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1. Balancing Classwork Hand balancing participation in the Crow PVP Do 3 accessories with lifting workouts 2. Avoid the Freshman 15 Salad Club salads 5x per week Monitor late night snacking (personally, not really in this thread) 3. Adult-ish Responsibilities Keep up driving practice weekly as possible (aim for another 4 practices) Clean out kitchen drawers (again) Dishes 2x on weeknights (you can't cram all your dishes on SUNDAY all the time, okay?) 4. Extra Curricular Activities Bonus points for running Bonus points for working on the Guide to Daydrinking Bonus points for signing up for an aerial arts sampler class Bonus points for going to the ninja gym

Because I might as well be proactive about it? Hand balancing goals: Handstand: get used to shifting weight between hands (pirouette bails), get a more vertical line facing towards from the wall (engaging shoulders, core strength). And stop looking at the floor, it's not that interesting. Geeze. Headstand: coordinate lowering head and walking forward/raising hips at the same time (pike push ups), "float" both legs to elbows together. Crow: uh, be able to do it for more than a few seconds? Queda de rins: on the right- continue progressions such as entering from standing (QdR push up) or from esquiva (lunge). On the left- just get better without jacking it up again (PT!) Actual challenge stuff: Balance *Skill-work- at least 1 session/week. Not just kick-ups for funsies (though those are good too) but mindful practice! *Before any hand balancing practice (at home or in class) I must have done my PT and a good solid wrist warmup. This means getting PT in early!! Adapt *Each week write out plans, challenges, speedbumps, etc to be more prepared- (Ties in directly with food planning, but is important elsewhere) Macro *Track calories (for data pool) *Track protein (100g goal) *Track water Flexy *Sun Salutations, preferably first thing in the morning *Stretch after workout/class *Yoga- at least 1 session/week

DinoBytes returns to reclaim victory in a thrilling adventure of pacing, trial and error. It's been a minute folks, and let's be honest here, I'm not the most consistent person on the planet with keeping everyone updated. so for all of you just tuning in, here is a heaping generous serving of info; I moved from hawaii, to italy, to florida, and now I am coming to you live from sunny San Diego! putting all of the emotions and struggles that came with the following, I'll try to keep it down to just fitness facts; moving from hawaii also meant leaving my acrobatic friends behind. I made a couple new friends with whom i shared acro and circus with (I even taught a girl how to spin in just 2 months!) but I only got a real dose of circus community from two cons that I attended during this long hiatus time. (divine play and acro love if you're keeping track at home) I started spinning nearly every day for an hour or so alternating my cardio between running 3 miles and swimming 2 so that i would swim three days a week and have one rest day from running. this was all very consistent until I finally landed in San Diego. I began a membership with San Diego circus center and studied hand balancing there (which was tremendously humbling) but I now know where i need to improve. I began working longer hours at work and was unable to attend the handbalancing class... so i quit my expensive membership and began coming home and becoming rather boring, weak, and consequently miserable. so... I've been relatively sedentary for the first time in maybe... my life? (I mean i'm not that old so... it's not saying all that much but it's uncomfortable!) PRESENT DAY: I am currently undergoing a preliminary test to see if I can qualify for rescue swimmer school (search and rescue SAR swimmer) in July. that means I have to attain at minimum the following: run 1.5 miles in under 12 minutes swim 400 meters in under 11 minutes pushups at least 30 situps at least 50 pullups at least 2 I proved this week that I can accomplish these things, however it was a real kick in the teeth to realize how much I've lost in time on the run (or gained rather) and how the pushups didn't feel as easy as they used to. Here is my challenge summary and grading criteria! goal 1: Run faster: current run time is 11:50 for 1.5 miles. I want to shave that down to 9:30 someday, but just "better" for this challenge will satisfy this goal A = run 3 miles 3x per week aiming for a 7:30 pace (if this becomes easy to obtain this will drop) B = 2x per week C = 1x per week F = < 1x per week goal 2: I have very little control of my diet, so I'm going to put stretching in here as it will force me to moderate the quantity A = 7x a week B = 6x a week C = 5x a week D = 4x a week F = 3x a week goal 3: hand balance training = better/stronger upper body for pushups A = 7x a week (an hour minimum focused training session) B = 6x a week C = 5x a week D = 4x a week F = 3x a week Life goal: Circus performance means moar ROUE CYR spinning! A = spun 3x a week (one hour minimum can be cross trained with handbalancing) B = 2x C = 1x F = <1x my starting stats: age: 23 height: 5'3" weight: 141 May 20 I hope to update my page consistently at the very least weekly, however, thanks to my occupation, I will have trouble with contact for loads of weekdays so expect updates mostly on weekends. The best way to be encouraging to me is to simply post a little check up blurb should I be late in posting for a week. Also, ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS YOU HAVE!!! I am a true introvert at heart but I love to push my limitations and I am in no way reserved about my love of circus so you can actually HELP me by expressing your curiosity about all the crazy apparatus and things I do! (what a great way to fulfill both objectives) this also will help me be more clear to begin with because all these terms and phrases have become so familiar I sometimes forget what "normal people" understand . I know I'm a bit late hopping onto this challenge but I'm hoping to qualify as a completing member of the assassins guild and one step closer to Search and Rescue Swimming

will update this later goals loosely set. follow RINGS1 3 x pr week Daily handstand track all calories everyday (no matter if they are to high or not, just need to get a better overlap on my snacking. im glad to be back so looking forward for this challenge

