Jarric

Love the challenge, and you're doing really well with the Daily Dares. Following along

Nice one! The reps seem to be in under Alliance on the spreadsheet though?

Situps done yesterday with EC. Never tried plank jacks - they look interesting!

Thank you! With smoking I'm pretty much trying to quit, but I'm trying to do it by removing places I smoke in stages and breaking that association with smoking at a particular time/place if that makes sense? It's a bit of an experiment, but if it doesn't work I've lost nothing and I can always try something else. ----- New challenge is UP!

Week 1 stats Blind Man - 11st0, 16.02%BF (checked 17/07/16) Final Countdown - 6/7 days, 51 smoked Still of the Night - 1/7 days, 33 burpees imposed Runnin' Wild - 3/adjusted 3 Killer on the Loose - 2/2 A Better Man - 0/5 Daily Dare PvP: MTWTFSS - 40 Sit-ups (EC), 2' raised leg hold (EC), 60sec Squat Hops (EC), 20 single-leg push-ups (EC) Rangers Gonna Warcraft - 670 Mountain Climbers Rule changes for week 2: Final Countdown - No stopping on the way to/from work just to smoke Still of the Night - Late to bed is now 10 burpees, plus 1 per extra 5 minutes Late getting up is now 10 burpees, plus 1 per extra 5 minutes, 5 per snooze and 20 if alarm tuned off A Better Man - rules basically unchanged, but I now have Mrs on board and we have it written up on a whiteboard so it might actually happen! Week 2 stats Blind Man - 10st12, 15.9% BF (checked 30/07/)16 Final Countdown - 0/7 days, 68 smoked Still of the Night - 1 days, too many burpees imposed, too few done Runnin' Wild - 3/4 Killer on the Loose - 1.5/2 A Better Man - 2/5 Daily Dare PvP: MTWTFSS - 50 Climbers (EC), 50 Ninja Lunges (EC), 100 Shoulder Taps (EC), 2min T-Jumps (EC), 2min Fist Clenches (EC), 2min Tricep hold (no EC), 60s flutter kicks (EC) Rangers Gonna Warcraft - 61 Squat jumps*1.5 = 91.5 Week 3 stats Blind Man - 10st12, 15.9% BF at 31/07/16 Final Countdown - 0/5 days, 45 smoked (weekend technically passed as I wasn't around anywhere I couldn't smoke, but I have no idea on the count) Still of the Night - 7/7 days (once again the weekend rule relaxing helped; with less days at home and less work days) Runnin' Wild - 3/4 (pretty happy with this given being away) Killer on the Loose - 2/2 A Better Man - 4/5 (I think?) Daily Dare PvP: MTWTFSS - 2 min leg extensions (EC), 2 min double chest expansions (EC), 1 min hopping (EC), Bicycle Crunches (EC), Lunge Step-Ups (EC) Rangers Gonna Warcraft - 25m alligator crawls = 5 points #22 Challenge - 5/22 Week 4 stats Blind Man - 11st0, 15.7% BF at 14/08/16 Final Countdown - 0/6 days, and lost count Still of the Night - 6/7 days Runnin' Wild - 4/4 Killer on the Loose - 3/2 A Better Man - 3/5 Daily Dare PvP: MTWTFSS - 2 min leg-hug (EC) Rangers Gonna Warcraft - 10 Wood choppers #22 Challenge - 8/22 Overall Round-Up The Final Countdown - 25XP This started ok in week 1, and then promptly flopped entirely. So scrapping this (the plan, not the giving up smoking) and will try something new in the next challenge. Awarded 5XP as I had a good week and at least I learnt a few things about my smoking habits in the process. Still of the Night - 10XP The reverse of the smoking goal - this one started absolutely miserably and ended really well. Part of that I think was that the early mornings made me tired enough to go to bed early, part of it was just generally settling into the habit, and part of it was ramping up my workout schedule to make me extra tired! Awarded 5XP for a strong finish. Runnin' Wild - 15XP Out of 4 for each week, I hit 3, 3, 3, 4. Given that I've never been a runner and I'm now suddenly getting up at 7am to go running, and I'm now basing our 6 miles in 60 minutes, I'm still extremely happy with this one. Awarded 15XP. Blind Man - 5XP Missed a couple of measurements, so I'm going to fail myself here. More importantly though, my BF% has steadily decreased throughout the challenge, which I'm quite happy with. I would be much happier with the way I look if I were sub-13% BF, but I don't want to try and push this too hard whilst I'm trying to eat enough to keep up with training. Basically, any downward movement is good for me right now. Awarded - 0XP Killer on the Loose - 10XP Aim was 2 sessions minimum per week. And I hit 2, 1.5, 2, 3 so all good. Next challenge will be more! Awarded - 10XP A Better Man - 15XP Thanks to this challenge I probably did more housework than I normally would, but nowhere near what my goal was. I have a new system for this next month - stay tuned! Awarded - 5XP

