Week 2: The one where the detox starts kicking in . . .

Evening, Füsters!

Welcome to Week 2! By the time you read this the 10th day of WF25 should basically be complete and with 8 weeks to go we’ll have barely even scratched the surface of the game. One thing you might start noticing is that you’re actively going through a mild detox and your cravings for sugar or alcohol might spike this week. Just hold it together and you’ll be fine. Drink a big glass of water. Better yet, tell you flank meat to go pound sand and double down on your cravings by going for a run or a walk or whatever it is you do to earn that exercise punkte! Point being, you’ll probably fight these cravings for another two weeks but by the end of Periode I you should be clean and clear of your lifelong programming to practice corporate sponsored self-destruction in the form of a sleeve of Oreos (GG will step down from his soapbox now).

Ok, on with this week’s update:

• Tomorrow (Jan. 13th) we’ve got our second dawn to dusk fast. And then after sunset we’ve got the Wolf Moon Side Quest as the year’s first full moon rises into the night sky!

• And while we’re on the topic, Week 2 shows a whole new batch of Weekly bonus opportunities on the table: Long Winter Wog #2, So Many Stairs #2, Wanderungfüste #1 and the Mitternachtsonne Allowance (GO HERE to review all the details). Remember that the Week 1 Weekly bonuses are retired and unavailable as of midnight tonight.

• Week 2’s Side Quests are pretty simple: Lucky Friend Gift #2, the Wolf Moon Allowance, and then the continued offering of both the Paid Event and Snow Angel Side Quests (these are the only two activities in the game that are available to you during the entire 9 weeks of WF25).

• Keep on your homework as you’re only a week away from the first planking bonus of the game (a 1 min plank). Remember, the goal is be able to do the entire Daily 50 in one event by the Finalefüste so don’t beat yourself up if you’re struggling right now. It’s not easy and it’s going to take consistency to get there so just submit to the grind and success awaits you in March.

Couple more points/observations from Week 1:

• If you know that you accidentally reported twice on the DRT for any given day, please just drop a text to GG letting him know. It’s no big deal but a lot easier for GG to deal with if he proactively can go fix it before the end of the day and doesn’t discover it on his own when he’s building the Bestenliste . . .

• There are still a number of players who are double reporting on STRAVA. You may not even know you’re doing this. The way you can tell is that a single workout shows up twice, one right after the other in your personal feed, with almost identical mileage and time. This is happening because you have two data sources feeding STRAVA at the same time (usually one source is your iPhone and the other might be a fitness watch or some other device). All you have to do to correct this (if you don’t want to deal with the two device issue) is delete one of the two identical workouts. If you don’t fix this issue then you’ll be ineligible for the weekly total’s recognition and your data will skew the collective end of the game totals. So GG would greatly appreciate it if you’d fix the problem without him having to call out individual Füsters. Danke.

• And just another reminder that during M-F business hours (and after 9pm PST), there may be a significant delay to any question or communication you send to GG. If you have something important you need answered, try to text it as early as possible in the AM and GG will do his best to answer you if it impacts that day’s activities.

That’s it for now. You guys are all doing great and GG is very impressed with not only the amount of activity going on but also everyone’s reporting diligence so far. You’re making GG happy and a happy Grolarbär is a generous and benevolent Grolarbär so keep it up!

GG

Week 1: Where the rubber meets the road . . .

Evening Füsters!

The game introductory period of Week 0 is closing out tonight and you should now have a basic idea of what Füsting in the new year looks like. As Week 0 is meant to be very simple, we will now start layering on the activities that will drive the battle against your flank meat and help you maintain consistency and accountability.

In addition to the daily game play of Foodenfüste, Drunkenfüste and Schmerzenfüste, Week 1 will now introduce two more basic game concepts:

• Hausaufgaben (Homework) . . . this is the one where each day you attempt to complete the Daily Fünfzig (50) strength building workout (in addition to your required Singelt). Remember that there’s no expectation that you can do all the reps of all Fünfzug exercises in one event right out the gate. If you need to spread them out over the day at first, no problem. The goal here is to build over the next 9 weeks until you can do the entire Daily 50 in one back to back session. For full details, go here.

