RPG Fanatics Guild

[Teros]

Hello!  I'm TerosX and this is my 3rd round with leveling up my life through NerdFitness.  I really liked the mini-challenge last time where accountabillibuddys guilds were made, so I decided to make my own.  To join, just click here and put your name:

 

  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnL943o3CTUvdFd4NWpFcnZnMzJFWjVDRVczVUpaakE#gid=4

 

Each week there might be talk about whatever the mini-challenges are that week, or just ask/talk about whatever. 

 

About:  I'm 28 and I've been overweight my entire life.  I tried weightwatchers, I tried atkins, I tried that HORRIBLE food from nutrisystem, I hit the gym for hours on the treadmill and nothing really stuck long-term for me.   Since going *mostly* paleo and getting into strength training (with my 20 pound warhammer + 250 pound tractor tire), I've dropped about 3 pants sizes and what's even more important is that I FEEL better.  I'm NOT starving myself; I'm NOT calorie counting, I'm NOT sweating the small stuff.

 

My overall goal here is to drop 100 pounds, do triple-clap pushups, and complete a spartan race.  If anyone else wants to put a little intro for the rest of the guild, go right ahead.  And everyone try to remember to follow this thread.  All are welcome!

 

 

Guild Member's Pages:

 

TerosX: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34349-warhammer-friends-round-3-terosx/#entry626670

 

Snark: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/33868-snark-drives-home/

 

HoneyBunch806: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/35068-honeybunch806s-3rd-time-around/#entry640999

 

Tamzilla: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34058-tamzilla-leaves-familiar-territory-challenge-2/

 

Nicks_Scotland: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34634-nicks-scotland-s-holiday-countdown/

 

Essilore: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34831-essillore-warding-the-forest-and-the-river/

 

Ensi: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34056-ensis-challenge-2-finding-inner-peace/

 

Evicious: http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/34067-evicious-simple-serenity/#entry623919

[notapersonanymore]

Posting really quick to say hi and that I'm in! Just got back from a quick trip to Vegas last night, so I'm working hard to get caught up. Will post more later!

[Ensi]

Hi! I feel a little like a socially awkward penguin at the moment, but here I am.

 

At first I wasn't going to join a team during this challenge, but I got a little lonely. This team seemed interesting, and I hope we'll help each other out! My main goal is to find inner peace through healthy diet and exercise. I also do yoga and meditation, both of which have helped me to calm down a lot.

 

terosx, your warhammer workouts sound interesting! I exercise mainly with my kettlebell or hit the gym, but I'd love to try hitting stuff with a warhammer! :DD I'm sure that's a very tough workout?

[Teros]

Absolutely.  My original Jackson sledgehammer was 10 pounds.  I was huffing and sweating after about 5 minutes doing reps.  Over 2 challenges, I built up to working out nonstop for 20 minutes with it.  I figured it was time to upgrade, so I just got a 20 pound sledgehammer.  I'm back to square one; using the 20 pound warhammer and I can do about 6 minutes with it. 

 

I do hit a 250 lb tractor tire when I really want to vent, but I also have actual exercises that go with it. I use it like a shovel for snow and have that motion of thrusting the warhammer and then throwing the imaginary snow over my shoulder.  I do the butter-churner; which is holding the warhammer with both hand and pulling straight up (the weight starts near my bellybutton and pulling upwards the weight goes to my shoulders- up and down).   I do wood-chopping, which is self-explanitory.  Lastly, I do the killswitch.  This one with the new warhammer KILLS me.   I grab the warhammer with one hand and curl it/raise my arm.  Imagine the weight being by your feet, and then in an arc, pull the weight so it's hovering in front on you.  Just keep swinging forward and then back down. Those are the 4 main exercises I do.

 

A warhammer is essentially a kettlebell on a stick, so I feel that there's a huge range of exercises that it can do, as well and really improving grip strength since the weight is further away.

 

By the way, I'm very socially awkward penguin as well.  I've tried to open up more here on the forums and as I lose weight; I feel a little more confident in myself.  I joke around with people at work a bit more, but it's definitely hard. 

 

I'm also a warrior/monk in training.  My goals are related to: 1) diet       2) strength training (warrior)       3) stretching/meditation(monk).   4)Guitar or game station

 

Welcome!

[Nicks_Scotland]

Hi, I'm Nicks.  I'm 36 and I live in Scotland.

 

I'm on my third challenge, first one I smashed it, second one I dropped out half way cos I put my back out.  This is my third and I'm back on it with a vengence.  The 6 weeks ends the day I fly out on holiday to the Dominican Republic, so if that's not motivation enough then I'm not sure what is!

