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Late to the challenges because I couldn't get my shit together wasn't prepared, but I bring you my new blatherings, with added entertainment from my new favorite fictional character: Really, I don't know how I never saw Emperor's New Groove until like two weeks ago, because this movie has everything, including possibly the funniest, densest meat head of all time, KRONK. He shall accompany me on this (slightly abbreviated) challenge. Two goals for this challenge: Drop BF 1%. Currently I am at 34.8%. My ultimate goal is 20%, but one step at a time. When I first started getting healthy* I was at 40.5% so I've made progress, but my nutrition is the ever-present stumbling block and will need work. Biohacking ahoy: I'm experimenting with some supplementation/meditation/sleep stuff to see if I can solve some other recurring health issues, most of them largely stress-related. I made a chart - everyone loves a good chart, right? - to track those items and see correlations and effects. Mad Scientist time! And then I will track my workouts here and endeavor to be amusing. In that vein, enjoy this story, which involves me being slightly rude: We have a new guy at my gym who joined in January, and immediately made his presence known by offering unsolicited advice to all the women working out there. Since there are only about 20 females at this gym he progressed to trying to "mentor" the male-gym goers, which went over like a lead balloon, and then reverted to sharing his wisdom with the ladies. Since I qualify (barely) as one of the latter, last Sunday it was finally MY turn! He came over while I was doing hi-rep deadlifts** and started giving me gratuitous notes on my form, which I acknowledged by avoiding eye contact and grunting, and finally he wandered away. I went into the other room to do leg extentions on that machine and lucky, lucky me, he was already on it. I watched him do 8 reps at 85 lbs and when he got up to rest I went "Can I work in here for a sec?" and proceeded to do 25 reps with his max. Then I got up and went, "thanks bro" and went about my workout. He stood there for quite a while. It was a fine, fine moment. He hasn't talked to me since then *physically, anyway. My mental state remains a disaster. ** #115 for 25 reps, 3 sets, if anyone cares.

Avast. So it's come to my attention that sticking with something works better when you have some sort of accountability. Well, the deal is that I have a weight-loss goal. My birthday is in late October; in 2014 I weighed 459 pounds (208.5 kg). My current goal is to try to get to 400 pounds by the time my birthday rolls around again in 2015. I hit a bit of a stall over the holidays, got a little boost from the first NF challenge cycle of 2015, and have decided to get super srs during the second challenge cycle (Feb 23rd). I'm going to start by doing the Whole30 diet (plus dairy) for the six-week challenge cycle. Get mah eating under control, you know? I'm aided in this by a few factors. First, during the first challenge cycle I drank nothing but water. I ate normally (ish) but there were no liquids but straight agua going in. Since then, I've tried a diet Pepsi or two...and found them too sweet for me. I know that I could fall back into that habit if I allowed myself to do so, but why bother? Also, my girlfriend is determined to get into better shape for medical reasons. This encourages me to add walking to my workout, among other cardio. So here I am! Time to start a new battle log. The goal here is to do a daily review of my diet and working out. It'll be interesting, if nothing else. I look forward to kicking some butt. There will be more concrete, number-based information tomorrow. Cheers!

This is an inter-challenge mini. It is intended to amuse you and help pass the long, lonely, challengeless week, so it's 100% optional and you don't lose or win points for doing it or not. It will last from 8/9/14 to 15/9/14. That's right, Americans, we're going to keep going to the ninth of fifteentember. Dodgeball is different from previous challenges because I haven't come up with a challenge activity - you have to challenge each other. The Game in a Nutshell Sign up Here, ideally trying to keep a balance of players on each teamEach person on each team gets to "throw balls at" (issue challenges to) members of the other team. Each person throws 3 balls - a fitness one, a lifestyle one and a wildcard one. Each person will (hopefully) have three thrown back at them.Fitness and lifestyle goals are loosely based in that person's goals from the last 6 weeks. Wildcard can be anything at all (but should be achievable or where's the fun?) The balls can be all at the same person or 3 different peeps, and for added element of surprise, they can be thrown at any point in the week.To "dodge" the ball, the person has to do the thing they were challenged to do within 1 day of it being thrown. Number of balls thrown at you minus number of balls dodged = your scoreHighest scoring team wins. I'll put some examples below so you can see how it works. The Game out of its Nutshell How to sign up Go here. Write your name at the bottom of a team list like this... The format and headings should appear by magic... How to Throw a Ball You only have three balls to throw so use them wisely, Pick a victim and decide what challenge you're going to issue. Write the challenge next to their name. For example, on Monday, I decide to lob my lifestyle ball at Captain Pseudonymus. One of his goals in the last challenge was to brush twice a day so I have decided to challenge him to take the next step. He has 24 hours to do what I suggest or it's a point to my team. On Thursday I decide to wang a second ball at ImagiMary. I decide to use the Wildcard ball this time, so I challenge her to do something that is nothing to do with their goals but is just a bit of fun. How to Dodge a Ball On Friday, someone fiend throws a ball at me. Damn, I hadn't expected to have to do some work myself, but now I've been challenged and if I'm to dodge the ball I have to do the thing within 24 hours. Luckily, I am a god among men and I never, ever fail to achieve any goal, so the following day I can mark the goal as completed on time and the opposing team is cheated of their points. Huzzah! Scoring The formulae in the sheet will work out which team has the highest hit rate.