May 26, 2014-Keeping Stretching Fun

I'm always trying to find new ways of warming up or stretching before going out for a run or bike ride. I found that stretching the same way everyday sometimes gets boring. So this weekend I discovered that stretch bands, are also good strength-training tools that provide resistance during exercises. The benefits of using stretch bands over dumbbells is that the bands allow for a greater range of motion. Stretch bands are also great to strengthen your biceps.

May 21, 2014-Capture the Flag

On Wednesday May 21, since our gym class was smaller this time, we had the option to join Mr. Pederson's and Mr. Vaughan's class to play a big Capture the Flag game. The weather was really nice so I was glad we were able to do an activity outdoors. Karen, Simran and I joined Mr. Vaughan's team in Capture the Flag. It was nice to join another class because this allowed me to meet new people and get a feel of how Mr. Vaughan's class is run. Mr. Vaughan's class is just as energetic and enthusiastic as our class, which is great because it allowed everyone to have a positive attitude for the whole gym block.  I've mentioned in other blog posts that I'm able to keep on improving every time we play an activity. While reflecting on today's gym block, I've made my biggest improvements in Capture the Flag  from the time I played it today. When we played Capture the Flag last week I was able to run to the other side and back without getting tagged, but I  unable to bring back a football. When we played Capture the Flag this time, I brought a football back and a frisbee back. So I ran there and back while bringing a football or frisbee to my team, two times! From all the times we have played Capture the Flag, I have never brought back a frisbee or football because I was always to shy to run to the other side so I played it safe and stayed on my side. However, by bringing the frisbee/football to my team, it gained my confidence and made myself very proud. When I brought the football back to my territory, I decided to go again because the worst that can happen is that I get tagged and I have to run around the safe. In the beginning of the gym block, Mr. Vaughan told us to take risks and so this is exactly why I decided to go to the other side again to try to bring back another football. I ended up coming back with a frisbee which was good news for me! Not only did I bring back two items to my team but I also ran four more times to the other side, but I got tagged while doing so. I don't think getting tagged was a very big deal because the "punishment" of running was considered to be a benefit to me as you are getting more exercise in this way.  At the end of the game, I took the initiative and ran to the end of the field to help out with cleanup. It didn't feel right for me to just leave without putting the equipment away. Even though my legs were already tired from the game, I still put in the extra effort and ran to pick up the cones. I don't think I would of done this leadership in September as I was not as outgoing then. The only thing that I disliked in the game was when people continued to run after they got tagged. For example, I tagged a person while he was running to my territory and he knew he got tagged but carried on running. Karen also noticed people were cheating too. Even though a few students were cheating it wasn't going to bring the game down for me. Out of all the Capture the Flag games that I have played this year, this one made me the most tired at the end which could be because I noticed that I ran even more this time. Going up the stairs to my fourth block class was hard because my legs were burning as I was going up, which tells me that my participation was definitely maximized in the block. My face was also very red and continued to be red after gym class. In brief, improving is such an important aspect of gym and I'm glad I am able to identify things I need to work on and then take the action to get better at them!

May 18, 2014-Strength Training with Weights

This weekend I was reading an article in the fitness magazine "Women's Health" titled "7 ways to Balance Strength Training and Cardio." It  made me think, and I knew I was lately getting more Cardio, so I decided to do some strength training. I learnt that strength training would benefit or give a boost to my running performance. Also, strong muscles help improve form and help you run with more stability and control. Having strong muscles will definitely help me with my structure of the plank and my structure of push ups.

May 16, 2014-Hill Run

On May 16, it was fitness Friday and for fitness we did the hill run at City Hall. The last time I remember doing the hill run at City Hall was in the beginning of the year. So reading the whiteboard saying that we were doing the City Hall hill run, made me excited because I knew there will be some kind of improvement from today's block, knowing that we haven't done this exercise in such a long time. While we were walking to the hill at City Hall, I knew this wasn't going to be easy and I set a goal for myself to sit out for only one of times we would run up. When we actually started the hill run, the first seven sets were not too hard. Doing the second set of seven, was the point where some people started to get tired. Obviously, the last set of seven was the hardest especially at the end. I did not sit out for any of the runs and I ran each time the whistle blew. I was very proud of myself because I remember last time when we did the hill run I sat out for a couple of them. Continuing to run up the hill near the end of the block was extremely difficult because my legs were aching and I could of had easily sat out for one of the runs near the end, but there was no way that I was going to do that because I knew my body was capable of doing it but only if I set my mind to it.  I was so close to needing to sit out for one of the runs near the end but luckily I was able to persevere my way to the top. After today's gym block I had a taste of what hard work was and it was evident that I had to push myself and demonstrate hard work in order to have accomplished what I did today. At the end of the gym block, I was more than happy with my efforts. Even if I did sit out for one of the runs up, I would have still been proud of myself, but by not sitting out any of the runs up made myself feel even more pleased with my effort. I didn't expect to overachieve my goal on the hill run and to do so, definitely feels great! Here is a video from the hill run:

