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This challenge is the beginning of what will truly be quite a chaotic rest of 2022 for me. Week 1 and 2 will be moving out of the house and into the camper, and then driving to Massachusetts where we'll be spending the summer. We're going to be helping my Mom with some stuff at her house while she housesits for my Uncle and then traveling all around and exploring New England as much as we can in the camper. I'm psyched. There are a lot of things that of course are super stressful and anxiety inducing, but lets just say this - This last challenge, I stuck with the basics, and I'm going to do the same for challenge. I'm making a few changes to goals, but for the most part we're staying the same. There's too much going on to try to level up right now - consistency is the key here I'm looking for. 1) Spell Combat: Strength Training - Daily I miss being super strong. This goal is number one - go to the gym every single day. I reestablished this habit for the most part last challenge, and am feeling way better than I've felt in a while, and now all I have to do to get back to where I used to be is keep going. So for this goal, daily training, aiming for 5x at the gym per week, but if I'm traveling, I can do a home workout (we have everything I need), or a bw workout. I'll need a new gym as soon as we arrive in MA. I'm giving myself till July 5th to have that all set up, though hopefully that's super generous - I want to make it a priority as soon as we're settled. 2) Agile Maiden: Yoga and Mobility - 3x 3x a week before bed. If I miss strength training, I can do this an extra time and it will count. 3) Terrain Mastery: Walking - Daily Daily walk, first thing, every day. I'm committing to keeping up with this while traveling. I already have a walking path picked out at my Mom's so don't have to think about that when we get there, too. Walking in general is much more difficult at my Mom's (due to location and road safety) , so for the first time in a while, this might be a more difficult one, but we at least have one path. Traveling we're going to be so achey and stir crazy from being in the car all day, the morning walks are going to be even more important to keep up. 4) Arcane Pool: Water and Veggie A Gallon of water and a veggie every day I got my gallon jug set up and have been using that again so have been consistently hitting this. Will keep it up, however, the days we're on the road I'm likely going to drink a lot less just so we have to stop less often! 5) Spellbooks: Review and plan schedule for each day the night before, with a loose weekly planning schedule at the end/beginning of each week I haven't been great about this the last few weeks, and it's shown. Picking this back up right away and it will be even more important as this period of chaos begins Alright, that's all! Good luck y'all!

I'm still very much recovering from (finally!) buying and moving into our own house this past challenge, so keeping this simple and focusing on the priority right now: SLEEP. Towards that end: Goal 1: Stop working by 6 pm (so my mind has time to turn off before bed) Goal 2: Start getting ready for bed by 11 pm. I will also try to gradually wind this deadline back towards 10 pm. Goal 3: No phone use in bed at night, with the except of kindle/setting an alarm. Corresponding tracker: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Stop working by 6 pm] ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Start getting ready for bed by 11 pm] ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [No phone in bed at night] 🐈 = did the thing (aka channelled my inner cat) 🦉 = didn't do the thing (aka was a night owl) I want to add back regular workouts soon too, but between packing/moving/cleaning/unpacking/DIY, I'm still recovering from and doing a lot of extra physical activity. We'll see how the next few weeks go. For this challenge at least, I'll aim to get a good workout space set up.

Lunge, step, parry. Lunge, step. Parry Lunge. Step. Parry With lungs burning and muscles aching, Scalyfreak stops her fencing exercises to wipe away the sweat that is running down into her eyes. It's starting to sting. Tired and irritated, but determined to learn how to work with the unfamiliar muscle memory that the plot scroll implanted overnight, Scalyfreak continues her rapier fencing drills. She will learn this. She will adjust. And she is so focused on learning and adjusting that she completely fails to notice that she's being watched by a pair of sharp and calculating eyes. So this is a little bit late. The main reason for this is that Zero Week of this challenge also was my first week back in the office for nearly 26 months. I am on a hybrid schedule, which means I am going in to the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and working from home on Mondays and Fridays. It's been... an adjustment. My firmly established morning routine has crumbled. Every shred of mental bandwidth is spent on dealing with the fact that the office has people everywhere. After over two years of spending my workdays almost entirely alone, I am now constantly visible to a crowd of people who surrounds me all day long. There are conversations everywhere, all the time, there is absolutely no privacy to be had anywhere (except of course for in a bathroom stall), and though it technically is possible to take a break every 20 minutes to do stretching and pacing for five minutes, I'm far too self-conscious to actually do it while in the middle of this annoying crowd for several hours on end. In addition to all this, I am no longer able to take my lunch-break walks with Husband and Happy Sidekick, because obviously they are not at the office with me, and I miss these walks to the point of withdrawal symptoms. I am also missing an additional hour of sleep on mornings when I have to go into the office, to say nothing of the fact that I'm spending three day per week in an office building filled with people in one of the least vaccinated states in the US... and I'm the only one I've seen wearing a mask in the entire building. As expected, the Flame of Anxiety is thriving in this stressful environment. I am spending all my time outside work on deploying every stress management technique I've ever learned to try and prevent it from turning into a wildfire inferno. (There has been a lot of hiding away in fictional worlds of all kinds.) And then I remembered that being a part of The Rebellion and having a challenge to post in is on that list, and I have ignored it, so here I am, doing my best to rectify this situation. Because this whole office ordeal sucks, challenge goals are going to be all about back to basics: Recover HP (physical health) Restart Age of Pandora. On days when I don't do an Age of Pandora workout, some other kind of intentional movement (that's not a walk) must be done. The goal is to keep my PAI point average between 80 and 100. Because blood pressure. Restore Mana (mental health) Mediate every morning. No exceptions allowed. Regenerate Stamina (emotional bandwidth) In general terms, this covers all the things that recharge the emotional batteries, which in turn is critical when it comes to not only soothing The Flame, but eventually harnessing it. In more specific terms, I'm working on making a habit of making life a little bit easier by actually utilizing the bullet journal I selected from the list of holiday gifts work offered us last winter. I've been drawing up monthly and weekly calendars to help me plan out the upcoming work week and weekends, so I can literally see what is coming up ahead. (I've been putting shiny stickers on the days when I've done a workout.) Lastly, for those of you who don't know me, this should give you a fairly clear idea of what to expect here:

I actually recently FINISHED a very successful challenge, and looking to keep that momentum going! Just got back from 9 days of vacation visiting the family, drove a total of 2,000 miles, but it was also planned time off from training/tracking and it went really well. Really happy with the balance I struck of enjoying myself and not worrying about the macro nutrient profile of everything that went in my mouth - but not overdoing it either. This challenge lines up fairly well with my second mesocycle prepping for my next powerlifting meet in July. Some of my goals will be focused on supporting this but trying to keep a holistic approach as well. CHALLENGE GOALS: 1. Steps - at least 7k daily (+1 point each day, +4 points if the week is over 60k) 2. Training - at least 4x per week (+1 point each day completed, +4 points if I surpass reps/weights from the previous mesocycle week) 3. Nutrition - 120g protein daily, (+1 point each day, +4 points if I consistently track the entire week) Total possible points: 165 If I earn at least 130 points I will do something nice for myself, TBD. If anyone is interested this is the template for the PL program I am running: https://rippedbody.com/intermediate-powerlifting-program/ The only wrench in the works is I am still rehabbing my shoulder (I tweaked it playing on the monkey bars about 2 weeks ago), nothing is seriously damaged but I am going to PT to try and get full ROM back. It is limiting OHP quite a bit, and to a lesser extent BP. But I should still be able to proceed with most of my training.

