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This challenge was rudely interrupted by a pandemic last year. However, now that we're settling into our post-apocalyptic plaguescape for the long haul, it is yet again time. This challenge, I will endeavour to become the Disc's second greatest lover. "My name's Casanunda," he said. "I'm reputed to be the world's greatest lover. What do you think?" Nanny Ogg looked him up and down or, at least, down and further down. "You're a dwarf," she said. "Size isn't important." This challenge, I'm working my way up the rankings of the world's lovers by leveling up my international playdwarf lifestyle. (Or, as a previous challenge put it, do things with elegance. Strangely, despite years of aikido and years of urban myths about people being told to do things elegantly, I had to re-derive the principle in another way before I realized this was not about aesthetics but about managing to combine mindfulness with emptying the mind.) Some of these may seem like odd choices for a fitness/life level-up (like increasing alcohol consumption, and, I dunno, taking life advice from the worst possible people), but there are three factors at play here: first, this challenge needs to be fun, cuz this us what we do instead of vacations in plague years; second, it's addressing recovery from a certain amount (which is to say, lots) of cutting corners on self-care in the broader day to day living sense and getting by on "acceptable"; and three, it's addressing the (narrative) causality between good habits and seemingly unrelated projects and lifestyle choices. Or, as Vetinari would have it, all the little wheels must spin so the machine can turn. And this is a timely challenge. I've really been struggling with self-care lately. Part I: Casanunda Training There are two first steps to becoming the world's greatest lover: First, yoga warmups with lots of hip openers, for obvious reasons, and, second, get into bed as often as possible. (For sleep, of course. I don't know what you're thinking.) If I'm going to be a soldier of fortune, I need to work on mental stillness and physical prowess. Walking and strength training, to start with, and some meditation. Tasks to be checked off: rewatch Casanova and take notes. Part II: Be a Better Lover Than Lord Rust "It was a Guild of Assassins, after all. Black was what you wore. The night was black and so were you. And black had such style, and an Assassin without style, everyone agreed, was just a highly paid arrogant thug." While Assassin-School-trained, Lord Ronald Rust did not particularly benefit from the lessons on style. So I think I can outdo him here on the things that make an Assassin an Assassin. The projects I will do here include repairing and replacing bits of my wardrobe with a focus on rotating in my higher quality clothes, leveling up my daily grooming from ultra-practical to something attempting a little actual style, and more aperitifs-and-tapas. This will also involve getting back in the habit of making actual things with recipes and planning and cultural connotations, rather than just going with the fastest and most basic form of slapping nutrition onto the table, and managing my pantry better. Also, getting back to my macros and IF schedule. Part III: Be a Better Lover Than Rufus Drumknott "I believe he collects different types of stationery," said Vetinari. "I have sometimes speculated that he might change his life for the better should he meet a young lady willing to dress up as a manila envelope." All this lifestyle-leveling-up requires a certain amount of organization and schedule-wrangling. Being the world's second greatest is demanding. And for me, leveling up the bachelor pad is going to center on organizing: not just finding the right place for everything, but finding the right use for everything, and the most efficient way to organize it all. Where the Lord Rust half of this focuses on making everything I own beautiful, the Drumknott portion involves making it all useful, and also includes recycling things I don't use into things I do. Things will fit into the storage I already have, be more organized, and work better. Also, the habits I use to clean and organise it will be streamlined.

