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"Tempered by the fires of Hell, his iron will remain steadfast through the passage that preys upon the weak. For he alone was the Hell Walker, the Unchained Predator, who sought retribution in all quarters, dark and light, fire and ice, in the beginning and the end, and he hunted the slaves of Doom with barbarous cruelty; for he passed through the divide as none but demon had before." - UAC Report File 9REIZDUR Welcome back to another challenge! I'm so glad you joined me . In the last installment, I was FINALLY able to gain some traction and create a consistent routine of living life, working out, and leading my family or as they are better known, The Wolfpack. And now, we keep the streak alive and continue to employ good habits to keep the momentum going! My theme for this challenge (and possible future challenges) will be none other than: Doom. Or, more specifically, The Doom Slayer; the main protagonist in the Doom series. I remember back in the day playing the original Doom, which came out in 1993. It was my very first PC gaming experience and I enjoyed every minute of it. I also remember reading the first book in the Doom series: I must've been in...6th or 7th grade when I read "Knee-deep in the Dead" and remember loving it. There's 3 more books in the series that I wouldn't mind reading them one of these days. I'm more of an audible listener now, but, I could save those for a rainy day or two . In the last challenge, I embodied the legendary retired hitman, John Wick, to get me started. The challenge was a roaring success. This time around, I'll embody the beastly Doom Slayer. My goals will more or less be the same, with maybe a few things added, but the same three plans are still in play: Plan A: Relentless Plan B: Focus Plan C: Calm Under Pressure Plan A: Slayin' Workouts like a Doom Slayer- Relentless Jeez Louise....My man is STACKED! #BIcepGoals I will continue Powerbuilding; something I discovered the last challenge. It's basically combining Power-lifting and body building to create an aesthetically pleasing athletic look while being strong as a bear and conditioned like a wolf. Goal: 4x a week using a PPLFB split (Push/Pull/Legs/Full-body) and using Saturday as a conditioning day which can involve things such as sprints and metcons. Anything to get the heart pumping and the sweat pouring! Possible Points: +2 STR, +2 END, +2 DEX Plan B: Slayin' Demons makes my Hungry! - Focus Hands off my peanut butter and banana sandwich, foul beast! Since I've upped my activity level, I'm finding myself hungrier and hungrier. I need to fuel as best as I can and maintain my energy levels to match my workout intensity levels. I will intermittent fast on non training days and conditioning days so I'm still burning fat and shoot for 5-6 smaller meals during training days, including high caloric food like peanut butter and banana sandwiches for snacks. This does not mean I can eat whatever. The goal is to eat high quality foods that are good for me. NOT Junk food. Goal: Intermittent Fast (IF) 3x a week - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday Eat like a Slayer (5-6 smaller meals) - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday Possible Points: +2 CON, +2 WIS Plan C: Slayin' Speeches and Fillin' Roles - Calm Under Pressure *Continuation Goal from the previous challenge* I officially joined Toastmasters at my job and completed my "ice breaker" speech a little over a month ago and my second speech just recently. What many of you may not know, is that public speaking used to scare the crap out of me. Like, for real. Now, it's not so scary having already done a few speeches . My focus aka pathway is Presentation Mastery. I love the community here and have become good friends with all the members. Toastmasters happens every Wednesday during lunch time and I want to make sure that I'm constantly filling roles needed for each meeting and working on my pathway. Public speaking is not something I'm great at and any opportunity I get to work on my weaknesses is welcomed with open arms. Goals: Finish Level 1 before the challenge ends Fill a role 4 separate times 1 role filled during the last challenge - 3 more to go Bring in 1 new member before the challenge ends Possible Goals: +4 CHA, +1 WIS I'm really excited about this challenge and it's theme. The Doom Slayer or "Doomguy" is a cool and badass character. As of right now, I'm also playing through the 2016 remake of Doom on the Xbox and having a hell of a good time! Now, it's time to suit up and "Raze some Hell"!! Wolf

