Week 1

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Week 2

Link for my workout video: https://youtu.be/45v76L6ohos
I only managed to do 40 minutes with my fever

Questions:
1. What are your specific goals for the upcoming fitness appraisal? My specific goals for the upcoming Fitness appraisal consists of doing at least 5 laps in the 12-minutes run due to my fever. Additionally, another goal would be to do at least 10 push-ups with proper form.

2. What’s the point of doing a warm up? The major purposes of a warm-up are to prepare the body for more rigorous demands of the activity and to minimize the risks of injury.

3. What constitutes a successful warm up? A successful warm-ups should include easy flowing and whole body movements done in 5 to 8 minutes. Jumping jacks would be a great option since a proper warm-up needs to slightly elevate your heart rate, breathing and also slightly increase the temperature of your muscles. This exercise respects these conditions.

4. What’s the point of doing a cool down? Before ending your cardiovascular workout it is recommended to gradually decrease the exercises intensity 2-3 minutes. A proper cool down should gradually decrease heart rates to below 60% of Max HR.

5. When is the best time to stretch and why? The end of the cool-down segment is an excellent time to stretch muscles that were used in the activity, especially if they’re not going to be used again in the workout.

6. Why is stretching important? It prevents injuries in daily life activities, poor posture and body alignment which can lead to injury, soreness during and after exercise.

Week 3

Link for my workout video: https://youtu.be/hfyxtTO4mV8

1. On a scale of 1-10, what effort did you give the workout this week? I actually did not workout this week due to health reasons. However, I will put the link for a future workout video once I get well.
2. List three specific examples of what would motivate you to participate in and stick to a regular exercise routine. The first example of what would motivate me immensely would be to have the same workout buddy for all of my workouts. It raises accountability which is a great motivation factor. Secondly, a reward after each workout would motivate me to stick to the routine since it would give me a good reason to move to the gym in the first place. A healthy and tasty protein shake would be a great example. Lastly, I think that a mindset shift would help tremendously. For example, some days I know that I will not feel like going to the gym since I have too much school work. However, if I think of working out as a positive way to increase my productivity when working (exercise has been shown to increase focus and brain power), that would help me get to the gym because it complements my drive to finish my schoolwork effectively.
3. List three specific barriers or excuses which would prevent you from doing so? The first excuse would be that “the gym will be too full today anyway so I should probably go another day”. The second barrier would be that “the weather is really bad today so I should probably just stay home today instead of going through the hassle of waiting for the bus when coming home from the gym”. Finally, the third excuse would be that “I just ate right now so I should not go to the gym since it’s bad to workout on a full stomach”.
4. What type of workouts and physical activities do you like? I like to do my sets with a lot of rest in between so that I can keep my performance high in the next set. In addition, I like to do full body workouts three times a week since it’s effective and really flexible to fit on my schedule. Besides going to the gym, I like to skateboard because it is really fun.
5. Do you prefer going to the gym or working out at home? I prefer going to the gym.
6. What could you see yourself doing as exercise for the remainder of your life? I actually could see myself going for hikes for the remainder of my life.
7. How was your nutrition over the course of this week? My nutrition was horrible this week because I suddenly lost my appetite when I got sick. Everything would taste horrible actually. So, I wouldn’t be able to eat much except when my mom would force me to eat.
8. What would you like to change in your nutrition for the following week? For the following week, I would like to change how much water I drink. Hydration is really important, especially when it comes to treating any health problem so I will focus on drinking plenty of water.