Hi! I'm Raptron, gymnast, lifter and now pokétrainer extraordinnaire. My regimen of gymnastics, strength training, and now even cardio a few times a week has prepared me to take on the best and the brightest trainers in the region. Each week, I will have to fight the pokemon of a randomly generated trainer in order to progress through the tower and demonstrate my prowess in this elite competitive event. This challenge may or may not have been inspired heavily by the Assassin mini-challenges over the past months. LET'S FIGHT!!! Goal 1: Fill the Pokédex *Collect poképoses using the following chart *The pose cannot be collected until they are photographed/proven to exist Unfortunately, the League does not allow trainer fistfights as a substitute for pokemon battling. I will need to fill up my team and my stables with strong animal companions. I generated random numbers based on the Gold/Silver pokedex and have filled it up on the chart above. I will likely wind up adding some poses throughout the challenge if I find any particularly interesting ones. Given the layout of the challenge, I technically only need to have six in order to fight the trainer battles I'll be generating at the start of each week, but the more varied Pokemon I have at my disposal, the better, as there are some interesting power ups available below based on type! Goal 2: Train for all the elements *Floor exercise: dance elements + choreography and for full floor routine pick 2 types -- Powers up NORMAL, GHOST, GROUND, FAIRY, OR PSYCHIC *Uneven bars: any skills -- Powers up WATER, ICE, DARK, OR DRAGON *Balance beam: 3 of all skills -- Powers up BUG, POISON, GRASS, FIGHTING, OR ROCK *Vault: handsprings or half-ons -- Powers up FIRE, ELECTRIC, STEEL, OR FLYING Completing certain skills on each event shall allow me to choose a type that will be POWERED UP and do double damage for the next set of attacks from a Pokemon of that type. Pokemon that are strong against the trainer's type will benefit from 1.5 damage on top of the double damage they would already deal from being super effective for an impressive damage stack. These trainers won't have a chance! Goal 3: Attack with functional movements! *Pokemon Slot 1 -- Hip-realignment: Each PT exercise focused on hip realignment is an attack *Pokemon Slot 2 -- Hip flexor focus: Each PT exercise focused on reactivating/relaxing hip activation is an attack *Pokemon Slot 3 -- Back extensors: Any exercise without back extensor activation is an attack *Pokemon Slot 4 -- Glute targeting: Any glute-activation focused exercise is an attack *Pokemon Slot 5 -- End of motion splits: Exercises focused on active, end-of-range splits is an attack *Pokemon Slot 6 -- Each 10+ minutes of cardio is an attack Once I'm equipped with my Pokemon, each Pokemon slot can attack the trainer's Pokemon through specific moves! If that Pokemon is powered up, its attacks will do double damage. The first two slots are simple to make sure I have a good baseline of damage against any trainer that gets in my way because I need to work on my PT exercises daily, but if I want to finish them off quickly or generate a particularly hard battle, the other Pokemone will be able to chip in and really DISH. Goal 4: Recover with delicious Pokéfood *Each day of hitting protein will recover half an injured Pokemon's missing HP *Each day of hitting within the desired calorie range will recover half an injured Pokemon's missing HP Back-and-forth damage is an inevitable outcome of turn-based combat and I need to make sure my Pokemon don't faint on me. To do that, I'll have to nourish them appropriately! I haven't decided exactly how these fights are going to play out in terms of damage to my Pokemon + damage to the trainers', but there is always back-and-forth unless you manage to 1-shot them. I'll use some artistic license to add flare to these battles including who gets to start first, how many rounds of back and forth there are and how damage is issued. We'll see. Strap in because I'm going to take down anyone in my path and be the very best (haaaah)!

