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I will keep the introduction short, as my challenge will once again be a continuation of the last challenge. The pattern is really working for me, so I intend to keep it, with only minor changes along the way. Primary Section - Taijiquan and Qigong 1. Continue taiji and qigong as a daily habit. The plan is to take some time each day to practice taiji and qigong. 20 - 30 minutes of practice would be ideal, but I will make compromises with my other priorities in life as needed. Break it up throughout the day, as needed, whatever it takes. Make the opportunity. 2. Continue to refine my taiji/ qigong skills. This means taking in information wherever possible, from classes, seminars, videos, books, etc. I am currently taking a one-per-week class on the Yang style long form of taiji, which will continue through the end of February. I also intend to keep reading my taiji books 1 - 2 times per week, and incorporate the information into my daily practice. Secondary Section - Meditation and Body Weight Training 1. Daily meditation. I've been doing this for a year now. It is an indispensable source of relaxation and self-care. Any amount of daily meditation will suffice, but I am striving to meditate for at least twelve minutes each day. I will continue to focus on maintaining the proper seated posture when I meditate. This has greatly relieved lower back pain. 2. Body weight exercises and yoga. I will do this three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Body weight training focuses mainly on pull-ups and dips, using the "grease the groove" approach, where I do several sets of low reps spread out over a day. I generally do the yoga in the evening, or whenever I finish my last set of pull-ups and dips. This has been great training for upper-body and core strength. I am still using my Bullet Journal, though I have decided to drop the special page to catalog my challenge-related activities. I know the cute little graphics were popular here on NF, but I feel I've come to a point where the separate chart isn't necessary, as I track my progress in the daily logs anyway, and it's just become extra work. As Bruce Lee said, it's not the daily increase, but the daily decrease. Cut away what is not necessary. Thanks for reading.

So, here we are for the next challenge. I basicly want to keep doing what worked for me the last months and finetune it a little bit. I'm also thinking about to use the information from one of of Steve's recent articles. But i could not really think through on what habits to work on how. Will use the thread to think about it. Here is Steve's Article: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/how-to-build-healthy-habits-that-stick/ Ok, here are the challenge task: Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri:☐ No youtube on phone: Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri:☐ Sat: ☐ Sun: ☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays Mon:☐Tue:☐Wed:☐Thur:☐ Fri: ☐ Excercise: biking to work 5 days each week Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri: ☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) Mon:☐ Thur:☐

Good morning Druids. This is more-or-less a continuation of the same challenge I did last time (Journey to Wudang Shan). The routine worked so very well, that I want to continue on with it. There is still plenty to challenge me within the same routine. So let's get to it. Primary Section - Tai Chi and Qigong 1. Continue Tai Chi and Qigong as a daily habit. The plan is to take some time each day to practice Tai Chi and/ or Qigong, in some capacity. 20 - 30 minutes of practice would be ideal, but I will make compromises with my other priorities in life as needed. Break it up throughout the day, as needed, whatever it takes. Make the opportunity. 2. Continue to refine my Tai Chi/ Qigong skills. This means taking in information wherever possible, from classes, seminars, videos, books, etc. I have signed up for a Tai Chi class with Community Education, but this does not begin until February. In the meantime, I will continue to self-train, read books, watch videos, and take in whatever information and training is available. My focus at the moment is on the Tai Chi 24 Form, and Spring Forest Qigong. Secondary Section - Meditation and Body Weight Training 1. Daily meditation. I've been doing this for nearly a year now. It is an indispensable source of relaxation and self-care. 2. Body weight exercises and yoga. I will do this three times per week. Body weight training focuses mainly on pull-ups and dips, using the "grease the groove" approach, where I do several sets of low reps spread out over a day. I generally do the yoga in the evening, or whenever I finish my last set of pull-ups and dips. This has been great training for upper-body and core strength. Tertiary Section - Bullet Journal I will keep utilizing my bullet journal to keep track of my daily tasks and priorities.