So I'm finally posting my new challenge! I've already started today, but finishing the last one yesterday buggered up the preparation side somewhat. So without further ado.... Why have one festival themed challenge when you can have two? At the end of week 1 I'm off to Ramblin' Man Fair: Not a camping weekend this time, just two day tickets, so shouldn't be quite such a pause in my goals for this. I love a bit of classic rock and prog, so this should be a great weekend out with my Dad. To Goals! The Final Countdown - 25XP What? Finally counting down my smoking, to be virtually smoke free by the time the next challenge rolls around. Why? I'm sick of not being able to keep up with people, be it walking, swimming or manual work, because I've spent the past 11 years deliberately destroying my lung capacity. I'm also training for an OCR at the start of October, and running training and smoking do not mix. How? Follow these rules: No smoking at work At last challenge, no smoking at home, at the gym (or climbing gym) or in the car Count how many cigarettes I have and track on here This should mean that I have several completely smoke free days throughout the month, and only really smoke socially. I have however set the XP really high as I'm expecting to fail a fair bit whilst I adjust. Still of the Night - 10XP What? Get to bed at a sensible time, and get up at a sensible time too Why? Because I need sleep to recover from workouts and get stronger, not to mention to keep me sane and awake at work. And I hate sleeping in and rushing or feeling like I've wasted half a day. How? Every night I will be in bed by 11pm, or within 1 hour of getting home, whichever later. No more "up to bed at..." though, must be in bed, lights off, by that time. Workday mornings I will be out of bed by 7am. Punishment: I will do 1 burpee for every 5 minutes late I get to bed, 1 burpee for every 5 minutes late getting up, 5 burpees for every time I hit snooze and 20 burpees if I turn my alarm off and go back to sleep. Seen this work for a couple of people, so hopefully it'll work for me too. Runnin' Wild - 15XP I forgot Lemmy drives the truck in that video... What? Get in some running training in preparation for the OCR. Why? In preparation for the OCR, I just told you! It's 14km, I want to make sure I complete it, and hopefully complete it without too much injury. And the futhest I've run in one go is 5 miles, so definitely going to need a lot of training. How? Stick to the Runkeeper plan I'm currently working on - usually means running 4 times per week on days beginning with T and S. Blind Man - 5XP What? Track weight and body fat % weekly. Why? I'm not currently calorie/diet tracking, or sticking to any sort of plan. I'm just trying to eat sensibly intuitively. So if I'm not tracking what's going in, I at least need to keep an eye on the result, otherwise I'm blind to it (see, the song totally fits). How? Sunday nights, before bed, weigh self and then measure self and input into this handy spreadsheet. (Not my work, all credit to @Geek On Fire for making this). Killer on the Loose - 10XP What? Keep up strength training the the gym and bouldering. Why? Because I want a level of functional strength that I'm never held back from enjoying myself by my body. Plus the aforementioned OCR, the bouldering particularly will help with that. And because it's fun. And of course to look good naked . How? 2 sessions minimum in the gym or bouldering per week. Bonus: +5XP for 12 sessions in the challenge. A Better Man - 15XP What? Sort myself out to sort my house out (or vice versa?). Why? Because tidy house tidy mind, and also it would be nice to be able to have friends round without worrying about the state of the place. And hopefully if I keep on top of the simple things it will make my life easier. How? Do the following every week: Clean kitchen or clean bathroom Hoover either downstairs or upstairs At least 20 minutes tidying a room Run a load of washing at the weekend, and put out to dry Prep breakfasts on a Sunday (preferably for the whole week) Housekeeping: I expect to find some loopholes in my challenges as I work through - I will enjoy them for the week and then all known loopholes to be closed on Mondays. Expect profanity, long rambling stories and a lot of Pokémon GO! in this thread. Please feel free to join in with any of these. All units may be in metric or imperial, SI or non-SI, Gregorian, Julian or Aramaeic, Lunar, Solar or Nebular, or just plain made up. So that's pretty much all from me, lets rock on with this one!