• Fastentag . . . this is the one where each week you get really hangry and irritated on Mondays. Starting tomorrow (Jan. 6th), the weekly fasting requirement of WF25 kicks in. The first three fasts (Mondays for the next three weeks) will be an easy dawn to dusk affair where you’ll be limited to clear liquids only (yes, coffee is allowed if you must) from sun-up to sun-down (e.g. Northern California is 07:30am to 5:05pm, Southern California is 06:45am to 4:50pm etc.). You’ll report successful completion of your fast the next day on Tuesday’s DRT. Complete all nine Fastentags and you’ll earn a hefty +15p bonus at the end of the game (only the Long Walk and Wanderungfüste completion bonuses will bag you that much bonuspunkte)!

Now for this week’s game update (to include reminders, answers and recommendations):

• New Weekly and Side Quest bonuses are available for Week 1 starting tomorrow, Jan. 6th. You’ll want to review the details on the Bonuspunkte page here. Remember that each day you can complete one Weekly bonus and one Side Quest bonus only (unless otherwise directed by GG).

• Week 1 continues the Singelt workout parameters as defined here. Remember, you must complete your workout to the full defined requirement for time and/or distance. For instance, if you’re going to do the 3 mile run, you must do the complete 3 miles and bring your total run in at under 45 min (<15min/mile pace). Anything over that pace would now be a walk which is 4 miles total (<20min/mile required pace), unless it’s weighted (then it’s back to 3 miles). Same goes for all defined Singelt parameters. If you don’t do the total required distance or time, then it won’t count towards your daily exercise point. Steep is the road to personal accountability, GG knows.

• Help GG out by adding a little detail when needed to your STRAVA activities, specifically if you’re doing a weighted walk for 3 miles instead of unweighted for 4 miles. Maybe just title it “Weighted Walk” and that way GG won’t question why you only walked 3.1 miles instead of the full 4. Makes sense?

• Another STRAVA related detail: GG has noticed that several players are unintentionally double posting workouts on STRAVA. This is most likely due to you having two or more source devices connected to the same STRAVA account (biggest offender appears to be using your iPhone to track a workout while your WHOOP band is tracking the same workout with both then uploading separately to STRAVA). Why does GG care? This double posting will both skew your personal accumulated data each week (making you ineligible for recognition as that week’s Bestenfüster (no bonuspunkte, just bragging rights) and also mess up the total accumulated data for the entire game (GG will normally calculate out things like the total combined Füster mileage for running/walking/hiking over the 9 weeks of Winterfüste; one year we ran 3/4 the circumference of the planet so yeah, it’s a fun stat to collect if it’s accurate).

• One more STRAVA thing: “posting” in The Füste 25 Club feed. GG will review the activities of all Füsters who are part of the Club but may not see your separate “posts” (if you’re in fact posting as well). So while you’ll def get thumb’s up on activities, don’t think GG is ignoring your posts in the feed if you don’t get thumb’s up over there too. The posts are great and GG really loves the engagement, he just may not have time to review both your actual activity and your post. But please keep it up!

• Why am I not on the Bestenliste? An infrequently asked question but it does get asked. Two reasons here. The primary reason is that you forgot to report that day; if GG does not receive a report for any specific date, you will not show up on that night’s Bestenliste. It’s just how the system works (and is a good reminder for you to make sure you report each day). The second reason is that GG made a data input error . . . each night GG has to manually recreate the Bestenliste by typing it in. Occasionally, GG will drop one of the 120 player names by complete accident (already happened on Day 2’s Bestenliste; sorry Gray Fox!). If this happens, just let GG know you’re missing and he’ll fix it as soon as he can.

• While we’re on the topic of GG’s overall responsiveness, let’s talk quickly about who he is (or isn’t). There’s a rumor going around that GG is “AI”. This could not be farther from the truth. GG is a real entity and the single brown bear tasked with the oversight all Füste events. And there’s the rub. By being just one bear, he’s limited on a time to task ratio. In addition, GG is just like you and has a full time job and responsibilities. So, all this is saying is that please be patient when you text GG and are looking for a quick and/or timely response. He will absolutely do his best to get back to you as soon as possible. During business days/hours (9am-5pm), you may experience significant delays in GG’s responsiveness so just prepare yourself for that eventuality. Even after nearly a decade, the Füste remains a one bear show that is GG’s personal labor of love! So patience is and will remain the watch word through March 8th. Danke for your consideration here.

• Couple of minor details around Schmerzenfüsten (daily exercise):

  • Remember, for the “So Many Stairs” bonus, you must complete your stair climbing on a real staircase. You cannot use a “stair stepper” machine at home or the gym.

