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I'm a 40yo Assassin who came looking for new ventures on NF about 2 years ago. I've gone through a fair amount of challenges and I am now looking for a different pace to get on with my usual goals. Time for a Battle Log! So what are my usual goals? Persian I spent the last 4 years of my life very close to the infamous Assassin's castle Alamut, and I want to keep up with my Persian. My spoken Persian is holding well as I speak it with my other half, but my spelling is quite poor. My mother tongue is French and I don't always spell the different types of aa and rrr correctly (because French doesn't know those subtleties). The way to go is therefore to read MOAR and on a regular basis. I have kinda been failing at that the past 2 weeks erm... Hand balancing These days my main focus is on honing my press to HS. I get it, sometimes, but very inconsistently and it's not always very pretty either. The second focus is to make my HS foundation as solid as I can (consistency, endurance, starting to get some kind of shape and transitions vocabulary). I train primarily on parallettes but I'm starting to integrate exercises on blocks and/or my hands. Why did I not start with the obvious, i.e. on my hands? Well because I love parallettes and many body weight progressions were impossible for me to do from the floor. I went through GMB P1 and P2. I covered about 3/4 of P2 until raw strength became quite limiting (I could not press to HS from bent arms). This is why I moved onto straight arm press to HS. I did Garage Gym Girl's programme and managed my first press to HS in September or so (after about 6 months of training). All this to explain that I still have a bit of “must complete P2” thread hanging about in my brain. It's not high priority but I still try to include some bent arm work in my training (elbow levers, crows, HSPU progressions). Aerial In September I started going to 2 circus classes, one is cross-disciplinary (acrobatics, juggling, handstands...) and mostly for fun and discovery. The second one is aerial, which I used to do before I moved next to Alamut (where they don't have aerial studios really). I have a home rig that allowed me to maintain some level of conditioning but of course I have lost some. So here is to starting again. I'm mostly into rope and silks. And I like to do aerial with a ball, why keep it simple when you can make it super complicated This thread will be about progressing on aerial skills with that ball again, including throws and rolls. And that's it for now. I have other interests that might pop up every so often: drawing, DIY attempts (I recently started a giant tree for our cat), poetry, science-fiction and I have some moderate druid tendencies (spirituality / gardening). My daily job is tech wizardry. (Like every wizard throwing spells for a living, I have my up and down days).

Hi! I'm Raptron, your friendly neighborhood flipperdoo. I competed in my 3rd powerlifting meet a couple of weeks ago and got my big 300# squat finally, hiked a mountain (or what passes for one in New England), and did some sporadic traveling last challenge. With the meet out of the way, I don't have any excuses to stay in what passes for one rep max shape. So, here we are! I don't really have a theme, I just like alliteration. Maybe I will be rewarding myself for doing the things I already plan to do with the things I'm already planning to buy myself during the post-Thanksgiving sales. MAYBE THE REWARDS WERE THE FRIENDS I MADE ALONG THE WAY -- YOU GUYS!!! D'AWW. Soooo, what are we working on? Well, how about we pick some adjectives I want to describe me by the end of this challenge? 1. Competent Practice new floor choreo outside of the gym 2x per week Run new floor routine in practice at least 1x per week, even if it's just part of it Vault 3x over the challenge Back handsprings on balance beam every practice 2. Fit Conditioning-focused workout 1x per week (can be an add-on to a lifting workout, but must be REAL EFFORT) 3. Steady Hand (or other) balancing practice for funsies 2x per week -- random partner acro or pole classes also count! 4. Profesh Apply to 5 new jobs THAT ACTUALLY APPEAL TO YOU per week HMMMMM, this might be a bit too much. Maybe it's just enough! TUNE IN TO FIND OUT!

Sea Level back again for another battle against the robot masters. These are my opponents: Six days a week to conquer Gravity Man! Get upside down six days a week, starting with wall walks and handstands on the walls Battle Metalman one day a week! At minimum, once a week, walk 3 miles with a 20-pound plate. I got myself a GoRuck pack last challenge, and got a 20-pound plate mid-way through last challenge. I have a three-mile route around my neighborhood that I've enjoyed. I'm going to do this walk with the 20-pound GoRuck plate at least once a week. It's also a three-mile roundtrip walk to work, so bonus points if I do that. Six days a week, take on Woodman! Intermittent fasting six days a week, eating lots of vegetables. I started IF in December, and I feel great, and I've lost 10 pounds. It's great. My eating window is 11 am to 7 pm, with the bigger meal at the end of the day. On Saturday, I may have a cheat day and have a good breakfast with nice, crispy bacon. ! Conquer Quickman by challenge end! Read a book by the end of the challenge. Being quick means having mental strength. Last challenge, I finished Desert Solitaire as part of my Goodreads challenge. (I want to finish 15 books this year.) So I'll keep that goal going with another book this month. I started Sense and Sensibility this month. Most people may not think about men reading Jane Austen, but I've heard good things about her books from other men. So I'm going for it.

Sea Level. Back Again. I fell out of the challenges in the last couple months, and I have to get back to it. This will be a good one. I'm on two weeks leave starting July 17, just in time for the start of the challenge. I'm going to be on the road for most of that time, so this will need to be a challenge of simplicity--also to make it achievable. Goal I: Bodyweight workout, practicing push-ups, pull-ups/chin-ups, squats, and then some. 2 times a week Goal II: 10 minutes animal flow/hand balancing, 2 times a week Goal III: Eat a quality meal for dinner, 2 times a week. Goal IV: Read 20 minutes, 4 times a week. I'll expand this more soon.