What’s this you say. A Nerd Fitness challenge about wanting to be a Librarian. Nonsense. But…ah ha! Not just any Librarian. I want to be a LIBRARIAN. See, one of those. Especially the axe wielding one. Okay well I’d like to have him and be him but that is neither here nor there. I want to be one of those Librarians. They kick ass, save the world and do it all with books and brains and bullets and fists. (Couldn’t find a B word for fists. Except big fists. I digress.) However I lack the skills necessary to be one. So while my aspirational goals are there my current goals do not meet with being a Librarian. But they will be. Oh yes they will be. Because a Librarian is my first step to Shield Maiden and from there to Valkyrie! (Girls got to have goals!) So my goals this challenge revolve around Librarian powah! Uhm. Working on gaining the skills to even be considered a Librarian some day. Yes, that’s what I meant and is much more eloquent. So Librarians focus for a bit as this will train my brain and body! And who better than Jacob to model myself after. (Eve was a close second but he’s pretty much Eve + Flynn is all I'm saying. And hot. And to be honest I’ve enjoyed the actor since the days of Angel in my much never discussed Buffy and Angel obsessed early teen years.) So how does one train to one day eventually be a Librarian? Body and mind? Its not just about reading books. Well to start I just got the okay from my cardiologist to start doing activities again. Ie exercise. Nothing too intense. (Crossfit is on hold at least another 6 months he said. Minimum. I go with the flow for now but will revisit this depending on how I feel in 3 months.) So goal 1 is to try out varying forms of exercise to get my body going again. This means I will try one new physical activity each week to try and decide which one works for me. To that end I have some fun stuff lined up. This week: Fencing class! Yes, I am going to learn how to use a sword. Or at least. Try the class and see what happens. Next week I’m debating archery or some rock climbing. After that some scuba class is a possibility or shooting classes. Nothing too strenuous. I’ve run it all by the doc and got his yes. So that’s my physical goals to becoming more like a Librarian. Goal 2 is to stretch the brain muscle to match the body muscles. This means learning new stuff. I had been prepared to head to Copenhagen to work on a PhD but that went to the wayside. So for now Ill just be taking Coursera courses online to stretch the brain in areas Im not used to. More than likely some art history to go in line with my history and maybe some astronomy or physics to go a new direction. My goal is to sign up and begin one new class and have a second as least signed up for by the end of this challenge. It’s not PhD level stuff but one of the side effects of treatment has been memory issues so trying to retrain my brain and stuff some more knowledge in there. I will also be re-reading all my old textbooks from classes to get back into the brain game. Can’t be a Librarian level expert if I forget my basic knowledge. Goal 3 isn’t really tied into Librarians (though I did try and stretch it into the theme believe me) This is simple. I will continue to prep my food for the week ahead at work on Sunday and meet my calorie goal of between 1650-1900 calories per day as recorded on MFP. A more personal goal is to just try and read some of the books that have been on my list for awhile. Not to learn new things but just to read to enjoy reading. Its not a hard and fast goal more an extra credit thing to keep in to and catch up on my reading. Ive been getting too much mental stimulation from Netflix. (Though let me tell you. Altered Carbon….Hell. Yeah.) So read some more books it is. Im looking at A Viking World edited by Stefan Brink and Neil Price. It’s a scholarly academic look at Viking Life and history but as a scholar and academic it’s my idea of fun. Seriously. It really is. For something full of information and not as scholarly and kind of heavy (I must admit) The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings by Lars Brownworth is a good one. Though it focuses on Vikings more war like aspects it’s a good place to start and jump in. Of course never fear. My list also includes some not so academically focused. I have some William Gibson, some Brandon Sanderson, some Glen Cook and some Genji Monogatari chilling by my bedside. Those will be read, again in many cases, this month as well. If I manage a B or better, or 80%, then I intend to reward myself. With this. So for people excited by Librarians and Level negative 10 shield maidens and wanna be Valkyr....here we go!

After three years of doing challenges, I've decided that my long-run escapades might fit a bit better in a battle-log format. My plan is to keep doing light challenges, but the truth is there's a lot of stuff that I've done over these years that has kind of gotten lost in those old challenge threads: victories and failures, obstacles overcome and challenges that overwhelmed me. So, I'm Kyellan and I've been here at NerdFitness for a little over 3 years. About two months after I joined here, with intentions of practicing German Longsword HEMA stuff via the original texts (mostly on my own, since there wasn't a nearby club at the time), instead I got convinced by the people here to screw my courage to the sticking place and join a local Kung Fu studio, in the hopes of learning some basic martial work from a teacher, rather than struggling through alone. Subverting all my expectations, this local Kung Fu school turned out not to be your average martial arts experience. Instead of merely using it as a launching point for my other work, I fell in love with the practice, the discipline, the group combat therapy, and now I have a second family of martial artists, young and old, who I can't wait to spend my time practicing with four nights out of the week. Honestly, it's changed my life for the better in so many ways that it's impossible to count. It's the foundation that allowed me, in June 2016, to survive the Vermont Tough Mudder (along with my buddy @Oramac), and so many other things as well. There's no denying, though, that I'm a 6-foot-1 blond dude. Nothing's ever going to change that! So, here I am: one knight, learning the Shaolin disciplines. I primarily train Hung Gar, but our lineage also includes some Lau-family technique, as well as Bak Sil Lum (which is Northern Shaolin Kung Fu by way of a Southern stylist, so it's modified a bit). So, away we go!

