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My quests: Exercise for 15 to 30 mins Drink a protein shake Drink a green juice Make healthier eating decisions Read 10 to 15 pages daily Bullet journal daily Post a picture everyday to IG daily

And so begins the hero's journey. Starting January 1st, for 60 days I will be participating in the Darebee Hero's Journey fitness program, a role-playing program that presents challenges, opportunities, and threats accompanied by exercises that must be completed in order to continue on the journey. This will serve as a prequel to an even greater challenge, Age of Pandora, an immersive post-apocalyptic fitness quest. In addition, I have set some short-term and long-term goals. Short-Term Goals: * complete Roadwork 30 Day running program * complete a Darebee daily dare every morning (goal: at least 50 in a row), as well as an Epic Five workout * be able to complete 50 push-ups in one go * complete the Hero's Journey followed by Age of Pandora * continue Wim Hof breathing, exercises, and cold showers * continue daily prayer/meditation * post to Nerd Fitness and Darebee regularly (at least three days/week) * work on Duolingo daily Long-Term Goals: * finish Educational Leadership Masters degree * train in a martial art * learn how to properly shoot a gun (possibly concealed carry training) * run a Spartan race and/or a long trail race (at least 25k)

For any newbies, welcome! I'm Annyshay (Shannon IRL), and I've been wandering around in the rebellion for quite some time now. For all my allies, welcome back! I'm never exactly sure where I fit... assassin, ranger, adventurer, druid. Lately, I've had a lot of life events that have brought me back to examine my identity. And like any millennial worth her salt, I took a bunch of online quizzes... Unfortunately... Your results were not clear. Tell me about it, quiz... wait a minute. I know what this means. I'm the friggen... Time to bust out of this stupid Iceberg... With a little help from my friends... (PS, that's you guys )

For those that are interested in following along on the Heros Jouney with me, I am going to go ahead a post the different workouts each day. Day 1 comes tomorrow!

This idea has been tossed around a few times and it is due to come around again. NF has a reoccurring theme of just starting something, with less procrastinating, so here I am to say "Let's DO it". Personas are recommended but not required, and may be based on existing characters or original. This will likely (hopefully) be a large cross-guild pvp. The mission for each week will be posted in the next post, along with score tallies. Each week will offer a different category, fitness or life type, and tiers. For fitness missions points earned will be based on the total a person did for the week divided by the max of that person in 60s at the start of the week. (Just fill out the Google spreadsheet form on those weeks, it will do the math because I do formulas and crazy stuff.) If you cannot access the sheet please post your totals (daily is okay, but have a "THIS IS MY WEEK TOTAL" post at the end of the week for number checks) with large-sized (size 14) "Please Add:". If anyone does the adding quote the request post and type "added" in reply. I will check the week totals. There is no cut-off. Anyone may join either team simply by posting "I am in as a ____" (hero or villain) at any time, on any day, in any week as long as it is before the day after the end of week 6. Spreadsheet Let the battle begin!

Greetings fellow conscious beings! Spark here, with another mad-science body experiment challenge, this time with added life goals! And exclamation points. I make no apologies. Challenge 1: Lift the World, Atlas. (note that this is in addition to my regular workouts). a. Squat. That is, squat 20/day, bodyweight, for the first week. Each week of the challenge thereafter, add another 20/day. Ambitious from where I'm sitting now, but my experience with the kettlebell swings of the last challenge tells me that I can do it. b. Shoulder mobility. As of now, it's very difficult for me to reach back far enough to grab hold of a barbell for proper low-bar squats. I'm going to add three shoulder-mobility-workout days each week, MWF. Challenge 2: Eat like a Hunter. Whole30. That's it, whole-hog, for the whole six weeks, no excuses or slacking. In my case, that includes defeating the cheese-beast. It's basically paleo, without me half-assing it like I have been. Challenge 3: Work like a pro. a. 2000 words a day. I'm a freelance writer, so I have to write. No excuses, unless I'm physically unable to write. This used to be my regular dailt output (thanks NaNoWriMo!) but I've slacked off. This is unslacking. b. Edit a minimum of ten pages a day. I have stories languishing on the hard drive. Have you ever seen a digital file gather dust? Not pretty. c. No video games until after 5PM, and hen only if I've finished parts 3a and 3b for the day. Seriously, this is one of my bigger problems, time-management-wise. Side-Challenge: Planks of steel. (Special thanks to Aminarra) a. Work my way up to a 30-second plank. Probably the same days I'm working shoulder mobility. There was a time that I thought I was doing planks right, and then I did the reading and found out that I was not. o.o b. Work leg raises and bridges on the same day. Spark's beginning point for this challenge: Weight 461. (209 KG, or 33 stone). Neck: 22.5"/58cm Chest: 57.5"/146cm Bust: 66"/168cm R Bicep: 18.5"/47cm R Forearm: 15"/38cm Waist: 53"/134cm Belly: 66"/168cm Hips: 56.5"/143cm R Calf: 20"/51cm *deep breath* Hoo. Go RANGERS! *edited to add the video game part*