I'll once again be training like a Jedi. Blast Shields and Wookiees are optional. Quest 1. Hand Balancing. +2 DEX Continuing from the last challenge, I'll be working on hand balancing skills with the eventual goal of doing a handstand. Last time I did a pretty good job with Crow Pose, so this challenge I'll be carrying that momentum through. For Quest 1 I will practice hand balancing (Crow Pose, Scale Pose, and Wall Planks) every day. Quest 2. Force Push(up). +3 STA, +1 STR That's right, more Pushups! As with my previous challenges, I'll be working towards my goal of 100 pushups in five sets. Last challenge I got to 82, which is making the end goal feel tantalisingly close. This time I'm stepping it up and going for a total 91 reps in five sets. I incorporate a Pushup test into my workouts once a week. Quest 3. Force Pull. +3 STR No, Kylo. You may not have that saber. My force push is moving along, but my force pulling abilities could do with some work. Last challenge I increased my Chin-up Flex Hold time to 27 seconds, now I'll be working on increasing my reps. My current AMRAP is 6 good Chinups, this challenge I aim to complete 10 Chin-ups with good form. Quest 4. Creating a Holocron. +1 WIS A Holocron is a mystical object that Force users create in order to store their knowledge and wisdom. I'm no Jedi Master, but I think it's a good idea to start recording and taking notes on my workouts. As I did last time, I will use this challenge thread to keep track of my workouts, including notes on progression (or lack thereof). Oh, and I'll be needing a theme song.. Grading A (100%), B (75%), C (50%), D (25%), F (0%)

- - - - BEGIN MISSION - - - - - Mega Man -- --- New robot masters have initiated war against the Rangers. You must train yourself to battle these robot masters and prevent destruction to the land. - - - - - - - - - - - - Sea Level, reporting again for my second assignment with the Rangers and my third challenge of the year. Thank you, Rangers, for the hospitality. I think I've found a good home here. This mission is mostly a continuation/leveling-up of my goals. Apart from my general workout goals, I'm planning on stretching out my numbers by the month rather than by the week. Here are the bosses I'll be facing this month: GUTS MAN Guts Man is the strongest of the robot masters. To beat him, I must activate my own strength by practicing four strength workouts per week. This could include weights in the gym or bodyweight at home or in the park. WOOD MAN Wood Man is the master of vegetation and plant life. To conquer Wood Man, I will eat green vegetables for 18 days this month. GRAVITY MAN Gravity Man can control and manipulate gravitational forces. I will resist Gravity Man by practicing hand balancing for five minutes 20 times this month. Hand balancing may include Crow and variations, Elbow Lever and variations, and Handstand and variations. BRIGHT MAN Bright Man utilizes his massive light bulb to produce blinding light. I will absorb and use his power to provide illumination for reading for 30 minutes 18 times this month. Let's get to it.

The fact that I've been a member of this forum for 6 months and haven't done a Star Wars themed challenge is ridiculous.. Main Quest. My main quest is to develop my confidence and physical health/fitness to the point where my low self esteem no longer holds me back from living life the way I'd like to. This challenge I'll be taking inspiration from one of the greatest franchises ever and training like a Jedi. The ever-present pushup goal is still here, and I'll be working on overcoming a fear of inversions, getting better at chinups/pullups, and being more organised with my workouts. Quest 1. Hand Balancing. +2 DEX The Jedi strive for balance, both in the Force and in their mentality. Also, they spend a lot of time doing handstands and levitating stuff. I want to do that. In order to overcome my fear of being upside down I'll be practising hand balancing and general "upside down-ness" 3 times a week every day. This article will be my go-to source. Quest 2. Force Push(up). +3 STA The force push is the essential force technique when in combat. It also looks pretty damn cool. I'll improve my pushing capabilities by increasing the amount of pushups I can do in five sets to 82 total reps. As my current total is 76, this means an increase of 6 reps in 4 weeks. I incorporate a pushup test into my workouts once a week. Quest 3. Hangin' with Obi-Wan. +3 STR Floors in a Galaxy Far, Far Away are pretty unreliable. Obi-Wan in particular spent most of the Clone War era hanging off the edge of stuff during important duels. Lesson learned: Jedi need to be able to hang on to stuff. This challenge I aim to increase my Chin-up Flex Hold time to 25 seconds. As my current time is around 10-13 seconds this should prove quite the challenge. I will test this at the end of the challenge, allowing 3 attempts at reaching my goal time. There will be a mid-challenge chin-up flex hold test. Final goal figure may be increased (but not decreased) depending on results. Quest 4. Creating a Holocron. +2WIS A Holocron is a mystical object that Force users create in order to store their knowledge and wisdom. I'm no Jedi Master, but I think it's a good idea to start recording and taking notes on my workouts. I will use this challenge thread to keep track of my workouts, including notes on progression (or lack thereof). Grading A (100%), B (75%), C (50%), D (25%), F (0%) A B C D F Quest 1 26 days completed 23 days completed 20 days completed 17 days completed 14 or less days completed Quest 2 82 or more reps 81 reps 80 reps 79 reps 78 or less reps Quest 3 25 seconds or more 22 seconds 20 seconds 18 seconds 16 seconds or less Quest 4 Pass/Fail basis. If even on day is missed, grade= F

