with limited dairy and maybe one whole grain serving daily). Two travel days are cheatish days(morning food and some beer). Also some freeze dried camping food reviews for content. I may choose to have whiskey once while up at the cabins but other than that strict. Daily hobby 50XP of Duolingo daily Read 10ish pages Post a picture of dinner Examples of WODs Ruck Run Circuit training Weight lifting Hobbies Minis Content creation(youtube videos and launch channel) Fishing Model rockets Building things(fish tank stand) Board games Currently also running a PvP warm up for Rucktober. I need to market Rucktober and get some sign ups. The PvP for the warm up is here if anyone is interested.

Topic Title: Snickie Builds a Solids Foundation Topics: Challenge requirements (Major and Minor Goals), Reward System, Commentary Spreadsheet CHALLENGE REQUIREMENTS Major Practice clarinet. Average 40 minutes a day every other day. Concentration on Cavallini Caprice 1 and Hommage a J. S. Bach by Bela Kovacs Scales to rebuild my finger prowess Clarinet in boat pose is always encouraged Follow a set study schedule for Solid Mechanics. For each chapter, in the following order: Jeff Hanson videos Pearson homework and book example problems Lecture videos Practice problems Get solid, using the 22-minute math alarm timer UTR Leg Day Bulgarian split squats with back foot on a footstool. Start 30. Goblet squats with 10 lb dumbbell. Start 30. MWF Triple P Day Pull: inverted rows on my dad's walker, straight legs. Math 1-6 Start 25 Push: diamond pushups on bathroom counter Math 7-12 Start 30 Planks: front and side, bonus for boat Math 13-18 Start 60 S Rest Day Brush my teeth every night sometime after dinner Minor Read my Bible Or otherwise do the homework for the Bible study sessions Finish Dune Start Dune Messiah Write for Flash Fiction Month (July only) Do some crochet (on an existing project only OR start and finish a project in one session) Do literally anything outside Other Eat three meals a day. Do meal planning (minimum 4 dinners and 2 lunches) so I know what to cook and how much to buy. Week 5 of the challenge, I will record myself (video and audio) playing Hommage a J.S. Bach and forward to my guy-I'm-dating-and-has-video-making-experience to edit into a parody Twosetviolin esque video full of memes. General adulting stuff. REWARD SYSTEM Daily Rewards: ~30 minutes of Animal Crossing in the morning For daily town maintenance only - digging up fossils/gyroids, watering flowers, hitting money rock, shaking fruit trees, accounting for visitors, visiting already-awake villagers For brushing and flossing my teeth the night before Animal Crossing in the afternoon/evening Everything I didn't do in the morning For clarinet daily minutes average over 20 For having practiced that day For being on schedule with Solid Mechanics coursework For making progress on at least two of the minor goals There will be no time travel. Midterm Reward Advance my campaign on Heroes of Might & Magic 3 For following the study schedule and earning an A on the next Solid Mechanics test, to be redeemed on the Friday immediately following. Test 3 falls during week zero of the next challenge cycle. This will apply to that as well. The order on the spreadsheet corresponds to how I would like to have my daily schedule set up using these element. Of course, the likelihood of me actually following it is pretty low, but it's a model. COMMENTARY I got a 76% on the first Solid Mechanics test and was literally told by my dad that that was below expectations, which in his mind is equivalent to unacceptable, like I didn't already know that. I'm not Asian and my work ethic definitely isn't (stereotypically) but my academic expectations are. The average was a 44%. The high was 92% and the low was 8%. I happen to know the professor will drop the lowest test grade and may also apply a generous curve. That said, I need this 76 to be the test that is dropped. I can't afford to not have straight A's anymore, and not because of what my dad said. The better I do in classes, the more money people will throw at me to help me finish the degree. Leg Day might get moved from Sunday to Saturday now that I'm working Saturdays again. Saturdays are slow so as long as patients don't bring their families I can do all the squats I want and just use stacks of charts instead of a dumbbell lol.

