Spear Warrior's First Challenge

[Spear Warrior]

Hi! This is my first challenge. If you want to know more about me, read my intro post (http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/70483-hello-there/#entry1619575).

 

I see some people write stories for their challenges. I'm no good at that. My story is my life.

 

I basically need these challenges to keep my eating habits and physical training on the right track outside of competition season. This first challenge does cover the first of the main martial arts competitions this fall, and the second and biggest one is in between this challenge and the next one. Thus, this challenge will get me started, while the next one is where the work begins for real.

 

Edit: Better written goals. Original post in spoiler.

Main Quest:

 

Kinda hard to say as of now. I have lots of little goals that together makes my future.

Life Quest:
Complete one year of education to qualify for a full time teaching job.
Current sub-quest 1: re-learn high school level mathematics and beyond before summer 2016.
Current sub-quest 2: work as a substitute teacher for one year and save money for one year back at school.

Current fitness goals:
Stabilize my body weight at 80 kgs. Current weight 85-86.
Heal shoulder from minor injury. Increase flexibility and supporting strength to avoid another injury.
(Long term goals include: do the splits, press and hold a side kick at shoulder level, do planche, do handstand push ups, and do various levels of pull-ups).

Challenge specific goals:
- Do shoulder exercises and stretches minimum 5 days a week. (30 times total).
- Leg/hip stretches every day. (42 times total).
- Do 3 sets of pull-ups every other day (21 times). Exception: Try and stop because of bad shoulder counts.
- Work on math skills minimum 30 minutes, 5 days a week (30 times total).
- Don't eat unhealthy more than 9 days during the challenge. (9 cheat days left).
- Clean all of my apartment properly. (6 rooms. Vacuum clean only doesn't count).

That is 129 things all together. Cheat days for eating counts negative when past 9.

 

Main quest: Strengthen shoulder. Get better eating habits.

 

Quest 1: Do shoulder strength exercises 5 days a week. (30 total) To make sure the shoulder is ready for more interesting work.

Measurement: A: 30 days, B: 25 days, C: 20 days.

Awards: A: +2 Con, +1 Str, B: +1 Con, +1 Str, C: +1 Con

 - Sub quest: 3 sets of pull-ups every other day. (21 total) Strength building, and also a test of the bad shoulder.

Measurement: A: 21 days, B: 18 days, C: 15 days.

Awards: A: +2 Str, B: +1 Str, C: pat on the back.

 

Quest 2: Do a flexibility/stretching workout every single day. (42 total) Both legs, hips and shoulders. For martial arts and more.

Measurement: A: 42 days, B: 36 days, C: 30 days.

Awards: A: +3 Dex, B: +2 Dex, C: +1 Dex.

 

Quest 3: Eat healthy. Max one-and-a-half cheat day per week (9 total). Weighing about 85-86 kilos at the moment. Want to be 5 kgs less and keep it there. (I do not plan to loose much this challenge, but I'll probably do some. My main focus is to be able to keep the weight away once I do lose it).

Measurement: A: 3 cheat days left, B: 1 cheat days left, C: 0 cheat days left

Awards: A: +1 Sta, +1 Con, +1 Cha, B: +1 Sta, +1 Con, C: +1 Sta.

 - Sub quest: Clean my apartment properly. (6 rooms to clean). To make a clean environment for a clean body.

Measurement: A: Done.

Awards: A: +1 Wis.

 

Life Quest: Study mathematics 5 days a week (30 total). I need to prepare for serious studies next year to get the job I want.

Measurement: A: 30 days, B: 25 days, C: 20 days.

Awards: A: +3 Wis, B: +2 Wis, C: +1 Wis

 

Motivation: I want to do cool moves and bodyweight exercises. Can't do the really heavy ones with a bad shoulder. I also weigh a tad too much. I want to lose the excess weight both for better looks, confidence and above all easier movement. I want to be a full-time teacher. With my current background, if I study mathematics for one year I am almost sure to get the jobs I want.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

I read your introduction and your first post and still don't know, what kind of martial arts you enjoy ^__^ I'm curious.

Did you build this shield in your avatar? I'm into HEMA and we have built similar viking round shields before. It can be real fun to use them in combat.

Your goals look good. I would just add some more specific measurements. You will learn more about this in week one.

Best wishes and good luck for your challenge.

[Spear Warrior]

I'm never sure about how many details I want to reveal online, so my martial art has been unspecified. It's Taekwon-Do.

 

I built the shield, and I've made my own longbow (with great help from a bowmaking teacher). HEMA is interesting. I attended a couple of great lectures on viking combat by two french guys this summer.

 

I'll see about editing the goals a bit before the start of the challenge. For now I just want to be unable to back out.