As always, I'll be logging all of my parkour classes, rock climbing sessions, hand balancing, yoga, swimming, and all of the stuff I normally do. But, the main focus of this challenge is actually controlling my headspace, not being too much of a perfectionist, and just taking joy in all of the fun stuff that I'm doing. 1. Be mighty like Thor and the Hulk - If I ever want to be able to do large sets of pull ups or even reach a muscle up one day, I need to give my pull ups a little more care and attention. For the most part, I've been just getting my pull exercise through climbing, parkour class, and messing around at the playground. Goal: Pull ups after every climbing session using the rock holds. A total of 3 pull up sessions/week, with a full session filling out any remaining ones after the post-climbing pulls. 2. Be agile like Black Widow: To be agile, I need to be more flexible. Goal is to do splits progression stretches (low lunge, half monkey sequence) + pancake 3x /week. 3. Take aim like Hawkeye Goal: archer stretches and shoulder dislocates 3x/week to keep my shoulders nice and healthy. 4. Be industrious like Iron Man I waste too much time on my phone. This will only get worse when the kids are out of school and underfoot all day. I don't want myself or the kids to be lazy lumps. So, the goal is to spend more time reading, drawing, playing the piano, practicing German, cooking, cleaning, or other productive tasks rather than being lazy. If possible, I need to turn these into family activities. 5. Be virtuous like Captain America. The Cap wants me to watch my language. Goal is to do 20 burpees as punishment (or if my leg isn't up to it, do V-ups) every time I use a "naughty word" in front of my kids. Since I hate burpees, this will hopefully encourage me to clean up the language a bit. 6. Defeat Quicksilver To defeat Quicksilver, I need to be fast. To be fast, I need my knee and leg to function properly once again (had ACL reconstruction 16 months ago. Still dealing with IT Band syndrome by throwing myself into too much parkour too soon). Goal is to do my leg prehab routine (hip opener stretches, calf stretches, quad stretch, IT band rolling) every day and my PT strengthening stuff (lateral band walks, one leg squats, clams) 3x/week. 7. Defeat the Scarlet Witch I've really been struggling with controlling my headspace lately, and at times, my anxiety has been out of control. To keep myself better balanced emotionally, I'm going to aim for these two rules: a. No office visits with Dr. Google. If I'm that concerned about something, I need to see an actual doctor rather than make myself paranoid after symptom searching on the internet. b. If I'm in a bad place mentally, I need to do one of my headspace balancing activities, like: yoga, walking outdoors, mindless household chores, or comfort reading, rather than sitting around, brooding, and making it all worse. 8. Defeat Ultron - In Ultron's view, if humanity can't be perfect, it should be destroyed. I often fall into the same trap of expecting too much perfection from myself and becoming too negative as a result. Rather than being down on myself because I couldn't execute whatever move in parkour class or couldn't send whatever route when climbing, I want to just stop comparing myself to others, stop letting myself get overly frustrated, and instead just take joy in what I'm doing. It doesn't need to be perfect. Instead, I just need to be having fun. Whew. 8 goals sounds like a lot, but basically I just need to do 5 minutes of PT every day, have a session 3x/week where I do splits stretches, shoulder stretches, and PT strength, do more pull ups, stop swearing, and adjust my thought process a bit. So really it's not so much. I don't have a set schedule, but generally it'll be: -parkour class and/or parent& child aerial silks - 2x/week (will probably be 2 hours of parkour one day and silks another day) -climbing + swimming 2-3x/week. In the summer, we like climbing for an hour, followed by swimming for an hour. -home yoga when I feel like it. I'm also going to be on a 1 week vacation right in the middle of the challenge. I haven't yet decided how I'm going to handle that with my goals.

Hi, I'm Nymeria, and I generally suffer from do-too-much-itis. I've been rock climbing for a few years, I do a lot of yoga hand balancing and animal flow stuff, I still fool around a lot with martial arts and martial arts weapons (I'm kind of an ex practitioner. It's complicated), and I recently started taking parkour classes twice/week. This has also led to a struggle not to keep my body healthy, functioning, and keep my life in balance. For this challenge, I'm going to turn to one of my favorite anime characters and a fellow hot-headed, nerdy, often physically busted, do-too-much-er, Edward Elric, for some inspiration. This time, my physical schedule is pretty set, with climbing/bouldering twice/week, parkour classes twice/week, and hot vinyasa yoga once/week. (Realistically, I'll make it to 4/5 of these on average, just because between kids, life obligations, and such, that's how it seems to work). I also expect to do some playground workouts, hiking trips, and other things like that. For this challenge, all of the physical goals will be accessories to help me get stronger and prevent me from falling apart. Goal 1. Proper maintenance (fitness) My shoulders are constantly tight from the climbing and yoga. My surgically repaired knee is also starting to become irritated by the jumpings and landings in parkour (ACL reconstruction in Jan 2014 - I didn't rehab things with the expectation of this much high impact work). If I don't want my leg and arms to get busted, the way Ed's auto mail often is, I need to focus on some prehab and ROM work. So... a.) Get cozy with the foam roller and stretches: 5x/week - roll out ITB, calves, and quads. Roll out shoulder blade area. Do shoulder dislocates. Do the following yoga stretches: Extended puppy (shoulders), cross legged forward fold (ITB), hands clasping behind the back pose, reclined cow face pose (ITB-gluteus). b.) Build better foundations for jumping: whenever my muscles permit, do weighted squats, deep squats, more jumps, and calf raises. Revisit some of the physical therapy knee exercises that I haven't touched in the last 6 months. Goal 2 - Decrease the numbers (diet) Edward Elric: "Water, 35 litres. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, 4 litres. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosperus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Niter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g. And fifteen other elements. Those are the elements to make an average adult human body." This goal is simple.. I want to decrease my numbers, meaning lose a little weight. Realistically, I only could lose 5-ish lbs, but those 5 lbs can mean a lot when you're hanging on to rock holds by your fingertips or trying to jump even higher. I loathe actively cutting and tracking my diet, so I'm going to keep things small and simple. Goal is Only 3 drinks bearing any liquid calories at all per week. Otherwise, all other drinking is to just be water. I train a lot and I have a lot of muscle, so I really do need to eat. The juice/alcohol/soda stuff is purely empty calories and is the easiest to trim from the diet. Goal 3 - Become less lopsided (fitness) Like Edward, I feel pretty lopsided. In part it's due to the messed up knee. Some of it is simple right-handedness. Some of it is muscle imbalances. Still, the result is that in parkour, I have preferred sides for every vault or wall technique. In yoga, I have a lot of hand balances that I can only perform well on one side (like 8 angle, flying lizard, side crow extensions). I also have a lot of standing balances that have a strong side and a weak side. Yes, I know that's normal. Still, in parkour, the side I use is somewhat dictated by the nature of the obstacle, and I really need to be proficient at both sides. For the yoga stuff, I just enjoy the warm fuzzy glow of doing things well, so I tend to do my strong side first and more often than my weak one. For this challenge, I am changing my mindset and making sure I give my weak side more attention than my strong one. Goal is to have 90% of my exercise sessions address my weak side at least equally as much as my strong side. Goal 4 - Hit the books (life) I used to read all of the time. But then I became addicted to my phone and waste my time rather than doing productive things like reading or learning. It's time for this to change. a.) Read at least 15 minutes/day. Aim for also reading at night before going to bed. b.) Continue with my DuoLingo German studies. I'm currently at 2300 XP, so the goal is to reach 3800 by the end of the challenge. 5. Daily Reflection (life) Last challenge, I had a goal of coming up with something positive or something for which I am grateful every day. While that was rewarding, I'm broadening things, such that this challenge, I just need to spend a few minutes meditating and reflecting on the day. I may or may not post the reflections depending on how relevant I think they are. I will edit later with more specific grading criteria. Let's do this!