Week 4

Link for my workout video: https://youtu.be/B3NuPUPgxFk
Part 1: I finished the workout in 22 minutes. Also, I performed 210 reps in 18 minutes.
Part 2: I completed 4 rounds exactly.
Part 3: Push ups: 3 sets x 6 reps
Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 sets x 6 reps(for each leg)
Cardio: 5 minutes of jumping jacks

Level of difficulty to complete your workout: 8/10

1. How does your exercise program fit into your weekly schedule? I haven’t worked out this week but I can imagine that it would fit pretty well into my weekly schedule since I can spread the work throughout the week. For example, I can do my professor’s workout program one day and then do my personal workout 2 days later (for adequate rest).
2. Comment on how easy or hard it is to find the time to exercise. In my experience, it actually depends when I’m deciding to workout. For example, I used to go to the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However, it was hard to keep up with my studies when I would go every Monday (I would have to wake up early the very next day since I have an 8 AM class). But then, I asked myself: “Why don’t I make use of my weekends?” With this realization, I decided to now workout every Wednesday (I start class late the next day), Friday (I’m done with school for the week so, why not?) and Sunday. To sum up, it was hard before to find the time, but with some subtle changes to my workout routine, it got a whole lot better.
3. What are your stress levels before and after exercise? My stress levels definitely drop after exercise, which is one of the benefits of exercising. In fact, exercising makes our brain produce neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which attribute to our “feeling good and refreshed” mood after a session of working out. Also, starting to exercising tremendously helped me to fall asleep at night because of the recovery and this is a nice advantage for me since I usually have trouble falling asleep at night.
4. What was your nutritional habit change that you chose last week to do for this week? I actually started drinking plenty of water again and trying to make sure I drink at least 10 cups of it a day in order to facilitate my recovery. The benefits of drinking enough water are immense and I am trying my best to respect my body’s health by reaching that my water goal every day.
5. Did you follow it consistently? I followed it almost consistently. Sometimes, I wouldn’t reach my water goal. I check if I am hydrated enough by making sure that my urine’s clear. But, as weird as it sounds, that would remind me that I need to get back up in order to reach this goal.
6. What will be your next nutritional goal for the following 2 weeks? Sadly, the past two weeks I haven’t meal prepped (I stopped making my smoothies in the morning as well) since I got sick and because of my lack of appetite. This was bad because it led to my lack of energy. However, for the following 2 weeks, I am planning to start over again. In addition, I would like to add that the last time I meal prepped, I actually failed. The food ended up tasting really weird. But, this time I will experiment by making another recipe (hopefully, it will taste good this time).

Week 5

Link for my workout video: https://youtu.be/wwcG7nOEsdg
*This workout was my most frustrating one (meaning that I felt like I was giving up many times). It was the hardest one to complete and it left me completely weak. When performing it, I couldn’t help but to be disappointed at myself, since I have a feeling that I could’ve done better. My first mistake during this workout was that I was taking too many long breaks, which would make me overthink about whether or not I was capable of finishing it. My second mistake was that, due to my fatigue, I would sometimes skip some reps. In addition, I would even sacrifice good technique for the sake of just completing the workout, which is bad. I will try to be more aware about all this in my next workout. In the end, what matters is that I have accomplished it even if my brain was telling me that I couldn’t, which brought a smile on my face.
Part 1: I finished this part in 25 minutes. During the first 15 minutes, I completed 210 reps. In the remaining time, I completed 90 reps.
Part 2: This part was finished in 30 minutes.
Part 3: Modified push ups: 3 sets x 6 reps
Squats: 3 sets x 10 reps
Cardio: 10 minutes of jumping jacks

1. How many servings of vegetables should you eat each day? We should all consume at least 6 servings of vegetables everyday because of its high fiber content and other essential nutrients as well (such as vitamins and minerals). Spinach would be an excellent option.
2. Are you getting enough vegetables? I am getting enough vegetables since I actually love my spinach, lentils, kidney beans and especially, broccolis. I also adore sweet potatoes because of its softness. I find that sticking to the vegetables that I like is easier and more effective in order to develop a habit.
3. If not, how could you ensure that you do? One solution for someone who doesn’t like vegetables would be to make a smoothie. For example, a smoothie usually consists of a liquid (dairy, almond milk or even water) and then some other important ingredients depending on your choice. Then, the crucial step is to just add some spinach and you won’t notice any difference in taste (unless if too much spinach is added). Since it would be inefficient to only get your vegetables out of smoothies, I would also recommend to find out what vegetables you like the most since that’s the key. A healthy eating routine doesn’t get healthy anymore if you hate what you eat. This is why it is important to discover healthy foods you love, especially veggies.
4. What are your three favorite vegetables? My three favorite vegetables would be spinach, broccolis and lentils. They taste amazing.