[Blaidd]

Remember to work some wiggle room into your goals.  You need to make allowance for injury, illness and real life.  I see your already in the training zone, so I suppose I don't need to tell you that

 

You might notice that someone has added a tag to your post.  This is not to box you into a corner but rather because your goals or lifestyle have links to the guild you've been tagged and we'd like to bring you to the attention of one of their guild ambassadors. These ambassadors will be able to offer you advice, encouragement and support on your goals.  You don't even have to wait around for them to come introduce themselves to you, you are more than welcome to pop into the Monks' board and introduce yourself to the guildies there. I am also around to answer any questions that you might have so do not hesitate to PM me.

 

Good Luck with your challenge

AB xx

[Spear Warrior]

Thanks! This training schedule is my recovery schedule, and I know I can take this, even with unforeseen events. I have some more martial arts specific workouts, but because of an injury I can not say how many of them I can do over six weeks, and will not include them in my goals.

 

As for which guild I'll belong to I don't know. I have the background of a Monk, sure, but a lot of my goals are more in Assassin-land, I think. I am multi-class.

[Toshimi]

Don't feel like you have to choose and stay in one guild forever. I started in rangers, then adventures, now hanging with the monk's for awhile. can just depend on what you're focusing on that challenge, or where you feel like you fit in. 

[Teirin]

Hello and welcome :-)

 

That is quite the recovery plan.  What kind of shoulder exercises do you use?

 

wanderingcavegirl is entirely correct.  Bounce around between guilds as they suit your goals.  The main Monk chat thread is here if you'd like to wander by and say hi!

[WushuWarrior]

I'm right there with you on the monk/assassin goal mix as well. Good luck with your first challenge - working through an injury is a delicate balance - train hard enough to sustain and recover but not so much that you risk a re-injure. I've been riding the injury train so I feel ya there. 

[Spear Warrior]

Thanks again!

 

Hello and welcome :-)

 

That is quite the recovery plan.  What kind of shoulder exercises do you use?

 

wanderingcavegirl is entirely correct.  Bounce around between guilds as they suit your goals.  The main Monk chat thread is here if you'd like to wander by and say hi!

 

Shoulder: External rotations with an elastic band, light dumbbell lifts (straight arms up sideways, lifting straight up along my torso, reverse flies and shoulder presses).No heavy loads.

Guilds: I'll probably bounce a bit back and forth. I plan to try for 3rd Dan in a couple of years. I'll definitely be a Monk when that gets closer.

[trawlerman]

Is the spear actually your weapon of choice?

[Spear Warrior]

Not by choice. It's what my real name means, more or less. And that's just a happy accident, as I'm named after both my grandfathers.

[saturnreturn]

Hey Spear Warrior! Just checking in to see how you're progressing through your challenge. Hope all is well!

[Spear Warrior]

Thank you for checking in on me! I've gotten started on most of my goals. (I made a fancy progress bar thingy in my signature).

My shoulder feels good, though I'll probably take a rest day tomorrow. I did 7 pull-ups in the first set today, and that's more than I've done since I injured the shoulder.

[Teirin]

Excellent, clear progress and sensibly taking some rest afterwards.

[Spear Warrior]

Thanks!

 

I've been thinking about how to award the different goals, and I saw the post in the "Juice Bar" thread.

 

Here are some questions to put your goals to the test:

 

1. Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable?

Yes, I think so. My current main quest is to get well from an injury, get rid of a little bit of excess weight and get better eating habits.

 

2. 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?

Yes. Except that I haven't really made 3 quests... I can re-phrase my challenge a little bit:

 

Quest 1: Heal shoulder:

Increase strength and flexibility to avoid future injury, and strengthen current weakness.

Challenge goals: 1) Shoulder strenght excercises and 2) flexibility (the latter is working on my leg flexibility as well, but I have included shoulder stretches into my regular program).

 

Quest 2: Reduce and stabilize weight.

I want to get from my current 85-86 kg to about 80, and stabilize.

Challenge goals: Eating right more often than not. Over 6 weeks I have only 9 cheat days (one-and-a-half a week).

 

Quest 3: Math skills. I want to work as a teacher. Due to requirements I need to broaden my education, and have chosen mathematics as my subject. I will formalize the education next school year, and I am currently working on re-learning skills I haven't used in 12 years.

Challenge goal: Work on math skills 5 days a week.

 

Side quests: Pull-ups (feeds into both quest 1 and quest 2).

Clean my appartment properly. Just needs to be done. It's clean enough for living purposes, but I need to do a proper cleaning to make sure it stays good and to lessen the burden when I move out in June.

 

3. 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?

Yes my goals are achievable. The physical ones may even be too easy, but I dare not challenge too hard until I know what my shoulder can take. I'll up the ante in future challenges.

 

4. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them?