Legend of a Banished Man **this challenge features Rurik the wolfhunter from Urban[Wolf] by our own Wild Wolf** The forest was throbbing with the sound of animal nightlife. The noises made by bugs and the nervous wondering of rodents bared witness of the never sleeping force of wildlife. The warrior listened to this medley of sounds like it was an orchestra playing just for him. Sitting on a branch, resting his back against the trunk of the tree he began to fall asleep. He had strapped himself to the tree to avoid falling over if he tilted to one side or the other while sleeping. The last thought that crossed his mind was of gratitude for the ongoing summer that allowed him to safely sleep in the wilds. He opened his eyes. Something was off. Judging by the darkness only a few hours had passed since he fell asleep. There was still plenty of work to do for the night inhabitants of the summer forest. Yet it seemed like the forest itself was holding its breath. The warrior loosened the straps and searched his surroundings with an axe in one hand and a saex in the other. The shield was still tied to the tree… The Saex or sax is a big knife/small sword tipically used by saxon and germanic people He smelled the man in the way wolves do before hearing the steps on the soft leaves that covered the ground. He jumped to a lower branch and instantly to the floor, landing right behind the stranger. “You are too far from the main road to be just passing by†the warrior said as he pressed the seax against the man’s back â€I’m no brigand nor am I a murderer but I won’t hesitate to kill you, so don’t give me a reason†“oh, but that’s exactly why I’m here…†the warrior noticed the chainmail under the man’s cloak â€...wolf!†The man suddenly turned around hitting the warrior in the face with the back of his fist. The warrior backed off and raised his guard. The man ditched the cloak and stepped directly under the moonlight that made it’s way through the roof of leaves. The tall bearded man was wearing a mail hauberk and carried no shield, only an axe. And it was no wonder for it was the most ridiculous axe the wolfwarrior had ever seen. Ludicrously oversized and clearly to heavy to be wielded properly. One thing caught the wolf’s attention the most: the axe was double bitted. A waste of good steel. Obviously he had no idea of weapon handling or he wouldn’t be carrying that abomination. That man probably was the son of a lesser noble who fancied himself a werewolf hunter or an adventure-seeking merchant who got scammed by a weaponsmith. A hauberk “Go home lad, I take no pleasure in killing sheep†“Sheep? Sheep?! I’m Rurik, you beast! Remember my name for I’ll be the one to send you to Hell†“Alright...Rurik… tell me mate, how exactly are you planning on sending me to the cold embrace of Loki’s daughter?†the warrior found Rurik’s confidence entertaining. “With this!†The hunter cleared the 2 meters between him and the wolfwarrior in two steps and swinged his axe with lightning speed. So fast that the warrior could barely lean back to avoid being beheaded, but an inch of his beard was severed right away. Clearly that thing was sharp. Rurik kept on swinging that monstrous axe like it weighed nothing and the warrior just kept dodging and dancing to avoid the deadly double-bitted head. Suddenly his back hit a tree. There was no place to go and the axehead was traveling through the air aimed right at his forehead. As the wolfwarrior dodged the blow the axe got stuck in tree behind him.“It’s now or never†he thought and took a swing with his axe at Rurik’s head. The hunter dodged the blow but the warrior was already backswinging and the butt of the handle caught Rurik right in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Although the wolfwarrior raised his guard again, Rurik didn’t move at all... He was unconscious. “Glass-jawed bitch†muttered the werewolf as he sheathed his axe and seax. “let's have a look at thisâ€. He ripped Rurik’s axe out of the tree trunk. It was at the least 6 times heavier than his own axe. He walked towards the fallen hunter and as he raised the weapon overhead for the finishing blow, Rurik opened his eyes and swept the werewolf’s legs in a swift motion. He felt like he was falling in slow motion “I can’t believe I fell for thatâ€. His head hit the ground and the oversized weapon flew out of his hands. Rurik was frantic: “you filthy beast, you can’t kill me! I was banished, cursed until I end every last one of your kin, and by the gods, tonight I’ll be one wolf closerâ€. And so began the axe dance once again, but this time the horn of Ruriks battleaxe drew a cut through the warrior’s tunic and into his flesh. This dance kept on going for what it seemed like an eternity and the wound was not healing. He had to turn, there wasn’t a choice. The hair began to grow all over his body, and his clothings teared as the shape of a humanoid wolf began to replace the human. “oh no, not tonight†growled Rurik as he jumped at the lycan. The hunter’s bare hands grabbed the transforming man’s throat but it was too late. The giant claw knocked him to the side and the whole beast followed along. Now the lycan had the upper hand. The blows did not manage to spread Rurik’s ribcage open due to the high quality riveted chainmail but the sound of the ribs cracking was perfectly audible. The warrior was in a frenzy. All of a sudden the attack lost some of it’s drive; stunned, the werewolf stared at his chest: all around his wound, the werewolf fur was falling off, showing bare human skin. Just Like that he turned back to human form… it wasn’t just a heavy axe after all. Rurik stood up with the torn chainmail hanging from his shoulders. He was in such a rage that with a firm pull, opened the few rings that held the mail together and grabbed his axe. The wolfwarrior was almost naked, only half his trousers and pieces of his tunic remained, let alone any weapons. He raised his fists and prepared for a final stand. The ulfhedinn intercepted the rushing hunter with a jab and a cross to the face. Rurik, with a broken nose and blood coming out of his mouth, kicked the warrior to the ground. He was just too weak from the blood loss. He landed on something hard. It was his seax! The hunter went for the killing blow but the warrior had already raised the short sword with both hands runing him through. Without a second of waste the ulfhedinn stabbed Rurik a second time causing him to drop the axe, which he grabbed and with a last effort sunk on the hunter’s back down to the handle. Despite of his injury, the wolfwarrior parched up his wound, reached for the spare clothes on his bag and left the forest behind. The sky was still dark when a banished man rose from the dead once again. “Fucking Wolf, that was my good hauberk…†Rurik muttered while sheathing the axe that not long ago was stuck on his back â€...you are gonna pay for this†In order not to die at the hands of the hunter, the Ulfhedinn must be quick and dextrous. For that reason, this challenge will focus on practicing my handstands and elbow lever as well as box jumps. As some of you perhaps remember, I've brought iron back into my life on the holiday mini, but I have not been serious about it. in this challenge I'll install a mandatory lifting day a week.I'll be adding some sidequests tomake sure I get sh*t done. GOALS Practice handstands, elbow lever and box jumps 4 times a Week(log every session on thread or it will not count for progressbar)Lift acording 5x5 plan every thursday(also log every session or it will not count for progress bar)Eat paleo with 2 weekly variances(log comosition or pic of said meal or it will not count for progress bar) SIDE QUESTS Practice 5 min a day with the didgeridoo and not more than 5 minutes.Build one or more of this home gym improvements(did I ever mention I'm DYB bitch, lol)​Medicine ball(10%)T handle(10%)Squat stands(40%)Bench(40%)​Make a daily "Stuff to Do" 4 item list, post it on my thread and do the stuffSo, every item on the "goals" list is worth 15%, 15% and 55% respectively and the "side quests" represent 5% each. According to this set up, all individual results are considered as non percetual results(a.k.a without the %) so that they yield a numbre between 0 and 100. Rewards will come depending on the final outcome. A= 100 - 90 B= 89 - 80 C= 79 - 70 below those values... I simply don't care REWARDS A- New pack of plates for the barbell B- Pull-up bar for the door C- Kindle version of "The Primal Blueprint"