I've always been a fairly active person, but the last few years I've been getting more and more sedentary (despite Pokemon Go). I started getting back into working out this past week. I've been logging my progress over on my tumblr: http://liampboyle.tumblr.com/post/148705874765/so-this-was-last-weeks-exercise-summary-this http://liampboyle.tumblr.com/post/148738098010/training-log-10-august-2016 "Before" picture to show what I'm starting from http://liampboyle.tumblr.com/post/148787291900/training-log-11-august-2016 http://liampboyle.tumblr.com/post/148837454530/training-log-12-august-2016 So here's the current workout plan: Taiji CMC/ZMQ 37 posture form - 1 round to the 1st cross hands - 2:00 minutes. Stretching - 5:00 minutes. Strength Circuit Training 1st circuit Bodyweight Squats - 1:00 minute Pushups - 1:00 minute Lunges (forward) - 1:00 minute Plank - 30 seconds Sit-ups - 1:00 minute 2nd circuit Bodyweight Squats - 45 seconds Pushups - 45 seconds Lunges - 45 seconds Plank - 15 seconds Sit-ups - 45 seconds 3rd circuit Bodyweight Squats - 30 seconds Pushups - 30 seconds Lunges - 30 seconds Plank - 15 seconds Sit-ups - 30 seconds The goal is to do as many repetitions as possible in the alloted time while keeping proper form. I then went to Indian clubs. Wrist/Shoulder rotations - 1:00 min External arm rotations - 1:00 minute each arm Internal arm rotations - 1:00 minute each arm Front and back sideways swings - 1:00 minute Arm Cross Swings - 1:00 minute Front swings with twirl - 1:00 minute Front and Back swings - 1:00 minute Yoga - 15 minutes (for cool-down) This is going to be my standard M-W-F routine. Tuesdays and Thursdays it will just be taiji and yoga.

'Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father's sword, and took it for his own.' -------------------------------------------------------- Hey gang--I'm back! And, six days after I dragged my sorry butt off a plane and through the ridiculousness of US CBP, I'm sort of feeling maybe a little human again. The tales woven during my adventures could literally take me all day to recount via text, so I'm not going to try. Here's the highlight reel: - Denmark is a pretty cool place. Copenhagen: officially recommended as destination. - AWESOME freakin' concert. 5 bands, 5 hours, and officially now my favorite live concert of all time. - The Mosel river valley is a great place to hang out, and doubly so if you're a wine fan. - Roman ruins = always fun, as proven by my visits to Bath, UK and now the Black Gate of Trier. - NERD MEETUP at Medieval Market in real medieval village! Image verification to follow, unless she beats me to it. - Driving in Germany is like driving in Boston, except the roads are half as wide, and occasionally there are in fact no speed limits. The good part is that despite eating nothing but delicious and sort-of-exotic restaurant fare for two weeks and pretty much being constantly dehydrated, I somehow managed to stay pretty much the same weight or lose a pound or two. The bad part is that there was really no room or opportunity to do much exercise except walking--oh, and my routines are totally borked. Which brings us to Narsil. --------------------------------------------- I need to rebuild my routines here and make sure that everything goes back to the way it was, so that I can resume my progress toward my ultimate goal of being ready for anything. For the first time in FOREVER, I'm actually going to make attending Kung Fu class part of my challenge goals. I've decided that it's time for me to add a new sword to my collection. It's been several years (not counting my pair of Chinese Dao--I do