I need a place to log what I've been doing. What better place then NF?? To say that life has been busy would be an understatement. On 03/23 of this year, my daughter, Beatrix "Trixie" Viola, was born 8 weeks early. Thank the Lord that she didn't deal with any issues besides just being a tiny little princess. She was in the NICU for 5 weeks and 1 day. Or 36 days for you mathlete's out there. We were able to bring her home on 04/28 and life has been SO MUCH better since that day. My wife, @PrincessMononoke (aka Heather) and I spent a crap ton of time up at the hospital when Trixie was still in the NICU. On most days, I would head straight to the hospital after work and spend a couple hours up there, head home to spend time with Heather and our boys, then start the process all over. Heather and I basically had no life because our already limited free time was spent with baby girl. It was a trying and challenging time in our life, but the Good Lord brought us through the fire and smoke. Life has resumed its "normalcy". I'm back to working out consistently, which is nice. I missed it. I need the accountability...which isn't new and I knew that NF was the place to go. Even if I can't devote a lot of time to my challenge, I need a place to track my progress. I need a place that can support my weirdness, lol. Even though this challenge is about to end, I would like to use the rest of this week to set up my NEXT challenge. I have one theme right now. And it's not based off Anthem lol. Honestly, I haven't been playing a lot of games lately. Especially since Trixie was born. My theme is: John Wick. I've become obsessed with the semi-retired master assassin. Heather and I rented John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2 about a month ago because she hadn't seen the movies before. I had seen the first movie but only bits and pieces of Chapter 2. IMO, the John Wick movies are the best action movies of my generation. You could probably argue a lot of other movies in there, but for what they are, John Wick 1 & 2 are amazing. And then, this weekend, John Wick 3: Parabellum hits theaters!! Heather and I are more than likely going to see it Saturday morning if there are still seats available for the early AM showing. Why am I obsessed with John Wick? Many reasons. He's a badass, for starters. But there are qualities of John that I love as a character. He's: Relentless Focused Calm under pressure Those 3 qualities are qualities I want to harness. I believe I have them already, but they are raw and unrefined. In order to become the master assassin that John Wick is, I need to sharpen those qualities and use them to my advantage. How will I do this? The John Wick Master Assassin Plan for Badassdom Plan A: Workout Consistency - Relentless This has been an issue of mine for some time now. I get going on workouts, go for about a week, then fall off the wagon. I credit a lot of this to my laziness and unwillingness to get up early. Because of my work schedule, 4 am is my wake-up call for days I workout and over the last 6-8 months, morning workouts just don't sit well with me. Not that I can't get up and workout. I can. But, more so, I have trouble going to bed early enough, and to get the quality sleep I need on a daily basis, I would need to be in bed by 9pm...which isn't feasible. Not with having to get the kiddos in bed and still have quality time to spend with Heather. So, I'm trying evening workouts. So far it's been an adjustment, but I think it'll workout in the long run. Goal: 4x a week. M/Tu/W/F. Focus on PPLFB (Push, Pull, Legs and Full Body) Structure workouts based off "Powerbuilding"- the combination of power lifting and body building Leave my ego at the door A typical workout will be structured (loosely) as follows: Overcoming (including grip) Compound (pure power output) Compound control (bodyweight and old-time strength that relies on technique) Work capacity (high rep, full body) Isolation endurance (high rep, isolation) Cardio finishers (HIIT, punch bag, battle ropes) LISS (Low Intensity Steady state) Stretching Stat Points Available: +3 STR, +2 END, +1 DEX Plan B: Play hard. Rest hard - Focus It's no secret that success in the gym starts with a healthy body and healthy mind. Especially when you play hard. Sleep, active recovery, and meditation are key to kicking ass in and out of the gym and I want to focus on these things as much as I do my workouts. Goals: Sleep, nap, and rest as much as I can. Not shirking my adult responsibilities, but utilize my "off" days like a boss. Cold showers (because @Mr_Willes loves them) Bible study/Sermons and Devotionals every morning. Utilize my commute to work and spend time in the Word. Continue my Bible App streak daily. Use "stand up desk" option at work at least 3x a day. Keep sneakers in my car so I can go on daily walks at lunch/breaks. Stat Points Available: +4 CON Plan C: Continue to Develop my speaking/leadership skills in Toastmasters - Calm under pressure I officially joined Toastmasters at my job and completed my "ice breaker" speech a couple weeks ago. My focus aka pathway is Presentation Mastery. I love the community here and have become good friends with all the members. Toastmasters happens every Wednesday during lunch time and I want to make sure that I'm constantly filling roles needed for each meeting and working on my pathway. Public speaking is not something I'm great at and any opportunity I get to work on my weaknesses is welcomed with open arms. Goals: Finish Level 2 before the NEXT challenge ends Fill a role 4 separate times Bring in 1 new member before the NEXT challenge ends Stat Points Available: +4 CHA, +1 WIS Bonus Goal: Keep growing hair out. Yep! You read that correctly. I'm growing my hair back out. Heather convinced me to do so (as well as this tying into my John Wick obsession). It's gonna be annoying to go through the "awkward" stages again, but, I got this! That's all the word vomit I have for now. Thanks for making it through the challenge write-up and as always, thank you for the support! Wolf

I was on a bit of a roll with the previous challenge, but I had a random encounter with the depressions, and before I knew it, it's almost the end of the month. No training, no reading, no writing, no lifting, no hygiene. I even forgot what color my toothbrush is. Welp, reload and tackle this challenge again. I'll be seeing the doc this week to see if we can adjust anything. On a plus side, I've been getting a lot of training lately. Impostor syndrome is kicking in, insisting that this will not last. Whatever. I'll just provide the best service I can and worry about the future when the bills start to suffocate me again. I'll add training every day to the quest list, so it's three. ====================================================================================================================== MONDAY > laundry > grocery > meal prep TUESDAY > jiu-jitsu WEDNESDAY > VA appointment > jiu-jitsu THURSDAY > meal prep > dishes > Skyrim FRIDAY > wake up early > VA appt SATURDAY > jiu-jitsu > curriculum > snatch SUNDAY > early wake-up and work > shoot videos > oil change