Hello! After over a year away from the forums, I'm back for my third challenge. I never should have left. I thought I would be able to sustain a consistent workout plan outside of here, but what I realized is that I work well with goals and structure. NF challenge = structure = good. I was able to find structure in some other health-related ways while I was gone - I completed a Whole30, which lead to the realization that dairy does not agree with me (after a lifelong love affair with cheese . That said, I feel so much better after cutting it out so it's worth it). I did the Couch to 5K program and ran a 5K without stopping for the first time ever on Thanksgiving (major goal for me). After C25K, I felt a bit lost. I need structure again! So here I am. Ultimately I need to create ingrained enough health (working out especially) habits that the structure is less necessary, but until then, here are my challenge goals: 1) Workout 3x/week I will run a 5K once a week and do strength training workouts (probably either NFA bodyweight 3 workouts or the BBWW) 2x/week. I want to maintain the cardiovascular fitness I gained from the C25K program, but I also want to make room for increasing strength. I'm hoping to get my 5K time under 30 min by the end of the challenge, but I'm not sure how much progress I can expect to make with a once/week run. Might change that time goal if I decide to start doing longer runs instead. 2) Stop. Snoozing. The. Alarm. Despite getting PLENTY of sleep, I'm still really bad at getting out of bed in the morning. I'll snooze incessantly, feeling less awake each time. I'm convinced that it is psychological. I struggle with snoozing no matter how much sleep I get, but if I have a legitimately important reason to be up early, I suddenly don't have trouble getting up. Part of it is subconscious calculation of how much time I need to minimally get my day started at a reasonable time (aka, if I sleep another 20 min, will I still have time to scarf down breakfast? yes? good, now go back to sleep.) So, I think I need to be mindful about setting my alarms for the time I really want to wake up. I also need a more aggressive strategy especially for starting out. I think I will start with putting my phone, which I use as my alarm, out of reach of my bed. Does anyone have a good strategy for dealing with this issue? 3) Read (a book) every day I go through phases of reading a lot and then phases of not reading at all, aside from what I read for work or on the internet (which don't count here). I am happier when I read more, and there are a lot of books on my reading list so I need to get cracking. My boyfriend and I are doing a little long-distance book club where we read the same book between visits, so I'm going to finish reading Invisible Man by February 10. I'm going to put these goals into Habitica as well to keep me accountable on a daily basis. Good luck everyone!

