This weeks workout was pretty simple. I ran on the treadmill most of the time. I walked at a speed of 3 mph on incline 2 for 5 minutes, walked on incline 12 at speed 3 mph for 5 minutes, and then increased the incline to 15 and stayed at the same speed for 5 more minutes. after this, I went on the elliptical for 5 minutes. I then went back in the treadmill once again. I walked at 3 mph on incline 2 for 5 minutes, ran at speed 5 mph for 10 minutes and walked at 3 mph on incline 2 for another 5 minutes. in addition, I walked at a speed of 3 mph on incline 12 for 5 minutes and then walked at the same speed on incline 15 for another five minutes. finally I did a 10 minute cool down.

 

Week 10 Questions 

Although I mentioned that achieving my original goal of building my cardiovascular endurance seemed unrealistic, I believe that that was what I was most successful in achieving. I believe that the last couple of weeks running on the treadmill really helped. The aspect of my galas that I was least successful in achieving was staying motivated throughout this exercise program. I feel as though I never really had a constant level of motivation and it made me want to not workout a few times. I was not really looking to boost my motivation at some pint during this program and that was why I was unable to stay constantly motivated because I didn’t do anything to change it. my diet did change throughout the course of this program. I found myself eating more vegetables towards the end of the program and also I tried much harder to choose healthier food options rather than just always eating what I wanted to. my diet changed because I figured that if I am trying to gt my body healthy, I cant just try to do it physically, I need to better my nutrition in order to do that. The most important thing that I learned about myself is that I need to find ways to relive my stress instead of letting it build up. I’ve mentioned before that I find working out helps with my stress and that’s just one of many ways,  I am sure, that I can relieve my stress.

*** I filmed this weeks workout using the time lapse setting on my phone whereas the last few weeks ive been filming my workouts with my laptop. The time lapse setting on my phone speeds up an hour long video faster than my laptop does that’s why this video is much shorter than my previously uploaded videos.***

 

This week I decided to workout at a gym. My workout was pretty simple as it only consisted of using a treadmill. First I warmed up by walking at a speed of 2 mph on an incline of 12 for 10 minutes. Then I increased the speed to 3 mph and and lowered the incline to 2 and stayed like this for 5 minutes. To continue, I changed the speed to 4.5 mph and ran on an incline of 2 for 15 minutes. I then increased the incline to 8 and lowered the speed to 3 and walked for 10 minutes. From there, I once again ran at 4.5 mph on an incline of 2 for another 15 minutes. Lastly, I cooled down by walking at a speed of 2.5 mph on 0 incline for 5 minutes.

 

Week #9 Questions

I think that trying to maintain my health will keep me motivated to stay active in the future. I see myself participating in sports to stay active since it is something that I love doing and I have been doing it for a long time now; I cant see myself stopping anytime soon! 3 benefits of a healthy active lifestyle include weight control, prevention of health diseases, including stroke and type 2 diabetes, and staying active puts you in a better mood (Mayo Clinic). Some risks of a sedentary lifestyle include: risk of cardiovascular disease, becoming overweight or obese, and this type of lifestyle is linked to high blood pressure and high levels of cholesterol (Lifespan). Avocado and cheese are 2 examples of healthy fats (Healthline).

Warm up

To begin, I started off with 10 minutes of the sun salutations we do in class.

Reach up and go down and touch toes. Breathe in half way up until your knees then lie down flat on stomach and move into cobra pose. From there move into downward dog and then stand up halfway, go down, and stand up to full height.

After that, I Started off in table top pose, arch and round back for 1 min. C-stretches (left and right side) in tabletop position for about a minute. Then move into cobra position and shift into downward dog position, do this for 1 min.

Flow 1-Build your heat

Start in downward dog position then lift leg for 3-legged dog; bring leg that is in air to nose for cheetah pose.

Shift into a lunge position, place right after on left thigh and twist. Then go back into a lunge and then straighten out both legs, keeping them the same distance away from each other as in lunge position, and then lean forward or shin, stretching out your back.

Do a sun salutation and then repeat the same process over again, but this time doing it on the left side of  body (I started with my right side so now I’m doing my left)

 

Flow 2- test your balance

3-legged dog position to cheetah, then step into a lunge. From lunge, stant into warrior 2 pose, lean right arm on front thigh (right thigh) and reah up with left arm. Then, lean left arm on back leg and reach right arm up. Shift back into warrior 2 position. From there, straighten both legs and shift into triangle pose, then reverse triangle pose. From reverse triangle, move into half moon position. Once agai, go back into warrior 2 position, the shift onto a side plank. Shift into downward dog and repeat the process on the opposite side of your body. Then once again, do another round of these exercises on both sides of your body to complete a total of 4 times.