Unfortunately I had to drop out of the last challenge half way through. Long story short, my wife and I welcomed our second child (a boy) into the world….8 weeks EARLY!! 3 weeks in the NICU before he finally came home. So as joyous as I am that he is now home, happy and healthy I totally set myself back a ways, in terms of diet and exercise. I admittedly stress eat and it has been (and still is) VERY stressful right now. But now is the time to pick myself up by the bootstraps and kick this thing back into gear. Throughout my challenges I’ve been striving to become better than AverageJoe. To become Hero-ready! Specifically I’ve found inspiration by emulating Batman. This time I decided to change it up a little. I’m motivated by many different Heroes and therefore for this challenge each goal is modeled after a different Hero! Goal #1: “The Italian Stallion†Like anyone who grew up in the 80’s I’ve seen every Rocky movie more times than I can count. And I Love Them! Rocky never quits, never gives up, never stops. And best of all he’s a family man. One common thing through all the movies is that Rocky is 200% devoted to 2 things… Boxing and His Family. If Balboa can do both so can I. So on to the details… - Be active/exercise EVERYDAY (even if it’s just a 15 minute walk with my family). - Scoring: Starting with a grade of 100, lose 2 pts for every missed day Goal #2: “The Ape-Man†Tarzan is a paleo Bad Ass!! He survived THRIVED in the heart of the african jungle. He ate what he could forage or kill and he was strong enough to tapout a FREAKIN’ GORILLA!! I want to emulate that as much as possible. Details… - Eat as much paleo as possible, specifically my goal is to eat 6 days worth of paleo per week minimum. This will give me 3 “civilized†meals per week. I mean even Tarzan joined “normal†society on occasion. - Scoring: 6 weeks = A, 5 wks = B, etc. Goal #3: “Shaken not stirred†Aside from the fact that IMHO you should NEVER shake a martini, James Bond oozed style and testosterone! Bond was suave, stylish and always put together. Who else can unzip a wetsuit after swimming through shark infested waters to reveal a perfectly crisp tuxedo!! I want that! Bond also kept his cool no matter what! So to harness my inner Bond I will maintain a Manly Meditation regiment. Details… - Daily Straight Razor shave, I’ve been using a straight razor to shave for a little while now and I can tell you NOTHING focuses you more than putting a straight razor against your carotid artery. It helps me clear my mind and regroup/de-stress for the day - Bond Style Showers (detailed here..) Why? Why Not! - Scoring: 6 weeks = A, 5 wks = B, etc. Well that’s the plan. Hopefully I can stick to it and come out a little bit better and more heroic!! PS: starting stats to follow in later post.

I've never been a great goal setter. I dream big, but my plans seldom come to fruition. I like the goal setting aspect of this site and have found myself keeping a notebook handy to write down all the goals I'm coming up with. Looking forward to June 3 to start the next challenge! I drank the Crossfit Kool-Aid back in January, and an Epic Quest of mine is to join a Crossfit gym. I am especially motivated by the social aspect of Crossfit. My charisma score is lower than I'd like. I'm an extravert whose friends have all been having children. No time for gaming or social events outside of "let's watch the kids." Which is fun, but... My wife and I have spend most of our social time with empty-nesters (like her parents). Which is fun, but... I was an avid video gamer; although, I've never had great stick-to-it-ness when it comes to gaming. The only game I think I've passed without cheats is Metroid...on the original NES. Anyway, looking forward to seeing if this community sticks. I love to talk comics, movies, games, etc. Excelsior!