  • Home yoga . . . while GG is a steadfast believer in yoga overall, he needs you to make sure that if you’re doing a “home yoga” workout, that you’re stressing youself to the appropriate level to meet the general expectation of Schmerzenfüste. Basically, if you post a home yoga workout where your heart rate never got above 90, that’s probably not going to cut it. Please make sure that if you are doing home yoga that it’s strenuous enough to get you into at least HR Zone 1 , which for most people here is a sustained and average heart rate of at least 100bpm.

  • And one last gentle reminder to not cheat yourself: if a Singelt parameter says do something for an hour then you need to do the full hour (not 54 minutes). Same for distance; if you need to run 3 miles or walk 4 miles, make sure you do the complete distance.

• There’s a fun graph based presentation of your daily point totals on the Bestenliste now. Just scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find it. It shows each players as part of their assigned geographical grouping (as needed for communication purposes). How to interpret what you’re seeing? Each player has two columns. The column on the left represents your daily point total. The one of the right shows your Side Quest bonus total (once you hit 30 here you’ll be awarded your Side Quest Completion Bonus, as GG has now mentioned about a dozen times). Anyways, this is a different way to see how you’re doing in comparison to other Füsters!

• And finally, just one more word about bonuses vs workouts. This is often hard to explain for some reason. Many exercise related bonuses, when completed, will count both for that day’s workout (Singelt or more) AND for that bonus. For example, this week you can complete the first Parkenfüste bonus which requires you to complete a 3 mile hike in a local park. Even though 3 miles does not equal the standard 4 mile Singelt walking requirement, if you complete this specific bonus you’ll not only get +3 bonuspunkte but you’ll also get to take it as a completed Singelt walk workout. Not all bonuses work like this so make sure you understand the requirements of each by closely reviewing the Bonuspunkte page on Sunday nights. And as with all things in the Füste, just reach out to GG if you need any clarification here at all!

Okay, that’s it for Week 1. GG knows that there’s always a ton of reading and comprehension during the first couple weeks of a Füste event but it’s a necessary evil. While simple and powerful, the Füste is a bit of advanced play and takes some attention to detail. But GG promises that if you stick to it and engage for the whole 9 weeks, you’ll see incredible benefits in the end. All this is to say is that GG apologizes for being overly garrulous here and will do his best to start to shorten the updates as the weeks go by. GG knows your time is valuable and appreciates every minute you spend dedicated to the Füste (and just as a check to see who’s taking the time to read all this, once done here, text “LONG DOG” (or a 🌭 emoji) and GG will award you one complementary long dog sighting on tomorrow’s DRT (remember, photographing 5 lazy long dogs in the wild gets you a day off from exercise).

Alright, enough from GG! Get back to the game! Have a great Week 1 and as always, may the Füste be with you!

GG

WILLKOMMEN TO WINTERFÜSTE '25!

Hallo, Füsters!

It’s that time again . . . time to take the fight to your flank meat and to attempt to beat it back into submission after another holiday season of grotesque excess and a near complete lack of physical activity on your part. But have no fear as this is precisely why we Füste!

For those retuning to the game, congratulations on committing here even though you know what you’ve signed up for! And for our Neofüstes (new players), get ready for a campaign of shock and awe that in 9 weeks will leave you stripped of flank meat and looking down at your bathroom scale in pleasure (IF you do the work!).

While our Neofüstes should have already done this, return players should now take a minute to review the updated Regelbuch (Rule Book) and make sure they’re up to speed on any game changes (especially around the exercise component; go here).

To help everyone out, here’s a summary of the significant game changes for WF25:

• There are some basic changes made to the workout parameters, specifically around Doppelt and Trippelt workouts (GG is trying to make it a little easier for you to score these points). Make sure you understand the parameters around time and distance by reviewing the Schmerzenfüste details.

• There is no Skwad, Haus, or group play component this year (those who have been doing this for a while know that GG runs hot and cold on this idea). GG wanted to make this a less complicated game focused solely on your personal performance and achievement so that’s what we’ll be doing.