Sorry, my sloth brethren. I'm going team corgi this time, because corgi Assassins are awesome. For those who've never followed my threads, I'm a notorious shiny object chaser in the guild. I rock climb 2-3 times per week, do yoga another 3 times, and then fill in the rest of my time with playground parkour, gymnastic rings workouts, hand balancing (flying crow, side crow, 8 angle, elbow lever. yay), hooping, martial arts weapons stuff, and whatever else strikes my fancy. And I'm okay with that. I'm also 8 months out from an ACL reconstruction (horrible climbing accident in December), so I'm still somewhat rehabbing that. I've had a pattern over the last many challenges of picking a flavor-of-the-month skill, working on it to a point where I'm burned out and no longer care, getting frustrated because my benchmark was either too easy or entirely unreasonable, and then half-assing it the last week or two. I've come to the realization that I don't need any motivation to exercise. I already exercise 1+ hours/day. It's also okay to be a shiny object chaser. My main thing is the rock climbing, and I do that 2-3 times per week. Everything else is just filler, and it's perfectly fine to just do whatever exercises I feel like doing. So, I'm not going to have strong exercise goals. Instead, I'm focusing more on developing some wisdom or inner peace. Yeah, I probably should be in the Druids for this one, but I like it here. I'll still log my exercises, post training videos, and the like, just as I have for previous challenges. The goals will be kind of weird this time... Goal 1: Reduce the alcohol consumption. Only 1 drink/week is allowed. I'm not particularly concerned with losing weight or fat, but if I did wish to do so, my best approach would be eliminating the alcohol or calorie bearing drinks. Either way, it would be healthier to cut back a bit. Goal 2: Electronics off at 10 pm on Sunday-Thursday evening. No iPhone. No computer. No tv. After 10, it's reading time and then sleeping time. This will hopefully lead to an easier time falling asleep, less tiredness, and more reading. Should be wins all around. Goal 3: Stop taking life too seriously. Sometimes, I just get agitated or grumpy over minor things and just can't shake the funk. Other times, I hold back from doing things I want to do out of fear of looking silly or stupid. So, this is a two part goal: a) create a happiness folder on my computer of videos, pictures, or whatever that always make me chuckle. Whenever I'm feeling stressed or grumpy, look through the folder and get a good laugh. b.) I'm only permitted 1 time for the entire challenge where I don't do something out of fear of looking silly. Usually, this happens when I get the itch to work on hand balancing while at the gym or when I want to do some playground parkour, but I'm worried that people are looking at me. Goal 4: Cleaning. How can I find some degree of inner peace when my home is a disaster? Between my 2 young kids and the fact that both my husband and I are prone to clutter, the house is always a disaster. Goal is 10 cleaning tasks/week (excluding dishes and laundry, since there's a never ending stream of those). Goal 5: proper maintenance. My mobility isn't great. And my shoulders and wrists take a beating between the hand balancing, climbing, and rings. And I'm still quasi-rehabbing from the knee surgery. Goal is 2 hours of mobility work per week. I already do a decent amount of yoga, but I'm hoping to develop a habit of doing some brief mobility work when I'm waiting at the bus stop, cooking, or even during commercial breaks.

[Note: This post is brought to you by Thesaurus.com! “Making net-savvy hipsters sound smarter than they really are since 1995.â€] Mode of Incitation In the past, my motivation for my challenges has been a fear that my son might actually look up to me someday, and I wanted to feel like I had a right to that kind of admiration. The thought of the words “I want to be like my dad†made me cringe, because I’ve known since the day he was born that he can be so much better than that. The truth of the matter, though, is that I don’t have any control over what he’ll look up to, or aspire to become when he grows up. He’ll have to figure that out for himself, for better or worse, just like I did. In the mean time, I can make myself a role model to him in another way; by becoming my own hero. My motivation is to seek the limits of my own potential, and to become the person I’ve always wanted to be... because I can. That’s an example that anyone can get behind. Main Quest: Become My Own Hero As you may already be aware, I was recently involved in an accident that resulted in the development of certain abilities that might generally be considered beyond what a human should be capable of... you might say they’re “superhumanâ€, but I prefer to think of myself as an “Exoticly Skilled Person†or Esper, for short. I read someplace that great power comes with great responsibility, so learning to live with my new skills and how best to utilize them has become something of a focal point for me. Like any red-blooded American nerd, I would prefer to take my powers on the road and go all Don Quixote on the world’s collective butt, but I’m not the sort to just tilt headlong into a windmill without thinking things through a bit. If I’m going to sally forth righting all wrongs and what-not, I’ve got some prep-work to do! Indomitable Aspect (+3 CON, +2 CHA) What criminal would cower in fear at the sight of a man hunched and bent from the combination of too many hours at a desk and an improperly balanced physique? In order for my dramatic entrances to have the proper psychological impact, I’ll need to tighten up my posture, get my shoulders pinned back, and straighten out my neck to make each of my 71 inches count for all their worth. 3 min Posture correcting stretch/exercise routine 10x/week, NOT ALL AT ONCE!!! Metacarpus Mount (+2.5 DEX, +2.5 STR) In the hero game, hands and feet are often interchangeable depending on the circumstances, so it behooves a newcomer to feel as at home with his weight on one as the other. 5:00 Hand balancing practice 5x/week (starting with Crow Stance) Ferocious Fixity (+4 WIS, +1 STA) Sometimes things get rough, and then they get real rough. That’s just life, even if you’re not trying to defend the innocent from the forces of evil, so heroes in particular need to have more than average commitment to the task at hand. NEVER SAY DIE! Stick to the scheduled physical activities for EACH AND EVERY WEEKDAY. 1 point/day that all goals are hit. Details are tracked in the battle log, but the basic pattern looks like this: Warmup -> Workout/Breakdance -> Stretch/Massage -> Meditation Aspirations to Assassination I call myself a part-time assassin, and yet I have NEVER completed an Assassin's Guild mini challenge. I'm doing it now. No points here, since the mini's are self-rewarding. (Come to think of it, I've never completed a Ranger's Guild mini, either, but that's a problem for another day) Let’s get quixotic! [Edit: format errors, BEGONE!]

