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Summary for the quick reader: Likes: pull / push / bend Tools: body weight, parallettes, aerial silks, ball Epic quest: complete GMB Parallettes 2 (P2) Nothing fancy but an international move in progress (happening in March), hence the puzzle title because there will be a lot of problem solving going on in the background. Not really a full-blown theme here, but I needed at least a title! Goal 1 will focus on keeping my routine, I'll need it. Goal 2 is work-related prep. Goal 3 will be a proper puzzle goal, mostly for fun & play - I like puzzles on my spare time as well Goals (1) Practice The usual, running my epic push quest + pull activities, and various supporting drills: P2 3x/week and HS 3x/week (deload: 5 mini workouts) Stretching (hips, back bends) – 2x/week Hanging raises – 6x/week Cirque Physio – 18 drills /week (deload: 12 drills /week) Legs (traditional leg stuff) – 4 drills /week Ball flex (ball held on a flexed foot work) – 4 drills /week Aerial (alignment, conditioning) – 3x/week This week, I'm finishing P2 Phase 3 Cycle 1, next week (from Sat) will be DELOAD, the proper way to start a NY challenge P2 is hard these days. There are only 4 phases, but the final phase feels very very far away from my current abilities. Honestly it might take me ages to complete, I don't even dare to think of a timeline. I started end of last April (OMG 8 months already) and I have a big training log that no longer fits here (here is a YouTube playlist log instead). A good summary so far could be that I came to P2 to get myself a solid bent arm stand, I still don't have it but I made a lot of progress on handstands (you can't pick your shinies, they pick you, it seems). (2) Work prep A - Java tech tests: 5x/week B - Design patterns / project methodology / tech review / whatever work-related skill that fits in 30-60mn: 1x/week C - Job market review: every week, find out in details about one company in the area where we will be moving (technologies, domain, size, business model, salary scale etc.). I've already started doing that informally but I need to take notes somewhere. (3) Puzzle No zombie routine this time but a more puzzle-oriented activity. I want to create a silks flow that uses my little home rig my parallettes my ball I have to find one move involving each item and put those moves together. Ball constraints: holding it is not enough, I have to work out a move with either a throw or a roll (bonus point for both). That's pretty hard to do while in the air and training it is also painful (unless I can find a minion to give me the ball each time it falls...) so for this exercise, it does not need to be a mind blowing throw/roll, a little bit of it will do. On the other hand, I don't need to have the ball with me during the whole flow. It's up to me if I want to grab it from somewhere and put it back, or pinch it in the silks etc.. Each week I will have one session on this puzzle. Have a good challenge every one!

I'm going to keep this challenge really simple, since I have no idea what condition my skin will be in. My treatments also largely make me want to: 1. Do something stretchy every day. I especially need to stretch my left shoulder, pec, and armpit areas, so I don't lose ROM during treatment. 2. Do something strengthy every day. It doesn't have to be much. Just something. 3. Play with my basement silks every day. Even if it's just for a minute. I got rosin, so I can finally grip them really well. 4. Do something nerdy every day. Reading, python coding, working on Linux. All are fine. 5. Do some cleaning every day. My house is a disaster, and even if it's just 10 minutes of picking a few things up, I need to do something. 6. If possible, try to avoid taking a nap. The fatigue is worse when I give in, and it's more manageable when I stay active. That's it. Most days, my "somethings" will end up being a token effort. And that's okay. I can push myself a bit more when I'm finished with all of this cancer bullshit.

Summary for the quick reader: Likes: pull / push / bend Tools: body weight, parallettes, aerial silks, ball Main focus: GMB Parallettes 2 Moving on with P2! I completed GMB Parallettes 2 prep phase last challenge. I will now start Phase 1. It is supposed to be 5 weeks followed by a deload week. I'm pretty sure 5 weeks without a deload will be too hard for me (intensity level + I do other workouts). As suggested by the programme, I will tweak it a little bit and run Phase 1 for longer but I will deload every 3 weeks. It is a conditioning phase, it won't hurt to make it a tad bit longer. Otherwise same ol' goals, including aerial training and stretching – I revamped the whole thing with a BSG twist (including my own cheesy poster! ). Checking in for consistency, support (great community!) and hopefully some progress along the way! Welcome to With a slight Sin City overtone In order of appearance from top to bottom: 1- G-Force training system 2-The Eye of Pythia, ok I made it up, I don't have the Arrow of Apollo, but the red ball is looking mystical enough 3- Nugget in training 4- Cylon Toasters – Models 1 & 2 Nugget training will include: ~ TOASTER BATTLES ~ Parallettes Battlefield: P2 phase 1 consists of 3 sessions a week based on 2 alternating workouts except deload week which focuses on 2 exercises at medium intensity for 5 days. Skirmish: Crow PvP and/or open practice (at my own pace because P2 is intensive enough). ~ G-FORCE TRAINING ~ Aerial Pull conditioning and skills/flow practice on silks: Reporting to the CAG: Conditioning – 1x/week or more, I need to cover a bunch of drills during the week, I can spread them out if needed depending on fatigue/schedule. Party on the deck: skills & flow practice – 2x/week ~ PRACTICAL STUDY OF THE SACRED SCROLLS ~ “And the people of Kobol had a choice: keep up with alignment work and stretch themselves - or take the high road through the rocky ridge…” Upside Down Alignment HS alignment drills (hollow, scapular pushes, belly to wall) – 1x/week Aerial invert alignment drills (rotations / shelf / tuck / straddle) – 2x/week Stretching General stretching session with a focus on hips and shoulders - 1x/week GMB spinal flexibility and deeper back-bends - 1x/week Hall of shame: if I don't stretch after a strength workout “And unto the leader they gave a vision of basil seedlings numbering two and ten, as a sign of things to come.” The secrets of life: Basil My basil seedlings are currently recovering on a botanical cruiser. Hope is having me using the plural but I can see only one survivor seedling from last challenge... I will provide light and water resources, and guard them against the cat, which I suspect to be a Cylon agent The goal is to, well, keep the basil alive! And eat some of it eventually. SO SAY WE ALL! I'm currently in the post prep phase deload week, I will start on Saturday. Have a good challenge everyone!