Hello all! It's been quite some time since I was last part of the scouts or the NF community. You may remember me from my previous account, username "Sora". I made a post HERE yesterday detailing my absence and change of account. Regardless, I'm back, and that's what's important! Part of the reason I'm starting this challenge a few days late is my account troubles, but I figure better late than never. So Let's Go! This Summer, I'm completing an internship in Japan, near Kyoto. Some of you may remember my challenges from the past that led up to my first trip to Japan, and I'm really happy to be back in this amazing place. However, I have found that I haven't been living a very productive life while I have been here. It's been almost a month, and I'm sick of being unproductive and wasting this amazing opportunity to improve myself. So, for this challenge, I have decided to channel Saitama from One Punch Man and work towards a better me through aggressive repetition. Goal 1: Workout! Rather than taking Saitama's workout directly (100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats, and 10 k of running everyday for three years), I'll be adapting it so fit my my current fitness level and timetable: Run 5 days a week, and incorporate body weight exercises... week 1: 2 days / week 2: 3 days / week 3: 4 days / week 4: 5 days The idea is to get back into running consistently again, while adding in some other moves to make myself more well rounded. I'm hoping to try out some types of fitness in the next year, so the body weight work (primarily push ups, squats, and sit ups) should help me gain some strength outside of distance running and improve my overall fitness level. There is also a good chance that I'll be climbing Mr. Fuji in July during my trip to Tokyo, so I'll need all the strength I can get! Goal 2: Cook! Cook 1 meal a day at least six days a week. At least one recipe must be new each week. This is my first time living and cooking 100% on my own for an extended period of time, and I've been wasting a lot of money the last few weeks eating out. The food here is AMAZING, but I need to start eating a little healthier and economically. My Goal here is to expand my cooking ability through consistently cooking and trying new recipes. One of my ideas for the next four week challenge is to work towards a paleo diet, but I think the first step towards this goal should be simply cooking in general. Goal 3: Hydrate! Drink 100 Ounces of Water a day, and limit soft drinks to once a day. At home in Michigan, I'm usually much better about staying hydrated. However, since my lifestyle changed significantly when I moved here, I have found myself drinking less. It's also much hotter and humid here than I am used to (yay rainy season!), so it's even more important that I am intentional about my hydration. I also need to try to avoid the many options that the plethora of vending machines here have to offer (Japan has the highest ratio of vending machines to landmass of any nation worldwide). I have downloaded the "iHydrate" app to track my progress. Life Goal: Daily Routine Complete at least three of the following each day, and complete all of them at least: Week 1: 1 time Week 2: 2 times Week 3: 3 times Week 4: 4 times Tasks: Read (20 minutes), Vlog (Film one video OR Edit one video), Study Japanese ( 1.5 hours), Clean (including laundry, dishes, etc. Basically anything in my apartment), Adventure (go somewhere I have never been before), Draw (1 completed sketch of 30 minutes working on full drawing) I have a lot of things I want to accomplish while I'm here, and the only way I'm going to be able to do that is by consistently practicing all of them. I've been doing fine doing them individually, but the problem for me has been giving attention to all of these things at once and finding the proper balance. So, through this goal, I'm hoping to slowly add more on to my plate and adjust to the balance gradually. IN SUMMARY: I'm hoping to slowly add more onto my plate as the challenge progresses. Through repeating everything consistently, I'm hoping to become a hero like Saitama! I'm super excited to be back among the NF community, especially the scouts. I'd love to talk more with you all, and I hope we can all reach our goals together! Let's go!

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a solid challenge theme, but not having much luck. I even considered just sitting this one out while continuing to work on my overall goal of building strength. However, I find I am more consistent when I have a challenge thread. So here's my five minute write-up: Goal 1 - 4 workouts per week - 2 upper body, 1 lower body, and 1 sandbag-focused Goal 2 - Practice bodyweight skills every day (pistols, handstands, one-arm push-ups) Goal 3 - Play music for 5 minutes a day, either banjo or upright bass Goal 4 - No phone/screen time after 10 PM, except for Kindle Goal 5 - Finish reading 3 books

Let's do it. I have been trying to get in better shape for a while. I used to be more active but a lot of people say that. It is hard sometimes to remember where I used to be in many aspects of my life. I want to be more reliable physically, increase my endurance and strength and become more capable physically and mentally. There are so many resources out there and I want to use them efficiently and NF is one of those communities I want to be an active part of. i'm going to try to keep up the theme of 'official /technical reporting' in my challenges, mostly as a creative exercise. First Challenge [02/29/16 - 03/25/16] Code Name: "Nemean Lion" Main Quest: Increase physical activity and improve fuel source utilization S.M.A.R.T Quests: i) Reduce soda and sugary beverage intake to x ≤ 12 fl. oz. in one day ii) Ensure fruit intake to x > 1 cup in one day and vegetable intake to x > 1 cup in one day iii) Complete x ≥ 20 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise (RUNNING/JOGGING) 3 times per week. Life Quest: Read x ≥ 60 minutes in one day. Reward: Submit order request: One [1] book "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six." Motivation: "it does not matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop" :HoosierNerd

