ACTION
PROJECT 1: AEROBIC
PROJECT 1: AEROBIC
INTRODUCTION
During this whole year I am going to be attempting a new activity. This activity consists of attending and participating in a weekly aerobics class. Each class lasts 50 minutes and includes various different types of exercises. An example is the creation of choreographies that allow you to exercise your body and keep fit while having a good time. Another type of exercises are also practised, involving tonification, muscle enhancement, coordination or reflex improval exercises. With these varied sessions of exercises, if practised frequently, you will gain resistance and strength.
MY GOALS
My goals for this activity are...
- to live a more balanced and healthy lifestyle
- to disconnect from the daily stress
- to take part in one or more marathons or races as I progress
I just thought this pic was very
appropriate for this section.
ANTICIPATED LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth.
I will increase my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth because in each class I will be aware of what I am good at and of what I can improve on. I might be very coordinated but might need to work more on my muscle enhancement exercises, for example.
4. Worked collaboratively with others
During my participation in this Aerobics class, I will have to work collaboratively with others. All of the choreographies are done and practiced in groups, and in order for the exercise to be efficient and useful, all of the group must be coordinated and communicate with each other.
5. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
By attending this class during a whole year, twice a week, I will show perseverance and commitment.
8. Developed new skills
It is highly probable that I develop new skills in this class. I will learn new dance moves, exercising techniques, stretching techniques, etc.
REFLECTIONS
In order to keep track of my progress in this activity I will write my reflections here every once in a while. I will attend this aerobics class twice a week for the whole school year, so I will write some reflections at least twice a month.
1st of October 2013
Today was my first aerobics' class of the year! My first impressions were that it was loads of fun! My teacher is tough but really nice, and I think that the experience is going to be great!
As to the physical activity, we've just come back from summer, so I was a little bit out of training. The summer is a time to relax, but I'm back now! We did a simple routine to start with and some toning exercises at the end of the class, followed by some stretching exercises. My prediction is that as time passes by, I will get less tired during the classes and feel that it comes more naturally, after all it was only the first day!
Loved this pic! I will post more of them!
15th of October 2013
Half a month has gone by, and my aerobic experience continues :)
Today's class was a specially hard one, and I'm pretty sure that I will be sore tomorrow. Nevertheless, I enjoy every class. My goal to "disconnect from daily stress" is more than surely being fulfilled. During the class my brain turns off and I am finally able to relax (mentally not physically though jaja). Even though I still felt exhausted after the class, I think that I have progressed as my choreography moves have really improved and I see myself much better in the class' mirror.
Surely sore tomorrow :D
7th of November 2013
One month has gone by already! Time flies doing the IB... My aerobic skills have improved :) I feel much more comfortable in the classes, and really enjoy attending them. It really is a great chance to relax and disconnect from my stressful daily life. I feel like I am surely achieving one of my goals: to relax from the daily stress. One of my other goals, to live a healthier lifestyle, is also on the way of being achieved I do feel less tired during the classes and feel great after the classes. Physically, I am very sore and do feel fitter than one month ago; mentally, I feel proud of myself after each and every class. I feel that it is a great sport, as I exercise and keep fit but also have a great time, dancing to the rhythm of the music and laughing with all of my classmates.
28th of November 2013
Today has been my last aerobic class of this month; and I feel absolutely exhausted. As I said before, I feel comfortable and happy in the classes; but that doesn't mean that I don't get tired. We do many choreographs; and I have noticed that I am getting better at them and learn and do them more fluently. Each month we have two different, new dance routines and that is the fun part of the class. However, we also have resistance classes, which consist of (as their name indicates) lasting the whole hour doing the exercises the teachers tell us, non-stop. We do many repetition exercises, push-ups, crunches, and leg toning exercises. For now, I manage to survive during the class (even though I am veeeeeeery sore now), but with time I hope to be able to survive and manage to do the exercises with less effort. When I feel that I don't have to make such a big effort to do them, it will mean that I am getting fit! I will carry on reflecting on my classes to prove to myself that I am getting closer to my goal of participating in a race as I keep getting fitter.
