ASSASSINS REPORT!

[starsapart]

So, how did you do this challenge?  How do you feel about the new format?  We value your feedback!

 

FILL OUT THE FORM HERE!

 

And feel free to post a challenge summary here for the guild to see as well!

[Hazard]

Challenge Recap

(skip to bottom of post for results only)

 

Original Quest:   10+ second Overhand Flex Hang

Began With:  

• 3 second Overhand flex hang
• and 15 second Overhand dead hang

The Retreat:  There was no progress on my Overhand flex hangs after two weeks.  My body wasn't ready for that game zone yet.  Rather than wasting the next two weeks, I retreated to a zone where I thought I could make progress.

 

Revised Quest:   15+ second Underhand Flex Hang

Began With: 

• 7 second Underhand Flex Hang

Ended With:

• 27 second Underhand flex hang
• 58 second Overhand dead hang

Summary / Results / Stats

 

I gained 20 seconds on my Underhand flex hang

 

I gained 43 seconds on my Overhand dead hang

[Asa Pond]

Main Quest for This Four Week Challenge: For this challenge, I want to get back a fitness regimen that is flexible but consistent. In the past, I have been really good at working out for weeks at a time, but then something will throw a wrench in the plan and I'll be caught up for ages in laziness and lack of discipline. I really want to start a system that is consistent, but also flexible enough to jump right back in with little delay.

 

This has been a great challenge for me and I am so happy that I stuck with it. I'm proud of the tough time I went through because, as difficult as it was, I made it through the other side fully intact and still rearing to go. I haven't had a huge interruption yet, so I'm not sure how I'll stick through something really difficult, but I guess we keep trying and fighting and changing things up until we get it, right? 

 

SMART Quests:

 

1.  Create and Follow a Weekly Fitness Schedule: Instead of having it be Monday - Arms, Tuesday - Legs, I am going to list six different workouts (and a rest day) and do a pick and choose type thing. That way, if I don't have time to do a specific workout on a specific day, I'll just choose the quickest one. This should help the flexibility issue.

 

This was not a problem for me at all. Went to the gym at least 5 times a week all 4 weeks and, most importantly, wanted to go.

Grade = A+(+)

 

2.  Create a Meal Plan and Follow it: My eating has been all over the map as of late and I need to get back on track. For this, I'm going to follow a lose Whole30 concept with a few alternations for being vegetarian and in order to make it sustainable for me. Everyone who can do Paleo and stick with it forever are my heroes, but I've found that I just can't do that.

 

Good but not great. I found myself mostly sticking to my calorie goals and tracked a majority of the days. I didn't eat as "whole" or "clean" as I would have liked, but I'm also not too worried about that. I only ordered pizza/got take out twice total and I'd call that a success. It's only up from here.

Grade = B+

 

3. Yoga Every Day: I have been dealing with a back injury that has been hindering my progress in the gym for years and it is time I take control and get rid of it once and for all. I'm planning on using yoga as both a body-weight workout, but also as stretching on days when I am less active and it's not already a part of the day.

 

I managed to do yoga inspired stretching if not straight up yoga on about 90% of the days this challenge. I've noticed a significant improvement in my back which has corresponded to obvious improvements in my lifts and other workouts. 

Grade = B+

 

4.  Meditate and journal everyday: The literature on the benefits of meditation speaks for itself in terms of why I want to make this part of my challenge. I need to become more mindful of myself, my actions, and those around me. 

 

I managed to Meditate every single day and am super close to having meditated once a day for 30 days! I love it. It really allows me time to connect with my emotions and my self and to take a step back from life. Some days were a lot harder than others and I may have been incredibly distracted during them, but I at least made time for it and sat quietly while attempting to meditate which is what matters. The other stuff will come in time. 

Grade = A+

 

Overall: A

 

Hope to see you all during the next challenge!! 

[Spear Warrior]

I had only two specific goals to reach: Regular 10 second handstand, and 10 pistol squats on my weak leg (old ACL and meniscus injury).

 

Summary: I "failed" the handstands, but I am regularly doing 5-6 seconds. I managed the Pistol squat goal. I am Squat King, after all.

In the other parts of my challenge I achieved a goal I had not dared set. I can do the tuck planche for 6-7 seconds. I could not do it at all when I started.

I also feel a lot better when doing jumping spinning kicks now. This may be due to increased flexibility and one legged squat work.

 

I need to have more specific skill and strength goals for the next challenge.

 

Overall: A-

I changed my class to proper Assassin now. Not wannabe. I really like this guild and the mini-challenges. I'll stay.

[PixieKitten]

I achieved.... *goes back and counts* 148. That's less than ten points off in 4 weeks, so I'm counting that as a win.

 

 

LEVEL UP!