Yes. I count days I have done my job. I made a sticky on my computer desktop where I can see how many I have done, and how many are left and so on.

 

5. 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€?

Pass/fail by daily duties. For this challenge my improved overall health is a reward in itself if I complete it.

I haven't  thought about stats rewards yet, but I will have to grade them as I do my students' tests.

The Shoulder exercises will go into Con, the flexibility will go to Dex, Pull-ups to Strength, Math to humm... Wisdom, perhaps. Cleaning my apartment may be Wisdom or Charisma (in that I may dare to attract females inside it). Eating habits: Charisma and Constitution.

 

 

6.  What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured?

I can work on flexibility even laying in bed, and even if my shoulder says no to pull-ups I will do negatives or even supported negatives. I can do all the physical exercises, even if I have to adjust the level of difficulty.

I can work on mathematics unless my head shuts down, but then I can't do anything at all.

I can clean my apartment any time, though I hope I don't make it a show of procrastination.

 

7. 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?

Yes. I have a friend with a birthday as well as a job-related party. I have counted them into the allotted cheat days. Luckily those two occasions may fall on the same day (and my friend is also a colleague). Working out and stretching can be done between work and party, or in the morning if I get up really early.

 

8. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another?

No.

 

9. 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?

Yes, I have time.

 

10. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest?

I do multiple things, but improved eating habits and lowered body weight will make my shoulder less at risk when I start working harder on the hard bodyweight exercises (handstand push-ups and planche).

Math skills is a different thing, but from experience I need to do more than one thing at a time. Too much focus on one thing can lead me to burn out on that subject.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

I had shoulder problems, too. The bones always slipped from the shoulder blade. I don't know how to describe it properly, but it hurt and I couldn't do all the things I wanted to do.

Than I started to exercise and gradually the muscles improved and now they are holding my shoulders in place. So I hope it will get better for you, too. Stretching is important and to know what movements agrevate the shoulder. Than you can avoid insuries. And it's good to have a PT or a doctor with you to tell you what movements can help you to improve your shoulder.

Dumbbell and swordfighting worked for me. so it's not only boring stuff you can do.

[Spear Warrior]

I injured my shoulder due to trying too much too fast. I did a bunch of handstands, handstand push-ups and planche practice. I did not have the flexibility or supporting muscles I needed. I started feeling a bit of an ache last Easter, then I tried one single supported one-arm push up a week later and it felt like getting stabbed (not that I ever have been...).

 

A week in I feel better than I have in a long time. This challenge really has helped me schedule my tasks more than I'd have done otherwise. The last months, without a schedule, I had days or a week at a time without working on my shoulder and flexibility.

 

I have made my goals this week. 5 shoulder workouts. 7 flexibility workouts. 4 days with pull-ups, 5 days of math. No cleaning rooms, but I have tidied the place up a bit, so it will be easier to wash the floors. I've had 2 cheat eating days, and have 7 left for 5 weeks. One of the cheat days wasn't really bad either, just more carbs than I'd like.

[Spear Warrior]

Revamped my goals to make them even clearer. Now with attribute point awards.

 

Main quest: Strengthen shoulder. Get better eating habits.

 

Quest 1: Do shoulder strength exercises 5 days a week. (30 total) To make sure the shoulder is ready for more interesting work.

Measurement: A: 30 days, B: 25 days, C: 20 days.

Awards: A: +2 Con, +1 Str, B: +1 Con, +1 Str, C: +1 Con

 - Sub quest: 3 sets of pull-ups every other day. (21 total) Strength building, and also a test of the bad shoulder.

Measurement: A: 21 days, B: 18 days, C: 15 days.

Awards: A: +2 Str, B: +1 Str, C: pat on the back.

 

Quest 2: Do a flexibility/stretching workout every single day. (42 total) Both legs, hips and shoulders. For martial arts and more.

Measurement: A: 42 days, B: 36 days, C: 30 days.

Awards: A: +3 Dex, B: +2 Dex, C: +1 Dex.

 

Quest 3: Eat healthy. Max one-and-a-half cheat day per week (9 total). Weighing about 85-86 kilos at the moment. Want to be 5 kgs less and keep it there. (I do not plan to loose much this challenge, but I'll probably do some. My main focus is to be able to keep the weight away once I do lose it).

Measurement: A: 3 cheat days left, B: 1 cheat days left, C: 0 cheat days left

Awards: A: +1 Sta, +1 Con, +1 Cha, B: +1 Sta, +1 Con, C: +1 Sta.

 - Sub quest: Clean my apartment properly. (6 rooms to clean). To make a clean environment for a clean body.

Measurement: A: Done.

Awards: A: +1 Wis.

 

Life Quest: Study mathematics 5 days a week (30 total). I need to prepare for serious studies next year to get the job I want.