• Keeping in the theme of stream lining game play, GG has changed a big part of the bonusing game. He’s taken most of the non-exercise bonus opportunities and dumped them into one big bucket he’s calling “Side Quests”. This includes things like the Polar Plunge, Lucky Friend Gift, Dekorationfüste, moon-based activities etc. etc. Here’s how this is going to work: there are a total of 50 possible Side Quest bonus points you can earn during Winterfüste. If and when you earn 30 of the 50 points, you’ll be awarded the Side Quest Completion Bonus. This means that you can now pick and choose which of the Side Quest events you want to participate in and you no longer have to do every single little activity just to make it to the podium on the Finalefüste. Hopefully this will help some of the Füsters who have professed anxiety around jumping into a frozen lake or making a snow angel or breaking a plate on someone’s doorstep. Trust GG, if it doesn’t already, this will make sense to you as the game progresses. As for the rest of the exercise based bonuses, they’re considered “Weekly” bonuses and must be completed the same week they’re assigned (no more extended “Periode” based bonus play). Probably good idea to review the bonus game play rules by going here.

• Fasting will be a little different this game. We’ll start with the 12 hour dawn to dusk fasts for the first third of the game, then move to 24 hour fasts for the second, then we’ll peak with a brutal 48hr fast before stepping back to the 24 and 12hr fasts again to close out the back third of game play. And as always, Fasts will be scheduled for Mondays (since Mondays already pretty much suck).

• Daily Homework has had an overhaul as well; we’ll be doing something called the Daily Fünfzig or “Daily 50”. Each day you’ll attempt to complete the same basic set of strength building activities (e.g. push-ups, sit-ups, squats etc.). This daily assignment will not change during the game. The idea here is that while you may not be able to do all 50 of each activity on Day 1, if you stick to it and put in the time and effort, by the Finalefüste you should be able to complete the full Daily Fünfzig with ease. We tested this during Sömmer Kamp ‘24 with good results so GG’s taking this mainstream now (lucky you!).

• Daily game updates (most days at least; let’s not get carried away here) will now be posted on The Füste’s Blue Sky account (@ggrolar.bsky.social and yes, this is yet another social media app GG will be using as he continues his search for non-evil platforms to support) as well as IG and Threads (same as last year).

Okay, that’s enough of that. So what do you need to know for this week and the Startenfüste (Thursday, January 2nd)?

1. First and as always, get up on Thursday morning and complete your game weigh-in. This requires you to get on a scale and face the consequences of this past holiday season. It’s all good though as this number will be greatly reduced by the time you do your game weigh-out on March 8th! Make sure you take a picture of the number on your scale and text it to GG on Thursday morning. He’ll record this value for you and keep it secret and safe. And one thing here please . . . if your feet are in the pic and you basically have coyote paws instead of human appendages, wear socks for the love of Gött! GG’s sanity often hangs by a thread during Füsting season and nasty feet pics are just the thing that can send him over the edge. Danke for your consideration.

2. The first four days of game play (Jan. 2nd - Jan. 5th) are considered Week 0. As this is the introduction period, we’ll take things nice and slow. No sugar, no alcohol and complete a Singelt workout each day. But bonus play will be very limited. You can do the first two “Weekly” bonuses: the first Long Winter Wog (a mind-numbingly simple 1 mile) and the first set of Stairs (10 flights). For the Side Quest game, you can complete the Polar Plunge to earn the first +5p of the total 30 you need to earn the final Side Quest Completion Bonus. That’s it. That’s all you have to do for Week 0.

3. No homework for Week 0; we’ll start that next week.

4. The first Fastentag (fasting day) of the game is this coming Monday, Jan. 6th. It’s only a dawn to dusk fast so nothing spectacular out the gate here. Remember, clear liquids only and no solid food till sunset (basically 5pm PST or whatever time is accurate for your location on the planet).

Two more things (consider them “pro tips”). If you’re going to be doing a lot of walking this Wintefüste, consider finally purchasing a weighted vest (one where you can adjust the total weight up or down) instead of carrying around a backpack full of canned vegetables and hand weights. GG’s just sayin’. Also, don’t forget to set an alarm on your phone to remind you to report off each day by noon.

So that’s it for the pre-game pep talk. For those returning players, it’s the same basic idea and experience you’ve always had. For the Neofüstes, it’s all new to you anyways so . . .

Tomorrow you’ll receive the link to your Daily Reporting Tool via a text from GG. For the former Füsters, please remember to delete any old links you might have from past games.

And as always, if you have any questions or need a point of clarification, please text GG directly and he’ll get you an answer. In the meantime, enjoy your New Year’s holiday and we’ll see you on the Spielbrett (game board) on Thursday morning at 6am local time!

