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One by one put into practice the things I learnt during the 2023 Anti-challange challange. My Big Why, my fitness batcave, stress and recovery techniques, nutrition, and community.

Mission 1: Stronglifts - I haven't consistently lifted in a long time and I'm coming off a 2-year stretch where I didn't do any chest or lat work because it felt like it would pull my shoulder out of the socket. In the fall, I had done enough rehab that I was cleared to play volleyball (which I never stopped, but I did switch to setting exclusively) and had no other restrictions. So now I'm going to start from square one, enjoy a period of newb-gainz, and see where I'm at. I'm going to start at 45# (65# for pulls from the floor), incrementing initially at 10# for squat, 20# for DL, and 5# for press, bench, and row. Accessory work will be centered around improving mobility and form for now. Goal: 12 sessions Mission 2: Mobility – I'm active and my shoulder is now firmly in the socket, but I'm severely immobile. I've been working on my lower body mobility in order to start out with some reasonable squat form. I took a broomstick and tested the low bar position. Turns out my shoulder mobility is also garbage. It'll take some stretching and rolling to get that ironed out. Luckily, the first few weeks shouldn't be too taxing and allow for more focus here. Goal: 16 sessions (I have to do mobility work prior to lifting anyway to get the correct ROM) Focus: Hips, calves, shoulders Mission 3: Stay active – On the days I'm not lifting, I need to get off my butt and do something. My activities would be: walk around the lake, bike to work, and volleyball. Walking around the lake and volleyball are both worth 1 point. I'll probably take the month off from volleyball anyway as we're in the only significant gap between seasons of the year. Biking to work I'm going to set at 3 points. It's 45 minutes each way plus I have to get up extra early to do it. I'll hold using the elliptical in reserve for rainy days. Goal: 12 points (if I bike to work once a week, I'd be happy with that) Mission 4: Diet – Here I'm not going to do much. I'm generally fairly high protein, fairly low carb, and I don't really focus on fat one way or the other other than to try and incorporate healthy fat sources. I do want to track what I eat regularly so I can document what my current diet is. This baseline will be important going forward. I'm thinking about 2000-2200 calories on a typical day (which is a deficit) and I'm prone to cheating when I go out which keeps my regular deficit from really adding up to faster weight loss. Goal: Track 20 days Mission 5: Life++ - I'm going to make a list of things I should have already done or need to do but regularly procrastinate or avoid. I figure if at the end of the month, I've gotten some of these things done, it'll be a vast improvement over the last 3 months where none of them have gotten done: Throw out the desk in the living room Throw out the recliner in the living room Replace the outlets in the basement Triage my wardrobe for things I should have thrown out long ago Fix the lawn mower (currently borrowing a lawn mower) Mount the bathroom towel rack Clean out the leaves in front of the house Throw out computer components in the closet Demo the ceiling in the downstairs room Build a top hat into the ceiling in the downstairs room Get a checkup. I'm due and I hate going to the doctor. Get my wisdom teeth pulled. My dentist said I should. I just need to arrange it prior to them becoming a problem. Finish the voice modulator (Halloween project 1). This counts whether it works or not. Make a meaningful progress towards getting my PE (take a practice exam, start a practice book, schedule the FE) Fix the shower knob Hang up a decorative item. Anything. Goal: Amass 4 points. Items not completed will roll over into the next challenge where I may increment their value, but also increase this goal. Prize: A strong performance in this challenge will reward one powerlifting belt (I'm thinking a Rogue Fitness Ohio belt).