Search the Community

THEN: Ok, so I (barely) finished last challenge. Last time I wasn't sure if I was going to finish it at all. This time, I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with the Monks for the whole duration of the challenge. I have a few things to consider, but I might spend some times with the Warriors... I still have a week to decide, I guess. NOW: Ok, so awkward introductory biography first....just in case you're a Warrior reading this. My name is Gabriel, my username used to be Spauracchio, and I'm the fastest man ali... no, wait, that's not it. I joined NF in 2011 but since the creation of guilds, I've hanged around exclusively with the Monks, being their first Guild Leader. Now, in order to accomplish my goals, I must become someone else. I must become something else. I am Supergirl... The Shogun. I'm beginning an adventure around every guild in NF. For a long time I've been curious about weight lifting and learning the ways of the warriors, and I believe it's the fastest way to accomplish my goals. Also, due to some circumstances, I can't "perform" as a Monk. It's a not a big deal, it happens to all of us at least once, right? Well, not to you, obviously, most of you are Warriors... but then, again. I'm using the opportunity to explore other guilds. Also, I live in Venezuela, my own Gotham, Night Vale, Lian Yu; a country immersed in a great political conflict and essentially a dictatorship regime that practically turns my life into a video game in Titan Mode. I try not to talk about it, but it might come up once or twice in my updates. So, before the depressive train wreck beings, let's go to my goals, shall we? Also, it's my first time as a warrior, so be gentle. I'd appreciate any help, guidance and advice in the ways of the warriors. Fitness Goal: Get Started on Weight Training Join a gym (I'm the smart guy to start weight lifting and joins a gym when the trend in NF is bodyweight training, but I've been doing that for a long time but I need more structure and discipline and putting my money on the line, I've learned I get more results that way) making sure they have a free weights area. Starting Strength: I'm starting my warriors education with "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe, I found this 4 week guide that seems great and that's the point, basing my workouts on weight lifting instead of bodyweight workouts. BACKUP PLAN: If money, country, or any other reason gets in the way, I can always visit The Hyperbolic Time Chamber, that's the name I used to this Functional Training Class they offer at my job on Monday, Wednesdays and Friday. It's free and it's very easy for me to attend there, but again, it's mostly bodyweight stuff. NO EXCUSES PLAN: Seriously, if I can't either go to the gym or train at the THTC... I'll make my goal to workout at home, no excuses, even if it's the old habit of body weight stuff, that's worse than no training. Diet Goal: Get ideally two, at least one daily paleo meal. My main goal in NF has mostly being weight loss. I usually eat twice a day. I do IF (16-8) and so far, my body's gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me so much I can do practically every day. I've been eating clean once a day but I can't always get to do it as much as I'd like *ahem* third-world problems * ahem*. So I'm going for two paleo meals a day, but If I get to eat only one... I'll consider it a victory and go easy on myself. Diet Goal: Get comfortable with an arsenal of recipes. One of the things I admire from the warriors, is that they seem the most diligent nerds (they are the nerds' nerds) with their mealpreps. I've got a bunch of paleo recipe books in my kindle and I want to get comfortable cooking them. I'm also going to put my alchemist hat and start converting Venezuelan dishes that are not particularly good (unless you're in a bulk cycle) for losing weight. So expect lots of exotic dishes being turned into healthier alternatives. Hopefully, I won't be doing many sex-with-your-pants-on things. Life Goal: Get Warrior Smart Okay, I recently got a couple of gigs as Web Content Writer with non-Venezuela based company. I'm basically writing my way out of a post-apocalyptic situation. But I'm not a professional writer. I need to set a routine, and make it a habit instead of a way of entertainment. I'm also studying German, but I usually study on Friday's night (NERD) on the eve of my lesson. Aaaand, I'm also focusing on my warriors education, so I'd yell victory if I get to do at least one of these three things every day. Write at least 30mins. Study German Read some Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength So, Warriors, let's see what you got! =D Oh, also, ICYM, I have an obsession with Invader Zim.