Hello again! I took the last challenge off. It was a combination of starting off out of town, the holidays, and being lazy. At the beginning, I thought I could make it without this amazing guild. Turns out I was dead wrong. I didn't do anything. I went on a couple of runs over 6 weeks. That's it. No gym. No at-home workouts. Nothing. Although I did eat better than I would have before I started here. Not healthy per se, I just ate less of the garbage available at every turn over the holidays. So now I'm back. Back to kick some butt. Or at least try. Because the last 6 weeks taught me that even if I don't achieve a single goal during a challenge, I'm going to get a lot closer than if I don't set them at all. Goal One: Dine out once per week 3 CON -This means going to a restaurant of some kind and spending money on food. After Christmas I need to watch my budget, and this way I can kill two birds with one stone. -EXCEPTION: I'm going to be travelling the week of the 20th, and who wants to dine in when work is paying for it? So for that week, I'm going to focus on healthier options and portions. -EXCEPTION 2: I may dine out twice during weeks 1 & 6. This is due to my monthly fancy dinner party falling during those weeks. But I'm only allowed to claim this exception if the second meal is a date (which I at least hope to have week 6, which has Valentine's Day in it). Goal Two: Eliminate pop 5 CON -Weeks 1 & 2: 3 allowed -Weeks 3 & 4: 2 allowed -Week 5: 1 allowed -Week 6: None allowed -If consumed during a meal out (per goal one) it counts double. I need to break any remaining link of drinking pop while out to eat. Goal Three: Exercise 3 STR 2 STA -Three times per week -Any kind of vigorous exercise: gym, running, whatever. -At least 15 minutes -(I would have made it running at least twice per week, but it's -26C outside right now, and I hate treadmills. So while it's ungodly cold, I'll stick to something else) Side Goal: Read more 2 WIS -This isn't really a goal, just a reminder that I should read more. There's about a thousand books I want to read, and they won't read themselves. Bonus points if I finish all of the following books (which are the next books I'm going to read): 1) Dune Messiah (I just started it. I finished Dune about a month ago and finally remembered to borrow a copy of this.) 2) The Three Musketeers (An abridged version will be acceptable, though I'm typically against them.) 3) Mother Night (The Vonnegut novel I'm planning to read.) 4) Catcher in the Rye (I've been meaning to read this since high school. It's probably time I got around to it.) 5) Reaper Man (The next Discworld novel) 6) Something by Dickens (I haven't picked up Dickens since trying to read A Tale of Two Cities in 7th grade and getting about 2 pages into it before calling it quits. I figure it's time to give him another try.) I will also focus on only eating when I'm hungry. I've been doing that during the first week of the year and been successful. Admittedly, I've had the flu the whole time, so I didn't really feel like getting up to get food if I wasn't actually hungry. Continually updated stats: Food: 2/2 | 0/1 | ?/? | 2/1 | 2/1 | 0/2 | 6/7 Soda: 2/3 | 2/3 | ?/2 | 5/2 | 2/1 | 1/0 | 12/9 Work: 1/3 | 1/3 | 0/3 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 5/18 Read: 0/1 | 0/1 | 2/1 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 2/6

Main Quest: Complete the Tough Mudder on October 20th, 2013 Goals: - Complete the Tough Mudder Boot Camp 3 days/week A. Complete full boot camp 3 days/week every week. B. Complete full boot camp 3 days/week every week with a few exceptions C. Complete full boot camp 2 days/week every week D. Complete full boot camp 2 days/week every week with a few exceptions F. Complete full boot camp 1 day/week or less - Additonal Cardio 2 days/week A. Additional 90 minutes/week B. Additonal 70 minues/week C. Additional 60 minutes/week D. Additional 45 minutes/week F. Less than an additional 45 minutes/week - Get 7-8 hours of sleep every night A. Get 7-8 hours of sleep every night B. Get 7-8 hours of sleep 5 out of 7 nights/week. C. Get at least 6-7 hours of sleep every night. D. Get at least 6-7 hour 5 out of 7 nights/week. F. Get less than 6 hours of sleep/night. Life Quest: Watch no more than 2 hours of TV per day, and read at least 1 book every 2 weeks. Motivation: To feel strong and healthy again. Stats: - Height: 5'7" - Weight: approx 148lbs - Body Fat %: about 23% (guess based on pictures)