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Hi All, First I would like to mention that I am a senior in high school currently at the age of 17. For all of high school I kept telling myself that I would get in shape and be more active in and out of school. I fell through basically every year and just sat on my ass for way too long. I've finally decided that I am not going to make any more excuses and I will put actual effort and time into working out and getting in shape. I made a first step (in my opinion) by joining the fencing team in my school. It's not too physically straining, but still enough for me to realize that I far too out of shape. I am really loving it so far and I've never felt so good from being active on the flip side. Now that that all of that is out of the way, I can let you know what my goals are and some questions. First off, I want to start making going to the gym a habit and have a workout plan for every day I'm there. The problem is that I don't know where to start and don't want to injure myself before I even get to real intensive exercise. Secondly, In the future I would like to focus more heavily in making upper body gains. As of right now I just need to have a plan for a workout that I can stick to and build off of. I also have basically zero gym experience except for bs P.E. in high school where it's basically a dick measuring contest. Thanks in advance to all who help out!

Andu-falah-dor! Let Balance Be Restored! I'm making a slow transition back into Nerd Fitness because I have been away too long. And it is showing. My eating has gotten terrible. My exercises have become non-existent. Everything is just out of a good, healthy balance. I need to fix this. I want to fix this. I've come back to the Druids for a number of reasons, but the most important one is taking the time to re-learn this balance. Find your inner peace, begin and continue the healing process, and build up a strength both physically and mentally. Quest One // Wild Mushroom Food tracking. I keep forgetting how important this is. I always start recording everything, and then stop. "It's so tedious." "This takes too much time." "I don't have time for this." While it may appear tedious, it's useful. It helps. It does take time, but that is what this about; taking your time. Results are not overnight. You do have time for this. You always had time for this. Now do your best to make it happen. This quest won't include exact numbers. I will only be recording and tracking my food. I want to see what I eat in a day and how much I eat. You really don't realize how much (or how little) you eat when you're not paying attention. This is pretty Pass/Fail. I have to track all food/meals for the four weeks. Quest Two // Moment of Clarity A lot of folks are talking about being mindful, taking time to remember the good things, and reflecting on what you're thankful for. I need to do this more than I'm doing now. I do my best to always keep in mind the positive things in my life. Especially if some dark clouds are lurking. I need to take a moment to write away worry when I feel it becoming too overwhelming. There are no specifics in which type of outlet I use, but I should be taking at least 5-10 minutes a day to write down something. Good, bad, random; write it down. Another Pass/Fail. Keeping mental health up and running is just as important as physical health! Quest Three // Celestial Alignment To round out the above, I want to do 5-10 minutes of movement a day. I plan on having some sort of step counter on my person so that, if I'm doing laundry, cleaning, or running errands, I can keep track of my time. Pass/Fail. I'm giving myself Pass/Fail rather than grades for on main reason: personal accountability. I believe I can sometimes be the time of person who sees that I will still give myself credit if I slack on something. Not all the time, but sometimes. Doing that will not help me get back on my journey to success. I'm really looking forward to this challenge, and I will be doing whatever I can to ensure that I stick with it even during times of stress, worry, or any other thing that may come my way.

First post for the Assassins! Supah excited ^.^ (This is my happy face) I'll be attempting the mini challenge this time around, but first I must set up my quests! #1: Ze Strength Training During my last challenge, I found that I rather like lifting heavy things and blowing the minds of the guys in the weight room. So, during this challenge I'm going to aim to up my weight lifting goals, as well as ensure I have proper lifting techniques. I'll be working with a trainer at the gym. Deadlift: Increase from 60lbs (10 reps) to 70 lbs (10 reps) Bicep curls: Increase number of reps with 20 lbs weight Triceps: Same as above Squats: Be brave enough to even do squats with weight I will be doing strength training at least 3x a week. Gradingwise, I will grade myself based on effort, number of reps completed, and days I actually work out for strength. #2: Ze Cardio As an aspiring military servicemember, I must run. Running and I are not on good terms ( 10 min mile, and a slight twinge in my knee). So, this challenge I will be hitting my proper stride and working on keeping my joints intact. Grading wise, I'll grade myself on effort and # of times I run a week. Distance isn't too important during this challenge. #3: Ze Food Oh my goodness, I love cooking again. But, this time around, I'll be challenging myself to buy nothing processed (unless in dire need, such as working my overnight shifts). I will be increasing my fruit and veggie intake. I'm hoping to also increase my protein intake. During my last challenge, I tracked a few of my meals, and I noticed a lack of solid, good for you protein. So, my goal is to eat a more inclusive diet. #4: Ze Stretching Nuff said So, my starting points are the same. During this time, I'll also be going to school part time. So a little side quest of mind: 90 mins 5 days a week studying or working on academics. This post shall evolve, more likely than not. So, let's takeoff!

