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It's been a while. when you last saw me, this happened... I've mostly stayed the course, but I reinjured my back again and spent all last year trying to get back to healthy. And the better news is nice drugs that helped me deal with the pain... burnt out my kidneys (kinda stage 3 for those who are familiar with that). Goals: It's now time to go from this to this My tracking Cals and reduce sodium. 2000 cals. 109p/298c/60f and ~2000mg Sodium continue to do physical therapy and core strength work and work on shoulder mobility so I can do more cool things! There, simple and easy.

12 Week Hypertrophy Quest Quest Goals: 1) Increase Muscle Mass 2) Decrease BF% 3) Increase Strength In All Lifts Overview/Details Each working set should be performed to near failure with 12 being the most reps you should perform and 6 being the lowest. This workout utilizes supersets.Take a 1 minute break between each superset. Supersets are grouped by letter before them. See Quest Objectives for context. Increase weight on each set by at least 5lbs. Increase weight from week to week as well. By the end of the 12 weeks, you should be 10lbs+ stronger in many lifts. This program can be repeated with endless variation. If you begin to plateau, seek ways of making the workouts harder. An example could be adding some dropsets. SPLIT CHEST/BACK SHOULDERS/ARMS LEGS Quest Objectives: Day 1: Chest/Back | Warm-up 5 minutes of cardio A1) Bench Press 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working A2) DB Row 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working 1 - 2 minute rest B1) Hammerstrength incline Chest Press 3x12 working B2) Hammerstrength lat pulldown 3x12 working 1 - 2 minute rest C1) Cable Crossovers 5-7x12 working C2) Reverse Flye 5-7x12 working Day 2: Active Rest | Start with 5 minutes of cardio if you normally don't do cardio, and add 5 minutes to your average time of the cardio you do regularly. Increase total time by 5 minutes every other week. By Week 12 you should be doing 30 extra minutes of cardio. For the sake of this program, cardio is considered 150bpm+ for the whole session. Day 3: Shoulders/Arms | Warm-up 5 minutes of cardio A1) DB Shoulder Press 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working A2) Standing DB Curl 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working 1 - 2 minute rest B1) DB Front Raise 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working B2) Tricep Extension 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working 1 - 2 minute rest C1) Reverse Flye Machine 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working C2) Barbell Curl 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working 1 minute rest D) Skull Crusher 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working Day 4: Active Rest | Do the same amount of cardio as you did on your first active rest day this week. Day 5: Legs | Warm-up 5 minutes of cardio A1) Squat 2x6 warm-up, 3x12 working A2) Leg Curl 1x6 warmup , 3x12 working 2 - 3 minute rest between A and B B1) Leg Extensions 3x12 working B2) Standing Calf Raises 3x12 working 2 - 3 minute rest between B and C C1) Weighted Walking Lunge 3x12 working C2) Lower Back Extensions 3x12 failure Day 6: REST Day 7: REST Let me know what you think below!

I'm a little late to the party, but know this, I have been fighting the war for a long time. However, my body has not been reacting at all to my nutrition changes. I talked to my nutritionist last night, and she's going to reduce my Cals to 2350 with 325c/120p/65f. I'm going to starve, but I'll be forged from fire. I also have gotten to the point that I need to practice Crossfit skills again. Freestanding Handstands into HS walks, Muscle ups, double unders and pistols, practice at least one a day.

Part 3 of my journey, more of the same... I've been doing a lot of Podcast listening to a Former Navy SEAL turned motivation speaker and he has 2 big points that I love. Discipline = Freedom and extreme ownership of everything you do. I haven't been meeting my goals mainly causing I'm not doing these things. So, this year I'm going to be more goal oriented and harder on myself when I don't make good decisions. I'm also going to get back to basics, evaluate my priorities, and reestablish my discipline. There are lots of things I want to accomplish, but haven't because, honestly, I just didn't do the things necessary to accomplish them, like I started this year fatter than last year, and I've failed to make any fat loss progress since end of Jan and electrostatic machine says I'm losing muscle mass and gaining fat. 1. Get lean as fuck or lose 20 lbs. I was in between 225-228 for most of last year, but my belly measurement went up from 35.8-36.2" to 38". This isn't good. I'm not at 36.5", and I have made no progress in the last 15 weeks. a. Count all my calories. Don't eat over 2700 cals/day. Basically, have some goddamn discipline. I've been doing good at this, but now to take it to the next step. Be accurate with my Marcos. b. New Macros: 300c, 215p, 65f. I've been mostly good for this for the last 5 weeks. c. Track my body stats. I'm great at capturing my weight, but I'm now going to be discipline about tracking my waist and hip measurements. and it's too hot here to go another summer of wearing a shirt during workouts. Fuck, summer is here and I'm not summer ready!! summer is here... summer body... isn't. 2. Give praise in the Iron sanctuary. To do this, I must remain mobile and healthy. So... have some fucking discipline and do my mobility. Don't be afraid to see my chrio, and lastly... if I need them, take my NSAIDs. I know they make me bloated... but it will pass. Use them to heal faster. 3. Compete in things. Get off my ass and enter some contests. I will enter at least 1 PL meet, 1 Crossfit comp (open isn't going to count, and I'm not entering) and 1 WL meet. Weightlifting meet: completed 4/28. Need to look for another one Crossfit meet: Time to find one PL Meet: probably not going to happen. Don't feel like joining another fed, just to compete once. Sorry, if I don't post in your challenge It takes all my effort just to post in mine.