I've found out from my previous challenge that my task list was quite difficult to accomplish due to factors that I was unable to take into account. I will be trying a different approach of habit-building rather than addressing specific targets one at a time. The Rule of Three Focusing on too many things is focusing on nothing. I end up looking for small fires to put out rather than addressing the huge ones right in front of me, burning my eyebrows off. Before bed I will write down three things I need done the following day--that's it. The three will be priorities that must be completed that day, and the other shit won't matter. A Morning Routine Unless I do something dumb, my wake-up routine is pretty much the same--check social media for more time than necessary, brew some coffee and Fallout Shelter, and check my HRV. Also pretty dumb. For the next four weeks I'm going to try a better 30-min routine. No social media until everything is done. HRV check, dogs taken out to pee, and 30 minutes of reading a book (which may later turn into writing). Nothing too crazy, but it's shit that has to be done, but I'm not prioritizing. (I will probably gradually add more things as we go.) The Dream Week I've found that if I don't schedule something, I will find a way to waste that time. The goal is to account for my time all week, and schedule all the important activities I need to do. I'm looking to download Google Calendar and allot time on Sundays to put down everything I will be doing that week. Let's see how concentrated efforts play out.

Hello! Well, I wanted to share some of my experience here. I made a 180° last January 2, 2018. I weighed it myself on December 31 and I was on my heaviest... 315 pounds. As a 5'4" guy, this was unacceptable, shocking and right on wrong. I'm a microbiologist so I did what I do best... I scienced the crap out of weight loss! I researched that I need it to consume fewer calories so I got myself a food journal. I started tracking EVERYTHING I ate. That made me figure out that I was consuming insane amounts of calories daily so, I started "polishing" my eating habits. (see that I don't use the word D_ _ _ because it sounds restrictive and negative. Eating habits sounds more friendly) After 2 weeks I left behind: sodas, juices, candy, chips, outrageously big fast food combos, extra salty snacks and some other things. I also downloaded a workout app. I get bored easily so I analyzed what was the least amount of time I could do some workout and I ended knowing that I could do 10 minutes. That made me commit to moving and I have been doing it since January 2. I got to admit, I almost died that first day but, I did it anyway. My eating habits change and then I started counting calories too. After I got my RMR and BMR, I got a calorie goal and I have been sticking to it. I don't mind counting and measuring portions since that is second nature to me as a microbiologist. I have been tracking what I eat, when I eat, moving and... yes, losing weight. Today has been 1 month and 8 days since I turn around to leave my gravity suit behind. I have lost 25 pounds since and I see results in every aspect. I joined Nerd Fitness to get an extra boost since I don't have access to weights yet and I wanted to recover my muscles (FYI I used to lift weights like 12 years ago and I know that those muscles are there... somewhere). Anyway, I won't ramble on anymore. I'm integrating the Beginners Bodyweight Workout and now I do almost 30 minutes of exercise daily to prepare myself for when I hit the gym. See you around folks! Woot! Woot!

Hello to everyone that reads this. I know that I am late posting but I wanted to establish what I have already started on in this challenge. Like always 3 health and 1 level up goal. To add what I have been doing. My Health challenges: 1 serving of a green vegetable per day No soda (okay I have been cutting back on this item and now feel it is the right time try to push this challenge) Replace the previous with 20ox/1L of water a day. Level up goal: I need focus on having a fresh start everyday no screens after 9:30pm everyday Like is said that I know that I am late to posting but so far I been doing pretty well on the my this challenge except with the lack of screens after 9:30pm but still working trying help create that as a habit. Encouragement and advice is always welcome.

Happy New Year fair Druids My last few challenges have left me uninspired, so I am joining you with my efforts to realign and find fresh perspective. It has been a year of sea changes and I am in need of some introspection I enjoy GIFs and emojis and exploring raw emotions. I'm keeping things very simple to start, and will try to flush out details as I go FOCUS Moving Meditation (4X per week/Leaves) Combining my martial and fine arts practices, this is an experiment in meditative mark making that utilizes qigong movements, starting with a piece of the Ving Tsun form Silumtao. I will allow the details of the movements to evolve as I explore, and post photos for accountability. Ditch the Dew (As per) I have a pretty bad Stardew Valley habit that I need to get under control. I believe I use it as a numbing agent so I don't have to deal with some of the more difficult things hapenning in my life, but it's also just very fun. This is a goal requiring limitations: Do NOT play for more than 1 hour at a time. After 1 hour, do something on the list. (Still in progress on the bujo page) Must have 1 hour break in between. One meanie pic on bujo page for every fail. COMMUNICATE Write it Out (1X per week/Pansies) In the past year I've done a 180 and become completetly over socialed after a long period of being people starved and pretty damn lonely. I am predominantly extroverted, but currently stretched way too thin between a very social job, and new and old friends and the activities that come with all of it. Honestly... I'm not sure how I feel about everything other than being overwhelmed. Stream of consciousness has helped in the past and so I will try it here to see if I can set some priorities down with a weekly journaling. Find A Pro (1X per challenge/Rose) I'm no stranger to therapy, but it's been awhile. I feel that I'm in a place where I would benefit from regular counseling. I have started to research local options and must get to the point of the process where I make a sit down appointment with one of the prospects by the end of the challenge.

