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EDIT: dislocated right shoulder on 23 June 2013, necessitating changing goals mid challenge. New goals are: Goal 1: Get my life into order. I am currently living in London. I am due to return to Sydney at the end of November. I have so much administrative stuff to sort out to make sure I have a job up and ready for me to slip into by the time I get home. My ability to support my wife, myself should be my number one goal. Not chin up progression! (That should be number 2 ) Mini-goal A: To do at least 1 email or administration related thing per day (which is my most hated thing in the world). Do not procrastinate. Mini-goal B: To work on my work website content. To plan out a frame work 1 week, then add 1 topic (suitable for a webpage) per week Mini-goal C: To continue with my previous goal of reading 2 scientific articles per week. Goal 2: Keep exercising within my limits. Mini-goal A: Rehab my shoulder. Sub-mini-goal I: Even though I have to minimise gleno-humeral movement initially, I can and should still continue scapulo-thoracic movement. Therefore do shoulder retraction, protraction, and elevation. Practice circular scapular motions. Sub-mini-goal II: Short arc ROM exercises to strengthen rotator cuff once initial phase of injury subsides. Therefore practice internal rotation (subscapularis) up to max of 45° off neutral. External rotation (infra and supraspinatus) up to same maximum Sub-mini-goal III: Allow joint capsule to scar and heal over 6 weeks. Avoid abduction and external rotation for 6 weeks before trying to increase ROM to a more functional range (No more 2 handed pull ups - le sigh). Mini-goal B: Progress onto 1 handed chin up work with L arm. This goal needs to be tempered greatly. The last time I progressed onto 1 handed work, I did it too soon, too frequently and was too aggressive in my progression. This meant I got medial epicondylitis in my elbow that took 2-3 months to resolve. Therefore absolute maximum of 2 times per week of progression style training. Mini-goal C: Make a good leg progression work out. Unfortunately my go to work out of pistol squats is problematic, as reaching forward with my right shoulder to balance myself is no longer an option. This will need some thought. Mini-goal D: Make a good core progression work out Mini-goal E: Continue grip strength work. Goal 3: Pay more attention to rest, rehab and stretching. LexPhoenix is much smarter than I am. She does mobilityWODs, gentle flows, and myofascial release on days to allow herself to recuperate. I was pushing my 'Pull' exercises way too hard last challenge. I need more balance. Mini-goal A: Dynamic stretching routine for legs everyday Mini-goal B: Static stretching routine for legs on every non strength progression day Mini-goal C: Use my portable massager at least once every day for myofascial release. Goal 4: Get into the habit of brushing my teeth twice a day. Keeping the last one simple and easy I'm not consistent with brushing my teeth in the evenings. I am going to try and make it into a permanent habit. Bonus goal A: Floss more! ----- OLD POST Hi, I'm new here, and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but here goes... Long term plan: Achieve a strength/fitness level that only takes about 5-10mins of training a day to maintain. I am happy to work harder than this for a short term period to make gains which I can then keep in my 5-10mins/day maintenance training. Arbitrary goals include: Pull: One Arm Chin Up (My most valued goal by far). Strict Bar Muscle Up. 'Dynamic' Bar Muscles Ups (15 rep maximum, Easy repeatable sets of 8) Push: One Arm Push Up (with legs together). One Arm Push Ups (with legs apart) (Easy repeatable sets of 15 reps) Core: Human flag 10s, Front lever 10s, Back lever 10s (likely unable to do human flag with right arm on bottom due to dislocating right shoulder x2) Legs: Pistol Squats (Easy repeatable sets of 15 reps). Be able to jump and touch a basketball ring. Why a one arm chin up? I used to have a lot more time when I was younger (who didn't?). I spent a lot of that time rock climbing indoors and outdoors, doing body weight exercises, doing free weights, martial arts, etc. The first time someone impressed the hell out of me was when my brother introduced me to one of his rock climbing mates that could do a one arm chin up. I eventually trained enough to be able to achieve a 'sloppy' one arm chin up. I could just touch my chin to the bar, but it used a lot of momentum, and it wasn't enough that I was ever truly happy to say that I could do one. After nearly a decade of slowly getting fatter and steadily losing fitness as my working life became busier, I've recently come upon some more free time - and I've made a decision to change my lifestyle to make sure I stay healthy for my wife (and hopefully soon kids) in the future. However I just can't exercise without having a goal... hence the fitness plan I wrote above. If I can achieve the one arm chin up - it will be like surpassing what I was when I was younger. Yet I'm not willing to dedicate the amount of time exercising that I did back then (I simply don't have that much time available) - so it has to be training smarter, not longer Why Nerd Fitness? I like the ideals/philosophies of this place! The idea of making a permanent life-style change by altering your habits in a sustainable way. I'm a nerd! I like computer games especially MMORPGs (Started with EQ, quit WoW a while ago, will probably only return for Titan), manga/anime (current fav show is Chihayafuru, waiting for Korra Season 2, and still upset they cancelled Young Justice) and CCGs (previously played MtG, currently dabbling in Scrolls, but really waiting for Hearthstone). I like fitness! Well I would like to be healthy when I am old - be able to play with my grand kids or something like that Isn't that enough? ---- 6 week challenge plan: Goal 1: 'Pull' Slowly progress to long term goal of doing a one arm chin up without ramping up too fast and giving myself medial epicondylitis (again). Currently trying weighted pull ups, chin ups and neutral grips. As of today I am at +24kg 5 of each Aim for July 14 is +36kg 5 of each Plan for progression, aiming for 3-5 reps. Once I reach 5 reps of each type of grip, then increase weight by 2kg. If I fail to do at least 3 reps at the increased weight then make it a 1kg addition. Goal 2: 'Push' Handstand push-ups against a wall. Aiming for good quality, head touches ground, and full extension of elbows. As of today: 11 Aim for July 14: 15 Goal 3: 'Core' Front lever and back lever progression. As of today: Able to hold a 'one tucked leg, one straight leg' front and back lever for at least 3s. Really crappy tucked front lever and tucked back levers. Aim for July 14: Full front lever and back lever held for at least 3s. Perfect form tucked front lever and tucked back lever. Bonus would be to start straightening the tucked leg slightly. Goal 4: 'Knowledge' Read at least 2 scientific articles per week. Aiming to maintain this for the rest of my life (and hopefully increase!)

