Suzaqu is ready to progress

[Suzaqu]

Hello everyone!  I've been very excited waiting for the next challenge round to start and I'm pumped to be joining you all!

 

I've been doing the weight loss thing for the past 2 years, hovering around maintaining for the past 9 months or so.  My current job involves sitting in front of a computer, so I have been working hard on incorporating exercise into my life.  What got me interested in fitness and exercise beyond the calorie counting was a barre class. I loved working on strength and seeing how far I could push my body. I realized that I had to gain some weight in order to put on muscle. So now I'm trying to adjust to eating for this new goal.  

 

My main issue my whole life has been a severe lack of flexibility in the back of my legs. I've had many doctors, PTs etc tell me many different reasons for this issue and I have been slacking on all of them.  I trained as a ballerina from 1st grade to 12th grade and was never consistently able to touch my toes, that's how bad it was.  I currently exercise 3-4 times a week for an hour each, consisting of barre, yoga, ballet, and Pilates. I'd like to continue to get stronger while maintaining and improving my flexibility.  Which brings me to my quests:

 

Main quest:

Be able to consistently touch my toes (every day for 3 days in a row) when "cold" i.e. not warmed-up. I'm currently about 2.5 inches away.

 

Subquests:

Stretch 4 times a week. - This should consist of the entire stretching regimen I have worked out for myself, or either a yoga or ballet class, both of which have large amounts of time dedicated to stretching.

Grading: 24-22 times =A, 21-19 = B, 20-17 = C, 16-14 = D, <14= F

 

Roll out muscles 3 times a week - This should be at least 3 different muscle sets for a minimum of 30 seconds each and and in addition includes the knots in my feet (which for some reason apparently is a direct cause of my inability touch my toes).

Grading: 18-16 times =A, 15-14 = B, 13-12 = C, 11-10 = D, <10= F

 

Lifequest:

Do a better job of keeping in touch with people. Do not let more than 48 hours pass before replying to a message of any form (facebook, text, email, etc).

Grading: missed deadline on 0-5 messages = A, 6-10 = B, 11-15 = C, 16-20 = D, <20 = F

 

Motivation: This is a problem that has been with me for my entire life, it will feel amazing to conquer it!

 

 

Good luck to all! I'm excited to get started on this with my fellow recruits!

[Suzaqu]

Checking in for night one, I rolled out my muscles and it felt good. I forgot how much it helps out after a workout. (Today was barre.)  I have some people I need to message today or tomorrow to keep up with my life goal. I also got my stretching done for the night as well.

 

Tracking:

Quest 1: 1/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 1/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[Suzaqu]

Mini quest 1!

• Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)?  Is it reasonable? Yes, I think it is reasonable, but a good challenge. 
• Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much?Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? I only have 2 quests because I couldn't come up with a 3rd that directly built on my main quest. Each quest is a good nugget of a goal to work on, so I think they have the right scope.
• Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? My main goal is a good stepping stone in my goal to become more flexible.
• Are your goals able to be measured and tracked?  What will you use to track them? Both my main quest and quests have specific measures that I detailed above, including completion guidelines.  I'll check in here every few days (if not every day) to update my progress. 
• How are you grading your goals?  Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)?  Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? I'm grading my goals on a standard A/F scale, based on the number of times I complete the desired activity.
• What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Because my goals are stretching based, I can rework stretches to avoid injuries. Because I only look at completions per week, there's more flexibility if I don't feel up to stretching on a given day.
• Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge?  What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? My week by week structure will allow me to be flexible around special occasions.
• Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? I think my goals work out well together, spending time rolling out muscles before stretching doesn't hurt progress.
• Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set?  If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? I certainly have time in the evenings that I'm not using well, and my goals will take all of 10-15 minutes to complete, so it won't be a problem.
• Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? I'm trying to build 2 habits, but they both focus on my main quest, so I think I have a good balance.

[suzyQlou]

I'm loving the Suzy Q network.  Glad to see you here!