5. Here’s my recipe:
-1 cup of quinoa
-2 boiled eggs
-1/4 cup of onions
-1/2 cup of red pepper
-1/2 cup of broccolis
-1/2 cup of lentils
-1 cup of spinach
-1 tablespoon of olive oil
-(Optional: 1/4 cup of kidney beans or tuna)

Week 6

Link for my workout video: https://youtu.be/AzfyrYe6bbQ
*I performed Part 3 in the beginning of my workout which consisted of:
Push ups: 3 sets x 8 reps
Squats: 3 sets x 15 reps
Cardio: 10 minutes of jumping jacks
*Also, for the second round of Part 2, I switched the crunches with the bicycle kicks by accident.
Workout difficulty: I felt better and stronger. It was a good experience.

1. What have been some major barriers so far in your activity plan? The biggest barrier (until right now) that has prevented me from working out is my parents not letting me go to the gym since they are anxious about me hurting myself because I had pneumonia about a month ago.
2. How have you adapted your plan to overcome these barriers? However, my family doctor told them recently that it’s safe for me to work out, which reassured them. This means that I can finally go to the gym again (starting from this week).
3. What solutions have you found? *
4. Have you notices any energy level changes now that you exercise every week for the past 6 weeks? *
5. Have you started working out more than once a week? If so, when and what? *

*I haven’t answered the last three questions because they take into account that I have worked out for a period of time, which isn’t the case for me. It’s been a month since I have worked out because of my sickness. This prevented me from exercising and going to the gym (especially because my parents were thinking that doing so would worsen my condition). However, based on my experience from working out before my sickness happened, going to the gym consistently drastically changed my energy levels overtime. The reason why I can clearly confirm this is because I feel like my energy levels have dropped considerably after not working out for a whole month. This realization is actually motivating me to go to the gym tomorrow after school. Hopefully, everything will go well.

Week 7

Link for my workout video: https://youtu.be/JPFnWKFiK40
*Part 1: Push ups: 3 sets x 8 reps
Squats: 3 sets x 15 reps
Cardio: 10 minutes of jumping jacks

1. Do you need to revise your original goal(s)? In my case, I will definitely have to revise my original goals since the fact that I took a break from working out slowed down my progress in achieving those goals. For example, one of my original goals was to bench press 30 pounds with each arm. However, my body got very weak when I got ill, which means that when I went to the gym, I couldn’t lift as much as I could before my illness because of this loss of power. Therefore, this is a clear indication that instead of trying to lift 30 pounds by the end of March, I should aim to lift 25 pounds instead.
2. Are/is your goal(s) still realistic? Why or why not? In my perspective (before my illness), my goals were hard to achieve but not impossible (the pressure helps a lot to make progress overtime), which means that they were pretty realistic. However, after I recovered, it was the complete opposite. They were not realistic at all and this led me to adapt them.
3. State your new goals if they’ve changed. I have adapted almost all of my goals. For instance, as stated above, my goal for bench presses is to lift 25 pounds with each hand instead of 30. Also, I will now set my goal to squat 75 pounds instead of 85 pounds.
4. What is working in your program? Honestly, I have gotten back to the gym about a week ago, so my answer will not be fully accurate. However, I will still explain what has worked for me in this short period of time. For example, I would like to talk about enjoying our personal workouts, since that’s an important part in making it a lasting habit. Here’s the truth about cardio: I absolutely hate running. However, I have discovered that there are other ways of performing cardio. Thus, I chose to replace my runs with a session at the stationary bike, which I find extremely fun. I will stick to what I enjoy because that has what made my program work (cardio).
5. What do you need to change? I personally need to change the length of my workouts. The length of a workout may seem unimportant but it matters to me since it can take away my study time (which has happened before). This led me to realize that the problem was my breaks between each set. They were simply too long. So, one of the changes I made in order to combat this problem was to shorten my breaks, which in return, decreased my workout time.
6. Do you feel different this week? One crucial thing that my workout has positively affected would have to be my sleep quality. The fact that my muscles were tired and sore sometimes meant that I fell asleep faster, which is a massive help because I often find myself unable to fall asleep at night.
7. What effect is the activity plan having on you? In terms of the workout that you have assigned us to do, it made me extremely sore the next day. This means that the activity was very intense, which is excellent. In consequence, this full body workout will lead my muscles to get stronger and make me achieve my smart goals faster.