This is supposed to be about focus and I ended up posting under the last challenge. The last challenge of no focus didn't go too well overall. I liked the idea of doing whatever I felt like doing but that turned out with me sitting in my chair most of the time doing nothing. After my learning experience with the last challenge, I need the focus of Bruce Lee to get on the right track! 1. Improve my Karate fundamentals For the next three months, I am not taking any formal Karate classes. I will still teach but I don't have the money to pay for classes this time around. With that said, I will do at least one formal Karate class at home. A full hour of basics, kata and one step. Along with that, I will still do my weekly kata training and work on stances and kicks at least two other days each week. 2. Complexes At least three times each week, I will do some form of barbell, dumbbell, body weight, or kettlebell complexes. I need a fast but effective workout to give me some extra muscles and burn some fat. 3. Mobility training At least three times each week, I will do some form of mobility or flexibility training. I have been doing a lot of the Pavel stuff and it seems to be working pretty well so that will be one of the main tools I will be using. Extra credit Check in at nerd fitness more often. I haven't been good at posting my workouts or checking in here and I want to check in here every time I workout.

Hi, Moros is back again. This challenge is similar to the last one, except for the following things: 1. I am doing the whole-body mobility prescriptions in Deskbound Sun - Fri. They are 10 minute exercises to loosen things up. 2. I am upping Yoga to two times per week 3. I am also practicing the "bracing sequence" - basically aligning while standing several times a day. This is so I get in the habit of doing it. Pretty much everything else is the same. Details below:

Just completed my first challenge in... over a year now that I think of it. I've hit a rough point in my life, so that was a victory I'll happily take. My last challenge was with the Assassins, setting up a habit of morning kettlebell swings and Turkish Get-ups with a 15 lb kettlebell. I do the routine every weekday morning adding one more swing than the last time and a TGU on each side for every set of tens past 10. I'm up to 35 swings and 2 TGUs/side as of Friday. Since I'm a bard, I see no reason not to also pal around with the Druids. As long as I've got some momentum to keep me going, I want to try approaching from another angle. Like I said, I'm going through a very rough patch. And due to a mixup on my part, I won't get a prescription refill until the 9th. I figure now's a good time to work on mental health. I'm going to continue the pattern with kettlebells for the foreseeable future. That's a habit I'd like to keep. I want to see if I can pull off 100 swings before I look into getting a bigger kettlebell. So this time around I'm planning to get with some stretching and meditation. I've dabbled in both at various points but never was able to make a habit out of it. Let's break that pattern. I'm going to be looking around for some guides to yoga and stretching in general. I also think I still have a book I picked up years ago called The Shaolin Workout. It was a complete stretching regimen from an actual Shaolin monk. I'll work out the process over the next few days as I finish the research. I also tried metta meditation for the first time the other day. I'm curious to see if I can make this one stick. For an extra dash of motive, the task is to meditate for a minimum of 10 minutes a day. Doesn't need to be consecutive. The idea is to get to the end of the challenge with enough time logged even if I miss a session or two to add the Month of Meditation challenge to my character sheet. This is really the big one for me, the one I really want to stick. As a side challenge, I need to knuckle down and finish reworking my new shows. I'm working on a "Haunted Theater" presentation for a local ghost tour company called Haunted Pittsburgh and developing private parties for doing historical seances. All I really need is 4 weeks to have a show I can sell.

Summer is the perfect time to level up in all areas. My major focuses for May are learning a second language (German), working towards my dissertation defense (pushing for Fall), losing 8-10 lbs, and developing better money habits. In depth... Start learning basic German: spend 20-30 min per day using Duolingo to practice my German, watch German shows, etc.; use what I learn throughout the day where I can Dissertation proposal draft #2: Review and use all feedback from first draft to make edits; read more (10) articles and (2) books for more data Lose 10 lbs of fat: Continue heavy lifting (increasing weight by 2.5-5lbs a week) and eating healthy, but add 1 run (1 mile...I realized it maybe working up to 3 miles is better/safer) every Wednesday Getting out of debt (and learning to stay out): Ready Dave Ramsey's book on money makeover and start implementing the strategies and ideas in my daily life