Ok, here is my first challenge for the new year. Following the habits didn't worked at all last challenge. So decided to concentrate on the most important one try to get it right. The rest is basicly a continuation of things that are working. I've been restricting pasta, pizza and sweets to the friday, saturday, sunday. This challenge i want to further restrict my cheat days to saturday and sunday. I've started to use my bike for some parts of my way to work. This time i will increase the distance. (approx. 25 minutes). Starting Tomorrow( 2th January). Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp ☐☐☐☐☐☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays ☐☐☐☐ Excercise: biking to work 4 days each week ☐☐☐☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) ☐

Ok lets start this. I liked the setup from the last challenge pretty much. But life head other plans and i fell of the truck. So this time, i will use the setup from last time with some fine tuning. I will start tomorrow. Tracking is done with habithub. Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: Habits: * Use the daylight lamp for 30 minutes each day: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Use Headspace daily for 10 minutes ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Plan each day: (Go through the my todo app and plan the todos for the day) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Brush teeth at 11pm (i tend to be in bed to late. With this i hope to structure my evenings a bid better) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Social Media on my Phone(Block Facebook and Youtube on the mobile browser) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Diet: * No Sweets during the week (i want to cut down on those. My first steep is to limit it to the weekend (friday - sunday)): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Pasta during the week (same as for the sweets only allowed from friday to sunday): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Don't drink liquid calories: (just water, coffee with milk or unsweetend tea) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Excercise: * Go to Taiji class and be on time(Mondays and Tuesdays) ☐ ☐ * Use the my bike for the work way(15 Minutes each way, 3 days a week) ☐ ☐ ☐

Here we go again... What worked last challenge: * Avoiding liquid calories proves pretty easy. Had some one day slips, but immediately got back on track. This actually easy. But my sugar cravings increased. Will keep it this challenge. * No social media on my phone: No going good for about two months. Big, big game changer. I slipped a little with facebook. But twitter and youtube are still good. Will keep it this challenge. I tend to fail when i have to wait and nothing to read. So i will keep my ereader well stocked. What didn't worked so well: * Planned to repair my bicicle, but didn't really find the time. I will put in this challenge again. Will ask my dad for help. I don't really have the space to repair stuff, but he has. Plus we can have a little son & dad time * Sugar cravings: After starting to avoid liquid calories i started to have sugar cravings and eat more sweets. Will adress this time The new Challenge: (Will start tomorrow: 23.10.2017) Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: * Use the daylight lamp for 30 minutes each day: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Post daily on nerdfitness (facebook or forum) daily: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Don't drink liquid calories: (just water, coffee with milk or unsweetend tea) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Plan each day: (Go through the my todo app and plan the todos for the day) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Sweets during the week (i want to cut down on those. My first steep is to limit it to the weekend (friday - sunday)): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Pasta during the week (same as for the sweets only allowed from friday to sunday): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Go to Taiji class and be on time ☐ ☐ * Brush teeth at 11pm (i tend to be in bed to late. With this i hope to structure my evenings a bid better) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Use Headspace daily for 10 minutes ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ I'm in spain during the second week of the challenge. So it will be a bit different. I'm going to elaborate in the next few days

The thick wooden front gate of the monastery opens slowly. At first nobody seems to notice but than one of the acolytes walks over and pulls the gate open in one swift movement. A man falls into the yard. He was leaning against the gate. He looks pretty bruised, the shield he carries with him is split and the sword has seen better days. He seems to be barely conscious. Quickly the acolyte calls for help. The man is picked up and brought to a bed so can rest. The other acolytes will see what they make of him after a weeks up. But he already seems familiar... Hello everybody. I'm still figuring out what to do during the the next challenge. But wanted to get back in. So, in the next two days, i will come up with something.

"The monastry door opens a bit and through slips a student who hasn't been seen for a while by the other monks. He roamed the lands for while and he looks slighty bruised like life happend to him a few times. But he has a warm smile on his face and seems happy that he is home again. He gets back to his usual spot in the yard and starts training his forms again." After a skipped challenge i'm trying get back on track. I want to do the following: Each Day: * get to bed before 12 am. * sleep 7 hours * drink two litres of water * meditate ten minutes Each week: * Finish 3 academy quests * Write a summary on sunday

[Under Construction]