Hey Everyone, I had caught myself looking at Nerd Fitness a few times via Google searches on various healthy topics. Specifically I saw that the owner of the site is a fan of Henry Rollins - Iron and the Soul piece which is a big plus in my book. What really drew me in though is unlike other forums (T-Nation, BB.com, etc...) the commenters seemed more human and "everyman-esque". After wrestling with the idea a little bit I've joined my first fitness forum! A brief background on myself: In October 2012 I found myself recently single, broke, and grossly out of shape. I'm roughly 5'9" and weighed 281lbs. I won't bore you with the details but long story short is much like "Saint" I made some bets with my buddies for competitive purposes and started taking steps to improve my health. By March 2013 I was 250lbs and by May 2013 I was 225lbs. It's now November 2013 and I've done more strength building than cutting but my weight is a trimmer looking 220 lbs. I'm still a work in progress and I'd like to be an exceptionally strong 200lb - 205lb monster when my goals are met! I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good place to start contributing to this site. I love heavy lifting and I'm not afraid to do cardio either. My eating habits are relatively clean and I have some good all around insight into people trying to lose weight and gain strength. I've prepared routines for my friends and have lists of clean foods as well. More than anything I am always interested in learning from other people and would love to share ideas. Also what are these guilds I've been seeing? Can someone point me in the direction of the powerlifting nerds who love shows like Firefly and Game of Thrones? Loving the book Beowulf is a huge draw as well I believe that's a banner I could march under!

Welcome! Hi I'm Xena and this is my first challenge. I am active on Nerd Fitness and with my lifestyle change since 3 weeks. My overall priority goal is to lose weight, so far I've lost about 3 lbs. I achieved that by sticking to this 3 subgoals: My main goal for this challenge is: lose 7lbs.I've lost a pound per week so far but since this is a challenge, I wanted to push myself a bit. So by losing 7lbs I would lose more than usual and it's doable. This I want to achieve by modifying/ heading to the next level with my previous 3 subgoals: One meal per day shall have a decent amount of vegs/fruitsAt least a handful, for salad and stir fry's two hands full. Eating at least a small amount of veg or fruits on the other meals. 23.09.: changed to: Eat more than 1500 kcal every day! (for all meals it's still including veg or fruit but amount doesn't matter.) By the end of the challenge, be able to do 5 proper push ups!At the moment, I am doing 2 circuits of BBWW 3 times a week and can do 4 wannabe push ups (can move about 2 inches downwards...). I will continue to do 3 workouts per week, working my way up to 3 circuits. Everything else workout-wise besides this is for fun (like my weekly "let's go swimming" with my friends - that's more gossiping than exercise anyway ). Yeah, 5 push ups are quite tough, but this is a challenge and I NEED a challenge to fire me up. Reduce junk food to two days a weekThat's pretty much self-explaining. This week I felt like 3 days of junk food is too much and 'stealing away' my success. So let's go for less! Life side quest: Improve at talking to people!I am somewhat awkward and shy when talking to people. Not always! But sometimes this I-am-unable-to-speak-properly side takes over. And I notice how I slur, stutter and don't get the right timing for saying something. One could think this may be because I am not from the UK (where I am living since 6 months) and this is not my first language. But this happens to me in my own language as well. A lot. There is a history to that. As a kid, I was very shy, scared of almost everything and barely talked. Between 8 and 13 I had problems with lisping and stuttering. It improved, I luckily needed no therapy for it but sometimes.... I just can't talk and am ridiculously nervous. Though I have a lot of friends and am described as charismatic and self concious and nice, I still get this episodes. I am just like that, it's part of me. I am good in thinking, not in talking. But that doesn't mean I can't improve So yesterday I've read this article on Nerd Fitness and I am going to make it a goal to get a weekly score of 10 (Concious attempts) and look up one book or article per week to give me new "working material" My motivation: Ok, now it's getting cheesy. Yes, I did this and no, I am not six years old. But Pictures are just soo much better than plain text. Even crippled ones. They'll get into your head! Please don't judge my ability to succeed in this challenge by my drawing abilities Don't know if it's readable but it says: "My 6-week challenge motivation: Short term: - My rain jacket should fit (bit too tight at the moment, can't move freely) In between: - Want to fit into my leather jacket again! (currently, it's more like a corset... 8 inches to go!) Long term: - No more worries for my beloved ones about my health!" This is now hung up next to my bed, I am sure it keeps me motivated! In addition to that, I've got quite a long list of motivation in my battle log. There you'll also find my reward and punishment system that keeps me accountable and my crisis plan when things go wrong. I am going to post my starting infos like weight etc. on Monday, doesn't make sense to step on the scale now That's it, let's begin!