Hi, looks like I am already late to the party. My last challenge was more of a craftsmanship & cleaning. So now i am getting back to the most important: Writing and Strength 1) Just WRITE, no excuses I think of myself or want to think of myself as a writer in a first place so: Six times a week 250 words/day that's the bare minimum. I can usually do my writing at work, but i need to get used to writing home. Currently working on really brutal fantasy story and after finishing that back to my novel. A:>21 B:>19 C:>17 F: 17 and less as a part of last challenge I made these little pictures with wisdom from my favorite authors so they are kind of watching over me from now on. For my archery and overall good feeling I really need to work on my strength. I train in strong-first gym three times a week. On a top of that I want to focus on improving my bench-press and pull-ups For those i am using a method called greasing the groove. 6 sets of each with half of max reps, 5 times a week with looooong pauses between series. 2)My Bench-press is not so bad but needs improving. I have it in my living room so no excuses there either. Point for every set A:>108B:>90 C:>70 F: 70 and less 3) Pull-up i really suck at these. Half of my max rep is like 1,5 . Point for every pull-up A:>150 B:>115 C:>80 F: 80 and less 4) Uphold the codeas a paladin wannabe i still have to uphold my Code · No Alcohol or any other substances influencing judgement · Be kind, even to your enemies · No sex without love · Protect and help the weak and the helpless · No fighting unless protecting someone’s health

hi, my name is fearless and im a former scout. im injured ( chronically inflamed achilles tendons) and can't run. also i have a barbell i really want to learn to use. in this challenge i want to develop a couple of new habits. i will add something new every week to complete my goals and change things slowly. i don't have a clue about lifting and am scared shitless of eating primal. still, i have a name to live up to! goals: main quest: lardbusting. eat primal six out of seven days a week by the end of this challenge lose 5% body fat and get down to 38%learn to do a beginner lifting routine ( based on the book "new rules of lifting for women") and install the habit of doing this 3x/week. track every workout.work on my book project for 12 hours a week. week 0 will be moving flat on thursday therefore have to improvise a bit. get as much knowledge as you can about primal eating and lifting go shopping and fill fridge in new flat with real food eat 5 primal meals this week no more sugar make a before photo, measure yourself and get your body fat measured at a drugstore post food diary every day will add more later...

Hello nerds, time to introduce myself. I'm Sarah, 32 years old, former student of Aplied Computer Sciene (can't get much nerdier), soon-to-be student of photography (not so nerdy, but more fun), located in Germany. I've been reading the blog for some time and decided to join because the lone wolf strategy does not really work. I'm a mountainbiker (enduro), recently found out I like road biking as well, fueld by a ovo-vegetarian diet. My main goal is to build more strenght and stamia to become a better cyclist. It's no fun when you're out of breath before you are even on top of the mountain, and even less fun when your arms become tired half-way down. No strenght means no focus, no focus means crashes. The super big goal is to tackle the Big 5 Challenge next summer (http://www.big-5.at/?locale=en). My biggest problem is that I'm still recovering from gastritis which plagued me for the last 3 years. After trying pretty much everything that's not illegal I finally found help this spring in the form of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Nevertheless the illness messed up my eating habits, led to unhealthy weight loss and wrecked my fitness. The data: weight: 57 kg (125 lb), height: 165 cm (5ft 4.96 in), age: 32 years, body fat (measured with a caliper): aprox. 18%. Let's say 20% because of user error. By the way, all those body fat seems to live in the belly area, at least it looks like this. The plan (in order of importance): The beginner body weight workout twice a week (the 3rd workout is rehab gymnastics for my back pain). Cycling twice a week (mtb or road). In the food department: eat a serving of salad every day and prepare them ahead in batches. I'm back to university soon and won't have time to make something fresh every day. Watch my protein intake, according to my data from myfitnesspal it's too low. I eat cheese ocassionally, but don't consume other dairy product. Weight loss is optional, I just want to see that belly fat go.

I just read Convict Conditioning and I'm totally excited about starting it! I loved the book, the program, the simplicity of it etc. I'm usually good at having a critical stance regarding ultimate fitness programs, but I confess I can't see any problems with convict conditioning, though I'm sure they're there. Any thoughts, anyone? Anyone successfully followed it? Anyone started out and quit? Got bored? Got hurt? Got strong as fuck & awesome & happy & healthy? Thanks for any insight. (I guess I mostly want to talk about the book... ) My background: Tried some gym here & there but got bored. Got six months of crossfit in but gave it up because it's too crazy for me & i'm too slow for it. I have some experience swimming (that was my first modality). I'm also part of a beach rugby team (sevens) which I'm not currently practicing with because of back pain. Lower back, low lumbar & top sacral: bulging discs :'( My current fitness level is somewhat decent on account of crossfit (just gave it up) except for the back pain.