May 14, 2014-Capture the Flag

On May 14, we started off the gym block by cleaning the litter off the school grounds. We got into groups of 8 and each group took out their own garbage bin. Picking up the garbage on the ground was disappointing because it's a shame how people couldn't just throw their garbage in the garbage can instead of on the ground. I know some people may think it's not a big deal to just throw a small wrapper on the ground, but if everyone does it, the garbage starts adding up and you end up with a big mess. While we were cleaning up the garbage on the lower field, Yulia found a dead bird in a slurpee cup, and so for the rest of the block their was a "Dead Bird Cooties" going around. While I was picking up garbage, someone asked me to hi five them and so I did and afterwards, the person said that I now had the dead bird cooties. Then, I rubbed my hands on Karen's shirt to give it to her, and right after Karen got the cooties she wanted to get them back on me. So I tried running away from her and when I did, I got so caught up in the moment that I tripped and fell on the grass. When I got up, my friends were laughing with me because it was actually really funny! I knew the "Cooties" thing was silly and just because someone touches you, doesn't mean you get the germs, however I played along with it just for the fun of it. Cleaning garbage from the ground is something I do quite often because I'm a part of the Adopt-A-Street program. After the clean up, everyone got a choice as to what they wanted to play for the remainder of the block. I chose to play Capture the Flag as I knew I'll have a good time every single time I play this game and I knew for sure my participation would be high in this game. Playing Capture the Flag this time was very beneficial to me because I made some of my own personal improvements from the last time I played. Usually when I play Capture the Flag, when someone comes to my side, I usually come really close to tagging them but I don't actually get to tag them. This time, I was able to sprint and actually tag more people. Also toward the end of the block, for the first time I ran to the other team's territory and back without getting tagged. When I was running to the other side from my territory, I was fast enough to not let the person chasing me tag me. When I got to the other side I realized that there were no more footballs left on that side and there were already a lot of people who were there before me waiting to get a football. Since there were only five minutes left of the game, there was no point of waiting in the circle for a football because I knew I would not be moving during that time which doesn't maximize my participation. Thus, I ran back without a football and still didn't get tagged. Even though I came back with no football, it didn't matter at all to me because it was the fact that I was able to go there and back without getting tagged that made me happy. I've noticed that every time I play a specific game, I keep on slowly improving every time we play it, and at the end of the year when you compare the way I first played the game, to the way I last played the game, you'll see a significant difference. I helped out with cleanup by collecting the cones together and by putting the footballs in the bag. In conclusion, this gym block made me feel really proud of my efforts and showed the improvements I've made throughout the year until now.

May 11, 2014-Orbitrek

On Mother's Day weekend my family and I went out for lunch. After having my big lunch I knew I had to burn off those calories. So in the late afternoon instead of taking a nap, like my Mom I decided to jump on the Orbitrek and do a solid continuous workout for 20 minutes straight. Although I was sweating like crazy, I was feeling good because I knew I burned off those extra calories that I gained at the restaurant. So I think it's okay to eat a little more on special occasions but only if you have the willpower and motivation to burn off those extra calories later in the day. Here is a video of me on the Orbitrek:

May 8, 2014-Ultimate

On May 8 because the Aim Games were going on, all of the classes spent the gym block outside and we had a choice to participate in three different activities. The option for this choice day were baseball, ultimate or soccer. I chose to do ultimate, primarily because I wanted to see how my participation has changed from the last time I played it. While playing ultimate this time I was able to pass and receive the frisbee more often and make more contributions to the team. Participating more in the game this time made ultimate more of an enjoyable sport and allowed me to have more fun. Whenever one of my team members had the frisbee I ran to an open space where they were able to pass it to me. My participation was definitely maximized during this choice day which increased my confidence and made myself very proud of my efforts. I noticed that I was more outgoing this time and I was way more willing to get the frisbee than last time. When you are playing a sport with other teenagers, not everything will turn out perfectly, and so there were some aspects of the game that didn't help it to become more fun. For instance, I didn't really like it when someone from one side of the playing field, threw the frisbee all the way to the other end. I didn't like this because less passing was happening, which didn't allow everyone to participate and so less teamwork was incorporated into the game. In addition, throwing the frisbee all the way to the other end didn't have a positive effect on the game because it didn't work. The frisbee would either fall on the ground, go out of bounds or the team member on the other side wouldn't be able to catch it. Thus, it didn't help the team to get more points and it didn't benefit the team as a whole.  One other thing that I really didn't like was when one of my team members or I passed the frisbee to one of the girls who didn't normally get the frisbee, and a guy from the other team would step right in front of them and hit the frisbee to the ground. This didn't just happen once, but it happened a couple of times and I thought it was kind of mean because some of the girls on my team didn't get very many chances to touch the frisbee, so the guys should had just let them get hold of the frisbee. I know the team members on the other team were helping out their team by blocking the frisbee from the girls, however in order to make the class fun for everyone, they should of just thought about the impact of their actions. Each time I got the frisbee, I passed it to one of the girls on my team who didn't normally get the frisbee very often and by doing this it made me feel good about myself, it also allowed everyone to make contributions to the team and allowed them to feel valued. In the beginning of the year when we played ultimate, I was not as outgoing so I didn't get the frisbee very many times, and so it felt good to have someone pass it to me. Therefore, I wanted to pass it to the shy students because I used to once be a shy student in the beginning of the year. In brief, not only did I make my own personal improvements but I took the effort to make some good contributions to the team and I accomplished my goal of making everyone feel like a part of the team.