 

I did actually write some notes about this challenge in my notebook.. Lemmie type 'em out.

 

 

• Finding a reason to get up at 6:30am, when the world is still dark and cold and the bed is so comfy was challenging. Which I guess is why it's called a challenge.

 

• I'm so, so very proud of Queenie actually letting me clip her, when no one thouht I'd be able to do it. We only managed a small part and we've had to stop, but it had nothing to do with her behaviour and I'm so proud of her.

 

• Workouts were tough but manageable to the point that I felt as though I should have been pushing harder. But I know I have a habit of pushing too hard and giving up, so while I started off easy, I did make progressions into slowly making them tougher and I kept at it the whole time. I might actually feel just that little bit stronger too.

 

• Eating more calories than I burned took the most effort f all for me. Eating is such a chore by itself, but then making sure I had enough food in the house, bought healthy, filling things, kept a budget to make sure I could afford it, and then actually prepping and cooking and eating and washing up and tracking it down? Exhausting.

 

• Fitbit = <3. There's just no way I could have kept on track the way I did without it. I've struggled in the past with recording my progress and I think this has been the helping hand I've needed. Physically seeing my stats in colourful charts, graphs and displays is not only fun to look at, but gives me a number, a time, a goal to aim toward the next day. Got a badge for 15000 steps today? Next badge is 20000? I bet I could do that tomorrow. My love for this program will never be put adequately into words.

 

• Doing the same Yoga dvd four times a week felt repetative, excessive, and frankly got really boring, even though I love that DVD. For this next challenge I plan to switch out 3 of 4 with Pilates and Exercise Ball workouts.

 

• I feel a bit disappointed with myself that I didn't have any adventures this month. I felt like I was too focussed on my goals to just get out and do something random. So I'll make an effort to throw some unplanned adventures in next challenge.

 

For my next challenge, I'm going to attempt something I've never been able to do before. It's number 6 in my signature. I hope to see you there! Bring on February!

[Calanthia Cobbin]

Challenge Wrap-up!

 

Drinking the Ent Draught: 116.67% = A+ = +3.5 CON and 11.7 xp!
    I got extra credit! I provided leeway for myself on the weekends to "slip" a bit, and I didn't on this one! I think I have fully established a habit of drinking more water. I noticed after a while that my body began to CRAVE water and if I didn't have water first thing in the morning I could actually feel myself getting dehydrated. I'm finally taking baby steps to listening to what my body needs and following through with it   
 
Stretching for Battle: 30.56% = F = +1 DEX and 3 xp
    I definitely could have done better on this one. I realized that I spent most of my evenings relaxing by playing video games, when I probably should have done my relaxing stretches first! I will most likely be repeating a version of this quest in the next challenge (which is what I did for the water quest in this challenge) so that I can try to truly vanquish this beast! Perhaps next time rather than putting off my stretches until the evening, I can do them when I first wake up or when I get home from work? 
 
Walking my dog to Mordor: 66.67% = D = +2 STA and 6.7 xp
    I know that I can very easily blame the blizzard here for my inability to walk my dog... but I even gave myself a way out in my original post! I had stated that: 
 

"In the event of inclement weather or "snowmageddon," I may replace some or all of these walks with another activity such as yoga or a bodyweight workout"

 

   I gave myself no excuse, and therefore I must accept my grade of a D on this quest. My dog still needs walking and I am still on my quest to walk to Mordor, so I will continue working on this (just not as part of a challenge).
 
Making Hobbity-Habits: 81.39% = B- = +2.5 CHA and 8.2 xp
   The primary purpose of this quest was to make me get up out of bed and get myself presentable in the morning, and then actually remember to go through a nightly routine so that I can sleep better at night. I was successful some days, and other days I was a bit lazy. Overall I am satisfied with my B on this quest, as I know I could have done better but I also had quite a few lazy snow days in there that I don't feel bad about at all   

 

Overall Challenge Grade: C = 69.31% 

This is a huge improvement over my first challenge (let's just not talk about that Fail) so I am satisfied   

I am slowly building up habits and gaining discipline, and I'll shoot for an A or B next time! 

 

For the next challenge, I will be taking a short vacation to the Druid camp so that I can continue the process of becoming more "in-touch" with myself. I shall return soon however, for I will always be an Assassin-at-heart! 

[Darth Yoga]

FINAL REPORT

 

Handstands - A. Great progress. 

I stuck with it, doing five good handstands at least every other day for the whole challenge! I missed seven days total, never two in a row, and only two were for no good reason. In my last practice, on 3 out of five attempts I got at least a three second hold without ever touching the wall, and two of those I made a nice graceful landing. Woot! I just started practicing handstands in December, so this is great progress.