Glad you're enjoying the archery (and doing pretty well at it by the sound of it!). It's on my current hobby to-do list - tried it in scouts when I was a kid but haven't had a look since.

Yeah, as soon as I can sit down in front of a computer tonight I'll get it written up

I truly love that we now live in a world where you can say this. Seriously! Need to get started on my climbers, it's only mid-afternoon day 1 (my time) and a few people have cleared 200!

Final Challenge Round-Up Down with the Sickness - 0/4 weeks - 15/28 days - 15XP 5XP So technically I failed badly at this one, barely getting a pass on half the days. However, I did build some strong habits - no smoking in the car or at the gym are set in stone now. Pretty much there with smoking at home too, although I'm occasionally making excuses to go for a walk and have one, but it's still better than smoking in my own garden. Next challenge I'm going to build on this, exclude more places, and drop the number limit as hopefully I'll be smoking so little I won't need it. Until It Sleeps - 1/4 weeks - 25/28 days - 10XP 5XP No too bad at this - had about 1 night per week I didn't hit it. Going to keep this plus imposing a wake-up time goal for the next challenge. Plus punishments for failure. Iron Man - 4/4 weeks - 10 sessions in total - 10XP RANGERED this one. Didn't quite hit my stretch goal, but that's ok, life sometimes gets in the way. Hopin to climb weekly now, so more than likely two gym and 1 climb going forward. The River - 2/4 weeks - 2 swims but 8 runs - 15XP 0XP Total fail on this one. Apparently the fact that I really enjoy swimming was not enough to make me actually get up and go swimming! Whereas signing up for an OCR certainly appears to have motivated me to get up and run! Will be dropping the swimming goal for now until after the OCR, although hopefully I will still get in the pool occasionally I don't want to force it because running won't be negotiable! Kuss Mich - 2/4 weeks - 26/28 days - 54/56 brushes - 10XP I'm happy with this. I missed two brushes but both times for very good reasons, and I consciously missed them. Think this habit is sufficiently sticky for me to drop as a goal for the time being, but if it starts to slip I'll have to bring it back. Wasted Years - 2/4 weeks - 10XP 0XP I set this goal because I thought I might need it, but honestly I just didn't feel like doing it. I have actually spent less time watching junk and more time with stuff I'm interested in, so maybe it just came naturally? I Can Only Count to 4 - 2/4 weeks - 14/16 things done - 15XP 7XP Not great on this one to be honest. I think I need to approach this differently - maybe a more specific list of tasks rather than just "do some things". A lot of clothes were washed this challenge certainly, and many breakfasts were prepped, but I didn't do much else to improve my environment! Will get my new challenge posted this evening, and stick a link here for you all!

Thank you. It's all planned out; going to get it up at some point today . ----- Pokécrawl Saturday night was good fun - took a massive detour back from the pub to visit a lot of Pokéstops, and was nice just to spend a night drinking with Mrs without a group of our friends for once. Smoking wasn't too bad but still over-budget at 10/8. This is much less than I would usually smoke on a Saturday night, so the counting is doing something at lest even if I'm failing the challenge. Also missed another tooth brushing - was distracted for good reason though, so I'm not too fussed about it. -- Sunday morning Runkeeper called for a 5mi slow run. It went a little like this: NAME PACE CLIMB 1 mi 10:58 -15 2 mi 11:30 4 3 mi 11:05 33 4 mi 9:45 10 5 mi 9:52 -62 6 mi 18:04 32 Odd how I sped up on the last two miles - guess I really wanted to get it over with! It was seriously hot (for England). Not sure exactly what it was when I was out running, but by lunchtime it was 30C (86F) and 75% humidity. I felt like I was going to die by about mile 3, and I was so red in the face an pouring with sweat. Still, I got through it, so that's something. After that grabbed some breakfast in town, played a tiny bit of Pokémon, and went to my dad's. I mowed his lawn and he took a look at my car, then we had a family roast which was nice. Very little in the way of adulting done all weekend, it was far too hot! Did manage a couple of loads of washing and some egg boiling for breakfasts. Smoking again badish, 11/8. Challenge round up coming soon, and then the new challenge - much writing needed today! Week 4 Stats at W4D7 Down with the Sickness - 3/7 Until It Sleeps - 7/7 Iron Man - 2/2 The River - 0 swim, 4 runs = 4/3 Kuss Mich - 6/7 Wasted Years - 0/1:00 I Can Only Count to 4 - (weekend goal) 3/4 Darebee PvP - MTWTFSS - 2min star jumps (EC), 100 marching twists (EC), 1min push-up plank (EC), 50 Dead Bugs (EC), 20 "Deadlifts" (EC), 20 Commandos (No EC)