May 6, 2014-Beep Test

On May 6 everyone participated in the beep test for fitness. Hearing that we were going to do the beep test for the gym block was good news for me because this was my opportunity to improve. One thing I disliked was when students negatively reacted when hearing from their friends that we were doing the beep test. You should be happy because you are getting a good workout for your body and exercising is healthy and  beneficial to your overall health. So by hearing some students sighing by the fact that we were doing the beep test, carried a negative vibe which can have an effect on your score and participation in the beep test. Leading up to the beep test, I was motivated to improve and get a higher score than last time which was 8.4. While I was running across the gym, I tried not to think about the discomfort and burning in my legs that I was feeling and instead I tried to think about other things. This helped me out a lot while running, by allowing me to not stop or quit. By 8.2, this is where my motivation really kicked in and I had to tell myself to not give up and to keep on going. By being motivated, I was able to run until 8.6. Motivation played a huge role in my success because if I did not tell myself to keep on going, I would of had stopped at 8.2. However because I was mentally strong I lasted for longer which made a difference in my score. Being able to improve is such a great feeling because it shows yourself how much you have grown from the last time. While I was doing the push ups, I noticed I went all the way down this time compared to last time. I was able to do around 17 push ups this time and my arms were burning when I stopped. My structure of push ups improved and I was really happy about this because I have been working on my push ups more often at home. When I was doing the plank, I was able to do it for around 60 seconds, however I felt like I could of held it for longer so I did it again. I got around 50 seconds the next time, but I still did it one last time and got around 40 seconds. By doing the plank three separate times, this just showed my motivation to improve. Marcia took two videos and pictures of these exercises but unfortunately she was unable to send them to me. Hopefully we will do the beep test one final time in June which will allow me to have one last chance to improve my score and be able to reach level nine. By slowly improving each time we do the beep test, you end up with a very big improvement by the end of the year.  Here are my other results:

Beep Test Level: 8.6
Max vertical Length:
                                F: 215
                                S: 245
                                D: 30
Body Press (Push Ups): 17
Body Bridge: 60 seconds
T-test: around 12 seconds
Sit and Reach: 1
Board Touches (1 minute): 28

April 29, 2014-Pond Run Relay

On April 29, we participated in the pond run relay with bean bags. In my group was Marcia, Karen and Simran. Whenever we do fitness in groups, I always want to be in a group with positive people who put all of their effort into the activity. For example, if you are in a group with people who slack off, it starts to rub off on you and then you end up not putting your full effort into the activity because you're surrounding yourself with these kinds of people. This explains why I always like to have Marcia in my group because she always puts all her effort into fitness days, just as I do.  Before starting Mr. Neufeld told us that the goal for this fitness was to run the whole entire lap, because after you run for the minute, you'll be able to get a resting break until its your turn to run again. Mr. Pederson also told us that if we run for the full lap around the pond and put our maximum effort into the lap, at the end we'll be out of breath and exhausted. Mr. Pederson was right because as I completed my laps without stopping to walk, my heart rate definitely increased and my breathing escalated. I'm glad that I was able to not stop once while I was running the lap because that was the main goal for this fitness day. While I was running I did notice that my pacing was pretty good  because I tried hard to make sure I didn't waste all of my energy in the very beginning of the lap. This was a little difficult to do because I wanted to run faster in the beginning since I had so much energy, however I knew this wouldn't be a good idea because then at the end I would be more tired and it would be much harder for me to complete the lap as I got closer to the finish. Near the end of the block when I was running my fifth lap, I was so tired  and I wanted to stop however it was the motivation in me that allowed me to persevere ten more seconds until I made it to the end. The expression on my team member's faces after they completed their lap showed me that they were working hard, and I also gained them more confidence by telling them what a fantastic job they were doing. Each person in my group did five laps but I think Marcia was able to do six laps as she was the first runner in our team.  If we do this pond run relay again I want to try to get six laps and I will achieve this by making sure my team does not slow down near the end and maybe even by increasing my speed while it is my turn to run. Here is a video of me running at the end of  my third lap: