Ferd in the making (Fit nERD)

[Animalben]

Been here for a week or so and tried typing this intro out a few times but all my comp gear is being stroppy and caused me to lose the post a few times, so this time of typing this out I am watching (or rewatching) Ghost in the Shell series 2.

My name is Ben and I am 32, I am from the hobbiton geographical (on the UK map) on the south west, Bristol to be precise.

Stats:

Height - 5'10/11 depending on who I stand next to

Weight - 166 pounds (already lost 20 but more on this later)

I havent done any body measurements as this doesnt really fit in with my current aims and so something I am not tracking

History - I was a very active child/teenager, participating in many different sports, martial arts, biking (both mountain and BMX street/flatland) basketball and basically anything but football (soccer to you Americans) during my adult life I have become very complacent, sticking with things for 6 months to a year and then quitting for various reasons (money/injury/laziness)

I am also a self confessed giant nerd. Computer games, books, films, anime, I have dabbled with warcraft gaming too but anything geeky or nerdy I will generally love although I am probably more of a techy than anything.

Aims - vague at best to be honest (bad I know but I feel this is utimately why I will align myself with the rangers) I wish to return to my gloriness teenage years of "being fit" but this doesnt have certain parameters. I also wish to lose some body fat, weight isn't really important to me as such as this can change due to needs/requirements/aims, ie. if I go for a hypotrophy phase then 5-10 of lean mass will only affect weight and not BF (as I'm sure you all know).

To date I have cleaned up my diet some what to help lose 20 pounds with the aim of it being body fat not muscle. I would class myself as a hardgainer (if it even exists?!)

I ride a mountain bike to work and various other places I go, I currently practise kickboxing but it feels very much like the muay thai I have practised before rather than the American style of kickboxing. I have been running semi regulary (around 2.5 miles at a moderate pace) and some weighted/body weight/kettlebell workouts thrown in when I can.

Obstacles: I work in a bar at present (I would like this to change too but that's for another post/thread/whinge) and find myself doing as many hours as I can get (today was a day off for me yet I still managed to work 5.5 hours) and end up doing alot of split shifts. I know I have used this as an excuse sometimes but this is on the menu of change.

I also don't fall asleep easily, once I am alseep though I am gone and find it hard to get out of bed. I am planning to try and sort this too, I have been making head way into this but the past few days/week have seen regression.

END OF BACKGROUND WAFFLE

I like the laid back/supportive/non douchebag nature of the site and feel I will fit in well BUT I do have some Qs

The stats I see people assigned in their sigs, are these pre-determined anywhere and is this by class? or are these self assigned out ones own mind? (same question for level up stats)

Leveling up, I think I've figured this is done from the challenge but I have yet to notice anyone higher than level 2? (not many long term memebers or challenges failed?)

Thanks for any help/comments and I will start bugging you all with my overbearing and dry sarcasm soon enough!

[Animalben]

Subsequent query right after I press post...

Races, again stats/abilites/class specific or out of peoples heads again?

[Pat G]

All the stats are self assigned and only used as an add on to our 6 week challenges.

Essentially boils down to which type of training you want to do or where you are in your fitness journey. So if you want to lift heavy, join the warriors etc etc

http://www.nerdfitness.com/community/showthread.php?13085-The-NF-Challenge-FAQ-How-Do-Challenges-Work has a good bit of info on it for you.

Welcome to the forum and it'll be good to see you stick around and level up

[CyningaDena]

The link Pat posted above didn't work for me (I think it might've changed as it was moved to archives, maybe? dunno), so here's another shot at the post where spezzy first introduced the RPG element to the challenges. There's also a more concise (though less detailed) overview of how challenges work here.

The quick rundown for your questions:

-- You get 15 stat points to start out, and you assign them wherever you think fits your current state best. (This RPG stuff is all totally optional, by the way. You're more than welcome to participate in the challenges without it.)

-- When folks set goals for their challenges, they also decide how many stat points (and which stat) they'll increase as a reward. For example, I decided I'd earn +3 DEX if I could stick with a Yoga class all six weeks. Again, there's 15 stat points max you can earn in a challenge.

-- People have been doing the challenges for quite a while, but they've been an evolving project. The RPG element was only added a few challenges ago, and even the uber-l33t ferds started out at ground zero. So that's why there aren't any lvl 85 folks just yet. We're basically in the early stages still of the new xpac.

-- Races are totally just made up and don't affect anything. Except for awesome fun-ness. Seems that most people pick a race that reflects on their body type or personality or goals, but that's just a trend I've seen.

Great work losing 20 pounds already! It sounds like you've already got an excellent foundation for reaching your goals. Good to have you on board, and I look forward to seeing how your progress goes!

[Porkins77]

Great work, Animalben!

I can't imagine how tough it would be to work in a bar. Kudos.

[Animalben]

Thanks for the info guys

Bar work itself is very very easy, what makes it hard are stupid people who dont know how a bar works and drunk people, so people please think about the staff when you drink

The issue I have with my work is that it is shift based and I don't have any fixed shifts myself (as such) for instance I would love to start mma classes again and planned to do so this evening BUT lo and behold I am now working tonight, I may or may not get out in time and the class is on the other side of the city so kind of pointless me even trying!

Think i'll have to post up some pics soon, anyone know any good timer based photo apps for the iphone otherwise I have to do the pose in a mirror thing and I dont have any big mirrors in the house.