Fitness Log

In this project, we created a fitness plan and log of one month tracking our a specific health goal we set, but also other health data like sleep and diet. We started by learning about F.I.T.T principles, progressive overload, and HIIT workouts. This allowed us to better set our goals and our plan for the next month. We created a SMART goal, to try to achieve throughout the month. My SMART goal was to increase my vertical jump by 4-5 inches by June 1st. I would achieve this by completing 3 different leg workouts per week. I want to do this because having a high vertical are important in the sports I play, basketball and football. I achieved this by increasing reps, intensity, and time for my exercises and workouts. I tracked my mood and pain after each workout and and how much sleep I got and how many vitamins, fruits, and vegetables I got each day. This allowed me to stay updated on my progress, and know how I would best complete my goal. The health component I focused on was mostly muscular strength but also muscular endurance because I was trying to increase my strength to increase how high I could jump but it is also important to be able to jump multiple times in a row. For the more endurance based exercises knowing my heart rate helped me figure out the intensity I was working at. If my heart rate was at the low end of the range I would know that I was working at a lower intensity, and I worked harder to make my heart rate increase to the higher end. I showed my fitness log through pictures. The best part of my log is the different workouts I created.

Content

SMART GOAL- A SMART goal is a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. This allows your goal to be reached since you have taken every part of it into perspective. Using my goal I planned my month's exercises and diet. This concept is also used in other classes as you need to set goals that are realistic for any subject area. Goals that are specific and measurable are easier to achieve and are very important.

OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE - The overload principle is one of the seven big laws of fitness and training. Simply put, it says that you have to increase the intensity, duration, type, or time of a workout progressively in order to see adaptations. The adaptations are improvements in endurance, strength, or muscle size. I used this in my log when thinking about the number of reps, sets, and weight I worked with. Increasing intensity and time of exercises I was able to see progress in my strength. This can also be used in different work environments as you try to increase your quality of work to become better workers.

PERIODIZATION - Periodization is the specific planning of training cycles. It is a necessary way to train to accommodate the overload principle. In order to progress and make gains you have to vary workouts to overload the body. But, you also need to accommodate the GAS (general adaptation syndrome) principle, which says high-intensity training needs to be followed by low-intensity training or rest. I applied this in my log when, after completing a workout at a very high intensity I took time to rest and recover so that I could get the results I wanted. This also works in school as if you work very hard on something, you sometimes need time to just rest or do something relaxing.

FITT PRINCIPLE - FITT stands for frequency, intensity, time, and type. The FITT Principle identifies the four main changeable aspects of an exercise. You can change the frequency of an exercise by changing the number of reps. You can change the intensity by changing the weight you are using in an exercise. You change the time by changing the number of sets. You can also change the type by changing what exercise you are doing for example changing from hammer curls to preacher curls because these workout different parts of your bicep.

HEART RATE (resting HR, Target heart rate or THRR) - The resting heart rate is how hard your heart works at “rest” and is an indication of heart efficiency. THRR is the work rate at which you get the most health benefits with a low risk of injury. When doing exercises throughout the one month period I made sure that my heart rate was in this range so that I was working hard but also so I was safe. It is always important to have a healthy heart so working hard safely is important.

RESISTANCE TRAINING - Resistance training is working with resistance bands instead of weights to build muscle. Resistance bands are good for building up to higher weights, are easier to store, and can be used pretty much any where. They can also help you stretch which is very important when working out.

BODY WEIGHT EXERCISES - Bodyweight exercises are exercises where you don't use any weights but instead use your body as the weight. You can do most body weight exercises almost anywhere. Some examples are pushups, air squats, planks, sit ups, and lunges. These exercises are also good for beginners who are working their way up to using real weights.. I used this to build muscle by using them with many reps at a high intensity to get the most benefit.

HEALTH COMPONENTS - The five health components are Muscular strength, Muscular endurance, Cardiovascular endurance, Flexibility, and Body composition. I took into account muscular strength and muscle endurance for my log. I made a goal to increase these by completing different exercises which require strength and to do them consecutively to increase the endurance. All five components are important to remain healthy.

Reflection:

Overall I think my fitness log went very well over the one month timeline. I was able to grow in strength and could track and see the progress I made. I enjoyed watching myself make gains in strength as weight and reps increased for many different exercises. Something that went well were the progresses and improvements I made in my strength for every muscle. I haven completed my goal yet because it is set for a later date. The struggles I faced were finding time to work out through basketball practices and football workouts. I think there was room for improvement in the month. I had a lot of days where I didn’t make time to exercise and didn’t have a chance to workout. I think that some improvements I could have made were to have more days where I exercised and less rest days. Two things that I did well were critical thinking and character. For example, during the month I had to look at the weight that I was doing exercises and use my critical thinking skills to determine with the intensity I did them at, if I should improve in weight or remain the same. For character, when things got tough or I was super tired during some of the workouts, I pushed through and stayed positive and motivated. Two areas of improvement are conscientious learning and communication. In this project I could have done better in conscientious learning if I was able to better manage my time and find more time to work out/exercise. For communication, I think that I could have better communicated how I was feeling in my mood and pain log rather than just putting a short few word statement. In conclusion, this project was a success and I learned some important skills about how to plan fitness goals and stay healthy.