One day or day one, you decide.

Paulo Coelho

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Workout #2 Questions:

1. I prefer Tabata workout over the 1 minute challenge because I enjoy doing 20 second sets many times more than 1 minute straight. The 20 second sets were easier for me to handle because of the 10 second breaks in between each set. This week’s workout was perfect for my beginner level and on the last workout of week 2, I was able to increase the number of sets I did for specific exercises from 3 to 4. I prefer working out at high intensity for short amounts of time and then, catching my breath rather than 1 minute straight. 

2. My stress levels before physical activity are pretty high because of the great amount of tests and assignments that I constantly have due. However, I did find my stress levels to decrease a little bit after the workouts and I was able to get straight to studying since I felt more awake and energized. When I’d start studying, I did find myself to be calmer and more focused, which I attribute to the physical activity I had just completed.

3. The main thing that motivates me to workout is my goal to improve my health. Since college began, I have not been exercising and I know this is detrimental to my body overall, and specifically to my energy levels, muscle mass, strength, and endurance. Including physical activity in one’s everyday life is a part of making a person the healthiest they can be. Sometimes, I am unmotivated to work out because I feel very sleep deprived from school. However, this quickly goes away once I start Tabata and I get into the flow of the workout. 

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Workout #3 Questions:

1. The intensity of the workout was on par with the past workouts where having a specific number of reps to do rather than a specific amount of time was challenging for specific exercises. For example, doing 10 burpees with a push-up  in them was very intense, especially during the second set. I was overall able to do all 8 exercises without stopping and then take a nice 1 minute and a half rest to catch my breath. However, on the second set, I was definitely slower overall as I did the 8 exercises. 

2. My exercise program fit very easily into my weekly schedule during these two weeks of spring break and it will continue to do so, seeing the situation that we are all in from now on. Since I do not have to travel to school, I have changed to doing my workouts in the morning a little while after I wake up, rather than in the afternoons. The exercise program serves as a nice way to wake me up and get my blood flowing so that I’m ready for the day. 

3. The purpose of a warm up is to prepare the body for the exercise and to improve the athletic performance. It also serves to increase body temperature, oxygen supply to the muscles, joint mobility, and muscle elasticity. Lastly, it helps prevent muscle and joint injury. A warm up includes 5-8 minutes of low intensity cardiovascular activity with dynamic stretches and range of motion exercises mixed into it. If successful, you should feel more relaxed, energetic, and prepared for the workout. Your heart rate should increase from resting to close to the lower limit of your heart rate training range warm up. Also, your body temperature and blood flow should be increased.

4. Since the beginning of this class, I have noticed that my muscular endurance has increased. In the weekly workouts, I am able to do more reps of specific exercises and have an easier time doing so. I specifically noticed this in chair dips and push-ups which have been present in all of the past workouts during the last 6 weeks. Beforehand, I would always do push-ups on my knees, but now I can succeed in doing the full push-ups. Currently, I no longer struggle to do 10 reps of these 2 exercises. 

5. Regular participation in physical activity helps lower the risk for heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and of developing osteoporosis.

6. Regular participation in physical activity helps you relieve tension and stress, as well as decrease your mood swings and irritability. It also improves your self-image and self-confidence. Lastly, it aids in stress management where the hormone beta-endorphin, which is the feel good hormone, is released into your blood.

7. Muscular conditioning is key to having a healthy body composition because it leads to an increase in metabolism, a decrease in body fat, and an increase in muscle mass. 

8. Important exercises for posture development and/or improvement are posterior flyes for the upper back, supermans for the lower back, and curl-ups for the abdominals and obliques.  

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Workout #4 Questions:

1. I did 300 reps for all 4 attempts. For the 1^st attempt, my time was 15.1 minutes, followed by 14.2 minutes, 13.3 minutes, and 13.1 minutes. 

2. I found push-ups the most difficult. I only did 30 of them on my knees for the first week, but for the second week, I did 10 reps of knee push-ups followed by 10 full push-ups and then, back to the knees. I find push-ups very challenging because my upper body strength is not very good and doing 3 sets of 10 really burns by the end. One day, I hope to be able to complete all 30 as full push-ups, which I do think is possible if I continue to exercise weekly. 

3. I do think my fitness level has improved after these challenges. Although I don’t really see any key differences when I look in the mirror, I have noticed progress in my muscular endurance as well as my flexibility. Before taking this class, it definitely would have been a huge struggle for me to accomplish the 300 rep workout for time. I would have had to take many more breaks and even then, it would have been very challenging. I noticed the greatest improvement in my ability to do full push-ups and chair-dips. I also remarked that my flexibility has improved slightly, where during the first workout I could not make my left arm touch my right arm in the chest + triceps exercise. However, now I am able to make my fingers just barely touch. 

4. Yes, I will definitely continue to workout now that I have completed the 4 week challenge and I will also continue to do variations of my favourite workouts taught from this class (the Tabata and 300-500 rep workout for time). During this tough time where we are all isolated at home, the amount of exercise I get daily has greatly decreased. Therefore, it’s extremely important that I continue to incorporate workouts into my daily life. I need to do so for health reasons, like preventing loss of muscle mass and decrease of energy levels. I will also exercise to keep my blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood fat at a healthy level.

5. It is recommended to do cardio 3-5 days per week. The intensity level of your workout should involve your heart rate being at 60-85% of your max heart rate, or at an RPE of 2-4, which means comfortably to moderately hard. The recommended time is 20-60 minutes of continuous activity at your appropriate intensity or 1-2 minutes of high intensity intervals for a minimum of 10 minutes.  

6. 5 major muscle groups are hamstrings, pectoralis major, rectus abdominus, obliques, and triceps.

7. To work out my hamstrings, I will do forward lunges with dumbbells. For my pectoralis major, I will do dumbbell presses. For my rectus abdominus, I will do curl-ups. For my obliques, I will do side planks. Lastly, for my triceps, I will do dumbbell overhead extensions.

8. The recommended frequency level for all 5 exercises involves working each muscle group 2-3 times per week. The recommended intensity for all 5 exercises is 1-2 sets per exercise and 10-15 RM, where your muscles should be tired within 60-90 seconds. Personally, when doing lunges, I would like to complete 1 set of 15 reps holding 10Ib dumbbells. For dumbbell presses, I will do 2 sets of 10 reps using 8Ib dumbbells. For curl-ups, I will do 2 sets of 25 reps. For side-plank, I will hold it for 2 minutes. Finally, for dumbbell overhead extensions, I will do 2 sets of 10 reps with 5Ib dumbbells. Each break between sets will be about 20-30 seconds.

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