The best is yet to come!
MY FIRST RACE!
3rd of December 2013
The world has read my mind! As I was walking home, I saw a poster on a streetlight advertising a 2km race. Everybody can participate in the race as long as they fill in the necessary inscription before the 12th of December. Today, I asked for an inscription in Gobela (where I do aerobics) and got two more for my friends Gema and Marta who will be running with me!
The poster I saw, and a photo of the inscription they gave me to fill in.
5th of December 2013
Today I gave in Marta's, Gema's and my own inscription in Gobela after I went to my usual aerobics class. When I did, they gave me a number to wear on the day of the race and another two for Gema and Marta. Today I was extra excited during aerobics because of this. It is a short race (2km) so I think that I will be able to finish it with no problems. I hope to find other races that are more challenging as I keep training, and will try to participate in more than this race.
This is the number they gave me, 1740.
14th of December 2013
Tomorrow is the race! It starts at 10:30 in the morning in Fadura and lasts 2km. I am going to meet with Gema and Marta to go together, and feel quite confident but still a bit nervous. The weather forecast is great - taking into account that it is December - and we will have no rain! I will write about how it went tomorrow after the race.
15th of December 2013
I have just arrived from the race. We got there quite early and had the chance to take some pictures of our sporty looks before starting the race...
From left to right: Marta, myself and Gema.
Below, our numbers already pinned to our sweaters and our sneakers well tied up, ready to go!
Funnily enough, we jumped into Peio, our PE teacher, right before the race. He wished us luck and off we went. During the race I saw myself pretty fit and managed to finish it fine. I wasn't out of breath and maintained a constant rhythm throughout the race. I also have to say, however, that it was a 2km race. If I had to run double the distance, my reflections would be quite different I think. However, this time I survived and managed to complete my goal: finish a race! Below are some other pictures of the event.
Like what's important is participating, not winning, we all got trophies for finishing the race!
A picture after crossing the finish line and waiting in line to get out trophies.
Overall, as I said before, I think the race went very well. I finished the race without getting injured, hurt in any way, or extremely exhausted. I was all in one piece and survived my first CAS race!
I hope to do more in the future, and will obviously keep you updated on all my progress.
It wouldn't be the same if I didn't include one of my cool quotes, here's one related to running ;)
Back to aerobics!
9th of January 2014
This last Tuesday and Thursday have been my first aerobic classes of 2014! I've had no classes during the holidays, so coming back was tough. This was mostly because my teacher is well-aware of Christmas eating and wants us back to our normal shape ;)
The classes have been tough and I am sore as ever after two weeks off. However, I have enjoyed coming back because it is a great way to let some steam off after the whole day. I am happy to say that I have achieved all my goals for aerobics! I am also happy to say that I can still keep going and achieve more things within my goals!
My goals were...
- to live a more balanced and healthy lifestyle
- to disconnect from the daily stress
- to take part in one or more marathons or races as I progress
I think that I have achieved all of them, but all of them are constant goals that do not last forever. This meaning that I do live a healthier lifestyle and disconnect from the daily stress as long as I keep going to aerobics. As to participating in more races; whatever will be will be, but I will keep you updated!
4th of February 2014
My aerobic classes lately have been absolutely exhausting. I have such a workload from school that I always feel very stressed about stopping doing HW to go to aerobics. Once I go, I feel as if I could fall asleep as I exercise, which is quite difficult. However, as the class goes by, I follow the music's rhythm and give it my all. Even though I am very tired, when I come back I feel a bit more relaxed and can continue doing my homework in a better mood. The best part of all, however, is going to bed and feeling how you fall asleep in less than one second. Exhaustion does have a positive side: you sleep like a baby. On top of that, this quote does make me feel better...