The earliest parts of 2014 were some very trying months for me, where I had to deal with a knee blowout, surgery, and tons of physical therapy. But now I'm free and ready to take flight once more. And in honor of dealing with feeling crapped on by the world, but persevering, I'm going for a fun, Firefly theme. (and bonus geek points to anyone who can tell me who said each line and in what episode/context) Goal 1. "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar" (physical) Now that I've been cleared for sports and such, I want to test myself with some new fancy flying tricks (well, hanging and balancing moves with my legs off of the ground). I plan to work on these moves at least 3 times per week, with the aim of mastering at least 3 5! new moves by the end of the challenge: yoga balances: firefly , dragonfly, 8 angle pose, shoulder press, leg forward crow variation, flying crow variation, forearm stand bar or misc stuff: tucked leg front lever, tucked leg back lever, tucked human flag, and/or dragon flag. Current status: can balance a forearm stand 10 seconds if I wall balance first (will need a solid, 20 second hold for challenge). Can hold tucked leg front lever 3-5 seconds (will need a solid 10 second hold for challenge). I can hold peacock/elbow lever, side crow with legs extended, flying crow, and scissor pose. I haven't really tried or succeeded at any of the rest of these. I would need a 10 second hold for the move to "count". Goal 2. "I aim to misbehave" or behave. (le sigh). (physical) Yeah, I still have to be a good girl with the PT stuff and the climbing rules. So, Leg day must be done 2 times per week (can be split into more days, depending). I must do squats, split squats, balances, knee ROM stretches, lunges, my jumping sets, the leg press machine, the hamstring curl machine, and 30+ minutes of some sort of leg endurance building cardio, like cycling, elliptical, jogging, or swimming. For climbing, I need to follow my rules, which are: -No letting my right leg get more than 3 feet off of the ground while bouldering. (basically, I can only do traverses and the bottoms of routes) -I'm not allowed to do drop knee or heel hook moves with the right leg. -If the knee hurts at all, stop. It's not worth it to push through the pain just to make it to the top of a route. -No knee brace = no climbing. No exceptions. -No whining. Just enjoy being able to climb again. Goal 3 - "The living legend needs eggs" (diet) -I've been doing a lot of strength building stuff. But, as a vegetarian, it's tough to be sure that I'm getting enough protein. So, I need to track my protein and reach 100g each day. I'm expecting to eat lots of eggs. Goal 4 - "What the hell's goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?" Life goal #1 Yeah.. That's how the home often looks, largely because I do have two terrifying space monkeys wreaking havoc on everything. I was pretty successful when I did Flylady a few challenges ago, but I don't find her chores especially relevant for my house. Instead, I made my own chore list and randomizer (yay, iOS programming). The goal is to do 6 of these cleaning chores each week. Goal 5 - "Also, I can kill you with my brain." Life goal #2 This is kind of an extension of my time management goal, but I'm going to improve my brain by learning iOS development. My goal by the end of the challenge is to completely go through my tutorial book. Also, I need to paint at least 4 images for some apps I'm planning on making, as well as record at least 3 piano songs to use for background music in said apps. I've already started one of the apps, which is my cleaning chore manager and randomizer. I'm hoping to add a lot more front end features and make it a professional looking app by the end of the challenge. Bonus "flying" goal (maybe I'll turn this into a PVP): Pull ups in odd places: Yeah, there's a poses in unusual places PVP, but I want to try doing pull-ups in random places or on random things. I already kind of look for odd things to pull up on, but this time, I want to take videos and make a montage of weird pull-ups. Anything other than a standard horizontal bar or rings would "count". Hey, I'm a climber, so I always have to work on my grip. I'll still be hooping. I'm just planning on putting on music and just going with it, rather than specifically learning new moves. And I'll still go swimming with the kids or do it as part of my endurance-building physical therapy. And I'll still be cooking. i'm just not planning on specifically focusing on any of these.