love them, but they're for a specific purpose and are outside of my historical European sword adoration) since I obtained one, and it's time. So, I'm going to be using challenges as a way to encourage myself to put money aside for this purpose. The foundation of any sword is the hilt. The foundation of progress is a solid underlying routine that can be built upon and extended to reach improvement. Therefore, the rebuilding of my routines is the hilt of shattered Narsil. Attend Kung Fu Class: Each Kung Fu and lightsaber class attended during these four weeks is worth $1 to my sword fund. Maximum: $16 (4/week) Bring Lunch to Work: Each day I bring lunch to work instead of buying something at the cafeteria is worth $1 to my sword fund. Maximum: $20 (5/week) Meditation (6 minute minimum): Each meditation session I do during these four weeks is worth $0.50 (max 1/day). Maximum: $14 (7/week) This brings me to $50 that I could potentially earn toward my new blade during this challenge. I haven't figured out exactly which one I want yet, but I'm narrowing down the field. I'm probably going to need $200-$300, so it's going to take a bit. I'll need to be patient. Glad to be back, and I hope everybody had a great two weeks! =)

Finals are over†! Yea! We've moved into our condo‡! Hurrah! Honestly, I'm a little at a loss of what to do with my life at the moment. Free time? What is this? I've also been using my schoolwork load interfere with my self-care. My sleep schedule's a wreck, I've not been to the gym in a few weeks, and swords in even longer. I've a lot of things I'd like to do with my summer, though I do have a summer course. I want to build an application, I have four ideas running through my head right now, ranging from easy to difficult. I want to draw more. I'd like to learn embroidery. I'd like to practice the ʻukulele more. I'd like to be able to play a goddamned video game. I want to work on that epic poem that's gathering dust. So, onto it: Mind and Body: Physical activity at least five three times a week: Broadsword: Go to sword class at least twice once a week. I need to get back on track there. And I miss grappling something fierce. Bodyweight: Do the /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine at least twice a week. I'm getting a hell of a lot better with my pull ups, as I've been able to do some practice not at a gym. We have normal lintels in our condo so I've been able to get a doorway bar. I can bust out five getting my clavicles to the handles. Gotta work on that power too, though. Also, does anyone have any pistol squat progression advice? Rapier (optional): The new taster session for the rapier class starts on the 21st, and if I get a monthly sword pass, it is included. Might be fun. Meditation: five minutes a day. Diet: Always the worst bit of my challenge. I'm under 15% bf and if I try to go lower I have to think about food all the frelling time. So just watch it? Life: Creativity: 30 20 minutes of creative endeavor a day three times a week. Drawing, strumming, writing, composing, programming, just something. Programming: 12 pomodori a week? Including design. Start simple and build up? Linear Algebra: I have 92 videos and exercises to go on Khan Academy's Linear Algebra module (not including the alternate coordinate systems). I need to brush up before my Image Processing class in the autumn. So that boils down to 8 videos a week. Let's do this. † Unless I want to clear my database and test everything again… ‡ Though we should probably get everything out of boxes (but we need another dresser), change the doorknobs, hang the art, change the kitchen faucet, &c.

