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I wrote a really long, funny and interesting post, but lost it, so here is another post: I'm 37 years old and it feels like my body is falling apart. Up until my middle teenage years, I would at least do several sports in parallel. We like sports in Sweden and if you live in the middle of nowhere, what else are you going to do? Then I met my first love, computers. We had a great relationship that lead me to work for a while in Stockholm and finally moving to California, which is where in the end the last bit of magic wore off a bit and I woke up with this ... fragile, loose-ish body that can't run or the knees start hurting, have a shoulder that I can dislocate by just lifting my arm over my head and relaxing and is generally lacking in density. I've spent a significant part of the last decade trying to think of something that interests me enough to make me start moving my ass. I've tried a few things, but my lack of patience and being a poster boy of fragility makes everything painful after the first week. Recently I was handed an article about the Armored Combat League (Yes, real thing), where grown men put on steel armor, group up and attack other groups with steel weapons (blunt, but full force). It's the kind of thing I used to play when I was a kid, and I really want to be part of it, but I'm not there yet. Today, I am 3 weeks into my couch to knight epic quest line. I've been doing physical therapy for my shoulder and it's already strong enough that I don't fear dislocating it. In a month, it'll be like a normal (muggle, non fit, non adventurer) persons shoulder, and by next year it'll be knight strong. By next summer, I'll be a serious competitor for the regional team, if not a regular. I've also been running, because I once saw a guy run up half-dome in Yosemite National Park and it's still one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. Running is pretty boring and wearing on my knees, so I'm going to run less and replace it with other cardio. I'm also refining another epic quest line that will take me to a Spartan or Tough Mudder race next year. Or maybe Ninja Warrior. Or both. That'd be awesome. I'll be awesome. TL;DR: I'm going to be a knight! *runs around attacking bushes with a sword and makes knight-y noises*

I tried to beat the sad pandas last challenge, but I didn't realize I was PLAYING INTO THEIR HANDS. See, you might not know this, but sad pandas are pedantic, points driven, and very metric based. They want you to try things that don't always make you feel better. they are not totally interested in letting you be a happy panda. so I ended up feeling more sadder, because playing the game by Sad Panda rules meant you are always going to be a sad panda. I don't want to be sad panda! I want to be a sparkly assassin! No more mopefests for me! (bonus halloween photo!) So I need to structure this challenge for LOGGING SUCCESS. my MAIN QUEST is to be a FLASHING NEON ARROW pointing to HOW AWESOME I'm DOING. like this: MY SUCCESS BECOMETHEARROW. First, let's talk about grades. I hate grades. So I'm going to use NOT SO HOT / GOOD / BETTER / BEST to rate myself. GOAL 1: MAKE A LIST / CHECK IT TWICE Every Monday I'll have a workout schedule and every week I'll check off my points. There. Simple. Things that go on the workout schedule may and will likely include: going to physical therapy. arm day at the gym. tae kwon do. extra bonus points (i.e., boost my non-grades up a scale) will be given for massive groups of sit-ups in one day, or similar bulk exercises. tl:dr - write up a weekly exercise calender, track it here, and check off the boxes. bonus bump! do a bunch of extra exercises in a day, like, 100 sit-ups or something torturous. GOAL 2: PLAY WITH ALL MY TOYS So far I've accumulated a bunch of toys. SWORDS. A SPARKLY HULA HOOP. NUNCHUCKS. I have to make time to play with them! I'm not 100% sure yet how this will work. but it'll go on the schedule, and be rated as a separate goal. I'm thinking 5 minutes a day for x days with the hoop or chucks. I don't know enough yet about swords, so that will involve going to weapons class to practice. tl:dr - make a special point to schedule in toy time and hit that goal. GOAL 3: USE MY OWN DATA TOOLS / TAKE THAT UGLY SAD PANDAS I have been doing really really well with tracking all my calories. even when I'm not doing great, I've been tracking for over a year. I know it's a huge part of my success. HOWEVER. better than that success is actually staying under my calories goal. When I look back over the last challenge, I didn't do that. so every week, that's what I'm going to do. (I'm giving myself one exception, for [American] thanksgiving week. I am in a blended family and I think I have to have 2 thanksgiving dinners. I do pretty good with these meals but I like to taste everything and that adds up. Last year running a 10k on thanksgiving saved my bacon, but I can't count on that this year with my wonky knee so I get a pass. tl:dr - Continue to track calories every day AND ALSO stay under my calories goal for the week.. bonus bump! for tracking caffeine too, using the jawbone coffee app. LIFE QUEST: NO REALLY BECOME THE NEON SIGN. I know, it's nuts to want to be stealth assassiny creature yet be a neon sign. but who wants to be a sparkly assassin anyway? ME, that's who. but it's hard to crow on your successes, and I need a little more of an explicit boost. I'm feeling a little slumpy. I had my first nerdiversary during the last quest and while I'm doing super good, and seeing good, long-term results, they're slow, and I'm bored and a sad cupcake, and I don't want to be a sad panda because their panda games are boring and their rules suck and everyone is totally emo and boring (did I say boring?). for my life quest I'm going to really focus on the best most awesome things I'm achieving. and I'm going to report them back. Some of them will be fitness related, some will be body size related, some will be skill related. Some might be totally random and related to things that I've finally completed in my regular life. This is where I'll be giving myself all the presents. I need them right now, yo. tl:dr - look forward to me posting lots of crowing posts. I need to highlight my accomplishments a little more and remind myself how awesome I'm doing. FIRST! | WK 1 | WK 2 | WK 3 | WK 4 | WK 5 | WK 6

