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Hey, all, Beerzerker here, Just signed up for Nerd Fitness Academy last week. My wife's been a member for a while, and I thought I should join in the fun. I'm in decent shape, but want to improve. Currently, I mountain bike with my son during the summer and snowboard in the winter with my son and my daughter(she skis). We live in western Wisconsin, where we've been having a lot of rain recently. Looking forward to getting to know some of you and letting my geek loose a bit. One of my hobbies is making beer at home, and I love the the process as well as the end result. My goal is to get under 20 % body fat. I'm currently at 22 %. I posted my before pictures and stats over here on Facebook: I'm 39 (that number changes in August). See you in the adventure!

Hey, all, Beerzerker here, Just signed up for Nerd Fitness Academy last week. My wife's been a member for a while, and I thought I should join in the fun. I'm in decent shape, but want to improve. Currently, I mountain bike with my son during the summer and snowboard in the winter with my son and my daughter(she skis). We live in western Wisconsin, where we've been having a lot of rain recently. Looking forward to getting to know some of you and letting my geek loose a bit. One of my hobbies is making beer at home, and I love the the process as well as the end result. My goal is to get under 20 % body fat. I'm currently at 22 %. I posted my before pictures and stats over here on Facebook: I'm 39 (that number changes in August). See you in the adventure!

I was in rut and I decided to change my body and outlook on life a little over 2 years ago. I've always been a go-getter but I got complacent and down-right boring (not to mention overweight). I've always loved and admired bad-A heroines---starting with Scout in Charlotte's Web (she is a little known bad-A) to Michonne from the Walking Dead, Vin in Mistborn, Katniss, Arya. The list could go on and on. So naturally I've always wanted to be physically strong, so I chose strength training for my transformation. I didn't know where to start so I starting researching. I found a great book at the library (a real book with paper *gasp*) called Strength for Life. That gave me the basics of strength training---push vs. pull muscles and a weekly routine. But my attention span is the equivalent of a squirrel's so I really needed motivation and some goals. I decided that I wanted to do a pull-up. I was always that kid that just hung on the bar when we had those fitness tests in grade school. I couldn't fathom pulling my ENTIRE bodyweight up by my arms. I also wanted to show my kids how to set a goal and achieve it. Back to my research, I came across "How to do a pull-up finally!" here on this seemingly nondescript yet awesome website. By nondescript, I mean all of the other websites had these gorgeous "fitness models" who (IMO) had no idea what it was like to birth 3 kids, gain a preposterous amount of weight, and try to lose it ALL while trying to have a life---that's obviously not NF. I'm not knocking gorgeous fitness models but at that time, I wasn't trying to hear how I can get my "bod" back in 3 weeks. I don't like gimmicks. Actually I hate gimmicks. I like step-by-step real, proven plans with real goals that real people have used. Believe it or not them internets don't always tell the truth. So I found this site and I was HOOKED. This site and Steve's fantastic blogs helped keep me motivated and I killed my goals---like murder/death/kill killed. I can do 7 pull-ups now. My PR is 10. I lost 40 pounds, dropped by body fat percentage by like 15-18%, I started my own consulting company, and most importantly, I showed my kids that goals are reachable in areas other than Call of Duty. My son used 20 seconds of insane courage to dunk the basketball for the first time. Unfortunately, I've been silent here on Nerd Fitness forums. My apologies. I'm sure I'm not alone in silently supporting the rebellion. But this is me taking off my cloak and openly declaring myself a Rebel (specifically a Warrior/Assassin). What's good?

(I'm starting my battle log over now that I know myself and the rebellion better.) I seriously need to ditch a bunch of this fat I'm carrying. It makes wardrobe management a daily difficulty. I also want to have more fun, and that's just easier in a stronger, more energetic body! I want to always be up for a race or a dance party with my kids! Also, I struggle with mental health (my diagnoses are chronic major depression and borderline personality disorder.) Also also, I moved halfway across the country a few years ago to be near my in-laws, and I still haven't made many friends or found much to love about my new home. So... My progress goes in fits and starts, and it's often two steps forward, one step back. Goals! Weigh 175 pounds (starting at 235 pounds on 1/1/15) Do a standard pushup Do a standard pull up Learn archery Make miso (in progress) Make Moroccan fermented lemons Knit something that's not a rectangle (in progress) Crochet an afghan (in progress) Knit or crochet a sweater Write a novel (in progress) Take my kids to the Oregon coast (done June 2015) Visit Maine Visit the Mediterranean coast of Spain, France and Italy