Helloooooo fellow assassins! Onwards & upwards... or upsidedownwards. Or something. Backstory for the uninitiated: I am a 40 year old recreational circus athlete & aerialist. Yes, I am a completely ridiculous, quixotic chimera, and I don't care. It's super freaking fun. I will be coming up on 5 years of circus training this summer, it has totally changed my life. Last year at about this time, I was in a minor car accident that gave me a moderate case of whiplash and I couldn't lift my arms over my head... obviously, for a circusy person, this was a biiiiiiig freaking problem. After 8 weeks of PT (which I attacked like a lion), I was cleared to get back in the air, weak as a kitten. Since that time, I've shifted my circus training to be more oriented around disciplines & apparatuses (apparati?) that are more strength and stability focused. I have a lot of natural flexibility, but was lacking in stability. Before my accident I was training my natural flexibility, now I'm really training for strength. Epic Quest: Be circus awesome! Goal #1: Circus every damn day. In particular, handstands or handstand cartwheels nearly every day, and other training when I need to give my wrists or forearms a rest. Last challenge, I started getting a new trick that I hadn't even expected when we got a new handstand coach. Cartwheeling into a handstand is my first actual handstand trick, it's really good for learning lateral stability in my handstands, and most importantly, it's REALLY fun to train. This challenge I want to focus some daily practice on it... this can look like practicing my regular cartwheels, like practicing regular handstands or like practicing the cartwheel handstands. Things to work on are getting my lower body UP and straight (no piked handstands), getting more consistent at holding the balance in the middle, and pushing off strongly to complete the cartwheel rather than just randomly kicking my legs down. Days on which I do aerial training, I can skip the handstand training or do it... whatever I feel like. If my wrists & forearms are giving me problems, I can count a day of stretching my splits as training. Also, on the advice of my coach, I'm adding a couple minutes of alignment drills on the floor to my daily training. Goal #2: Keep following the consistent training schedule that's been behind my gains in the last challenge. I've got something that seems to be working, don't change it. This looks like: 2 days of circus tricks training with coaches (hand balancing and straps). 2 days of conditioning based on the GMB P1 program. 2 days of lifting in the gym. [sometimes 1 day of aerial yoga combined with a conditioning or lifting day.] 1 day of full rest or going for a gentle hike. I want to also put some focus into adjusting the P1 rest day work (the warm up & cool down) to something I will actually do every day. Goal #3: Pretty legs. So back in November I got diagnosed with a bone spur & arthritis in my toe. This means that I can no longer do the occasional dance class to work on my lines and movement, since I can't go into releve AT ALL. I've been putting some thought into how to work on this without having joint pain and foot cramps. I've hit upon the concept of floor barre... however, I'm actually going to need to learn it, since it's not offered any place that's accessible to me right now. I have the NYCB workout DVD which has a super short floor barre segment and I'd like to try doing that twice a week... I also got another DVD directed at actual ballerinas and that's going to take some watching a learning before I can start working off that. And there's at least one book out on the topic as well. So basically, try the super short floor barre segment 2x a week and spend some time educating myself on the topic. Goal #4: Better engagement with the NF Assassin community. This has 2 parts: A ) Find 2 new (to me) assassins to be inspired by. The assassin community is HUGE and I'm often overwhelmed by it. I've got my few people who I check in on and like to hear about their progress (even if I don't always have anything to say), but I'm ready to find some new amazing, interesting folks. B ) Write up what's going on with me about food and eating. I've been pretty reticent to tell this story since I'm still working through some stuff, but it's made me really reluctant to engage with people for whom eating habits are a major part of their challenge. It's time for me to start talking more openly about it, since it's been a huge evolution over the last year. Bonus, non goal thing that I'm doing that I might talk about even though it's not a goal and will take several challenges: I am working on a project to landscape a large portion of my backyard with native California plants. We moved last year and now live on a 0.75 acre lot with a hill. A hill that is slowly sliding downward. The hill needs to be stabilized... we have someone to help with the placement and installation of the retaining walls at the bottom, but the hill itself needs plants with strong root systems to hold in the soil better. I'm starting a landscape design workshop to do the planning and will probably do at least some of the planting in the next few months (be on the lookout for some major landscaping goals in the fall). Landscape design is surprisingly geeky and doing the actual landscaping is a surprisingly good workout. Also, I have a very nerdy surprise coming up in this challenge, but you'll have to wait.

It seems it is time for Dinobytes to begin her journey. The youth whose destiny is to lead Hyrule and save the princess of destiny. *Quest: lift acro partner and build routines* The time has come to test thy courage...The Great Deku tree has been cursed... The Great Deku Tree needs help to break the curse by:scaling the spider's webs and vines*goal 1: improving silks skills/acro: practicing each move thrice, thrice/week and creating/attempting one new acro move per week.just because it is so unstructured, I'm going to make a silks log shortly and post my progress there*A = complete full set of tricks 9x per week B = 6x per week C = 3x per week D = 2x per week F = < 1x per week gathering health hearts/rupees,*goal 2: fighting the appetite with portion control, purchasing all paleo fuel and, in doing so, saving money by eating out less.Because free food should never be denied. Especially home cooked/baked* A = 7x a week B = 6x a week C = 5x a week D = 4x a week F = 3x a week slaying monsters,*goal 3: working out at the gym 4 days per week*A = 4x a week B = 3x a week C = 2x a week D = 1x a week F = none at all and defeating Queen Gohma *life quest: earn my flight wings by studying each day for at the minimum 1 hour for the three boards (I think only 2 will take place during the challenge timeline right before simulator testing)* A = 7x a week B = 6x a week C = 5x a week D = 4x a week F = 3x a week Dinobytes enters The Great Deku tree bravely... I'm trying out a new format for challenges! let me know how you guys like/hate it! my starting stats: age: 21 height: 5'3" weight: 138 Feb 16th body fat percentage: 19.64% Feb 17th (likely to be inaccurate) waistline: 79-83cm Feb 17th (this is flexed-relaxed measurements)