The last three challenges have been totally focused on my ACL tear, surgery, and recovery. Which is good, but at this point, after dealing with it for, like, 4 months, is TOTALLY FREAKING BORING. I am so bored. I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do. I'm RIGHT ON SCHEDULE. Everyone is pleased with my progress. I AM SO BORED. I'm a bored panda like whoa. even my fighty cat is not so fighty. Plus the seasons are changing and I feel like I missed the WHOLE SUMMER because I was so busy with physical therapy and work. basically, I feel like a sad cupcake. EVEN THOUGH I'm doing really good. My knee is awesome, I actually STILL DID get my 3rd degree black belt, and since I joined the NF women's academy in October I've lost 16 lbs. SIXTEEN POUNDS! I'm so excited about that! I want to stay positive! So this challenge I need to focus on stuff I can actually change or work on. I can't change my physical therapy. clearly I am going to keep doing it. I am at 3 months, I have 3 more months to go. AT LEAST.I can't run right now, so I'm not going to focus on any weight loss thing. Plus I hate having weight loss goals because they are so easy to miss, and that's totally freakin' demoralizing.I've been tracking food for a consecutive 255 days, so that's something good there that I'm not going to mess with. so I am going to prepare for hibernation. I'm going to focus on fixing some habits (BORING!) and working on my house so it's a happier bat cave to live in (BORING!). Hopefully with these good habits reformed and my house a neater and more livable place I can take over the wintertime months without feeling paralyzed by mopes and feels. SO: CHALLENGE GOALS! WHOLE BODY HAPPY - Continuing PT is something that I don't see myself having a problem with. I DO seem to be having a problem working out the rest of my body. I need to get more structured around getting to the gym to do my arms workouts. I'm committing to 2x arms a week and 1x cardio or bodyweight workout. Ideally I'll figure out how to fit in abs, but I had such a problem finding time last challenge I'm going to save this for BONUS POINTS. FOOD - I am doing really good at eating pretty well and staying close to my calorie goals. HOWEVER there is definitely room for improvement. My last challenge I was over LOTS during challenge weeks. Without running regularly I can't eat everything I want, and I need to try and make sure that my limited calories are geared towards I am going to take pictures of EVERYTHING I EAT. it's going to be annoying to me and everyone around me. But I think it will be helpful to think seriously about the food I'm putting into my body, the quantities, what it's made from, and also if I really want to eat it badly enough to take a picture. I'll try and share these in a non-spammy way on the forums. They'll all be saved in a flickr group too. SLEEP - I need to be more structured around my sleep. Our household schedule has changed (details in HOMELY) and I have to take greater responsibility for going to bed every night at 9:30 so I can get up at 5AM and exercise. it's slightly less sleep than I really need, but it's sufficient to keep me healthy and also keep me from feeling like I'm missing out on things. I have an alarm on my phone and I'm requiring myself to go to bed at 9:30 4 of the 5 "school nights" during the week. That 5th night is only flexible in case I have late meetings in NYC for my alumni organization, and shouldn't be taken as a regular pass. HOMELY HOME - my husband is taking 3 classes this semester in addition to his regular day job with his regular long commute. This means that instead of being out of the house 5 days a week from 6:30 AM to 7:30ish PM, he's out of the house 3 days from 6:30 AM to 7:30ish PM, 3 days from 6:30ish AM to MIDNIGHT, and 1 day from 6:30AM to 4:30PM. yeah, that's right. he's taking a class on Saturdays. our house is a disaster zone. it's super old and needs a lot of renovations. it's all we can do to keep it neat. I'm trying to deal positively with how his additional absences will impact our ability to get ANYTHING DONE around the house. PLUS I am already feeling resentful for the only time we have together being scheduled out for doing chores. He LOVES the new classes he's taking and it's very exciting, and I don't want to ruin that for him in anyway, but I have to find a balance for our family and for me too. for this challenge I am going to get one major project scheduled with a contractor and get another smaller project started on my own. First steps are to do the flow chart for all house activities. Current Challenge: Goals | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6