Main Goal: to prepare myself for the 2015 Unleashed at Stadium Bowl. This event happens August 2nd and is held at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington. The race will cover the entire Stadium Bowl, ‘weaving the stairs’ by running up one staircase, and down the other. Total steps climbed 814, total descended 814 for a grand total of 1,628 steps. The event raises money for the rescue animals of Kindred Souls Foundation. Kindred Souls Foundation provides sanctuary to abandoned, abused and neglected dogs and cats, a holistic approach to their care, and education on the rewards and responsibilities of animal companionship. Mini Goal 1: add 1 day weekly stair training to my exercise routine. +3 STA +2 DEX will record my workout in a journal and post the summary page here weekly. Mini Goal 2: maintain body fat percentage between 18-20%. +2 WIS +3 CON will record my meals daily in MFP (keeping meals to macronutrient goals of 20% carbs, 50% fat, 30% protein). also, no eating after 7:30pm. will post my efforts/results (ie: from weigh ins) here weekly. Mini Goal 3: 3x ring rows before Crossfit Amped class. +3 STR this is a holdover from my last challenge (One. Freaking. Pull Up.) I think will benefit my Unleashed training by ensuring that I stick to my regular exercise routine. If I am unable to use the rings before my classes at the gym I will do BWRs at home. I will record my workouts in a journal and post the summary page here weekly. Life Quest Goal: post artistic endeavors 2x weekly. +2 CHA This fits in with the Unleashed theme in that the definition of unleash is "to free from restraint or control." I rarely put my art "out there" for others to view. I'm just now, within the past six months, opening myself up to sharing. I'll post here or on the Artistic and Creative Accountability forum.

Hello, I'm Gersimi. My name means 'precious' and is the name of one of the two daughters of the Norse goddess Freyja. I am a practising Norse pagan, and Freyja is my matron goddess. Though originally from the city of Stockholm, I live in a small village in a very rural part of Sweden, and I never want to leave! I am happily married and the mother of two, 2,5 and 6 years old. I am fairly new to NF, but neither to fitness nor to nerdiness. Ten years ago I did quite a lot of strength training (mainly free weights) and cardio (aerobic work outs and running). Then life, including love, two kids and a dream job took over almost completely. Nerdiness continued, though; I still love Star Trek, Stargate and Dr Who, still read comic books like Promethea and Sandman, and fraternise with geeks most of the time, like artists, academics, craftspeople, pagans and such. I just started my first 6WC: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/58908-gersimi-becomes-precious-to-herself/ I'm using it as a part of my recovering from burn-out, which I have been suffering from since late Spring 2014. My main symptoms of burn-out are extreme tension and pain in muscles and joints, mental and physical fatigue and occasional signs of depression. For those reasons I am still on 100% sick leave from my work as a psychologist in the Swedish national health care. By the Winter Solstice of 2015 I want to be able to work 75% without burning myself out again. For that I need a strong and healthy body, a resilient and peaceful mind and fun and clever routines to manage my daily life with a house and a family. I now weigh around 80kgs/177lbs to my 172 cms/5ft7in, which is fine by me - I am not here to lose weight. I want to become a mighty druidess - calm, strong, cunning, relaxed even in the face of danger, knowing my strengths and weaknesses and steadily working to develop my full potential. At heart I really am a centaur - I need to eat lots of good sustenance, run, smell the fresh air and gaze at the stars in the silence of the night. My main roles outside this forum all means I am responsible for others - mother, psychologist, gydja (priestess of my faith). This place is for taking responsibility for me.