Main goal: Climb all of the things! Parkour all of the things! Thumb my nose at gravity! Make and post videos of all of the things! My schedule is already really full, so I'm not biting off too much this challenge, fitness-wise. I already spend a lot of time doing parkour, rock climbing, and yoga. When I can manage to squeeze it in, I also like hand balancing, playing with weapons, hiking, rucking, and playground workouts. I'm also trying hard to remember that rest days are important, too. Even if I don't have so many direct fitness goals, I tend to log and talk incessantly about the parkour and climbing and other shenanigans. Because PARKOUR!!! and CLIMBING!!! Goal 1: Stick to strict rations (food goal) Between all of the holidays, the Halloween candy, football booze, and my body trying to convince me to fatten up for winter, it's really tough to avoid eating like an asshole. But, for once, I don't want to just brush off this season as a "dirty bulk". So, it's time to stick with (what is for me) strict rations. 1a. Fix that breakfast. I typically eat an apple, greek yogurt, and some sort of breakfast bar. Not only is the breakfast bar unhealthy, but I'm also usually hungry well before lunch time. So, the goal is to have 5 days/week where I avoid any sort of breakfast bar or cereal, and instead replace that by cooking eggs or some oatmeal. 1b. Continue loving the crock pot. The goal is at least 6 batch cooked meals over the course of the challenge. Having healthy food in abundance tends to encourage healthy eating. 1c. Don't overdo the booze. I'm not being as strict as last challenge, but I'm still only allowing myself 12 drinks over the 6 weeks. Also, whenever I'm in a social drinking situation and don't really want to drink, but go along with the crowd, I lose a point. I can re-gain that point by either foregoing one drink for the challenge or by making a point of passing up some social drinking. Goal 2: Jump like I'm in Martian gravity. (fitness goal) At this point in my parkour training, I really feel that my jumping ability is holding me back. I was a decent (but not great) jumper before the knee blowout, and I unfortunately still haven't managed to even regain my old abilities. One of the better ways to jump higher is to add some weight to that squat. So, twice/week, I will do some sort of squat session. It might be goblet squats. It might be assisted pistols. It might be weighted bulgarian split squats. I also need to take better care of my knee(s) if I want to continue with training hard. But, I learned last challenge that if I don't make a goal of doing my prehab work and foam rolling, I just end up not doing it. So.... Goal is twice/week squat session and 5x/ week prehab. Goal 3: Science! (Life goal) Now that the kids are in school, I have much more time to return to my scientific roots. One of my future goals is to make a bunch of science and math educational apps. I have a lot of ideas. What I lack is some of the coding knowledge. So, the goal is to completely finish my Xcode 7 and Swift course. Goal 4: Become a data nerd -> Hack my headspace. (Life goal) Most days, the kids are in school, the husband is at work, and I'm spending too much time like this And to be fair, I am very productive. I just don't always deal very well with too much alone-ness and too much unstructured time. I'm prone to anxiety. I also have bouts of being overly pissed off and some bouts of seasonal affective disorder. Anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows that I'm the antithesis of being a data nerd. Usually I just wing everything and more or less remember what's what. But for once, I want to keep better notes, so I can see a pattern. The goal for this is to track what effects any of these have when I'm having mood issues and want to re-gain control of my headspace: calming tea, playing the piano, yoga, guided meditation, taking a nature walk, and any other methods I can come up with. I'm not going to expect results this challenge. I just want to get in the habit of recognizing the signs of a bad mood, trying something, and tracking how well it works. And here is the spreadsheet. Bonus: #1 - Get back in the habit of playing the piano. At least 60 minutes/week. Hopefully, this can double with goal 4 in helping with the headspace. Bonus #2 - Be resourceful! I'm going to shamelessly steal Raptron's Catch-em-all hand balancing fest. Because I can. Bonus #3 - Actually participate in the guild mini this time. I'll probably have some strong edits for this later. The new challenge thread was already exploding, and I wanted to get in on the action right away!