 

FUTURE GOALS: deferred

Despite the fun of this goal, and despite my great progress, I'm taking a break from it because my shoulders and wrists are feeling a little tweaked. It is either this or the kettlebells, so I'll do just kettlebells next month and see how I feel. I'll pick it back up again, probably in March, because handstands are awesome.

 

 

Kettlebells: A-. A solid beginning.

Aside from one time in the first week, when I was really not feeling well, I managed to do Pavel's Simple-and-Sinister at least every other day. (I just started with kettlebells this challenge.) I did the full routine on 17 days, a partial routine on 4 days, and of the six days I skipped, only two were for no good reason. After spending a month using duct-tape-wrapped rocks in bags, I just got my 20lb real kettlebell, and can do 10 reasonable get-ups in the allocated ten minutes. My 50lb kettlebell (for swings) should be here Monday. I've got the general hang of the routine, but I'm still working on the details. My 10x10 swings are still close to 10 minutes, twice the target time, whether I use 20lbs or 50lbs. The swings leave me winded, but not sore. It is a satisfying workout, and I am sticking with it.

 

FUTURE GOALS:    Refine my form!

My swings and getups are not terrible, but next challenge I want to work on my form, point by point, now that I've got some real kettlebells. I'm continuing my goal to practice every day when possible (at least every other day) and in the mornings whenever that is reasonable. As per instructions, I'm going to take what rest I need, and continue working towards doing all one-handed swings. Speed will come in time. Mini-goals - Post form check video. Memorize the form standards.

 

 

Daily Routine:   A. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. 

I've worked out a good checklist for the main things I want to be sure to do in the mornings and evenings. Having a printed checklist on my daily to-do list makes it easy to be consistent with the simple stuff I was just forgetting to do, and at least I can see how I am doing on the harder stuff, so I can make good decisions about it. I achieved my goal - planning a satisfactory morning and evening routine that I can see myself continuing long-term.

 

FUTURE GOALS:    Maintain. 

I'm going to keep tracking my morning and evening routine on my daily to-do lists, but I'm not going to have any specific goals about those. I'll have goals of some sort about my sleep schedule, which had been included in this, but has which has gotten really problematic and needs special attention.

 

 

Ukulele:  INCOMPLETE. 

I had a song I wanted to learn to play from memory, so I could just randomly pick up a ukulele and play something. I didn't practice as consistently as I hoped, but I was feeling pretty solid playing the song. So I figured I'd make a final one-take no-warmup recording for you all, to show my progress. Um... I'm not posting it. I'd been doing good in practice, but I couldn't find the right note to start singing on, and when I finally did, I still did the worst rendition I've done since week 1. Apparently performance anxiety is a real problem for me. I went through it a few times after that, and it wasn't so bad. I've got an in-person casual performance tomorrow, at a music circle, so if that goes well, I'll give myself a C. If I get someone to record it and I post it on Facebook, I get a B. 

 

FUTURE GOALS: deferred.

I'm not bringing the uke with me while I'm on the road for most of February, because I don't have a hard case for it. In the future, what I've really got to practice is playing in front of people.

[Alexandrite]

It was a good start to the year honestly. I liked being able to stick to stuff for a shorter period of time and know that even with the 4th week fallout that is typical of the 6 week runs, that I could still somehow squeak by. I learned that energy management is going to be key to any goals I set, especially as I get bigger and approach baby arrival.

I didn't meet all my goals but I had a good time doing it. =)

[annyshay]

Nourishing Eating - 75%

 

I used and shared many experiments from Eating the Moment.  This last week I probably employed them 3/5 times, so I'm giving myself a round 75%.  I've learned lots of useful techniques for eating more mindfully.  My favorites are taking meals bite by bite and only having one bite of a tempting sweet.  I plan to continue using these in the next challenge as I tackle my nemesis... THE SUGAR DRAGON!!!

 

Nourishing Movement - 100%

 

Technically I missed one active rest day.  But otherwise, I have stuck to Integral Strength purrrrrfectly.  So.  I'm awesome!  I've done almost all my workouts and they've been pretty much all smooth and solid... so I'm not going to post them.  You trust me, yes? Yes!

 

Nourishing Sleep - 82% 

 

I missed the screens off deadline a few times this week and twice earlier in the challenge.  This week were related to working forever... but I also spent time past 8pm on electronics to "unwind" which is less than ideal.  Still... much better sleep habits at night.  Having a hard time getting up in the morning despite my new fancy light.  This is likely related to overwhelming work stress of doom.

 

Keeping Track - ungraded?

 

Probably my weakest link... but I have systems going that let me keep track and back fill most of my data.  I also completed 2 weeks of data collection for my experiential happiness PVP, but I have yet to summarize and post the results.  So, stay tuned. 

 

Challenge Total - B

 

Level Up! DING!!