The Republic and the Jedi Order are in engaged in active conflict. 6 Months ago contact was lost to 47 different worlds in the outer rim. The expedition force sent to investigate also disappeared. Shortly after this contact to an additional 18 worlds was lost. This time the republic and the jedi order sent mixed task force of regular troops and jedi. Above an unnamed desert plant the task force was ambushed by much larger fleet. The surviving jedi reported that multiple very strong dark side users were in command of the attacking fleet. The battle took about 4 hours and only 3 task force ships could make it back to republican space. At same time the number of terrorist attacks rose significantly. The attacks grew also way more vicious. They are almost always directed towards places or persons of strategic importance to the republic. About 4 Months ago rumors started spreading among frontline troops that the attackers were the descendants of the old sith empire. The empire last attacked the republic 1000 years ago and unto this point was nothing more than a story to scare the children. But rumors stuck and keep growing... The republic and the order are holding the line for the moment but are desperate for fresh troops. More Recruits and Padawan candidates are reaching coruscant daily and are put into training as fast as possible... Week 1: In the first week of basic training the new students of the order are learning the following new things: * Protection against sith mind control techniques (i will install a website and app blocker solution at my phone and desktop) * They get their first course about the war and what they are fighting for (i will do the mindset quests in the academy) * Also it is made sure that they are well rested for the fights to come (7 hours of sleep every night, if the next day is a work day i'm in bed by 11:45, on work days i'm on my way to work ) * they also have to meditate each day and work three times a week with the training remotes (10 minutes meditation and 40 double handed swings 3x peer Week) Week 2: The second week will be filled with a tripp to ireland aehm the frontlines(vacation: nothing planned here) Week 3: While maintaining the training from week 1 during week three the students are required to help out in temple library. A reorganization of the library is nessecary, to make it easier to find information about the sith empire(sell 5 five books (ebay, facebook)) * The students also started learning about how the force helps the to improve their physical abilities (Read the academy nutrition chapter and start the quests) Week 4: By the end of week four the students will be assaigned to masters in various branches of the order to continue their training. But before that they have to study strategy. Especially how the republic collects money to fund the war and how it deploys it's conventional troops (sell 5 five books (ebay, facebook), buy plane ticket to nf meetup in scotland) and they have to finish the studies of manipulating their physical bodies. For the republic!

for when he wakes he will move mountains... or he will be a bit less sleepy with a better morining routine. In the last months my morning routine has been a catastrophe. I always got 7 hours of sleep, but was nearly always in bed after 0 am. This let to waking late and a pretty hectic morning. I want to change this. So the plan this time: 1. Lights out by 11:45 pm (When the next day is a work day) 2. Seven hours of sleep 3. On my way to work by 8 am (Obviously on work days) I'm still trying to meditate, do forms and Kettlebell and go to taiji class but thats a side note this time. Updates at least once a week.

Here I am again. After a few very enlightening challenges I have the feeling I've come to a crawl. But that's better than a standstill, isn't it? For April, I'll return to the basics. Nothing fancy and not too much. Although my goals seem repetitive (and I have a nasty voice telling me "AGAIN? You are incompetent, you can't do anything, you're not making progress!", which is a little difficult to ignore), I'm still... well, crawling. Soon I'll be able to walk, I hope. Goals for April: Dairy free (with the exception of selfmade Ghee). That's not an easy one - I don't consume that much cheese or joghurt, but notable amounts of chocolate and other stuff where a little dairy is added. But it's only 30 days, so... I'll do my best. Walk at least 3 times a week. Not daily (more is better, of course, but then life happens...), to take the pressure out of it. Should be feasible, the days are getting longer again, yet I'm often tired when I come home from work, or the weather is bad, or... yeah. I have theater meetings every Monday and usually walk there, so that's one day of walking down. Should be able to fit in two more! Stick to my diet. I'm trying something new right now: every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I'll be having only protein shakes (about 1000 kcal), the other days I can eat. This does not only help with weight loss (although that remains to be seen), it takes the "what do I eat, what do I eat?!!!"-thoughts away for three days per week, and I have to manage only two work days (and the weekend, which differs if I'm alone or with company). Because of Easter I have not done a full week of this, but at the moment it seems... almost like a relieve. Although shake days can be difficult ("I wanna eat now! You've been good the whole day, you can have a nice dinner now!") and eating days, too (usually I don't do breakfast, but after a shake day I wake up rather hungrily), at the moment this seems manageable and almost relaxing. Go to Tai Chi. Spear class is almost over and I missed only one day! Whooot! Next I will be learning the sabre (spear will be moved to another time slot I can't manage), which should look something like this. My teacher did a video of herself with the spear (sadly was uploaded only to Facebook but should be viewable by everyone) and plans to film the whole group of us. I'm not sure if I will participate, but if I do, I will show you how I do (I'm insecure about one tricky part, and if I start to think during the kata, then I mess up. Everyone else doesn't, so I'm more than a little self-conscious there because in that group I'm standing out in a bad way). I'm not sure if I'll include my stairs again. I probably should. I might add that later, though. And I still want to go swimming, too, but that's not part of my challenge right now. The kettlebell is wonderful... I'm not sure why I didn't use it more last time. I think because it's not so much a habit, yet. When I have visitors I "hide" the kettlebell and then forget to put it out into the living room again. Or I'm thinking about it right before bed and don't want to workout at that time. Will find a solution for that. Should I do my stairs, I can easily add a few swings afterwards. It's more that I have to remember to get up, at all... maybe set an alarm, or something... needs a little more thought. Edit: I just set an alarm in my mobile. Let's see if that helps, it's an experiment for now.