For this challenge, I'm going to focus on fully living in the present, rather than dwelling on the past ("before my knee blowout, I could do whatever thing but now I can't") or punting things toward the future ("It would be really nice if I could do...") without taking the steps right now to have any realistic hope of achieving that. As always, I will be doing and logging my usual rock climbing/bouldering, playground parkour, yoga, hand balancing, weapons, hooping, etc. 1. (Fitness)Respect the progressions: There are several yoga moves I'd love to do, but I'm not quite flexible enough. There are also several parkour moves I'd love to be able to do, but I'm not strong or flexible enough. So, rather than just giving up and doing nothing at all to get there (which has kind of been what I've done over the last many challenges), I'll instead dial things backward and work through some easier progressions until I have a solid enough foundation for the full move. The moves I'd love to focus on are: (yoga) Firefly pose- currently need to improve flexibility to get my shoulders under my legs. I can either balance a few seconds with my legs really bent, or I pick up and fall right back onto my rear. So, I'm going to focus on the deep squat with my shoulders under my legs to improve the mobility. I'll also just try to get better about holding with my legs bent. There's no point yet in trying to pick up all of the way and getting frustrated with my repeated failures. (yoga) - wheel to standing or wheel kick over - My backbend/wheel is okay, but in order to stand from it or kick my legs up and over, I need my hands and feet to be closer together. So, I'm going to focus on pushing my torso closer over my shoulders and walking my feet in toward my hands. (parkour) Kong vault - I can't confidently even do a ground kong without having my knees flare out such that they're outside of my arms. I'm also horribly paranoid about clipping my legs, especially since my knee still isn't quite 100%. I'm going to work on good form ground kongs, the kong jump-ups, and just jumping over low-ish obstacles. (parkour) rail balance - While it's still cold, I have parallettes I can step upon. When it's warmer, there are plenty of playgrounds with rails. Rather than getting fancy and trying to move around a lot or do QM, I really just need to practice standing around or walking very slowly. I may come up with a few more things to add to the list. I'm not going to grade based on practicing a certain number of times/week. Instead, it's going to be whether I feel like I'm putting in the honest effort to follow the progressions, rather than giving up or hiding from the skills in question, and whether at the end of the challenge I'm seeing some progress. 2. (Fitness) Tons of Handstands: I've always wanted to have a solid handstand, but I've been stuck at 3-5 seconds freestanding for a long time and have never really put in the effort to improve with that. After some personal training with this, I learned that my shoulders aren't engaged properly when I do handstands. I've instead been doing lazy, loose handstands. Now that I've started practicing really pressing upward, engaging my shoulders, and keeping my core very tight, I feel like I have so much more control. I want to ride this success and finally make some progress with the handstands. Goal is to do 100 handstands/week, but to count, all of the handstands need to have solid form. 3. (Life) Positivity and Gratitude: I truly believe that being positive and grateful is a habit and mindset. Each day of the challenge, I must come up with and post something for which I'm grateful, something that made me happy, or something generally positive. Goal: 42 daily postings. 4. (Life) Learn a new language -For years, my husband and I have been saying that it would be nice if I could speak German, so we could have our own adult "secret language" that the kids can't understand. And for years, I've done nothing on that front. I recently downloaded Duolingo. My goal is to add 250 XP to my total each week. I'm at 659 right now, so assuming I'm around 700 at the start of the challenge, that means I should aim for 2200 XP by the end. Extras: There's no way to grade these, but they're just things I'd love to work on and be reminded of frequently through my challenge. (Fitness) Form comes first: I have a few yoga moves in which my form (shoulder alignment) is off. I also am guilty of taking some shortcuts, or squeezing out a few extra reps even after my form is starting to fall apart. I've spent the last year assuming that everything would eventually work its way out, but realistically, I'm just perfecting bad form. This goal is more about shelving the ego and dealing with not managing as many reps or as much hold time, or having to step back in some of my progressions. (Life) Control the clutter: No one in my house (including myself) puts things back where they belong after using something. So, we're always fighting clutter. Rather than just setting things down out of place and assuming I can put it away later, I'd rather stop generating the clutter in the first place. (Life) Get over it: I'm one of those people who gets upset or over-analyzes things long past the point where I should just accept that things are over and done. So, I want to reach a point where if I'm foolishly getting worked up about something, I can take steps to calm down (whether it's doing some cardio kickboxing, weapons, yoga, meditation, taking a walk, playing piano), and then learning to just let it go.

This will be my first challenge as an Assassin, so I want to make it good. This may be a bit boring, but I found that doing 2 strength routines and 3 cardio sessions a week really helped me toward my weight loss goal last time around. That being the case... * 2 bodyweight workouts/week: I also now have *rings* - so those will come into play big time. Going to use them for ring pushups (to supplement any other kind of pushup) and bodyweight rows. I do not have a specific workout in mind, but I'll likely alternate between my beefed-up version of the NF Beginner's Bodyweight Routine and a 5x5 circuit I concocted the other day. The 5x5 consists of bodyweight rows (rings), pushups, weighted step-ups, and hanging leg raises (rings). It is much harder than it sounds on paper. * 3 cardio sessions (at least 30 min/session)/week: Squash, dance, stationary bike, walking/jogging/SPRINTING. Anything that gets the heart rate up. Good for the ol' ticker and the waistline. NEW STUFF: ========== * Hand-balancing: Taking my inspiration from ßean on this one. I'm not at handstand level, so I'm going to focus on crow pose. 5 mins practice every day. * Hit up the parkour gym: Just learned there's a parkour gym in my city. Check it out at least once or twice during the challenge. Bonus points for taking a class. * Create a dance routine: Pick a song, use some things I've learned so far in dance class, and slap together a routine for 30 secs or so. If I'm feeling really bold, I'll even commit it to film. * Shred! Been playing guitar for a long time, but rarely practice or record much these days. I'm going to tackle the solo section of X Japan's "Silent Jealousy" and make a video of myself doing a playthrough by the end of the challenge. Solo starts at 4:38. * No PIZZA. Just not going to eat pizza this whole challenge. Yep. * No Booze: Technically doesn't start until March 1. Going to take the month off from beer/wine etc.