1. Controlling the Beast The Background Last challenge was both part successful and part not. My old enemy food addiction crept up on me hardcore last month. Like hardcore. I piled weight back on as I used things as excuses to binge. In fact, all my very hard work to where I had gotten this year has been completely reversed. When I got on the scales today and saw 99kg (I had gotten down to 89.9kg) I was devastated and told myself I couldn't let myself go over 100kg again. I had promised myself that much. I need to finally treat this as an addition and face my demon. The Research As an ex-smoker, I'm very well versed in how an addition feels and how hard it can be to overcome. I even once quit fructose and sugar for 3 years because I had a major addiction to chocolate. So this ain't my first rodeo. With this being my first day deciding to treat this like quitting smoking and an addition I started reflecting on all those old techniques I used. Recognising when I'm craving and taking a deep breath to count to 10, or deep breathing. The intense physical sensations of craving tend to only last 60 seconds, so I just need to get through that. I deleted my UberEats and DoorDash apps. I do order miso for my fast day because a local business does it way better than I ever could, but it takes effort for me to re-download, order, and then delete. That's good. It all has to be very conscious. I'm aware how drinking weaken resolve and increases cravings. I will try out the exception of with friends when out; but I cannot keep drinking when I get home- so no drinking at home rule. Working consciously through my reasons to feel good with addictions can help. I have an old addictions workbook I'm going to get back out and work through again to help my mental understanding and resolve. I'm not ready for occasional decisions to have meals I am craving. They cause me to cave into binging. Apart from my week in Fiji I need to leave these for alone for a while to reset and introduce these later. Again this is hard will friends for social occasions (I barely get out so want to keep encouraging this), so same rule again- no cheat meals alone and/or at home. The Goals (All these goals are not inclusive of my week holiday in Fiji from Sunday 15 May - Sunday 22 May, which I will address separately.) ☑ Do not order any food from delivery apps. (Exceptions will be reduced to soups, sashimi/chicken, salads and occasional soy chai's with no added honey.) ☑ No drinking at home. ☑ Work through the Eat, Drink and be Mindful workbook again. ☑ No 'cheat meals' alone and/or at home. 2. Embracing the Warrior The Background Despite struggling with my nutrition last month, I ended up falling into a good pattern with my fitness. I ended up signing up to my local gym again when I realised I had hit a wall with home lifting, and started enjoying their gym floor class in Strength Conditioning, HIIT, Boxing (I missed boxing so much!), Core, and more. While working towards some NF Quests on the side, I achieved some huge things for myself- like lifting 7% of my bodyweight in a deadlift! I also bought a set of bathroom scales that measure body fat, muscle, bone density, water etc. and stared concentrating more on gaining muscle and losing fat than trying to just "losing weight". I even realised the connection between needing to fuel my body with the right food amount in order to exercise and suddenly wanting to do this more than use fad diets to lose weight any way possible. So huge mental progress here. I finally felt like a warrior in training and I want to keep embracing that. Warrior Quests ☑ Read a book about a style other than your own (decided to go humorous on this and got The Swoly Bible.) ☑ Squat .5x your bodyweight (45kg) ☑ Bench press .5x your bodyweight (45kg) ☑ Snatch 1/3x your bodyweight (30kg) ☑ Farmer's walk with .5x your bodyweight (45kg for 25m) ☑ BONUS: Deadlift 1x your bodyweight Rebel Quests ☑ Get an A on your 4 Week Challenge ☑ Complete a Wall Walk

Conquius Seeks the Cloud Giants Pt. 2 For my last 5-Week Challenge, Conquius Seeks the Cloud Giants, I started on the path to Certification in Google Cloud Platform. Along the way, I established my regular lifting habit. For this challenge, I'm completing my Certification, and expanding on my lifting routine. #1. Complete my Google Cloud Platform Course and Pass my Certification Exam | Reward: Level-Up! Complete Sections 21-25 of my Google Cloud Platform Course on Udemy (Weeks 1 and 2) Prepare for my Certification Exam by taking daily Whizlabs GCP Practice Tests (Weeks 3 and 4) Schedule my Certification Exam, and pass on the first try (Week 5). #2. Even Sicker Lifts | Reward: +1 STR Last challenge, I established my habit of lifting 2x/week. Bench and Squat on Mondays, OHP and Deadlift on Thursdays. The plan was get in, do my Core Lifts, get out. No warm-up, no cool-down, no accessory work. This Challenge, that changes. I'm introducing warm-ups, cool-downs, and accessory work, but with the caveat that a workout with none of those things is better than no workout at all. Thus, I'm introducing the following point scheme per workout: 2 Points - Core Lifts 3 Points - Warm-Up, Core Lifts, Cool-Down. 5 Points - Warm-Up, Core Lifts, Accessory Work, Cool-Down. The goal is 30 points over 5 weeks. Going above and beyond may (may) include rewards. #3. No New Stuff | Reward: +1 WIS The goal itself is self-explanatory, but I want to talk about the impetus for this challenge, give some caveats, and lay down some rules. Before I left on my bike trip last year, I moved out of my city apartment, and stored all of my earthly possessions (other than what I carried on my bike) in my parents' house. When I got back, I knew another move was on the horizon. I bought the audiobook version of Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, listened to it over a few days, and reduced said possessions by at least half. I spent the rest of the year very cognizant of my spending, because (a) I had just discarded most of my possessions, and had found myself in the mindset of buying only what I needed, and (b) I was unemployed. No income. When I moved at the start of this year, I had to buy a lot of stuff. Not re-buying stuff I got rid of, mind you, but I had to furnish an entire home office / guest room, build out my home gym (really just had to buy floormats), and various bits and bobs like rugs and decor to make my new place livable to the standards of my roommates. Once I was re-employed with a well-paying job, that spending continued. I bought new computer peripherals, fidget toys, office clothes I hate, bike clothes, bike accessories, et cetera. I wasn't buying myself out of house and home, but I felt like I had reverted somehow. I feel that I am more susceptible to advertising, and more prone to seeking gratification through buying things. On top of this, I like to think of myself as a conscious consumer. I understand that what we buy doesn't define our identity, but giving my money to an industry (when I have a meaningful alternative) is tacit approval for that industry and what it does. I disapprove of animal agriculture for how it turns animals into faceless commodities and destroys the environment; I disapprove of fast fashion for exploitative labor practices and mass-producing clothes that shed microplastics; I disapprove of Amazon for the mistreatment of their workers, union busting, and profiting off of immediate gratification. The list goes on. As such, I want to align my purchasing habits with my personal ethics as close as humanly possible. There are some areas in my life where I'm really good at this, and there are some areas in my life where I have room to improve, namely clothes, electronics, and bike gear. Whenever I talk about "ethical consumption" with one of my roommates, she returns to her adage, "You have to draw the line somewhere", and she's right. Unfortunately, she usually follows it up with "I don't have the time or money to risk spending $150 on jeans that might not fit, just because they're ethically made. I need jeans now, so I'm going to buy the $30 stretch jeans off Amazon." I don't love her decision, but I don't begrudge her for it, either. She and I are in different financial positions. I do have the money, so over the next five weeks, I'm going to give myself the time, and push up where I draw my line. Additionally, I'll be looking into online resources for purchasing secondhand clothes and gear (looking at you, Patagonia Worn Wear and REI Used Gear), and in-person resources such as local thrift stores. So the challenge is this: No New Stuff. I'm drawing my line in the sand, and holding my ground against hyper-consumerism and immediate gratification. I can purchase obvious things like food and household goods. I can purchase anything needed for the continued regular function of my bicycle (e.g. new tubes). In the case of the catastrophic failure or destruction of any of my possessions, (e.g. my tent bursts into flames), I can replace it, so long there is an immediate need for it, and I try to find a used or secondhand replacement first.

