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New challenge = new profile photo! Continuing down the PvP road with Hatter from last challenge, plus publicly available PvP ab/core torture videos this time around. Whee! Abs - PvP ridiculousness! +5 points for each completion of a weekly abs vid Inverts - I want a straight arm, straight leg invert on the silks or the rope SO BADLY. To that end, +5 points for focused practice around that. On apparatus or off, but not inclusive of the core PvP stuff above. This is dedicated hollow body work, pike reverse crunches, etc. Also (perhaps not intuitively) this is also some types of lat work--of the straight armed push down variety, so don't be weirded out when these get scored for points. Flexibility & PreHab - Flexibility is important for circus folk. So is staying healthy (shoulders in particular). To that end, I'll finally be taking my flexibility and prehab seriously. (For serious) All kinds of things count for points here--random 5-10 minute stretching at my desk because my shoulders are tight (and similar) +2 points. Actual stretching routine, such as Starting Stretching or What should stretching feel like +5 points. A real and actual prehab routine such as something from CirquePhysio or similar +8 points Choreo & Flow - Stringing together at least two skills in a clean and/or interesting fashion. Specific skill practice +2 points. If I happen to shoot a video of choreo or skill linking? +5 points. (Note: in-class stuff generally won't count for this as most things we do are at least two skills strung together) Diet - I've been hanging on to some extra fluff for way to long. I have about seven pounds to lose. From past experience, counting calories works well for me on this. Track every day, stay within calorie limits +2 points per day. Other things to know: Next week I'll be on staycation, which alters my schedule dramatically and puts a huge cramp on my ability to get to the circus gym, so lots of off-apparatus stuff going on next week. US Holiday, Labor Day is on 9/4. Circus gym will be closed (this is my usual open gym day, so boo) Destiny 2 releases on 9/6. I will be binge-playing this game for many days. Will not be attending circus class on 9/6 (Wednesday is my usual class day) I've also got some cardio work that I should be doing and at least one muggle workout per week (woman cannot live on circus alone, especially if said woman is trying to lean out a bit) Title, in case anyone is confused: tightens up = weight control; stretches out = flexy and prehab; turns over = inverts Official scoring start date TBD, but getting all this down in electrons will get it out of my brain.

I floundered a bit last challenge, since I was burned out and didn't have much direction. Now that I'm studying to be a full instructor at the parkour gym and may be helping with some stunt fighting classes, I have renewed my focus and motivation! So, on that note, it's time to become Immortal and enter The Game. Each goal has a target of 100 points over the course of the challenge. Goal 1: Fight! - Immortals need to be experts in combat to survive. Points toward the combat goal are earned by doing any of the following: -2 points for every 10 minutes of weapon training -2 points for every 10 minutes of shadowboxing -2 points for every 10 minutes of remembering and reviewing hapkido self defense techniques -5 points for every strength session that includes some sort of muscle up progression, some sort of hanging core work, HSPU progression, handstand holds, and grip training). Goal 2: Run away! - Sometimes, the best way to survive is to run away. Points for running away are earned by: -5 points for parkour open gym skills practice. Fast wall top outs, vaults, and other things = easier time fleeing. -4 points for actually working on swimming when I take the kids to to the pool -4 points for any jog of any length -4 points for any nature ruck Goal 3: Immortal Healing- I'm still having some knee issues, and I need to stay on top of my prehab. So, 4 points are earned every day that I do foam rolling and prehab. Goal 4: Seek Holy Ground- Immortals are safe* (more or less) on holy ground, so they can relax a bit. For me, this goal is about reducing stress. I earn 4 points every day that I take 30 minutes to just do something for myself, like yoga, reading, playing a video game, or whatever else might help alleviate stress. Goal 5: Become worldly - Immortals who live long enough travel the entire world. I will work toward worldliness and earn points by: -50 points: plan and take vacation up the Atlantic coast. -5 points for every chapter of Harry Potter that I manage to read in Spanish. Bonus: study the instructor guide and schedule my test. Hopefully, all of this focus helps me get my mojo back!

