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Hi assassins, I did my first half challenge with the scouts, but I find I have to get leaner and healthier first before I can get back running … My joints and my immune system haven’t been the best lately, and I have a dodgy knee that needs sorting out, so it’s time for me to change the focus a bit. By the way I just love gymnastics and acrobatics, so why not build strength like this instead of going to the gym. 1) Exercise for 20 mins every weekday (+3 STR, +1STA, +1DEX) I have found that if I delay my workouts, I tend to not do them. So morning exercise it is for the next 6 weeks. I’ll reschedule my day to make lunchboxes, coffee, and porridge from 6.15-6.45, and then do a basic BW work out for 20 minutes. This is actually fairly easy because I wake up everyday at 6.15 and, half an hour later, my son gets up and badgers me about wanting to exercise. Grading: A for 5 days a week, B for 4, C for 3, D for anything less 2) Do the mu - part one (+2 STR, +1STA, +2 DEX) My new focus over the next half year will be bodyweight - bar calisthenics, to be precise. I aim to hit the playground at least twice a week - probably Wednesdays and Sundays - and do my little routine. The epic goal I’m working up to is a muscle-up and I know this is going to take A LOT of practice … definitely more than two, three, four challenges on this one - with the non-level of upper body strength I have now -- but hey, who’s counting ? So it’s going to be dip progressions and pull-up progressions for me this summer ! Again, I’m making it easy for myself because I already am hitting the playground around 2-3x/week with my kids, so all I have to do is get going instead of just standing there. Tuesday night is my running club night. Saturdays, I’m doing a 2 miles at 9.30min/mile with a 120m hill sprint, working up to a 3 mile at 9.0 min/mile 3 mile ‘fast’ run to build up speed (starting from 9.0 mins/mile). slight goal adjustment before start of challenge Grading: A for running club, 2 playground workouts, and Saturday fast run; B for 2 playground workouts and one run; C for 2 playground workouts with no running, D for anything less. 3) Keep eating clean (+3 CON) I did ok on my last challenge with reduced carb paleo and I figured out that staying < 60g/day is a good threshold for me. Aim for 1600kcals/day max. That should put me into something like a 400kcal/day deficit. No alcohol during the week (Mon-Thu) will help me in this. Grading: A for sub 1650kcal/sub60g average, B for sub 1750, sub70g, C for sub 1850, sub 80g average, and D for anything over. 4) Play the piano (+1 WI, +1CHA) Practice for just 5 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Grading: A for 3 days, B for 2, C for 1, and D for none. *) Fun challenge: Do the Valdez progressions I love that move - especially the one-handed one ! Another epic goal, but I think this one is achieveable over the summer. Maybe not this challenge, but next. I can do a full bridge, so next in line I’ll be working on the backbend, recovery, upward facing bow pose, then bridge kickovers, and this is probably as far as I’ll get this challenge, if at all. Practice at the end of every upper body day workout. Makes a good back stretch too. No points for this one, just fun ! Grading: A for bridge kickover, B for upward facing bow pose, C for backbend and/or recovery, and D for anything less **) Caveat: Stay healthy I have had problems with overtraining and stress due to running - at ridiculous levels -- sometimes, two one-hour workouts a week would be enough to give me a ten day chest infection. I haven’t had that problem with BW yet, on the contrary, I was almost always able to do at least a little bit even when ill. I secretly hope that BW can actually help me stay healthy while I’m trying to get stronger and lose weight. Be mindful about this and steer clear of injuries and illness. Looking forward to doing this with you ! Ooops one more thing ! I'm going camping next weekend and am going to relax my nutrition goals for those two and a half days. And I won't track these days. Hehe.