Wait! A new board! How exciting! Am I late!? I'm coming, I'm coming!!! Summary for the quick reader: Likes: pull / push / bend Tools: body weight, parallettes, aerial silks, ball Focus: handstand, bent arm press, straight leg pulls, shoulders, hips, back bend Other keywords: GMB Parallettes 2, basil Yes I want to have a first go at GMB Parallettes 2! I completed Parallettes 1 last year and it was very enjoyable. After a few months playing on my own, I think it's time to follow a master plan again. There is a 1-month prep phase in the programme that I will follow during this challenge. The whole programme is flexible enough to be performed at different levels (e.g. you don't need to have a full planche to run it) but there are still a few prerequisites for it to be actually useful. I may have to iterate through phases a few times with some breaks in the middle. But this challenge will be my P2 starting point! There are 3 big items I want to focus on: > my bent arm press form: I need to start getting my arms into a 90 degree angle basically, it is very important for the skills coming up next in Parallettes 2. The prep phase will be great to focus on that and hopefully improve a little bit. > my handstand: I need to start getting 5s consistently. Again, it's a prerequisite for Parallettes 2 core phases. No HS, no P2 brownie. > straight legs in my aerial/pull work – this is not P2-specific but rather a forever todo list item... Beyond that, I will keep the usual, a fair amount of stretching, and an open space for push/pull skills, to relax a bit and just in case I want to do something a little outside the box. I have rigged my shorter black silks in a sling for a bit of change. Nothing really new in my goals, apart from a little and very limited sort of gardening thingy. I will start this Saturday! Still very busy with theatre, 11/30 nights so far! And I'm having a wee deload week right now. Primary Goal - Set square: Bent arm press 90 degree angle | Straight arms | Straight legs ~ Beautiful curves come from a straight line ~ A – GMB parallettes 2 prep phase (push 2x/week, and some pull-ups and stretching-the-cat sets 1x/week that will go into my B item) B – Custom aerial conditioning + ball drills for straight legs (2x/week) C – 5s+ HS consistency tracking: I will practice free HS 4x/week (including my workout sets + 1 extra session). I am limited to 25 attempts per practice (5 sets of 5). The underlying purpose is to stop just throwing my legs in the air and expect some magic to happen – or going into wild bunny mode, tiring myself for nothing. Each attempt needs to be prepared and meaningful. I haven't done this sort of tracking before so I'm not sure what my baseline is, something like one 5s+ HS every 20-25 attempts maybe, so 4-5 per week? I will check it out during the first week and try to improve. NB: I'm not sure I will use this tracking for ever because it's rather rigid and might be even unhelpful at some point. But for a month, I want to make each attempt count - no more no less. Contrarian goal 1: Preztel! A - General stretching session with a focus on HIPS and still some shoulders – 1x/week B - Customised GMB spinal flexibility and back bends – 1x/week C - Hall of shame entry if I do not stretch adequately after a strength session Contrarian goal 2: Freedooooom! An open practice space focusing on movement quality / good form and flow rather than reps A – On parallettes (a lighter push 1x/week and/or PvP every so often) B – On aerial apparatus (short sling improvisation 2x/week + sequencing/skills 1x/week) Life goal – Basil There is a variety of basil here but it tastes a bit different, not bad but different. I got some seeds for the type of basil I really like, let's see if I can manage to get something out of it. Apparently basil is easy to grow but erm... I will check my basil once a day. So far I planted the seeds, and bad luck, we are in a very rainy and cold week... Usually the sun light is crazy, but this week nada! I hope the seeds make it through

Winter in Alamut was, well, quite heavy! Time to focus on rounding things up and trying to make the heavy stuff feel a bit lighter – if such a thing is possible. Right now, I feel like gravity's little servant. The usual suspects are still around: silks, parallettes, red ball...(and the cat of course) And nothing very new with my goals, this is turning into a sort of battle log. I have reduced the list slightly because my schedule is quite hectic these days and my attention span has gone a bit out of the window. I'm hoping to regain some focus with fewer items Goal 1 Get a massage Stolen from Raptron. Come on, pick up the phone, get an appointment, can't be that hard Goal 2 Stretch – 2x/week + post-workout - General stretching with a shoulder focus - Customised GMB spinal flexibility routines (front and back bends) - Stretch after every practice, I have become fairly consistent with this but every so often, I bum it a little (mindless quick and dirty sort of stretching). If I don't stretch properly, I shall record it here on the wall of shame because this is really important. Goal 3 Parallettes and silks practice – 3 to 4x/week I made a new plan. I should be back to 1h max training in the mornings, and during the week-end, I can choose between a split push/pull, or a big push/pull and rest. I will see how this works out. Dimensions: Strength: rep work and conditioning, similar to last challenge with a new focus on straddle hold progression (aka hump your elbows). Skills: on parallettes, start working on elbow lever to straddle hold (stolen from the parallettes' PvP), and bent arm press to L-sit. On silks: polish the little sequence I worked out for my apparatus in the last challenge, working it on both left and right sides, and move reviews every so often to have some variety. Play/explore: look into this new combo parallettes + silks, play with press while holding the ball with my feet and free/open practice with silks too. I will officially start on Saturday. I'm currently still testing things.

I'm continuing with the Hogwarts theme, even though I might not be around much over this next challenge. This time, it's going to be a very simple challenge. 1. Do something to improve my pulling power or grip strength every day. 2. Do something to improve my flexibility every day. 3. Do something to improve my computer skills every day. 4. Do something to help my mental well being every day. None of these really need to be much. I just want to stay on track with doing at least a little bit. Otherwise, I'm doing parkour class on Saturdays, Silks class on Saturdays, parkour open gym on Tues (when possible), with hopefully some strength yoga every Sunday and a strength session every Thursday. I also have to tangle with spring break, my son's birthday, my husband's birthday, some computer stuff I'm doing for the parkour gym, a huge science convention (just attending, but it will clog a weekend), and a ton of kids' activities.

My circus gym's student showcase is coming up at the end of January. (1/27) Here are the various deadlines/milestones associated with the show (as per the gym owner). 12/30 Music selected/act conceptualized (done) 1/13 Costume complete (mostly done) 1/22 Tech rehearsal 1/26 Dress rehearsal 1/27 Performance day! Performance music: Super strength-based routine with some playing to the audience and a bit of braggadocio. Goals of some kind will be added as I think of them... likely do do with getting my food intake back under control after all the holiday goodies and ensuring I get enough practice so as to not look like an idiot at the end of January.

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.

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...