I don't know if it's just my bad luck but I've never had a coach or trainer that has pushed the importance of mobility onto me. I spent 3 years Olympic weightlifting, the second half of that was at a plateau. It seemed that no matter how much more training I did or how much more strength training I did I just couldn't improve, that is until recently. Rewind about 3 months... After working with a physio and doing what she was telling me I started to actively pursue improving my mobility. This was in the form of a more structured warmup, post exercise stretching, and 20-30mins a day of passive stretching as well as yoga once a week. This might seem like a lot but totally worth it. In that 3 months: I've put 13kg on my back squat (seems insignificant but its more weight then I've put on it in 3 years) All of my other lifts have gone up significantly as well. My recovery has improved dramatically. Where it used to take me a week to recover from competition, now takes me 1 day. Most importantly, I've had chronic knee pain for over 10 years. It's now Gone. Lifts I couldn't do before hand without seriously swelling my knees I can now train daily without incident I don't like what ifs I only like to focus on the what I can do nows, but if I could have had anything when I was a beginner it would have been a coach that prioritized the athletes ability to move first and made a bigger deal about just how important the warm up and stretching is. My advice to beginners If you want to start lifting weights for whatever reason, don't neglect your warm up or your supplementary exercises. All of your exercises shouldn't involve a barbell, you need to work in exercises that will develop that connective tissue. Looking at gymnastic protocols and body weight exercises are a great place to start. Personally I subscribe to ROMWOD which is a great tool, and not just for crossfitters. It's easy to follow, challenging, and I've had a lot of benefit from it. I'd love to hear about anyone's experience and thoughts on the subject. To me it just seems like it's overlooked a lot especially with beginners.

Part I of the challenge (last challenge) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTTTy0bQ6VI Like Lara Croft, parkour, climbing, combat, and outdoors exploration are all totally my jam. I even have a passing interest in ancient civilizations, and will be scrambling around some Mayan Ruins in March. Main Quest: Parkour all of the things!!! Climb all of the things!!! Balance in mind-bending ways! Play with weapons! Look like someone who could compete on ANW. 2016 goals This challenge, I'm going to really focus on the parkour and what I need to do to rank up in my school system as well as working toward full instructor certification. For the short term, I need to get more pop off of my hands on my Kong vault, figure out how to do a reverse vault without putting too much torque on my knees in the landing, learn a Kash vault, improve with rail walking and balance skills until it's second nature, make my rolls and rolling bails a fully dialed in reflex reaction, and schedule the damn test. I'm letting a few skills as well as some neurotic perfectionism hold me back, and it's time to stop. Goal 1: Collect all of the parkour skills! (fitness: parkour) -Practice rail walking skills (backward walking, pivoting, going from standing to QM and back, etc.) 5 times/week. -Practice rolling 5 times/week (my rolls are fine, but I still have to think a little bit. If I react reflexively, I do a martial arts roll rather than a parkour one). -At least 10 kongs whenever I have open gym time and my body can handle it. -Bug instructors for help with the reverse and kash vaults whenever I have an opportunity. Goal 2: Keep my body in prime condition for everything. (fitness: prehab) This means stretching, foam rolling, and mobility work. I need to at least do a quickie prehab session 5 times/week, the session including shoulder stretches, calf stretches, quad stretches, and foam rolling the ITB. Goal 3: Better food preparation - (diet: cooking) Each week, do at least one crock pot or batch cooked meal. Or, alternately, try one new non-trivial recipe. I'm not overly worried about my diet this challenge, but I've found that focusing on cooking tends to result in better eating habits. The sub-goal for this is to avoid eating like an asshole. My birthday (and Lara's. We share a birthday!) falls in the middle of the challenge, and I have to remember that while it's okay to indulge that day, I shouldn't have an entire week (or more) of overindulging. Goal 4: Don't attract the bears to my camp. (life: domestic rangering) Lara has to keep a clean camp in the wilderness, so she doesn't attract predators. I need to channel this while dealing with my own home. I've had success in the past with following Flylady or doing cleaning PVPs, but I've really managed to fall off the wagon. This challenge, I'm requiring routine daily cleaning + a Flylady mission or a challenge from Unfuck your habitat each day. Bonus #1: (life: art) Make those $#@ graphics for my app. This should be easy for me, as I'm at least an okay artist. But I just need to get off of my ass and do it. Bonus #2: Participate in the Ranger mini. Bonus #3: Roll with the punches. I normally expect to get 4 big workouts per week (from 2 parkour sessions, 2 climbing sessions, and one power yoga class), as well as a lot of extra filler skill work. But, it's winter, we could have blizzards, kids or I could get sick, or anything else might happen. Anytime my plans change, just go with it and do what I can. And this leads right into the grading... Bonus #4: I'll be in Mexico in less than 2 months, so it's time to brush up on some Spanish. There are no specific point goals for this, but I need to crack open the DuoLingo and see how much I remember from high school. I'm not going to be rigid or apply letter grades, since I hate penalizing myself for illness, acts of nature, or whatever. Instead, I'm going to evaluate whether each goal has been Totally Rangered (accomplished everything I reasonably would wish and gave it my best), Rangered (mostly accomplished everything), Somewhat Rangered (I feel like I slacked a bit), or Failed (I totally half assed it or forgot about it).