20th of February 2014
I have been loving my aerobic classes in the past few weeks. We have been mixing our aerobic classes with a hint of "Zumba", and I absolutely love it. The catchy tunes and the swaying hips, together with friends and hips that sometimes don't want to sway, create hilarious situations. It is true that I have been feeling stressed out about leaving my work to go to class, but it always turns out good in the end. After having released some energy, I am able to work much better.
13th of March 2014
Today I have had a very intense aerobics class and I feel exhausted right now. Today's class has been very focused on muscle toning and strengthening, and I almost feel the stiffness that is to come tomorrow. On the bright side, I am going skiing this weekend and I am sure that the training that I have done in aerobic during the last months will be very helpful for my skiing trip. Hopefully, I will feel more fit and be able to achieve some of my skiing goals!
Thursday 27th of March 2014
I am very surprised about being alive after Tuesday's aerobics class. I sincerely thought that my quadriceps were going to crack after doing 128 squats. Aerobically, I think that my resistance has improved greatly as I do not get tired as easily as I did before, however, when it comes to muscle toning I am a little bit weaker. Even though we do pretty different exercises from one class to another, there are too many muscles in the body to have every one of them used to so much exercise. After Tuesday's class I was sorer than ever. I had never felt such pain as I walked. Because of this, I was unable to go to today's class, as I couldn't even walk normally, not to say dance. I am also trying to recuperate mobility in time for Sunday, as we are going to go tree-planting to the mountains, and do not wish to be in constant pain while doing this activity. Even though I sometimes feel very sore after my aerobics classes, I still enjoy them greatly and (normally) feel better about myself after attending. Hopefully, with time, my muscles will get slightly more used to such exercises and I will be able to avoid feeling soooooooo sore.
Thursday 10th of April 2014
Today is my last day of aerobics before the break. The break is not very long as I will be coming back on the 22nd of April. During the break, however, I do not plan to stop exercising completely. I am taking on a new activity in Gobela during the holidays which consists in trying many new activities! I am looking forward to it and hope that it will serve to be better prepared for the return to aerobics.
TIME FOR ANOTHER RACE!
Friday 9th of May 2014
Enough time has gone by, and it is time for another race! Today I have signed up for a race in groups. I will be running with Idoia, Gema and Konstantina. We will all have the same number as we are in the same team, and we have to arrive to the finish line at the same time. We will be running 3.6km, which is more than my last race (which was 2km). The race is on the 18th of May, so I have time to keep training during my aerobics classes. On top of this, the money payed per team in order to sign up (6 euros per team) is dedicated to charity, so there is a great service side to this race too.
Here is an image of the poster board announcing the race.
Here is our group number (1028) and the t-shirts they gave us.
Sunday 18th of May 2014
Yesterday, my mom nicely went to Bilbao to get our numbers for the race and some t-shirts that they gave to all participants, and today was the race! I met with Gema, Konstantina and Idoia in Bilbao, and we were ready to start our race. The race was a team race, so all members of a team had the same number and had to start and finish the race together. We got just on time and the minute we arrived there, the sign to start rang. It was challenging to stay all together as some of us ran faster than others, and keeping the same pace was not easy. On the one hand I wanted to give my all, but on the other hand I wanted to keep all the group together. Even though we didn't go together throughout the whole of the race, we got to the finish line together which was the important part.
Like it was very hot on that day, and I had been HIKING the day before, I wasn't in my best conditions, but I still tried to give my all. However, you could see that Idoia and I had been hiking and that Konstantina and Gema hadn't. What's important is that we all got to the finish line alive and together! When the race ended we received some food and water which was great in my opinion, and we also received a special visit from...our CAS Coordinator MARIANA CURTI! So exciting! She also brought Tomás with her, and he is such a cutie. All in all, the experience was a good one and I am proud to have participated in another race having been able to complete it with no problems. Not only did I achieve my goal of participating in a race, I participated in more than one, which is absolutely great!
Images of the event:
Konstantina, Gema, Idoia and I ready to start the race.