Hello all. I am new to Nerd Fitness and was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for training with a knee injury. I have had 2 ACL total reconstructions on the same knee and the lunges are the only thing that seem to bother it. Is there a "safer" way to do it for those with a lot of plastic and metal in their knee? Or perhaps a substitute that will be equally effective? Please share your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

My first NF challenge involved a full tear of my ACL. My second saw a surgery to replace the ACL, and initial recovery. My surgeon is happy with my progress and this challenge will dovetail with my physical therapy goals: strengthening! I need to get my surgery leg back up to beast leg status. I've been away (I'm still away) for a long weekend so I am putting up the bones of my challenge here and will need to revise it with more specifics. And like last time, these goals feel a little non-assassiny, but I need the support, and y'all are fun. GOAL 1: most awesome and best effort PT. I'm prescribed physical therapy 3x a week for 7 weeks with my next check up 9/3. I have a set of at home exercises - every day. I need to sit with my PT this week and find out what else I should be doing at home, and how to structure a gym program, and how many other things I can be doing. I'll get all the details straightened out this week (tomorrow?) and post updated specifics. GOAL 2: the rest of my body. It's time to start upper body and abs again! Everyday is leg day, so the challenge is fitting it in. I'm going to start a dumbbell arms/back and neilaray abs workout 3x a week. 2x this week, 3x the following weeks. I'm also going to start fitting in pull-up practice, but I have to test my feelings about using a pull up band with my surgery leg. Pull-ups are a long term goal, and I don't want to leave them out. GOAL 3: on purpose veggies. It's summer, and the farms around me are amazing and productive. I am going to eat on purpose vegetables every day. This means going to the farm stands and prepping something, not just relying on hands-full of lettuce every night. LIFE: be nice to myself and ask for help. It's going to be hard fitting in PT with my regular job, and picking up the boys on our nights. I need to get sufficient sleep and enjoy the summer a little. So every week, I need to think about my stress level and if I'm doing too much. I have a summer to enjoy! (Other.) I track calories and weigh myself with the goal of ultimate weight loss. I have about... 10-15 more lbs before I sit back and evaluate what I want to do with my body shape. For now, I'm too out of control of my exercise to make weight loss a goal. It should follow with the rest of a healthy lifestyle. Goals | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

