Increasing my Muscle Mass by at least 2.5 kg

For all I can remember, I have always been labeled as a skinny boy despite being one of the tallest amongst all my friends. My siblings are also skinny, but their physiques look normal, so people would always ask if I had eaten enough. At first, I couldn’t care less about my underweight and weak body. Growing up, I start to feel insecure about my body due to body-shaming. Until recently, I came to the realization that I needed to change not just for my appearance’s sake, but also as a student-athlete. Committing myself to football, my current body hinders me from excelling in becoming an athlete. Therefore, I decided to get the most out of this quarantine and start my journey to physical fitness.
For my personal project, I have decided to do a physical fitness journey through a video. My goal is to increase my muscle mass by at least 2.5 kg and to develop a workout plan to improve my athletic abilities. My body will be measured to compare the size and weight changes at the start and at the end. However, this will be my first time creating a bodybuilding workout plan, which makes my project highly challenging for me. I will need to change my lifestyle in many ways, such as completely limiting myself from eating junk food and have balanced nutritious meals instead. I also need to be strict with time considering I have 4-7 months to complete this project, which means I need to make use of all the time I have by training every two days. Having a good sleep schedule is one of the hardest to manage as I need to avoid schoolwork procrastination to prevent myself from working late at night.
Being only experienced in football training routines, bodybuilding will be new and very challenging for me as I am very skinny and weak. I chose to do this project because I really enjoy pushing myself forward especially when it comes to something new that is related to sports. This project would have a massive impact on my life positively because it will make me live a mentally and physically healthy lifestyle, put an end to my insecurities, and improve my athletic abilities in order to excel as a student-athlete.

Global Context

The global context that suits my project the most is Identities & Relationships, as bodybuilding isn't just about exercising. Identities refer to the nature of ourselves, which includes our physical, mental, social and spiritual health. Exercising does not just benefit physically, it greatly refines our mental health by reducing depression, anxiety, negative mood, and improving our self-esteem. While for Relationships, it shows how we are able to implement our identities onto our interactions with friends, families, and communities. Transforming my body would create a difference in my relationships with the people around me as it boosts my self-confidence.
From the Global Context Identities & Relationships, I want to focus on the physical health strand. The reason is because I want to explore more things that I could do to improve my abilities as a student athlete by increasing my muscle mass, enhancing my athleticism, and experiencing a healthy lifestyle.

Product

My personal project’s goal was to increase my muscle mass by at least 2.5 kg. I was able to achieve it as my muscle mass increased from 49.5 kg to 52.5 kg, which means it increased by 3 kg. I began working out in July, however, I didn't have my muscle mass data yet at the time, so I will only be taking account of the muscle mass I produced from early October. Knowing that I had time until February, I decided to continue my workout project until January, in order to maximize my transformation result.
My transformation journey is shown through a video I created, as my final output. I’ve recorded myself working out over the past few months and some of my diet, to compile for my final video product. I made all the clips shorter so I could include more clips, making the video more enjoyable to watch. I installed an editing application on my phone so it would be more convenient and efficient for me to edit the video.
Regarding my final result, I am confident to say that my project is a success. I’ve succeeded in increasing my muscle mass by at least 2.5 kg along with a significant body transformation, reaching the normal weight category for my height and age. In addition, the change in my body measurements was documented with the help of my mom and has shown improvement.
With that being said, the content and presentation of my transformation heavily depends on my process. I started my journey by watching other transformation videos online, researching different methods, and trying the methods on my own. The process before, during, and after my transformation has been documented as a valid proof, which supports the overall content of my project. I made sure to include all the necessary evidence in the video, which is shown clearly, presenting it in a simple but appealing manner.

Watch my video below!

Reflection

This personal project is something I value a lot, as I have finally achieved something that has been my goal for a long time. Not only did I accomplish this journey, but I have learned a lot of different things and expanded my knowledge which let me thoroughly explore the global context Identities and Relationships. The global context has affected me in a way that allows me to contrast my identity changes physically and mentally. I have also improved my relationships, as a result of the change in how people view me, especially with the positive feedback I receive about my success.
My final outcome has satisfied my standards, with a significant body physique transformation that made me happy. Not only was I able to accomplish a body transformation, my mentality to strive and persevere has greatly improved. Though my final outcome has met all the requirements, there are still minor flaws in my journey that prevented me from having a result that could have been better. Things such as performing high level calisthenics could have been a great addition to my journey.
All things considered, this journey had a great impact in my life. All though there were some times where I felt like giving up, procrastinating, and questioning my own capabilities. I knew I had to continue, I kept pushing myself to work harder for my own sake. Despite having accomplished my personal project, I will not only be limited to continuing my transformation journey on my own, but to implement my skills in other aspects, in order to become an exceptional IB learner.

IB Learner Reflection

Undergoing this project has improved my ATL skills and enhanced my IB Learner Profile as an IB student. To even have the courage to do a project which requires perseverance and commitment, proves that I have what it takes to take on new challenges, hence an improvement on my risk taker skill. I would not have gained or improved the skills I have now if I did not challenge myself to transform my body, strength, mentality, and change my unhealthy lifestyle.
Through the process of gathering information from researching, I have improved my research skills, as I needed to conduct an in-depth and wide range of research from various online sources, and filter out which information is valid for me to take into account. I have also improved my communication skills, by retrieving as much information as possible from my interviewee, and sharing my ideas and progress for a better quality conversation.
In order to make this all possible, self-management skill plays an important role for my project to be accomplished in time. I have gotten better at managing my schedule, because I had to keep myself organized and on track with my workout and diet routine. Balancing my time along with my final personal project video and other schoolwork is also essential. For that reason, I created a time table to keep everything in order.
Brainstorming and organizing my ideas is also important. Being a thinker is a skill that is most needed as an IB student to accomplish anything, from the start towards the end. With the help of the thinker trait, I came up with this personal project idea that would benefit my physical and mental abilities, and thought of the possible outcomes to calculate the risks.