Tuesday, August 06, 2013

A Challenge Appears

I've been forgetting to put these jump breaks in lately, so if the main page of the blog gets ridiculously long, that would be why.


I purchased Dark Souls sometime last year, along with a pile of other games. I only played it for one day, for maybe a couple of hours combined, before I chickened out. For the uninitiated, Dark Souls is notorious for its high degree of difficulty. I was feeling fairly stuck after only one session, and I had other easier games I could be tackling, so I decided I could just come back to Dark Souls after I was finished with those. Well, among the games I hadn't finished yet were Mass Effect 2 and 3. So, Dark Souls hasn't seen any play time since, and as I still identify myself with the title of Gamer, this is simply not acceptable.

I put on a little weight earlier this year, and it hasn't come off despite a few half-hearted attempts to start working out and improve my diet. I'm normally a spindly little creature, but now my weight is up to 165. I don't particularly care what the number is, but there is enough growth around my midsection that some of my pants don't fit as nicely as they used to. Besides, there's still the issue that I'm not as physically strong as I'd like to be, I don't have a great deal of stamina, and my cardiovascular health remains questionable. I'm fairly sure that walking up six flights of stairs isn't supposed to enable me to feel my heartbeat in my face. I'm closing on 26 years of age, so it won't be long before my metabolism starts slowing down. If I don't whip myself into decent shape soon, it's not going to happen.

So, what do these two subjects have in common? I've devised a half-baked plan to tackle both of them, which I am titling:

Dark Souls: Get Ripped and Die Trying Challenge


I'm going to start playing Dark Souls again, foregoing all other console games until I've beaten it at least once. The rules of the Challenge are simple: every time I die, I have to pause the game and complete the following before I continue:
  • 5 push-ups
  • 5 curls w/ 5-pound free-weights
  • 5 squats w/ no weights
This pattern will continue for a preset amount of time or until I am unable to complete the above sets.

I realize how pitifully easy that lineup will sound to anybody who is physically fit, but consider two things: first, I am as previously mentioned a spindly little creature, and second, I'm still totally new to Dark Souls, so I am going to die a lot over the course of just a one-hour session.

Knowing me, it won't be possible to commit to a serious schedule with this, so for now I'm going to shoot for at least one hour every Friday and Saturday, and weeknights whenever time allows. I expect to feel utterly wrecked after my first session and will probably scale back the workout until I find a pattern that pushes me without leaving me unable to walk from my car to the office. If I somehow am able to handle the workout, I may scale it up where appropriate.

Anyway, that's the gist of it. It also serves as an excuse to update this blog again, so yay for that. Further updates will come when I have relevant stuff to talk about. If anybody wants to take on the Challenge as well, let me know how you do.

That's it for now. I've gotta go; death awaits. Peace and love, readerkin.

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