I was nervous but excited to move away from the last two years of working from home and returning to the office and just normal life in general. Somewhere along the way I have gotten lost. I do not recognize where I am or how exactly I got here. A good sleep routine is not something that I have ever really had but lately it has gone straight out the window. Late nights, late mornings, always tired. My diet is total crap too right now, just junk and carbs. My workout schedule has always been clutch, may not be long or intense, but I got it in day in and day out like clockwork but I haven't exercised in a month now at least. I keep telling myself that I will start again tomorrow and then I don't which is unusual for me. I just keep finding myself becoming more and more isolated, finding less joy in anything, and just being increasingly pissy about everything. I just feel lost. I actually thrived the last two years but that time is over. I thought I could just hit the reset button to who I was before but that didn't happen. Plus I don't think I want to be that guy anymore. I want to build a new shiny life and future self but I have no idea what that would even look like other than not this. This challenge I will focus on reestablishing fundamental pillars that support everything else and allot time for self reflection and determination of what exactly I do want. Finding my way Challenge Goals: #1 Sleep Sleep goals have always been my nemesis but I am making it my number one priority this challenge. I absolutely cannot do anything else or have the mental bandwidth without fixing this. I'm just too tired all the time. -phone off at 9:30 -bed at 10 #2 Exercise No workout goals other than do it and reestablish the habit. -5:30am workout, 4-6 days a week #3 Mental Space I absolutely need this. I need to carve out time daily for my mental space. This is to be used for destressing activities, planning, what if day dreaming, and creative activities. I don't know what this will look like yet but it is the second priority this challenge. -make a plan and do it

It doesn't surprise Scalyfreak at all that Self-Sabotage comes close to tearing her to pieces. The new body is too unfamiliar, the lack of armor to disconcerting, and her habits and fight instincts are not yet fully adapted to a reality where she is fragile and even a light graze of claws or fangs will cause significant damage to her. As if that was not bad enough, in the middle of the fight a Stress-Hydra materializes out of Scalyfreak's reach, but close enough to very comfortably reach her with multiple attacks. So Scalyfreak runs. As far as she can, and she is pleasantly surprised to discover that she now can run faster and farther than she has ever been able to before. The new and unfamiliar body has its own advantages after all, and Scalyfreak enjoys this new benefit as she continues to run, all while keeping her attention behind her, listening and occasionally glancing backwards, to see if one of the large monsters has followed her. She is so focused on keep an eye out behind her that she completely forgets to pay attention what is ahead of her, and she almost doesn't see the cliff edge and the steep drop before it's too late. Before she has a chance to realize what is happening, reflexes are taking over, throwing her backwards into a roll and back up to her feet again, this time at a safe distance away from any risk of falling to her death. “Huh. Well, that's convenient.” Scalyfreak looks down at her new, still unfamiliar, body, and shakes her head. “I wonder what else I can do now...?” Since she is alone, and it's clear that the large monsters have not followed her, Scalyfreak slowly draws her rapier and the parrying dagger and relaxes, allowing her still unfamiliar feeling limbs to arrange themselves into the stance they want. She stays still for several moments, attempting to get a feel for what she is doing, and then begins to move slowly. Though it is challenging at first, she persists in trying allow her body to move without interference from her mind's desire to stick with old movement patterns, because her new weapons work differently than her old ones, and the new body has different strengths and abilities than her old. It's challenging. It's difficult. It's frustrating. But Scalyfreak persists, determined to learn how to move properly in this new body the plot scroll gave her, because she knows that she won't be able to fight effectively until she can. In case you don't know me, this should give you a fairly clear idea of what to expect here: So. I need to regroup and refocus in general after things stopped working properly in the second half of the last challenge. The combined might of Self-Sabotage and Stress-Hydra was a little too much for me, unsurprisingly, and a strategic retreat was in order. And now it is time to regroup and refocus, and start over. It's not over yet. I still need to lose some weight, though not overly much. More importantly, my blood pressure still needs to go down. This is both a higher priority, and higher degree of difficulty. Based on observations and the data gathered from my last challenge, reducing salt/sodium in my diet and losing weight only goes so far. The big change, that will really make a difference for my blood pressure, is to strengthen the heart and the rest of my cardiovascular system. For this, I need to do what I would do when I want to strengthen any other muscle in my body - I make it work very hard, and then I let it rest and grow stronger, then make it work very hard again, through regular workouts. Since I spent the second part of the previous challenge completely failing to make this the priority it needs to be, it is time for me to set a cardio goal. I dislike it, but it needs to happen. And yes, I am aware that my mental block against doing cardio is not serving me well right now. Build HP (physical health) PAI continues to be a helpful measurement for me, providing useful data points for measuring overall activity levels on a daily basis. It is also helpful for showing me the difference between when I am just pacing a lot during the day, and when I am intentionally moving/exercising, so I am keeping the app and will continue to check the point totals and compare them. On that note, the health bar goal for this challenge is to do two cardio-style workouts during the work week and at least one during the weekend. Restore Mana (mental health) This continues to be a priority for every day life, which makes it very frustrating that I am still struggling to remember to meditate on weekends. Meditation is a firm staple in my daily morning routine, and the reason I forget on weekends is most likely because I don't do my regular morning routine on days when I'm not going to work. So “remember to meditate on weekends” needs to continue to be a goal until that also becomes automatic. Regenerate Stamina (emotional bandwidth) This covers all the things that fortify and recharge the emotional bandwidth and resilience needed to face stress, life obstacles, and everything else that is emotionally draining when life refuses to be all sunshine and roses (which is most of the time). Or to phrase it a bit differently, this is what allows me to turn the The Flame from unintentional immolation into enemy-destroying fireballs. Things that regenerate the Stamina Bar and will be measured during this challenge are my library book reading challenge, and various other things that I'll probably come up with later as the challenge progresses. For this first week I am starting with what I call Project Underwear, even though I'm close to the end of that project. Project Underwear is comparatively straight-forward, it's simply about replacing my old and therefor useless bras with new ones that are comfortable and do their job. I have one more bra I need to replace, which of course needs matching panties, but then I need to do something about the large number of black panties I have, that stylistically completely fail to match my new black bra. I also need new sports bras – the ones I have are several years old, and even the highest quality fabric and craftmanship becomes garbage after a large enough number of years. I am going to spare you my bitter rantings about how most of the bra industry seems to be designed to make it almost impossible for people who need to wear a bra to find one that fits, and I will also spare you the even more resentful and bitter rant about living in a society that has made it so taboo to talk about breasts that most of us who grew up with them go most of our lives without any idea of what to look for in a bra or even how it's supposed to fit in the first place. We don't exchange this kind of knowledge with each other, the way runners do with running shoes, or the way lifters talk about chalk or squat shoes, so we are left entirely to our own devices, depending on nothing but our own ability to research without any outside help. We may actually live our entire lives without ever learning how to properly size ourselves for a bra, and what style and cup size is the best fit for our breast shape, and yes this is me holding back and sparing you the bitterness. And those are my goals for this challenge.

The Third Skirmish: A Minor Melee on the Muddy Moor of Malaise, to Meliorate Moribund Morale I am recovering not only from a slug phase, but from critical morale failure. It seems that every time I get a smallish routine going, a slug phase interrupts and I have to start from zero. I had hoped that pacing and keto could help me avoid these crashes, but no. This time I contributed to my own fatigue by attempting to cut calories and do intermittent fasting at the same time, possibly as a stress reaction to food fights. This was ill-advised. It also led to me bingeing on sugar. Now I have to get through sugar withdrawals and cope with backlash eating on top of everything else. My mind has cleared a little in the past couple of days, and I'm eager to return to lifting. But I'm not back to full capacity. So here are our tactics for the melee. Axe of Strength: quit sugar (again) since it makes me tired, depressed, and causes mindless madness eating no calorie restriction verrry low volume lifting walks on non lifting days Staff of Clarity: stay off the distractinet in the mornings Sword of Courage: right now I need courage just for lifting so... pack my gym back the night before and just "go for a walk" in the direction of the gym on gym days. I have bought some new gym clothes, and they are pink. This is curiously enspiriting. Reflective Shield: start developing a daily spiritual practice and reconnect with a relevant goddess.