Happy to have got to the finish line, and received such great presents, yum!
Mariana and baby Tommy are always supportive, and came to visit us after our race :D
Thursday 19th of June 2014
Today was the last aerobic class of this school year. When it comes to reflecting on year long activities, I am absolutely surprised by how fast it all has gone by! Having so many things to do in school, plus taking part in so many CAS activities has made the year, although stressful, very short. It seems like it was yesterday when I first wrote about aerobic in this blog, and now it's already the last class of the school year.
Now that I have attended my last class, I am ready to ask myself: Have I achieved my goals?
My goals for this activity were:
- to live a more balanced and healthy lifestyle
- to disconnect from the daily stress
- to take part in one or more marathons or races as I progress
It is my pleasure to say that I have achieved all of my goals! By taking part in aerobic classes two times a week I do live a more balanced and healthy lifestyle, and I can feel how it affects my routine. As I have said several times during my entries, when I do aerobics on a Tuesday or a Thursday, I come back home more relaxed and therefore work on my homework more effectively, and get better night-sleeps, which is also beneficial for my schoolwork. Aerobic has also helped me to achieve my second goal (to disconnect from daily stress) as it serves as an activity to take my mind off other things. When I have had a hard day and have come home to an endless amount of homework, going to aerobic enables me to put all that stress to one side and let off steam during my workout. When I come back to the "real world", the amount of work still remains, but my attitude towards it is much better. Finally, my third goal was to participate in one or more races as I progress. During the year, I have participated in two races which show my progress clearly. The first race I took part in was 2km long while the second race I took part in was 3,6 km long. This shows that I have become more fit and increased my endurance by taking part in aerobic classes. All in all I am very happy with this years work and look forward to keep doing aerobic during the next academic year!
12th grade is here!
Back to school is here, and with school comes retaking most of my CAS activities! I haven't received the results yet, but I have signed up for aerobic once more this year and have also signed up for spinning as a new activity! Hopefully I will be able to do both activities this year and have a much more active year, but I have to wait until mid-September to receive the results from the sports center.
During this year (if I manage to attend both activities), I will have a much more intensive training. I also have to keep in mind the Hiking Club, which is even more training. The amount of action increases, but my goals remain the same. If we look back, my goals last year were:
- to live a more balanced and healthy lifestyle
- to disconnect from the daily stress
- to take part in one or more marathons or races as I progress
I have decided to maintain my goals the same as they are long-term and constant goals, they are not goals that you achieve and have them for life. In order to live a more balanced and healthy lifestyle I have to practice sports regularly, and the same applies to disconnecting from daily stress, the activity has to be constant. In order to prove that I am becoming more fit and am training successfully, I will take part in both races and all the Hiking Club field trips and try to little by little achieve greater things.
The activities don't start until October, which means that I will be doing a different type of training during September to get back from the lazier days of summer and be a little more prepared to retake my activities. During the summer I obviously went for long walks, swam and exercised more or less regularly; but the intensity was much lower than my training during the school year. During the summer as well, I found a great Youtube channel to train with for free and from your home! Its name is POPSUGAR Fitness.
Here is a sneak peek to their YouTube channel, and the link to their webpage that I just found!
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Fitsugar webpage: http://www.fitsugar.com/
My plans for September are therefore, to train from home with a combination of video tutorials from this channel and normal exercise with the exercise bicycle that I have at home. I have already been using my exercise bicycle during the summer and did my first ever video tutorial a few days ago... and I was exhausted afterwards, I am already aching with cramps which is proof that I need to retrain myself before October if I want to survive all the activities that I will be doing. Wish me luck!