I have never done this before so I am attempting to kinda make this into a story kinda plot line for my own amusement. Maybe it will help me out and actually keep on top of things, My goals are going to be pretty much circus/ strength training. Goal 1: Fitness 5 training sessions/week (usually i am at the studio Monday- Thursday 1-3 classes a day) (3) Run 1x/week (3) Walk 1-3 miles a week. ( I see this as reasonable since Pokemon Go keeps me moving most of the day!) (3) Goal 2: Circus Goals Continue my Monday - Friday schedule (3) Hand stands on the wall 3 days a week (3) Get the ever elusive cross back straddle. (10) Work on Pull overs on Lyra! (5) Work on Pull overs on Trapeze! (5) Goal 3: FOOD! Eat small meals through out the day. ( I am super bad about only eating once a day...) (3) No sodas. Not even Sprite. (5) Eat a healthy meal choice other than crap food. Potato chips are not healthy.(3) Meal Plan. Its a lot easier than me last minute planning cause then i just get junk food.(3) Goal 4: Money My house is always super tight when it comes to budget. Our paychecks seem to disappear before they are even in our hand. Mine goes to gas, food, pet supplies and then I send a whole bunch on crap I don't ever use. My goal as far as money is going to be making our budget stretch farther and save $20 every check. I get the feeling this will fail but it is worth a shot. I am super excited to give this a try. For each goal that i accomplish I will earn points(jewel shards)

There is quite a sturdy rumor that my circus gym will be re-opening some time in July. I've been in and out of a fitness-funk for the last 8 months while they've been closed/relocating so it's time to see if I can be in some kind of decent shape once I can get back to class. Lift weights My old faithful push/pull/legs split 3x/week, please! 15 workouts total Core progressions So much about being in the air is reliant on core strength. I am sure mine is not where it was 8 months ago, so lets work on that. Hollow body holds, floor tucks (no idea what to call these, really, but it's mimicking an aerial inversion on the ground) and maybe the ab wheel will be the cornerstone of this work. 2x/week 10 core sessions Stretch When I don't have class, I am terrible at this. I think I can count on one hand the times I've had any kind of stretching session since November. Sigh. Setting the bar low, here. 1x/week 5 stretch sessions Sun salutations A few challenges back, I made an effort to start each day with a few (5-ish) sun salutations. I quite liked it, really and I'd like to get back to it. With a little room for error/forgetfulness. 5x/week 25 mornings of greeting the sun No theme, no fancy formatting, no distractions. Just work.

GIANT LIST OF THINGS I like to check things off. I like spreadsheets. So, here's a giant list of things for which I can earn points this challenge. I have no idea how the points will work out, so can't make a weekly goal for # of points, but I will make a goal that each week is better than the last. So, here's the list. Now to figure out the best spreadsheet to do this. That should do for now. Spreadsheet here

"'Like an astronaut that's scared of heights With a heart that's beating at the speed of light You've been waiting for this feeling all your life Sometimes it's just hard to realize When you're stuck in a moment And your spark has been stolen This is our time to own it So own it Baby, we were born with Fire and gold in our eyes Got lightning in a bottle Hands on the throttle Even in the dust we shine..." Main Quest: Rehab, rehab, rehab. Try not to lose my mind or my fighting spirit while I rehab. Become a better aerialist while I rehab. Improve my lifts while I rehab. And be more fabulous like this lovely lady... Quest 1: you have that lean, hungry look (+2 CON, +1 WIS) I feel you, Jack, I want to eat everything in sight, too. But I really need to stop eating like an asshole. No specifics because I KNOW what eating like an asshole is and isn't, and I'll be honest. I get 4 "fuck it" days over the course of the challenge because sometimes a girl needs a 1200 calorie lunch. Therefore, considering the challenge is 26 days, 22 days of not eating like an asshole. Quest 2: running away with the circus (+3 STR) I'm never going to assist a knife-thrower or allow myself to be chained up in a water tank, but I can keep on with straddle work. Getting a bit lazy so instead of reps-per-session, I'll just require a cumulative number of straight/straight straddles. These can be done on silks or at the gym on the pull-up bar. 50 straight/straight straddles. Quest 3: finding balance (+3 DEX) Balance isn't always easy, just ask Dottie. Fortunately, compared to balancing Father O'Leary, Hugh, and Phryne, I feel like I've got an easier task. I've been playing with forearm stands in preparation for eventually doing scorpion pose, so I'll commit to 8 forearm stand practice sessions. Life Quest: unapologetically fabulous (+1 CHA) I'll never be as fab as Phryne, alas, but I'm really bad at remembering lipstick and perfume - and amusingly enough, when I actually bother with them, I immediately feel more put together and like I can take on the world. So I think I'll just have to MAKE myself take the 5 extra minutes once in awhile. I'll commit to 8 days of lipstick and perfume. Maybe it seems silly, but a girl does want to feel fab once in awhile.... and I do not wake up #flawless, unlike Miss Fisher. I'll even try to post pics because why not? Shall we? Final Check-In Quest 1: you have that lean, hungry look - A I'm one day short of the mark today, putting me at 95%. if I eat sensible today, that'll be 100%. Either way, done deal. Quest 2: running away with the circus - A+ 50 straddles done. And they're feeling super solid now! Quest 3: finding balance - A+% 8 sessions done. I've got brief hints of balance though there's still work to do. Life Quest: unapologetically fabulous - A+ Did the lipstick and perfume thing 8 times. Looked extra fabulous for all my meetings. Am a little more likely now to fuss with my appearance for work, so good things. Next - get back to doing nice things with my hair and wearing pretty dresses. Snow, go away. Overall, this format was a good one for the shorter challenges. I think I'll keep it. BYE WEEK HERE I COME THANK GOODNESS FOR YOU.