I've been doing a lot of Podcast listening to a Former Navy SEAL turned motivation speaker and he has 2 big points that I love. Discipline = Freedom and extreme ownership of everything you do. I haven't been meeting my goals mainly causing I'm not doing these things. So, this year I'm going to be more goal oriented and harder on myself when I don't make good decisions. I'm also going to get back to basics, evaluate my priorities, and reestablish my discipline. There are lots of things I want to accomplish, but haven't because, honestly, I just didn't do the things necessary to accomplish them, like I started this year fatter than last year, and I've failed to make any fat loss progress since end of Jan and electrostatic machine says I'm losing muscle mass and gaining fat. 1. Get lean as fuck or lose 20 lbs. I was in between 225-228 for most of last year, but my belly measurement went up from 35.8-36.2" to 38". This isn't good. I'm not at 36.5", but have made no progress in the last 10 weeks. a. Count all my calories. Don't eat over 2450 cals/day. Basically, have some goddamn discipline. I've been doing good at this, but now to take it to the next step. Be accurate with my Marcos. b. New Macros: 250c, 215p, 65f. I've been mostly good for this for the last 10 days. c. Track my body stats. I'm great at capturing my weight, but I'm now going to be discipline about tracking my waist and hip measurements. and it's too hot here to go another summer of wearing a shirt during workouts. Fuck, summer is here and I'm not summer ready!! 2. Give praise in the Iron sanctuary. To do this, I must remain mobile and healthy. So... have some fucking discipline and do my mobility. Don't be afraid to see my chrio, and lastly... if I need them, take my NSAIDs. I know they make me bloated... but it will pass. Use them to heal faster. 3. Compete in things. Get off my ass and enter some contests. I will enter at least 1 PL meet, 1 Crossfit comp (open isn't going to count, and I'm not entering) and 1 WL meet. I'll do the worse at the WL meeting, but I need to just get off my ass and throw some numbers up. I'll be competing in the Midtown Open 2 this Sat in WL. Going to rock it and get some PRs! Sorry if I don't post in your challenge

I've been doing a lot of Podcast listening to a Former Navy SEAL turned motivation speaker and he has 2 big points that I love. Discipline = Freedom and extreme ownership of everything you do. I haven't been meeting my goals mainly causing I'm not doing these things. So, this year I'm going to be more goal oriented and harder on myself when I don't make good decisions. I'm also going to get back to basics, evaluate my priorities, and reestablish my discipline. There are lots of things I want to accomplish, but haven't because, honestly, I just didn't do the things necessary to accomplish them, like I'm now fatter than I was the start of last year. 1. Get lean as fuck or lose 20 lbs. I was in between 225-228 for most of last year, but my belly measurement went up from 35.8-36.2" to 38". This isn't good. a. Count all my calories. Don't eat over 2400 cals/day. Basically, have some goddamn discipline. b. don't eat foods high in fat. I'm going to try do high carbs / low fat for this challenge. next month, I'll try high fats low carbs in an experiment of how my body reacts as all my clothes are tight on me now... c. Track my body stats. I'm great at capturing my weight, but I'm now going to be discipline about tracking my waist and hip measurements. and it's too hot here to go another summer of wearing a shirt during workouts. 2. Give praise in the Iron sanctuary. To do this, I must remain mobile and healthy. So... have some fucking discipline and do my mobility. Don't be afraid to see my chrio, and lastly... if I need them, take my NSAIDs. I know they make me bloated... but it will pass. Use them to heal faster. 3. Compete in things. Get off my ass and enter some contests. I will enter at least 1 PL meet, 1 Crossfit comp (open isn't going to count, and I'm not entering) and 1 WL meet. I'll do the worse at the WL meeting, but I need to just get off my ass and throw some numbers up.

The new year is traditionally about reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the next, and that's exactly what this first mini-challenge is going to be about. As lifters of heavy things, our training is arduous and our gains slow over time. It's not uncommon for it to take months to increase a lift by just a single increment, especially after you've been lifting for a while. On the other end of the spectrum, when first beginning, the lifts may increase quickly at first, but then you stall out, have to reset and decrease the weight, and take weeks to work back up to where you were before. Same deal with finding you have a form fault where the weight has to drop so you can drill it while you work back up. Strength training is a long bumpy road with lots of ups and downs, and takes much dedication, perseverance, reflection, and planning to be successful at.Over the next 4 weeks, I'd like everyone to discuss in this thread their experiences from the last year (or less if you're newer) when it comes to strength training, what they learned, and how you each plan to improve over this next coming year. Take this information, both that gained from self-reflection and from the trials of others, and come up with a goal for the year and a plan on how you're going to achieve it. What did you do wrong last year? What can you do to improve upon it? What habits can you work on developing that will help you?That brings us to the Letter of Intent. All of the above should culminate with you posting a Letter of Intent in this thread. It doesn't have to be for a competition like in the link (though I agree completely with all the points in that post and competing will be part of my own letter), but it should include some hard date to do SOMETHING related to strength training by (but can include other things as well), preferably in front of a bunch of people, even if it's just virtually here in one of our virtual lifting competitions. This is about accountability, and about building a long term strength training and overall fitness plan and goals, that you can then use to set up incremental training goals and plans (sounds like a way to plan your 4/5 week challenges better, huh?). Of course, you can always post the dates of your comp right here!

Bro's and Swolemaidens, You have fought wars, slayed epic monsters and rescued fair maidens or squires. But, now it's time to feast in the halls of Bralhalla. Now, there are a couple ways to feast! Challenge 1: MFP High Score That's right. You know you're going to eat it, we know you're going to eat it, Grandma knows you're going to seconds, might as well as add up all those calories of Boar and Mead. Track all those calories (best reasonable estimate) and post it here. Name total cals consumed 1st: 2nd: 3rd: 4th: Challenge 2: 1 drink for me, 1 water for me The Mead and Wine over flows yea cup, but you want to be up and hunting monsters at daylight. How do you do both? After you drink your 1 pint of mead, you have 8oz of water before you move onto your next glass of mead or wine. Tell us of your journey! Challenge 3: The true believer Now this one is not for the faint of heart. This challenge is for the true believer of nutrition. You have your macro's and you're only going to eat that. Grandma and Aunt Sally be damned. To do this, you must attend a holiday party and remain within 100 cals of your daily goal. (no, you can't add 3000 cals to your daily goal for one day!) You can make multiple attempts at all 3 challenges, show your work so we can celebrate your success (and judge what you ate!) This Challenge will expire with the new year...