“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.†- Duke Leto Atreides / Frank Herbert (Dune) For some time now I've been out of the fight. Assorted excuses and... well... whatever. No excuses are valid. I'm back. A bit late. Too late to have any lofty goals for the first challenge but here I am, stepping back into the ring. One of my resolutions this year is to not consider any resolutions until the 1st of Feb anyway so that works I've been trying to imagine my ideal self at "level 50". Every time I try, the image swirls and morphs. It take aspects of all sorts of paragons of my goals and ideas but never quite settles in any one form. With some contemplation and reflection I've moved my viewpoint through the swirling mists and myriad forms to cut through to the core. Me at level 50: I'll be fit. Nothing amazing but fit... fitter than I've ever been before. Slim enough to fit into off the rack M-L clothing, tough enough to run a 5k in less than 25 minutes, barefoot. Strong enough to do a dozen pull ups. Agile enough to kip-up. My fitness training will be based on the primal blueprint and will incorporate as much wilderness fitness as possible (trail running, hiking, generally running about, lifting stuff and climbing stuff in the outdoors). I'll be working, either in outdoor pursuits and/or in some kind of skills development / training / teaching position. I'll have a black belt in Karate and probably in Kobudo too. Maybe be approaching black belt in another art such as Jujutsu or another grappling art. I'll be practicing and teaching HEMA in my spare time. I'll read more actual books and get more actual sleep. I'll be eating healthily, have a dog that my wife and I take long walks with on a daily basis and we'll be secure enough to occasionally go on holiday (something we've never been able to do). The dog will also accompany me on my solo excursions up into the hills or forests of wherever I live, for camping, bushcraft and general time to be among the green places. In short, I'll be in tune with and shaped by my environment. Like a Fremen... but in much wetter weather. The description is by no means exhaustive and will doubtless change from time to time. So, on the the last week or so of the existing challenge: Simple goals just to ease back into things... 1: Get to bed before 1:30AM every weeknight. 2: Eat some kind of breakfast every weekday morning. That's it. There's no XP or anything here, just a step onto the path of the Irish Fremen. to be continued.

I'm more than alive: I'm actually doing very well, especially considering where I was six months ago. While work, school and training have been eating up a lot of energy. Especially good is that I've been on top of my fitness game and I'm approaching one of the best shapes of my life. I say "one of" because I was really happy with where I was 20 months ago, before the Catastrophe1. I was 10 kg heavier then, and had trainers to keep me in check/direct my workouts and I was doing some parkour training. However, if I were to take a guess, I would reckon that I'm at a similar body composition now that I was then, or at least my arms have started to look really nice. In general, I'm beginning to look more like Jamie Fraser and less like Black Jack Randall nude. That being said, I do have some abstract goals forming, that I need to put in concrete form: I've promised my wife that I'll go as Kraven the Hunter to NYCC in October, which I hope to spur me to better looking coreWhich will require that I get better at eating and mealingI've been told that I could possibly take my Companion test in the late SummerI need to work on not letting myself get distracted as frequentlyI need to step up my chore game at home, especially if I'm out of school for five short weeks beforeI have an intensive, five week summer session of school immediately after this challenge ends: four nights a week, three hours a night. Exactly like the usual ten week term, but in five.So onto this challenge's specific, concrete goals: Sword Fighting Skills I when I asked if I would be ready to take the Novice to Companion test in the fall, I was told by our dean that I will probably be ready by summer's end. So I am going to make sure I know how to perform every item on the Novice Curriculum. I've already most of them under my belt, but there are many there that need practice. Here are the skills on the curriculum, italics for known but needing practice, and bold for those known well, hidden behind spoiler to avoid a large waste of space: General: Safety skills: Grappling: Binds: Arm bars: Throws: The Sword in Two Hands: Cutting drills: Tactical drills: Set-Plays: Defenses from Below: Two points for each known well, and one point for each just known. An extra point for having all the skills in a category known well. A