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A bit late to this party due to needing some extra recovery time for an injury. Feeling grand now though Last time I might have bitten off a little more than I could chew so I'll be carrying some of the goals forwards to continue exploring them. Other things were ideas and experiments that perhaps didn't go as planned. A truncated version of my last goals and how I did: Kobudo - not too bad... though not as good as I'd like. HEMA - Got the longsword syllabus done. Katana - not good. Only did a couple of practice sessions. Spear - Pretty good. Conditioning - Did a few sessions but not as many as I should have.... Definitely a good workout for my next 4WC. I have a few things going on this next month... I've got a HEMA seminar / tournament coming up in a couple of weeks. Gotta train for this. Prepare for Battle! I have been failing to properly implement frequent moderate exercise so have decided to make a small, simple commitment to go for a 20 minute walk/jog/run each day time I am sitting about at my friend's house while my wife is working (PA for said friend). I can even take my friend's dog for a run about while I'm at it My cardiovascular system and blood pressure will thank me. Specifics: Martial Arts Training: HEMA: Twice a week, sparring at least once a week. Karate / Kobudo: practice my karate katas twice a week and my kobudo katas once a week. My usual training isn't making me a better fighter... Cardio: 20 minutes of walk/jog/run fartlek exercise each day I'm waiting about for my wife at work (three days a week - typically Monday, Tuesday and Friday) Workouts... for the sake of workouts: Once a week - bodyweight (and maybe kettlebell) workout including a conditioning section, HEMA-Style like last 4WC. DON'T INJURE MYSELF: For the last couple of weeks I've been hobbling about with either a damaged achilles tendon or a pulled lumbar muscle... need to take it easy and not damage myself again for a while (especially not before the tournament - I want to represent my club without limping too much...). I'm sick of lurching about like Igor... Compete in the Longsword Tornament at Féile na Gaiscígh. Not a training goal so much as a milestone / club outing. (Mustn't drink too much on the Saturday night ... ) Want to do better than last time when I was knocked out in my first fight.

Hello, Brothers and Sisters. Challenge number three for me. And, I have the opportunity to complete it, something I haven't done yet. The theme of this challenge is Consistency. Main Quest: play soccer competitively Goal 1: consistent cardio. 3 days per week, 20 minutes total workout. walking is fine. failing to walk/run is not. I stick with this goal, because last challenge I was doing great for like, 3 weeks, and then I hit a mental wall. I just couldn't get up and get out, perhaps I was working out too hard, or perhaps I'm jsut a baby and need to man up. whatever the case is, the vehicle on which you arrive on the road of success is persistence, so, I continue pressing on, training for the goals I have to survive. I often times want to get up and run, though, and do intervals with some regularity because they feel great. But I want to get that measurable consistency up. This particular goal is Pass/fail. anything short of 100 percent completion is a failure for me, because I have a degree of fitness already. So, 3x6(w)=18 total workouts. my work schedule is fun, graveyard shift and all, so M, W, and F afternoons are when the workouts will go on. Goal 2: Train for the upcoming soccer tournaments (jun 21st and July 31st). I have 8 drills that I do. I don't want to do each one each day, because that challenge sucks. I tried, and failed. So, I'm gonna say if I spend five minutes working on 2 skill drills (or completion for the around the world challenge) 3 times a week, it'll be ok. I play between two and four games a week during the summer, and while I love it, I have to take it easy if I want to be consistent, My goal is not to break my body, but to consistently build skill. DAY 1: soft touch and around the world. Soft touch is a cones drill (I use rocks, cause I'm broke right now, but maybe that will change.) where you dribble through cones. Around the world is an adaption where you try to build passing accuracy on each side of both of your feet by consistently hitting the same post from nine different positions. DAY 2: Triangles and juggling. Triangles is relatively straight forward, you pass the ball between both feet making a triangle. Juggling, you keep the ball in the air. DAY 3: Shooting precision and shielding: Shielding is the movement of the ball in four directions without changing the orientation of the hips. Shooting precision is working on hitting the same spot on the ball with each kick. I'm not super skilled yet, so the goal is to have the ball roll forwards and backwards with no spin. DAY 4: classic agility ladder and lower leg strength. The classic agility ladder is one that I have seen in every strength training/sports program I've ever been involved in. I don't think it needs a whole lot of explanation. But the lower leg strength is gonna be bodyweight squats and jumping drills, forwards and backwards on a left to right on a line. 15 secs squat, 15 secs jumping forwards and backwards, 15 secs jumping left to right, 15 secs rest, for five minutes for this drill. Two days a week is going to be easy with this drill, as I work at a soccer program (WHICH, BTW, I got paid to do this summer! I wasn't expecting that one) and I can show up and use our equipment before I run our program's games. So, 12 total workouts (2x6(w)=12 total workouts), 3 on each day. Should be easy-peasy, no joke, but I'm going for the easy win here because I've not been able to complete a challenge to my satisfaction to date. A: 12 workouts total (3/d) B: 8 or more workouts total (2/d) C: 4 or more workouts total (1/d) F: 0-3 workouts total. Goal 3: Develop 4 recipes that are 2200-2400 calories. These recipes will be big pot recipes, or something along those lines, that I can cook in the evening and distribute in small portions throughout the following day. This is part of a long term strategy that I'm working on to lose weight. But I don't want a specific fitness goal as much as I want to start building a lifestyle of healthy eating habits that I can then stand on for the rest of my life. I have 2 recipes already, for a 400-600 calories snack, if it becomes necessary. I'll post up a recipes thread, probably somewhere not challenge specific, to keep you informed of what I like to eat, and to talk with you of the many tasty concoctions we can make. so, 6(w)/4 equals 1.5(w) per recipe. Starting on June 9th, the challenge start date, I will have one recipe drafted for each 1.5 weeks of the challenge (252 hours to complete one recipe). A: 4 recipes, 1.5 weeks apart. B: 3 recipes over challenge. C: 2 recipes over challenge D: 1 recipe over challenge F: 0 recipes over challenge And, since I'm still trying to successfully complete a challenge, no life quest, though there are several I'm looking forward to getting underway. If you can, help me out. I get weighed down after some weeks, and can definitely use the encouragement. that mental wall is for real, and its out there for me to find, and overcome. Hopefully, this will be the challenge that I do just that. This challenge also, I'm going to be posting up a signature with progress bars, and all that, so that'll be a lot of fun. And, any suggestion about tags would be helpful, I don't know how to tag this thread at all. AND, I have a theme song for this challenge as well... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHk_Emakefg. "To pass beyond is what I seek. I fear that I may be to weak..." (;

Let's first assume (even if you don't agree) that during a tournament or competition, performance is more important than eating nutritiously. I eat very clean in general. But at fencing tournaments I want a lot of easily available carbs so I can blast through a lot of calories while competing. But then, I'm not a sports nutritionist. I have a tournament this weekend and want to kick a lot of ass. What should I eat the morning of the competition, during, after?