#1: Complete the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer Course and Angular Heroes (+2 INT) This one's all about upskilling. I've got access to a GCP Cloud Engineer course through Udemy. My goal over the next 5 weeks is to complete all of the video content and schedule an exam. (Updated 4/11/22) My goal over the next 5 weeks is to reach Section 20 out of 26. (+1 INT) Next challenge, I will pick this back up, complete the remaining 6 Sections of Video Content, and schedule an exam. Additionally, I want to complete the Angular Heroes tutorial in order to re-familiarize myself with AngularJS (I haven't touched Angular since about 2015). (+1 INT) Angular Heroes is being set aside for this challenge. Progress: 100% 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #2: Resurrect my Homebrew D&D Campaign (+1 CHA) My Homebrew D&D Campaign has been on a 2-year Hiatus due to the COVID Pandemic. In short, we really don't like playing online. Now that we're all vaxxed, boosted, etc, we're ready to play in person again. There's only one problem - I now live a 2hr drive away from all of my players. My goal over the next 5 weeks is to write enough content to get the party through the end of the next two arcs, which I'll call The Shattered Lands and The Efreet. Stretch Goal is to come up with a regular play schedule that gives us enough play time for the story to stick between sessions, and run an actual game. Progress: ~60% (this one's hard to quantify) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #3: Sick Lifts (Maintenance) (+0.5 STR) My other 2 goals for this challenge are way more important to me, so in short my Lifting Goal for the next 5 weeks is maintenance. My routine will vaguely resemble the IADJS (I Ain't Doin Jack S__t) Template from 5/3/1 in that I will get in the (home) gym, do my core lifts, and get out. Goal is to hit all of my workouts. 2/week x 5 week -> 10 workouts. Progress: 100% 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Reward - Circlet of Superior Concentration If I complete Goal #1, I'm buying myself a new gaming headset with ANC. I've settled on a Steelseries Arctis 9. It'll help with my focus at work, and in my further studies, along with being a good headset for PC gaming, PS4 gaming (whenever I get my PS4 fixed), and for wearing on the metro.

Last challenge was a bit of a challenge (for a lack of a better word) and ended up having to shift a lot of priorities last minute there for one reason after another. But a few good things: I figured out a workout schedule that works Every time something came up, even if I had to miss a few days, I got right back at it The main reason for shifting priorities (my permanent residency paperwork came through a good 8 months before we were told to expect) opens up a lot of possibilities and opportunities and should make this entire year go smoother. I'm really itching to start pushing powerlifting again, but with my upcoming schedule being so chaotic, I'm sticking with almost the same goals and really focusing on building consistency and keeping up with what I can every day - that will set me up for success this second half of the year when I CAN commit that much time and energy into lifting again. And all around everything IS getting better every challenge, even if at 🐢 speed. I'll be putting a focus on getting my to do list done, too, because I will be doing a lot of work and planning towards a ton of stuff that now has to happen in May when I thought it was going to happen in December, but the good news is that for the first time in about 2 years, I have an actual timeline to work off of, which is huge. I like the XP system from last challenge, so I'm building on that. By the end of this challenge I want to have figured out a spell slots / cantrips system. I have a lot figured out already, and am excited to share once I get a bit more on paper Spezzy - Half Elf Magus - Chaotic Good - Level One GOALS: 1) Spellbooks and Cantrips- a magus must study her spellbook each day to prepare her spells. Spellbooks : Review and plan schedule for each day the night before, with a loose weekly planning schedule at the end/beginning of each week. Cantrips: These are 0 level spells that don't expend energy - all self care tasks. I have to complete X number of cantrips each day, depending on the day, and since they are a self care task and don't expend any energy, are always available to me to pull from when I'm feeling lost and not sure what to do. The goal is to plan out the cantrips as a part of my spellbooks 2) Spell Combat - At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. Train Daily. Minimum - spend at least 20 minutes in the gym practicing movement each day Goal - daily training, with 4x a week strength and daily rehab 3) Arcane Pool - At 1st level, the magus gains a reservoir of mystical arcane energy that he can draw upon to fuel his powers and enhance his weapon. This is nutrition. I'm coming off a week of norovirus, so my stomach is not happy - and I'm back to a super easy to digest / bland food plan for at least the next week or two - but this will be focused on getting enough food and the right foods. At least 3 of my big water bottles of water each day in addition to the other liquid I get Meal Plan on Sunday and Wednesday / 2 meals a day with a protein and a veg 4) Terrain Mastery - A ranger traveling through her favored terrain normally leaves no trail and cannot be tracked (though he may leave a trail if he so chooses). I'm a magus, but I'm a ranger here, so crossing over and grabbing this Walk to Mordor in 2022. 1799 miles, which means around 35 miles a week. It's getting nicer out, which means less time to bundle up to get outside which means more time spent outside Minimum - 1 Walk every day Goal - 2 walks a day, every day. ***Spells are considered BONUS goals - practicing spells are important, but the basics (above) need to be completed first. 5) Agile Maiden (Spell) Yoga Daily. Minimum - 5 minutes Goal - one down dog session 6) Mage's Perusal (Spell)- Gain a brief understanding from a book as if you had read it for 1 hour Up to an hour on my to do list and learning about everything I need to do, every day. Minimum - do something, even for 5 minutes Goal - up to one hour XP System: 50pts max earn per day / 350pts max earn per week You may 'borrow' xp from one day and earn it on another day, if you want to go all out on one day and rest another, but the max is still 350 for the week Allocate how many points goes to each goal at the beginning of each week (allowing more emphasis/points to be placed on harder goals) Level up every 5,000xp (so goal is to level up every 3-4 months or so) TL;DR: Goals and XP 1) Spellbooks - 10xp total Daily Schedule Review / Follow that schedule- 10xp (5 for daily review, 5 for following it) 2) Spellstrike - 10xp total Daily training - 10xp 3) Arcane Pool - 10xp total Drink 3x water bottles - 5xp Veggies and Protein 2x/day - 5xp 4) Terrain Mastery - 10xp 2 Walks Per Day - 10xp 5) Agile Maiden - 5xp Yoga Daily 6) Mage's Perusal - 5xp 1hr on to do list/tasks/reading/learning/etc each day

So I had a challenge with a fun theme all planned out, but then our house purchase process went into overdrive during Weeks 0 and 1. And now we are hopefully getting the keys this month! That also means moving several weeks earlier than planned, so I've scaled my challenge waaaay back for the next few crazy weeks. Goal 1: Strength and/or skill train 2x/week Goal 2: Do my hip rehab/prehab work 4x/week Goal 3: Start getting ready for bed by 11 pm (and go to bed afterwards) Goal 4: Take my supplements I'll use boxes 📦 to check off what I've accomplished. Bonus: make some plans for future home gym - namely, find a good wall-mounted pull-up bar, figure out how to install it on a brick wall, and make sure that set up will also work for hanging my rings. Suggestions and DIY info would be very much appreciated.