Last challenge ( http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/78224-lydiajaybird-gets-routine/) I focused on building a routine of weighing in regularly, only eating at home, and waking up on time. Did a pretty good job and lost 4.5 pounds to boot! Woohoo! (Dropped another pound as of this morning too ) Main Quest - Improve my routine and maintain it through the move to Florida For this challenge, I'm going to add to the routine some (reintroduce regular running and carb counting!) while refocusing on the trouble areas from last time (waking up on time). The big difficulty for me is going to come after March 18, which is when I'm moving to Florida! I got a job down there (YASSS!!! AT LONG LAST!!!) & am packing up everything and moving on the 18th. So here is the challenge: dont lose my routine in the chaos of moving. It's really easy to say, 'oh the kitchen is all packed up, guess I gotta order delivery', because that is a VERY valid excuse. So I need to find a way around that. Gonna have to eat on the road on the 18th, so I need to have lunch and dinner packed already so I don't stop for fast food. Gonna need to make sure to pack all my kitchen stuff by the door of the Uhaul so I can grab it immediately and be able to start cooking immediately, rather than trying to dig through boxes to find things. You get the gist. Goals 1. Get up & Go - Wake up at 6-6:30 2. Keto in the Kitchen - Eat only from-home food and keep track of carbs. 3. Routinely on the Road - Get out and run/walk three times a week. Life Quest Lose weight! 1 point extra credit/pound Measurements Height: 5'9" Weight: 184.5 lbs Waist: 31" Hips: 44" Thigh: 26.5" Grading Each goal will be graded weekly & be worth 1/3 of that week's total grade. Life Points are unlimited extra credit that can be added to my final score! My final grade will be the average of all four weeks plus my Life Goal extra credit. I need to make at least a B (80%) to pass the challenge. Get up & Go - Last time I was grading based on whether or not I got up on time, but I found that it was making my bed in the morning, reading before bed at night, and what time I went to bed that determined how well I did. So, that's what I'm going to grade on. 1 point for reading before bed, 1 point for going to bed by 10pm, and 1 point for making my bed in the morning. 3 points total. Keto in the Kitchen - 1 point for each meal made at home, 1 point for counting & reporting carbs. So 4/day possible. (Note I'm not grading on HOW MANY carbs I eat, just that I keep track of them. I've found that keeping track is more than half the battle when it comes to keto - if I'm counting, I'm generally in ketosis. I fall out of ketosis when I stop counting and get lazy.) Routinely on the Road - 1 point for getting out and either walking or running. I'm saying walking OR running for two reasons. 1) While I say that that's 3 points/week, there's 7 days in a week, so I COULD get up to 4 points extra credit by going for extra walks throughout the week. Hopefully this will encourage me to get in the routine of getting up in the morning and going outside, even if not to run. And after all, this challenge is all about routine. 2) I have gotten BAD about my runs.... It's cold and I can't stand to go run in the cold. It's miserable. Your body is hot, but your skin is cold. Your nose is running faster than you are, and it hurts to breathe. UGH. So on particularly miserable mornings, this lets me say ok, its freezing, so I'm just going to bundle up and walk instead. Compared to running, that sounds like I'm losing, but considering that otherwise I wouldn't be doing anything at all, I call that a win. Exceptions - my parents are helping move and its my mom's birthday on the 18th!!! So I don't lose home-food points for when we inevitably take her out to dinner. Also, if my parents want to take me out at any other point, I don't lose points for that either. Partly because I think its really rude to refuse when somebody wants to do something nice for you, and partly because my parents are health-nuts, so I'm not really concerned about what kind of food we'll end up eating. It'll be some nice restaurant with good, healthy options. Motivation I don't want to have to start over again after getting settled in Florida!! I want to settle into good habits that I'll keep for the years to come. Also (and this is shallow, but here goes), I want to look good in Florida! I'm starting a new job and I want to look great in my work clothes and make a good first impression with my peers. I'll be joining a new aerial studio down there and I want to feel confident walking in, not intimidated by all the gorgeous girls there. And it's Florida! It doesn't get below 50, so it's practically ALWAYS swimsuit season. My body is not swimsuit season ready, and it needs to be, haha.

Hi all! Popping in from the Druids for this challenge About a year ago I started taking Aerial Silks classes once a week. When I started, I had almost no strength... couldn't hold my bodyweight on the silks, and I certainly couldn't climb. But it was SO MUCH FUN, and my teacher was amazing, and the other people in the class were so supportive. So I kept going. In July I was finally getting to the point where I could climb. I decided one day that I was going to go all the way to the top. I made it to the top, but part of the way down I ran out of strength, panicked, and let go. I landed on my feet and severely sprained both ankles. I had to be carried to the car, from the car to the emergency room, and from the emergency room back home. Luckily nothing was broken, but I went to two months of physical therapy, and it wasn't until the last month or so that I really started to feel truly back to normal. Since my injury my attendence in class has been sporadic. I'll go for a week or two, take a week or two off, and then over the holidays I skipped about 2 months worth of classes. It's been frustrating to feel like I'm starting all over again, not to mention some fear that my body will betray me and I'll fall again. However, these are just excuses! For this challenge, I am taking inspiration from Bruce Wayne himself, and getting back up in the air. This will be a three pronged approach. Conditioning One reason my progress has been slow is because I only go to class once a week. While I'd love to go more than that, realistically it just isn't a priority for me right now. Mondays will remain my dedicated silks night, but two other nights of the week I will do some kind of conditioning of the following bits ArmsLegsCoreFlexibility Nutrition From August to December last year I lost nearly 20 pounds. With my fitness break I've been putting some weight back on. This impacts my climbing, it impacts my appearance, and it impacts my confidence. In order to fuel my workouts and continue to improve my fitness, I will stop getting Fast Food on my way home from work for the duration of this challenge (starting 3/2, since I kind of had a Quesarito on the way home today). Routine One reason that I struggle with my fitness is I'm always feeling like there isn't enough time. There actually is; I just spend most of my free time fucking around on my phone. I need to get into a routine that stops me from looking at my phone at all hours of the day as this affects my work, my fitness, and my nutrition. For the duration of this challenge, I will wake up and shower BEFORE looking at my phone. The intent is to get myself ready for work faster, so I can get to work sooner and therefore leave work earlier. Let's do this!

I'd like to get back into the challenge thing, but goals are amorphous/nearly nonexistent at the moment. This'll get filled with something at some point, probably? A silks routine to this song must be created. If my silks gym ever opens back up again. Things: Get stronger for return to the silksPull upsToes to Bar progressions Get bendier Straddle drills (on the ground for now, in the air some magical day)Backbends Have some fun HandbalancesPartner acro stuffClimbing gym Eat better MOAR proteinFEWER junky snacksMOAR water

What’s good, Rebels?! I’m back again to try to finish a six week challenge. First challenge with the Assassins! Life Update: Depression sucks. I’m sure a lot of you know that. I moved out to Los Angeles about a year ago with hopes of find a job in the film industry. After 10 months, several hundred applications, and a couple dozen interviews, I was completely burned out and feeling extremely low. I had been working in a cupcake & ice cream shop, and while it was fun in the beginning, many factors led it to become one of the most draining jobs I’ve ever had (not to mention the amount of weight I gained because I couldn’t control myself from devouring the product). A couple weeks ago, after a particularly awful interview, I had a stroke of inspiration and decided enough was enough. I quit my ice cream job, and decided to pursue some other interests. And as soon as I decided to catch my breath and stop searching for a job in the film industry, everything fell into place in the most beautiful and unexpected way. Now I have 3 jobs. It might sound crazy, but the schedules actually fit together like a flawless puzzle. I work for Tempest Freerunning Academy, an aerial arts studio, and an elementary school. The elementary school job is just something a friend was able to set up for me that works really well with my schedule (plus, I freaking love kids). Parkour and aerials are two things that I have followed for years, and have always wanted to try. But being the chunky/ clumsy lady that I am, I figured it would never be in the realm of possibility. But it turns out there were two positions that opened up right as I hit my low point, and I feel like it was God saying “I’m game if you are.†Its a chance for me to work towards becoming a person I never thought I could be. So this challenge, I’m going to learn how to fly. (or at least start to) Goals: #1. Attend at Least 1 Aerial & 1 Parkour Class a Week I get free classes at the aerial studio, and Tempest. I need to take advantage of that. It’s scary for me, because I’ve never been one for group exercise, and I’m extremely out of shape. But it will be good for me, and I’ll learn how to do things I never thought I could do. #2. Post At Least Twice a Week (/Finish the Challenge) I always fall away from Six Week Challenges. Not for lack of trying, but I let me schedule consume me sometimes. But I’ll have the time available with the new jobs to get stuff done. Another thing I should absolutely take advantage of. Besides, this community rocks and I want to be a more active member of it. #3. Prep At Least Two Meals A Week My schedule is crazy. And if I’m not careful, I’ll end up eating out every day. I can’t afford that! So hopefully I can pack myself some food and cut down on my food spending for the next month or so. #4. Don’t Step on the Scale This one is for my mental health. I get obsessive over numbers. If the scale isn’t consistently going down, I get super discouraged. I need to stop relying on it as my source of results. I just need to chill a little bit, and focus on how I feel, and how I notice my body changing. No scale for six weeks will be tough, but I think I really need it. *Bonus*: Climb the Silks/ Get in the Lyra/ Do a Pull-up My upper body strength is minimal, and it’s needed for both parkour/freerunning, and aerials. I just want to be able to move my own bodyweight. I’m not sure if I can get there in six weeks, but I’m damn sure gonna try! Let’s get to it!

