[Alanna]

I'm channelling Black Widow assassin Yelena Belova for this challenge because, after almost eight (!) years as a Warrior, I've switched my primary guild allegiance to Assassins! 

 

The badge has been swapped for a few months now, but a fun Assassin-themed challenge got side tracked by moving and new house craziness. I'm still duel-classing as a Warrior as I'm a strength-focused Assassin, but my goals have definitely shifted to cool bodyweight movements. 

 

Side note: WOW some Yelena gifs have big spoilers. I'll try to put any gifs with Endgame, Black Widow, and Hawkeye spoilers in a spoiler box if I use them. 

 

Bit about me for any newcomers:

 

Spoiler

 

  

 

Hello! I go by Alanna (after Tamora Pierce's fictional warrior Alanna of Trebond). I joined NF in 2014 and learned how to powerlift, leading to several years of focused training and strength gains. During the past couple of years, though, many of my fitness habits have been challenged by chronic health issue flare-ups as well as pandemic restrictions and stressors. I rejoined NF in 2021 to build new habits and figure out sustainable fitness goals. Long-term I'd like to focus more on bodyweight strength training and skills, but I also miss deadlifts! Recently I've been working on GMB locomotion movements and some bodyweight strength training progressions.

 

I live in the UK after moving here several years ago for grad school. My husband and I just bought a house and things are finally starting to settle down after a super busy couple of years. I still need to figure out how to install my new pull-up bar, though!

 

 

GOAL 1: Practice my posing

 

 

Training session at least 2x/week, aiming to build up to 4x/week. Some of this training will actually involve the characteristic Black Widow fighting pose, as one of my aims is building squat strength and mobility for pistol squats. 

 

I'll also continue walking regularly, but probably won't track walks this challenge.

 

 

GOAL 2: Don't blip

 

You know that feeling when you get distracted by something and suddenly 5 years go by?

 

Spoiler

 

 

Time management goals:
Start work by 10 am and finish by 6 pm
Start training sessions by 6 pm
Start getting ready for bed by 10 pm, no phone in bed at night except for Kindle and alarms, and (from Monday, Week 1) shut lights off/put phone away by midnight

 

 

GOAL 3: Make macaroni and cheese (minus the macaroni)

 

 

Do some sort of food prep 2+ times a week (counts as long as I make at least 2 servings)
Limit grains to white rice, rice noodles, and oatmilk.

 

 

Let's goooooo

 

[Alanna]

Key

⬜=TBA or NA for that day

🥷/⌛/🧀/=did the thing

🔴=did not do the thing

 

Week 0, Wednesday - Saturday

🥷⬜🥷⬜ [Posing]

⌛⌛⌛⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

⌛⌛⌛⌛ [Don't blip - sleep ]

⬜⬜🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀🔴🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Week 1

🥷⬜🥷⬜🥷⬜⬜ [Posing]

⌛⌛⌛⌛🔴⌛⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

⌛⌛⌛⌛⌛🔴🔴 [Don't blip - sleep]

⬜🧀⬜⬜⬜⬜🧀 [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Week 2

🥷⬜⬜🥷⬜🥷⬜ [Posing]

⌛⌛⌛⌛🔴⌛⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

⌛🔴🔴🔴⌛🔴⌛ [Don't blip - sleep]

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Week 3

⬜🥷⬜🥷⬜🥷⬜ [Posing]

⬜🔴⌛⌛⌛🔴⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

🔴🔴⌛⌛⌛🔴⌛ [Don't blip - sleep]

🧀⬜🧀⬜⬜🧀⬜ [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Week 4

🥷⬜🥷⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Posing]

⌛⌛🔴⌛⌛⌛⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

🔴🔴⌛⌛❓❓❓ [Don't blip - sleep]

🧀⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜🧀 [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Week 5

🥷⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Posing]

⌛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

🔴⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Don't blip - sleep]

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Mac and cheese: grains]

[Scaly Freak]

Absolutely 100% here for a Black Widow challenge.

[SakuraKitsune]

Ahhhhh you went Warrior to Assassin, that's so cool! 
 

[Waanie]

Cool challenge! Will there be before-and-after pictures of the posing by the end of the challenge? Pretty please?

[Mad Hatter]

How could I not love this challenge?

[Alanna]

18 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Absolutely 100% here for a Black Widow challenge.

 

4 hours ago, Waanie said:

Cool challenge!

