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Greetings Rebels. As detailed here, I have finally got my act together in order to fix my health and fitness for the rest of time and keep up with my fast growing dragon-lings. I have three goals: To achieve the Simple Standard of Pavel's Simple & Sinister Kettlebell Program (32KG 1h-swings and TGU). To complete my first obstacle course next April (8 months from now): Rough Runner 10KM. To get my waist back down to it's original size (5 very stubborn inches to go). The plan: Complete S&S routine minimum of 5x per week. Work on pull-up progressions post-S&S when feeling fresh enough. Build up to 5KM running distance: Month 1-2: Warm up jogging pre-S&S 3x per week to test dodgy knee. Month 3+: C25K or similar 3x per week. Continue with current cleanish diet and keep protein levels up. For both S&S and the runs I will be using a heart-rate monitor to make sure I don't push myself too hard (which I do often), and will try the Maffetone system to ensure good recovery and aerobic conditioning. My character sheet with some goals broken down is here, and I will be entering the next Challenge. Best of luck to everyone else! Cheers :-)

Hello, long time lurker here. I could write an essay on everything I've done and not done for health and fitness up to this point but this will be the time when I get it right and stick to a plan - no more flip-flopping. Goal wise in my head I may see myself becoming a Peak Human, but in reality I will settle for a functional strength that will allow me to handle any situation that comes along and keeps me healthy enough to keep up with my growing kids. My weight isn't too bad now - I've got 5 stubborn inches around my waist that I haven't been able to shift in years, but I've managed to clean up my diet pretty well and I've been steadily losing 0.5-1lb a week over the last month; comfortable, sustainable baby steps. It's my strength and conditioning that remain a problem. I am very weak, have no stamina, and I've struggled to find a program that I can get on with and that fits with my (extremely) busy life. I was recently working on Starting Strength - I have good form with the lifts and even though I'm on slightly restricted calories was hoping to exploit "noob gains". That didn't work. I stalled pretty easily at below-novice loads and found once again that the gym environment just doesn't work for me. Then on this forum I saw a mention of Pavel's "Simple & Sinister". A kettlebell program that can be done at home, is scalable and works around hectic schedules. After a tonne of research and reading the book twice I feel positive about it and I've just bought some kettlebells (8KG for my wife who will be joining me, 12KG for my getups and 16KG for my swings). Whilst this should improve my general conditioning, mobility and strength I'm aware it won't necessarily work miracles by itself, so onto my question for you, fellow rebels: I have signed up for a 10KM Rough Runner (obstacle course) next April and I want to be in the best shape I can be by then. Aside from running, do you think this routine will be enough to get me there or will I need to do more as I go? If I had the time I would concentrate on achieving Program Minimum (32KG one-arm swings and getups) before introducing other exercises but that could easily take me the whole 8 months to the event. I will focus on it exclusively for the first month or two but feel I need to add more before then; specifically some pushing and pulling strength (I'd love to be able to do a pull-up again). Any suggestions here? Running in itself will be a big hurdle. The last time I did any serious running I did a number on my knee which even after surgery and a year of physio was never completely pain free until recently (squats ftw). Based on last year's course the longest stretch between any two obstacles will be about 3.5KM, so while I may need some endurance I won't need to be in form for a continuous 10KM. I will be starting some gentle training on a nearby field 2x a week for a few months to test my knee out, and I'll be getting a gait analysis done this week to see if I have any foot issues. Do you think this plan will work? Did anyone try S&S from a similar state of unfitness and get good results? Thanks in advance!