What are the needed components to make something burn? Fuel Air Spark put those together and you get Fire --------------------------- Fuel Calories. Sigh. Need to rein them in. Track daily, aim for 1500/day. Air This one is somewhat self explanatory. Open gym 1x/week. During said open gym, work on floor work and flesh out routine. Get full routine planned by Aug 12. Spark Coming off vacation, self-care will be necessary in order to keep the good relaxed vibes. I'm shooting for small things 3x/week. Morning sun salutationsExtra stretching post workoutRemembering to get up and walk around from my desk at workWhatever small bits of joy I can slot into my day Fire Performance. The next showcase at my aerial studio is Aug 22 and I've said I'll perform (hence the 8/12 deadline for routine solidification) *Note I'm on vacation until Aug 1, so I'll be starting this challenge a few days late.

"'this is my fight song, take back my life song, prove I'm all right song... my power's turned on, starting right now i'll be strong, i'll play my fight song - and i don't really care if nobody else believes, 'cause i've still got a lot of fight left in me." MAIN QUEST: Keep it simple, keep it fun, and blast through all the obstacles in my path! Have you played this game? No? STOP READING THIS AND GO PLAY IT AT ONCE. It is obscure and ridiculous and completely heartbreaking when you least expect it and seriously so, so lovely. It is also a story about flipping adversity the bird and doing the impossible, breaking bad cycles, and slowing down to (literally) smell the flowers. After last challenge threw a whole lot of rocks at me, I'm ready for some resilience. I'm keeping it light and easy and fun while also (hopefully) focusing in on basic foundational things that will help me keep moving forward. I'm also playing around with quest format a bit, because I will be traveling to lovely, sunny Cancun, and frankly, I don't want to be too restrictive while on vacation. STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS, STARS! QUEST 1: Be Limber like Falsetto! - (+4 DEX) If you've seen Falsetto in battle (and if you haven't, again, I am telling you, GO PLAY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW), you know this girl has some crazy mobility. Unlike me - I've been neglecting my flexibility training.... again. It shows. Let's fix it! I will aim for a minimum of 3 days a week of stretch sessions. A session needs to be 20 consecutive minutes or more to count. Yoga does NOT count. It's all about them splits, straddles and backbends...: A: 3 sessions, B: 2 sessions, C: 1 session QUEST 2: Floral Powder - not Mineral Powder! - (+3 CON, +1 WIS) Last challenge I realized I needed to eat more. Like.... a lot more. Like an average of 1850-2100 calories per day. And I decided to get there by adding snacks to keep my energy up between meals, because I now have a teenage boy's metabolism. And this worked great! .....Except the part where I kept snacking on chocolate. And Trader Joe's cookies. And other delicious but ultimately junky things. I haven't been eating them in large quantities - clearly my weight and body comp are on point - but this is not the most efficient way to get the extra calories I need.... and I am now getting sugar cravings/crashes again because I've loosened the reins too much. WHOOPS. Junk food = mineral powder: fast and easy and temporarily satisfying BUT ULTIMATELY POISON SHEESH STARS. Good, wholesome snacks = floral powder: more time consuming, oftentimes more expensive..... and actually good for me. This quest has one major component + a caveat! The major component involves having a wholesome snack at work daily (wholesome = freggies, nuts, dried fruit even, cheese, jerky, hard-boiled eggs, etc): A: 5 days a week, B: 4 days a week, C: 3 days a week** And the second piece is a caveat - sure, I can choose the sweets as a secondary snack/after dinner sometimes if they fit my macros (full restriction isn't necessary or healthy) BUT. They need to be less available to make smart choices easier. Therefore, I am not allowed to buy junk food. PERIOD. Until I have completely consumed all that I already have. No last minute giving in to cravings when shopping. Not even sweet potato chips, stars. No, not the raspberry sorbet, either. We're going to be rational about this: Every time I purchase something junky (unless the pantry is 100% empty), I will lose a letter grade for the week. THERE IS NO LEEWAY HERE.*** **If I bring a proper snack but for whatever reason choose not to snack at all (unlikely, but hey, maybe I'll suddenly be not hungry someday), this doesn't count against me.***Exceptions can be made if shopping for a meal where I intend to have company and want to have something nice available for teatime; I'm not going to hold this against myself. QUEST 3: Capture the Moment like Beat! - (+3 CHA) Beat's always taking pictures and making memories, and honestly? I need to be more like him. I need to expand this to real life eventually, but for now, we're just talking aerial (no need to get too crazy, right???). Namely, I'm going to commit to one progress video per open gym session. It can be anything! A new trick! An old trick! A sequence! Anything at all!! I know you guys like seeing videos, and this will encourage me to try new things, too. Victories all around! A: I did the thing! THERE IS NO TRY, SO THERE IS NO B OR C. LIFE QUEST: Music is at the Heart of Everything - (+1 WIS, +1 CHA) Ah, Frederic. Even his dreams are full of music. As for me... I've been neglecting doing anything more than the bare minimum. My high C took a hike some time ago as I so rarely need it. Even my high B is questionable. Not okay! Especially considering I may not have my cozy spot in the pro choir indefinitely... and if there are indeed personnel cuts, I need to shore up my weaknesses. Thus, I will commit to 2 sessions of vocalises at the piano a week - for now - focusing mostly on my upper range. A: 2 times, B: 1 time BONUS QUEST: Enjoy the Journey - (+2 WIS) My healthy lifestyle is all well and good, but everyone needs a break sometimes. During week 4, I'll be on my long-awaited beach vacation, and frankly, I just want to enjoy myself and not worry so much about points and macros and whatever else. Here are the things I will commit to doing while I'm enjoying the beach: 60 minutes of movement per day, at least 5/7 days. Walking around ruins counts. Lifting at the resort gym counts. Dancing at the discoteca counts. WHATEVER. It's all good. No more than one dessert per meal, with two "byes" HAVE A GOOD TIME EVERY SINGLE DAY, DON'T FREAK OUT SO MUCH ABOUT BEING "PERFECT," TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES, THE END If I meet the above criteria, I will consider vacation a job well done and give myself my Wisdom points. And if I gain back some fluff, I'll deal with it in week 5. AND THAT IS IT! As always, I have my handy-dandy spreadsheet which you can view to see my progress! The points thus come out like this, assuming I mathed correctly: STR: 0 DEX: 4 STA: 0 CON: 3 WIS: 4 CHA: 4 Yup..... no strength points. Of course I'll still lift and train my inversions and so on, but this challenge isn't about that. Measurements: Neck: 12.8" Waist: 26.1" Hips: 36.1" Shoulders: 41.9" Thigh: R: 20.8" L: 19.9" Calf: R: 14.8" L: 14.5" Bicep: R: 10.6" L: 10.6" Weight: 132 lbs BF%: 19.4% Dress/pants size: 0/2

