Our lovely community manger @Amanda Moddejonge just reminded me of a killer challenge that I haven't run in this group yet. It's the 20k steps challenge. It's easy, in one day do 20k steps and post your step counter picture in the group. You don't get anything other than likes, comments and a sense of self worth. Who's in?

I’m in king mode. I’m looking to figure out different methods to deal with pain and inflammation. I took this picture on the last day of September. I’ve beed dealing with shoulder tendinitis, and I’m trying to figure out how to get back to the place where I can do chin ups (or pull-ups… I’m not picky).

I’m in at King because I’m not willing to give up my caffeine while still doing college. I am also working on my hardest addictions sugar and doom scrolling. I have cut sugar back by 90% but still give in on some days. Doom scrolling I’m starting on today limiting my time on social media and staying away from videos. By the way I’m 42 years sober so that is not a challenge for me.

@Jean-Francois Dubois is running Sober October, and he says it feels "pretty damn good so far." He posted an old photo, joked that "just one drink" used to be more of a suggestion than a rule, and toasted the group with water. No speech and no drama. He made a call about his health and he's following through. Here's why it matters. Alcohol wrecks the recovery systems you're trying to rebuild. It cuts into deep sleep and REM, it pushes testosterone down, and it irritates your gut. If you're training hard and wondering why you still wake up tired, it's one of the first places to look. Thirty days off is enough to feel the difference. You don't need to quit forever to run the experiment. You're not broken. You're under-recovered. Jean-Frédéric is removing one of the things that keeps you there. Show some love in the comments, and tell him to keep going. Your turn. Are you in for Sober October, or running your own version? Drop a 💧 below and tell us what you're noticing: sleep, energy, mood, training.

I know I am reliant on some parts of my daily ritual for my mental stability. More exercise, better hydration, fewer calories, more sweat, more effort... these are achievable. My personal challenge to me is to do one more pushup, one more situp, one more burpee, one more chinup, and lose a pound of weight in each day in October. This will give me 1 more measurement of improvement in each category. The chinups will require the most effort to improve because they require improvements in upper body strength and are made easier by losing more of the spare tire, neither of which is easy at 70 years of age. But I will put my best foot forward as my Sober October personal challenge. The caffeine and alcohol are not things I want to attempt but I will monitor my intake and if I do some "one day at a time" stuff, I should be able to reduce intake. I have my CBT tools... this might work!