Br0thern and Swolemaidens, It is deemed time to partake in an epic challenge of body and mind. I have seen Br0's and Swolemaidens struggle and excel at all the glorious feats of strength like squats, deadlifts, snatch, clean and jerks just to name a few. I've also witnessed the awesomeness of the lifting Br0 with the shrugs, curls, bench press and calf raises. However, one neglected body part must be given its proper worship. The back. In light of this, I declare this month to be Rowvember. You shall go to your Iron Sanctuary and give worship by doing 10 sets of 10 1 arm rows within 10 minutes. Make sure you are doing proper 1 arm rows. This is a great example of a proper row. You are allowed to use straps. This was written with the intent you use Dumbbells, but kettlebells are allowed. If you have an idea for something else, ask for permission first for it to count. Cable rows are not allowed. As not all worshipers are at the same level of difficulty, so do the level that will challenge you. Weights in (m/f) Beginner 25lbs/ 15lbs and over +.5 str, +1 wis, +.5 con Medium 50lbs/ 30lbs and over +1 str, +1 con Hard 75lbs/45lbs and over +1 str, +1 con, +.5 sta Nightmare 100lbs/60lbs and over +2 str, +1.5 con, +.5 sta No one completed nightmare last time, but if someone is worthy. There is a secret hidden level that's so hard that it scared everyone for reals. Summary: 1-arm dumbbell row, your difficulty level, 10 reps each side, 10 sets; for time. Post your glory in this thread. This Challenge will run the entire month of November.

Update from last challenge: Eating 6 times a day fucked me up. Planning dinner with the wife is the key, that's where I need to improve. I worked on Crossfit skills (double unders, Muscle up progression etc) and stayed mobile. I did things at the house. I did not work on my riffle. So part 2 of the 2nd half of the years goals: 1: Give praise in the Iron sanctuary. To do this, I must remain mobile and healthy. I know right? And since I'm sacrificing my gainz at the in the halls of crossfit. #makingcrossfitwarriorsagain Wait, that's not how they look... Work Mobility every day to include lax ball to the thoracic area, quads, calves and lats. And do distracted stretches to help my hips and ankles. And the other various stretches my PT says. I have 4 times a day where I can really do this (morning, mid day at work, pre workout, evening.) So I don't have all of these all at once, but break them up and hit trouble spots multiple times if needed. With all that said, I feel the best I have felt in years right now. My shoulders are opening up, my hips are moving better, my ankles move well, everything feels good except my foot. Now the bad news... I tweaked my back on Saturday. I feels like I have a bulging disk and my lower back froze up to protect my spine. I found a chiro who crossfits and understands what I want to do with my body and I also have a Dr Appt of Friday. Last time I hurt my back, I became a lazy POS and did nothing. This time, I'm going to stay active. i.e. yesterday I did 5 rounds of 10 cal on assault bike, 25 air squats and 10 strict pull-ups. And I felt great afterwards, my body responded well to it... or maybe it was the drugs. 2. Stop being fat. And I did what I usually did for the last 3 years.. and I didn't lose any weight. I was eating 1950-2050 cals/day. So for the last 2 months I have been reverse dieting and last months goal is to eat 3K cals/day. Reverse Diet has been working well for me so far and I've been still losing weight. Now is time for the cutting. I will bring it down in a controlled manner and finally start losing fat. I got down to 225 and 35.1" before I went on vacation. This weeks goal is 2800 cals/day with 40% C/30% P/30% F which works out to 278g C/209g P/93g F. I'll evaluate total cals on a weekly basis. 3: Be better at Crossfit. Train hard, rest when I'm dead. And I discovered that there are a bunch of skills that I suck at or just can't do. Some I'm going to practice these one or more of these skills 5 times a week. Over head squat: I need more shoulder mobility and maybe scapula strength to do this properly, but If I want a 225lbs snatch... I need to learn to get under the bar. Double unders: This is the one skill that is single handily preventing me from Rx'ing WODs. I need my own jump rope that is sized for me for me to truly progress. Current record is 2 dups. Muscle Ups: cause when you do one... everyone knows you're bad ass. New coach taught me something new, so now I need to practice. Handstands/handstand walks: Didn't you all watch Stongman's fury in the Xfit games? I could do some of that... but not the handstand walks, I want to be better. I need to actually do a freestanding handstand, stop being a bitch. 30" box jumps: Need to be more explosive with these. I can do 24" really easily now, its the next step. *space reserved for other things as I remember I really want to do them* 4. I've been working on prepping for Ragnarok all this year, but I didn't really know why. But now I do. Br0dinsdottir is on her way to reign havoc. So, I have lots of work to do to prep the house. Build various furniture, clean rooms, etc etc... So I will do all the things and maybe do them before the wife nags me to doing them. I have a dresser and a changing table that needs to be built. and of course, still do my gun stuff, like paint my AR. So the wife and I were talking... and she told me that she would feel safer knowing that I was packing. Did she just know what she really asked? So guess who basically got permission to use his own money to buy a pistol? So, I want to get a pistol this challenge period. That means I need to go to the range and test them all out.