 

I've been real busy of late and not managed to comment on others threads as much as I'd like.  Hopefully work will calm down and I'll get back to encouraging you all, or kicking you up the arse, whatever you require.

 

Week one down and I'm going great guns, nearly cheated on my first mission last night (no evil c's) when I found a snickers ice cream hiding in the back of my freezer,  I can confirm that it is still in there though!!!!

 

5 more weeks.......

[Ensi]

Hello, Nicks! Glad to hear you've got back in business. We'll try to kick yer Scottish arse through so you can enjoy yer holiday!

 

Well done with your first week! I'll need to concentrate on avoiding the evil C's next week with more care. Too much ice cream went to my engines this week. Other than that, I feel like my week was fine, averagely 86 % success. I'm especially happy to have met my exercise goals, since I was almost too tired to do a strenght training workout today... But I did, and it felt awesome.

 

terosx, cool to meet people with similar goals What kind of meditation do you do? I read a book about mindfulness by Mark Williams, which has been my way of meditating since. Meditation also helps to the socially awkward penguin syndrome: when you know yourself better, it's easier to communicate with people (not guaranteed).

[notapersonanymore]

socially awkward penguin

 

*grin*

 

I'm pretty friendly, but I definitely feel awkward around new folks. The slogan I came up with for myself was simply just: "Embrace your awkward."

 

Sorry I haven't been so active over the last few days, but we were off in Vegas! Back now, and fairly well caught up. Nice to meet you all!

 

(Brief intro: Just turned 38, I live in AZ, and I don't dig routine, do-the-same-thing-all-the-time kind of workouts! I'm a pretty solid RPG fan. I do love Halo and Rockband-like games though! And music. I love music.)

[Teros]

Well I'm not sure about the meditation yet Ensi.  It's one of my goals this challenge.  I'd like to just do some sort of relaxing/stretching routine once or twice a week since I have a horrible amount of flexibility.  Any intro stretching/yoga stuff would be welcome.  I'm going to start this tuesday. 

[Essillore]

Hello!

 

I'm Essillore, I'm a 21 years old female from Finland.

 

This is my third challenge, but no level up's yet, though both of my earlier challenges have taught me something about myself, and made me into better habits (like last challenge, where one of my challenges was to go sugarless - which did not succeed but I had a lot of sugarless days, and my over indulgings were smaller than earlier). 

 

My main goal is to lose 14 kg of weight by the 5th February, which would also mean a body fat % drop from over 33% to 18%, if it all would be fat. As I don't really have strength or muscle, I feel that should be possible; it would mean losing half a kg of fat each week I'm striving towards the goal with adding exercise, and trying to find forms of that I really like. I'm also controlling my diet, being a (former ) sugarmouse. I'm also trying to track what I do, so I can really find what needs fixing.

 

I'm studying educational psychology at the university. I'm aspiring for a career in the game world, possibly as a programmer or a game designer, or then in the e-sports or pro gaming scene; either as a player or a "backstage-person". As I have a relaxed phase in my studies, I am striving to find out if I really would like being a professional gamer, and am so devoting as much of my time as I can to Dota 2 right now (goal at 80+ games watched/played each week). We will see what I think of gaming after this time, but somehow I don't think my aspiration will falter ^^

 

 

 

 

When it comes to stretching and yoga, I must say that my favourite so far has been Gravity Yoga. It's not exactly yoga, it's like a deep stretching program designed especially to yogis and other people who want to get bendier. I'm not exactly target audience, but on those days or weeks when I am unlazy enough to do that 15 minutes that day, I can really feel the effects for several days in reduced stiffness. They're a company that sells some supplements or something, and there sure are other commercial and non-commercial alternatives; the main idea is just to have long stretches of 3-5 minutes each, where the gravity is doing the stretching; and some of the poses are shown on the introductory video.

 

 

As to your discussion of meditation, I must admit that I've experienced great clearness of mind and improved decision making on those times when I meditated daily. An interesting thing to note has been to me, how much easier the meditating is, when I meditate beside someone else, especially if they're more experienced in the matter. Thanks for reminding me, I think I will take a daily 1 min meditation to my schedule - it is not away from anything really, and even small times seem to have an impact.

[notapersonanymore]

Welcome, Essillore! Love your spirit! Not giving up and knowing you will succeed if you keep on it are the biggest factors in change (in my opinion), so keep at it!

[Ensi]

Embrace your awkward! Will do, tamzilla!

 

Essillore, I'm kind of shocked to meet you, since I'm a 22-year-old female from Finland. I've never met anyone Finnish here before, so... terve terve! How did you find NF? I remember googling something about Assassin's creed and found an article about it by Steve.