That's awesome! And all down to your own hard work, congrats! Your food plans going forward look really good. Hope you are having a great time in Paris - stay safe and have fun! Why was I not aware of this?! Thank you for bringing this to my attention Wolf. *goes to investigate further*

I sort of threw myself up from one to the other, rather than the tricep extension thing. Wasn't really sure if that was right? Let me know if not ok. Will mark it up as done for now. No EC coz I couldn't make it in one set.

I'm with you, why throw away something as useful and nice as that? I am a bit of a pack rat though...

That's so amazing, I can't even imagine what it must be like. Adding volcano walk to my lifetime todo list!

Congratulations on being asked to play in the nationals, that's seriously awesome! Hope your training triathlon went well today.

Think you've broken down your goals really nicely, and I'm sure you'll do well this challenge. Good luck with the real life stuff too

Busy weekend then; sounds like fun! Hope it's going well

Loving ruckémon go as a goal! Maybe it's finally time for me to take up rucking...

That actually is genius... I never thought of subtly manipulating my other half like that... *plots in the corner*

I knew you'd be all over Pokémon GO as a challenge when it came out, knew it! Following along again to watch you Ranger this one!

Cheers man! Should get the next challenge written soon, so will stick it up tomorrow or Monday to start on Monday. ----- Gym yesterday felt rubbish, for some reason I felt really weak and shaky, so I pretty soon gave up and called it a day. Here's what I did manage: 5min 4min row warm-up - 1,034m Incline bench - 30kg x 4 x 10 Squats - 40kg x 4 x 10 50 "dead bugs" for the Darebee PvP DB side raise/front raise/curl/press - about two, before I decided I felt too crap and gave up. The evening was a barbeque at a friend's house - a couple we've only met recently were hosting, but we met them through other friends who were also there. It was a really funny, silly night; lots of meat was eaten, plenty of beer was drunk (plus some coffee liqueur and some Polish vodka). Really enjoyed myself. Came home with the Mrs (back about 23:30) and watched TV for a bit. Then decided at around 00:15 to Pokémon GO out for a bit. Wandered around between the local gym and the two nearest pokéstops, met a random bloke who had just got out of a lock-in at my local who was also playing Pokémon and had a chat to him for a while. Seemed like a nice chap! Not sure how to grade that on the sleep front; technically when I got back from Pokémon GOing out I went straight to bed, but it was a late night (about half 1). I'm going to give myself the technicality I think. Smoking was rubbish - stuck to all my rules except for the count, think I had 15/8! Going to switch to more binary rules and less counting in the next challenge. -- This morning got up at 08:00, dropped the Mrs at work and went for a run. Runkeeper called for 2 miles slow. I did this: NAME PACE CLIMB 1 mi 10:12 -17 2 mi 9:46 13 3 mi 15:49 3 Total distance including cool down 2.41mi in 26:35. I may have extended my cool-down walk to detour via the nearest pokéstop... Starting to realise how long this update's getting. I have been busy! Anyway, after my run I went to a mate's house to write some music. He's written the start of a really great song which we've got recorded now, and starting on the chorus at the moment. Rant out time for that though, because we were off to go Bouldering! Bouldering was good today, though my hips and ankle don't seem to agree now I'm done. They've reset the grey holds, so I had a go and completed a few of them, defeated a green/grey one I was stuck on last time I went with ease, and generally climbed a load of things! That just gives me time to make this update and maybe catch up on a few threads before I go an get Mrs from work. Hopefully going on a Pokémon pub crawl tonight with her! A pokécrawl maybe? Week 4 Stats at W4D5 Down with the Sickness - 3/7 Until It Sleeps - 5/7 Iron Man - 1/2 The River - 0 swim, 2 runs = 2/3 Kuss Mich - 5/7 Wasted Years - 0/1:00 I Can Only Count to 4 - (weekend goal) 0/4 Darebee PvP - MTWTFSS - 2min star jumps (EC), 100 marching twists (EC), 1min push-up plank (EC), 50 Dead Bugs (EC)

Dead bugs done yesterday with EC, and "deadlifts" completed just now with EC too

Love the format, the points system is really interesting. Looking forward to watching your slay those dragons!