Lets start at the beginning... Nope, that's too far in the beginning, lets start at the beginning of this year. I got fat again, I was gyming, but I was getting tired of it, and I needed to do some things around the house. I did some of those things, struggled with others, blah blah blah... But I kept grinding away and constantly evaluating my situation and made adjustments and most of my beginning of the year goals have been met or have been adjusted/delayed to eventually meet my goals. Therefore I'm going to restate my end of year goals and then lay out the steps I'm going to take to meet them. 1: Give praise in the Iron sanctuary. To do this, I must remain mobile and healthy. I know right? And since I'm sacrificing my gainz at the in the halls of crossfit. Wait, that's not how they look... Work Mobility every day to include lax ball to the thoracic area, quads, calves and lats. And do distracted stretches to help my hips and ankles. And the other various stretches my PT says. I have 4 times a day where I can really do this (morning, mid day at work, pre workout, evening.) So I don't have all of these all at once, but break them up and hit trouble spots multiple times if needed. With all that said, I feel the best I have felt in years right now. My shoulders are opening up, my hips are moving better, my ankles move well, everything feels good except my foot. And I don't know what's wrong with my foot... but its not broken. 2. Stop being fat. And I did what I usually did for the last 3 years.. and I didn't lose any weight. I was eating 1950-2050 cals/day. So for the last 2 months I have been reverse dieting and this months goal is to eat 3K cals/day. Reverse Diet has been working well for me so far and I've been still losing weight. Next Month, I will bring it down in a controlled manner and finally start losing fat. Unless I meet this criteria: I go above 235lbs and/or 36" at the belly button. I'm currently at 228 and 35.25". Eating 3k cals/day clean is fucking hard. Must do better. 3: Be better at Crossfit. Train hard, rest when I'm dead. And I discovered that there are a bunch of skills that I suck at or just can't do. Some I'm going to practice these one or more of these skills 5 times a week. Over head squat: I need more shoulder mobility and maybe scapula strength to do this properly, but If I want a 225lbs snatch... I need to learn to get under the bar. Double unders: This is the one skill that is single handily preventing me from Rx'ing WODs. However, with the foot problem, this will be on hold. Muscle Ups: cause when you do one... everyone knows you're bad ass. Handstands/handstand walks: Didn't you all watch Stongman's fury in the Xfit games? I could do some of that... but not the handstand walks, I want to be better. 30" box jumps: Need to be more explosive with these. I can do 24" really easily now, its the next step. *space reserved for other things as I remember I really want to do them* 4. I've been working on prepping for Ragnarok all this year, but I didn't really know why. But now I do. Br0dinsdottir is on her way to reign havoc. So, I have lots of work to do to prep the house. Build various furniture, clean rooms, etc etc... So I will do all the things and maybe do them before the wife nags me to doing them. and of course, still do my gun stuff, like paint my AR.

Last challenge I kinda abandoned for reasons. I kept coming up with some funny, witty and self trolling summaries to post... but I never got around to actually doing them. I guess I was paralyzed by my expectations of posts that prevented me from actually posting. So, I'm going to repeat because my standards on myself are high and I'm not going to accept the stagnation that happened. So, lets repeat. 1: Continue to get my workout back in order. 2 challenges ago, I changed to order of my work out order and I like it. I'm doing a modified 5-3-1 with emphasis on Bench and front squats. I've changed the order of my workout so I do squats/legs on day 2 and DL/back on day 3. This has reduced my back fatigue/pain in the week I've done it. Last Challenge I separated out the OHP from bench day and now truly doing a 4 day 531 cycle with the exception of pushing DLs. I still don't feel comfortable programming heavy DL's so I do some volume and call it good. Plan: A. Continue to lift and maybe think (this went well last challenge, I'm at my strongest again) about taking a 2nd rest day during the week. What are rest days? seriously, Ahh, fuck it. I'll take a rest day when I'm dead. No seriously. If I feel decent, I'll gym, if life comes up... I'll gym then do the life thingies. And If I'm really tired... I'll sleep. B. More abs. Do 15 min abs workout 4-5 times a week. Abs help carrying load barring equipment into battle. This is routine now. C. Conditioning. I need to improve my conditioning a bit. So, I'll do some type of sprints, rows or horizontal cardio 3 times a week or go snowboarding for the day. Everyone knows you can't kill frost giants all day long... if you can't last all day long. Ski resorts will be open to july, golf weather is getting great, go do stuff outside, or torture the fuck out of myself with the rowing machine. C1. Also, Since I got my promotion last summer and was moved to a first floor building, I realized that I'm missing the stairs in my life. Therefore, all bathroom/water breaks will be done on the 3rd floor (highest floor of my building.) Cause stairs are good. (this started to fall off, need to focus on this again) 2: I got fat(ter). I hit over 240lbs a couple of times (I was 212 in OCT) and I'm measured the highest I have ever measured on the waist. This is unacceptable. a. Track all the foods. This fell off last challenge, time to get my shit together. b. Be less fat. Using the Marine body fat test, I'm 21% BF with 50lbs of fat and a LBM of 186lbs. So, losing the 25lbs I gained will quickly fix the problem that I don't fit inside my armor. I hit 226 and under 36" around the waist, 4 weeks ago... now I'm 233 and 37". Stop being a fat fuck! Make better decisions, I know what I have to do, have some goddamn discipline. 3. Ragnarok will require proper defensive positions and weapons. So, I need to build proper defensive positions. Then I will train with my new Sword (in the Romeo and Juliet sense (no, the Leo/Clare one!)) I did finish the shed and cleared out most of my garage and I did get to the gun range once. Things I want to do this month to improve my defensive positions: A: Sell my Army uniforms. I found a surplus guy, we coordinated to meet, but he had to cancel, I need to follow up and sell it. I think I can get about $2000 for them. Uniforms have been sold B: Clean out my garage fully. Move the rest of the stuff out of my garage into the shed, then sweep and clean out the garage. Complete C: Clean out computer room and move stuff to the garage, shed or good will. Build racks in the Garage to mount my snowboards. Not started D: Touch up paint a couple of spots around the house, and WD40 the door hinges and garage door. 4. Lastly, I've not been around the forum like I should be, so (Doing better, but can always do better.) I disappeared for 2 weeks last challenge, be that troll I know I am again.