 

It's really interesting to see your goals of flexibility and strength.  Sometimes, I'm such a slave to the scale I forget there are other parts of healthiness.  It looks like you have positioned yourself really well to meet your goals.  Having ballet and yoga classes in place gives you a nice support system in addition to your own private workouts.

 

Hope you have a wonderful challenge.

[Suzaqu]

Night two check in, I had another double night of both stretching and rolling out. I do have some people I need to respond to by tomorrow evening to make my 48 hour deadline, so I need to get that done.

 

Tracking:

Quest 1: 2/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 2/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[Suzaqu]

Suzy Q's unite!

 

@suzyQlou (does the @ tag work here?), thanks for the nice comments! I definitely still have trouble with the scale and have been trying to adjust to not worrying about it so much.   

 

I saw in another thread that you are a math nerd, me too! I studied math and physics but have been lured away from them by big data. 

[suzyQlou]

Cool.  We can unite over math nerdiness too:)  Yep, I studied math in school.  I thought I would teach, but ended up jumping into computer programming instead.  I programmed for many years, but am now more of a technical consultant.  I do mostly reporting and quick queries using Oracle these days.

 

Tell me more about big data.  Can you tell how many of us NF newbies are going to stick it out to the bitter end?

[Suzaqu]

suzyQlou, Hahaha, I'm still working on my analysis of all of us, but I have my bots mining the site right now (just kidding, I swear!). I currently am working at a university looking at progress and completion data from students.  I always envisioned teaching as well, but I'm happy with where I am. I do love a good SQL query, so I'm with you there.

[Suzaqu]

On the challenge front, I just replied to all the messages from friends that had deadlines looming, and I made it with 20 minutes to spare! (I was counting from the moment I posted this challenge for messages that had been queued for longer than that.)

 

I'm hoping to do another stretching and rollout session tonight. With that and a ballet class tomorrow that I'm planning on attending, I'll be done with my goals for the week! I want to get the momentum rolling right away, so I'm glad I was able to hit the ground running. I'll probably end up putting in extra sessions (I'm not allowing myself to work ahead on next week goals). I think that this is a sign that I should up the numbers for next challenge, but we'll see how the rest of the 6 weeks go. 

[Suzaqu]

Checking in after last night, I did do both my rolling and my stretching! Ballet class today is looking a little iffy because we have to visit my husband's grandmother in the hospital, so there may be no progress made on the goals tonight. But I'm still ahead of schedule and I'm taking friday off, so I should be able to get in a good stretching session then (and maybe even some home yoga practice!)

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 3/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 3/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[suzyQlou]

Hope your grandmother-in-law is doing ok.  It's so hard when life interrupts our best intentions.  I like how you have enough flexibility (ha! no pun intended, I swear) built into your goals that you will be able to meet and even exceed them.  Even when unexpected events turn up.

[starsapart]

Welcome to the Rebellion!  With your current goals and interests, you've attracted the attention of the Assassins' Guild.... but don't worry, I'm here in a supportive capacity!  Even if you ultimately don't join us, we'd love to help you along on your journey, and there are a lot of people working on goals similar to yours within our black-clad ranks...

 

If you think you might like to check us out, I hope you'll come by the Assassins' Den chat and say hello!  We're very welcoming killers-in-black, really.        You can also check out the Assassin Guild Info & Announcements for more info about what's going on with the guild.  We also have our handy Assassin Phonebook, which will allow you to find people who are working on similar skills to yours.  And though we may be the bodyweight guild, we're also a guild of extreme variety - we do a bit of everything!

 

Additionally, if you like what you see, I encourage you to go introduce yourself on the Level 1 Assassin Initiates Q&A/Chat thread as well!  There are a lot of fun people hanging out as they consider whether to join us - and you can make new friends, ask questions of guild leadership, post awesome gifs (we wouldn't be Assassins without gif parties) and more!  I hope to see you there soon.

 

If you ever need anything, feel free to PM me or catch my attention by quoting one of my posts.  Otherwise, I or one of my colleagues will be stopping by to check in on you and celebrate your successes as the challenge goes on.  Now get out there and crush those goals!

