I have always wanted to work out in the gym and improve my physique and muscle strength. In this experience I would like to work out in the gym in order to perform better in sports. My workout would consist of all the exercises required for me to improve my physical strength and endurance and positively impact my overall performance. I will understand the requirements of my sport and plan the workout accordingly, as it is going to be self supervised.
LO1: For me to play my workout properly, I had to analyse and evaluate my strengths and weaknesses initially. After which I was able to generate a proper workout with all the requirements in mind. I identified my strengths and weaknesses properly and gave weightage to the exercises accordingly. As i am aware about my strengths and weaknesses, it makes me more clear and focused onto my areas of improvement and effort, this makes me all the more confident and motivated to work out. It is very important to identify our own strengths and weaknesses in experiences like these, it helps us understand the amount of focus and attention that needs to be divided while doing any activity. My stamina and endurance is a weakness due to a few health issues, hence my workout was planned in a way that it had enough attention to cardio training, while maintaining a relatively high and stable heart rate to try and improve it. Running on the treadmill and intense circuit exercises helped me improve my stamina and endurance.
LO2: The cardio training was very challenging and along with leg days and upper body training on alternate days, there was time to cool down and relax my muscles, yet there were a few cramps at night which made working out the next day challenging. Fully recovering from a cramp is a slightly long process and if not healed properly, then the chance of a major injury also increases. Sometimes a previous day cramp pained during the workout, sometimes I had to end the workout because of that which made it very challenging. I have worked out before and planned fitness routines for myself in school as well as outside, due to which I was confident and went ahead with this experience. I used to do a lot of recovery training through styrofoam rollers and cooldown exercises after the workout to relax my muscles and decrease the chance of injury. This experience has definitely developed my body and has taught me a lot of things which are important to keep in mind while planning a workout. this is why it is important to undertake new challenges and experiences, it teaches us a lot and that learning is very hard to forget.
LO3: I am not a very organized person usually, I planned out the time I have for the workout and arranged the workout regime accordingly. The initiation and consistency in the workout was a challenge, to be up to the full intensity in every session was a challenge because of a few injuries and cramps. Time wor cooldown and recovery was allotted but it was not sufficient sometimes. I brushed up my self management skills during this experience, finishing the work on time and making time for other activities and studying was something that I could do because of the self management skills that I developed during this experience. with the learning from this experience, i feel it is going to be easier for me to plan more experiences and projects with less flaws and mistakes.
LO4: The purpose of this experience was to improve my endurance and strength so that I perform better in sports, for that to happen, I needed to be committed to the workout plan and finish it with the required intensity. Commitment to stick to the program even after a few cramps and injuries was required, using the injury as an excuse to not work out was a display of lack of perseverance and character, hence, commitment was very important for the workout to have an impact on my performance. As i wanted to improve my performance, it was easy for me to commit to this plan. Commitment and perseverance are very important for any project or a plan to be successful, without commitment the intended goal cannot be achieved, and the project will fail.
Final takeaway: The learner profile I developed during this experience was thinker, reflective and balanced. I had to reflect on myself in order to analyse my strengths and weaknesses, think accordingly in order to generate a workout regime and balance it with my studies and sports. The highlight of this experience was the comfort I felt while running for a log distance and for a long time after the workout, it was much better and effortless compared to earlier and my heart rate was stable and healthy. A huge learning from this session was to understand the importance of rest and recovery, if I did this again, i would make the workout more flexible and add mire rest and recovery time to it. All in all I am happy with the experience and the results on the field.
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