| main quest | Basically: Simply Lose Weight, Lose cm, Gain Muscle. Specifically: I would like to weigh around 75-80kg, although I would rather be 85kg and strong, than 75kg an blown over in a light breeze! I want to be able to dead lift 150% BW, squat 100% BW, bench 100% BW and perform 5 chinups in a row. I want biceps, lats and a squat butt! I have been walking this path for near on 18 months now, but had massive fade outs and drop outs, then having to restart.. I want to get some dedication and consistency into my training and routine.. some accountability Pure vanity is the motivation! I turn 40 next year and want to be, and look, fitter and stronger than I ever have before. | challenge goals | | one | Attend gym M-W-F and complete scheduled weightlifting session. Week 2 & 3 as per notes complete BBWW at least 4x per weekSide Goal (ungraded but tracked) | complete 50 BW squats every day as part of the retraining of my BB squat form | Grading || A | 18 Attendances (or 12+8 BBWW)| B | 16 Attendances (or 11+7 BBWW)| C | 14 Attendances (or 10+6 BBWW)| D | 12 Attendances (or 9+5 BBWW)| F | <12 Attendances (or <9+4 BBWW) | Attribute | STR | DEX | STA | CON | WIS | CHA | | two | Daily tracking of food intake. Currently aiming for 1500 cal/day averaged over the week. Aiming for C30%:P40%:F30%. Also watching my iron and calcium intakes. This will be assessed at the end of the 6 weeks and adjusted accordingly. I use MyFitnessPal app. | Grading | I will add the weekly averages and divide by 6. As my goal is approximately a 700 daily calorie deficit I am prepared to be slightly over and still count it as a success| A | 6 Week Average 0-350 net calories over goal } This still needs work to bring it into line with how MFP reports| B | 6 Week Average 350-700 net calories over goal } I actually work in kJ usually so I might flip the measurements over for in here| C | 6 Week Average 701-1000 net calories over goal } I will take a screenie of the weekly report and post it here| D | 6 Week Average 1001-1500 net calories over goal } | F | 6 Week Average >1500 net calories over goal } | Attribute | STR | DEX | STA | CON | WIS | CHA | | three | Drink more water. Currently I drink a hell of a lot of coffee (5-6 cups a day) and not much water (2-3cups a day). By increasing my water intake, my coffee intake will naturally decrease. I will increase my water intake to 2L a day. I will track intake and average the daily totals over each week | Grading || A | 2L (8 cups)| B | 1.75L (7 cups)| C | 1.5L (6 cups)| D | 1.25L (5 cups)| F | 1L or less (4 cups) | Attribute | STR | DEX | STA | CON | WIS | CHA | | life goal | I am currently studying a Certificate in Accounting and have until November 21 to complete the study. I don't want to have to re-apply to complete any subjects next year. I will average 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, working on this. (Currently my 30 day hard hat challenge.. was only asking for 15 minutes for that, just to get me sitting down.. lets up the ante!) | Grading | Hours in total over 6 weeks| A | 60+ hours| B | 50+ hours| C | 40+ hours| D | 30+ hours| F | <30 hours | Attribute | STR | DEX | STA | CON | WIS | CHA | | starting specs || updated for challenge start | | height | cm | 181 | | weight | kg | 91.0 (gym) | 89.6 (home) || body fat | % | 42.0 (gym) || measurements | cm || chest | 106 || right bicep | 34 || left bicep | 34 || waist | 86 || hips | 113 || right thigh | 66 || left thigh | 66 | | workout | My program is an edited SL5x5, skewed towards my desired results.I work in 3 supersets, which suits the layout of my gym and the availability of equipment. I do a quick cardio warmup then working in sets of 5, starting at lower weights then working up to 3-5 sets at the top weight. (All weights in kg) | superset 1 | | assisted pull up | 71 | 64 | 57 | | assisted dip | 71 | 64 | 57 | 50 | | assisted chin up | 71 | 64 | 57 | 50 | | seated cable row | 23 | 30 | 36 | 43 | | superset 2 | | bw squat | 10 reps | | bb squat | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 45 | 50 | | db shoulder Press | 8 | | superset 3 | | deadlift | 55 | 60 | 65 | 70 | 75 | | bench press | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | | stretch | | notes | | 1 | My children are on school holidays for week 2 and 3 of the challenge. As a single mum this makes it virtually impossible to get to the gym. I will go if I get the opportunity, but if I can't get there then the BBWW at least 4x per week will replace the M-W-F weightlifting sessions. The children will also affect my ability to study over the holidays, so I will use total hours over the whole challenge for grading | 2 | I will of course be tracking weight and measurements using scales, measuring tape and photos weekly. I was going to make this a goal too but in reality its something I already do fairly regularly so would be cheating to allocate points/effort towards it | 3 | I use Body Tracker app for measurements. Currently use the scales at the gym for weight and bodyfat %, but am not sure the % actually assesses me well. Over the last 18 months I have lost 15kg and nearly 70cm but only 3% body fat. Dropping from 45.5% to 42.5%. I just can't see how that is possible, especially when the exercise I have been doing is mostly throwing heavy weights around. I have purchased a cheap set of calipres, and while I probably need more practise using them as the 7 measure estimate of 21% seems rather low.. the truth is out there.. somewhere | 4 | I have loooong term knee issues that affect my squat/deadlift progress. In fact the squat deadlifting motivation is to try and make these issues a non-problem! Basically, I have piss poor cartilage on the back of my kneecaps, which affects quads contractions, and causes swelling and pain and so forth. Currently managed with NSIADs, glucosamine, chondroitin and a hell of a lot of TLC. They prevent me from doing lots of repetitive cardio / classes / steps / etc (good excuse for the warrior in me heh) | 5 | I'm not expecting to make any great strength gains while I'm trying to lose weight. | 6 | If anyone has any comments or criticisms or advice, PLEASE drop it here. I am very open to getting new points of view.. hehe and happy to argue against or for pretty much anything! Anything else I need to do / add right now? Drop me a note.Photo's will be forthcoming, and starting stats still to be updated for the start date

So challenge 2! Did pretty well on the last one. Achieved all my goals. Now I am not sure what to focus on. We have successfully transitioned to paleo. The kids are primal but even tho I would let myself I've just not wanted anything dairy so have steered clear. So to make life easy I will set my first goal as a diet one - Stay on the paleo path! It might look like this will be easy but I have just discovered I'm pregnant and the past two pregnancies I had such horrid morning sickness the only thing I could eat were oat cakes. So far apart from feeling super tired I don't feel too nauseous so fingers crossed. 90-100% = A, 80-90% = B, 70-80% = C, less than = F Goal two - do some exercise every day. Usually I run most days or go lift weights but this tiredness has knocked that on the head but I am making sure I at least take the dogs out for an hour each day. I want to do at least that and hopefully more. Everyday = A, 5 days a week = B, 3 days a week = C, less than = F Goal three - find time to meditate every day. This is tough with work and two children but the hypno birth Programme I followed with the last two and plan to use again relies on you being really able to relax yourself and that requires practice. Everyday = A, 5 days a week = B, 3 days a week = C, less than = F I may amend or add to these but I want to keep it simple and achievable as clearly I have a lot going on at the moment but I still want to be part of this. The exercise part is most daunting as I have just passed my fitness instructor course and start teaching two classes as of next week. Well we shall see how we go.