I wasn't sure I was going to do a battle log - however I decided it would be a good way to keep me accountable! A little background on the title... Athena is everything that I aspire to be in a human being (minus the math bit ). So I decided to mould my journey around her. Not only for strength and power but to become a better person. A little about me 5'6 - 26 years old - serving in the Canadian Armed Forces Got into the world of fitness a little over two years ago when I was overweight, depressed and quite unhappy. There was a sudden click and I decided to get into physical activity again. I went from over 200# to 159# (current). I have since then run multiple races from 2k to half marathons (third half in September). I started with bodybuilding.com and learning all types of different exercises and schools of thought. I recently discovered StrongLifts and started doing that about 3 weeks ago. I am completely and utterly in love with this type of straight forward, strength building workout. I have found my place in the fitness world. I decided I was going to work on building strength and stop worrying so much about how much I weigh and how much fat I have. Ideally I want to lose a little bit more fat but I am confident that it will come with this training. I would want to one day compete in a powerlifting competition and really get involved in that world. I am thinking more and more of going paleo so that will probably something you will see me switch to in the future. I have an addiction to sweets/carbs and I am working hard to control those cravings/binges. That is one of the reasons I decided to do this battle log - to be accountable if I stuff my face full of chocolate ! I'll try to post macros and workouts daily so if anyone reading this sees any deficiencies in my training/nutrition you can let me know! I am always open to constructive criticism. Today's workout: I won't be writing my warms-ups in the daily logs but I always warm up! Squats: 5x125# 5x125# 5x125# 5x125# 5x125# Bench: 5x85# 5x85# 5x85# 5x85# 5x85# BB Row: 5x75# 5x75# 5x75# 5x75# 5x75# Leg Press: 10x180# 10x180# 10x180# 10x180# Nutrition Cals: 2366 Fats: 56g Carbs: 217g Fiber: 75g Sugar: 45g Protein: 260g I think that's more than enough for the first post... Not sure if people will be interested in reading all of this or not but hopefully it'll help me stay accountable. Questions and comments are more than welcome. Cheers! -Mai

Graduating to the Rangers! So I’m new to this guild, fresh from the adventurer’s. The main quest remains the same from challenge 2: I want to get stronger. During summer, I managed to stay in check but I did not move forward this goal. I was in maintenance mode… Now, things are going to get serious again! The lifeguard tests are due in October, so I’ll have that in mind during this challenge. 1) Let’s lift!: lift like someone else's life depended on it (4 STR, 1 CHA) Aiming for the basics here: Squats, deadlifts, some kind of press… the goal is just to train consistently over the 6 weeks of challenge, increasing weight bit by bit whenever I see progress happening. I know I have to lift heavy, but will start just testing where the “ceiling†is at the moment. A ) 3 workouts. I think this is the one that will get me where I want to be B ) 2 workouts per week. Sometimes life happens: maintenance mode. C ) Just 1 workout per week. Sub-maintenace mode F ) Coffe mug lifting doesn’t really count as “strenght trainingâ€, you know 2) The 80% of me: eat real food (3 CON, 1 CHA) Yeees, this one makes a comeback from last challenge as well. However, this time the aim is not to eat 100% Paleo, but to eat something between 85-90% (the usual, nothing fancy) but to keep track of protein intake and make sure it is enough. Around the 90g/day mark. A ) Real food and plenty of proteins: 90 g/ day B ) 80-ish g/day. Above average, but not enough to sustain the lifting! C ) Meh food resulted in 70-ish g. of proteins. “Mehâ€, indeed. F ) I had to sacrifice my existing muscles to get protein. 3) And now: relax (3 STA, 1 WIS) Sleeeeeep enough. I have been developing some crappy sleeping patterns for the last month because of the unemployed-but-still-working-on-PhD thing, and I should fix it before it goes horribly wrong. For instance, I am not able to focus or wake up early in the mornings… Of course, I’m allowing Saturdays to be a cheat day where I can go to bed late and wake up late. I will sleep 8 hours everyday (or at least stay in bed 8 h every day. The goal will be a set “wake up time†for the normal working days) A ) Each week: woke up at 6:30. B ) Each week: woke up at 7 C )Each week: woke up at 8:30 F ) Went to bed late and woke up late EVERYDAY. True apocalypse. Life Side Quest: Do something fun! (2 WIS) Just forget about work and stress and do something fun! Play frisbee, go surfing, scuba diving, play some roleplaying games, paint, or draw. Really, whatever that makes me have real fun… once a week! This might seem silly, but I’ve spent the last 2 years of my life working 7 days a week, 11+ hours a day… and I’m “a bit burntâ€. MOTIVATION: Lifeguard! Isn’t that epic enough?