Hi all— This is my first challenge after lurking around Nerdfitness for a few weeks. I joined a gym at the end of January (with the rest of the n00bs.) I started with spin and BODYPUMP classes. I am grateful to these classes for getting me moving and building my confidence, but BODYPUMP needs to be switched out for some good ol' fashioned weight training if I want to see serious results. Working out is now a solid habit, but my creative practice has been slipping. Here's my plan for integrating all of my hard work and using my time more wisely: MAYLAKAE'S 4 WEEK GOALS 1) Set up office by 3/26 MISSION COMPLETE 3/26 I moved last month, and I have a spare bedroom full of miscellaneous boxes I have yet to unpack. This is meant to be my sacred writing space, but it is clearly not that. This whole morning routine thing would get a lot easier if I had a dedicated space that I enjoyed inhabiting where I can focus. 2) Do morning routine for 5 days week of Monday 3/27 Here it is: 5:30am-5:45am Coffee and light breakfast 5:45am-6:15am Journaling and Meditation 6:45am-7:30am Gym (Weight training MWF with HIIT or Cardio alternating) 8:00am-9:00am Shower/Get Ready for Work Updated version. I bit off more than I could chew: 3/30 6:30am-6:45am Tea/light breakfast 6:45-7:00 Walk dog 7:00-7:30 Journaling and Meditation 7:45-8:30 Weight training M/W/F HIIT/Cardio 1-2 days/week/more writing on rest days 4/3-4/7 6:00am-6:15am Tea/light breakfast 6:15-6:30 Walk dog 6:30-7:15 Journaling and Meditation (more time) 7:30-8:15 Weight training M/W/F HIIT/Cardio 1-2 days/week/more writing on rest days 4/10-4/15 5:45am-6:00am Tea/light breakfast 6:00-6:15 Walk dog 6:15-7:15 Journaling and Meditation (more time) 7:30-8:15 Weight training M/W/F HIIT/Cardio 1-2 days/week/more writing on rest days 3) Complete Your Uncle Richard Video by 4/1 Your Uncle Richard? What a creep! This isn't an actual Uncle Richard, but an art project a friend of mine runs in Chicago. My piece goes up 4/3, and I need to get it to the finish line. Check it out if you're into to arty stuff: http://www.yourunclerichard.com/ There was a misunderstanding with scheduling, and I am down for the first week of May. Also this is a project where they will send me a prompt and I will have a few days to respond to it. So no pre-planning, which makes it even more risky for me! Stay tuned in early May for updates and a link to whatever it is I come up with. It's a bummer the week was wrong, but it was good that I had a deadline. I ended up creating a pretty solid piece of work I can't wait to share. :-) Now how to self-impose these kinds of deadlines on myself... 4) 30 minutes of social media/internet surfing per day I waste a lot of time on the internet. Rather than mindlessly scrolling when I feel bored, I should move around, take a walk, and use that time for my writing. If I'm not internetting with intent, I should stay unplugged. UPDATE: This is going well, so I am going to add another element. I obsessively check email on my phone. Can I challenge myself to only check email (outside of work stuff) 3 times a day?

Good afternoon Rebels. I have been a part of the academy for 6 month's or so, and let the vast world of the rebellion forums overwhelm me so I hid in my comfortable little hole. No more! I am here to continue my Sprint to New Years Challenge, and focus in on other parts of my life that I need to get myself to my next level. So without further ado, word wall. 4 week challenge. NO RED MEAT. This is a message that I am going to try and spread as wide as I can. I cannot pretend that I will ever go full vegan, or even vegetarian, or that I will never eat a burger again, however, beef in particular does so much damage to the environment that I do not think I can consider myself a reducetarian or any kind of advocate for reducing carbon footprints and still eat beef. I am not on the animal rights side of this discussion, just the global warming/hoping the earth will be inhabitable for future human generations side. No soda. Water Coffee Tea. I will still use small amounts of sweetener in my coffee and tea, but this is mostly a money saving strategy. No eating out. Plan better. If the energy isn’t there to cook, get something quick and healthy from Target instead of spending 30+ for the family to eat out. Narrow focus on current hobbies. Elite Dangerous. Yes it is a video game, but being a flight sim it is not easy, and is a large immersive world that really requires more attention than your average session of Battlefield. Get involved in the community and get friends together to play. Frequency: Every Other day Youtube. One I have been struggling with starting, but I know I want to and need to as a creative outlet for myself. Try several different styles of videos, and see what feels the best. This is a long road, but it has to start somewhere. Frequency: filming and editing at least 1 per week. X-wing Miniatures. Finish building a competitive list, and stick to it. Stop swapping out ships willy nilly and hone skills with a decent list. This will also save money in the long run by not buying a bunch of random crap and not using it, like I already have. Frequency: 1 Local Tournament per week as possible with wife travelling for work. Drones. This doesn’t start quite yet. I am hoping to get a small entry level drone for Xmas, and with that plan on starting to fly daily. Until then doing some more research, including finding a local fly group, possibly indoors for the winter, is key. This will also expand into other R/C stuff as I already have a couple cars, and other Arduino and Raspberry Pi stuff that I have started and left for a while. Frequency: None until after Christmas. Once I own a drone, 1 flight session per day. Fitness. The big one. This is going to take an overall shift from my past endeavors, and I plan on walking 30 minutes every day, regardless of temp and I live in MN. That and flexibility/mobility and bodyweight strength is going to be the focus, so I can do more at home and learn some stupid human tricks because I have always found that impressive, and if dad bod Vin Diesel can do a human flag, damnit I can get there too. All this boils down to hard work. Something I have been unconsciously avoiding for a while now. Pretending that my effort levels were acceptable, lying to myself. This thought was also partially triggered by the passing of my High School best friends dad. I haven’t seen or spoken to them in more than a decade, but his dad was one of those stories where he started with nothing, and through sheer effort went from an auto body repair guy, to a business owner with 11 locations throughout their area and very successful in business, family, and philanthropic work. It would do me well to emulate some of that drive for the first time in probably many years. TL:DR don’t eat cows. Focus on fewer things, and HARD WORK!