Total of 100: 87%87% S: 100, A: 90+ B: 85+ C: 80+ Start: 70 Nutrition I've done fairly well so far. I'm down in weight from where I was seven months ago, though I mostly attribute this to my ADHD medication, as improved focus means less boredom and less boredom eating. However, while I am down in weight, my consumption of sweets has increased quite a bit, probably also as a result of otherwise eating less and my body then reaches for a high calorie snack. I have also gotten much leaner too, and this I attribute to working out regularly. I would like to get leaner for NYCC, especially if I'll be wearing an open vest with no shirt as the presence of a six pack would cinch the whole Kraven cosplay in my favor. I stress leaner as I don't want any focus on losing weight, as I advocate for body positivity, as getting leaner by either losing fat, gaining muscle or both will have the same effect upon the texture of my belly. My goal for food is to get into a practice of creating meals in advance so that when my schedule becomes busy again I can be eating cleanly and without having to waste money going to restaurants before class every night. I'd like to aim for a 2300 kCal diet, with protein consisting of around a third of the food energy. I think the cornerstone of this diet will be chicken drumsticks as they're cheap and easy to portion. This goal will be taken pass/fail. A pass would be a plan to get five breakfasts, five lunches and four dinners as well as appropriate snacks for each work day. Other minor goals More of a to do list than anything else. In no particular order. I probably won't complete all of these, but accountability is nice. Practice stepping off line during a fightPractice better coverClean kitchen when possibleClean deskPut away comicsStore winter clothingGet body composition testDraw more (3/week, 15 minutes/time?)Write to my penpal

From the all-knowing Wikipedia: Though I prefer the term Úlfheðinn (ulf-r = 'wolf', heðinn = 'jacket of fur or skin'), I went with "berserker" in the title because it is an accepted English word and doesn’t have funny letters. The letter eth, à (capital) or ð (lower case), is pronounced with a voiced “thâ€, as in “this†and “thoseâ€, and is often transliterated as a “d†or “dhâ€. (And thus ends our language nerd lesson.) For more historical berserker details, please visit the Viking Answer Lady. Currently my favorite literary berserker is Soren, in Tessa Gratton's "United States of Asgard" books. Goal 1: Calorie Tracking From Egil’s Saga: To start my transformation into one of “the hardest of menâ€, I am tracking my calories with myfitnesspal. Target is 1.5 pounds of fat loss per week. Goal 2: Daily Training I have set aside a half-hour each day in the early morning for training. In general, I expect to alternate between strength-based and running-based days. I am trying to work in some weapon-training as well. On Sunday, I plan to walk for one hour instead, as an active rest day. Goal 3: Weekly Saving I have recently been trying to rein in my impulsive spending, especially on food and treats. At the end of each successful week, I will put $10 in my saving jar next to my bed. Mission: Wear a silver arm ring at Castle Wars, November 2015, earned through valiant effort in losing 30 pounds of body fat, and purchased with Danegeld from the subjugation of my bad spending habits.

Mission: Get in the right physical shape to handle at least weekly practices in heavy armored combat with my local group of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). That means I will not fit in the stereotypical monk mold that I have seen here at NF. Less this. More this. During the last half of my previous challenge I floundered pretty badly, because I did not have a clear motivational mission, and also (probably mostly) because I had a really bad time at work, that bled into my personal and fitness life. I think I have my life a little more balanced now, and I will be going back to something that has worked for me in the past: daily tasks. 1. Every day, at least twenty minutes of exercise. Examples: body-weight circuit training, sledgehammer HIIT, or running, with hiking no more than once per week. I plan to specifically get my shoulders strengthened to handle holding up my shield and sword for long bouts. 2. Every day, only eat foods that are intentional (that is, planned) rather than impulsive (that is, driven by emotion or temporary craving). So a treat is all right, if it is something that I planned at least a day in advance and preferably have with other people. 3. Every day, carve out some personal time for meditation/prayer/scripture study. I did this in an earlier challenge and I miss the clarity. I have an application on my phone to help track, and I plan to post here near-daily. Thanks for reading.