 

Flow 3 – test your edge

Start in 3-legged dog position and shift into lunge. Bend back leg and place knee on ground. Grab back foot with right hand and pull until you feel a sensation in your quadricep. Shift back into a lunge and straighten both legs. Lean your upper body forward over shin of front leg. From there go into a standing split position. Hold for a moment then bend leg that is in air to your nose and hold it back up. Repeat the movement for a few breaths. From there, move into a standing position, raise hands above head and then go into a squat. From the squat position, do a twist, placing your left elbow on your right thigh. From there stand up, reach your arms upward, and then go back into the lunge position. Repeat these exercises on the opposite side of your body.

Cool Down

For a cool down, I stretched my arms, hamstrings, quads, and core. I then did another 10 minutes of the sun salutations we do in class every week.

Finally, I proceeded to do stay in the Savasana position for a few minutes.

 

Week #7 Questions

Yes I do feel like I need to revise my goals seeing as I find it easier and more convenient and comfortable for me to workout at home, and since I don’t have a treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical available to me at home (machines I would like to use at a gym to help me improve my endurance), it would be much more challenging for me to increase my cardiovascular endurance to a point where I could run, nonstop, for an extended period of time like I originally hoped.  Based on this, no, my goal doesn’t still seem realistic based on the workouts I have been doing the last few weeks. I will still try to workout at a gym if I can find time to do so, therefore, my goal of increasing my endurance by the end of the semester is still my goal but not my primary one. My new goal is to increase the flexibility in my legs through yoga and Pilates workouts. I would like to be able to easily be able to rest my head on my knees/thighs while touching my toes. I still find that doing my workouts after I finish my homework is still keeping me motivated to workout. However, as mentioned before, I need to change where I workout. I need to workout at home rather than at the gym because it is hard for me to find the time to go to the gym.

It is recommended that a person eats 2-3 cups of vegetables everyday (All About the Vegetable Group, USDA). No, I am not getting enough, I normally eat only 1 serving of vegetables each day. To ensure that I do, I can set alerts in my phone to remind me to eat more vegetables. My three favorite vegetables are carrots, broccoli and sweet potatoes.

 

 

This week I decided to do an at-home Pilates workout. This workout consisted of a warm up, 2 different groups of Pilates exercises, and a cool down. To start, I warmed by performing a few exercises for about 30 seconds each; the exercises were: toe touch reaches, left and right staggered tow touches, wide toe touches with a side lunge, left and right warrior pose, walk down- push ups, up dog to don dogs, and back bows with an arm stretch.

Next, I stared to actual Pilates workout. The first group of exercises consisted of 10-12 reps of toe taps, chasing toe taps, toe taps from the table top position, double toe taps, leg extensions, double leg drops, slow and regular paced swimmers (I did double the number of reps of the regular paced swimmers rather than doing the fast pages swimmers), back bows, breaststrokes, heel taps, and double leg lifts. The exercises in the second group of the Pilates workout were: single and double leg pulses, side leg raises in 3 different positions, toe down, toe forward, and toe up; i did that one both my left and right sides. I continued with leg raise and extensions, inside thigh raises and pluses, regular hip raises as well as 5 balancing just on my left foot and 5 balancing on my right. In addition, I did kneeing leg raises, with my leg straight and again with my leg bent, and leg pulses with both my left and right legs. Apart from the left and right leg hip raises, all the exercise in group two were also repeated 10-12 times. I rested when I really needed to in attempts to push myself to complete a higher intensity workout.

Finally, I did a cool down stretching out my quads, hamstrings, torso, back, glutes and arms. To stretch out theses muscles, I performed the following stretches for 30 seconds: single leg toe touches and torso stretch for my left and right legs, butterfly, hip stretch, left and right torso rotation, left and right deep glute, cobra, child’s pose, shoulder and triceps stretches.