Main goal: Climb all of the things! Parkour all of the things! Thumb my nose at gravity! Make and post videos of all of the things! My schedule is already really full, so I'm not biting off too much this challenge, fitness-wise. I already spend a lot of time doing parkour, rock climbing, and yoga. When I can manage to squeeze it in, I also like hand balancing, playing with weapons, hiking, rucking, and playground workouts. I'm also trying hard to remember that rest days are important, too. Even if I don't have so many direct fitness goals, I tend to log and talk incessantly about the parkour and climbing and other shenanigans. Because PARKOUR!!! and CLIMBING!!! Goal 1: Stick to strict rations (food goal) Between all of the holidays, the Halloween candy, football booze, and my body trying to convince me to fatten up for winter, it's really tough to avoid eating like an asshole. But, for once, I don't want to just brush off this season as a "dirty bulk". So, it's time to stick with (what is for me) strict rations. 1a. Fix that breakfast. I typically eat an apple, greek yogurt, and some sort of breakfast bar. Not only is the breakfast bar unhealthy, but I'm also usually hungry well before lunch time. So, the goal is to have 5 days/week where I avoid any sort of breakfast bar or cereal, and instead replace that by cooking eggs or some oatmeal. 1b. Continue loving the crock pot. The goal is at least 6 batch cooked meals over the course of the challenge. Having healthy food in abundance tends to encourage healthy eating. 1c. Don't overdo the booze. I'm not being as strict as last challenge, but I'm still only allowing myself 12 drinks over the 6 weeks. Also, whenever I'm in a social drinking situation and don't really want to drink, but go along with the crowd, I lose a point. I can re-gain that point by either foregoing one drink for the challenge or by making a point of passing up some social drinking. Goal 2: Jump like I'm in Martian gravity. (fitness goal) At this point in my parkour training, I really feel that my jumping ability is holding me back. I was a decent (but not great) jumper before the knee blowout, and I unfortunately still haven't managed to even regain my old abilities. One of the better ways to jump higher is to add some weight to that squat. So, twice/week, I will do some sort of squat session. It might be goblet squats. It might be assisted pistols. It might be weighted bulgarian split squats. I also need to take better care of my knee(s) if I want to continue with training hard. But, I learned last challenge that if I don't make a goal of doing my prehab work and foam rolling, I just end up not doing it. So.... Goal is twice/week squat session and 5x/ week prehab. Goal 3: Science! (Life goal) Now that the kids are in school, I have much more time to return to my scientific roots. One of my future goals is to make a bunch of science and math educational apps. I have a lot of ideas. What I lack is some of the coding knowledge. So, the goal is to completely finish my Xcode 7 and Swift course. Goal 4: Become a data nerd -> Hack my headspace. (Life goal) Most days, the kids are in school, the husband is at work, and I'm spending too much time like this And to be fair, I am very productive. I just don't always deal very well with too much alone-ness and too much unstructured time. I'm prone to anxiety. I also have bouts of being overly pissed off and some bouts of seasonal affective disorder. Anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows that I'm the antithesis of being a data nerd. Usually I just wing everything and more or less remember what's what. But for once, I want to keep better notes, so I can see a pattern. The goal for this is to track what effects any of these have when I'm having mood issues and want to re-gain control of my headspace: calming tea, playing the piano, yoga, guided meditation, taking a nature walk, and any other methods I can come up with. I'm not going to expect results this challenge. I just want to get in the habit of recognizing the signs of a bad mood, trying something, and tracking how well it works. And here is the spreadsheet. Bonus: #1 - Get back in the habit of playing the piano. At least 60 minutes/week. Hopefully, this can double with goal 4 in helping with the headspace. Bonus #2 - Be resourceful! I'm going to shamelessly steal Raptron's Catch-em-all hand balancing fest. Because I can. Bonus #3 - Actually participate in the guild mini this time. I'll probably have some strong edits for this later. The new challenge thread was already exploding, and I wanted to get in on the action right away!

