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Friends, Rebels, Countrymen, lend me your ears; I came to create good habits this day! The sloth that doth do infect men's minds grows near, When mighty warriors forgo their training, And do nothing! So let it be today, That this Assassin picks the route that calls-- The way of the Spartan. Okay, I tried. I'm a huge Shakespeare nerd, and Marc Anthony's speech in Julius Caesar is a truly remarkable one. So, here's the thing. I've been planning on doing a Spartan race for almost a year now. I've found one that'll be near me in July. Yes, that's 5 months away. Yes, that's plenty of time to train. And that's the thing. I want to not just complete a Spartan race. I want to excel at it. Not win, but certainly not finish dead last. I want to make myself a real Spartan mind, body, and spirit. I was planning on training with the rangers or the warriors this time around, but... I realized that the Spartans, Leonidas's 300s, were essentially the most deadly Assassins in Europe at the time. Warrior discipline, Assassin skills, Ranger endurance. The best combo I can imagine. As such, I want to train for the next 5 months like a Spartan. Challenge 1: Warrior Discipline I'm a huge fan of Xena, Warrior Princess. If I could turn into any fictional character, it would be a tie between Xena, Wonder Woman, or Black Widow. Xena's incredibly strong, and has incredible physical discipline that comes as a result of her warrior ethos. If I want to run a Spartan race, I need to be strong like Xena and adopt her warrior ethos. My goal: strength-train three times a week. I can do three basic exercises: bench press, deadlift, and squat. I do sets 5x5, and want to slowly work my way up. I'm currently benching the bar+10 (55 lbs), deadlifting bar+15 (60 lbs), and squatting bar+15 (60 lbs). By the end of the six week challenge, I want to be able to bench 75 lbs, deadlift 90, and squat anywhere from 80-90. Challenge 2: Way of the Assassin (Because who doesn't want a gif of Ezio jumping as Assassin motivation?!) Assassins are agile, strong, and disciplined. I'm going to channel my inner Assassin that's been sluggish because of the cold lately and turn her into a Spartan machine. I'm planning on working on bodyweight as well as lifting (on the same days, because I try to keep all of my workouts condensed). Specifically, I want to work on my upper body, because I am terrible at push-ups and can't do a pull-up. So I'm going to train my upper body to do these things. I'm going to work towards pull-ups by working on the monkey-bar set in my gym and by doing hanging leg-lifts. By doing hanging leg-lifts, I not only work on abs, but I also work on strengthening my grip and my bag and triceps. I'd like to be able to do a pull-up and 2x20 hanging leg lifts by the end of the challenge. Challenge 3: Ranger Endurance Aragorn can run and run and run and be awesome and become a king. And he's pretty awesome. I hate running, but if I'm going to become a Spartan, then I'm going to have to go running. The goal: go running at least once a week. Probably on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Or both. If I can manage it. I hate running. So much. But I want to be a Spartan and sometimes that means doing things I don't like. Alright! I can do this! Aroo! Aroo! Aroo!