 

Week 6 Questions

This week, I generally felt more tired even though I’ve been sleeping roughly the same amount I was sleeping last week. Based in this, I feel as though this activity plan is making me more tired, despite the fact that I almost always feel more awake and less anxious after I workout. So far, one of the major barriers in this activity plan for me is finding the motivation to work out. In order to find motivation, I decided to do my workouts after I do my homework. I chose to do  this because I normally get stressed out when I’m doing my homework and I am always looking for ways to mask that stress but working out actually gets rid of the stress; essentially by doing my homework and increasing my stress levels, it encourages me to workout out so I could melt away that stress. Recovery time depends on many factors including the intensity of the workout and how your workout is divided up. Generally, however, it is recommended that you take 1-2 days rest to let your muscles heal. If you don’t rest your muscles, you will have less energy, you won’t be able to perform as well, and your muscles will breakdown resulting in a loss of muscles mass.

 

This week I chose to do an at-home work out. The workout I chose to do was a HIIT Cardio and Abs workout + Pilates burnout. To begin, I did a 5 minute warm up, performing each exercise for 30 seconds. The exercises completed in the warm up were high knee march, slow butt kickers, toe touch circles, knee and twist, toe touch kicks, lunge and stretch, single leg deadlift, slow burpees, out jacks, and high knees. Next, I continued with the HIIT and Core workout; I completed each exercise for 20 seconds and then rested for 5-10 seconds between each exercise. There were 5 groups of exercises; group one consisted of two 20 second-sets of thigh slaps and butt kickers as well as one set of 20 seconds of toe thigh crunches, jumping lunges, sumo squat and front kicks and get ups. The second group of exercises consisted of two 20-seond longs sets of low intensity burpees and pop squats and 1 set of Russian twists, rocket squats, jumping jacks, and back bows. After the second group of exercises, I took a water break lasting about 30 seconds. The exercises in group 3 were star jumps, walk down plank jacks, bicycle crunches, flutter squats, side lunge pops and back bow cross overs; two 20 second sets of the star jumps and plank jacks were completed whereas one set of 20 seconds of the other exercises were completed. To continue, group 4 consisted of 1 twenty-second sets of kick throughs, log hops, knee tuck crunches, power skip toe touches, squat circles and side hip raises (both left and right). I took a water break after this group of exercises.  Lastly, in the fifth and final group of HIIT exercises, one 20 second set of each of the following exercises were completed: switch foot runners, side step jump squats, bird dog, burpee holds, plank jack knees, and windshield wipers. I chose t take another water break after this group of exercises as well.

The Pilates portion of the workout lasted about 15 minutes and each exercise I did lasted for about 60 seconds. The first exercise I did was an imprint, which is basically pressing your lower back into the floor and testing your range of how far out you can arch your back without lifting too much of your lower back off of the ground. I then continued with toe taps, chasing toe taps with my left and right leg, table top toe taps and double toe taps. Next, I did 2 different levels of the swimmer exercise and I did the back bow and back bow pull exercises. Lastly, I did side hip raises, on both my left and right sides, as well as reclined rotations, single leg pulls and double leg pulls.

 

Finally, I did a cool down stretching out my quads, arms hamstrings, core and back. It lasted about 5 minutes.

 

Week 5 Questions

I found it a little bit challenging to find time to fit a workout into my schedule for the week but I did manage to find time on Thursday afternoons. Between all my school work, flag football with the school and working, it is a bit challenging to fit extra workouts in but i realized that it forces me to manage my time better.

Before working out, I find myself stressed out quite a bit seeing as I try to workout after doing a bit of homework but after I workout, no matter what kind of exercise/workout it is,  always find myself to be a to calmer than I was going into the workout.

 

*There are 2 links because I had to up load the workout in 2 videos. My phone stopped recording at the 50 minute mark the first time therefore I needed to record a second video for the end of the workout. Only then did I realize there is a time lapse option in the camera app on my phone (silly me!) so the last 10 minutes of the workout is in time lapse form whereas the first part in the whole 50 minutes.

 

For this workout, I ran 2 sets of 3 laps and 1 set of 2 laps. I am unsure of the dimensions of the laps I ran but one set of three laps took approximately 13-15 minutes the set of 2 laps took about 10 minutes. After the first set of 3 laps, I did 20 squats and 10 push ups, I then proceeded to take a breather and walk for 5 minutes. After the second set of 3 laps, I completed 30 squats, 20 push ups, and 20 sit ups. Once again, I walked for 5 minutes to catch my breath. Finally, after the last set of 2 laps, I did 20 squats, 10 push ups, and 20 sit ups. I did an additional 5 minutes of walking after this set as well.