Back with my first challenge in a while as i need something to keep me accountable trying to form some new habits At first glance this isn't going to look very warrior-like, however i am still lifting 3-4 times/week, a habit which is fully ingrained now, and i think there must be other warrior folk who could benefit from similar things (who couldn't?). I foam roll and stretch after each session, everything here is in addition to that. Back story ======================================================================== I keep getting injured (shoulder and back). I don't like it. It's screwing my progress. Its miserable. It hurts. My posture is whack (non-official diagnosis). I started a thread with helpful stuff here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/70646-counter-desk-job-program/ Big things a-happening ======================================================================== Finishing job (desk, boo) 5 days before end of this challenge, prior to emigrating 1 month after (hello America!) My stag-do (bachelor party for the US folk) is 3 days before the end of this challenge. I hope to be improved, if not fully better by then so i can enjoy whatever activities come my way. I have a wedding in a week or so, that will likely be an "eat/drink like an asshole" time, which i'm allowing. Main goal ========================================================================= Improve posture, be more flexible, have better mobility, fix injuries, prevent injuries (those are all one thing!) Tasks ========================================================================= 1 - Do SOMETHING from the above thread every single day. Trying for 10mins/day outside the gym. 2 - "Don't eat like an asshole" - I think it was Curl Brogo who came up with this phrase, apologies if it wasn't. 3 - Resist the temptation to go back to squats and deadlifts too early. Other than doing SOMETHING every day i have no real specific goals. I don't see how i can have with these. As always, suggestions welcome. Please prod me if it appears i've fallen off the wagon.

The further i go in lifting the more i realise what a number a 15 year desk job has done on my body and posture. I'm slowly coming up with a bunch of moves that i try and fit in every day in order to counteract what some people are calling a modern day cancer. I was just wondering if anyone else had any suggestions of good things to add, and for what? What i've got, broken down into problem categories is below. These are in addition to a balanced lifting routine.... Rolled shoulders/kyphosis --------------------------------------- Face pulls Band pull aparts Shoulder dislocates Handstands (jfreaksho) Scap dips (get in a dip position, and push your shoulders down as far as you can, away from your ears, with straight arms) (jfreaksho) Scap pushups (similar, but from a pushup position, and horizontal instead of vertical) (jfreaksho) Inverted rows (jfreaksho) Anterior pelvic tilt --------------------------------------- Glute bridges Quad stretch Hip flexor stretch hollow body holds or planks (jfreaksho) General mobility ---------------------------------------- Caveman squat Caveman squat pushing knees out with elbows Foam rolling Thoracic bridge (this really fits into all categories, i also want to work up to the thoracic bridge flow) http://phraktured.net/starting-stretching.html(jfreaksho) http://phraktured.net/molding-mobility.html (jfreaksho) Kettlebell hardstyle swing and get-up (Machete) Books and resources ----------------------------------------- Becoming a Supple Leopard - Kelly Starrett (500+ pages) Free+Style - Carl Paoli (400+ pages) Simple and Sinister - Pavel Tsatsouline (100 pages) (Machete) MobilityWOD principles (hour long video) - Kelly Starrett (Machete) https://youtu.be/3WOpb8PrrSc http://www.mpcalisthenics.com/stretching/the-7-stretches-of-highly-flexible-people-2(BaconHunter) Basically, lets throw ideas around and get our modern day selves fixed! Cheers