“I am standing here, watching hopelesly how the zombie horde approaches the alley I am trapped in. Sure, everything looked fine when I started running away from them. I’m way faster than these rotten zombies, but see...I made this only bad tun here and now I’m trapped. There is a ladder hanging from the wall of one of the buildings...if only I could reach it and pull myself up! But I can’t. Suddenly, I hear a noise. - Psst, need some help there? I take a glance at the stair and I feel ultimate happiness. #ZAP is here! With some help from them I manage to climb to the stairs and now I’m safe, ready to take yet another “adventurous†trip for supplies into the town again. - Nay - they say- No more scavenging until you get stronger!. We can’t rescue you every time you come here!†And thus, I must do something to get some upper body strength and overall stamina. Being a survivor during the zombie mayhem is serious business. THE MAIN QUEST: I want to get stronger. In general, I want to be able to move my body weight in every way I can. Be it jumping fences, running around, swimming at decent speed, being able to do handstands without falling. Pulling myself up things... you name it, I want to be able to do it. In order to achieve such goal, I guess I need to: 1) If you want to get stronger, train for strenght: bodyweight/ strenght workouts 3 times per week. (2 STR, 1 CHA) A ) 3 intense workouts, awesome! B ) 2 workouts per week, not bad C ) Just 1, shameful F ) None of them! Slacker 2) Run, run for your life. (3 STA) I downloaded the Zombies, Run! 5k app after hearing all the praise it got from other people at NF. Obviously, now I want to follow the training program and see what I can do with it. So, I’m aiming for some non strenght training that ideally would be... A ) 3 runs/week: I’ll definitely survive the zombie apocalypse. B ) 2 runs/week: Better, but really not impressive C ) 1 run/week: That’s just lame. F ) Couldn’t run, because I was lazy: Zombie food. 3) Watch what you eat. (3 CON, 2 CHA) Eat clean. 100% Paleo is going to be the way during the upcoming 6 weeks. A ) 100% Paleo. I’m the holder of an Iron will, and hotter. B ) 90 %. Not bad, but still got seduced by ice cream or cold beer. C ) 80%. Really? I guess I didn’t really needed those muffins. Or ice cream, or beer. Or wine. F ) Paleo what? I couldn’t care less about getting in shape and now I’m a potato. Life Side Quest: Scape from the "scientific limbo" (1 CHA, 3 WIS) To be honest, this is my main quest at the moment: to get my PhD degree and mooove on with life. I really need to get this done in order to be able to apply for a post-doc job, and to close a 4 and ½ years long chapter in my life. So, during the following 6 weeks I need to: -Submit chapters 3, 4 and 5 of my PhD for correction, plus the General Introduction part. MOTIVATION: At first I was just aiming to get stronger. Day to day, I'm involved in potentially dangerous activities that could cause situations of stress and potential injury (scuba diving, surfing, rock climbing, deep-sea fishing for sciendific purposes, moving stuff around in the aquarium facility at work...etc). All those activities would benefit from a bit more strenght, in my opnion. Just to make life safer for those I work and play with. Also, at some point, I want to get my rescue license back (I think the word in english is...lifeguard), and for that I need to be able to drag someone out of the water. But overall, I just want to be the best possible "me".