So it’s been, what, about four and a half months since my last challenge (and probably my last general appearance on the NF boards…)? Most of that was on kind of purpose. Things were bad and there is only so much I can handle at once. And then there was that thing where for the whole of January I had something that I’m halfway convinced was the plague. That pretty much took everything I’d managed to build up during December, mentally, physically, and otherwise, and smash it into pieces. It’s taken me a little while to get going again, and now that I’m a good way towards having a solid foundation built, I figured coming back to NF would be a step in the right direction. At the very least, it’s a slightly more public way to keep myself accountable and a way of socialising that does not revolve around uni or work. Oddly enough, in spite of how terribly the year started, things are on a generally upwards trajectory. And that is where this challenge comes in. I feel like I’m in a good place to pick up the habit again, and I actually have some pretty solid goals for a change. Mostly they’re habit building, which is what I need right now. Bigger goals can wait for now. One: Active Routine (+2 WIS || +1 STA || +1 CON) I have a schedule. This schedule is flexible. This schedule is not only important for ensuring I keep myself active enough and do my workouts when I’m supposed to, but it is also important for household tasks and the like. Right now I've got three spots for the bigger workouts, five for yoga, and two for getting my ass outside and either walking or biking (if, y'know, I fix the bike... again...). Similar to where I was at before, but I'm quite conscious of these being far shorter workouts, all things considered. The point is to do something and then I can work my way up to a full scale battle plan. This goal sounds ridiculously easy, but actually working up the motivation to stick to it and do things even when I’m in a crappy mood is particularly difficult right now. January’s illness, among other things, brought out the worst of my depression, so I’m still trying to pick myself up after that. Routine will help, or so the story goes. Two: Hand Balancing (+2 DEX || +2 STR) I miss the challenge. For this one, I’m not working towards anything in particular right now (although I will say my pendant pose is pretty solid). Wrist strengthening will be a priority, and I’ll be experimenting with different yoga balances as well as handstands (and headstands, just because). And all of this will be happening three times per week. Three: Hot Food (+3 CON || +1 WIS) At least one cooked meal per day, at least three fruit and veg per day, do not put fizzy drinks in my body unless they’re mixed with alcohol (and don’t do too much of that either). ...yeah, things got pretty bad and my diet went to hell. I didn’t want to eat, and when I did it was a quick fix and a light one at that. It got to the point where my body was unbelievably weak, and a couple of weeks ago I pulled myself together enough to make a concentrated effort to fix what had gone wrong. So. One cooked meal per day, even on days when I’m working stupid hours. At least three portions of fruit and veg per day, because fruit satisfies sugar cravings, veg is awesome, and I am in fact anemic again. That needs fixing ASAP. Everything needs fixing ASAP, but taking baby steps is a good thing right now. Four: Extra-Curricular (+2 CHA || +1 WIS) I’ve recently re-started things that I previously enjoyed doing, which is a good sign, but motivation is still a little thin on the ground so they’ve been worked into my schedule as well, after a fashion. I’ve spoken to my former housemate, A, and he’s said that he’s more than happy to give me guitar lessons in return for dinner. So I’m trying to make this happen at least once a week. Also, a little practice every day, even if it’s only fifteen minutes. I’m learning sign language. I figured, hey, I’m going deaf, so why not? So far it’s just Youtube videos, but it’s better than nothing, considering. That’s going to be a daily thing as well. Recently, in part due to the requirements of one of the uni modules I’m doing, I’ve taken to going to kayak rolling sessions at the pool. I can’t roll a kayak. I’m actually scared of rolling a kayak. I’m going to continue until I can roll a kayak. Thursday mornings for that one. I’m also working on trying to get back to Crossfit on Thursday evenings, but first I have to sort out my work rota and try and imprint on my boss that saying I can’t work on certain days means that, hey, I can’t work on those days. And there we have it, a sedate challenge for a time where baby steps are required. You know, this time it doesn't even frustrate me. I'm not sure if that's because my job has worked wonders on my ability to control these things or because I've been in a fairly good mood for the past few days or even because it's better than having given up. ...talk about starting on a positive note