REAL swords! and they do build muscle...my arms were sore! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZytqI15_zo

<bows> Greetings and Salutations Monks! I'm Hugh and this is my 10th Nerd Fitness 6 week challenge I am taking a hiatus from the rangers to visit some of the other guilds. Last time was the Assassins, this time it's The MONKS! < cue thunderous applause > For this challenge I'm going to do something I've been thinking about for a while... Systematize a Lightsaber Martial Art! Additionally, where possible, I will be combining the burgeoning array of techniques with my fitness training in an attempt to make sure that, when the time comes, I can put these techniques to good use. I have a background in HEMA (theatrical and competitive), Ninjutsu and modern fencing. I also have varying degrees of experience in Iaijutsu, Kenjutsu, renaissance and mediaeval re-enactment fighting, larp, Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai and a few other relevant disciplines. I'm also hoping that, by osmosis, I might pick up some useful titbits of martial arts information while hanging out in the Monk's Dojo I'm also a fairly obsessive Star Wars Nerd (original trilogy FTW! Greedo DID NOT shoot first!)... Though I admit I'm a bit out of touch with the more recent expanded universe material. I'm also hoping that, by osmosis, I might pick up some useful titbits of Star Wars information while hanging out with a bunch of similarly obsessive nerds So, on to the challenge... My primary, long term, goal is to improve my fitness to a degree where I can do a "Kip Up" and then move on to other acrobatic endeavours. (this will also include loosing a bit more weight) Challenge Goals: 1: Construct the Martial Arts of Lightsaber Combat. There are seven main styles of Lightsaber Combat featured in the expanded universe material. My intention is to systematize them into forms, flourishes, katas and drills that can be performed in both sparring and in performance. They must be mostly martially sound and must be appropriately impressive for theatrical performances (i.e. a certain amount of flashy techniques are fine: this is as much about flair as it is about real fighting) You can follow the progress of this goal HERE. Construct the Martial Arts of the Jedi/Sith: +1 DEX, +2 WIS, +2 CHA 2: Rein in the Arrogance My inner Sith has a great deal of Confidence. My Inner Jedi likes to call it Arrogance... Whatever it's called, it can sometimes be useful but it can also be a hindrance. A tendency to think I know better is something that I'm always trying to curtail in favour of being objective and analytical. To this end, I will, for the next four weeks, be following a training regimen that is being provided by the trainers at my gym. I'm dubious and my inner Sith is riling against it... but my Jedi side WILL keep him in check! I will follow the prescribed program (with variations as noted below) at least two days each week. Three days per week is ideal but life can happen sometimes. In instances where a day is missed, it will be made up for by attending a Kettlebell class. The regimen that has been suggested is essentially a conditioning circuit. I'll post details after my first session (tomorrow). As I progress, I'll look at including some exercises from "TACFIT" in the mix but only if I'm not finding the prescribed circuit challenging enough. Follow the Program that has been supplied: +1 WIS, +2 CON, +2 STA. 3: Keep consistent but passionate I have a short attention span. My Chaotic and eclectic interests often leave m--- Ooh look! a butterfly! <sigh> see what I mean? I need to maintain variety in order to maintain interest. Doing the same thing over and over again might be great for consistent results but it's an anathema to me. Which probably explains why I'm overweight and without a steady job... and here's me jumping off a Pier in Eastbourne a few years back Ahem. So yeah, I need variety but I find that a little bit goes a long way. The illusion of variety is usually enough. To that end, my prescribed workouts will be added to with a little bit of my own preference: I'm keen to strengthen my back and posterior kinetic chain, so I will be including Deadlifts, Assisted Pull ups and goblet squats in my prescribed workouts. one or two of these exercises will be attached to each of my workouts. I'll track my progress and try to get better at them as I progress through the 6 weeks. Include some personal preference Strength Training: +2 STR And my "life goal" which is totally about the business opportunity and not at all about getting toys... 4: Practice what I preach - Prepare for battle! As mentioned in the Lightsaber Combat thread, this project is largely to do with some work opportunities which may or may not materialize. I am choosing to be positive about this. One thing that I will need when the bookings start coming in is a Lightsaber... So I'd better bloody well get one! If I can save enough to get one with all the features, then great (A grade) but each feature it lacks (sound, flash on clash, accessories) will reduce the grade. Buy a Lightsaber from Ultrasabers.com: +2 WIS, +1 CHA Ongoing Summary: Week 1: LSC development still firmly in the research phase but continuing. Some practice of techniques just to aid three dimensional thinking. Pretty gentle on the exercises. My time management has been a bit poor and I kept getting to the gym with not a lot of time before they close. This has meant that my workouts were not as focussed as perhaps they should have been and generally felt a bit rushed. Friday' workout was done on saturday for similar reasons but that's not a big deal. I didn't get as much "personal preference strength training" in as I would have liked - that bad time management again. Asisted pull-ups only but at least it was only 20 - 25kg assist. Saving for lightsaber - gotta get the car serviced which might eat up what little is put aside... time will tell.