Thank you for joining the game and GG wishes you the best of luck this Winterfüste! With a little luck (and a lot of sweat and tears), we’ll see you on the podium in March!

May the Füste be with you!
Griswalde Grolar

Week 7: Departing the Pattern

Füsters!

For those remaining, congratulations on having made it to the final week of Sömmer Kamp ‘24! Not an easy achievement given all the summer time distractions (and an impressive COVID spike) and something you should definitely be proud of . . . but now you’ve got to finish out the game and bring home that last haul of bonuspunkte!

Update:

• Triplelts are still in play this week and given you’ve only got 5 days of game play left, the break down will be as follows: 3 Trippelts, 1 Doppelt, 1 Singelt.

• For that Singelt, if you want to take the day off, you can go ice skating as the final summer fun bonus this year. Just send GG a pic from the ice rink as proof, do a couple laps on the ice and that’ll count for that days exercise!

• This week is Drachen season but you already knew that from yesterday’s post so GG’s not going to beat the proverbial dead horse here. You know how it works so go get it done!

• Only four total bonuses this week (including the 🐲); 12 miles stroll, 150 flights of stairs (yep, GG just did that to you!) and a 3 minute plank (filmed with time lapse on). Do those four and make it to Friday and your game is complete!

• Remember, the stroll and stairs bonuses come with big completion bonuses so make sure to push through these last two so you can get that big punkte!

• Final fasting day tomorrow and if you did all 8 days, you can score yourself yet another completion bonus on Tuesday’s DRT!

So that’s it for now. So much punkte this week (completion bonuses and your Drachen could net you +45p extra!)! Don’t ease up now with the finish line in sight! Remember, the game goes till 5pm on Friday and after that you get to return to your normal programming for the rest of the year! Keep it up and finish strong! GG will be in touch later in the week with Finalefüste info so just a little more to come before we close out Sömmer Kamp for good!

Good luck this week!

GG

DRACHENFÜSTE!🐲

Hallo Füsters!

So, a couple folks have asked after the Drachen bonus. So, Drachen slayage is officially slotted to start on Monday and go till Friday, the Finalefüste. But given that means you’ll have to do it on a weekday and may run into scheduling issues, you can choose to slay your Drachen tomorrow if that works better for you. Just know that if you do it tomorrow, it will not count towards anything for Week 6. So if you have a Week 6 bonus you had planned for tomorrow and now you want to do the Drachen too, you’d have to do the Week 6 bonus activity in addition to the Drachen activity. Hardcore? Yes. Impossible. No. GG will leave it to your discretion but please let him know if you’re going Drachen hunting early/tomorrow. And remember, the Drachen is equal to the combination of FIVE Singelt activities done back to back (or as close as possible) unless you’d like to take the option of doing the Drachen specific requirement for any one exercise (e.g. a Drachen in running is equal to a half marathon and not the full five 3 mile Singelts you’d have to do otherwise; Drachen parameters are listed below the Singelt, Doppelt or Trippelt parameters on the Schmerzenfüste page HERE). And for the new Füsters still left in the game, the Drachenfüste bonus details has been posted to the Bonuspunkte page HERE. Just reach out to GG if you need clarification or have any questions. And good luck!

GG

WEEK 6: Trippelt Time!

Evening Füsters!

Only two weeks of Sömmer Kamp left and it’s time to drop the hammer! This final period of the game is fairly brutal but worth every punkte as it’s going to knock your flank meat out cold!

Here’s your update:

• Week 6 means a 10.5 mile stroll, 100 flight of stairs. You know what to do.

• Final Climb Bonus is here and with it will come a big +10p completion bonus (and yes, it’s really +10p for this one)!

• A completely new never seen before bonus opportunity is introduced this week too . . . go find the details HERE.

• And not to bury the lead but yes, Trippelts are now in play through the Finalfüste (Aug. 30th). So that means ether do three seperate Singelts or a Singelt/Doppelt combo or you can go to the Schmerzenfüste page and review each exercise for its Trippelt parameters (e.g. the running Trippelt is 7 miles which is considerably less then doing three back to back running Singelts, if you’re tracking GG here). This week you can do 3 Trippelts. That means the other four days of the week can be split between 2 Doppelts and 2 Singelts.