Hi assassins, I did my first half challenge with the scouts, but I find I have to get leaner and healthier first before I can get back running … My joints and my immune system haven’t been the best lately, and I have a dodgy knee that needs sorting out, so it’s time for me to change the focus a bit. By the way I just love gymnastics and acrobatics, so why not build strength like this instead of going to the gym. 1) Exercise for 20 mins every weekday (+3 STR, +1STA, +1DEX) I have found that if I delay my workouts, I tend to not do them. So morning exercise it is for the next 6 weeks. I’ll reschedule my day to make lunchboxes, coffee, and porridge from 6.15-6.45, and then do a basic BW work out for 20 minutes. This is actually fairly easy because I wake up everyday at 6.15 and, half an hour later, my son gets up and badgers me about wanting to exercise. Grading: A for 5 days a week, B for 4, C for 3, D for anything less 2) Do the mu - part one (+2 STR, +1STA, +2 DEX) My new focus over the next half year will be bodyweight - bar calisthenics, to be precise. I aim to hit the playground at least twice a week - probably Wednesdays and Sundays - and do my little routine. The epic goal I’m working up to is a muscle-up and I know this is going to take A LOT of practice … definitely more than two, three, four challenges on this one - with the non-level of upper body strength I have now -- but hey, who’s counting ? So it’s going to be dip progressions and pull-up progressions for me this summer ! Again, I’m making it easy for myself because I already am hitting the playground around 2-3x/week with my kids, so all I have to do is get going instead of just standing there. Tuesday night is my running club night. Saturdays, I’m doing a 2 miles at 9.30min/mile with a 120m hill sprint, working up to a 3 mile at 9.0 min/mile 3 mile ‘fast’ run to build up speed (starting from 9.0 mins/mile). slight goal adjustment before start of challenge Grading: A for running club, 2 playground workouts, and Saturday fast run; B for 2 playground workouts and one run; C for 2 playground workouts with no running, D for anything less. 3) Keep eating clean (+3 CON) I did ok on my last challenge with reduced carb paleo and I figured out that staying < 60g/day is a good threshold for me. Aim for 1600kcals/day max. That should put me into something like a 400kcal/day deficit. No alcohol during the week (Mon-Thu) will help me in this. Grading: A for sub 1650kcal/sub60g average, B for sub 1750, sub70g, C for sub 1850, sub 80g average, and D for anything over. 4) Play the piano (+1 WI, +1CHA) Practice for just 5 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Grading: A for 3 days, B for 2, C for 1, and D for none. *) Fun challenge: Do the Valdez progressions I love that move - especially the one-handed one ! Another epic goal, but I think this one is achieveable over the summer. Maybe not this challenge, but next. I can do a full bridge, so next in line I’ll be working on the backbend, recovery, upward facing bow pose, then bridge kickovers, and this is probably as far as I’ll get this challenge, if at all. Practice at the end of every upper body day workout. Makes a good back stretch too. No points for this one, just fun ! Grading: A for bridge kickover, B for upward facing bow pose, C for backbend and/or recovery, and D for anything less **) Caveat: Stay healthy I have had problems with overtraining and stress due to running - at ridiculous levels -- sometimes, two one-hour workouts a week would be enough to give me a ten day chest infection. I haven’t had that problem with BW yet, on the contrary, I was almost always able to do at least a little bit even when ill. I secretly hope that BW can actually help me stay healthy while I’m trying to get stronger and lose weight. Be mindful about this and steer clear of injuries and illness. Looking forward to doing this with you ! Ooops one more thing ! I'm going camping next weekend and am going to relax my nutrition goals for those two and a half days. And I won't track these days. Hehe.