Breaking from my DragonAge Challenges to refocus and find a little of what I’ve lost. I used to have a nice foundation and starting point but those have scurried away from me. I also want to find some way to incorporate some of the NF Academy quests into a challenge. I’m sure I can add in some of the mindful stuff in. I contemplated joining the druids this go around but I love the assassins. Going back to basics with quests revolving around the 5 senses. Using some of the information from www.chopra.com/. Plan is to focus on the 5 senses and use them to help me refocus. I have no real idea what I’m doing, so this will be a whole new experience for me. I will make a list of the things I want to accomplish and throughout the challenge I want to complete at least 3 from each sense category. I’ll most likely add more items to the list as the challenge goes on. Wish me Luck! Sight - Remodel HQ Touch - Body Hearing - Music Taste - Balanced Nutrition Smell - Aromatherapy

Hello I am looking for one or more someones to help me stay on track. I have a tendency to slip if I don't have the accountability that comes with talking to someone. My current challenge is with the rangers and I think that is where I'll stay for a while, but being the same class is no must. After all a group of more than one class tends to do best. The things I am currently working on include: weightloss, training for a triathlon, starting with some body weight training, focusing at work, focusing at home to do the things I want to do, walking the dog more, survival skills (like learning edible plants), trusting myself and my ability to do things more. I'd love to stay in contact either here or on some form of chat service, I use skype quite a lot for chats.

Why So Serious Calibre?!? Why??? Because I need to be, because I have to be, because I want to be!!! Last challenge saw me having a good time at my convention, having a little depression afterwards.... then I just ghosted!! Lack of focus, lack of drive, lack of motivation. OK, OK, you're judging me, I get it Joker!!!! So what needs to happens is that I need to focus on myself. Really, truly focus on myself. No really, I'm serious!! Don't burn all my stuff!!! Now, what do I mean by focusing on myself?? I have to set some very realistic goals. I have never been the best at any kind of physical fitness so I really need to start by doing things by inches instead of leaps. I'm not moving as well as I used to so that needs to improve, especially if I want to live the next 40 years even half as well as the last 40. I can move well enough with work during the day but at night I need to keep moving. Goal is for 30 minutes of some kind of activity nightly: walking, weights, yoga, anything that will keep my blood pumping. I've had the new car just over a month and I've eaten out more than I have since getting my new start. Goal is preparing and eating a real meal for dinner 5 of 7 days per week. I need to get myself organized and orderly, in every conceivable aspect. Goal is to reorganize all my space, physical, emotional, mental. Mostly physical though (since I can actually measure that). Let's get this crazy ride going!!!!

"Focusing on many things" is an oxymoron. Time to focus. Hardstyle. THE QUEST: 300 Kettlebell Swings every day, for 28 days. SIDE QUEST: Track the macros 6 days a week. Roughly 184 grams of protein daily.

"Even an instant counts. In a battle for your life, a second is an eternity, an eternity that may decide the outcome. Warriors aim at succeeding, therefore they compress time." --Carlos Castañeda Having forged a sword of willpower through discipline, to follow the Way of The Warrior (druidic lore) will require training. The next step must be learning to aim the sword. Direction is crucial for success. This challenge is about achieving focus on the path, and beginning to transform that focus into results. For that, I must sharpen the mighty sword and work on form: Timely Morning ritual started - on time - 7 AM - Scores (0, 50 within 15 min, 100) In bed, ready to fall sleep - on time - 10:20 PM - Scores (0, 50 within 15 min, 100) Productive Work on Start up - hours per day - 1 to 4 - Scores (0, 30, 60, 90, 100) Earn money - hours per day - 1 to 4 - Scores (0, 30, 60, 90, 100) Clear Visualize - twice a week (short daily is optional) - Sun & Wed Meditate - daily - PM Energized Workout - thrice a week - Mon, Wed, Fri Tai Chi - thrice a week - Tue, Thu, Sat Evaluate physical stats on the 4th week for reference, each must be possible to be done in controlled form Able to sustain interval training for 6 min? (2, 1, 2, 1) Able to do 2 full pushups? Able to do 1 full dip? Able to do a 15 sec dead hang? Able to hold plank positions (plank; lift each arm, each leg, alternates arm+leg; plank) for 12 sec, 3 sec, 6 sec? Able to sustain continuous cycle of upward both-legs raise to push up and repeat, for 30 sec with 8 cycles? Body fat and muscle percentages. Replacing some things in the phys stats evaluation, to allow the knees to recover and gradually get stronger legs. Will pay attention to their response to the changes. Grading: A "With Honors" = All done, all 4 weeks A > = 90% B > = 80% C > = 70% D > = 60% F < = 59.9% To begin the 3rd of April Preparations are being taken care of