Week 4 Questions

The ACSM guideline for effective cardio training are F.I.T.T : Frequency, how many times every week you exercise, Intensity, how hard you work during exercise, Time, how long you exercise for and Type, which type of exercise you perform. For health benefits, you should workout for 150 minutes, if you do a workout of moderate intensity, or 60 minutes if you do a workout of very high intensity. The ACSM defines cardio workouts as exercises that are continuous and performed with large muscles. Such exercises included, walking, jogging, and cycling. Weight-lifting is not considered a cardio vascular exercise. It is recommended to drink 6-8 8-ounce glasses of water everyday. Progressive overload explains that your body’s goal is to keep you alive and safe, therefore trying to achieve your fitness goal is challenging because your body is trying to keep you safe. Consequently, the only way to achieve your fitness goal is to make your body adapt to the environment that it’s in; in other words, you need force your body adapt to what you want in your mind to allow you to reach your fitness goal. The progressive overload principle states that you need to push your body past its limits in order to achieve your desired fitness results.

Gym: 30 minute hit 

https://www.30minutehit.com/locations/gym/lasalle-kickboxing-boxing-fitness.html 

This gym is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 8-12, Monday to Thursday evenings from 3:30-8, Friday evening from 3:30-7:30, and Saturdays from 8:30-12:30.  The first time you visit the gym for the free trial that’s is offered, you need to choose a time slot so that a trainer can help you with the circuit for the first time, after that you can go whenever you please during opening hours. 

There are no prices displayed on their website but when you visit, they given you a break down of the 3 subscription options that they offer. The first one is 69 dollars every month(plus 100 dollars registration fee); this subscription is a month to month subscription meaning that you can cancel or pause the subscription whenever you please. The second supervision option offered is is also 69 dollars per month (plus tax)however it is a 12 month commitment. This means that, essentially, you have a year long subscription. Finally, the last option is also a 12 month subscription. It costs 729 dollars and is payable in 2 payments. If you know really like the gym and know that this is the one you want to commit to, this last subscription works out to be cheaper seeing as with the tax from paying every month for the previously mentioned subscription adds up to be more than 729 dollars. Also, you are free to go to any location around Montreal!

This gym is basically a kick boxing gym so during the 30 minute circuit, you are doing just that. There are 15 stations at which you perform different kickboxing techniques and muscle conditioning exercises such as such as upper cuts, roundhouse kicks, and sit ups with a medicine ball. You workout at each station for 2 minutes and change the pace of the exercise you are doing every 15 seconds. I went the the class with a friend of mine who was also interested in trying out this gym.

I felt a bit more energetic than usual before the workout, allowing me to work pretty hard during the actual workout circuit. After every few stations, i found myself out of breath, not because I found it too hard but because I was going as hard as I could. After the workout. I felt more awake and felt like I had a lot of energy compared to how much energy I normally have after working out.

I learned the basic boxing stance as well as how to properly perform and upper cut. I really liked the intensity  and effectiveness of the workout. Despite only working out for 30 minutes, every muscle group was targeted, therefore allowing me to get a full body workout. What I didn’t like about this gym was that there weren’t a lot of modified exercise options available. For example,the roundhouse kicks station, for me that was an waders exercise yet the trainer didn’t have a more difficult way for me to do the exercise the increase the intensity for me. 

Overall, I am happy I went and got to see what this gym was like. I would recommend it to a friend who is interested in kickboxing. It is a really fun a and convenient way to stay fit.

Week #3 Questions

After trying out different things over the last few weeks, I realize that I like working out at the gym the most. I like being able to control my workouts allowing me to work on and improve exactly what I want to. As mentioned last week, I want to improve my endurance by being able to run for a longer period of time without getting so tired I need to stop. Therefore I would need to work on the treadmill, stationary bike, and elliptical, machines that will help me reach my goal as well as machines I enjoy working on. That is what I see myself doing for the remaining weeks of this semester. I’m not sure if I can see myself doing only cardio the rest of my life but as of right now, I can see myself doing it well into the future.

Name of gym: Flex Total Fitness Gym https://www.flexgym.ca/en/

This gym is open for 24 hours from Monday to Thursday. On Fridays, they close at 1 AM, on Saturday they are open from 7 AM until 10 PM, and on Sundays 7 AM until midnight. there are multiple different membership options available at Flex gym including the basic 12 month individual membership ($200),  the bring  a friend membership ($280), a family membership for 2 people who live at the same address ($330), and the group classes membership ($380). There are also short term memberships available at this gym. A 6 month membership is $125, 1 month is $45, and one week is $27. there is also a three month membership option but no price is indicated on the site. Finally, you can also pay per session, which is what i chose to do. 1 session is $10, 10 sessions is $70, 20 sessions costs $125, and 30 sessions is $155.