1: Continue to get my workout back in order. Last challenge I changed to order of my work out order and I like it. I'm doing a modified 5-3-1 with emphasis on Bench and front squats. I've changed the order of my workout so I do squats/legs on day 2 and DL/back on day 3. This has reduced my back fatigue/pain in the week I've done it. And for those who know 5-3-1, I'm doing OHP on bench day. Not trying to get super strong in OHP, just build strong looking shoulders. I'm going to attempt a back squat cycle to see how my back handles it. Plan: A. Continue to lift and maybe think (this went well last challenge, I'm at my strongest again) about taking a 2nd rest day during the week. What are rest days? seriously, B. More abs. Do 15 min abs workout 4-5 times a week. Abs help carrying load barring equipment into battle. This is routine now. C. Conditioning. I need to improve my conditioning a bit. So, I'll do some type of sprints, rows or horizontal cardio 3 times a week or go snowboarding for the day. Everyone knows you can't kill frost giants all day long... if you can't last all day long. Ski resorts will be open to july, golf weather is getting great, go do stuff outside, or torture the fuck out of myself with the rowing machine. C1. Also, Since I got my promotion last summer and was moved to a first floor building, I realized that I'm missing the stairs in my life. Therefore, all bathroom/water breaks will be done on the 3rd floor (highest floor of my building.) Cause stairs are good. (this started to fall off, need to focus on this again) D. (New) start doing Yoga. I have a reduced pass for a week at 2 places. I need to check them out and strech out my Glutes and Traps/Rhoms. Yoga days don't need to be double up with a heavy lifting day. I can step away from the gym to stretch... (this did go well.) Time to pay up to keep this going. 2: I got fat(ter). I hit over 240lbs a couple of times (I was 212 in OCT) and I'm measured the highest I have ever measured on the waist. This is unacceptable. a. Track all the foods. Better at tracking, but lots of room to improve b. Be less fat. Using the Marine body fat test, I'm 21% BF with 50lbs of fat and a LBM of 186lbs. So, losing the 25lbs I gained will quickly fix the problem that I don't fit inside my armor. I hit 226 and under 36" around the waist, keep building on this. c. (new) reduce sugar intake. My wife did the whole 30 for a month last year and she really liked it and I really liked the foods, even though I didn't want to fully participate. Mainly, I didn't want to give up my whey. This year, I'm interested in trying the whole 30, but the wife isn't, (food is really expensive.) So, I'm not going to do the whole 30, but I'm going to read the book and incorporate as many principles into my nutrition as I can. This will be hard to track. Going to cancel this one, not feasible right now. 3. Ragnarok will require proper defensive positions and weapons. So, I need to build proper defensive positions (I.e that shed Mrs. B wants me to finish.) Then I will train with my new Sword (in the Romeo and Juliet sense (no, the Leo/Clare one!)) I did finish the shed and cleared out most of my garage and I did get to the gun range once. Things I want to do this month to improve my defensive positions: A: Sell my Army uniforms. I found a surplus guy, we coordinated to meet, but he had to cancel, I need to follow up and sell it. I think I can get about $2000 for them. Uniforms have been sold B: Clean out my garage fully. Move the rest of the stuff out of my garage into the shed, then sweep and clean out the garage. Complete C: Clean out computer room and move stuff to the garage, shed or good will. Build racks in the Garage to mount my snowboards. Not started D: Buy a carry case for my 1903 Springfield and then take it to a gun smith to ensure that its serviceable (pending the money from my uniforms.) weapons at gunsmith. 4. Lastly, I've not been around the forum like I should be, so (Doing better, but can always do better.)

Alrighty, so I am back once again, trying to get any kind of momemtum going. #1 Food: Paleo, no added sugar #2 Lifting: 2x Week, Continue NRoLfW plan #3 Walking/Hiking: 2x Week minimum Starting Stats Weight: 163.3 lbs Body Fat % (per scale): 42% Waist: 35/40 Hips 42 Thighs 37 Neck 13 Calf 14 Bicep 10 Bust 40/36

Things I'm going to continue building on: 1: Continue to get my workout back in order. Last challenge I changed to order of my work out order and I like it. I'm doing a modified 5-3-1 with emphasis on Bench and front squats. I've changed the order of my workout so I do squats/legs on day 2 and DL/back on day 3. This has reduced my back fatigue/pain in the week I've done it. And for those who know 5-3-1, I'm doing OHP on bench day. Not trying to get super strong in OHP, just build strong looking shoulders. Plan: A. Continue to lift and maybe think (this went well last challenge, I'm at my strongest again) about taking a 2nd rest day during the week (new.) B. More abs. Do 15 min abs workout 4-5 times a week. Abs help carrying load barring equipment into battle. (this is going well.) C. Conditioning. I need to improve my conditioning a bit. So, I'll do some type of sprints, rows or horizontal cardio 3 times a week or go snowboarding for the day. Everyone knows you can't kill frost giants all day long... if you can't last all day long. (this didn't go as well as I wanted, lots of room to improve. Actually go snowboarding twice this month. This time I mean it.) C1. Also, Since I got my promotion last summer and was moved to a first floor building, I realized that I'm missing the stairs in my life. Therefore, all bathroom/water breaks will be done on the 3rd floor (highest floor of my building.) Cause stairs are good. (this did go well.) D. (New) start doing Yoga. I have a reduced pass for a week at 2 places. I need to check them out and strech out my Glutes and Traps/Rhoms. Yoga days don't need to be double up with a heavy lifting day. I can step away from the gym to stretch... (this did go well.) 2: I got fat(ter). I hit over 240lbs a couple of times (I was 212 in OCT) and I'm measured the highest I have ever measured on the waist. This is unacceptable. a. Track all the foods. (didn't go that well) b. Be less fat. Using the Marine body fat test, I'm 21% BF with 50lbs of fat and a LBM of 186lbs. So, losing the 25lbs I gained will quickly fix the problem that I don't fit inside my armor. (I lost 12lbs, 2 inches off waist and at 17% bf over 1st challenge, made no change for the next 6 weeks.) c. (new) reduce sugar intake. My wife did the whole 30 for a month last year and she really liked it and I really liked the foods, even though I didn't want to fully participate. Mainly, I didn't want to give up my whey. This year, I'm interested in trying the whole 30, but the wife isn't, (food is really expensive.) So, I'm not going to do the whole 30, but I'm going to read the book and incorporate as many principles into my nutrition as I can. This will be hard to track. (Need to do better) 3. Ragnarok will require proper defensive positions and weapons. So, I need to build proper defensive positions (I.e that shed Mrs. B wants me to finish.) Then I will train with my new Sword (in the Romeo and Juliet sense (no, the Leo/Clare one!)) I did finish the shed and cleared out most of my garage and I did get to the gun range once. Things I want to do this month to improve my defensive positions: A: Sell my Army uniforms. I found a surplus guy, we coordinated to meet, but he had to cancel, I need to follow up and sell it. I think I can get about $2000 for them. (Reseller isn't returning my emails now, I'll attempt one more time then find a new one.) B: Clean out my garage fully. Move the rest of the stuff out of my garage into the shed, then sweep and clean out the garage. C: Clean out computer room and move stuff to the garage, shed or good will. Build racks in the Garage to mount my snowboards. D: Buy a carry case for my 1903 Springfield and then take it to a gun smith to ensure that its serviceable (pending the money from my uniforms.) (Big bonus this year, mostly spend already on other things, but I should be able to get this.) 4. Lastly, I've not been around the forum like I should be, so (Doing better, but can always do better.)

