Concluding Blog Post

Blogging has been very interesting this year.  I never saw myself as a person who would blog on any topic week after week and find myself interested in it, it just never seamed to me that I would find a topic worth writing about over and over.  Being able to write about my own topic was nice though and made it a lot easier to manage through the semester.  The freedom to write about your own topic really got me eager to write, well maybe not eager but I was not upset about writing.  Making sure to write about something that really interested me, I chose working out because that was the thing I did most in my life.  Week after week it I researched different lifting techniques for different muscle groups.  Some things I had already knew about, but I also learned a lot from this.  I learned much more about my topic.  I not only learned more about the topic that I was writing about, but I also learned things like in text citations and and in text quotations. Overall I think what I learned the most is how simple it is to write a big paper. 7000 plus words throughout the semester is what we averaged throughout all our work on our one subject.  What we did throughout this semester was not extremely hard work by any means, so knowing that I can now write a large paper really helps for my future.  I did not know that this was all adding up to show that you can write a paper by breaking it down into sections like how I did, but I do know that from this class it will make more successful with writing papers in the future.

Fitness. Full Body workout.

 Full Body Circuit

I have hit every main muscle group throughout my blogs, but now it is time to hit them all at once.  This blog will cover a quick full body workout that will hit every muscle in your body.  I am going to begin with my experiences that I have seen at the gym.  I rarely see people doing full body exercises at the gym.  People tend to focus on a few muscle group at once, which is fine, but fail to realize the significance a full body workout can give you. Lets say you only have time to go to the gym once or twice a week for whatever reason.  A full body workout will allow you not to get behind on a specific muscle group because you will be hitting everything on your body.

Have you ever seen those P90X videos or INSANITY videos? Well if you have, you'll notice they don't ever do bench or barbell squats or anything with HUGE weight or enormous bars required for the exercise, yet they are all so jacked.  They simply use body-weight or small dumbbells to exercise with. This full body workout I am about to show you is just like that. I go to Sport and Health in Stafford, and if you have ever seen somebody doing a full body workout there then you know the person doing it is always jacked or cut over half of the time, either way you know he/she works out. I am telling you this just to show you that even though you wont be doing the heaviest weights, doing a full body workout is excellent for muscle growth or simply just trying to shred some weight by burning calories and toning up a bit.

This is called a circuit exercise, you will "do 10 reps of each exercise, and complete as many circuits as you can in 15 minutes". According to the article once reps become easier and easier, just increase reps per set.

I will begin with Body weight Squats:

 "Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your body as far as you can by pushing your hips back and bending your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Pause, and slowly stand back up." This will workout your lower back as well as every muscle in your legs. 

                                        

Next exercise will be Judo Push-Up:

"Begin in a pushup position but move your feet hip-width apart and forward, and raise your hips so your body almost forms an upside-down V. Lower the front of your body until your chin nears the floor. Then lower your hips as you raise your head and shoulders toward the ceiling. Now reverse the movement and return to the starting position". This exercise works your calves, triceps, abs, entire back, as well as your chest (plus a little bit of forearm just because you're holding yourself up). 

     

The next exercise is my favorite which is the Sprinter Sit-Ups:

This exercise burns a lot of calories. The muscle groups it hits are your quads, abbs, lower back and upper back (trapezoid). Here is how you perform the exercise: Lie on your back with your legs straight and arms at your sides, keeping your elbows bent at 90 degrees. As you sit up, twist your upper body to the left and bring your left knee toward your right elbow while you swing your left arm back. Lower your body to the starting position, and repeat to your right.

And this is my circuit Full-Body workout that I like to use at the gym. Remember this thing hits 300 muscles, I was simply naming the main muscle groups people like to go for when workout out.  The first time I did this I was winded very quickly, and took many breaks. The following day my entire body felt like mush, so trust me when I say to take breaks. The easier it becomes the less breaks you will take, but no matter what you will get a great workout from this circuit!

"15-Minute Workout." Quick Full-Body Workout: Men's Health.com. Rodale Inc., 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.

Fitness. intro

Chris Lovejoy                       

Professor Quinn

English 112

3 April 10, 13

The Full Fitness Guide

            You always hear about new years resolutions and when you do, getting “Fit” is always on their lists.  Whether you are trying to bulk up with some muscle or just trying to slim down and fit into those pants, then you will need to learn about the fitness required to do so.  Fitness, “Sound physically and mentally” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fit?show=0&t=1365615775.  Working out to become fit is more than just lifting some weights and expecting results.  Lifting specific muscle groups should be a main focus as well as the amount of repetitions and sets you do.  Just remember to never forget proper form of the lift. 

            The cold hard truth about fitness is no matter how much you lift and cardio you do, intake of the proper nutritional foods is the key.  Healthy food, whether trying to bulk or trying to cut down, will help you see results incredibly quicker than ingesting your daily fix of Mcdonald’s , Chipotle, etc. Food is not the only thing that can really benefit you besides the obvious of lifting weights.  The right supplements can really increase a good workout to help improve overall goals like losing or gaining weight. Different supplements do different things, some better than others, but if interested it doesn’t hurt to try them out and see the effects they can give you.