Hi everybody, I'm a newbie to that community and to that kind of commitment, so please be indulgent as I will be to myself. Proud mother of two : a little boy for the first time in school after 3 years eye to eye with his "maman" : a baby girl who starts crawling all over the house and who still spend lot of time sleeping. Also exausted mother of two : unemployed full-time dedicated mum, my body still look like a pregnant woman's even if the numbers on my balance are ok. 1/ MAIN QUEST !! Looking like myself again ! Not beeing restricted by my body's weakness, beeing pushed forward by my body's strength. 2/ 3 GOALS for that challenge - Spend everyday at least 1/2h just for my health, for me, myself and I. - Use that time to work out and to meditate or relax - Make some change in my alimentary habits (less industrial, less carbs, more proteins, more smart lipids) 3/ SIDE GOALS - make my children accept that their mother has the right to spend time just for her - find exercises to restructure my abdomen and to tonify my skin and natural exercises that do not need a gym, a specific object to be done (example : the exercises you can do while working in front of your desk or while waiting in a queue) 4/ THE SCORE Daily track : Feeding that soul : Maman-time : _____________ x mn / 30 mn Moving that body : Obvious work-out : _________ x mn / 30 mn Induced work-out : _________ x mn / 30 mn Feeding that body : Carbs : __________________ x / 1 daily portion -> Veggies : _________________ x / 8 daily portions -> Meat : ___________________ x / 1 daily portion -> Processed : _______________ x / 0 daily portion -> (correct amount = 1) Weekly track and score : Maman-time : ______________ x / 3,5 h ---> x pt / 8 pt Moving / relaxing : __________ x / 7 h ---> x pt / 4 pt Proper feeding : ____________ x / 28 ---> x pt / 4 pt Rewards : 75 to 100 % : 1h of thalassotherapy + above 50 to 75 % : 1h of thalassotherapy + above 25 to 50 % : 1 recipe/workout book + my full consideration + above 0 to 25 % : the right to start again NOW LET'S GO !!

Index Preliminary and general information Goals pre-1st-challenge1st challenge...Food logs (Junk food days aren't logged!) week 5 (1., 2., 3., 4., 5.)Workout logs week 1 (1., 2., 3.)week 2 (1., 2., 3.)week 3 (1., 2., 3., 4.)week 4 (1., 2., 3.)week 5 (1., 2., 3.)week 6 (...)week 7 (1., 2., 3.)...Weekly recaps recap 1recap 2recap 3recap 4...Reward and punishment system My motivation #1 My crisis plan w00t?!