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Currently I'm readin the book "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, and I realised that in my currently tiny social circle I don't have any people that do any form of exercise other than a dily walk or bike-commuting. I decided it was time to come back here to have people to talk exercise with . All fun things are closed right now, so I have to do my exercising at home. This is actually fine (although not as fun), since over the years I have collected enough equipment at home to do a ton of different things. In the second half of 2021 I did mostly youtube videos that use dumbbells, but I gradually lost my motivation with them as they are quite long and intense. I also want my pull-ups and mobility back, so alternating bodyweight training and yoga it is! Furthermore, I want to slowly but surely start losing the covid weight, since it looks like the lockdowns won't be over for quite some time. I really have to start seeing this as a new normal. I will start by making a "snack" box with fruits and nuts so that I eat fewer cookies and chocolates. Lastly, I want a tidy house and a tidy head. I don't know what exactly will work for me there, with all the rules and activities changing all the time, so I'm going to start with just setting up an evening routine. Challenge To ease into it, I have defined my goals in multiple steps. Ideally I will get to the bold-level for each goal, but if for some reason I don't have the energy/motivation, I can take a lower level. The goal is to establish the habits, to be expanded upon later. Strength training (M/W/F) Level 1: do 1 set of push-ups Level 2: do 1 set of all exercises in the start bodyweight routine Level 3: do the start bodyweight routine Yoga (Thu/Tue/Sat) Level 1: change into yoga clothes and do 1 stretch on my yoga mat Level 2: 10 minute practice Level 3: 20 minute practice Snackbox (weekdays) Level 1: put some nuts and frozen fruits in a box Level 2: add some washed/cut fresh fruit Level 3: also add a high-protein snack Evening routine (every day) Level 1: brush and floss teeth (this is pretty established already :)) Level 2: also lay out clothes for next day Level 3: also write down a good thing/decision from that day in my BuJo Now I'm off to do my strength training .

credit: MorJer on DeviantArt CHAPTER 1: AThousandWords finds a Door At the top of the hill. At the back of the wardrobe. At the end of the trail. There is always a Door. Today it is hidden in yellow siding, tucked away at the back of an unused train station, metres away from a bustling pedestrian highway. Hundreds of cyclists and joggers and families passing by daily, none the wiser. Finely painted, with a trompe-l'œil handle that you think you could reach out and turn. An ornate window made of clouded glass, just far enough out of reach that you'd have to get on tip-toes to see through. If there were anything to see. I must have run past it a hundred times myself - surely it's always been there? Tucked away by creeping vines and tall brown grass. I hesitate, torn between wanting to reach out and feel if the doorknob is real and warm from the sun, yet unwilling to let the illusion dissipate. Happy New Year! I'm going to indulge myself this year in a long-running, immersive fantasy. For me, 2022 is a work in peeling back layers of old habits and forging new ones that support the identity I want to embody. I'm unlearning some negative traits (particularly around diet and weight loss) and opening a door to more consistency, simplicity, and joy. My framework for this challenge is based on Atomic Habits: establishing micro-building blocks that feed into the habits I want to establish. It looks a little different from my previous challenges, but I'm giving it a whirl! Habit 1: Schedule and Start 2 hours of Deep Work every weekday Use reclaim.ai to schedule 2 hours of focused work time on work days When the notification goes off, I will actually get started with work - even if it's just 2 minutes Habit 2: Fill up water cup every morning Every morning while I make coffee, I will fill up my big 24oz water cup Habit 3: Spend 15 minutes every weekday adding recipes to Plan to Eat Use reclaim.ai to schedule 15 minutes of time every weekday Add at least one recipe that I'm actually willing to cook/eat to Plan to Eat during this time Habit 4: Practice yoga for 30 min a week I will complete a 30 min yoga class from the Peloton app for 30 min on Tuesdays, after daycare dropoff If, for some reason, I can't do Tuesday, Friday or Sunday are my back up days Behind the scenes, there are lots of other things I'm working on: I'm still training for a half-marathon and running 3-4x a week. I'm trying to read more (that's a work in progress that will probably be its own challenge item down the road). I never finished those dollhouses, so that's definitely going to be happening this month. I'm also still parenting two small kids during a pandemic, with all the associated stress and joy that brings. 🤷‍♀️ But these four things feel like a good starting point toward establishing healthy habits this year, and casting a strong vote toward the person I want to be at the end of 2022.

This challenge I am mostly aiming for just keeping up the momentum. Last challenge was not perfect, but a really good start back into training, so now it's time to keep going. Goals are therefore pretty similar: GOAL 1: workout 2x / week GOAL 2: no food for min of 14h over night, few carbs, 2 Liters of water per day GOAL 3: edit and upload all meditation recordings (morning meditations and retreat meditations) GOAL 4: finish reading "Atomic Habits" and reflect with a little journaling on it daily (4TW streak) Goal 1 and 2 are basically the same as last challenge. I do want to build up to 3 training units per week, but at the moment I have still a lot of appointments for the kids with the orthodontist and youngest checkups after her operation, for my parents with their regular doctor and my dad for his eye operations plus helping with their shopping while he can't drive, so between that and work and helping the kids with their school stuff (it's a busy exam time of the year) I don't think 3 are realistic just yet. I am glad and proud if I get those 2 in every week. The 14 hours food break over night are slightly more than the 12 I had scheduled last, but considering I regularly had days with 16 hours it should be doable to increase the daily goal here. I don't want to set myself to 16 hours every day because if I don't manage, I'll feel like a failure and might drop the whole idea. Rather smaller steps and go for long term improvement. Goal 3 is a work goal that is easily procrastinated on, so here is my continuation of the monster battle and I am determined to do better this time round!! ROAR Goal 4 is aiming at improving my daily routines in general. I started this book and find it very inspiring and helpful, but then I end up listening to interviews with the author on youtube while playing puzzle games, in my recreational times and never put anything into action to actually make it work for me collecting underpants ... well, it's not entirely true. I do observe my day differently already and have noticed some of the decisive moments during my days already, that come up routinely. I'll put the ramblings on that behind a spoiler, so that it doesn't clog up too much of this intro My current training takes place at the gym and looks like this: 10 minutes on the rowing machine (equals 2km) followed by 3 rounds of 40 sec exercise each with 50 sec break in between - kettlebell swings (2 handed) - quick step ups on a big tire (more like a mixture of running and hopping in place) - bodyweight rows on rings (12 reps) at about 45 degree angle - weighted lunges (bulgarian bag weighing 10kg) - running in place and punching the punching bag - pushing a power sledge (light jog and on 2nd and 3rd round walking) - swinging the big ropes - push ups on gravity trainer (set at medium height and comes to about 9 reps per 40 sec) - knee tucks while hanging from pull up bar (I do 10 lifts at the moment, disregarding the time here) then I do some stretches, which is my favorite part only that I noticed today my shoulder mobility is shocking, but otherwise I feel really good about this part So that's it! If this goes well, it will be time to bring the pole back in, squeeeeeeeee