Main Project: PE Log/Journal

The goal of the PE log or journal was to give us a way to track our progress and see how much we can improve. We were really only told we had to log the time the exercise took and some other things and the rest was up to us. I personally set a very high goal that I wasn't able to complete. I chose to do biking for my main exercise. My goal was to bike 25 miles in a single ride. I thought it would be a reasonable goal, but I ended up not completing it by the end of the semester. Below I have included pictures of my PE log and how I changed it each week to make it more easy to see the data.

My Journal/Log

In the beginning of my log, I started by using a table to log the "data" points like time, dirstance, and speed. Later, I got rid of it because it made more sense to not have a large table and individual logs. I also at the start logged food I ate before. I stopped doing this because more of my rides were in the afternoon and I would only stop riding because I needed to come home for dinner. I also used to log my heart rate but that could only happen if I logged the workout on my smart watch which a couple times didn't give the most accurate map from my ride. I also put down a goal for the day and what was achieved (completely forgot to include that last 2 weeks). I ended up getting rid of the what was achieved because I had already listed that above. I also half way through switched to writing in pen so it is easier to see since pencil can appear very light on pictures. I also took video walkthroughs of my PE logs for each week but I have seemed to have deleted them from my phone due to lack of space. I kept track of all of my workouts on Strava. Below is my Strava page that includes all of my rides and workouts that I did.

Strava Link

Main Concepts

During this unit we learned about concepts that we were able to apply to the Fitness Log

• Health Components of Fitness: The 5 Health components of fitness are Cardiovascular Endurance, Muscular Endurance, Muscular Strength, Flexibility, and Body Composition. Cardiovascular Endurance is the aerobic capacity someone has (how long they can do a cardio activity, ex: long distance running or swimming). Muscular Strength is the amount of force your muscles can produce (different from muscular endurance). Muscular Endurance however is how many times you can use the muscles without tiring. This is determined by how well slow and fast twitch muscles are developed. Flexibility is the ability to move your joints in a wide range of motion. Being flexible can help increase speed and power. Body composition is the % of body fat to other body tissue (ex: bone, muscle). Having good body composition can help you avoid illness and have lower death rates even. I used the health components of fitness to improve my Cardiovascular endurance.

• SMART Goals: A SMART goal is a goal that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. An example of a smart goal is running a 5 minute mile. There is a goal, it is measurable, it is realistic, and doesn’t take too much time. We used this to create a goal that we would complete by the end of the semester. My goal was to bike 25 miles in a single ride. I ended up not completing it. My hope was to complete my goal when riding with the mountain biking club but that got pushed back to much later.

• F.I.T.T. Principle: The FITT principle stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type. The first thing you want to think about is how frequent you do an exercise. Then how intense you do that activity. You also need to know how long you do the activity and what type of activity you want to do. An example from my PE log was that I decided to do at least 3 bike rides a week (Frequency and Type) that were about 6/10 or more intensity or PEI (Perceived Exertion Index). I made sure to make the rides one hour or more (Time).

• Overload and Periodization: Overload is when you work your muscles a little bit more than they can to make your muscles stronger. It can be dangerous to overload your muscles too fast so you want to do it over a long period of time. Periodization is when you stress the body over time but you give it time to recover. In my log, I tried to use this principle to get better at biking and to make my muscles stronger. I tried doing easy bike rides and then working my way to a long ride on Mt. Burdell that I would say I was able to bike it because I worked myself up to it by doing a difficult uphill ride, then a simple road bike ride. This gave my body time to recover and to let me get better.

• Target Heart Range: Target heart range is the work rate at which you get the most health benefits with a low risk of injury. We found our target heart range using karvonen formula. My target heart rate range is 147 beats per minute to 171 beats per minute.

• Lactic Acid: Lactic acid doesn't cause muscle pain. I thought so myself, but it actually comes from microscopic tears in your muscles. Lactic acid creates energy your body uses when you exercise. I used to believe it caused the burning sensation in my muscles but it doesn't.

• High Impact/Low Impact Cardio: High impact exercises are exercises that put high amount of impact on the joints. These can be very beneficial but also carry some risks. Examples of high impact exercises include; running, football, basketball, etc. Low impact exercises apply less force on the joints and are less risk and more benefit. Examples of low impact exercises are swimming, cycling, yoga, etc. I already was doing low impact exercises but I definitely took this into account when doing exercises.

• Skill Components of Fitness: The skill related components of fitness are Agility, Coordination, Reaction Time, Balance, Power, and Speed. When learning about these we took tests to test these components. I found that I have a lot of power in my legs. I do swimming so that doesn't surprise me. Using this, I found that I can use the power in my legs to peddle faster on my bike.

• Hypokinetic Diseases: We learned about diseases that relatives of our's have such as diabetes, cancer, strokes, etc. We then calculated how at risk to these diseases we were. Luckily for me, my family is pretty healthy and I am not at risk for much. Learning about Hypokinetic diseases made me realize how important it is to stay fit since I could get some of these diseases if I have an unhealthy diet and don't exercise.

Reflection

I think that overall this project went really well. While I may have not completed my goal, I still think I improved a lot over the course of this semester. Over the summer, I attempted a Mt. Burdell ride and I didn't get that far and I had to walk my bike along, when I attempted it now using principles like periodization and overload I was able to make my muscles stronger and ready for the ride. It was fun though to set myself to do at least 5 bike rides or workouts a week because I got to bike with some friends and I haven't really gotten to see many friends over these last couple of months. It was nice to log all of my rides on strava because it was cool to see how far I rode and all that. Even though I set the goal too high, it still gave me something to try to work for. My goal was to bike 25 miles in a single ride but the farthest I went in a single ride was only 15 miles. The hardest parts of my goal to me was to find a long enough route to take me 25 miles and I also had trouble finding the time. I never had enough time for a long enough ride on the weekdays since I have homework and I am busy with other things on the weekends. I could have made time on the weekdays by trying to not procrastinate on work as much so I could start biking earlier. For the amount of time I put in, I am happy with the results. I may not use the physical fitness log, but I will probably continue to use Strava to log my rides and eventually meet my goal.