I'm chronically overbooked with my fitness stuff, and this challenge is going to be more about scaling back a little bit and addressing the non-glamorous, not-so-fun foundational work that I'm always neglecting. I'll still be doing 2-3 parkour classes/week, 2 or so climbing sessions/week, and filling in around that with yoga, hand balancing, swimming, hiking, playground workouts, and a little extra strength training, because that's what I always do. And I'll still log all of that, post videos, etc. in this thread, because that's also how things run around here. This challenge is also coinciding with a 10+ day vacation, as well as the start of the school year for the kids, so it's especially important for me to keep things kind of simple and unchallenge-like. Goal 1: Foundational work. Between the parkour, climbing, being 1.5 years out of major knee surgery, and being kind of middle-age-ish, I need to take better care of my body if I want it to continue functioning at optimal levels. 1a) Do a mobilityWOD video, one of GMB's unbreakable series videos, or any other similar mobility work at least 4 times/week. If I find any particularly good or useful videos, I'll be sure to post the link. 1b) Prehab - stick with 5-10 minutes of prehab work at least 5 times/week. This includes rolling my IT Band, shoulder stretches, quad stretches, soleus stretching, and some of my other leg PT stuff. 1c) Be a good leader - My husband also does the parkour and climbing, but he can never self motivate to do the stretching and mobility work. So, at least once/week, I have to nag him into joining me for a quick stretching session. Goal 2: Clear the mind. The goal is to meditate, do meditation focused yoga, or do some directed breathing for at least 5 minutes every day. I'm hoping that this improves my mental well-being quite a bit. Goal 3: Mudhole? Slimy? My home this is. Yeah, the house is chronically cluttered and messy, largely because the children are underfoot all of the time. I've had success in the past with following Flylady, so I'm going to start it again. Goal is to do all of the Flylady weekly tasks + the weekly cleaning, with substitutions if there's something in Flylady that isn't particularly relevant or useful for my house. Edit: Goal is to get maximum points in the cleaning/adulting PVP for my non-vacation days. Goal 4: Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. I made a lot of progress in the last challenge with just enjoying what I'm doing without letting jealousy over people who are better than I am or general frustration get in the way of my enjoyment. I really do believe that constantly comparing myself to others, letting myself become insecure, or letting myself become so frustrated that I'm flat out angry are poisonous attitudes to have. After all, I'll always find people who are much better than I am, and I'll always have off days here and there. The goal is to just have fun with everything. Goal 5 - Let the wookie win. While I love the Assassin minis, I think they've become a little too epic for me to handle with everything else that I have going on. Last challenge, I got a little carried away, to a point where the minis were adversely affecting my parkour, climbing, and actual challenge goals. While I hate sitting out and feeling excluded from what I feel is a major part of the guild, I really either need to make the choice to do exactly that, or to establish very clear boundaries for myself as to what I'm willing to do for the mini, and then learn to stick with that. If I go that route, I need to learn not to be swayed by the feelings of letting down my team, and I need to learn to just say NO if the mini isn't going to be conducive to meeting my actual goals. The vacation grading will be: Goal 1 - Just stretch a little every day. Goal 2 - Still meditate. If that's not possible, then take a moment to catch my breath and re-center myself each day. Goal 3 - Not really relevant on vacation Goal 4 - Let's face it, people in large crowds are pretty obnoxious and rude, which in turn tends to make me angry. Since I'm going to be at the "happiest place on earth", I need to take a lesson from Elsa and just Let it Go. Goal 5 - Not really relevant.

