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"One step and the next" Big addition this time is the addition of walking tracking. Exercise: 1. Camminare: 8 000 steps per day, which is roughly 4 miles. As measured by my PokéWalker. I remember reading this GQ article about the training required for a superhero body and one of the things that stuck with me was the 12 000 step daily goal. That's 6 miles, which is a lot, and hard to fit into my day. (The other thing I remember from the article is that while doable, the superhero body is a lot of work for the ordinary person. Actors and models can get away with it because it's their jobs. I work full time and am in grad school.) I actually get more steps in on school days, probably because I have to get dinner and go to class as opposed to going home from work. But the days that I'm not doing anything special? I only get about two and a half miles, if I'm lucky. For example, I only have 3 177 right now, and it'll only double because I'm going to the library after work. 2. Calistenia: This month, I add the Pull-Up and Dip progression to the /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine. My rows weren't exactly horizontal yesterday, but I'm really close, and maybe the pull-ups will help. I have also gotten pretty good at the diamond push-ups, so I'm past due for the dips. I'll see how much energy I have left before upping the difficulty too much on my rows and push-ups. Reminder to self and the world. I want to get a ring muscle-up by the end of the year. Other things to work on: Find more time to wear that weight vest.Keep up with the wrist stuffsDiet: 3. Frutta e Verdura: Gotta keep eating that produce. 4. Integratori Alimentari: Eat those multivitamins. So, I've been trying to emulate the tonsorial style of a character, Shitty, from that hockey webcomic, Check Please! It turns out that Shitty and I have a lot in common anyways, and more than just the mustache. Well, the friend that introduced me to the comic is getting married in September and she wants me to stealth cosplay him there. But I need to grow as much hair as possible so that I can put it up in a bun. I haven't gotten it cut since December, but that was more of a trim on top and a clean up of the neck. Before that was a full cut at the end of October when I was tired of my dyed hair, and wanted to return to my natural color. So I am trying to take Vitabeard at the moment to facilitate the growth. I need to take it three times a day with food. Though if anyone has any knowledge of nutrition for hair, or growing hair out in general, it'd be greatly appreciated. Other things to work on: More protein after workouts plzkthxbaiWatch the baking. I've been baking more. I want to say that this is a sign of the depression fading as the last time I baked this much was shortly before that episode with my art professor. I don't know for sure. But I love it, even if carbs are the worst. So, don't bake too much, but hope that it doesn't disappear?Life: 5. Studiare: Keep on that Italian practice and get those A's at schoool! The will finish in week 3 of the challenge. I'm not too worried about my grades at the moment. It's supposed to be a really good master's program, but I haven't yet found it particularly challenging. Don't know what that says about me or the program. 6. Programmare: This will involve finally setting up that Hackentosh, but I want to improve the /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine app to provide more info and store a bit more data. But this should help me learn Swift.

Gee, these challenges are fast and quick this year, aren't they? I did alright in my last challenge, only falling off the boat in terms of eating more whole fruit. I did it in the assassins, but didn't fall into the community there; so, because you guys are so much fun, I'm gonna come back here though the challenge is pretty much the same. Exercise: 1. Continue with the /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine on Thursdays and Sundays. I wish I could get more in, but with full time work Mondays through Fridays, night class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and sword class on Saturdays and Mondays, I don't have the time for the work out and rest days at three a week. But I have been making improvements in the past four weeks: I've been able to hold my foot-supported L-sit for 30 seconds in a go for all three reps, my shoulders have gotten a lot stronger in terms of the wall plank, and my inclined row has been approaching the horizontal. My one stagnation has been at the diamond push-ups: I feel that all my weight is on the ulnar side of my hands and this makes my bad wrist uncomfortable. 2. Continue with wrist exercises. I tried experimenting with dynamic stretches instead of band-resistance with my wrist, but I think this is setting me back. I'll have to mix between resistance and stretching. Maybe I'll be able to have above average wrists at some point. Diet: 1. More produce. At least one serving of whole fruit or of fresh(ish) vegetables. I don't really have any weight goals, right now. I did have the nice surprise of finding out that my jacket measurement went up a size since I was last measured, though my weight has more or less decreased. My drop is now more than six inches, which will make suit shopping easier (suits usually come with a six in drop), though no considerable increase in budget will probably keep those purchases down to zero. However, I don't really want to go down a weight class, as that would make me undesirable for demonstrations during the grappling classes, which is one of my favorite things. However, fresh produce is pretty much always a good idea to have in one's diet. Life: 1. Keep up on class reading. I have been keeping up on my copious class readings. However, we took a shift in cognitive science from survey and history to modelling of emotional reasoning, which doesn't really get me going. I keep wanting to focus on the biology and evolution of it all. However, it's a seminar class, so I will have to keep up to get that A. 2. Keep studying Italian on Duolingo. I want to be able to start reading Fiore's Flos Duellatorum to improve my art, but it's written in medieval Italian. Luckily, medieval Italian is very close to contemporary Italian (much more so than contemporary English is to Middle English), so learning that will get me much of the way. It's been interesting. This time learning feels harder than any other attempt at learning a language that I have had, but I wonder if it's because of a lack of proper instruction, too close a familiarity with French and Latin, or just because I've gotten old. But if I keep at it, I may have a fighting chance.

