Jarric

Ape hops done with EC. Just let me catch my breath a minute...

Stats at W2D4 (Thursday) Mr Positivity 9/28 Mr Strong 4/12 Mr Sleepy 6/26 Mr Writer 11/28 Daily Dare score: 18 (providing I do it as soon as I post this!) Today has been a good day, if a long one. Went out Christmas shopping, leaving the house about 10ish (maybe?) and not getting back until after 6. Got almost all of our presents now though, except I need to go out and buy for Mrs. But I have just bought a present for the Mrs online, and I've finally got The Captain's present as well. Also got a haircut this evening, which was well overdue. All to-dos are not sorted except for that damn passport. I need to do it so that I can stop posting about it! Mr Positivity says: "Productive day today. Lots of Christmas shopping done, a couple of bits to get for Mrs, but properly looking forward to Christmas now. Only 10 days!" Now I'm off to do my daily dare (40 side-to-side hops) and then off to bed. It's 1038 now so I've missed my sleep goal again, but hope to be in bed by 11. Tomorrow is another early day for work, and looking forward to a decent bit of gym time (which will probably have to be after work unfortunately).

Stats at W2D3 (Wednesday) Mr Positivity 8/28 Mr Strong 4/12 Mr Sleepy 6/26 Mr Writer 10/28 Daily Dare score: 16 Wednesday I was back at work. Had to get up stupidly early for train purposes, so I dropped my stuff at work and went for a run. No idea how far I went as my GPS decided not to work, but I was out for 28 minutes so I guess somewhere around 3 miles. Work was hugely stressful, and that meant I didn't want to journal. I don't know why, it doesn't usually feel like a chore, but I really didn't want to write in there or post about it on here. I added that post in this morning, and not done to-dos were passport (again!), water bill (I'm abandoning this, it's clearly not that important), and updating on here. Did make some progress on The Captain's present but didn't buy it. I also didn't do a positivity statement, due to feeling so rubbish. Which is stupid really as it probably would have helped, but there it is. No snooker as I got home so late, so I got some beers in and stayed up until midnight watching TV with Mrs. Which was a bit stupid, but I just felt I needed it to unwind. Also, Hot Fuzz was on .

I think it helps, yeah. Glad it's given you a boost too . --- Wow, I haven't given you guys an update since Sunday! Yikes! Sorry about that; here's a wrap up of week 2 so far: Monday I decided to have a lie in and get a later train, as I've got two days off this week and I could go to the gym then instead of going before work. This was a silly idea as I'm not a member of a gym near home so have been at the mercy of day passes, and the train was packed on the way into work, so I didn't get a full update on here, do any journaling or write my Mr Positivity thing. Work was pretty stressful but I finished a bit early and went out for a Christmas catch-up with some work contacts who I really enjoy seeing. Much beer was had and a massive meal. Got in at 00:45 and to bed at 01:15, so a late night but a pass on the sleep goal. Tuesday was a day off, so I celebrated by sleeping until half 11 and then staying in bed until about 1! Missed lots of to-dos in my journal, including passport and water bill (again!), sorting out a friend's present online (he shall henceforce be known as The Captain for clarity) and updating on here. I did however manage some Christmas shopping and my daily dare. I made it to the gym on Tuesday. The local one I've been trying out doesn't have any 1.25kg plates, so I can only go up in 2.5kg increments (that's 5.5#). The squat rack also had a 21kg bar on it, so I worked up to some slightly odd numbers: Squat 71kg (huge leap from 65kg last time) OHP 31kg (very small jump from 30kg last time Power Clean 30kg (repeated weight to get the form right. Mr Positivity says: "My work has furnished me with some excellent friends. I am privileged to have some people who I can really rely on, and who regardless of work I really look forward to seeing." Splitting this post as paranoid about laptop dying. Wednesday and Thursday coming soon!

I used to get up and go straight to the gym, and then eat breakfast at my desk. Now I've moved office I eat breakfast on the train, and then workout afterwards. I haven't noticed any difference in my energy levels in the gym either way if that helps!

OH MY GOD THAT'S THE CUTEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!! *ahem* sorry, don't mind me.

Love the pictures, if you're calling that a "little doodle" I'm properly impressed! Just caught up, and it looks like you've been going great on the mental side of the challenge! Keep it up, and I'm sure it'll transfer over to some more motivation on the physical stuff too

If you're feeling good and losing weight without tracking calories I would say that there is no need to start tracking (for at least as long as that lasts anyway). My go to for chocolate used to be expensive dark chocolate (around 85% cacao or so). I figured if I was only going to have a little chocolate then I might as well have the posh stuff! There's also some evidence to suggest that dark chocolate acts as an appetite suppressant.

Just noticed, congrats to @Xena and @jonfirestar on hitting silver!

This is extremely true! Does make it interesting though. On that note, star jumps done with EC .

Wow, you had a seriously busy (and productive) weekend!