Saturday 6th of September 2014
Today I gave POPSUGAR Fitness my first go! I really enjoyed it but am currently exhausted. The video I did was called "40 Minute Full Body Workout | Beginner Strength Training | Class FitSugar" and it really was a full body workout. Right now I am full of cramps, and I can really see that my body is still in summer mode. However, I am happy to say that I was able to complete it entirely, the whole forty minutes. What I really like about these videos is that it is like actually attending a class, as you do it with the instructor simultaneously and you don't have to stop the video during the session. In addition, the instructor had very good tips for beginners in order to adapt the video to you own needs. Below you can see the video that I did, feel free to give it a go if you wish!
My goals for SEPTEMBER are to exercise at least twice a week combining my exercise bicycle and these video tutorials. I will keep you updated as I will reflect weekly about my progress and preparation towards my October activities. Talk to you soon!
Sunday 14th of September 2014
If I make this post about an update on my goals and how I am progressing... it is not going to be nice. The goals I set for myself included exercising at least twice a week, which, even though only one week has passed, I have already failed miserably. I haven't exercised on my bicycle this week, nor have I done any of the videos. HOWEVER, I convinced my brother today to come and play padel with me, which was great! Even though it didn't go according to plan, I still managed to exercise once this week, which wasn't bad at all. Below you can find pictures and even a video (which my brother nicely filmed for me). I hope to be able to do this again sometime, as I had a great time while exercising.
Friday 19th of September 2014
Today I once again thought about my action goals and... yikes! I'm not really achieving them, however I am haven't given up and I'm still trying. Today I realized that once again I hadn't exercised during this past week and wanted to let some steam off as I was hyper and needed to relax as it was finally friday!
Because of this, I decided to return to PopSugar Fitness and look for an appropriate video for the day. I found the following one and set myself to do it.
I loved it and really managed to get my heart rate up while dancing, which is something I love. Once again, I have managed to work out once instead of twice this week (we still have the weekend though), making me think that with the back to school stress and the adapting to new schedules, my goal might have been a little bit unachievable at the moment. However, I am happy that I will soon start aerobics in October and will be able to reincorporate to my usual exercise routine.
Saturday 26th of September 2014
Even though I went hiking today (see my Hiking Club reflections here) and I did manage to go and play tennis once during the past week, I have not really met my goals for the month of September. If we flash back and look at the goals I set myself, these were to exercise twice a week by combining exercise with my bicycle at home and the POPSUGAR Fitness videos. Even though I exercised in other ways (playing padel and tennis + hiking today), I didn't quite manage to exercise twice a week everyday.
The amount of work that I have to do daily is not really an excuse, as there is always half an hour that I could have spent exercising. However, that has not been the case, and this was due to the fact that I am quite lazy when it comes to exercise (getting myself to start is difficult even though I later enjoy the exercise and the aftermath) and because it wasn't one of my priorities. When I found that free half an hour in my day, I would always find something else to do rather than exercising.
Not to worry though, my aerobics classes start next Thursday, and my sweet, exercise-full routine will be back around in no time!
Thursday 9th of October 2014
It has been a week since my first day of aerobics and boy, do my muscles feel it. Even though my teacher tried to convince the new students that we would start little by little... we haven't. It was the first day and were already in full mode. We did start with less repetitions when it came to sit-ups or other similar exercises, but nonetheless, even though I am better trained that the new students, I am not yet fully out of summer mode. On the first day we learned a step choreography and then did some toning exercises. Today we repeated the same choreography and did another type of exercises. However, on tuesday, we did a normal choreography without a step. My teacher has changed her style a bit and I the routine seemed less repetitive and more creative. I really liked this as I also enjoy dancing, and this is more similar to a real life dance choreography.
Even though these were the first days and I did feel exhausted after each and every class, I also felt GREAT! I loved exercising again and returning to my routine. In addition, I love the fact that all the new students stand behind me (I am in the first row) and copy me when the teacher stops doing the dance. I feel so professional when they look at me like I'm the teacher! I hope to feel less exhausted after each class once I get the gist of it once more, but I'll also need to take into account the fact that I will get fitter but the classes will get trickier with time...
I hope that my evolution with time will resemble the image below. At the moment I am a little but strong plant that with effort and perseverance will grow into a very fit plant!