"but I've got a plan... why don't you be the artist and make me out of clay? why don't you be the writer and decide the words I say..." I have to thank Hazard for this theme. When I was flailing around, trying to think of a theme for my next challenge, I remembered a conversation that we had had some time ago and realized… I am an awkward flying girl. In fact, I am an awkward flying girl who is trying to find a new place to live… and possibly attempting to be less awkward in the process. I am literally Kiki. Minus the magic (unfortunately) and the teenage angst (fortunately). So here I am, flying unsteadily into another challenge - and if I can expand my comfort zone a bit as I work on lessening that awkwardness, so much the better. Here we go! MAIN QUEST: In short: begin the process of merging sport and art. I’ve been training in aerial for five months now, and my skills are improving, but I’m not doing my dance background credit when I’m up in the air, either. I need to start moving with intention, adding beauty to the strength I am starting to display. I picked this sport not only to be strong - I picked it because I have always loved to dance. Time to remember my roots and begin, slowly, to create. QUEST 1: fly through the wobbles - (+3 DEX, +3 STA, +2 CHA) My biggest goal this time - and the one upon which all others will build - is to begin the creation of my very first choreographed piece on fabric. I am so excited and simultaneously so nervous about this. For one thing, it’s progress-based. For another, I’m trying to kick Impostor Syndrome in the teeth as I do this. In any case, I’ve picked my song (pssssssst it’s my challenge song) and my goal will be to create and learn at minimum two minutes of choreography by the end of six weeks. If you are all very lucky, you may even get to see the results… A: two minutes complete, B: 1.5 minutes complete, C: 1 minute complete QUEST 2: persevere in adversity - (+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 WIS) Because I’ll find reasons not to do it, otherwise, I am setting myself a goal to work on one thing I really hate/suck at for at least 15 minutes in every open gym. This can include things like helicopter (ughhhh), single or double knee climbs, and anything else that I suck at. The only way to suck less is to DO IT: A: 15 minutes, B: 10 minutes, C: 5 minutes QUEST 3: up and away - (+3 STR) Straight legs on straddle-ups - my archnemesis. I try, I do, but I can’t do it yet - and I’d quite like to put them into my choreography... That said, I am in the air three days a week this challenge, so I will work on these every time I am on any apparatus, even if it’s just one or two at the beginning/end of class: A: 3 times a week, B: 2 times a week, C: 1 time a week LIFE QUEST: finding my way home - (+1 WIS) This is very amorphous, but stillskies and I are having First Time Home Buying Adventures, and my life goal is to basically do all I can to keep it running smoothly.... in a timely manner if at all possible. I'm not sure the ultimate goal (find a new house, buy it, move in) will be complete this challenge, but it's going to be the honest effort that counts here. The grading isn't SMART at all, but I'll know if I haven't done what needs to be done... and what "needs to be done" can even be giving up and settling back to wait until another time, if that is financially and logically the most reasonable thing to do in a given situation. I'll play this by ear for now. A: did what I could, THERE IS NO TRY, SO THERE IS NO B OR C. The points thus come out like this, assuming I mathed correctly: STR : 4 (A=4, B=3, C=2) DEX : 4 (A=4, B=3, C=2) STA : 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) CON : 0 WIS : 2 (A=2, B=1, C=.5) CHA : 2 (A=2, B=1, C=.5) I'll be keeping track of daily accomplishments in a gdoc, publicly available HERE. The spreadsheet does all the fancy math for me (I love technology). REWARDS: None this time… trying to save some cash for potential home ownership (if we ever, you know, find a house to buy). If I ace the challenge, though, I am going to take one day COMPLETELY OFF OF HOUSEWORK. There, I said it. Let it be so. Before pictures: Measurements: Neck:12.8" Waist: 26.2" Hips: 36.2" Chest: 35" Thigh: R: 21.5" L: 20.9" Bicep: R: 10.8" L: 10.8" Calf: R: 15.1" L: 14.7" Weight: 139.6lbs BF%: 21 Dress/pants size: 2/4

New challenge! After the last couple of challenges, which I failed to complete because of crazy work schedules (work life balance?? What's that??). But now I'm back! LOTR THEME!!!!!!! OMG WTF LETS DO THIS So one of my goals relates to step counting. By my calculations, by the end of this challenge I should have done nearly enough steps to have traveled from the Shire to Bree. Actually, I think we will end up in Barrow-Downs, but close enough. And being in New Zealand, what could be more appropriate than a LOTR theme?? So what're we doing?? Well, I really want to get into the fitness side of things, and get the right fuel in the tank. I have a tendency to try and leap into things, run hard for an hour every day, then of course crash and give up. So I'm trying to be a bit more gentle. I also want to do some conditioning for silks, I need to build up my strength, fitness and flexibility. For my life goal, I need to keep being organised, now that I am sort of self-employed, otherwise it's all going to fall apart. My overarching goal is still also weight loss, so hopefully I will see some progress on that too. I set up a reward schedule for that at the beginning of the year, and I am keen to get some of those rewards finally! Main Goals: 1. 10,000 steps per day, 5 days per week Grading: A: 270,000+ steps B: 225,000-269,999 steps C: 180,000-224,999 steps 2. Get to the gym/silks/some kind of sweaty exercise 5 days/week Grading: A: 27+ days B: 22-26 days C:18-21 days 3. Eat 1200-1500 cal/day Grading: A: 37+ days B: 31-36 days C: 25-30 days Life Goal: Organise work and home: I need to set up a good spreadsheet for my work, to make invoicing and tracking easier and less time consuming I also need to tidy up the house- 8 rooms total Grading: A: 8+ tasks done B: 6-7 tasks done C: 4-5 tasks done Let's do it!