[Suzaqu]

suzyQlou: Thanks for the good wishes. She is doing well and appreciated the visit. I'm glad that my goals survived this first test.  It's sometimes hard to stay on track when life gets in the way.

 

starsapart: Thank you for stopping by! There are so many interesting guilds and it's hard to figure them all out. I'll definitely be looking into the assassans. Even though I never really thought about it, I am basically a bodyweight person and I'm super happy to see that the dancers have a home  And i'm super happy to see the emphasis on gifs!  I was thinking about possibly the druids, but this looks like it might be a better fit.

 

On the quest front, I did indeed not get the chance to go to ballet last night. I also didn't get in any yoga today, I wasn't feeling up to figuring out how to do it on carpet so I just did my standard stretching routine and rolling out. If I'm going to keep stretching at home and trying to do yoga, I think I'm going to invest in a home yoga mat (I have one that lives at work so I can take it to my lunchtime classes).

 

I'm so happy to have completed my first week of the challenge sucessfully!  I'm thinking I'm going to try to get in one more stretching session this weekend. I already feel like I can relax into the stretches more now, and my nemesis- aka legs up the wall - is starting to actually feel good and very grounding.  I also have kept up with keeping in contact with friends, and hopefully that habit continues

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 4/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 4/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[Suzaqu]

Confession, I have been lazy and grumpy all day and wasn't planning on doing anything today for the challenge. Then I came on here and read some of the stories and progress of my fellow recruits and I decided to just get off my butt and take the 15min and do it. And you know what, I felt better. My husband's family showed up unexpectedly (due to the grandmother situation) and it zapped a lot of my energy. But taking the time to sit in the stretches and feel my muscles release really helped rejuvenate me.  I think I'm getting farther in a lot of the stretches, I think next week I'll actively try to get further. This week was primary to get comfortable in the stretches and assess where I'm at.

 

I have something I've been wondering about and wanted to see if anyone had any opinions. Should I roll out before or after I stretch? I've tried both and I think the muscles are more receptive to rolling after stretching, but I'm not sure how the order impacts my flexibility gains.

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 5/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 5/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[Suzaqu]

Week 2 here we go!  I had barre class yesterday and realized that I haven't done any exercise since last weeks class, no wonder I was grumpy and anxious! (Mood boosts was one of the first things that got me into exercising, and was what got me to add on a barre class). I rolled out and stretched last night in an effort to save my poor screaming muscles. Today is yoga day, and I think I'll be going (I don't want to jinx it!) so that will give me another stretch check mark for the week.  

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 5/4, 1/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 5/3, 1/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[Suzaqu]

Yoga completed, along with rolling out, so another successful day. My yoga class had a substitute and she was amazing! I loved her way of cueing and she had a great breakdown of the sun salutation. I got much deeper into several poses than I usually do, and I'm sure my stretching helps!

 

I've also figured out what race I am. I don't do role playing games, so it took some research. The automated thing gave me elf, but that didn't feel perfect. After researching, I realized that I'm a grey elf, reserved, tall, pale. I may even sometimes come off aloof, but I swear I'm not!

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 5/4, 2/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 5/3, 2/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[suzyQlou]

Glad things are moving along so nicely for you.  It's funny how a new teacher can make the same class seem like a different experience.  Maybe this substitute teaches other classes you'd be interested in?  Happy little accidents can turn into great opportunities.

 

Can you tell me where you looked first to find your race?  I'm not a big role player either, but it's always sounded fun.  Is the automated thing part of NF?

[Suzaqu]

Glad things are moving along so nicely for you.  It's funny how a new teacher can make the same class seem like a different experience.  Maybe this substitute teaches other classes you'd be interested in?  Happy little accidents can turn into great opportunities.

 

Can you tell me where you looked first to find your race?  I'm not a big role player either, but it's always sounded fun.  Is the automated thing part of NF?