FIRST. EVER. CROSS-GUILD CHALLENGE!!! A warrior at heart through and through, I've done powerlifting, strongman, Highland games and even a bit of olympic weightlifting. Over the years (10 OMG I can't believe I've been lifting for 10 years) I've gotten plenty strong and I've gotten plenty injured. I've learned some lessons along the way and started lifting a lot smarter. In 2020 we had our first child! She's 16 months old now and is a little ball of sunshine/tantrum fuel in seemingly equal parts these days. Over the past 12 months I've lost 40 lb, woohoo! Steady tracking, walking, lifting, sleeping, repeat. I would like to take my training (which has been very bodybuilding/powerlifting focused) and start incorporating more movement again. So each of my workouts will now have one dynamic movement at the end - sled drags, farmer's carries, yoke, overhead carry, something to that effect. I also find daily walks really good for my mental health so I want to make them more of a priority for clearing my head, especially with the nicer weather. I've been tracking all calories and macronutrients steadily for a while, I'm trying to transition away from that in baby steps - will try moving to just calories and protein. So goals for this challenge are: 1. Eat at least 100g protein daily 2. Walk at least 6k steps daily 3. One dynamic movement with each training session (4 days per week) Each day of hitting steps = 1 point Each day of hitting protein = 1 point Each training session completed = 2 points If I can accumulate at least 80 points by the end of the challenge I'm buying myself some new workout clothes. I need some new pants that aren't heavy winter sweats.

This is my first ever challenge 😊 I've been thinking about it a lot since @Alanna mentioned the challenges to me as well as watching you guys finish off last month. Since starting Nerd Fitness year's ago I notice myself constantly slip on two basic Academy things; so, these are going to be the two that I am phrasing my challenges around for March with some bonus ones at the back! 1. "We don't have a cheat day" The Background I have been using Cheat Meals as little carrots on sticks for me to get through my week. "Don't order that today and on Sunday you can have whatever you want." I get food cravings really bad. I had decided that bodybuilders have cheat days, and that I deserve them too as a reward. What actually happened links into my second goal: I'd go over the top because it was my deserved meal and that one rewarding meal turned into a very unhealthy massive binge fest, then two meals, then even if I felt overfull and sick- three meals, then the next day... The Research "But if The Rock has legendary cheat days, isn't that just part of being a Warrior-in-training?" I asked myself. I researched this goal before starting because: hey! Maybe NF was wrong? The first article I read backed up NF: Welp. Then why do bodybuilders do it so famously? Here was another reason: The article, however, then continued on discussing how to schedule cheat meals properly in ways that were still beneficial with nutrients- not the fatty, chocolatey order-in I was slamming down my gullet. Got it so- "healthy" cheat meals only, right? But as I realised this I felt sad that I wouldn't get some of my favourite meals anymore. Sure, I went way too over the top every time- but not even getting just one meal occasionally seemed depressing. It was a countdown until I broke this rule; I knew it. I wondered if maybe I was misunderstanding the Nerd Fitness philosophy and went back and re-read the original article. It's not very long. It says: Oh... I totally missed the point.... this is a food psychology thing... Oh WAIT! Hasn't this whole post been me feeling guilty about deciding to have cheat meals?! Ah... now I understand. The Goal: Choices not 'Cheat Meals'. Consistency is key. This is the biggest thing I have learned over the last few years while losing weight (I have already lost 20kg) and is what is tied into this goal so much. Choosing to have, not a "cheat meal", but an enjoyable meal consciously in a way that isn't a reward, my addictions choosing for me, or hindering my goals. Rules are meant to be broken (really I'm a Rogue at heart, but I need a Warrior's heart right now) so I won't restrict myself- I will instead choose what I really want. Sometimes that will be wanting an special foodie experience (not a throw away unconsciously binging episode) and most of the time it will be wanting to be healthy and fit. Life is meant to be enjoyed. 2. "We never miss two in a row" The Background It's pretty obvious how this one ties into my last goal. Upon addressing my mindset around not having 'cheat meals' but 'choices', but the next step is making sure my 'choice' doesn't turn into a rampaging stuff fest as my addictions take hold. Let's call it my Barbarian Rage >:0 (... against myself.) The Research Straight from the NF-Horse's mouth: I'm aware that trying to stop a Barbarian Rage against the user's will is a very difficult throw. The biggest problem being: I'm the user and it's not usually my will! Consistency was the key for the last goal; here I am learning mental discipline. This is something reoccurring on my Warrior path: the discipline to train, to plan, to eat well, to break through mental barriers. I have even been using the Warrior mindset and hyping myself up to do things- RAWR >:0 I have already started some work on mentally trying to overcome myself when in these mindsets, but it's going to take more practice. The biggest learnings for me so far have been: Being aware of up coming triggers and planning for them; When I realise I have been triggered to force myself to sit and journal or meditate through the thought process before doing anything; To ask myself: is this really what you want? (Focusing on goals) Telling my accountability buddy if I'm struggling (this one is the hardest to make myself do) I win some, I lose some, but I'm going to keep trying >:0 The Goal: Never two in a row It's that simple. I make an enjoyable choice for one meal, I don't have another after. I slip up accidentally, it doesn't continue. This is the other choice: the choice to stop. Bonus: NF Quests for the Month Rebel Quests ☑ Complete a 4 Week Challenge (Obviously these are 5 week challenges now, but that's how it's originally written.) ☑ Get an A on your 4 Week Challenge (Gotta try hard!) Warrior Quests I'm still adapting to being a Warrior. As I mentioned before, at heart I'm more of an Assassin/Druid. But currently, the Warrior path is best for my body. I'm still working to the body type that can be an Assassin and I found I wasn't doing enough movement as a Druid. So Warrior apprentice it is! RAWR >:0 (I have no idea what I'm doing o.o) But I know I love lifting! I need to learn more though. When I stare at the Warrior quests I'm like '... what the... how am I supposed to do all this stuff?' Well, I have a barbell so I figure I can start there. Some of the barbell moves I have already done back with my PT- but I think I'll do a few again from scratch and learn the barbell basics this month. I can already bench press, clean, squat and overhead press the barbell fine. The rest of these I will need to look up instructional videos. ☑ Clean and Jerk the barbell- I have done this before ages ago, but time to practice. ☑ Push Jerk the barbell ☑ Push Press the barbell ☑ Snatch the barbell ☑ Split Jerk the barbell And finally, I think I definitely need to: ☑ Read a book on basic weight training (Recommendations very welcome! I'm following the NF weight program, so things that work with this would be great. Maybe female specific? A fun, inspiring read would be good... can I watch an anime instead?! I just found Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? :0 )

Nerd Fitness Challenge Here it comes! Round 3 and I'm feeling jazzed! After several weeks of plateauing, I'm starting to drop weight again and I'm seeing some tone and definition that I have never noticed before! Either I was too critical of myself to notice these things when I was younger and it was easier have a healthier looking body, or I'm actually getting a point of fitness that is altogether new! Either way, I've been building up a gut and lovehandles the last few years that is stubborn but SLOOOOOOOWLY getting smaller. As of the last challenge, I feel pretty damn solid now in terms of my commitment to exercise and diet. I will need to eventually seek a 2-4 week break from dieting and eat at a maintenance, but for now, I'm looking to maximize my improvement rate. Here are the goals for this challenge. 1. Track workout reps/weight EVERY SINGLE DAY. I have a spread sheet started up and I may make it publicly available online. It's nothing fancy and that is what I want. I want to prove to myself that I can get where I want to go without fancy tools and supplements and expensive gear. 2. Meal plans. Know what you are eating down to the gram. I down want to mess around with guesstimating my caloric intake and risk eating too many calories or whatever day after day. Doing this 5/7 days a week. The other two days, I can eat as I go but I will still track my calories and eat within my deficit with one cheat meal a week. 3. Stress management. I don't feel really stressed, but I think that is because I'm acclimated to stress. What does this mean? Not sure yet but here are some thoughts: light caffeine, green tee, no late nights, meditation/mindfullness, breathing, maybe occasional yoga, journaling? We'll see.