I'm more than alive: I'm actually doing very well, especially considering where I was six months ago. While work, school and training have been eating up a lot of energy. Especially good is that I've been on top of my fitness game and I'm approaching one of the best shapes of my life. I say "one of" because I was really happy with where I was 20 months ago, before the Catastrophe1. I was 10 kg heavier then, and had trainers to keep me in check/direct my workouts and I was doing some parkour training. However, if I were to take a guess, I would reckon that I'm at a similar body composition now that I was then, or at least my arms have started to look really nice. In general, I'm beginning to look more like Jamie Fraser and less like Black Jack Randall nude. That being said, I do have some abstract goals forming, that I need to put in concrete form: I've promised my wife that I'll go as Kraven the Hunter to NYCC in October, which I hope to spur me to better looking coreWhich will require that I get better at eating and mealingI've been told that I could possibly take my Companion test in the late SummerI need to work on not letting myself get distracted as frequentlyI need to step up my chore game at home, especially if I'm out of school for five short weeks beforeI have an intensive, five week summer session of school immediately after this challenge ends: four nights a week, three hours a night. Exactly like the usual ten week term, but in five.So onto this challenge's specific, concrete goals: Sword Fighting Skills I when I asked if I would be ready to take the Novice to Companion test in the fall, I was told by our dean that I will probably be ready by summer's end. So I am going to make sure I know how to perform every item on the Novice Curriculum. I've already most of them under my belt, but there are many there that need practice. Here are the skills on the curriculum, italics for known but needing practice, and bold for those known well, hidden behind spoiler to avoid a large waste of space: General: Safety skills: Grappling: Binds: Arm bars: Throws: The Sword in Two Hands: Cutting drills: Tactical drills: Set-Plays: Defenses from Below: Two points for each known well, and one point for each just known. An extra point for having all the skills in a category known well. A Total of 100: 87%87% S: 100, A: 90+ B: 85+ C: 80+ Start: 70 Nutrition I've done fairly well so far. I'm down in weight from where I was seven months ago, though I mostly attribute this to my ADHD medication, as improved focus means less boredom and less boredom eating. However, while I am down in weight, my consumption of sweets has increased quite a bit, probably also as a result of otherwise eating less and my body then reaches for a high calorie snack. I have also gotten much leaner too, and this I attribute to working out regularly. I would like to get leaner for NYCC, especially if I'll be wearing an open vest with no shirt as the presence of a six pack would cinch the whole Kraven cosplay in my favor. I stress leaner as I don't want any focus on losing weight, as I advocate for body positivity, as getting leaner by either losing fat, gaining muscle or both will have the same effect upon the texture of my belly. My goal for food is to get into a practice of creating meals in advance so that when my schedule becomes busy again I can be eating cleanly and without having to waste money going to restaurants before class every night. I'd like to aim for a 2300 kCal diet, with protein consisting of around a third of the food energy. I think the cornerstone of this diet will be chicken drumsticks as they're cheap and easy to portion. This goal will be taken pass/fail. A pass would be a plan to get five breakfasts, five lunches and four dinners as well as appropriate snacks for each work day. Other minor goals More of a to do list than anything else. In no particular order. I probably won't complete all of these, but accountability is nice. Practice stepping off line during a fightPractice better coverClean kitchen when possibleClean deskPut away comicsStore winter clothingGet body composition testDraw more (3/week, 15 minutes/time?)Write to my penpal