 

I used this tool which was linked off of a comment in this discussion which was linked off of the L1 guide. I found further details about more races here.  Yep, I spent way too much time on this

 

Sadly enough the instructor doesn't teach at any other good times for me at my gym. But she is at another studio I'm debating joining for the summer, so hopefully that will work out. You are totally right about the happy accidents, I love it when changes force you to adapt and sometimes it works out even better. (Though my husband will be the first to tell you I hate it when plans change at the last minute. But I'm working on it!)

[suzyQlou]

Thanks for the links, Suzaqu.  I have been completely bungling along on this challenge, not realizing there were rules and a FAQ.  Duh!  I joined the NF Academy and the challenge around the same time.  There are levels and characters over in the Academy, too, but they're slightly different from the ones here in the challenge.  A little confusion is to be expected, I think

 

Now that I know what I'm looking for, though, I'm going to have a hard time picking a race.  Everything points to me being some big ugly monster.  Not sure I can live with that, lol.  I will likely just ask my husband.  He has a pile of D&D paraphernalia boxed up in the crawl space.  I'm sure he'll recommend something appropriate for me.

[Suzaqu]

suzyQlou: How do you like the Academy? From what people have been posting it looks interesting. I totally understand the challenge in picking a race, it took me probably about a month (I've been planning this challenge a while). I'm jealous you have someone who knows their stuff who can help. Did you end up picking one?

 

On the challenge front, I went to ballet last night and it felt so good to work my muscles in that way again. I can really tell how my fitness barre is helping me get stronger in ballet. (And ballet is helping me look like a graceful sweaty mess at barre, instead of just a sweaty mess). I also rolled out my muscles. I'm excited to do pilates today, I haven't been in a few weeks because of work, and my abs are sad.  Hopefully I'll stretch tonight and then week 2 will be complete! Almost 1/3 of the way done!

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 5/4, 3/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 5/3, 3/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[suzyQlou]

I like the Academy because it's going to keep pushing and challenging me.  I'm not sold on everything NF:  The diet has a lot of things I agree with, but I'm not really sold on all of the ideas.  Overall, it's really nice to have a path all laid out for me.  I have healthy goals to keep working towards, a little at a time.  And I get to check them off as I accomplish them which is totally worth it for me!  Plus, membership in the academy supports the site and community, so it's all good.  I'm happy that I found these nerds, and I want them to stick around!

 

I'm still working on the race.  Glad to hear it took you a while, too.  My discussion with my husband was a good start.  I suggested that since I was going to be a Ranger, I might like to be a bear - like Smokey the Bear.  He had some choice words to say about that idea.  Mostly he suggested that I was completely crazy and would provoke an army of nerds to attack me.  Apparently, a Ranger is like Aragorn (Strider) in Lord of the Rings, not like any ranger I'd meet in a state park.  I nodded my head knowingly because I remember the day he dragged invited me to the theater on opening day of the movie.  And then I googled Aragorn to make sure I knew which one he was.  Deciding on a race is still a work in progress.

 

So glad ballet is going well for you.  Nothing like being graceful in all states of sweatiness!  Are you training for anything in particular?  Do you see yourself dancing on a stage someday?  Or just for fun?

[Suzaqu]

Just wanted to do a quick check in and say that I did my stretching and rolling out last night, so week 2 is a success! I think I'll try to get one more set in, but it's a busy weekend (hence the quick check in.)

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 5/4, 4/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 5/3, 4/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[Elastigirl]

You are having an awesome challenge. Not sure on best time to foam roll. Sometimes I like to do it before, especially if I feel tight. But then sometimes afterwards it feels good to. 

[Suzaqu]

I like the Academy because it's going to keep pushing and challenging me.  I'm not sold on everything NF:  The diet has a lot of things I agree with, but I'm not really sold on all of the ideas.  Overall, it's really nice to have a path all laid out for me.  I have healthy goals to keep working towards, a little at a time.  And I get to check them off as I accomplish them which is totally worth it for me!  Plus, membership in the academy supports the site and community, so it's all good.  I'm happy that I found these nerds, and I want them to stick around!