Hey, there! I’ve been lurking around for a while, but time has arrived for me to present myself and start upgrading my health First of all, my name is Ximena, I’m 24, I’m from Lima (the one in south america, not Ohio ) and I work as a copywriter and proofreader. I majored in Literature, graduated last year, and in addition of having always been Queen of Bookworms, I’m a history/politics/technology nerd with an obsession with A song of Ice and Fire. I’m not new to fitness, dieting, or health in general. Towards the end of my second year of university, I realized my health was a mess and change was needed. I went on a low-fat, low-calorie diet for over a year and moved down from 88 kg (190 pounds) to 68-63 kilos (138-149 pounds). I also started jogging and doing some light weight-lifting (yeah, the girly 5 pound dumbells). Eventually, I also quit smoking, and to be honest, that’s probably the only one I did right. Low calorie regimes were driving me crazy, I felt weak all the time, my hair started falling a bit, and I had to take like 3 different vitamin supplements to avoid looking green. In the mean time, I was still convinced I could have my cake and eat it too, so I wanted to be healthy, slim, and happy AND keep my right to frequent all-nighters (both mandatory and recreational)... no wonder I wasn't even able to notice I felt sick anymore. I probably forgot how "healthy" feels. This year, I decided I was going to change that. I got bigger dumbbells and started (albeit unsuccessfully) to try to raise the amount of weight I could lift. Partly because of a job assignment, I started doing some serious research on nutrition and health, and with that I mean I looked up a real endocrinologist (and a good family friend, so it was someone I respected too) and reading endocrinology books meant for medical students instead of Cosmo diet advice. There, I found the first clues that the real enemy to health was that Peruvian custom of filling up half the lunch plate with rice and/or potatoes. Unfortunately, in the mean time, I got sick for real. At a yearly check-up, my doctor discovered I had a massive cyst on my left ovary. And I mean, massive (1.4 lts!). It was actually visible from the outside and I just hadn't noticed. I went through a lot of old pics and realized I had a bulge in my stomach that looked like I was 4 months pregnant, even if at the time I had blamed it on "being bloated" or called it "an extra spare tire". Fortunately, once they found it they were able to take it out, and it turned out to be benign (phew!). Still, the exams to get it properly diagnosed were still a stressful mess, and because it had grown so big, they had to open me up, C-section style, to be able to take it out. Now that I've been able to leave that behind, I'm ready to start over. I'm not allowed to do very heavy weightlifting or "too much running" yet, but I got full clearance for levels 1-3 of the Angry Birds workout, and it looks like a good place to start building up my strenght and gaining back some muscle. I'm also determined on going Paleo, and today my transition starts officially. I'm saying goodbye to bread and all baked products for the rest of the month, and in two weeks I'll start reducing the frequency of rice on my lunch plate.

Hey all, After writing my introduction it’s now time for a battle log, accountability ftw. Being a huge Game of Thrones fan I think that aiming for the Iron Throne is the least I can do I’m gonna keep the range of subjects as wide as possible and just dump anything health/fitness related here. Nutrition/Diet After years of eating without a sense of what’s healthy and what is definitely not, I’ve been educating myself on the subject lately. I’m currently re-reading the Primal Blueprint and that will be my starting point for the nutrition part of the journey. Fitness I’d like to think of myself as fairly active, with at least three workouts every week. These range from going on a run to taking the mountain or racing bike out or going to the gym. Weightlifting is very new to me though, so that’s what I want to get better at. I regularly go biking with a few friends and keeping each other motivated has been a lot of fun. Knowledge Reading books is a favorite pastime and lately I’ve been reading up on a lot of blogs and health related books. I feel like my knowledge base is increasing a lot but every subject I read about makes me curious for the next. As I said, currently I’m re-reading the Primal Blueprint. Body measurements Tracking statistics is always fun. As of today, I weigh 95,0 kg’s with a body fat of about 23,5% (let’s make it an even 24%). Currently I don’t have any other measurements but I will take them this weekend. That’s it for now, tonight’s workout is a bike ride with friends. Not sure what distance it’ll be but probably a smallish lap, around 30km.

hi, im fearless creek! found this site about a year ago and loved it, now i would like to become part of the community. im a 45 year old woman and have been overweight my entire adult life. 2011 i joined weightwatchers and lost 20 kg on the programm. during that time i surfed the net a lot and got interested in all things to do with health and fitness. then i decided i hated to be part of the weightloss industry and the constant game of dieting and gaining. i made an experiment out of it and tried different aproaches of healthy eating. i ended up with eating mostly unprocessed foods and tracking on myfitnesspal. i also tried paleo but changed into it too fast and got so weak after one week that i got scared. since 2012 i work out regularly and thats the part of healthy living thats easier for me to keep doing because it lifts my mood amd makes me feel strong and confident. it all started with walking a 5k. then i started running and have taken kickbox-, bodypump- and pilatesclasses during the winter 12/13. my body has changed visibly and i am really happy with this! next goal: i will run my first 5k on mai 4th. im 1,78m tall now and weigh in at 105 kg. my long term goal is to get down to about 80 kg. whats really important to me is that i build new habits and actually stick with certain behaviours. its easy for me to experiment with a new diet or a sport - i want to learn how to make it a lifesyle. right now im in the middle of starting my own business offering socialwork for teenagers. it might get pretty intense workwise once i get going. therefore i think i need the acountability this site provides by motivating me to log my progress. i still have to set my goals, but im definitely doing the next 6 weeks challenge. if someone needs a trusty sidekick ... *raises hand* as for beeing a nerd: apart from loving The Lord Of The Ring im rather un-nerdy. maybe having been a classical cellist (orchestramusician) counts?? thats all, i guess viele grüße aus berlin fearlesscreek