As opposed to not doing squat, which isn't the best strategy for challenges. I will also be doing many actual squats this challenge, as I've decided to start a strength training cycle that is focused on building strength and mobility for pistol squats. Bit about me: Zero week got sucked up with stress and getting sick (not with COVID, at least), so I'm officially starting on Sunday with Week 1. Goal 1: Strength training Strength workout at least 3x/week, following my planned programme. I can pare this down to a mobility session if I'm not feeling good. Log my workouts. Bonus: Locomotion movements (GMB Elements style) 2x/week (either with workouts or separately). Goal 2: Routine Keep work hours and workouts between 8 am and 6 pm (same as last challenge). New accommodation since I have a ton to do over the next few weeks: If I spend at least 5.5 hrs on work or essential house buying logistics/paperwork during this time, I can unlock an extra work period from 6-8:30 pm. Bonus: start work by 10:30 am (weeks 1-2)/10 am (weeks 3-4)/9:30 am (week 5) Goal 3: Supplements Simple: actually take all of my supplements. I'm also going to introduce some "garden" goals (pretty sure I'm stealing this idea from spezzy's challenges last year). These are goals from past challenges that are important for my well-being and are pretty solid; however, they are not so solid that I can stop tracking them altogether. I'm going to experiment with the best way to track these - I might just report on them weekly. Garden Goal 1: Post in my challenge at least 5x/week. Garden Goal 2: No processed sugar/store-bought sweets.

It started with a bad morning, and it did not improve from there. Bad enough to wake up in what felt like someone else's body. Except Scalyfreak knew for a fact that it was her own. It was familiar. It just felt so different. A while later, there was the unpleasant discovery that her armor is gone. Along with her shield, and her broadsword. The corset style leather vest hanging off the armor stand instead fits perfectly, of course. As do the boots and the vambraces, and the sleek rapier, that is so light it feels like waving a knitting needle around. And where her backpack was placed last night, is a satchel, a beautiful dagger, and a couple of long hair pins. There was also a scroll, with specific directions. Hours later, the fire that has been humming inside Scalyfreak, tearing at the back of her mind all day long, begins to grow louder. And louder. She slows her steps, comes to a stop to take a deep breath and then, without hesitation, steps out into the large clearing where the scroll has informed her that Self-Sabotage can be found this afternoon. As with everything else the scroll's prediction is correct on this topic as well. The ugly beast stands quietly in the clearing, looking as smug as ever. The large monster lifts its head and almost lazily gives Scalyfreak a slow once-over, before it begins making that slow hissing noise that passes for laughter among its kind. The flames and their humming grow louder. It's starting to burn. “Oh, this wasn't my idea. But the quest scroll says this is what I'm doing now.” Scalyfreak glares at the ugly demon beast in front of her, and has the brief satisfaction of shutting up that hissing laughter. The quest scrolls are powerful, after all, and must be obeyed at all times, by everyone. Uneasy, feeling quite exposed without her armor on, Scalyfreak draws the uncomfortably flimsy looking rapier and feels a little bit better when her unfamiliar-feeling body automatically flows into a perfect fencing stance as if it has practiced the movement her entire life. But only a little. Self-Sabotage is formidable and brutal, and Scalyfreak is well aware that her heavy armor was all that kept her alive during some of their previous encounters. The armor she no longer has access to... and its absence is heavy and frightening. Self-Sabotage's hungry stare returns to Scalyfreak, eventually coming to a stop at her abdomen. While the monster most likely envisions feasting on spleen or liver, Scalyfreak hears the noise from the flames grow to a roar as the fire soars through her, demanding an outlet. As the giant monster begins to circle her, Scalyfreak decisively pushes her fear aside and focuses on the upcoming battle. She is the protagonist in her own story. She knows what to do, somehow, despite never having used a rapier before in her life. She moves closer, circling in the opposite direction to her opponent, while her left hand draws the ornate parrying dagger, and lifts it into a ready stance. And then she sets the flames free. For the very first time ever since I joined The Rebellion, I am doing a weight loss challenge. Spoilering the rest because weight loss talk. Keeping this new focus on cardiovascular health in mind, these are the goals for this challenge: Build HP (physical health) Another first time ever; This will actually be measured in PAI points! Becoming more active while learning how to use the PAI app and its measurement system all falls under this goal. (Many big thanks to @Ann of Owlshire and @oromendur for introducing me to PAI!) Restore Mana (mental health) Continue to meditate every day. The nature of this challenge will fuel The Flame and preemptive fire fighting will make all the difference. The mental health properties of working out also puts home workouts and gym workouts on the blue mana bar for this challenge. Build Stamina (emotional bandwidth) Keep up with the library reading challenge, stay engaged with the D&D campaign, listen to music, cook and eat good food, spend time with Husband and the Sidekicks. In short, do things that make me actually happy, not just things that feel good in the moment. Here we go. To battle. And lastly, a short intro behind the spoiler, because assuming everyone always understands my strange re-imagery would be a bit delusional.

Building my IRL character, one challenge at a time... Sticking with the character system as I'm really enjoying it, and focusing on adding one more element to the game/rpg element each challenge instead of building out the entire "game" up front, which has been something that's tripped me up in the past. This challenge, I'm adding an XP and leveling system. I'm also sticking with the same goals, with a few slight modifications, as this is all a work in progress and I'm not aiming to be perfect, but consistent. So I've increased consistency last challenge, this challenge I need to do the same. Spezzy - Half Elf Magus - Chaotic Good - Level One GOALS: 1) Spellbooks and Cantrips- a magus must study her spellbook each day to prepare her spells. Spellbooks: Review and plan schedule for each day the night before, with a loose weekly planning schedule at the end/beginning of each week. As a part of this, I'll have a weekly "get out of bed by" time, and I'm starting with it being 7am for this week. That's fairly standard now, so should be an easy one to hit for zero week. I'll likely be moving it up throughout the challenge, 10-15 min at a time Cantrips: These are 0 level spells that don't expend energy - I'm going to use them instead as a list of spells I have to prepare that all bring energy - my daily self care tasks. I'm going to also be tying these in with my Garden from my January 2021 challenge. For now though, I have to prepare these as a part of my spellbooks. I want these determined by the end of this zero week. 2) Spell Combat - At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. Train Daily: Minimum - spend at least 20 minutes in the gym practicing movement each day Goal - daily training, with 4x a week strength and daily rehab Bonus - do muay thai and yoga each 1x per week 3) Arcane Pool - At 1st level, the magus gains a reservoir of mystical arcane energy that he can draw upon to fuel his powers and enhance his weapon. This is nutrition. I'm pretty good here for the most part, I eat intuitively and am happy with how things are going all around. However, a few things I want to put focus on: At least 3 of my big water bottles of water each day in addition to the other liquid I get Have a vegetable with lunch and dinner, or as a snack in between My dopamine snacking has increased a lot in the last 2 weeks. I'd like to get back to normal here where my snacks are full snacks and not just pulling chocolate chips out of the freezer because they're there and because I can 🙃 4) Terrain Mastery - A ranger traveling through her favored terrain normally leaves no trail and cannot be tracked (though he may leave a trail if he so chooses). I'm a magus, but I'm a ranger here, so crossing over and grabbing this Walk to Mordor in 2022. 1799 miles, which means around 35 miles a week. I already walk every morning, first thing (i'm at a 790 days streak right now, so will hit 800 during this challenge ), but I do want to get in a second walk each day whenever possible, especially since right now my morning walks are before the sun gets up. I've gone 157 miles so far this year, which puts me about 30 miles behind for the year (I need 150 a month), but that's expected because I'm planning on moving a lot more in the summer when it's not -40 out So really, I'm right on track. Specific goal in addition to hitting my milage - 12 walks/week. Since i'm in Canada and it's winter, I'll be working on my (Cold (ice, glaciers, snow, and tundra)) terrain skill. Later this year maybe I can work on another one XP System: 50pts max earn per day / 350pts max earn per week You may 'borrow' xp from one day and earn it on another day, if you want to go all out on one day and rest another, but the max is still 350 for the week Allocate how many points goes to each goal at the beginning of each week (allowing more emphasis/points to be placed on harder goals) Level up every 5,000xp (so goal is to level up every 3-4 months or so) Zero Week Points Allocation: 1) Spellbooks - total of 15xp Out of bed by 7am - 5xp Review spellbooks at end of day - 5xp Build and review cantrips end of day - 5xp 2) Spellstrike - total of 10xp Daily training - 10xp 3) Arcane Pool - 15xp total Drink 3x water bottles - 5xp Veggies with lunch and dinner - 5xp No dopamine snacking - 5xp 4) Terrain Mastery - 10xp total Go for a second afternoon walk in addition to my morning walk - 10xp