• Tomorrow night is the second and last Full Moon bonus of the game. This year it’s a Super Blue Sturgeon Moon (which is a mouthful). Earn your +1p bonus by getting outside under the full moon and walking one mile in either an all blue outfit or dressed as a strugeon (if you’re into that kind of thing). So, some clarity here too. The goal is yes, to get out when the moon is actually in the sky but if you can’t make that work then just get out there after sunset. Try and take a pic of the moon to send to GG and also a pic of yourself in whatever outfit you chose!

That’s it for tonight! Keep pushing forward, Füsters! You’re almost there and the next two weeks are pivotal in your campaign agains your flank meat! Stay strong and push through all the way to the Finalefüste!

GG

Week 5: The Descent to the Finalefüste Begins!

Füsters,

We’re officially over the hump and on our way down the back side of the game. You’ve got three weeks left to show your flank meat what you’re made of and the game play requirements will absolutely be ramping up to help drive you to success!

Here’s this weeks updates:

• You guessed it, the Long Sömmer Stroll and So Many Stairs bonuses increase by another 1.5 miles and 15 flights respectively.

• Your third and final bonus of the Parkenfüste series is here and once you complete the 5 mile trek through a city, county, state or national park (and you did the first two), you’ll be able to scored yourself the úber.-bonus of +10p!

• Week 5 also gets you the second Sömmer fun time bonus where you get to trade a Singelt workout for something a little more enjoyable. This week it’s the classic water balloon ambush (always a crowd pleaser). Get some water balloons and ambush an unsuspecting non-Füster by pelting them until they’re soaking wet and thoroughly flummoxed. Get it all on video, send to GG and you’ll earn a Singelt exercise point for that day. You can do this once this week so have some fun! If you don’t want to take part, then simply exercise as normal.

• This is the last week of Doppelt game play and that means you can score 5 total Doppelts between tomorrow, Aug. 12 and next Sunday, Aug 19th. The other two days must be Singelts.

That’s it for Week 5. Keep it up and keep Füsting hard all the way to the end! You’re almost there!

Cheers!
GG

WEEK 4: Right Down the Middle!

Füsters,

This week is the official half way point of Sömmer Kamp (Wednesday, August 7th to be specific). And no, there’s no “Cheat Day” during Sömmer Kamp so just keep on truckin’. But it is a good time to reflect on where you’re at with your game and if you’re performing to your own expectations. After Wedensday, we’ve only got three and a half more weeks to go and the time to put your flank meat under severe duress is dwindling. So pick it up (or keep it going) and make sure you don’t fade into the back half of the game!

Alright, let’s get to updating:

• First, GG notes not a lot of people took advantage of the mini-golf sponsored day off from exercise. Which is either a really good thing (you’re super dedicated to Schmerzenfùste) or a not so good thing (you’re not working out enough for a day off to be enticing). Either way, you’ll get two more Summer fun days like this in the coming weeks so maybe GG will find an activity that you enjoy (who doesn’t enjoy mini-golf? 🤦🏻‍♂️).

• Weekly bonuses continue to increase in difficulty with the Stroll going to 7.5 miles and Stairs going to 70, plus a couple other bonuses too. Go HERE for details.

• This week’s Fastentag is particularly challenging. Perhaps you noted that the number of announced Fastentags was +1 to the number of Mondays in the game? Well that’s because this week’s Fastentag is officially an über event: the fast begins tomorrow at sun-up but doesn’t end at sundown . . . it keeps going for another 24 hours!! This is a throw back to the days when the legacy Füsters would suffer a 2 and 3 day fast! But don’t get crazy, this is only 36 hours so it’s nothing too extreme. To summarize, your clear liquid only fast begins tomorrow morning at dawn and goes to 6pm on Tuesday! If that doesn’t get you hangry, nothing will! And don’t skip this one cause fasting has an incredibly positive impact on your waist line (and an incredibly negative impact on your flank meat) AND you can’t earn the +10p Fastentag completion bonus without surviving the 36 hour fast! So good luck and may your family forgive your hanger!

• As Week 4 crosses the midway point of the game, it’s time for your “Mid Term” to check and see if you’ve been doing your Daily 50 homework. Mid Terms are completed next weekend (doesn’t matter which day) and reported on Monday, August 12th. How do you complete this test? Pretty simple. Set you phone at a good vantage point, set it to “Time Lapse” video and film yourself doing an entire Daily 50 workout. If you haven’t been doing certain exercises because of injury or some other issue, just do what you’ve been doing instead. Text GG a copy of the video when done as proof of completion and then you can score your bonus point on Monday. Again, good luck!