I know you weren't, but I thought you'd appreciate knowing you were part of my inspiration for the goal . That line was definitely taken from Master Tank though. And yes, we certainly are

Thank you! It was good. Do it! It's incredibly scaleable and you get a real sense of achievement as you progress through the different coloured climbs. Agreed, that was a very Tank-esque piece of motivation Jon! Also, thank you! Thanks! Not entirely my idea, but they seem to be working for me. Give it a go, it's surprisingly good. And thanks! . I ripped that one almost directly from a mini-challenge that Tank set a while ago (and which I failed miserably at the time!). The idea of the positivity goal was inspired by another ranger though. Think she called it her "Freeing" goal. Can't think who that was now. And thanks! Had a bit of a wobble yesterday morning due to some work stuff, but generally it's been pretty good . Thanks. Yesterday's journey was pretty miserable, but I've actually got a day off today which is lucky. Tomorrow will be a challenge! --- Will stick a proper update in later guys. Right now it's 12:44 and I need some breakfast!

You can do it! You are Xena, Ranger Princess, and you can run all the miles! That's a really interesting outlook, I've never thought of avoiding a streak to keep the pressure off... I may have to think on that in relation to my own challenges.

Sounds like a really lovely weekend, glad you're feeling better Also, Rayman is awesome!

Yeah, I loved the film actually. Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent in that role (which is good, because otherwise the cape might have upstaged him!)

Today got up and helped Mrs Hopalong carry a sofa upstairs as Hopalong still can't help with these things, then went bouldering with Mrs Jarric and Mrs Hopalong. Had a really excellent time; they had a competition on yesterday so we got to play with some of the competition climbs, and I hit plenty of the regular ones too. I now have a lovely graze on my left shin from falling off a climb, my pecks ache (from benching I think) my right arse cheek aches (I assume from squats, but no idea why it's just the right one) and my shoulders and back ache (climbing? Deads? Cleans? Idk!). I feel totally drained but definitely like I've earned it this weekend! Mr Positivity says "I am Jarric. I am a Ranger. I am a good man. I have done well this week, and I will smash week 2 of this challenge."

Stats at W1D6 Mr Positivity 6/28 Mr Strong 3/12 Mr Sleepy 3/26 Mr Writer 6/28 Daily Dare score: 12 Saturday morning got up for my Parkrun. Not a great time and felt really hard work, but I got round without walking at least (this should be a given, but it felt like a challenge at the time!). Got home a little before 10, and then procrastinated on here, joined instagram, procrastinated on there, had a bowl of cereal and eventually dragged myself to the gym around half 1. I'm really glad I bought the gym pass the night before or I may not have bothered to go. This gym I've never tried before. It was a bit basic but, incredibly, completely empty! There was literally 1 other person in there when I arrived, and in fact for almost the whole workout! And they were playing heavy rock loud over the system. As I had more time that usual and it was nice in there I did a bit more than the standard starting strength workout: Squat - worked up to 65kg x 3 x 5 Bench - worked up to 40kg x 3 x 5 - this should have been 37.5kg but I couldn't find any small enough plates so I made a leap from 35 straight to 40 Deadlift - worked up to 80kg x 1 x 5 - this is officially now well in excess of my body weight . Next up bodyweight squats! Superset: A. Incline DB bench @ 15kg/hand: 12, 12, 4 - started to get a twinge in my shoulder so stopped this B. DB curls @10kg/hand: 6, 6, 6 Power Cleans: A couple of attempts at the top half of the technique with just the bar, then 30kg x 5 x 3. - First time I've tried these and I don't have the technique down at all. If anyone can recommend some good videos on this I would be much obliged. Mr Positivity said: "Today is a good day! Ran this morning, relaxed for a bit then an excellent session in an empty gym. Off to Hopalong's tonight and I couldn't be happier." I may have been channeling Tank when I wrote that first line! And it was indeed a good day a good evening; beer was drunk, good food was eaten, and many laughs were had. No points for sleep goal as I was staying there so didn't go home, but I did turn in about 11 anyway.

Stats at W1D5 Mr Positivity 5/28 Mr Strong 2/12 Mr Sleepy 3/27 Mr Writer 5/28 Daily Dare score: 10 Splitting this over a couple of posts so hopefully it makes sense. This is to wrap up Friday. So as mentioned above I was horribly, horribly hungover all day and not much got achieved. No gym session, no daily dare, I even forgot my sleep goal rules and stayed up! Positivity was posted above and I did at least journal. Neither passport nor water bill were attempted.

Cheers, it was great fun and hilariously messy!

Good luck with the packing. Glad to hear you're surviving (and getting rich from) your 60 hour weeks.

I love garibaldi and lemon drops. And Werther's Originals. Guess I'm old before my time

Matrix tilts done with EC. Didn't think these were too bad until I tried to stand up afterwards!

Excellent plans for the year! With your main goal #1, have you read any Mr Money Mustache? He mostly writes about saving money, but there's a big ethos on avoiding waste and treating the planet kindly. This article in particular springs to mind: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/11/21/the-connection-between-trash-and-stash/

That Bring Sally Up challenge sounds hellish in the best way possible. Was just listening and that's a long arse song! Love your diglet, he's coming along really well! Yay for hitting things with sticks! I'd love to take up a sword martial art one day. And well done on your meditation streak, that's already am amazing achievement!