I'm un-challenging this time, because I feel like I'm in a good place with my current routine and don't want to disturb my rhythm. I'm also at a point where I don't need grades to feel motivated, and instead they tend to make my workouts feel more rigid and confined. So, no grades. This time, it's more of a daily battle log with a few areas of extra care. 1. Stay the course with my program Climbing 2-3 times/week + some finishing leg and push exercises. Strength 0-1 time/week (so climbing + strength = 3 times/week), concentrating on pull-ups, flex hangs, lock-offs, hanging leg raises, toes-to-bar, pistol squats, and Cossack squats. Balance based Yoga 2 times/week, focusing on slow, controlled motions and precise foot placement. I programmed a lot of my handbalances into my balance programs, so they aren't going anywhere. HIIT once per week. Clearly, I'm losing my mind, as I've started kind of enjoying burpees. No full rest days. I at least do some light yoga if I don't feel up to much. Whatever I feel like doing with the rest of my time. I often do more yoga, GTG pull-ups, playground workouts, and more. 2. Diet - Don't really care this time, as long as I don't have horrible holiday binging. If I gain, I'm doing enough strength that it'll probably be muscle. That's fine. If I lose, it'll probably be fat. That's fine. If I maintain, that's fine. I'm large framed and muscular, so at 5'6.5", my ideal/absolute goal weight is around 140-145. I'm about 147. At some point, I'll want to cut a little more, but it can wait until after the holidays. 3. Mental post-it notes (the things I want frequent reminders to do): 3a: Extra stretching and mobility work. Winter is coming, which means my body will be more stiff and susceptible to injury. The plan is to spend a few minutes doing some dynamic, full ROM warmups before hitting the harder exercises. When climbing, it means I should do some arm circles, leg swings, huggers, and such before simply jumping on the wall. I normally had been warming up by just doing V0s. Also, my shoulders have been touchy lately, so I'll spend more time doing shoulder and neck stretches, as well as some mobilitywods for these. 3b. Eliminate the clutter. It's a great time of year to fill donation bags with toys the kids no longer play with, clothes that no longer fit (or that we just don't wear), and other household items that aren't used enough to justify keeping them. 3c. Don't be a SAD assassin. I tend to get the winter blues. So, I need to remind myself to take Vitamin D supplements, go outdoors, even when it's cold and I don't feel like it, and find fun, exciting things to keep myself happy and productive. 3d. Exercise more with the kids. I played with this a few challenges ago with the Mario jump-a-thon thing, but I hate either dumping the kids in the gym daycare all of the time (I already use it on climbing days) or always using my son's naptime for my workouts. So, I'm compiling a list of exercises I can do while playing with the kids. So far, I have parkour tag at the playground, jumping & gymnastics stuff (kids will do a follow-the-leader thing with me), burpees (my son loves counting every time mommy jumps), and climbing on me while I do flex hangs, push-ups, squats, planks, or bridges. My son does not like having me do yoga, especially since I need to stay focused on it and not him for at least 30 minutes. So, I'll be saving yoga for naptime. 4. Jedi mind tricks (the ways I'm going to trick myself into making better choices). 4a. Avoid holiday binging. We're now in the season of halloween candy, thanksgiving pies, birthday cake for my daughter, Christmas cookies and candy, and any number of other unhealthy choices. If it's in the house, I will want to eat it. So, my aim is to mitigate the damage somewhat by making slightly healthier sweets, like chia pudding, sweet potato brownies, almond butter+ protein powder rum balls, etc., whenever there's a really unhealthy one in the house. The hope is that if I'm craving a cookie, pie, or candy, I can sate that craving with a healthier sweet. 4b. Less computer time. Restricting time of day or available websites hasn't helped with my time-wasting. Instead, I'm going to list a bunch of activities on post it notes that are more productive uses of my time, and then stick those notes on my computers. I'm hoping that will inspire me to do one of those productive things rather than waste time on the internet. So far, my list is: study for my MFE exam, read a book, read to the kids, play a game with the kids, house cleaning, decluttering, yoga, play the piano, look at recipes, work on photo album, and cross stitch. I'm sure I'll add to the list. Mostly, I'll use this thread to log my workouts and report on how well the reminders and Jedi mind tricks are working for me. If I fall way off track with the unchallenge, at least I'll know next time around to go back to rigid goals.