 

Gravity Yoga looks good, I could give it a go. But now I'll go for a walk, I did a kettlebell workout yesterday evening and I'm feeling a little stiff. Good luck, everyone!

[Nicks_Scotland]

Hello, Nicks! Glad to hear you've got back in business. We'll try to kick yer Scottish arse through so you can enjoy yer holiday!

 

Well done with your first week! I'll need to concentrate on avoiding the evil C's next week with more care. Too much ice cream went to my engines this week. Other than that, I feel like my week was fine, averagely 86 % success. I'm especially happy to have met my exercise goals, since I was almost too tired to do a strenght training workout today... But I did, and it felt awesome.

 

 

Haha, so far I don't need any arse kicking, I'm managing to be 100% on all my goals.  Wooop!

 

As for icecream, my total downfall.  I'll eat the tub, not a scoop or two, the whole tub.  So I'm avoiding it completely, like all the evil C's.  At least until my holiday.  33 more sleeps!!!  (not that I'm counting)  

[Evicious]

I'm late, but if no one is opposed to it, I'll add my name to the team roster.

[notapersonanymore]

Good for you, Nicks!

 

Evicious... go for it!

[Evicious]

Yay! I'm on a team!

 

So I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Evicious and my main goal for this challenge is to reach my goal weight of 155Lbs. The biggest obstacles I face are beer (<3) and potato salad (when it's available - I don't buy it at the store or even let myself think about making it, but if I'm at a restaurant and I see it on the menu..... yeah >_<)

 

I've started 2 previous Challenges in the past (links in my sig), but I've never completed one. I want this one to be different so I'm hoping that by joining a team and participating in a few challenges I'll at least finish this time.

 

For the sake of simplicity, here are my goals for this Challenge.

 

Main Quest: Get back to 155Lbs.

 

Side Quests:

- Maintain my weightlifting routine for the duration of the challenge.

- Run 3 miles 5x a week (also for the duration of the challenge).

- Make a point of not overwhelming myself every day trying to do everything, every day.

 

I'm in the Army, so getting started working out is the easy part: PT is mandatory. That last side quest has been a challenge for me, as I am way better at doing everything than nothing, and I'm far more adept at doing nothing at all than just something! I'm still trying to find a way to balance doing what needs to be done without saying, "F--- it!" halfway through and just doing everything to get it out of the way (which never works, because I can always find something else to do when I've finished everything else!)

 

Oh and one more thing (also from my Challenge thread): I've decided to sign up for a Warrior Dash. It will be my very first organized event that I voluntarily participate in, and I'm REALLY excited and nervous about it, even this far in advance (it's set for Oct 12th).

[Ensi]

Brilliant job, Nicks! Keep it going!

 

And welcome, Evicious! I have started a couple of challenges on my own, too, but not finished them. I joined a group in last challenge, and that's probably what pushed me through that time. So yeah, a group is great  if you feel that you're having trouble on your own

 

 

I'm in the Army, so getting started working out is the easy part: PT is mandatory. That last side quest has been a challenge for me, as I am way better at doing everything than nothing, and I'm far more adept at doing nothing at all than just something! I'm still trying to find a way to balance doing what needs to be done without saying, "F--- it!" halfway through and just doing everything to get it out of the way (which never works, because I can always find something else to do when I've finished everything else!)

 

Woah, you're in the army? Cool!

Are you asking too much of yourself? When you feel like you should do everything, try to remind yourself that doing something is much better than doing nothing at all. Sometimes it's enough, too

[Evicious]

Good to hear it, Ensi - that gives me hope!  And yep, I'm in the Army. Like I said, it makes the working out part pretty straight-forward.

 

I don't think I'm asking too much of myself, but it is difficult for me to guage that since I come from a pair of very industrious parents. I saw my mother fill her days with chores and projects and "things that need to be done. Now." and I saw how stressed she got because of it; I don't want that to be me! Unfortunately, habits are what habits are and even ones that are super-beneficial in the short term can have negative consequences over long periods of time.

 

So no, I don't think I'm asking too much of myself really - it's the last bit you said that I'm trying to rewire my brain to believe: that something is enough too.

 

Actually, that's a great mantra! Thank you!

 

 

Just a heads up, I plan on following everyone's Challenge Threads for motivation, so don't be alarmed if you catch me stalking you.