 

2 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

How could I not love this challenge?

 

 

And the fun part about not doing a book-themed challenge is that I have plenty of gifs this time! 

 

8 hours ago, SakuraKitsune said:

Ahhhhh you went Warrior to Assassin, that's so cool! 
 

 

Thanks! I enjoyed focusing on powerlifting for a few years, but the change of pace has been helpful - and I want to do cool tricks too  

 

4 hours ago, Waanie said:

Cool challenge! Will there be before-and-after pictures of the posing by the end of the challenge? Pretty please?

 

I was thinking that I should track my long-legged monkey (aka black widow pose) mobility progress somehow - photos are a good idea. I am afraid I must keep them to myself to maintain my assassin anonymity, though! 

------

 

Week 0, Wednesday

 

I've offloaded my usual tracker to one post that I can edit as I go to make sure that I keep it updated, without necessarily needing to post, too - I'll copy them for my recaps. But I didn't realise that there is a limit of 75 emojis per post, so I will need a couple of additional placeholders unless I condense the results from each week. 

 

I did my "posing" today. I'm not following a concrete programme for now because my sleep and energy levels have been all over the place, and I will need to play volume and intensity by ear. I have a basic plan, though - a bit of locomotion followed by either

• upper body work: push-up progressions + GMB sans equipment back work (and eventually inverted rows)
• pistol squat prep: scales and, eventually, restarting unilateral squat work

plus appropriate mobility/prehab work. I'm also focusing on a few particular locomotion variations - mostly bear/twisting bear and/or slowing down frogger/monkey on upper body days, and long-legged monkey on lower body days.

 

Yesterday I also set up alarms on my phone as routine reminders to offload some of the cognitive load for my "don't blip" goal.

 

[Alanna]

[tracking placeholder 2]

[Alanna]

[tracking placeholder 3]

[Waanie]

18 hours ago, Alanna said:

I was thinking that I should track my long-legged monkey (aka black widow pose) mobility progress somehow - photos are a good idea. I am afraid I must keep them to myself to maintain my assassin anonymity, though! 

Fair enough! I hope the photos will help .

 

 

[Harriet]

Assassin??????? Well, okay. If you're sure.

 

21 hours ago, Alanna said:

I didn't realise that there is a limit of 75 emojis per post

 

This is terrible. My plans are ruined!

 

Anyway, good luck with the time management, cheese making, and posing. And setting up your new house!

[Mad Hatter]

19 hours ago, Harriet said:

Assassin??????? Well, okay. If you're sure.

[Alanna]

On 7/28/2022 at 3:08 PM, Waanie said:

Fair enough! I hope the photos will help .

 

 

I took some videos of long-legged monkey today - we'll see where I end up by the end of the challenge!

 

On 7/28/2022 at 6:19 PM, Harriet said:

Assassin??????? Well, okay. If you're sure.

 

 

 

On 7/28/2022 at 6:19 PM, Harriet said:

This is terrible. My plans are ruined!

 

 

Ah I figured out a way around it - copying and pasting still work! (just not inserting new emojis from the emoji button)

I should have known that because I've definitely put more than 75 emojis in my challenge recap before.

 

That said, I'm not really digging the spiders... I don't particularly like spiders 😅. Any suggestions for other thematic emojis?? I could put cheese for the food goals 🧀

 

On 7/28/2022 at 6:19 PM, Harriet said:

Anyway, good luck with the time management, cheese making, and posing. And setting up your new house!

 

Thank you!

 

6 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

 

[Sovalis]

Here to cheer you on! 🎉

[Scaly Freak]

3 hours ago, Alanna said:

That said, I'm not really digging the spiders... I don't particularly like spiders 😅. Any suggestions for other thematic emojis?? I could put cheese for the food goals 🧀

 

Suggestions: 🐈‍⬛, ♠️, 🕵🏻‍♀️

[Alanna]

11 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Here to cheer you on! 🎉

 

Thank you! I am keeping an eye out for your next challenge 🙂

 

11 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Suggestions: 🐈‍⬛, ♠️, 🕵🏻‍♀️

 

Thank you! I do like the cat and will need to remember that for future challenges, but I feel like Yelena is more of a dog person:

 

 

me too, Yelena, me too

 

(minor Black Widow spoiler)

Spoiler

 

I found a ninja for my posing goal! And I got an hourglass for the blip ones - I figure that is both suitably "black widow" themed (at least when it comes to the spiders) and time related.

