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I am an American law student who was accepted to study in Switzerland this coming semester. Classes ended here in December, and start there in mid-February. I'm using my extended break (we usually restart in mid-January here) to fit in some traveling. The best deal I could get on a ticket has me landing at Heathrow at 0600-something on 21 January, and departing at 0700ish on 1 February, which thrills me no end. I've always wanted to explore the U.K. Of course, the rub is that I don't know anyone outside the U.S., and I'm not terribly good at striking up random friendships with people (Mommy always told me not to talk to strangers…). I'm going to change that. I know we have Rebels in the U.K.; I've creeped on some of your threads in this sub-forum. I'd like to meet as many of you as I can! It helps that my travel plans are really quite vague. I'm thinking about going straight from Heathrow to catch a train to Edinburgh and explore Scotland first (for indeterminate time) and do London (for indeterminate time) right before I leave. Everything in the middle is fuzzy. So, if (1) you are a Rebel, and (2) you live in the U.K., I throw myself on your good graces. If we can meet while I'm there, I'd love it. If we can't, but you have suggestions for me, that would be equally great. Even if it's nothing more than "If you're in Edinburgh, you need to train at X," I'd appreciate it. I'd rather take the advice of Real People than read the guidebooks for tourists (although I'm starting a list of things-to-do from internet sources). Hope to hear from you!

Greetings from Wales, UK! I stumbled on to Nerd Fitness while doing a google search about body fat percentages and been hooked ever since. I've recently started working with a new personal trainer (who is awesome!) and educated me on body composition, so I was keen to check out more about body fat averages. Turns out this site is SO MUCH MORE than body fat! I am loving getting stuck in and ready to level up sir! I'm a dance teacher by trade and have danced myself since the age of 4, mainly ballet and contemporary dance (known as modern in the US). You'd think this would guarantee a perfect body right? WRONG! Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of benefits - posture, flexibility, co-ordination, lower body strength etc, but dance by nature is very start-stop, and if you combine this with an excessive calorie intake high in carbohydrates the body is not all that it could be! (Disclaimer - this is a unique situation, I am by no means saying dance is not good exercise!). This was what started me on my journey to level up my life, since years of dance have given me a considerable amount of muscle, especially in my lower body and core, but its all covered by unnecessary fat! I am happy to report that after a few weeks of training, my body fat percentage has dropped from 32% to 30% (my goal is to get to 20% at least), while my muscle has remained and even increased. Another of my goals is to increase my upper body strength, so I am loving the focus on strength training, and the Paleo diet advice. This carb-oholic is making the transition, and it's so much easier that I thought it would be! I'm not 100% Paleo yet, easing in, but the eggs, bacon, chicken and tons of vegetables have been cooking away! Feeling so much better for it.I have also started rowing as part of my training, with promising 100m sprint times (19.2 seconds is my fastest so far but I know I can get that down!). I am thinking of joining a local rowing club to see if I could be any good at it, so watch this space! I knew my long legs would come in handy - would have told my 11 year old self this when she was all insecure about being taller than all the boys in her year at school So to sum up, goals are: -Body fat percentage down to 20% -Get wicked strong, with the goal of completing a pull up -Get my 100m row sprints down to 17 seconds This site has already given me so much knowledge and enjoyment, thank you Steve and the team! Looking forward to taking the next step and interacting with all you lovely Nerd fitness peeps! -Emily