As I never did a closing post for the last challenge, I'll both close this one out and start the next one. Things I'm going to continue building on: 1: Continue to get my workout back in order. Last challenge I changed to order of my work out order and I like it. I'm doing a modified 5-3-1 with emphasis on Bench and front squats. I've changed the order of my workout so I do squats/legs on day 2 and DL/back on day 3. This has reduced my back fatigue/pain in the week I've done it. And for those who know 5-3-1, I'm doing OHP on bench day. Not trying to get super strong in OHP, just build strong looking shoulders. Plan: A. Continue to lift and maybe think (this went well last challenge, I'm at my strongest again) about taking a 2nd rest day during the week (new.) B. More abs. Do 15 min abs workout 4-5 times a week. Abs help carrying load barring equipment into battle. (this went alright, I got about 2-4 core sessions a week.) C. Conditioning. I need to improve my conditioning a bit. So, I'll do some type of sprints, rows or horizontal cardio 3 times a week or go snowboarding for the day. Everyone knows you can't kill frost giants all day long... if you can't last all day long. (this didn't go as well as I wanted, lots of room to improve. Actually go snowboarding twice this month.) C1. Also, Since I got my promotion last summer and was moved to a first floor building, I realized that I'm missing the stairs in my life. Therefore, all bathroom/water breaks will be done on the 3rd floor (highest floor of my building.) Cause stairs are good. (this did go well.) D. (New) start doing Yoga. I have a reduced pass for a week at 2 places. I need to check them out and strech out my Glutes and Traps/Rhoms. Yoga days don't need to be double up with a heavy lifting day. I can step away from the gym to stretch... 2: I got fat(ter). I hit over 240lbs a couple of times (I was 212 in OCT) and I'm measured the highest I have ever measured on the waist. This is unacceptable. a. Track all the foods. (did good for 3/4 weeks) b. Be less fat. Using the Marine body fat test, I'm 21% BF with 50lbs of fat and a LBM of 186lbs. So, losing the 25lbs I gained will quickly fix the problem that I don't fit inside my armor. (I lost 12lbs, 2 inches off waist and at 17% bf over last challenge, need to keep this up.) Also, I've been called out in bf% PVP, so I have to destroy me some up and comers and get back to being this guy: c. (new) reduce sugar intake. My wife did the whole 30 for a month last year and she really liked it and I really liked the foods, even though I didn't want to fully participate. Mainly, I didn't want to give up my whey. This year, I'm interested in trying the whole 30, but the wife isn't, (food is really expensive.) So, I'm not going to do the whole 30, but I'm going to read the book and incorporate as many principles into my nutrition as I can. This will be hard to track. 3. Ragnarok will require proper defensive positions and weapons. So, I need to build proper defensive positions (I.e that shed Mrs. B wants me to finish.) Then I will train with my new Sword (in the Romeo and Juliet sense (no, the Leo/Clare one!)) I did finish the shed and cleared out most of my garage and I did get to the gun range once. Things I want to do this month to improve my defensive positions: A: Sell my Army uniforms. I found a surplus guy, we coordinated to meet, but he had to cancel, I need to follow up and sell it. I think I can get about $2000 for them. B: Clean out my garage fully. Move the rest of the stuff out of my garage into the shed, then sweep and clean out the garage. C: Clean out computer room and move stuff to the garage, shed or good will. Build racks in the Garage to mount my snowboards. D: Buy a carry case for my 1903 Springfield and then take it to a gun smith to ensure that its serviceable (pending the money from my uniforms.) 4. Lastly, I've not been around the forum like I should be, so (this went better last month, I'll continue on with this.)

Sorry for being MIA, work took away our wifi because planning a switch over before actually doing it totally makes sense. I finally got it back yesterday. Also, went to the chiro, had 3 adjustments, started icing my back/hips/shoulder every night, and I started a strict (as in I actually do it) warm-up routine. Those three things have made a good improvement, but I am still babying the arm as much as possible. Last challenge kind of became a mess because as much as I hate to admit it, if I don't see crazy awesome results (which normally isn't a great sign in the long run) I get antsy and change things up too fast. Part 2 is going to change that, or at least curb it a bit. FEB MEASUREMENTS GO HERE AT SOME POINT: Current weight: 187.8 Goals will basically be the same with a bit more detail... Goal 1: I Will Embrace My New Hellish Workouts While I do eventually need to focus on LISS at some point I had started going to the gym more often last month. I now do M/W/F with the trainer, and at least 1 other day Thur or Sat with a friend. So Sunday I will be adding a walk with the hyper pup or yoga, and Tue I am leaving free so I have a day that I know I can be a lazy ass if I really want to. -Go through the 10 min pre workout warmup every damn day and ice after workouts to continue to heal. Goal 2: Meal Prep That Shit I had breakfast prep down almost the entire challenge last go around, I am going to keep up with that and add a minimum of 4 prepped lunches for the week. Also, I will follow my nutritionist plan for ALL FOUR DAMN WEEKS... instead of becoming impatient and going keto for a week and a half until my digestion said NOPE. Goal 3: Drink the Damn Water I did really well with this at first but it kind of fell by the wayside as the challenge went on. I will be using my notebook to keep everything tracked so that doesn't happen again. Goal 4: Make Myself Feel Pretty Damnit! I bought 4 blow dry bar sessions when I went yesterday before my date night, I will use those up randomly this month and try to at least put some damn eyeliner on. I will also continue to show off my awesome matching legging/converse collection on IG as well as take at least one video of a lift. Life Goal 1: Attack some spring cleaning early. - Dresser cleaned out and things tossed or donated - Start Craigslisting things that we can sell - Finally put up the curtains in the guest room - Clean out closets - Properly put away the christmas tree that my boyfriend just threw in the guest room... - Get rid of the extra crap in the gaming/dog room and make it more homey feeling (put up those damn curtains too...) Life Goal 2: Take the leap and order the damn shirts for my and my friends business, also get quotes on printing once they are ordered.