Measurement: A: 30 days, B: 25 days, C: 20 days.

Awards: A: +3 Wis, B: +2 Wis, C: +1 Wis

 

Motivation: I want to do cool moves and bodyweight exercises. Can't do the really heavy ones with a bad shoulder. I also weigh a tad too much. I want to lose the excess weight both for better looks, confidence and above all easier movement. I want to be a full-time teacher. With my current background, if I study mathematics for one year I am almost sure to get the jobs I want.

 

Progress: I've done most work as scheduled. Haven't cleaned any rooms, and got a bit slow start on the Mathematics. Did more push-ups than planned while instructing Taekwon-Do yesterday. I feel them in my shoulder, but nothing went wrong and I can do today's exercises as planned.

[Spear Warrior]

Small update.

 

Challenge is going well. Yesterday I didn't get time to do the shoulder exercises, but worked on math until I almost fell asleep. Today I did all my tasks after work, so I was sure to have time to complete them.

 

Eating is going well. I hope to manage this weekend without any cheat days, so I am at a schedule of one every week.

 

I did 8 pull ups today. If I count the last one, with desperate wriggling to get to the top. That's starting to get back to my best results from last year. PR is 10. Completed sets two and three with negatives.

Did 31 push ups in two sets, and I felt them in the shoulder but not too bad. I'll put in some narrow planche training push ups in my next challenge.

[Spear Warrior]

Halfway through week three. I am still doing all my work. No rooms cleaned, but I'll do them all tomorrow. I don't have work then, and have a planned rest day from working out. No excuses.

I've eaten some less than healthy things a few days the last week, but I have not eaten more than needed. I have not bought anything "extra". If I get my weight down to my planned level I think this is the kind of "cheating" I can do in the future. As long as I'm not stuffing myself (or snacking too often).

[Spear Warrior]

I cleaned all the things! I had to use two days, but I got almost all of my messes tidied before cleaning. Now I live in a clean and organized apartment. Next job in that area is to sort and organize all of my various papers. Important documents, trash and receipts for expensive things.

 

Now: Healthy fish and vegetable dinner (with a glass of white wine to celebrate my house work effort). Later: Today's regularly scheduled challenge work.

[Spear Warrior]

Halfway report: All items on schedule. I spent one day eating stuff, and was shanghaied out for a couple of beers with my friends. I started using the MyFitnessPal app to track my nutrition. I think it will be a really useful tool once I want to stabilize my weight.

 

The last week I added one set on my shoulder exercises and included handstands. I don't feel any negative effects yet. I've gotten up to 8 pull ups on my first set twice, but my PR is 10. I'll keep on with my current program for now, and make a habit of working on my goals for this challenge, so I'll keep on with them later.

 

Edit: I went out for a couple of runs this weekend as well. Felt good, even though it's freezing here.

[Bast]

Hey, Spear Warrior!!  

 

I see that you have been tagged by the Monks, but you've also been hanging out on the Assassin Recruits page as well as mentioned an interest in the Assassin Guild.  So on behalf of the Assassins Guild, I'd like to say "Welcome to the Rebellion"!!  It looks like you're already totally rocking the crap out of this 6WC!  Since you're already well into Week 5, you know there's quite a bit to absorb about not only navigating, but succeeding in the Rebellion.  And finding a "home" in guild can be a great asset in succeeding!  

 

As you may have already noticed from the Assassin Recruits Forum, we Assassins are a fun-loving bunch who embrace movement and fluidity, thrive off both competition and cooperation, and prize enjoyment of whatever we are doing; but most of all we are determined to be the masters of our own bodies.  We train anywhere, anytime, with anything, in whatever ways we think best (or are just plain fun).  The world is our playground!  So feel free to check out our info/annoucement thread or phonebook to find people of similar goals &/or interests, hang out some more at the Recruit Q/A Hangout thread, or just drop by the Assassin's Den to say hi!  We use the term "focus" a little loosely because we tend to have a lot of shiny goals at once, but that just makes the whole thing that much more fun!

 

Good luck with the rest of your challenge!

 

[Spear Warrior]

Thanks! As I've said somewhere else I'll probably be doing challenges in both guilds, depending on my goals.

 

Updating this challenge: Still doing my work. I hit a motivational bump last week, but managed to trudge on.

 

I've gotten more stable at handstands. I can do 10 seconds now, and is reliably getting up from the floor.

I leveled up my pull ups. NINE! today. Completing every set with negatives really helps.

 

Shoulder feels good. The real test will be this weekend. I want to be regional champion of Taekwon-Do Power Breaking.

 

(Travelling to the competition made me schedule a pull-ups session before work on Friday. Wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't for the challenge)

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Best wishes for your competition.

Looks like you had a good fifth week. Keep up the good work. And congraz on the imrovement with the pull ups.