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Hello Everybody, My name is Aaron, a little about my self and my journey. I was one of those kids that played sports all throughout my child hood, So I'm not a stranger to physical activity. I played football, wrestled, and played lacrosse, when I wasn't involved in sports I was totally nerding out on video games and comic books. After high school I joined the Marines and served my country for six years and was deployed to a combat theater on three separate occasions. During this time I was probably in the best cardio shape I had ever been, weighing in at about 170, Most of my life I have been a chubbier kid but I always had a good strong foundation under the layers of mountain dew and cool ranch doritos. I left the military due to a medical separation, I tore every ligament in my left knee and have no cartilage left and have had four surgeries to correct this issue. As you can imagine this played havoc on my work out routine or really doing anything physically active. Even through that I still managed to stay in the gym and make some gains but I never really achieved the results I wanted because my diet was probably the worst it could have been. I got married at 29 and started a new job, this new job required me to be on the road for months at a time. During this time my diet took a turn for the worse(worse than before) and I ballooned up. When I got home from traveling my ex wife didn't recognize me and let me say she was no longer interested in me. That feeling of her being uninterested lasted for a long time and she finally decided to call it quits last July and moved out. The divorce was finalized in Sept. and I kind of went into a free for all of depression, anxiety, which was compounded by PTSD. I was like this for months, until my 32 Bday in Jan I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe that this was the person that I became and I didn't like it one bit. So I snapped a before picture to remind myself of what not to let happen again. So I went back to what I knew best, lifting weights. It worked well for a few weeks, I got stronger and my fat clothes finally werent being stretched to the max. I was kind of just fumbling my way through. Then I came accross NERD FITNESS and I was instantly intrigued and figured I would read through the page and gain a lot of knowledge. I was really impressed by how thorough and complete and fun the site was. I have been a member of Bodybuilding.com since it came out although its a great resource I didn't feel like I fit in that culture. So after immersing myself into this site and the Paleo diet I can say since Jan, I've gone from 5'9 267 to 5'9 214 and have gotten really strong. I couldn't have done it with out this website and am very happy to finally be joining the community. Thanks for letting me let some steam out, -Aaron "Winter is coming..."

"The winter is coming" -The words of house Stark (George R.R Martins seires A song of ice and fire) In the realm of Westeros seasons last many years, and I have taken the saying to mean that it's easy in good times forget caution. The year 2015 will be a hard one: I have left over assignments from many courses, which I now must do, I have the new courses pushing in, there's the thesis which I have no idea for... I've let things slip, like a child of summer, and must now pay for it. I'm in a bad shape, don't eat well, take the easy way out a lot more than I'd like, and come to regret those choices many times over. The main goal: To think every decision well: ponder what I want and what I need to do. 1) At least 2 hours of schoolwork day, and plan weeks every Monday with a calendar. 2) Limit screen time (except schoolwork) to 3 hours/day

As my sixth challenge, I'm looking to recenter and bring clarity back to my lift. I joined Nerd Fitness back in August on 2013 with a mission in mind, and I have lost the path toward that goals. The wilderness I'm wandering in isn't where I want to be, and while not all journeys are fraught with danger, this one is. I need to take some time to look inward and focus on the things that bring me happiness, strength, honor, wisdom and peace. Main Quest: Drop to 8% BF, eliminate stomach fat. Squat 1.5x Bodyweight, Deadlift 2x bodyweight. OHP, Bench and Row 1x bodyweight. This continues to be my overarching body goal. I'm getting pretty close, but this challenge I am adding an addition to it. I'm focusing more on mental and spiritual health this challenge, rather than just fitness. In order to hit this goal I am driving forward with several sub goals, which will be worked into this challenge. Steadily increase my Squat, Deadlift and Pull Ups in weight and number.Do Salmon Ladder Pull-Ups. Because... seriously.I also want to, eventually, get my mile-run speed down to 7 minutes solid. I'm starting this challenge two days late because PAX East was last weekend and I got the dreaded con crud, so I'm a bit under the weather. That means no gym, but a focus on eating right and resting. So let's get on with it. Quest 1: Rest [Con] This one is simple - get enough sleep. I haven't been sleeping much lately and I need to get back into a solid rhythm/pattern of rest. This means focusing on my morning and evening routines, getting at least 7 hours of sleep at night and waking up before the sun every morning. Morning - Wake up before the sun, drink a glass of water, stretch and do pull ups, push ups and lunges - 3 sets of 3. Drink first cup of coffee. Check email, Facebook, Twitter, webcomics and blogs within first hour of waking up. Shower, make breakfast, drink second cup of coffee. Finish up routine Internet things within second hour of waking up. Start working. Evening - Eat dinner before sunset. Turn off screens at least 30 minutes before sleep, light candles and lamps and read till at least 7 hours before sunrise - go to bed. That's it - easy enough, right? Quest 2: Meditate [Wis] My goal this challenge is to meditate for at least 5-15 minutes every day. This can be at any time during the day - meditation on a schedule doesn't work for me. Furthermore, this needs to be zazen meditation, not any other kind. Focused on breathing and mindfulness. Quest 3: Eat Right [Con] Get my eating on track, drink less and go primal. This is more or less habit for me, but lately I've been drinking more and caring about my food less. So, as part of this challenge I need to get back into tracking my food on MyFitnessPal, as this helps keep me accountable. Negative points for more than 3 drinks a week and for any non-primal foods I imbibe. Must track every meal on MyFitnessPal every day. Life Quest: Explore my ancestral heritage [Cha] I've been exploring Asatru - the religion of the vikings - recently, and I want to learn more and delve deeper into the community in my area. I'm attending a May Day Blot on April 26, and participation here, as well as weekly devotionals and research are the quest here. This is as basic as honoring the gods and my ancestors once a week, and doing some reading on Asatru, the Eddas and other materials. Fitness Quest: Workout [str] Keeping steady with my fitness goals as well - My final quest is to continue working out. I did a deload in my Stronglifts program and I'm going to start from there, working on progressive loading back up to my primary strength goals. So the prerequisites for this quest are lifting, moving and doing yoga three times a week. Onward!