Hi! I'm KaitSith and I have dreams of power-lifting like a fantastically hot Amazon Warrior / Lady-Gaston. (TMI? Ah well.) This is my first challenge so my goals are pretty simple. Warrior-to-be KaitSith's LEVEL 1 REBEL CHALLENGE: Diet Pack and bring lunch to work everyday No coffee, just water, after 10:30 Fitness Go to office gym during lunch M/W/F 3 miles of walking on the weekend Level Up Your Life Keep the kitchen clean! Dishes and trash out every night. Finish that book! 15 minutes - 1 hour of writing everyday I dove into the worksheets last week, digging really deep into my quests. I'm a mother of two, supreme art nerd, and I work a full time job. I've prioritized my work schedule and family schedule above my health. (I work as an admin for an IT company and I spend over 40 hours a week at my computer/desk, plus 2 - 3hours daily for my commute into the office, then I have my kids until bedtime, and after that I work on my side business. I tried and failed to make time to go to a gym before or after work for two years and beat myself up over it constantly.) My most inspired idea in the planning stage is to use the office gym on my lunch break. Spending my lunch break with my coworkers and friends is some of my only social so it was very important to me, but lately I've been eating and working through my lunches so I am not going to be giving up that time by working out.

This is a thread inspired entirely by laziness. Because I want to encourage others, but I don't want to navigate through lots of people's different threads. So Why don't we all post our challenges and encouragement to each other in this one thread. Here are my challenges for the next four weeks. You'd think creating a show to play at the biggest music festival in Japan would be the most difficult thing, but I have NO FREAKING IDEA how to find a freaking charity. Upon searching for "Charity Niigata" in Japanese nothing that is actually based in Niigata came up. So perhaps I'd need to find an individual instead of a charity. I've also walked all around my area at night and cannot find a single homeless person. This is inconvenient. . .

I have returned to return to my awesomeness. During my Br0din sleep, I had injured my lower trap, got sick, went on vacation them went through the holidays. ...and I got fat and fat Warriors won't do well when Ragnarok comes around. rare before photo: and rare after photo: Therefore, I have to get the basics back into order and start new things! 1: Get my workout back in order. I'm doing a modified 5-3-1 with emphasis on Bench and front squats. I've changed the order of my workout so I do squats/legs on day 2 and DL/back on day 3. This has reduced my back fatigue/pain in the week I've done it. I'm not lifting my deadlifts on a scheduled plan, just going to do 4-5 sets of 5 to work my back, glutes and hammies. And for those who know 5-3-1, I'm doing OHP on bench day. Not trying to get super strong in OHP, just build strong looking shoulders. Plan: A. Continue to lift and regain strength and get stronger because strong people crush weak people in battle. B. More abs. Do 15 min abs workout 4-5 times a week. Abs help carrying load barring equipment into battle C. Conditioning. I need to improve my conditioning a bit. So, I'll do some type of sprints, rows or horizontal cardio 3 times a week or go snowboarding for the day. Everyone knows you can't kill frost giants all day long... if you can't last all day long. C1. Also, Since I got my promotion last summer and was moved to a first floor building, I realized that I'm missing the stairs in my life. Therefore, all bathroom/water breaks will be done on the 3rd floor (highest floor of my building.) Cause stairs are good. 2: I got fat(ter). I hit over 240lbs a couple of times (I was 212 in OCT) and I'm measured the highest I have ever measured on the waist. This is unacceptable. a. Track all the foods. b. Be less fat. Using the Marine body fat test, I'm 21% BF with 50lbs of fat and a LBM of 186lbs. So, losing the 25lbs I gained will quickly fix the problem that I don't fit inside my armor. Also, I've been called out in bf% PVP, so I have to destroy me some up and comers and get back to being this guy: 3. Ragnarok will require proper defensive positions and weapons. So, I need to build proper defensive positions (I.e that shed Mrs. B wants me to finish.) Then I will train with my new Sword (in the Romeo and Juliet sense (no, the Leo/Clare one!)) But first I need to prepare my sword for battle like buying sights for it and paint it "tacticool." But do I got Multicam or black and white stormtrooper? or The more I look at it, the black and white is freaking cool looking. But before I paint it, I need sights and have my sling mount put on it. 4. Lastly, I've not been around the forum like I should be, so

Hello gang! I hope everyone had a great holiday Mine was not as pleasant as I had hoped, my house guest was very difficult but after she was gone I was able to just be for almost a week and it was lovely. This is the first new year I have actually taken measurements, and due to my holiday "eat all the things" I got to find out that I am larger than I have ever been So this year I am changing that! I will lose 24 inches off my measurements over this year. Current Measurements : Calves, Thighs, ect are per side. Calves - 17.5" Thighs - 27.75" Hips - 45.5" Waist - 38.5" Underbust - 37" Biceps - 13.5" (need to add my measurement at belly button) Weight (As of Jan 1) - 190lbs This Years Health Quest Overview: I will embrace my new hellish workouts - I will get in LISS on my off days with a goal of 10k steps or 30 min of yoga. I will meal prep twice weekly, and I will only have ONE F'it meal a week (minus my 2 weeks in Italy in may, that eating will be epic, lol). I will drink my damn water... seriously - minimum of 64oz a day And I will make myself feel pretty damnit!