While my overall main quest is to become a better climber and start bouldering higher grades, I'm a little burned out from focusing too much on climbing related skills. So, I'm doing a very small, 6 week main quest before I reanalyze my climbing goals. I'll still climb 2-3x per week, and I'll still do plenty of climbing and pull-up related stuff at the playground as well as on my home climbing wall, but I'm ready to chase a few shiny objects this challenge. 6 week Main Quest: Improve my movement fluidity to the point where I'm comfortable with making my own animal flow/prasara yoga sequence, or freestyling it and not feeling awkward in the transitions. The plan is to structure my workouts (on non-climbing days) such that I do 10+ minutes of work on movement fluidity, 10+ minutes on skill work, 10+ minutes on targeted flexibility, and optionally end with strength exercises. The movement fluidity would include working on animal flow, prasara, regular yoga if I'm focused on movement and precise placement, rail QM at the playground, or even martial art katas, if I'm in the mood. Skill work includes: flying crow, side crow and progressions, double arm lever/peacock, scissor pose, jumping into crow, forearm stand, toe stand, stand-from bridge, and whatever other neat things I come across. The flexibility work will target either getting closer to the full splits (since many moves look more elegant with a better splits) or a good pike (since mine is holding me back from some handstand/forearm stand stuff). So, the goals are: Goal 1 - New tricks: Learn at least 3 new tricks from the skill list above. Since I already have some groundwork for many of these, the requirements to "count" as a new trick are: For flying crow and side crow, I would need to get the legs fully extended. For forearm stand, I need a freestanding 15 second hold. For double arm lever, toe stand, or scissor pose, I would need a 10 second hold. If I come across anything cool that isn't listed, I can add it to the list. Grading: 3+ = A; 2 = B; 1=C; Half points can be awarded if I'm close but not quite there, but I'm only allowed to score the best 3 moves. Current stats: Side crow and flying crow: 10 seconds, minimal leg extension. Double arm lever, scissor, and toe stand: Can't fully get off of the ground or balanced. Forearm stand: 20 sec. if starting from a wall support. 7 sec. freestanding. Stand from bridge: Need hands elevated 6"; Jump into crow: Can't even lightly hop into it. Goal 2 - Become bendy: I've created a 15 minute splits flexibility program and a 15 minute pike/down dog/calf and hamstring focused one. Do each of these 15 times over the course of the challenge. Grading is X/15 for each workout. Starting stats for splits (all measurements from groin to floor/wall) Side, left in front: 7"; Side, right in front 9"; Straddle while sitting: 12" I have no idea how to measure pike. For down dog, my heels are an inch up from the ground with both legs down, but I can get the heel touching if I do 3 legged dog. Goal 3- Lean out: Continue getting leaner through healthier eating. This time around, I'm not going to restrict any whole, unprocessed foods or healthy dairy. Any alcohol, juice, processed carbs, sweets, junk food, or restaurant food (yeah, I'm assuming it's all more or less unhealthy) will cost a point/serving. I get 10 points per week. Grading: 60 points or less of crap = A; 61-70 = B; 71-80=C; 81+ = F. Current stats: 5'6.5"; 150(?) lbs; waist: 29"; hips: 40" Side quests: Fitness side quest- Autoregulation. One of the issues with the last challenge is that I forced workouts when I really didn't feel up to them, just so I could be closer to meeting my goal. This time, I'd rather listen to my body and adjust my workouts as appropriate. I never take full rest days, but if I'm really sore, sick, tired, whatever, or if the workout is just not working out for me at all, I need to simply do some low intensity, restorative yoga or some foam rolling as my workout. If I'm having a day where I feel great, I need to add on higher intensity flow, skill, or strength work. This will be graded as a daily pass/fail as to whether I'm listening to my body and constructing an appropriate workout. Life side quest - Cleaning: I don't feel like the flylady/cleaning thing has fully become a habit, so I'm doing it for one more round. This time, while I still plan to follow the flylady daily missions, I'm giving myself much more leeway to substitute a different 15 minute task for the one listed. The missions haven't been hitting some areas of my house, like the basement, utility/laundry room, kid rooms, etc. Grading will be 1 point for doing the flylady mission or doing 15 minutes of cleaning each day.

My main quest may always be to simply move better. 1.) PLP modified: Push ups, shrimp squats, tuck rows 2.) Daily mobility/flexibility work 4 MWODs that are more than just foam rolling each weekFlexibility work for at least 10 minutes each dayAM/PM bridge practiceShort morning mobility routine upon waking3.) Flow: At least 2 structured sequences per week. Can be the same flow each time if desired. 4.) Life = school Keep up with son's homework/project scheduleAt least one messy playtime each week for daughterAllow husband time for his homework, lab work, etc.Keep up with my own Coursera/edX courses Other things I'll do that won't be graded: Eat for performance/healthDrink only water and morning black coffeeMeditate for 5 minutes each dayMaintain training calendarPost on my own and other challenges regularlyHandstands, pistols and L-sits will still be my anchor movementsUndulate training intensity (No, low, medium, high)

For over a year, I've been enamored with natural movements. One day, I'd like to be able to do flows with as much ease and grace as demonstrated here: While I've made tremendous progress towards my goals, there is always work to be done. 1. Improve movement quality. +4 DEX Keep working my way through BASL, and maintain the minimum dose of 10 minutes per day.Make time for daily movement exploration, can be spread throughout the day.Scott Sonnon's posture flow (6 min) any day I sit for an extended period of time.2. Continue strength training. +4STR L sits, pistols, handstands frequentlyPlay with my toys occasionally. ("sandbag," parallettes, dumbbells, pull up tower, bands)Make a calendar that I can jot down the focus of each day. This will allow me to see what I've been up to at a glance.3. Eat to be lean. +4CON Veggies of some kind with 90% of meals.Try a new vegetable, or a new veggie recipe at least once a weekStart tracking again to make sure I'm not eating too much/little. Life Stop yelling. (I can tell the kids are starting to wear on me after 5 weeks alone, and it's not fair to them to lose my temper so quickly.) +3CHA