Love me some Jocko. I have no idea how that mutant of human being stays on such an attack on life, but he's motivating to say the least. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but nothing is, right? Anywho, as I stated in my respawn thread, it's been a minute since I've been here, and it's not been a good ride the last few years. I mean in some regards it's been fine. No one in my household has gotten COVID. No one in my extended family has died or had serious complications from COVID. My job allows me to work remotely full time without issue and I make a good salary doing it. That said, I'm lonely. I don't know where to turn to for relationships anymore. As a kid, I just made friends at school by being around people. Apparently, I dragged that habit to work, because now that I'm fully remote, I just don't talk with anyone. I need to start putting in some effort to do things with people, while at the same time, not pushing too hard for in person meet-ups as my wife still isn't super comfortable with the COVID numbers. Fitness wise, I've had spurts of solid fitness regimens, but I always fall of the bandwagon and get back to my lazy ways. 40 is coming up faster than I'd care for, and I need to find some sort of mindset or change some sort of meaning in my life to make it so I care about fitness and I will fight to keep it my life, rather than letting it be the first thing that drops. I'm attempting that partially by posting here. Nerd Fitness was a core part of my life when I was learning the ropes of powerlifting, so perhaps it can be again. Being honest, I stopped posting because it felt like the "glory days" of NF had passed. But given the place is still going, perhaps, it was just me being an old curmudgeon. So I'm back because this community was important to me at one point in time. Going to keep goals fairly simple. 4 Workouts per week. I want to run Brian Alsruhe's latest program, the Minimalist. 30-40 intense sessions 4x per week. I can fit that into my schedule easy assuming I just do it. 1 run per week. Only requirement is it needs to last longer than 10 minutes. I need to start running again as I want to do things like BJJ and softball and trail runs when my wife is comfortable with the world again. 3 days per week without alcohol. Seems super easy, but given my habits lately, I wouldn't be succeeding here. Hopefully this is just an easy win. Text or call 3 people that wouldn't normally be in my "rotation" per week.

I'll be working on thoughts and goals for a bit, but I wanted to get a challenge thread up and running. I'm now about 9 months into my latest epic quest for teh abz and closing in on the home stretch; but before I push on to try to beat the game I'm going to need to take a break to rest and recover; the final level is hard, I'm going to need a full health bar and need to clear all status effects first. I need to take a diet break and deload a bit on the workouts; then I need to pull out of that diet break and enter the final level. My starting point in my epic quest for teh abz was 237 lbs last spring. I believe my ending weight target will be 195 lbs. The first phase I did a standard 2000 net cals/day goal linear diet and lost from 237 down to about 212. I lost the pregnant belly and started fitting in all my old clothes, though I still had some spare tire. But after a while the diet hormones started creeping up so I took a diet break. Most people would have pressed on with goals seemingly so close, but I knew the end was further than it seemed and my body was legit starting to retaliate, which I recognized early. The 2nd phase was a 3 month diet break. I didn't intend at first for it to be that long, but I lost a lot of motivation and just couldn't get back on the diet horse consistently. But I did maintain my loss just fine. The 3rd phase was jolt of motivation and energy to pick the linear cut back up and bring myself into the flat stomach zone. I'm just about at the end of this phase. The 4th phase will be another diet break. I will enter this phase soon, when the tape reaches 34" around my waist (34.5" currently). This break is both going to be to reset diet hormones and to supercharge exercise recovery for a bit. The 5th and final phase will be an undulating diet (3-1 or 4-1), going from lean to leaner and bringing out teh abz. I'm going to be switching my class; I started my NF journey as an Assassin, switched to Warrior circa 2016 when I joined the work gym, but really I've always been a jack of all trades, so I should be a Ranger. The classification system does miss my true intentions though; all the classes have competitions associated (powerlifting, crossfit games, 10K, etc..) with them, but the one competition I most optimize for, bodybuilding, has no NF class (I am not, by any means, a competitive bodybuilder). I care more about how my pecs look than how much my bench is, I'd rather have washboard abs than a bar bending squat or fast 10k. But I lift, do bodyweight moves, kickboxbox, spin, and run. Goal #1 will be to execute the diet break. Last time I took a diet break it didn't go so well, with almost all elements having problems. Executing the diet break means: Complete the linear cut I am currently on. My waist target is 34" on the tape (34.5" today). Which means I still need to lose 2 more pounds of fat, which I expect to take 2 weeks (diet changes are usually made on Mondays). No starting my diet break early. Raise my calories to slightly more than maintenance (which means definitely stay under 3000 calories net each day). Stay there for 3 weeks. I think both sides will be a struggle, I'll need to be mindful to keep the calories up, but also to not eat all the things and go overboard. The duration selection is not arbitrary, I want to keep to the 3 week plan. End the diet break and return to cutting. This is where I failed last time and where the biggest risk is. But I expect to be back to cutting by the end of the challenge, and doing so with the motivation to beat the game. Newly reset diet hormones, a 34" waist, and a trained body with a caught up exercise recovery system is a triangle of power to dominate the final level and boss. While I have been really nailing it in the gym lately, cutting when lean and nailing it in the gym are not generally compatible concepts. I'm still riding beginner gains from getting back in the swing of things, but I can tell my body is running a recovery deficit and its beginning to catch up to me. Muscles are extra sore, tendons are grumpy. I'm nursing a bunch of aches and pains and just seem to keep adding new ones. I've been hitting it hard for the last 6 weeks, its getting to be about time for a deload week, which will be the final week of this cut, where I back off the volume and start a new workout cycle. The longer 3 week diet break is intended not just to normalize hormone levels, but to let my body's recovery catch up; increased cals greatly accelerates recovery. Goal #2 will be recovery. Which means I need to push back on my natural sense to eek out that last rep or do another set; I need to start thinking about RPE's so I'm mindful of how hard to go. I also need to work a deload week in my workout plan. This is a 2 part goal. Execute a deload week. Track RPE's of my work sets. Things tracked get thought about, which leads to making better choices. As some of you know, one of my main hobbies is woodworking. I've been working on a project, a pair of tower speakers, for close to a year and I'm still a long ways away. I need to pick up the pace. My gym slacking, which was an issue in the last few years that I addressed last challenge, is/has become shop slacking (which I'm doing before I work out basically every day). The macro solution is easy enough, get in the shop earlier so I accomplish more. Getting in the shop earlier means peeling away from computer time earlier, whether I'm gaming, shopping, or just surfing the net. But I also need to work on prioritizing schedule when I am working in the shop to keep the pace up. Excessive computer time bleeding into hobby and fitness time has been a struggle for years, its time to really address this root issue. Goal #3 will be time management. This likewise is a 2 part goal: Be in my shop by 930 each night. That gives me an hour of shop time a day (workouts start at 1030). Complete at least 2 layers a week on speaker #2 (10 total) I'm making a massive stack lamination of a fairly complex shape (same cross section the whole way though); the design is super cool (at least I think it is) and its really enjoyable woodworking, but the overall effort is totally obscene and in hindsight I'm not sure I'd try something like this again just because of the extreme effort involved. Each layer is 3/4" thick cut from baltic birch plywood, and 4 pieces comprise each layer, with the two sides needing to be cut on the bandsaw then adjusted for tight joints, then routed and sanded after gluing. Its become a forever project even though I do work on it almost every day (several hundred hours sunk into it already). Really I'd like to hit 3 layers a week, that is my real goal, but I don't think I'll even get close, 2 layers is at least achievable. There's a lot of gluing time that challenges my shop time management.