About me: Hokay… so I have been a part of Nerdfitness for almost 5 years (!!!). I have mostly been a lifter and paleo person, but since my move to Alaska and pregnancy and new motherhood all really threw off my routines and habits. I haven’t been around as much this past year, but I’m determined to change that. I’ve been in Alaska for 3 years, my husband is military. But we are fortunate enough to be staying here for another 5 years! I love to hike year round, so this place is perfect for me. My kiddo is almost 11 months old, and a little hellion! I also have a german shepherd who I do obedience competitions with. My overarching goals are to get stronger and lose the baby flab. If I lose weight, awesome, but I know better than to think just seeing a certain number on a scale is going to make me happy. I want to look and feel fit, and gain back the strength I lost while life has been so crazy and hectic. I also want to be developing good routines, because in July, Mr. Princess will be deploying overseas so I will be taking care of things at home solo. Current stats: Weight 163.8 BMI 29 Body fat % Waist at Belly Button 38" Natural Waist 35" Hips 42" Calves 15" Arms 11.5" Neck 13" Goals #1 Lifting with NROLW and Core Program #2Whole 30, No exceptions https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5ztkZUPLqzJddYbi38QTKfObn3jcT3ATUg753sYjFc0YLX51M6-uzrecHoLRIptE04iSPTIXS7ilfbwGQalVSzRhs1yIeQfD7sLfQycUCUNyG-uzXQfNSGDzMuUjvu6-EmSIWXr3 #3 Home Routines Meal Planning Dishes Laundry Bathrooms Here's to a beautiful, whirlwind of a 2017!

Suddenly we are at the end of the year! This is a good time for reflection over the past year and planning for the next year. As always, here is what I see over the next six weeks: Week 0: November 28 to December 4 - Winter is Coming Program, Week 4 Week 1: December 5 to December 11 - Winter is Coming Program, Week 5 Week 2: December 12 to December 18 - Winter is Coming Program, Week 6 Week 3: December 19 to December 25 - Fly out December 24 Week 4: December 26 to January 1 - Fly back December 31 Week 0: January 2 to January 8 - Start over Thanksgiving is behind us. The next big events are Christmas and New Years. I will be travelling - the wrong direction. I will spend a few days around Christmas with my family in Calgary, then a few days with my best friend in Yellowknife. It is unlikely that I will be finding a gym in either place where I can follow the program, so it is looking like a full-week break. Then get back to it on January 2 and start over. Nothing has changed in my general goals: I am still trying to get strong and fat, within reason. My post-Thanksgiving weigh-in came in at 93.4 kg, still within the 94 kg class. On the Powerlifting side, I am marginal on the 93 kg class. It depends on how accurate my scale is and how much my jammy bottoms weigh. On to tasks and goals for the end of the year, here is what I come up with: Quest 1 - Reflect on 2016 and Make Plans for 2017 We are officially off-season with no planned meets in the near future. In the next post, I will reserve a spot for highlights of 2016 so that next year I can easily find them. What lifts did I hit? How much did I weigh? What were my measurements? What did InTroll say my BF% was? Overall, 2016 was a banner year! Quest 2 - Follow the Program It is an off-season program with lots of accessory work. I have simply called it, "Winter is Coming." It runs five days: Day 1: Counterfit Day 2: Snatch Balance, OHS, Clean, Paused Front-Squats, Pull-Ups, Leg Curls Day 3: Snatch + OHS, Clean Pull + Clean, OHP, Squats, KB Lunges Day 4: Snatch + Paused OHS, Power Clean + Paused Jerk, Deadlifts, Lower Back Extensions + Sit-ups Day 5: Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Front-Squat, Lunges, Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Curls + Y-Rope Pressdowns Quest 3 - Tracking This is almost going to be a copy and paste of the previous cycle. Just adding a couple of things. Still working on IfItFitsYourMacros and being a little bit less extreme on IfItFitsYourMouth. We have approximately one year's worth of data showing a slow increase in weight at 3350 Calories per day. Setting my goals slightly lower and using slightly less than 0.9 g Protein / pound bodyweight and splitting the rest of the calories in a 3:1 ratio, I get something like: 3220 Calories 360 Carbs (240 to 480) 120 Fat (80 to 160) 175 Protein (150 to 200) So we are not shooting for any kind of precision here. Let's just see if we can hit the broad side of a barn. When we miss, then I can go looking for the culprit and evaluate from there if I should be making a different choice in the future. We will come up with a list of things we can get away with and things we cannot! Meal prep once per week. Maybe try to make this last three days instead of two! One outing per week, even if MB would have me become a hermit. One dessert between now and Christmas - and this might very likely be scrapped given the season and abundance of food. Quest 4 - Sight Mercury! Back in my childhood, I was an Astronomy Nerd, but have never sighted Mercury in my life. This is on my list of Life Quests. My next big opportunity is on December 10 / 11, in the southwestern sky just after sunset. Wovercast even sent me a chart to help locate it. Quest 5 - Christmas Season Preparation The typical end of year theme for me is trying to get as much "work" done before running out the door. It used to be the last thing I would do on the way out is write out my annual donations, but the past couple of years I have been dealing with so much pressure, it did not happen. This year might not be so bad, since there is not so much of a year-end push and they hired my replacement and I am only taking one week off. So the list of things to accomplish before the end of year: People to gift / buy gifts for End of Year Donations Stuff from Trader Joe's, most likely Find out how much empty space to reserve in my bags Home appointments Maybe even see the doctor for the year! (which might trigger a New Year "Cut") Quest 6 - Other Quests as they Appear And that's it! EDITS: 11/27 - Added Quest 5

Hit a big milestone last night: 405 lb deadlift. Been chasing that one for a while. For the record, that's 245% of my bodyweight. =)

Bro's and SwoleMaidens, We Warriors have a little bit of a reputation of being a little isolated from the rest of Nerd fitness guilds. We know what we like to do, put our earbuds in, listen to loud music, make ugly faces and loud grunts as be bang our heavy ass weights around. Talking to others is verboten. But are you getting the most out of your workouts? Are there things the other guilds do that maybe help you recover? fix deficiencies? change the monotony of your workout? Maybe increase your conditioning? This Challenge period, I challenge you to try something new. I want you to look at all the other guild's mini-challenges are participate. Make new friends, learn new skills, maybe... just maybe you'll do some cardio. Adventures have Mario Cart Games Assassin's are playing Sonic the Hedgehog Or do "Conditioning" with the rangers Then come back here and tell us how much fun you had, or (unlikely,) how much you hated it. Now, go forth and show these other guilds how awesome Warriors are. You will keep all the loot you achieve in these quests plus 1 point for wisdom when you complete a challenge.