Hi. I'm Nymeria, and I'm accepting my path as one of the shiny object chasing, Jack-of-all-trades, do-all-of-the-fun-things types of assassins. I climb multiple times/week. I also love power yoga/handbalancing, martial arts, playground parkour, hooping, rings, and other random fitness stuff I also NEED my soundtracks to operate in life. Whether I'm exercising, cleaning, taking a relaxing bath, or whatever, I need music to get into my groove. It's at times been a bit of a hinderance to me, since I can't handle a lot of exercise videos or classes where I have to endure crappy music and a teacher yammering on and on. (yoga stuff and hooping at 4x and 2x speed, because it's kind of boring otherwise. All of the indoor clips were filmed in the last week, and the outdoor stuff was from the autumn. It feels great to get back into the groove of posting training videos!) 2014 was a really rough year for me, both personally and fitness-wise. Very late in 2013, I had a catastrophic fall while climbing, tore my ACL, MCL, and broke 2 bones in my knee. Then I had surgery and spent the better part of 2014 dealing with physical therapy and rehab. I'm ready for 2015 to be an injury-free year, so I can focus on being awesome and not on just regaining ground. For my part, the "Awesome mix" isn't making a great playlist (although I'm always open to music suggestions. I gravitate most toward progressive metal stuff). Instead, it's the formula of eating habits, exercise stuff, and daily routines that help me achieve the things I most want. In this challenge, I'll focus a lot more on eating habits, since they got a bit out of hand over the holiday season. I also have gained about 5 lbs of flab over the last few months, and I really need to lose it. Goal 1: Awesome eating for an awesome life (diet). I don't do tracking, so instead, I'm using a point system to encourage healthier choices and discourage destructive ones. Goal edited, to make things simpler. I eat 3 meals/day, so... +1 point for any meal that is filled with wholesome food, veggies, proteins, etc. and only a very modest/minimal portion of carbs/starches. +1 point for drinking only water or tea in a day +1 point for choosing healthy evening snacks, like carrots and hummus, celery+peanut butter, or other veggies in the evening. I will permit myself to have a modest snack in each day and a small portion of a sweetened drink (like 4 oz of orange juice or lemonade). I'll also permit myself to have a beer on football gamedays for no penalty. -1 point for anything beyond a modest snack -1 point for caloric drinks beyond what was set forth ^^^ -1 point for unhealthy meals. Goal: 21 points/week. If that becomes too easy by week 3, I'll increase the goal. Goal 2: Batch cooking (diet) For me, bad choices are often made because I either let myself become so hungry that I want to eat NOW, or because I'm just feeling too lazy to cook. The solution for me is to batch cook something healthy, so I have plenty of leftovers to reheat. Goal: 6 batch cooked meals during the challenge (nominally 1/week). Goal 3: Shore up some climbing weaknesses (fitness - climbing) - I'm pretty comfortable with my workout routine, but there are a few tweaks that should help me progress faster. My raw strength is great, but my muscular endurance is fairly poor. This is a huge problem with climbing, where I'll climb beautifully for 2/3 of the route, and then I'm out of gas for the end. To fix this, I'm going to do some high rep, low weight work with DB rows, bodyweight inverted rows, grip training (focus on hanging loooong periods of time on some very easy grips, rather than short holds on really small ones). Goal: 2 sessions/week of the endurance stuff. Goal 4: Keep things fresh and exciting (fitness - yoga) This is a 2 parter. The first I'm shamelessly stealing from starsapart. 1x per week, I'll try a new pose from the Yoga Journal advanced poses blog. I would hate for yoga to become stale for me. The second part is that I'm toying with the idea of becoming a certified yoga teacher at some point. The problem is that I'm 99% a home practitioner, largely because I enjoy playing my own music and because I'm afraid that most yoga classes would be kind of boring for me. But, I need to suck it up and at least try out some classes for informational purposes, if nothing else. Before the end of the challenge, I want to attend at least 4 formal yoga classes at my gym. Goal: 1 new yoga pose/week. 4 formal yoga sessions/challenge. Goal 5: The boring, dreaded cardio (fitness - general) This one is simple: 60 minutes of pure cardio action. Whether it's HIIT style, cycling, jogging, elliptical, I need to keep my heart rate up there. I generally find cardio to be boring, but getting back into some cardio action would help me lose some flab, improve my stamina, put the finishing touches on my knee rehab, and would probably be good for me. So, I just have to suck it up and do it. I'm not counting lower heart rate cardio stuff for this goal, so no credit for hooping, walking, etc. Goal: 60 minutes/week. Yeah, this challenge isn't necessarily going to be fun, but at the moment I'm filled with ambition and resolve. I'd rather push myself and come up short than just do another space filler, coasting type of challenge.

This is a place-holder post. Extra points if you watch this entire 1 hour video.

Challenge goals coming soon...

Swing, brother, swing! Don't stop to dilly-dally. Last challenge ended with a whimper, but I don't wanna stop to dilly-dally. Back to work. GOAL 1 - Practice L-Sit Progression from GMB (http://goldmedalbodies.com/how-to-do-an-l-sit/) L-sit has been on my goal list for a while, and I've decided this is a skill I want to work on this go-round. It's a progression, so I'm not going to grade on a successful L-sit by the end of the challenge. I may need more time, but I will have success if I practice three times weekly. GOAL 2 - Dance. I'm a swing dancer, and have enjoyed past challenges by moving to music, practicing musicality, interpreting music and practicing moves. I'll continue previous goals by moving to music three times weekly for 10 minutes. This will be a success if I spend 10 minutes. 3 times weekly practicing dancing. (And I'll post swing videos) GOAL 3 - Balance and flexibility. At one time I was skilled with hand balancing poses: crow, half-crow, scissors, elbow lever, etc. I also want to do stretching/flexibility work. Ideally this will be attached to other workout days. The goal will be a success if I spend 10 minutes practicing these three times weekly. LIFE GOAL: Routine. Two things I want to have a priority in my life these next six weeks. 1. Doing the above goals. Keeping with the challenge. Keeping on the boards, etc. 2. Reading scripture / prayer / unplugging. The routine will be workouts and activity in the morning. Quiet time, scripture, etc. in the evening. I want to get up early to have time to move in the morning. And I want to dedicate 9 pm as time to spend in quiet... if just for a little while. I'll call this goal a success if I do this on work days. Weekends will be free. So, if you have 12 minutes of free time, watch this: you will not be disappointed.

I'm not even going to bother pretending to have a goal oriented challenge or any story this time around. Things to expect from this thread: Ranting and whinging. Possibly pictures or videos of me making an idiot of myself. Things I want to work on: hand balancing, bridges, GMB Fitness' Movement Multivitamin, aerials, buying a car.