[Teros]

welcome to have you aboard Evicious!  Maybe I'll edit my first post on here and include a tag of everyone's challenge thread to make it easier- no hunting around.  And I just put THIS thread in my sig.  If others did though, that would be nice.  So glad to see people on here.    I have the same problem that you have.  My mom is a perfectionist and I get that 150% mentality and the second I screw up, I beat myself up over it.  Dependingon what it is, I end up quitting.  It's been a side-challenge of mine during these 3 challenges to not beat myself up when I eat 1 bad food or miss one workout.  It seems the more I let it slide, the more committed I keep to things.

[Evicious]

Thanks, terosx! Totally subscribed to your Challenge Thread now, too. You too with the 150% thing, eh? Guess I'll be counting on you to help me keep my head on straight!

[notapersonanymore]

I've gotten a teensy bit behind on posts today--eek!

 

Evicious--added you as a friend, and will be heading to your thread shortly.

 

Everyone who hasn't, feel free to add me as a friend.

[notapersonanymore]

(And also, I updated my sig!)

[Ensi]

Perfectionism is something that I've only lately learned to deal with... My brothers weren't so good at school, and I felt that I always had to get good grades to keep everyone happy at home. Last autumn I started studies at university, and tried to be so perfect that I couldn't even start doing anything, because I was scared that I might fail! The best medicine for that has been, well, failing And doing less, too, and accepting that doing something is enough. That actually suits me, it's much less troublesome to do less... I've also tried to stop from thinking, whether I've done enough or not. "Enough" is quite subjective, since eating a carrot is enough for someone and others need to eat a huge cow to feel energized. I just aim to do things, and judge less. It's a long road, but worth taking

 

 I have the same problem that you have.  My mom is a perfectionist and I get that 150% mentality and the second I screw up, I beat myself up over it.  Dependingon what it is, I end up quitting.  It's been a side-challenge of mine during these 3 challenges to not beat myself up when I eat 1 bad food or miss one workout.  It seems the more I let it slide, the more committed I keep to things.

 

Yep, I think "commitment" is the key word here. Let's treat our goals with commitment, and accept them, whether they're perfect or not. I also like to think that goals are for learning and teaching us stuff about ourselves, not to mock us, if we don't get it 100 % right.

 

Haha, I could write a novel about why perfectionism sucks, since it made me very, very sick last year, but I'll spare some beans to spill for later I'll pop to your challenge threads as well, but I have a lot of homework to do, so unfortunately I'll probably keep it short and write longer here

[Evicious]

Perfectionism is something that I've only lately learned to deal with... My brothers weren't so good at school, and I felt that I always had to get good grades to keep everyone happy at home. Last autumn I started studies at university, and tried to be so perfect that I couldn't even start doing anything, because I was scared that I might fail! The best medicine for that has been, well, failing And doing less, too, and accepting that doing something is enough. That actually suits me, it's much less troublesome to do less... I've also tried to stop from thinking, whether I've done enough or not. "Enough" is quite subjective, since eating a carrot is enough for someone and others need to eat a huge cow to feel energized. I just aim to do things, and judge less. It's a long road, but worth taking

 

 

Yep, I think "commitment" is the key word here. Let's treat our goals with commitment, and accept them, whether they're perfect or not. I also like to think that goals are for learning and teaching us stuff about ourselves, not to mock us, if we don't get it 100 % right.

 

Haha, I could write a novel about why perfectionism sucks, since it made me very, very sick last year, but I'll spare some beans to spill for later I'll pop to your challenge threads as well, but I have a lot of homework to do, so unfortunately I'll probably keep it short and write longer here

 

I like this.

 

So happy I joined this group - I already feel much more motivated about this challenge!

[Teros]

Update!   I checked everyone's challenges and posted links for everyone on the first post.  Might make it easier if anyone else would like to join as well.  Also..... NEW CHALLENGE THIS WEEK!

 

""""

To successfully complete this challenge you’ll need to try

1. one exercise with one point of contact (eg: one foot, one hand),
2. one with two (eg: two feet, two hands, one foot and one hand),
3. one with three (eg: two feet and one hand, two hands and one foot),
4. one with four (eg: two hands and two feet), and
5. one “other” (0, 5….) (eg: no points of contact with the ground; head, hands, and feet on the ground)"""

Who's up for this?  This challenge I was already adding 5 reps of a new activity, so this is perfect for me to do.  Anyone else?

[notapersonanymore]

 I also like to think that goals are for learning and teaching us stuff about ourselves, not to mock us, if we don't get it 100 % right.

 

I. Love. This.

 

 

So happy I joined this group - I already feel much more motivated about this challenge!

 

Me too. It helps so much!

 

(about the mini challenge!)

 

Who's up for this?  This challenge I was already adding 5 reps of a new activity, so this is perfect for me to do.  Anyone else?

 

Me! Have completed one so far, but will handle all of the rest by Friday evening.