Sleeping got much better with my last challenge, and now I want to work on things that bring focus to my life. I have a terrible tendency to flail around, wondering what I should do. I've been working on taking care of the basics, and doing so has made me more centered. I've also recently had a breakthrough on some things I am the most indecisive about, and I want to work to encourage myself to stick to this path (yes, I'm being terribly vague. I'm not quite ready to discuss it yet). So this challenge, I'm working on turning off all the noise and getting focused. So for this challenge, I will focus on the following four things: Nutrition: Food journal daily. Track emotions, make note of what I eat depending on how I feel. This is to ultimately disconnect emotional eating. Body: Yoga at least 3 days a week. Mind: Meditate daily. Wealth: 5 job applications per week. Challenge met instantly if a job is found.

I walk away for a few weeks.... what the hell happened to my forge?!? Ohhh yeah.... kind of didn't put anything away and left things to fester Time to clean this up!!! So, I ghosted out right after the start of the last challenge, didn't have anything to contribute, left you all high and dry, and for all that I'm sorry Time to get back on track. The last month has been a considerable change for me and now it's time to get things organized, get things cleaned up, and get things better around here. Goal One: Heating Things Up In The Smelter I need to get the home fires burning hot and strong again!! I think with the adjustments that I've made to my life that I've let the fires burn down (more specifically my metabolism) and it's time to get that going again. Best way to do that.... get that exercise going again. I'm looking to do three workouts throughout the week. Whether they be walking the neighborhood (weather permitting), using the Xbox for exercise, or getting to bodyweight workouts, things must be done to stoke the fire and get them burning strong! Goal Two: Sharpening Things On The Grindstone I need to get things more refined, sharpened to a razor point. What better to sharpen than my cooking? Now that I'm in a situation where I am at home more often and less actively going towards fast food places for meals, it's time to start working on more things that I can make that will be both healthy and fulfilling for my body. Going to shoot for one recipe a week, something that I've worked on, made, and tested. Extra credit for making something that can be batch cooked. Goal Three: Hammering Things Out On The Anvil Once pulled from the fire, an object isn't shaped until it's been hammered out over the anvil. No, this isn't a goal for getting hammered every weekend (I'm too damn old for that crap ) but it's for building better habits for myself. This goal is still a bit of a work in progress, more soon. Life Goal: Stretching Things Out On The Skinning Rack This goal is a little more outside the box but none the less just as necessary. After the chaos, I've had to go through quite a few things and I have realized that I've got a lot of crap, physical, not so much emotional anymore. So what I plan with this goal is two-fold: One, to rid myself of some of the items in my life that I don't need and Two, to clothe myself in things that are more supportive to me (both physically and emotionally). Now, it's time to use some elbow grease and get this place cleaned up!!

WHAT'S UP REBELS!!! Last month's challenge ended in a complete flop... but that's okay. I knew I had set the bar higher than would be advised, and I tried my best. I failed, but I learned from it. Let's do this again guys, and this time we're going to fly through it like falcons or something cool like that. Rad. THIS TIME AROUND I'm going to focus more on getting into focus, which to me means less worrying about exercise and more getting my brain into check. Of course, I'll still be hitting the gym and whatnot, but my challenge will be focusing on focusing. I'm thinking probably yoga/meditation as the main points. So let's get to it! - READY PLAYER ONE - My Main Quest: Lose to 175 lbs: I considered making yoga my main, but decided to keep this one instead of yoga. This is the same main quest as last month. I'm keeping it as my main quest for two reasons: 1) so I can do the dang thing and 2) because even though I'm teaching myself new things during each quest, my underlying goal is still to lose weight. My birthday is still a while off, but if I don't buckle down I won't reach my goal weight by then! So I'm keeping my main goal as weight loss. COMPLETION = 25 EXP!DAILY Training: Yoga! Either from my DDP Yoga dvd's or from a youtube clip, I want to do yoga at least twice a week. I'll probably be going with slow, stretch-type yoga (as opposed to hot yoga). I wonder how many times I can type yoga before you guys start to get annoyed. Yoga. COMPLETION (8 DAYS) = 25 EXP! ; -3 EXP per day missed.Meditation! Same as yoga, I want to do at least two meditation sessions per week. Meditation takes too long to type out to see if I can annoy you by saying it a bunch of times over like I am with yoga. Yoga. COMPLETION (8 DAYS) = 25 EXP! ; -3 EXP per day missed.Skill School: Sunday Food Prep: I say 'food prep' because I'm not going to make all my meals that day, I'm just going to prep the ingredients, AT LEAST THREE CONTAINERS PER WEEK. Again this is a repeat task from last month (unlike yoga and meditation, which I didn't do last challenge). I've knocked the container count down by 1 per week, because I failed this last time. Hopefully I'll be able to manage it this time around! 12+ CONTAINERS = 20 EXP ; 7-11 CONTAINERS = 15 EXP ; 6- CONTAINERS = 10 EXPSide Quest: Dance Dance REBELLION! I miss dancing, so this challenge I want to make a point of learning new dances because putting it in here gives me an excuse to learn new dances! Yoga doesn't count as dancing, although some yoga is like dancing and yoga instructors are sometimes dancers. No experience points for this one, just happy points! If you have suggestions for dance tutorials post them in the thread!! I'm planning on just watching videos made by my old line dancing teacher, but I'm always open to new suggestions! Yoga.

