Search the Community

So I !@#$%^&* up pretty hard last night. I got embroiled in a personal conflict between two people I care about so much that I barely did anything responsible. I did my own workout, but I let someone I promised to hold accountable eat garbage fast food and drink soda with the excuse that "it's late and it's cheap and simple." I didn't cook dinner or prepare food for lunch today, so I have to waste money buying lunch out here. I have failed myself and I have failed the people who depend on me. I need to get back in the game and lock in, and do things right today.

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

EMS 5.0. MAINTAIN AND IMPROVE. MAIN QUEST: DROP MORE FAT. KEEP MUSCLE. Hey sexy fit nerd peeps! If you caught any of my last challenge, you may already notice some similarities in this thread. That's because last challenge was awesome for me; despite being away on various holidays for half the time, my body fat dropped by 3.1% while keeping and building more muscle (+1.7%). This was due to a combination of maintaining my current fitness programme and following the Paleo inspired meal plan my PT put together for me. NF and my PT, as well as the changes in my own body, have really shown me the power of body composition over body weight. I'm currently at 26.6% body fat and would like to get down to 20%, but only as long as my athletic performance doesn't suffer as a result. I don't know how my body will be at 20%, so rather than have that as a goal number, I just want to keep dropping it bit by bit and track how my body feels and performs. I don't seem to have any difficulty putting on and maintaining muscle (sorry boys!) but I'm going to track this as well as my weight to make sure the right stuff is being lost. Get your butt on that ergo. Now. You have half an hour before bed time. Go. You guys remember Ryan right? Well he is back for another challenge, to be a (sometimes stern) motivator and thread theme #1. Hey girl, keep following the food plan. This is a simple goal - follow the plan my PT designed. It's worked for me so far, and I'm interested to see how a longer period of clean eating will affect my body. I have sadly been banned from stir frying at home due to cooking smells so am going to have to have oven cooked proteins and steamed veggies instead, but I can deal with that (plus, I have no choice). I will do what I did last challenge and log all my food on here so there's no where to hide. I'm also going to do another star chart as that was a great visual aid last time. 42 days in the challenge... A = 42-38, B = 37 - 33, C = 32-28, D = 27-24, F = 20 or fewer. 5 CON #2. Hey girl, put the hours in... in the bedroom. (Bed by 11pm.) Sleep! I have now started working full time as a dance teacher, which is awesome, but it doesn't half kick my butt. In order to be able to do my best at work, get to the gym, follow the food plan, keep up with my own dance class schedule and work on my rowing I need some serious shut eye. I've joined an accountability group for this, and my goal is to be physically in my bed by 11pm every work night (Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs). I always read before bed, so even if I'm in bed by 11:30pm, I won't be going to actual sleep until at least 12am. This will not do! So I have to be actually in my bed, ready to read by 11pm, so I'm on my way to unconsciousness by 11:30pm. REM cycles FTW! 30 work nights in the challenge, so A = 30-26, B = 25-21, C = 20-16, F = 12 or fewer. 4 WIS 1 CHA I'm teaching 20 classes a week, plus I have a regular schedule of dance classes for my own development as well as PT sessions and the Learn to Row course (which I love!) at the moment. All these are things I love and require little to no motivation at all to do, so the fitness side of my main quest is solid. This brings me to my side quest... Thanks Ry, but they could be better... SIDE QUEST: CUT DOWN THE 2K Hey girl, 8:13? We can do better than that. As some of you may know, over the last few months I have fallen in love with rowing. It all started on the ergo (the rowing machine) and now has progressed onto actual boats on the water. I've been doing a Learn to Row course over the past few weeks and I absolutely adore it. As well as on water rowing the venue also do a lot of indoor rowing, and run a competition every year in December. Now I've never done a competition before, and to be honest I still haven't made up my mind whether I want to do this or not, but competition or no competition, it has got me thinking about my 2k time. I talked to my coach, and he said a good goal for me would be to try to get sub 8:00 for a 2k. Now this is no mean feat, 14 seconds off is no joke. Rather than go insane and try for this, all I want is to shave a few seconds off, baby steps, through a structured programme of varying distances and intervals, based on this plan. My schedule and physical activity is already very high, so I'm just going to start with completing 6 rowing sessions during the challenge. No weekly target. A = 6, B = 5, C = 4, D = 3, F = 2 or fewer. 3 STA 2 DEX MOTIVATION Simple. To maintain and improve. To go forwards, not back. I've been thinking about my future a lot lately, and I know that I want health and fitness to be a part of that, not just in my personal life but also in my career. To give myself the best shot, and the largest number of options, I need to be in damn good shape. I'm thinking of myself as an athlete and acting accordingly. Eat, sleep, train, repeat. There it is folks, here's to a cracking six weeks with you wonderful people! Emily x