• Please remember to read the rules for all bonus and/or exercise activities. If there’s specific instructions for an activity, you must follow those instructions in order to earn your point, e.g. you cannot use a stair stepper to complete your Too Many Stairs bonus (you have to actually go up a staircase otherwise the mental anguish of this event is lessened and so is the challenge!). Also make sure you understand the distances associated with Singelt and Doppelt game play and any other associated details (go HERE to refresh on the exercise requirements). Thank you for your attention to detail!

That’s it for now, Füsters. GG hopes you had a great weekend and wishes you a successful Week 4!

GG

Week 3: Double Time!

Füsters,

Week 3 is upon us and it’s time to kick it up a notch! Starting tomorrow, Doppelt game play begins and continues for the next three weeks. What’s a Doppelt? It’s the opportunity to either complete two separate workouts (ride your bike for 15 miles AND swim 1500 yards) OR double a Singelt workout parameter (e.g. a 5 mile run instead of 3 . . . yes, yes, GG know’s that’s not technically double the mileage but you get the gist). You’ll want to review the exercise parameters for the Doppelt requirements for each separate workout HERE.

Here’s what else’s is going on this week:

• Speaking of Doppelts, this week you’re allowed to complete 3 of them. That means three days this week you can do a Doppelt and the other four days you stay with a Singelt (what you’ve been doing the last two weeks).

• Monday is a great day to weigh-in and see how you’re doing. By this point in the game you should have dropped a couple pounds. If your weight hasn’t changed since the Startenfüste, then you’re probably not working as hard as you could. Now’s the time to recommit for the 5 remaining weeks of Sömmer Kamp (and no, you don’t need to send GG your weight again).

• This week GG’s got a Sömmer surprise for you! One day this week (whichever day you’d like), you can take a the day off from exercise and instead go play a game of miniature golf! So not only do you get a rest day but you also get to have some fun! All you have to do is send GG a short video of you making a putt at the miniature golf place and you’ll earn your exercise point for the day. It’s that easy, If you don’t want to play golf then you’ll just exercise like normal. Totally up to you.

• This week sees the Long Sömmer Stroll and the So Many Stairs bonuses increase again in distance and flights. You also get to complete your second Parkenfüste bonus and the After Dark bonus gets in on the action too. Go HERE for more.

• Don’t forget that tomorrow is a fasting day, dawn to 6:00pm local time. Go get hangry!

That’s it for now. Hope you all have a great Week 3!

GG

Week 2: Coming in Hot!

Morning Füsters,

Well, Sömmer is definitely here and it’s hotter than a long dog laying out on his favorite spot of concrete under the noon day sun (trust GG, it’s a thing . . . and they get HOT). Hopefully everyone survived the first week of Sömmer Kamp and is ready for more of the same as the forecast for the rest of the game seems to be heat piled on top of heat. Good reason to keep your workouts to the early morning or late evenings . . .

Here’s the Week 2 game update:

• This week is the last week of Singelt only game play so take this chance to continue to ease your way into Sömmer Kamp as next week it’s Doppelt the fun.

• New Week 2 bonuses are posted. There’s a significant change to the Climb bonus series that should make the cyclists in the game pretty happy (until they see what Bonus #3 looks like). Make sure you review the details HERE.

• Keep working on your Daily 50 homework assignment. If you did only this, you’d see a huge change over the 7 weeks of Sömmer Kamp!

• Drink coupons: remember, you needed to earn a total of 7 exercise points between Monday, July 15th and Sunday, July 21st to earn a drink coupon good for Week 2. GG will let you know if you earned one after he reviews the scoring. If you did get yourself a coupon, the way to use it is to have your drink and then the next day report on the DRT that you “did not earn” your drink point. You’ll then see a question asking if you have a coupon to use. Select “yes” and you’ll get your drink point back! It’s that easy.

• Last night’s surprise full moon bonus pointed out an issue GG is having with time zones. For those Füsting on the East Coast or Central Time Zone, GG promises to push out communications earlier in the day so that you get them at a reasonable hour.

• Don’t forget today is the second Fastentag of the game. No food till 6:30pm local time!

That’s it for today. Hopy everyone has a great Week 2. Get out there and earn those exercise punkte!

GG