Hello, so here comes my challenge. I want to use this one to get back on track with the stuff that worked previously. So this means: Each day: 7 Hours of sleep 10 Minutes of meditation 5 minutes of training (taiji or KB Swings / TGU's) 2 Liters of water During the challenge: log every expanse in ynab don't miss taiji class Sorry, for not writing that much. During the weekend i had a quite unpleasent conversation with a buddy. I'm not sure how the handle the relationship between us after this conversation. So my thoughts are elsewhere at the moment. Anyway i will track the stuff with habit bull and try to post updates on sundays.

This challenge i want to focus on my daily stuff. I keep struggeling with my daily training and meditation. I think this is because i don't have fixed time for it. Ideally the time for those things is in the morning. I'm not really a morning person, but want to use this challenge to improve a bit in this direction. Daily: * In bed and lights out by 11:30 pm (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) * Get up at 6:30 pm (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) * 20 minutes of Meditation using headspace * At least 10 minutes of taiji practice or 10 minutes of kettlebell practice Weekly: * I will prepare at least on meal at home * I will plan my workouts and my cooking During the challenge: * I will read a novel and a non fiction book.

So here we go for the new year. I want to iron out some things from earlier challenges that worked quite well. On top of that i want to to attack cooking for myself again. For that i will try to establish an group of Accountabilibuddies for inspiration and some kicks in the ass. Daily: * training * meditating * 2 liters of water * 7 hours of sleep Weekly: * cook one meal myself During the challenge: * 20 Hours coding on side project * Try to organize a meeting with a partner taiji school in Hamburg. * Make a list of all the competitions and seminars i want to go to. * Read and Finish "Chibola Burns" from James SA Corey. * Read and Finish "Enter the Kettlebell" from Pavel Tsatsouline. * Completly plan out the month on ynab.

This challenge will be a minimal one. I'm pretty busy at the moment, but want to keep doing challenges. During the challenge i want to do the following 4 things daily: 1. I will drink two liters of water. On the weekends i often forget to drink enough and get headaches from this. 2. I will do my Taiji Short form at least 1x. 3. I will get 7 hours of sleep. 4. I will meditate for 20 minutes using headspace. For two weeks i will be on the road and might not be able to post my updates. I will do the daily tracking with an android app.

13 Original Tai Chi Forms: The eight energies. Beijing 24 Form

Originally I wanted to give the Druids a try and posted there. They are great folk over there, but I kept checking out my friends here. So, sorry for leaving you guys and going over there. I am a monk. It hit me like a ton of bricks! The urge to mastery. I have studied and practiced taijiquan (tai chi chuan) for almost 30 years and I cannot manifest the empty mind consistently in combat. I have on several occasions had bullet time happen and evaded things that made me see the promise and potential of taijiquan. Now I want to manifest that empty mind on command. I really resonate with Richard Dragon (DC Comics) here. I need to leg go of my past and the tragedy of my Army unit getting wiped out. To that end I will begin practicing taijiquan 3 times a day for 40 minutes a shot. This is probably against all the good advice I have heard all my life, but I used to practice more than that. As I said, I have almost 30 years experience with taijiquan. This gives will give me over 1000 minutes of practice a week and over the 6 week challenge it will add up to over 100 hours. Along with this I need some strength training. The arthritis in my hips and shoulders is making me take a break from trail running and I also really hate to run in the cold. I have a great program called Convict Conditioning, so I am going to follow it. It is basically body weight stuff and perhaps someday I can do this like my hero.... Finally, weight loss. In the last 6 months I have lost 45 pounds going from 250 down to 205 pounds. I am using a calorie counting app called Lose It and I love it. I am getting a normal shape again and that is a good thing. I really need to be fit to keep up with these guys. This series really inspired me. So: 1- Taiji 4 times at 40 minutes a shot a day. 3 points Wisdom (Why wisdom? Its a moving meditation.) 2- Convict Conditioning. 1 points Strength. 3- Keep logging the calories and daily weighings. 2 points Agility. Skinny equals more benefit from the agility aspect of practicing so much Taijiquan. Not sure on the points, because I skipped a challenge and forgot how to do it. I'll figure that out later.