 

 

---------

 

Week 0, Thursday/Friday

 

On 7/26/2022 at 9:08 PM, Alanna said:

Week 0, Wednesday - Saturday

🥷⬜🥷⬜ [Posing]

⌛⌛⌛⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

⌛⌛⌛⬜ [Don't blip - sleep ]

⬜⬜🧀⬜ [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀🔴🧀⬜ [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Thursday I was absolutely shattered. I also forgot I was limiting my grains and had oatcakes when I wanted some easy carbs. Whoops. Good thing Zero week is kinda a practice run!

 

Friday I made a salad for myself and my partner for both lunch and dinner, so I got some easy food prep in. I also went for a walk and followed it up with some light training, focused on long-legged monkey (which I filmed), front scales, and one set of Bulgarian split squats. My knee is feeling a lot better, but I'm slowly easing into higher squat volume because I don't want to push it too far. 

 

Time goals are going well - I've been working on them for several months now, so this challenging is about further cementing and improving them (e.g., I've pushed my bedtime goal 15 minutes earlier than last challenge). 

[Harriet]

20 hours ago, Alanna said:

That said, I'm not really digging the spiders... I don't particularly like spiders 😅. Any suggestions for other thematic emojis?? I could put cheese for the food goals 🧀

 

Cheese is always apt.

 

16 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Suggestions: 🐈‍⬛, ♠️, 🕵🏻‍♀️

 

We need more black emojis though. I checked and there aren't as many as I want. It's just... dignified, you know? In a way that bright purple isn't.

[Alanna]

40 minutes ago, Harriet said:

We need more black emojis though. I checked and there aren't as many as I want. It's just... dignified, you know? In a way that bright purple isn't.

 

I propose penguins 🐧 

 

The purple I use for my challenges comes from my username, not whatever temporary theme I've chosen - Alanna's magic (and eyes) are purple.

Funnily enough (given the two colours you mentioned), she also has a black cat with purple eyes:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

It's just... dignified, you know? In a way that bright purple isn't.

Pffft that's just another word for boring. 😜

 

I like purple.

 

And penguins.

[Alanna]

10 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

I like purple.

 

And penguins.

[Mad Hatter]

Now that's swag. 

[Alanna]

Week 0 Recap

 

On 7/26/2022 at 9:08 PM, Alanna said:

Key

⬜=TBA or NA for that day

🥷/⌛/🧀/=did the thing

🔴=did not do the thing

 

Week 0, Wednesday - Saturday

🥷⬜🥷⬜ [Posing]

⌛⌛⌛⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

⌛⌛⌛⌛ [Don't blip - sleep ]

⬜⬜🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀🔴🧀🧀 [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Decent start to the challenge. I got in another training session earlier in the week, too, making for three total. Recovery is still hit or miss (mostly miss), so I'm going to experiment with having a protein shake during the session (like I used to at the gym) to see if that helps. Editing a single tracker is working really well for me, too, especially with goals spread across the day.

 

Week 1, Sunday

 

On 7/26/2022 at 9:08 PM, Alanna said:

Week 1

🥷⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Posing]

⌛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Don't blip - work/exercise]

⌛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Don't blip - sleep]

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Mac and cheese: food prep]

🧀⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ [Mac and cheese: grains]

 

Had a lighter training session and went for a nice walk. I hit my bedtime goals, but from here on out I'm going to add a new one - lights off and phone away by midnight - because I fell into the trap of "I'm almost done with my book" and ended up reading until 2 am 😅

 

[juliebarkley]

9 hours ago, Alanna said:

I fell into the trap of "I'm almost done with my book" and ended up reading until 2 am 😅

I hate that trap. No, that's not right. I love that trap while it is happening. I only hate the consequences the next day.

[Mad Hatter]

14 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

I hate that trap. No, that's not right. I love that trap while it is happening. I only hate the consequences the next day.

And doubly so because you can't avoid the consequences by returning to the book since it's already finished!

[Alanna]

53 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

I hate that trap. No, that's not right. I love that trap while it is happening. I only hate the consequences the next day.

 

It was an extra sneaky trap because it was three books in one in a digital format, which means that 4% left is still a good amount of words 😅

 

39 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

And doubly so because you can't avoid the consequences by returning to the book since it's already finished!

 

But you can buy the next book in the series! 😁