Week 8

Link for my workout video: https://youtu.be/l1b7SxlZOUI
*Part 1: Push ups: 3 sets x 10 reps
Squats: 3 sets x 20 reps
Cardio: 15 minutes of jumping jacks

1. How much sleep should you be getting every night? As a teenager, I should be getting between 8 to 9 hours of sleep every night in order for my body to function at its fullest and healthiest capacity.
2. Are you getting that much? To be honest, when school was still open, I would get around 7 hours of sleep every night, which is unhealthy in my opinion since I wouldn’t feel energized enough throughout the day. This led me to want to make a change recently. However, when school got closed because of COVID-19, making this change got way easier because it freed up a lot of time.
3. If not, what could you do to ensure that you do get enough sleep? It’s all about time management. First, what’s important is a change in mentality. In other words, if I don’t make sleep a priority, then I will never get enough of it. So, setting sleep as a priority before anything else (because health comes first) is crucial. Second, making a bedtime routine really helps because it prepares you to close the day effectively by having a time that signals you to get ready for bed.
4. What are the serious health effects related to insufficient sleep? A person who is sleep deprived has an increased risk of having a heart attack, a high blood pressure, a stroke and even diabetes. In addition, a lack of sleep can cause the person to have an impaired attention and alertness which could be dangerous (when driving to work for example). Furthermore, it can make the person gain weight and increase the rate at which their skin ages. But, the biggest downside, in my opinion, is that it can weaken the judgment of a person, which increases the likeliness for that person to suffer from depression.
5. Give two examples of healthy snacks that you can munch while studying. Blueberries are an excellent snack to eat while studying since they have been shown to boost your concentration because of its antioxidants benefits. Another great option would be almonds, which have been shown to help you focus because of the amino acids that they contain.

Week 9

Link for my workout video (Part 4 included): https://youtu.be/cTfhI8CbpjQ
*My goals consisted of taking breaks for a maximum of 30 seconds between each set, of performing 12 push ups for 3 sets and of performing 15 tricep dips for 3 sets without failure. Also, I wanted to run 2400 meters in 12 minutes. Here’s what I did for Part 1:

• Break time between each set: 30 seconds (Goal achieved!)
• Push ups: 3 sets x 12 reps (Goal not achieved!)
• Squats: 3 sets x 20 reps
• Tricep dips: 3 sets x 15 reps (Goal achieved!)
• Bicycle crunches: 3 sets x 10 reps
• Lunges: 3 sets x 7 reps (each leg) 

Part 3: Push ups: 3 sets x 10 reps
Squats: 3 sets x 20 reps
Cardio: 12 minutes run

1. Which goals did you succeed? The goals I have succeeded consists of taking breaks for a maximum of 30 seconds between each set and of performing 15 tricep dips for 3 sets without failure.
2. Which goals did you not succeed? The goals I haven’t succeeded consists of performing 12 push ups for 3 sets without failure and of running 2400 meters in 12 minutes.
3. Why do you think you did not achieve the above-mentioned goals? I think that I did not achieve those goals since I was not mindful enough when writing about them. I was looking for myself to progress faster than what my body was capable of doing and that’s where it went wrong. Also, after not succeeding to run for 2400 meters, I have realized that it was inefficient to set a goal of running a certain distance if I didn’t even practice running before.
4. What could you have done to succeed your goals? In order to have succeeded in my goals, I could’ve done two things. First, I should’ve been more realistic with myself and consider my past experience when setting new goals by asking myself: Did I practice enough to set this goal? Secondly, I could have worked out more frequently in order to achieve my goals (because nothing can stop you if you work hard right?).

YUMMY – DANCE

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