Hello 2014!!! So my theme for this challenge comes from a really lovely article from mega-surfer Laird Hamilton about training and being athletic after 40. It's about 5 years old, but it doesn't seem at all out of date to me. Some of the things he says ring totally true to how I live and train (eat well, but be flexible with food, train with other people, build strength you can apply), but some of the stuff was really food for thought... particularly about how other types of training can improve your performance (that and the potent analogy about what happens when you park an old car), and about doing different things on vacation. And with all that rattling around in my brain, I've decided that my first challenge of 2014, I'm going to use more traditional gymnastics training to shore up some of the weak spots in my aerial work. Basically, in December I wrapped up 2 months of hard training for a showcase, and I took stock of what was sore, and what was not. I realized that I work the HELL out of my pulling muscles, but my pressing muscles don't get as much use. And I had a really useful conversation with a coach and a friend about how it's easier for bendy people to build stability than for stiff people to build flexibility... I'm the overly bendy person who lacks stability. I'm plenty strong, but I can't always use it because my body & back are so loose. Both of these things are affecting my ability to learn further aerial skills. So it's time to do something about it... Goal 1: Modified schedule of GMB P1 + in person handstand training + aerial work. The key piece here is really going to be the handstand training, because it helps me a ton to have a coach who can point out where I'm not straight, but I can only fit that in my schedule once a week. P1 is definitely less hard than R1 (which I started, but was unable to finish because of performance training), but gives me another opportunity to work on hollow body holds and pressing. The aerial work is just to keep my toes in the pool... and to substitute in for handstand training when I can't get into that class. If the classes at my circus school are overcrowded the rest of the year, it's doubly true in January! I have a written out 6-week schedule, including rest days, so I'm going to score this 7 out of 7 per week. Goal 2: Three minute practice. This is a 1 minute handstand hold at the wall, and 2 minutes of the yoga lotus pose, 1 minute on each side. (See bonus section for why I'm doing lotus.) 6 days a week (scored at 6/6 per week). I should be able to integrate this into my P1 cool down on days I'm doing the GMB training. Goal 3: Stretch splits & backbend 3 days a week. I don't want to lose my flexibility, I want to stabilize my flexibility. Scored at 3/3 per week. BONUS: Two things that aren't really goals, but bonus things I'm working on. First of all, at the end of this challenge we're going on a short family vacation to the mountains, and I'd really like to take a chance to try cross country skiing. My husband does downhill and wants to teach our son, but I'm really not enamoured of hurtling down a hill. I've wanted to try cross country for a while, and there's a cross country resort near where we're staying.... plus it's less expensive than downhill. If there is actually snow while we're there (this is the mountains outside LA, so it's not a given). Also, as a long term yoga goal this year, I'd like to be able to fold my legs into lotus without using my hands. Hence the regular lotus practice. So for the active recovery days where I feel like doing a little yoga, I'm going to try to focus on practices that involve lotus, unless I'm really feeling like I need a sleep oriented practice or something else specific. Finally... I'm not doing an non-fitness level up goals this challenge! I'm just not feeling it this time.

Not only is hand balancing awesome, it just might be a necessary survival skill in the event of a Clown Apocalypse! Sign up here

Hi all. I've been watching the start of another challenge, and I've been debating whether I should join in. My last several challenges have been disappointing: start for a couple of weeks, then quit the next four weeks. Part of me had been thinking about sitting one out so I could take a break from the challenge frenzy. But of course, I've been starting challenges and "taking a break" for the last four weeks. Very disappointing. I'm not going to give up. Since my last several challenges have been abandoned before their mid-way point, I'm not really bringing anything new from the past ones. I just have to do something. I've been going crazy not doing anything. Let's go. PRIMARY QUEST: Move. Consistency. Dance minimum 3x weekly for 10 minutes each. I'm going to a swing dance convention in Los Angeles around Labor Day (early September), and I'm pumped! I expect to learn a lot, so I want to keep myself active and practice what I already know. Get up early on work days Getting up early will help me get stuff done. Out of bed at 5:00 am. Bodyweight work 3x weekly* *This is a very general goal that can include hand balancing, Prasara yoga, and traditional body weight exercises. Some activity in this realm will happen 3x weekly. Practice musical muscles 4x weekly minimum 30 minutes Music is really in my head. I'm dancing all the time, but I also own musical instruments, some of which I've neglected. I played the saxophone in high school and college, and I need to get back at it. I haven't played in a long time, so I'll need to do some embouchure exercises as well. I've also recently inherited an electric organ, which I want to work at as well. So a musical instrument will be practiced 4x weekly. I got inspired by this video: Here goes.

WOLVERINE TAKES IT ALL OFF INTRODUCTION I have three big events coming up in the next couple of months: a camping trip, a vacation in Las Vegas, and Pretty Panty Party IV*. All of these events will result in my being in various states of undress in front of largish groups of people and when I strip down I would like to look like Ryan Reynolds in Blade Trinity (handcuffs optional), which is impossible. I'll settle for Ryan Reynolds' younger, shorter, more average looking, but infinitely more awesome brother. *Pretty Panty Party IV is an annual event (the fourth!) in which my friends strip down to their elaborately decorated skivvies, drink too much, and perform ridiculous "choreographed" dances for cheap prizes from the local dollar store. It's ridiculously awesome. MAIN QUEST Reduce bodyfat and increase muscle mass while maintaining a weight of 136 lb. (+/- 3 lb.). GOALS Fully embrace chaos. No set training routines, no strict eating plans, no boundaries. As long as the goals are met and the mission is achieved, no #$&% shall be given. +1 WIS +1 CHA Train 5+ days per week. Pretty simple. I hope to workout every day, but @!$# happens. No set routine. No set workout time. No rules. +1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 STA Set calories for initial weight loss, then adjust to balance body composition and performance desires. Initial target = 1800 calories per day on average. Focus on protein and fiber (veggies!). Adjust target when necessary. IIFYM. +3 CON, +1CHA Read technical book for work. 342 pages of dry but worthwhile content. Read it in a day or spread it out over the six weeks. Don't matter. +3 WISSIDE QUEST Complete 5 hours (combined total) of planks, hollow body, and Superman holds by the end of the challenge. +1 STA STARTING STATS Height: 5 ft. 7 in. Weight: 142.6 lb. (142.77 lb. 7-day average) Chest: 37.5 in. Waist: 29.75 in. Bodyfat: 12.05%