 

I'm still working on the race.  Glad to hear it took you a while, too.  My discussion with my husband was a good start.  I suggested that since I was going to be a Ranger, I might like to be a bear - like Smokey the Bear.  He had some choice words to say about that idea.  Mostly he suggested that I was completely crazy and would provoke an army of nerds to attack me.  Apparently, a Ranger is like Aragorn (Strider) in Lord of the Rings, not like any ranger I'd meet in a state park.  I nodded my head knowingly because I remember the day he dragged invited me to the theater on opening day of the movie.  And then I googled Aragorn to make sure I knew which one he was.  Deciding on a race is still a work in progress.

 

So glad ballet is going well for you.  Nothing like being graceful in all states of sweatiness!  Are you training for anything in particular?  Do you see yourself dancing on a stage someday?  Or just for fun?

 

Hahahaha, I think a bear is a perfect race to have if you are a ranger, I'm with you, I'm still learning all this stuff. I'm definitely a nerd, just not a role-playing nerd, but I'm learning.  I never made the connection between the Rangers and Aragorn, so you're helping me learn  Does he have any advice on any of the other professions, I'm probably going to be an assassin, but can't come up with any inspiring examples.

 

I'm glad to hear that the academy is a great challenge. I'm not usually sold on diets, so I'm with you there. My theory is eat some of everything, more of the good things, less of the bad things, let your body tell you which foods fall in each category.  I do love checking things off of lists, sometimes I'll even put things on lists right after I do them, just so I can cross them off. That's probably why I keep doing the constant progress updates each time something changes, because I get to update my lists!

 

I did ballet for 12 years (1st-12th grade), so I've had my fair share of stages. My class is performing at the end of the school year, but I joined them late and the performance is on my first wedding anniversary, so I'm skipping it. Plus I basically do it for the fun and the exercise. It's still my favorite form of exercise, just because the movements are so ingrained in my body.  But I've enjoyed branching out and seeing how my other classes help me do better in ballet.  I also need all the gracefulness I can get, it hasn't seemed to rub off on my daily life, just in the dance world.

 

 

 

You are having an awesome challenge. Not sure on best time to foam roll. Sometimes I like to do it before, especially if I feel tight. But then sometimes afterwards it feels good to. 

Thanks! I'm shocked at how well it's going, I thought it would be much harder to incorporate my goals into my daily routine. I guess I have much more time in the evenings than I think.   Thanks for your advice on the rolling, I too think it seems to depend on the day and what's wrong with me. I figure if I haven't had a flood of people rushing to tell me I'm doing it wrong, I'm probably okay either way

 

.

 

 

Due to the crazy weekend, I didn't get any other stretching in on Saturday or Sunday, but Monday I got right back to it, despite it being that time of month when I don't want to do anything and I'm generally angry. I did go to barre class, so rolling out is basically necessary to save my muscles, and stretching helps fight the tightness that all that strength work causes.

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 5/4, 4/4, 1/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 5/3, 4/3, 1/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0

[Suzaqu]

Mini challenge 3:

 

1. I've found it really hard to get off my butt and stretch this week. I think it's a mental plateau/boredom. And also not feeling results as quickly anymore after my "newbie gains" in flexibility.

2. So I found this article about plateaus and getting through them. 

3. I decided to look for little victories, so I remeasured my flexibility and found that I got 3/4 of an inch closer to my toes! I'm also going to switch up my stretching routine and allow myself to sub in one alternative exercise for one of the ones in my routine. I have to sub in a new one each time and I can't always replace the same thing.

 

 

Progress update:  I only found  motivation to roll out my muscles last night, no stretching happened. Hopefully ballet tonight will also get me rolling again.

 

Progress:

Quest 1: 5/4, 4/4, 1/4, 0/4, 0/4, 0/4

Quest 2: 5/3, 4/3, 2/3, 0/3, 0/3, 0/3

Life quest: deadlines missed = 0