Overview of the Battle The objective: to gain the mountain and obtain the precious treasures of lifting, writing, painting, walking, cooking and spirit work The enemies: fatigue, emotional resistance, distraction addiction, hopelessness The weapons: axe of strength, sword of courage, staff of clarity, reflective shield Second Skirmish: Invading the Foothills of Figure Sketching The main new habit this challenge will be doing a little work on my art, whether it's sketching or watching lessons. As with the writing, I should start with small, low stakes practices to sidestep the emotional resistance. I want to focus on figures for several months. Reflective Shield Journalling and reflecting on what works -I need to recommit to daily morning journalling, since I have neglected it -I should set a calendar reminder to reflect on Sundays, since I neglected this, too -I should continue noting how I feel after lifting (fatigue, mental fatigue, joint pain) Sword of Courage Overcoming emotional blocks to the creative work I want to do -I am increasing the writing to 20 minutes -I will add 10-20 minutes of art after dinner Staff of Clarity Getting freedom from distraction addiction and negative emotions -I will continue meditating each morning, and may experiment with a short second session at night -I will renew the internet block but update it to support journalling in the mornings and Sunday -I will continue doing 20 minutes of cleaning per day. It's not exactly one of the mountain treasures but it is good to have, and a clean house promotes an uncluttered mood Axe of Strength Strength through food, iron, and rest -I just have to keep going with my high meat keto without getting sidetracked or shamed -I will continue pacing. It's really helping -I will continue lifting: I will design a deload & strength block

Chris-Tien and the Side Quest Quest When I started with Nerd Fitness (nearly 10 years ago), my major goal was to lose weight. I was at 171lbs. I am still tracking that dragon, but I am making progress and narrowing in on defeating the beast. My problem is that I tend to get distracted by side quests and lose sight of the of the endgame ... in life as well as in Skyrim. But this challenge, I am embracing the side quests as a way to build skills and strength so that when I do finally face the dragon, I will be ready. Long term goals for the YEAR of the Great Dragon Hunt Last year, I reduced from 168 to 156 (and bumped back up in the dumpster fire + train wreck of Fall Semester ....). This year, I want to get back into the "normal" weight category for my height, age, and gender: 150 (or less). And I want to do a pull up again, damnit. Those are the two measurable things that encapsulate a whole lot of life style changes along the way. I have set milestones for each month so that I know where I am along the journey. February's goals are: Back squat 55 - DONE Pushups 1 Lat pulldown 75 Deadlift 77.2 500 m row < 180 - DONE 5K 45 pace: 14.5 That gives me a couple of weeks to work on the rest of these while I pursue the side quests that make games and life .... interesting. So, heading out the door, these are my challenge goals ..... 1) Eat 84+ grams of protein per day (tracking in MyFitnessPal) 2) Strength train (CrossFit or gym or KBs at home) 2+ x per week 3) Positive affirmations daily 4) < 31.9% BF% 5) Draw a Side Quest card daily and complete all of those drawn by the end of the challenge In point, the first challenge I have is to toss out the invaders that have taken over the local fortress (i.e. get over this cold ... again).

Hi! I'm KB Girl, 33 years old (34 this month), mom of 2 kids (5 and almost 2), dietician, small gym owner and kettlebell sport coach (and sometimes athlete). The last 2 years have been rough (post partum depression, long covid, lockdown related burnout) but I am doing better and better, of course with ups and downs. February is going to be a busy month with a competition this Sunday, lots of birthdays including my own and lots of post-lockdown catchup activities. I learned from last challenge that I shouldn't take on any new projects, but working on my sleep is still a high priority. I also need to get on top of some things I've been hiding from that stress me out (both work and private stuff), hence the frog stomping title. My bujo should help with this, it disables hiding. My new custom build KB rack- when all the KBs are home these are full (some are visiting with people in quarantine so they can train online with us). A new thing; build an evening routine (to make sleep gainz) While I have a good bed time routine it has occurred to me that my evening routine is lacking. On days I'm tired I'll just crash on the couch and scroll through my phone- which does not make me happy. When it's time to go to bed I will still feel like I have things to do so I feel that I can't go to bed yet but I'm also too tired to do those things so .... I scroll through my phone some more? yes. Very smart, I know. When I'm done taking the kids to bed I will clear the high table, grab a drink and work in my bujo* (*fill in my trackers, gratitude journalling, check+update my to do lists, wish list and deadlines, prep for tomorrow) Then I will decide what to do with the rest of my evening Bonus points for doing more cleaning and/or hotspot clearing More bonus points for screen free evening activities OR useful screen use (like sorting photos or learning to video edit) Things to keep up with that I will also track; The personalised zone missions and daily cleaning habits Exercise magic (strength 3x a week, kettlebell class on Friday evening, extra cardio work once a week and 3-5 walks/hikes a week) Reading to the kids, dance parties, extra hugs, vitamin D Bonus fun: We've started in our garden and community plot by building some raised beds and a compost heap and pre-sowing beans and spinach. There are loads of things to do and really this is Jaap's project, but I want to try to keep up and contribute. make a spread in my bujo tracking what we've sown and what needs to be sown next and anything else useful make (kid-free) space for Jaap to do his thing and join him with the kids whenever possible

My last challenge was unfortunately derailed halfway through by COVID, but thankfully all is better now. I still have a lingering cough that occasionally flares, but seems to be slowly fading. I figured better late than never to finish out the last 2 challenge weeks! The goals: 1. Track all macros daily I definitely completely fell out of this habit! Been trying to get back into it for the past week and it has been spotty. Protein intake went way down, if I'm not actively prioritizing it, I will not intuitively eat anywhere near what is recommended for my goals. 2. Train 4x per week After a month of not touching weights just started again this past week. Still enjoying the upper/lower split routine so I am going to stick with it. 3. Minimum 7k 5k steps daily Since my daily average has been closer to 4k I'm going to adjust this one and build back up. Doing the thing!

I can’t be the only one who is nerding out on the Mandalorian right now. February challenge is mandalorian themed! Three easy to the point goals this challenge. Goal #1 The Way of Strength Following a workout schedule I saw on darbee "Fighter". My take on it is twice a week complexes, one day of clean and press, and a day or two of Getups or jump rope. Bonus: I am halfway through a darbee push up challenge and I want to finish it. Not very challenging but it is fun. Goal #2 The Way of Knowledge I love to read and go through phases where I consume several books in a very short time and then don't read anything for a month. Then other times when I have reading FOMO and start one book and start reading something else when I am halfway through it, repeat. I would like to be a little more consistent. Goal is minimum 5 pages per day. Goal #3 The Way of Rest Back on my bad habits of staying up way too late wasting time on my phone and just not going to bed at a reasonable hour. This ties in nicely with my other goal. Phone off by 9:30pm. Read until bedtime. I will set a alarm on my phone to remind myself to turn it off.