PROJECT: B.R.E.A.T.H.E. Balance Restore Energize Accomplish Transform Humor Engage With the new year come the hope that we can keep a good handle on whatever life throws at us. We're pretty good at it, but there is always something out there that puts a wrench into our plan. Especially when it comes to taking care of ourselves. Thus, I introduce Project: B.R.E.A.T.H.E. As we work through our quests and adventures to happiness, it's important to have a reminder to take that needed breath. That is my hope for this group. While we work to help each other succeed in our fitness quests, we can also assist each other in conquering life's road bumps. Each day, a calming quote or image will be shared with the group. Take a few minutes (5 minutes minimum) to reflect on it. Can you relate to it? Can it help you find peace after a stressful day? Can it help you remind yourself that it's okay if you find yourself not meeting a goal? At the end of each week, I would like to review any negative events that may have impacted us. Rather than focus on the negative, though, I would like to put a positive spin on them. How can we make the bad into good? How can we fall asleep with a smile rather than with a stress-filled brain? All are welcomed and encouraged to follow each other, though the latter is purely optional! Enjoy and remember to breathe.

Ok, my last few challenges have not gone well: The main reasons for this were: I moved across the country, and had to consolidate things from four different spaces into one apartment.My foot pain has been pretty bad - like cry like a small boy painMy job is like a energy drain - it's an unhappy place, and it takes an enormous amount of my energy. It makes it hard to do a lot.But, after some deep reflection, I have two thoughts:I have been a moron - I am trying to fight too many enemies at the same time. I need to re-build up my NF exercises more slowly, and nail them down before going on to the next thing.I need to be in the Rangers. Period. Now, I cannot yet wrestle bears with my bare hands, or carry large sledgehammers around, but these posts inspire me to get on with it. Plan: First off, I will stick with the parts of my previous challenges that have actually stuck: What I will do is re-add in four elements of my earlier challenge, one per week, until I get it back. In order they will be: Evening Stretches from my physical therapy, plus Kate Galliet's foot stretches - see here if you are interested.Drink only water and unsweetened iced tea for mealsFollow the NF Meal plan to the letter. Right now, food is all over the place, and this seems like a sane place to stabilize.Finally, re-start core exercises, with a plan for Tues, Thurs, and SatI hope to post daily, but I'm not making that a requirement of my challenge this time. I will post weekly. Clear Skies, everyone.

Working toward keeping up with my goals primarily this challenge, schedule and stress got the better of me the middle of 2 challenges ago through most of the last one. Time to fight back Challenge goals: Main goal - slaying the anxiety dragon. (Apparently I didn't kill him... just used an elder scroll to send the bugger forward in time. Typical.) SQ1 - Mind games. My mind has felt like it was going to explode since I switched into summer shift, so this needs to take spot 1. Meditation, 6x/wk, and devotions 5x - goal for both is 7, but I figure the grace days will come in handy since I'm still on overload. Starting with 5min meditation for week 1, expanding 2 min every week. SQ2 - Running out of time. I had to re-start my zombies, run couch2 5k, just did week 3, workout 2 today. 3 runs a week, hopefully the weather cooperates until summer shift ends - come school year i think i will have an indoor place to use, but I could be wrong on that since I have no idea what happens to my schedule in 3 weeks. Either way, as much as I am not even remotely a runner, i love the energy I get from runs and the cardio endurance I'm starting to build up. SQ3 - Was torn between food and strength workout, I'm going with the workout mostly because i seem to be doing better on the food right now. So 2 core strength workouts/week, and 2-3 shoulder stabilizer workouts to try to get my shoulders back into real working order. LifeQuest - Guitar, 3x/wk. So, here's to focus and to tackling the time-demon

A MONK RETURNS New job. Transition period. Stick to the important stuff. THE QUEST Simple Jack Achieve Simple Goals (+2 STR, +2 STA, +1 CON) Social Skills New job requires a lot of human interaction. Write down name and eye color of every person I interact with. (+5 CHA) Lifelong Student Must keep reading. At least 30 minutes of uninterrupted reading a day. No internet. (+5 WIS) "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." (Einstein)