We'll see how it goes! Talk to you soon!
Thursday 13th of November
I know it's been way to long since I last reflected... but I'm here now.
Aerobic has been INTENSE this year, that the best word I can come up with to describe it.
My teacher seems to have gone crazy and decided that we could all dance and work out non-stop for the whole class. But I'm okay with it. When I go to aerobic I really need to let of some steam. I am usually about to die of stress, angry about something that happened at school and I can't do anything about or simply tired.
However, I get energy from some unknown place and manage to give my all to the class. I feel super pumped for the whole class and completely exhausted when I finish. Once I've exercised I can go back home, shower, eat and get back to work. Something that I don't enjoy doing (working that late) but I manage better once I've gone to aerobic.
Overall, I think that aerobic is being super beneficial for me this year and I feel proud of myself for being able to give it my all when I'm there taking into account that I'm almost always really tired.
I've even taken this "exercising makes you work better" to the weekends and started to exercise when I feel overwhelmed with work during the weekends!
I'll have to keep going to progress more... and maybe I should start looking for a race to take part in!
We'll see!
Tuesday 16th of December 2014
The sports activities for this year are almost over and this last month has been absolutely exhausting. My first month doing both aerobics and spinning was very tiring, but I managed to do it! Almost, at least... I didn't go everyday as I have a class four times a week and there were several occasions where I couldn't go... but I tried my best. It really is a big challenge but I will try to improve my attendance with time until I become the sportiest of them all. With time and effort I will try to become more fit, which was one of my goals. In addition, a daily dose of exercise will probably also help a lot in my goal to disconnect from the daily stress. We'll see how it goes after the Christmas break!
Monday 22nd of December 2014
Even though we are on Christmas break, my sports center offers activities during the holidays for those that are signed up to an activity during the rest of the year. I made the most of the opportunity and attended a spinning class at 9:30 in the morning. It made me wake up quite early (which I didn't love) but was a good way to make the most of the day and exercise early for a good start to the day. In addition, some exercise on the 22nd of December helps reduce the effects of the excesses that will occur on the 24th and 25th... Christmas fun!
If I make this post about an update on my goals and how I am progressing... it is not going to be nice. The goals I set for myself included exercising at least twice a week, which, even though only one week has passed, I have already failed miserably. I haven't exercised on my bicycle this week, nor have I done any of the videos. HOWEVER, I convinced my brother today to come and play padel with me, which was great! Even though it didn't go according to plan, I still managed to exercise once this week, which wasn't bad at all. Below you can find pictures and even a video (which my brother nicely filmed for me). I hope to be able to do this again sometime, as I had a great time while exercising.
Here is a link to the video too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abXRrMqkzII&feature=youtu.be Friday 19th of September 2014
Today I once again thought about my action goals and... yikes! I'm not really achieving them, however I am haven't given up and I'm still trying. Today I realized that once again I hadn't exercised during this past week and wanted to let some steam off as I was hyper and needed to relax as it was finally friday!
Because of this, I decided to return to PopSugar Fitness and look for an appropriate video for the day. I found the following one and set myself to do it.
Burn Calories With This Dance Party Workout | Class FitSugar
Saturday 26th of September 2014
Even though I went hiking today (see my Hiking Club reflections here) and I did manage to go and play tennis once during the past week, I have not really met my goals for the month of September. If we flash back and look at the goals I set myself, these were to exercise twice a week by combining exercise with my bicycle at home and the POPSUGAR Fitness videos. Even though I exercised in other ways (playing padel and tennis + hiking today), I didn't quite manage to exercise twice a week everyday.
The amount of work that I have to do daily is not really an excuse, as there is always half an hour that I could have spent exercising. However, that has not been the case, and this was due to the fact that I am quite lazy when it comes to exercise (getting myself to start is difficult even though I later enjoy the exercise and the aftermath) and because it wasn't one of my priorities. When I found that free half an hour in my day, I would always find something else to do rather than exercising.