"I’m here to start a one girl revolution, I’m not a perfect ten, paper thin, Hollywood illusion. I thought I told ya, I’m a soldier, And I’m not leaving ‘til the party’s over..." I love me some tough, multifaceted ladies. I especially love them when they can swing swords and hurl fireballs. For my fifth (wow!) NerdFitness challenge, I’ve decided to take my inspiration from a few of my favorite Final Fantasy females, because if there’s one thing I know, it’s that these girls kick serious butt in a lot of different ways - and I personally aspire to look half as fabulous while being just as awesome. (Minus the fireballs, unfortunately.) MAIN QUEST: Live the dream! No, but seriously. I'm in the best shape of my life, getting stronger all the time, rocking my goal dress size, and LOOKING FORWARD to stripping down to a swimsuit this summer. Who is this woman??? I barely recognize her from a year ago! In any case, this challenge is a bit of a hodgepodge ultimately aimed at being smarter about upping my badass cred.... in my own particular aerialist way. Not kidding about the smarter thing… as I wrote these goals, I realized each of the fitness goals has wisdom points attached to it, ha! The (semi-serious) tagline seems to be, "Train Like a Tank, Look Like a Princess." QUEST 1: INSPIRATION: FANG (fuel my inner tank) - (+3 CON, +1 STR, +1 WIS) Tanks are strong, and I bet you they fuel themselves accordingly. This goal is two-pronged: first, I need to eat more protein to aid in continued muscle development. Second, I'm really good at eating at a deficit. Maybe... a little too good? I hit my goal size and started working up to maintenance calories, but keep getting spooked and not eating quite enough. And then losing more weight. Nice problem to have, only not really - much smaller, and I'll look unhealthy. Thus, two objectives: Eat at least 100 grams of protein a minimum of 5 days a week (my lean mass is estimated at 109lbs).A: 5 days, B: 4 days, C: 3 days Calculate my average daily gross calories at the end of the week. If more than .5lb was lost, the next week's daily average MUST BE at minimum 100 calories higher. If weight was gained but measurements dropped/remained the same, average should remain within 50 of the previous week (yay, true maintenance!). If weight was gained and measurements went up, I may drop back to the prior week's average.A: Followed guidelines 100%, B: Followed guidelines but was short of required average by <30, C: Followed guidelines but was short of required average by <50 QUEST 2: INSPIRATION: QUISTIS (work smarter, not harder) - (+1 STR, +1 DEX, +2 WIS) Everything is planning and planning is everything. I get access to one aerial open gym a week, 1.5 hours of silks time that I really need to be using to better effect. Accordingly, my goal will be to make a weekly open gym plan including tricks and number of attempts per side, and STICK TO IT. I'll try to post the plan here in advance, though my class and open gym happen on the same day, a few hours apart, so that may not always be possible. I'll be on the honor system if I just can't get to a computer. I hate trying to navigate the forums from my phone. A: Made a plan and stuck to it*, THERE IS NO TRY, SO THERE IS NO B OR C *If I ran out of time to complete everything, it does not count against me QUEST 3: INSPIRATION: RIKKU (dextrous hands sans sticky fingers) - (+2 DEX, +1 WIS) I don’t anticipate I’ll be picking any pockets or tinkering with airship parts anytime soon, but there are a few things that can be learned from a nimble thief/machinist. I don't get quite the horrid hand DOMS that I had when I first started aerial, but I still wake up with achy finger joints sometimes, and I know this is at least partially due to the fact that I don't always take the time for hand/grip exercises, despite having thera-putty in my bag and resistance hand grips in my office. Thus, I will commit to daily sessions of at least 5 minutes of hand exercises. A: 7 days, B: 6 days, C: 5 days LIFE QUEST: INSPIRATION: GARNET (pamper my inner princess) - (+3 CHA) Sometimes, a girl just wants to be pretty (or at least this girl does), and a little bit of pampering never hurt anyone, right? I’d like to get to the point where skincare becomes automatic - sometimes, I’m still lazy about it (especially when I’m sleepy), but I’m not 15 anymore, so really, I need to remember to make this a habit. Plus, I like how my skin feels when I take care of it, so this will hopefully be a feel-good little challenge for me. I’ll always count from the night prior and into the morning, and for a day to count, the following steps must all be followed: evening: cleanse and moisturize; morning: cleanse or use toner, brightening serum, and moisturize; one at-home facial a week. A: 7 days, B: 5-6 days, C: 3-4 days Skipping the facial drops me one letter grade BONUS: MAKING MEMORIES! No points for this, but as a bonus, I’d like to try to fit in something fun on a weekly basis - fun that isn’t necessarily “LET’S GO TO THE AERIAL GYM! ” and take some photos of said good times. I want to do more of this, but I’m not quite ready to commit to a full life goal around this. So, I’ll do my best to fit it in, and we’ll see how it goes. As a bonus, that means I may have some fun snapshots to share with all of you. The points thus come out like this, assuming I mathed correctly: STR : 2 (A=2, B=1, C=.5) DEX : 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) STA: 0 CON: 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) WIS : 4 (A=4, B=3, C=2) CHA : 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) I'll be keeping track of daily accomplishments in a gdoc, publicly available HERE. The spreadsheet does all the fancy math for me (I love technology). REWARDS: What would an epic quest be without treasure? If I succeed, I will reward myself with something nice (that isn't food). Rewards are stacking, meaning I get the A, B, and C rewards if I get to an A grade, the B and C rewards for B grade, and just the C reward for C grade. Rewards are as follows: A overall: HQ UPGRADE! If I earn an A overall, I will engage a cleaning service for a one-time deep scrubdown of my house. B overall: REVITALIZING ELIXIR! If I earn a B overall, I’ll book myself a hot stone massage at that place I keep seeing on the way to work. C overall: ACCESSORY UPGRADE! If I earn a C overall, I’ll buy myself a pretty new leather wallet, because I’ve been coveting one for awhile. Before pictures: Measurements: Neck: 12.9" Waist: 26.8" Hips: 37" Chest: 35.4" Thigh: R: 22.2" L: 21.8" Calf: R: 14.7" L: 14.5" Bicep: R: 11" L: 11" Weight: 141.4lbs Dress/pants size: 4/2