I decided to go to this gym just to workout rather than attend a class. Once again, I decided to go alone. before the workout, I felt very tired from a long day of school however, once I started my workout, I felt more awake because of adrenaline. I went at my own pace and pushed my self when I felt that I could continue going for a little longer rather than just immediately stopping when I felt the slightest bit of fatigue. the main part of my workout was running on the treadmill. I pushed myself to run for a little over 30 minutes consecutively, changing the speed and incline on the treadmill every 3-5 minutes. The highest speed I reached was 5.5 mph and the highest incline I ran on was 10.5. There was 3 times I pushed myself to run for 1 minute- 1 minute and 30 seconds longer than my brain was telling me I could, allowing me to learn and realize that the first instant of fatigue ins’t always your body’s limit; your body is much stronger than your brain thinks it is. although I pushed myself on the treadmill, I didn’t push myself to venture out of my comfort zone and try machines I wouldn’t normally try. I disliked that about my workout seeing as I decided to workout on my own at this gym rather than attending a class where i’m bound to be pushed out of my zone of comfort. I really liked the fact that I could construct the workout that I believed was best suited for me and my body rather than doing a workout with a group of people where the exercises aren’t necessarily targeted towards me and my preferences. I am really happy I decided to workout at thus gym; they have various machines and other equipment there which allows everyone to have a chance to find and use a machine they like. I would definitely recommend this gym to a friend!

Week #2 Questions

I would like to improve my running endurance. Right now I am able to run for 15 minutes straight at a  moderately fats pace without changing my speed before needing to stop and take a breather. A realistic goal to reach is to be able to run for 25 minutes at that same pace after attending exercise numerous classes throughout this semester. 3 things that I believe would motivate me to participate in a regular exercise routine would be one, watching workout videos, two,motivational quotes and finally, I think having a workout partner would help keep me motivated. Although the last two weeks I’ve decided to workout alone, I feel like if  my motivation is ever low, a workout partner would increase my motivation back up to whee it normally is and force me to workout despite not wanting to. Bad weather, a lot of homework, and work would probably be the excuses I would tell myself in efforts to convince myself not to exercise.

 

Name of fitness organization: Cardio Plein Air ( https://www.cardiopleinair.ca/en/ )

Name of class participated in: Cardio-Musculation

The schedule for this organization varies from location to location. the park i went to was Angrignon Park; the schedule for this park consists of a Cardio-Musculation class, a Cardio- Vitalite class and a Cardio-Pousette class twice a week as well as a Cardio- Bootcamp express class once a week.

this is the link to the schedule of Cardio Plein Air at Angrignon Park

https://www.cardiopleinair.ca/en/where-to-train/

there are various subscriptions and prices for this program. There is a Pay Per Session subscription  which is $15 (tax included) that allows you to attend the fitness class of your choice. Another Subscription option  is the Regular Subscription which costs $7.35 (plus tax), as well as a registration fee, that allows you to attend any 2 classes every week! Finally, there is the VIP subscription, giving you access to all the classes offered in any park around Quebec! No price  for this subscription is disclosed on the website. There is also a free trail available to anyone who is interested in this program and wants to see what it is like, just like me!

I opted for the free trial to attend the Cardio-Musculation class. I decided to attend the class by my self. before the work out, I felt very tired from a long day of school. During the workout, I felt more awake and motivated to make it through the workout because of the  positive vibes and energy everyone around me had. After the workout,  I felt more energized, more awake, and was in a better and more positive mood than I was in before having completed the workout.

In this workout, I learned how to control my breathing in order to be able to complete longer sets of exercises without losing my breath and energy as quickly. What I really liked about this class was that I could go at my own pace and do what was comfortable for me, but also was being pushed just passed what I thought was my limit, allowing me to realize that I am stringer than I feel during certain exercises. I also liked that it was outside; I usually workout inside of gyms, but it was a nice change to exercise in fresh air. What I disliked about this class was the length of the workout in relation to the intensity of it. Although I was pushed passed my limit during some exercises, generally the workout, fr me, was not as hard as I anticipated it to be. I feel like a longer time interval would have made the class more intense for me. the work out was 1 hour long.

Overall, I enjoyed the class and i am happy that i discovered this program! I would definitely recommend it to a friend. Working out outside with a group of motivated people is really fun!

This is one of my favorite quotes 🙂