Oh Assassins my Assassins. I was happily and productively participating in my VERY FIRST CHALLENGE here at NF and rapidly achieving my goals of strength, endurance, and skill with an eye towards my main goal of being prepared for my third degree black belt when... A burly 15 year old (with a heart of gold and a brilliant smile) muscled me through a shoulder throw in tae kwon do class and I tore my ACL. oh that poor kid. oh, my poor ACL. Since then I've had to chuck what seemed like super achievable goals of running fast, doing lots of bodyweights, and practicing tae kwon do 3x a week in favor of ... not being blue, and doing as much as I can to stay active and mobile. My surgery is scheduled for June 19th and I'm going back to the same surgeon who did my left ACL about 8 years ago (I tore that one playing ultimate frisbee because I'm apparently a secret JOCK or something). So this challenge will have to be a little less structured in order to deal with surgery and the unknown immediate recovery period afterwards. MAIN QUEST: We can rebuild her. BETTER STRONGER FASTER. I don't know why I've managed to tear both of my ACLs (and NOTHING ELSE IN THERE, I'm super pro at tearing ACLs, apparently) but either I'm a super secret jock (seriously, unlikely), or maybe there was something wrong with my knees. my left knee has been BRILLIANT since the ACL replacement and I'm looking forward to the same amazingness moving forward. This is going to be at least a 6-month main goal. I won't count myself as fully recovered until I'm back at tae kwon do class and fully participating. that means jump kicks and twisting movements. I will be running again. I'll have full range of motion. I know I can get there, because I already did it once with the other leg. And because I know I can get there, I am feeling super aggressive about getting there as quickly and as strongly as possible. you know, within the boundaries of medical science, and with the care and guidance of my PT and physicians. Challenge goals! PHASE 1. Prepare to be the best patient ever. June 9 - June 18 My surgery is on June 19, which means I've got 10 official challenge days before the surgery to prepare, PLUS 5 more days including today before the challenge starts. Being the best patient means being fit and healthy and also not sad and discouraged. I said I was going to do this last challenge, but I totally pooped out in the excitement of a new injury. Right up until my surgery I'm going to do this: * pull-up practice - with the mid-resistance band, not the easiest and most helpful band like I've been using. * inverted rows * chair dips (we don't have dip bars at home, so I put two barstools together and do dips off of them. * and LEG LIFTS. you can never do too many leg lifts. this is medical fact. * the bruce lee abs workout, with a nod towards tae kwon do * week 1 (passive flexibility) of the assassins bridge challenge -- of these, I am confident my leg can handle cobra, camel, pigeon, seal, and shoulder dislocates. I will either do these all at once 3x a week, or every other day (split into abs/flex vs. arms/shoulders/leg lifts). I'm also going to watch my diet. I'm losing weight, and I want to keep it that way. keep tracking with LoseIt. PLUS GUYS, I am still taking my 3rd degree black belt test - but because I can't do any moves right now, they're testing me as an instructor, so I need to be boss, be assertive (I'm instructing/leading the test with some bossy 20 year old dudes), and make our students look really good while testing their competency. That happens on June 6. PHASE 2. We can rebuild her. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY. June 19 - July 6 (subtext: don't be a mope) I'm going to be home and off my feet for a while. AT LEAST one week. more likely 2. Who knows when I can drive again, because this is my gas pedal foot. I really don't know what the specific goals are going to look like during Phase 2, but it will likely include: * I'll be working at home for a period of my convalescence, and I will need to be productive while at home. I'm not the best at working at home and I will need to do better than ever before. * watch my diet! continue tracking. I'm not going to stress out if I gain a little while I'm on my butt but I don't want to gain a whole lot. eating all the vegetables will help here. I'm going to take a few days after my surgery to flat-out-recover, but I will be back here on June 23 with a set of actual goals for the next two weeks. I'm hopeful that I can add in some stretching/range of motion exercises to this but right now I don't have enough info from my surgeon. PHASE 3. ACHIEVE (*ahem* start to achieve) TORSIONAL STABILITY. July 7 - July 20 I don't know what my PT is going to look like, but I'm going to work the pants off of it. I want to achieve torsional stability quickly, strongly, and safely. Again - I'll have to define this a little more carefully after I have my post-op surgical visit and meet with my physical therapist. Deadline of July 7 to come up with concrete goals. but it will certainly include: * watch my diet! continue tracking. I shouldn't be on my butt any more, so I need to focus on eating right. Plan on continuing to eat all the vegetables. As I'm expecting to be more mobile, I should start going to farmers markets and getting (all the) vegetables and eating (them all). LIFE QUEST. KNIT A SWEATER. With all the being at home I might as well do something besides reading YA novels and apocalyptic fiction and regency romances. Because as much as I can read all day long, generally on day two I need to take a little break, and knitting makes me feel better about watching TV. I have this sweater all ready to go: knitting needles, pattern, and yarn are accumulated. Just need to swatch and cast on. I keep telling people I'm a pretty fast knitter, but I just don't have the time to do it - now I'll have the time! so I can do this! Goals | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

I can walk all day, and be perfectly fine. I can do squats and stretches, and be fine. As soon as I start running, maybe three or four steps into a light jog, I get some serious pulling pain in my right knee, down the left side of the joint. According to some pictures I found, that's either the LCL (the top of that ligament) or the ACL (the bottom of that ligament). I've heard "ACL injury" many times, so that's kinda freaking me out. I don't think it's a tear or a real injury, but it's very painful, and after half a lap it hasn't gone away. With some repeated stop-starts I can mostly get the pain to fade, but then it's still an ache that I can feel. It didn't start until maybe... two or three weeks ago? I can't think of anything that would have caused it. Are there some stretches or exercises or something I can use to help deal with this? I'm really trying to jog and run more (got a 5k in August), rather than just walking.

I'm sure NF frowns upon passing around medical info, and I'm not really seeking that. I just found out that my climbing accident last Saturday led to two fractured bones, as well as a fully torn MCL and ACL. So, now I'm more than a bit scared, as well as totally depressed about being so badly injured. Have any of the rest of you had surgery for a torn ACL, and if so, how bad was the surgery and recovery? Was it really possible to continue working out, or were you just stuck sitting around a lot for the first few months? If you comply with the physical therapy, did your knee end up as strong as ever, or do you have lingering weakness or issues? I'd really love any stories or any encouragement. I'm feeling so depressed right now.