MAIN GOAL: STEAL PATRICK SWAYZE’S METAL TRAIN MAIN GOAL: COMPETE ALL-AROUND AT NATIONALS THE BIG KAHUNA NAIGC Nationals Open Division When: April 3 – 5, 2014 Where: Chattanooga, TN Events: All-around (Vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor) Description: I will be competing with at least 3 of my female teammates in the Women’s Open Division on Friday, April 4th on all events. Saturday, we'll watch the Finals from the more competitive division, cheer on any teammates who make it to Finals, and enjoy an awesome awards ceremony and banquet. Background: Former gymnast from ages 3-13, competed between ages 4-12, reaching USAG JO level 8 before leaving the sport. Diving team in high school, but dropped off the sports radar after that. Rediscovered gymnastics as an adult in July 2013, joined an adult recreational team in October 2013, and will compete in my first meet as an adult on 3/8/2014 as a precursor to the NAIGC Nationals on 4/4/2014. Goal 1: KEEP IT TIGHT It’s already habit for me, but it’s essential to my main goal, so we’ll keep it here for keepsake purposes. I’m dropping the cardio and WODs as part of this goal. I’ll still do them on days that I have the time and inclination, but I don’t want to include them as gradable criteria. Gymnastics 2-3x/week [3x a week every week it is possible]Strength training 3x/week [Weighted or bodyweight]Conditioning 5x/week [Conditioning after every gymnastics practice and 2x rest of the week]Goal 2: DR. GOODBODY Injury has been an issue for me the past few challenges (pulled tricep, wonky left shoulder, sprained right ankle, and probably others I’ve been forgetting) and I believe it will likely continue to be. This goal will focus on strengthening the joints that have been an issue for me (shoulders and ankles) and general upkeep and mobility work. As I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks, nothing cramps my style like injury, so this is gonna be my prevention route. Shoulder Shocker 3x/weekBand pull-aparts 5x/weekAnkle strengthening routine 5x/weekStretch 5x/weekGoal 3: PUT DOWN THE COOKIE I am officially calling quits on my somewhat ridiculous eating habits. I’ve been pretty lax on them over the past two challenges because I didn’t really care, but with such a large competition looming ahead, I’ve got some real motivation. I really want to look and feel my best at Nationals, which means adjusting my snack habits and leaning out so I can rock my high cut leotard and tumble with more confidence. Plus, it’ll just help out with my gymnastics over all, and I really do need to chill out with all the chocolate and cookie snacks. Follow my plan to reduce my snacking habits:Breaking fast at 12:00 PM every daySnack seshes limited to 1 at work and 1 in the eveningNo eating while standing around in the kitchen – must be sitting downKitchen closes at 9:30 PM on normal days and 10:30 PM on gymnastics daysLimited alcohol consumption to 1x a week (up to 6 times before Nationals)Life Goal: THIS IS NOT SUNNYVALE With my previous attention-sucking hobby of video games and my shiny, new(ish) energy-sucking hobby of gymnastics and working out, our house is constantly under Shit Siege. I hate the Shit Siege because it feels like a constant losing battle. This challenge, I am going to gain some ground and try to break the Siege once and for all. Go through our clothes, make donation bags, and ACTUALLY GET THE BAGS OUT OF THE HOUSEClean out fridge 1x/week and keep list of items use-by dates on the fridge to prevent food wasteLaundry at least 2x/week to get rid of that floor laundry clutterClean out pantry 2x/month for clutter maintenance All grading will be on the standard % scale per week. [90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, etc...]

The Question: just what it says. The site: b-reddy.org. The author: a personal trainer named Brian Reddy who specializes in rehabbing people with various kinds of joint pain. A good, short sample article: 3 Common Weak Muscles. A longer one that I found fascinating: Scapular Winging Causes and Treatments. So: has anyone seen this guy before? Is he full of crap, or does he seem to know his stuff? The grounding in anatomy and physiology seems solid, but his explanations of common dysfunctions (like overhead shoulder pain or anterior pelvic tilt) are... a little unorthodox for someone who's mostly been educated on this stuff by the Internet. Thoughts?

