Jarric

I feel this so much! The act of creating something, and the focus involved in doing it, is so good for me. It's something I only discovered in the last few months I think, but it definitely works.

I love your challenge tracker, it's so simple and clean looking. It also makes me want to play tetris Well done on the exercise, consistency for the win!

I AM ALWAYS READY! She is super cute! ❤️

Whether other people have it worse or not, it's still totally valid to be overwhelmed. Having said that, it sounds like you've had a lot more to deal with than most. I'm glad yesterday was a better day.

Yeah, I'm terrible with free time - if I have it I immediately try to fill it, and I never allow time for stuff between activities. In fact I always imagine that I don't need any time to get from one thing to the next!

Challenge updated with actual goals:

Glad it did! Hope you guys had fun Yeah, I can't claim to compete with you. I think after about 5 minutes in your neck of the woods there would be nothing left of me but a puddle. Good to know that it sort of worked for you then. Might be an idea to bank for the future.

That's really good news

Following along man. I like the focus on observation and consistency in this challenge. I think you'll make good progress this way, without burning out the way you tend to when progress itself becomes the focus. ...I'm not sure if that made sense or not?

Congratulations on the new baby! Looks like a solid set of goals you've got, will be following along.

Yes, and that song is awesome! @fleaball good call on needing some Linkin Park here. I can't believe it's taken me so long to catch up with this thread, I live angsty rock (and to be fair, a lot of angsty nu metal).

Hey //Min, welcome to the Rangers, nice to meet you! Much like @loire and @Salinger if I want something I'll buy it. I also don't particularly find spending my own money on stuff rewarding Progress tracking works well for me. Some people here post their level in their signature and level up with each challenge they complete. I complicate that slightly by assigning XP to every challenge goal, and levelling up every 100XP (I track it using the old NF Character Creator). In terms of an experiential reward, I find that a goal experience works very well for me. Usually I'm working towards an obstacle course race or a running event, so my progress is rewarded by a better experience at the race. Your graphics for this challenge look amazing! How do you go about putting them together? Also, if you can do 25 wall pressups unbroken you might want to progress to elevated pushups using a kitchen counter or the back of a sofa. 25 reps in a set is a lot!

Yes! You've got this Terra! You will become a goddess this year! Don't sigh, that's a good realisation. Can you use your start of week productivity to set yourself up for success? Front load your goals so you complete them early on? Meal prep and workout plan while you're motivated to make the latter part of the week easier?

So the big news is the internet is apparently not fixed, though amazingly it stayed on all day yesterday. Internet man has put a tracker on the router and is coming out again on Monday, so hopefully he'll figure it out. (Side note - Internet Man is a rubbish superhero name. Then again my internet is with Virgin Media, so I've been resisting the urge to call him Virgin Man.) Yesterday was a good day. I chilled for a couple of hours in the morning having breakfast and a big pot of tea, then got out for a 15 mile run. It was hot as all hell so pretty tough going, but it was also beautiful outside and I very much enjoyed it. Also ran into a friend from the gym that I haven't seen since gyms closed, so it was nice to stop and talk to her from a distance. In the afternoon I did some drawing - a terrible visual pun for a friend's birthday card, and we made our own pizza dough. Pizza in the evening was delicious with homemade tomato pizza sauce, mozzarella, cheddar, tomato, mushroom and chorizo. We should have made the base thinner though - we probably could have squeezed two bases out of all the dough we made! In the evening I pretty much crashed out - I blame the run! (Or maybe stress from worrying about my internet connection!)

Good shout. Two very good points. Mixing it up would definitely be good. Don't worry, no matter what I choose I'll still be getting my workout plan from my coach, and that plan will include daily handstand practice and/or handstand pushups. Now I know you're watching them I'll make sure to post videos too. Yeah, option 4 sounds kinda hellish, but I included it because apparently it works for some people? Mostly I was wondering if I'd find any of those people here to tell me why it works! Now there's an offer I can't refuse

You've got so much cool stuff going on this challenge - looking forward to it! Iagreewithtank™ That's the spirit! Remember, you are not a destination, you are not a gathering, you are not an activity. You are Starpuck, and whether you're staying at home or roaming the world you can still accomplish awesome things, and have loads of fun doing them.

Yeah, I like the single focus idea. Workouts are the one thing I don't struggle with, I haven't missed a day in at least a couple of months, but the singular focus sounds like a good idea. It's a fair point, thanks man.

As I thought, you could set these together so that they keep up with each other. Like every so often do 20 pushups, 8 sit ups, 4 pullups (or whatever rep scheme you like, but that would be 25 rounds over the course of the day to hit the top end all 3 goals).

Building a Foundation Last challenge I kind of disappeared in week 5, and I don't really know why. All had been going reasonably well, but I just ran out of enthusiasm for my goals. I stopped doing my hip physio (which I'd been intermittent with anyway), I stopped sticking to my calorie goals (though I still tracked calories), and I got less consistent at brushing my teeth. This zero week has been pretty stressful, as my internet has been disappearing for hours at a time. Given that I now work remotely from home, socialise virtually from home, play D&D from home, run D&D from home... you get the idea; home internet is quite an important part of my life right now! Up until this week I've been thriving in lockdown, it's been relatively easy for me to deal with and it's given me some new opportunities, but this week was tough. This challenge I'll be focusing on one thing, my physio for my hip. Being comfortable and being able to do all the things I want to do is the most important thing, as several of you have pointed out, and to quote @DarK_RaideR you can build a ziggurat without a strong foundation. So my goals this challenge are thus: Hip Exercises - 12XP I have three exercises to do daily - clams, single leg glute bridges, and a hip hike/proprioception thing. Hip Stretches - 12XP Seven stretches to do daily - adductors, groin forwards, groin sideways, piriformis/figure-four (two variations), hamstring forward bend, hamstring standing. Foam Rolling - 12XP IT band with a roller and glutes with a massage ball daily. Glute Warmup - 7XP Do a glute warmup/engagement routine three times per week (before each full run) Pose Running - 7XP Focus on running form, in terms of pose and posture, five times per week (during the three full runs and two sprint sessions). No pressure to think about it constantly, just remember to think about it at some point. Other Stuff These aren't challenge goals, but other things that will be happening: I'll be following the workout routine my coach sends me, which largely consists of handstands, pushups, handstand pushups, weighted pullups, and sprinting. I've recently bought an art programme called Art Quest, so I'll be doing lots of drawing I'm hoping to lose another 5lbs over the course of this challenge, so I'll continue to track calories I'll be running my D&D game (5e) with a lot of awesome nerds weekly, and playing my other two D&D games (Pathfinder 1e) every week and every other week respectively I initially wasn't sure what to do for this challenge, so I asked the awesome people here for advice. Original post in spoiler:

Touché

Why do you have a concrete-filled pizza box?

This is a beautiful sentiment, with a beautiful intention behind it ❤️ I love the concept of the approaching certainly of dawn too; your mental approach to this challenge is amazing. I hope the date goes well, I think it'll be good for you to have the socialisation and to practice being assertive when you need to (though hopefully you won't need to too much).

Always good to be home replies a wood elf, from his table where the barman has placed a pint of very strong, very dark beer. It's good to see everyone.

This is really great to hear; glad you're doing well Yeti.

This is true. Cheese too. Cheese and pickles.... Thank you! I'm not really sure what happened towards the end of this challenge - I'm not finding being at home particularly difficult and I'm not particularly stressed about it, so it's a bit weird. To be honest the tracker looks a bit messy now that I've (partially) filled it in. Planning to do a lot more drawing next challenge though, so there will be art!