Not uninspired to workout, that bit is fine. Uninspired to neatly and creatively knit my goals for this challenge into a unifying theme or something clever. But, I do know what I want to do, and that's the important part, yes? Having a plan is goooood. So, the plan: 6 workouts/week Continuing this from last challenge. Pretty self-explanatory: 6 workouts for 5 of 6 weeks. One week of this challenge is vacation and I hardly expect myself to keep to my workout schedule while in a sunny, beachy environment full of margaritas. Pass/Fail Middle Splits/Straddle To progress in my aerial silks endeavors, I need to do something about my hip/hamstring/whatever flexibility and strength. Especially compared to my counterparts with dance pasts, I am laughably inflexible. My straddle width is improving, but I'm nowhere near where I think I ought to be. Long, straight legs = long, pretty lines in the air. Strength and flexibility needed for this one: Strengthen hip flexors by doing straddle leg lifts. Part of warmup prior to every silks session and leg workout. This will help with a future goal of L-sits as well, I think. I may look up some L-sit progressions and toss those in.Stretch (duh). Standing straddle, wall straddle, frog. I feel like I need more structure on this. *Flexy people, any input on this?I'll give myself a point for each session of straddle leg lifts and each stretching session. Goals: 2 leg lift sessions per week x 5 weeks = 10 leg lift sessions. 3 stretching sessions per week (seems low, but I'm being realistic here) x 5 weeks = 15 stretching sessions For a total of 25 total points available. I'll call 18/25 (72%) passing on this one. I'm horrible at this kind of stuff so I'm setting the bar admittedly low on purpose. Fuel the Machine (but don't overfill the tank) Still attempting to get a bit leaner for vacay, without going crazy and causing system collapse like I did last challenge. Calories = 1500/day average for 5/6 weeks (again, this constraint at an all-inclusive resort would just be cruel). Getting back to it once we get home will help mitigate post-vacation plumping (which was ridiculous last year). Pass/Fail Cooking My kitchen skillz are lacking. Usually I don't have the patience to fiddle around in the kitchen for long periods of time. Often, food becomes something prepackaged and easy to grab because I'm hungry NOW. This usually means extra carbs and lower protein. So, this is a macro-related goal as well, sort of. 1 point for each hand-prepared meal. (Toast doesn't count, heh. Neither does re-heating leftovers.) Recipes don't have to be new, or even prepared on the same day they are to be eaten. Batch cooking on the weekend = win. I really have no concept of where to set the pass/fail bar on this so we're going to go with a little more than 1/week. 7 meals over the 5 weeks of the challenge we'll be at home = pass. Else = fail. That should do it. There will of course be much chatter about silks and aerial. Probably videos as well. I haven't scheduled it, yet, but I expect my next private lesson will hit somewhere toward the end of this challenge.

6 workouts/week General lackadaisicalness and the holidays (Christmas cookies and Dragon Age are a dangerous combination) have wound up with slacker sylph. Time to get back to it. 6 workouts/week is the goal. 3 strength, 3 cardio. Silks practice counts as a strength day. I actually started this week. Yesterday was workout #6. Today is a rest day. We'll see how this fares now that I'm back at work post-holidays. 6 workouts/week for at least 5 of the 6 weeks = pass Less than that = fail Straight arm/straight leg straddle up I am soclose to getting this regularly. But I think I have microbends in my elbows and knees. I'll need to take a video to assess current state and work on some drills to correct those. Bonus if I can figure out some work to do at home, outside of the studio. Something to ask my coach at my private lessons which start Jan 19th! First open gym session of the new year is Jan 7th. I'm very excited to get back to it. To pass, do both of these things: Work on this at each open gym sessionTake at least 2 videos on separate training days to assess progressElse, fail Calorie budget: 1400 Slacker sylph = chubby sylph. It's not out of control, but clothes are fitting on the snugger side. Tracking and staying within 1400 cals is the goal. With 6/week workouts, this could be too low and may need to be adjusted upward, but for now 1400 it is. Weekly average calories at or under budget for at least 5 of 6 weeks = pass Over caloric budget for 2 or more weeks = fail No online shopping Sigh. I am in a constant state of trying to slim down my wardrobe and at the same time panicking because I have nothing to wear. Thus, when WHBM, Old Navy or Ann Taylor send me a little email with some crazy-sounding sale, I have difficulty resisting. Surely I can live with my current clothing for the next weeks. The only exception is if I find some amazing, black knee high boots as my current pair is literally falling apart and I've been hunting for 6+ months to no avail. No online purchases = pass Else, fail I've gone straight pass/fail on these, which may seem a bit harsh, but it'll keep me honest. I'm the Queen of Justification when it comes to partial points and subjective grading so these criteria leave minimal/no room for interpretation.

Hellooooooooooooo Assassins! I think I am going to try something a little different for this challenge. I am someone who thrives on variety and being able to switch things up, and I have a LOT of different stuff I am working on, so Instead of trying to do a regimented two days of this per week, one day of this per week, blah blah blah, I want to go a little more freeform, with the exception of my primary goal of CORE DAY EVERY DAY WOOOOO! My inspiration for my core goal is: I am still rehabbing my left tricep. It is SO CLOSE to back to normal. During my month of injury and not being able to do ANY upper body work I started working on core a lot because it was something I could do. I went to open studio at my aerial gym yesterday for the first time since my injury and I realized that my improved core strength from focusing on core has done some really awesome things for my body. My aerial skills are smoother and more controlled, and I feel my flexibility has even improved even though I wasn't focusing on that! Without further delay, MY GOALS: 1. Every day is core day!!!!!!! I want to work on my core every day. Some days a little. Some days a lot. Whatever my body feels like just as long as I do some every day! 2. All the other things! I have a lot of other things I work on. Most of these I tend to do every other day or so or at least 2-3 times per week. My goal is to do things from this list at least three times a week. I am not going to be specific about which happens when and how much, and some overlap with my core goal anyway but whatever. All the things! Here are all my mini goals in a list-tastic list: Bodyweight strength training (specifically pull ups and push ups)Lifting! (I want to start doing powerlifting. This goal is pending total healing of my arm!)Dance! (fun dance, formal dance classes, working on technique, choreography, whatever!)Sing! (I am the singer for a band now so I should be doing this anyway, YAAAY)DeclutterKeep running! (I can run a whole 3 miles at once now! I'd like to keep slowly building this up.)Hike!Stretch!Perform more! (This is really always on my list and requires finding performance opportunities. Crossing fingers)Find job in Bay area! (Long term goal I am still working on. It'll happen!I will probably add to the list for number 2 as I think of more things! I know that includes both health and life goals and I am OK with that. I expect I will be doing a lot more than 3 a week with so many things to pick from!