The assassin looked out over her audience. The slave revolt against the corpulent Prince and his scheming consort hinged on one thing... an absolutely stellar command performance would provide the distraction her compatriot needed to execute the assassination. And if the plan didn't work? Well, there was always the knife hidden backstage... but that was a far riskier route than the poisoned wine. She could see that her troupe had already lulled the Prince, but could she turn the heads of the guards long enough for the serving girl? So many hours of training... it was time to take the stage. This change in challenge format was easy for me, I had already formulated an epic quest for myself earlier this year: to develop a aerial performance piece and execute it in a way that makes me really proud of myself. Say what? OK, let me backtrack a bit. I'm an amateur aerialist mostly silks & hammock, I've been addicted to circus fitness for nearly 4 years now, and I've done a few amateur showcase performances. However, over the last year or so, my direction has been wavering a bit, I've been exploring other apparatuses and disciplines... my doubles partner and I decided to stop working together. Earlier this year I was working through some questions with a circus-y friend and decided that I really want to go all out... pull out all the stops, and put together something extraordinary. I've seen my friends do this, guys & girls with a moderate amount of amateur performance experience suddenly have the performance of their lives. I want to make that happen. But going the direction I want to go means some serious training. The vision I have involves combining straps skills (very gymnastic, mostly done by men) with either fabric or hammock. I've seen acts that use some combo of the two, and I love them. Plus it fits my potential abilities... I'm more strength oriented than a lot of the other women. And I'm lucky that my school already has several dedicated women in their straps program, so it's not out of reach. OTOH, this is also going to involve really refining my performance. Fitting in adult beginner ballet whenever I can (I think once a week when my son starts kindergarden), working on expression, training my legs to stay straight, my feet pretty and my shoulders down. So there's a LOT of meaty stuff to do here, and this is probably a quest that will extend over several NF challenges (and possibly several years of my life.) That's the big picture. It sounds overwhelming, but I'm already solidly on the path, so it's easy for me to see what the next few steps are, even if I'm not sure how to make it all the way to the top of the mountain. Goal 1: Aerial training. Straps on Mondays, hammock performance on Wednesdays & adv. conditioning on Saturdays. Optional: adv. beg. ballet & open workouts when I have time. Originally this was going to be a hybrid aerial + GMB R1 training goal, but a friend of mine opened up a 7 week hammock performance workshop (started last week), and I knew it would be a good opportunity. So I'm pushing off R1 for the following challenge. Goal 2: Prehab & cross training for forearms wrists and hands. 1-2 times a day. I'll do a separate post listing out the various options here. Basically, I don't want to commit to one boring cross training modality, I want to stay agile and have fun with it, all while giving my hands & forearms a bit of love. Goal 3: Weigh <118 at the end of the challenge. The range of 115-120 is where I feel like my sweet spot is. I was there earlier this year, but the combination of a car accident and a wonderful vacation had me back up several pounds. I'm at 122 right now, I'll give myself an A for <118, and a B for <120. Losing at least 2 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty reasonable. The plan here is just to keep on keeping on with my low carb primal eating (semi-keto), and my training. I'd like to put some effort into getting a consistent 10,000+ steps on my fitbit. Nothing crazy... just a nice slide back into a good weight. (This also saves my wrists & forearms a few pounds of strain.) Goal 3: Eat in a healthy maintenance range for the completion of my challenge. Focus on nutrient rich, whole foods and relax about specific macronutrients. Life Quest: OK... my life is going through a TON of changes right now. That's why I love having an epic quest to focus on because that is not messy. The rest of my life is messy. We just moved to a new house, I'm scaling back to contracting 10-20 hours a month for my job, my son is starting kindergarden and we're rehabbing our old house to rent out. CHAOS!!!! CHAOS & STRESS! So my life quest goal is do two very simple practices that have helped me a lot in the past: meditation and my "credit log". Meditate for 5 minutes upon awakening (or if I missed it in the morning 5 minutes before bed). And use my teeny log book to write down 1-3 things a day that I accomplished or can otherwise give myself credit for doing a good job. I may also post a little bit about my ongoing quest from last challenge to learn to ride a bike better. Right now, I need to step up to a geared bike because our new house is on a hill, so that's kind of on hold until I can afford to buy a new bike. -jj Bonus training photo from yesterday... the bottom depth of my skin-the-cat.