Not to worry though, my aerobics classes start next Thursday, and my sweet, exercise-full routine will be back around in no time!
Thursday 9th of October 2014
It has been a week since my first day of aerobics and boy, do my muscles feel it. Even though my teacher tried to convince the new students that we would start little by little... we haven't. It was the first day and were already in full mode. We did start with less repetitions when it came to sit-ups or other similar exercises, but nonetheless, even though I am better trained that the new students, I am not yet fully out of summer mode. On the first day we learned a step choreography and then did some toning exercises. Today we repeated the same choreography and did another type of exercises. However, on tuesday, we did a normal choreography without a step. My teacher has changed her style a bit and I the routine seemed less repetitive and more creative. I really liked this as I also enjoy dancing, and this is more similar to a real life dance choreography.
Even though these were the first days and I did feel exhausted after each and every class, I also felt GREAT! I loved exercising again and returning to my routine. In addition, I love the fact that all the new students stand behind me (I am in the first row) and copy me when the teacher stops doing the dance. I feel so professional when they look at me like I'm the teacher! I hope to feel less exhausted after each class once I get the gist of it once more, but I'll also need to take into account the fact that I will get fitter but the classes will get trickier with time...
I hope that my evolution with time will resemble the image below. At the moment I am a little but strong plant that with effort and perseverance will grow into a very fit plant!
We'll see how it goes! Talk to you soon!
Thursday 13th of November
I know it's been way to long since I last reflected... but I'm here now.
Aerobic has been INTENSE this year, that the best word I can come up with to describe it.
My teacher seems to have gone crazy and decided that we could all dance and work out non-stop for the whole class. But I'm okay with it. When I go to aerobic I really need to let of some steam. I am usually about to die of stress, angry about something that happened at school and I can't do anything about or simply tired.
However, I get energy from some unknown place and manage to give my all to the class. I feel super pumped for the whole class and completely exhausted when I finish. Once I've exercised I can go back home, shower, eat and get back to work. Something that I don't enjoy doing (working that late) but I manage better once I've gone to aerobic.
Overall, I think that aerobic is being super beneficial for me this year and I feel proud of myself for being able to give it my all when I'm there taking into account that I'm almost always really tired.
I've even taken this "exercising makes you work better" to the weekends and started to exercise when I feel overwhelmed with work during the weekends!
I'll have to keep going to progress more... and maybe I should start looking for a race to take part in!
We'll see!
Thursday 4th of December
Today was an intense end of the week in aerobic. Just recently I received a call from my sports center where they told me that there was a free spot in Spinning, where I had tried to sign up for at the beginning of the school year. Even though I thought that being able to go to both aerobic and spinning would be difficult with my current schedule, I thought that I couldn't waste the free spot and had to at least give it a try for one of two months.
This Monday was the first of December, which meant that it was my first day of spinning. During this week I went to my new, intense spinning class on Monday and Wednesday, and my usual, but not less tiresome, aerobic class on Tuesday and Thursday. I am quite surprised to see that I am still alive...
Even though I haven't participated in a race (one of my aerobic goals) during this year, I think that being able to do aerobic and spinning could be my new goal for this activity. It would require a lot of commitment, persistence and inner strength, and it will be provide a more complete and intense training for whatever I decide to do later. Just in case, it can be another goal to add to the list. It will be very challenging, that's for sure, and I am not be able to attend all four classes every week, but what's important is to be consistent and committed to the activity, which I will try my best to do.
I'll keep you updated, wish me luck!
Tuesday 16th of December 2014
The sports activities for this year are almost over and this last month has been absolutely exhausting. My first month doing both aerobics and spinning was very tiring, but I managed to do it! Almost, at least... I didn't go everyday as I have a class four times a week and there were several occasions where I couldn't go... but I tried my best. It really is a big challenge but I will try to improve my attendance with time until I become the sportiest of them all. With time and effort I will try to become more fit, which was one of my goals. In addition, a daily dose of exercise will probably also help a lot in my goal to disconnect from the daily stress. We'll see how it goes after the Christmas break!
Monday 22nd of December 2014
Even though we are on Christmas break, my sports center offers activities during the holidays for those that are signed up to an activity during the rest of the year. I made the most of the opportunity and attended a spinning class at 9:30 in the morning. It made me wake up quite early (which I didn't love) but was a good way to make the most of the day and exercise early for a good start to the day. In addition, some exercise on the 22nd of December helps reduce the effects of the excesses that will occur on the 24th and 25th... Christmas fun!
Thursday 15th of January 2015
Last Wednesday was the official "holidays-are-over" day as, even though I didn't start school until Thursday, I started my after-school exercise activities. Spinning on Wednesday, Aerobic on Thursday. Fair enough, I was tired due to exercising two days in a row, but it was nothing compared to how I feel now. For this last week I went to Spinning on Monday and Wednesday and Aerobic on Tuesday and Thursday. At the moment I don't feel my abs or any part of my legs, my arms are slightly better but still affected... If you add this to going to school everyday, getting back into the homework overload routine and not sleeping as much as I'd like to... I'M PRACTICALLY DEAD. I could, literally, sleep for 50 years; but I can't, school tomorrow!
This week has probably been one of the hardest during this CAS activity, but it has simultaneously being ever so satisfying. Even though I didn't feel like getting ready to sweat at 7:30 PM everyday, the fact that I did so regardless and gave it my all made me feel so PROUD. I felt like I was getting somewhere, I was achieving my goals and committing to my plans. Hopefully, as time goes by I will be able to be a little more alive by the end of the week... We'll see!
LET'S RACE!
Friday 16th of January 2015
The race is on the 25th of January... next Sunday, so this following week will be my last week of training before the race. We'll see how I feel after my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday workout and hope that I'll be slightly less soar by Sunday to survive the 3.3km race! The fact that I convinced Gema and Konstantina to come with me will also help for sure :)
Even though we did plan to go initially, in the end we didn't due to personal reasons. However, we will try to go to another race in the near future.
Thursday 5th of March 2015
During the past month I have been going both to Aerobic (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and Spinning (on Mondays and Wednesdays). It has been both awfully tiring but also oddly energizing, as I get a break from doing homework and can work out my body instead of my mind. I have had a lot of cramps and have been really tired between the classes, the after-school activities, the HW and the lack of sleep but I think that it has been worth it as I feel the progress between December (when I started to take both classes) and March (now). We'll see how it goes!
END OF ACTIVITY
As my CAS program comes to an end, so does my Aerobic reflections. Even though I will continue doing aerobic regardless of my CAS program, it is time to briefly reflect on my overall experience. My goals for this activity were:
- to live a more balanced and healthy lifestyle
- to disconnect from the daily stress
- to take part in one or more marathons or races as I progress
I think that throughout the almost two years that I have been doing CAS, I have been able to achieve all of these goals and the anticipated learning outcomes that I set myself. I have no doubt that I managed to live a more balanced and healthier lifestyle, as exercising enabled me to disconnect from the daily stress, another of my goals, clear my mind and work more productively upon my return. My final goal was to take part in one or more races as I progressed, something that served as a way to track my progress getting fitter. Although my goal was to take part in one race, I managed to take part in two and, even though I signed myself up and planned on going to a third one, I was finally unable to attend. However, I did see a great improvement in how fit I was, physical resistance that I then transferred to other activities such as Paddel, yoga, online courses and during the last four months, Spinning!
Overall, I feel that I managed to develop new skills physically, clearly showed perseverance and commitment in my activities as I made an effort to attend all my classes even if it was very demanding at times, I worked collaboratively with others during my lessons and gained more awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth as I learned more about myself in each class. All in all, I really enjoyed this activity and will continue to take part in it!
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