11/30 Personal Training (1.5 hours)

Today is the last session that we will have for this semester. Both my client and I are hard pressed with finals and studying and final projects so today is our last day. I let my client decide what she wanted to do today. We did 10 mins on the bike and 20 mins on the treadmill. Then we did ball throws on the balance pad, ab leg throwdowns, pushups, side lunges, front lunges and squats. This has been a great experience getting to know my client and helping her in gaining a healthier lifestyle and habit. I was so proud of her improvements from the first exercise test to the last. She improved her VO2max as well as her body fat!

Personal Training 11/23 (1 hour)

Since Thanksgiving break is at the end of this week we just did an intense cardio workout with only a little bit of weights. She did 15 mins on the bike, 15 mins on the elliptical and 9 mins on the stairmaster. Then we did squats with the med ball and a lot of abs work with the 6 lb medicine ball and the exercise ball. Great workout today. I told my client to do as much as she could over the break so that when we return she isn't totally winded.

GCSU Basketball game (2 hrs)

This was a great game! It was pack the house in green so we all wore our Game Day Green shirts!

Personal Training 11/16-11/19 (3.25 hours)

This week we trained on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. It was a good week for training. She started out Monday a little slow because we didn't train much last week. But she always pushes herself so hard and does her best. Monday she ran outside for 25 mins and then she did two sets of 12 of each of these exercises: Squats with 12.5 lb free weights, Bench press with 12.5 lb free weights, Upright rows with 7.5 lb free weights, standing lunge, back extension, ab med and exercise ball. Wednesday we did a card workout at centennial: Ace-stairs, K- sprint a lap, Q- 4 ab rounds, J-15 second planks, Club-push-ups, Spade-tricep push backs, Hearts-leg lifts with 12 pound bar, diamonds-jump rope for 1 minute. Card workouts are the best! We get such a great workout whenever we do them! Thursday was a good workout day as well we did the usual in the gym. Bike 10 mins, Run 10 mins and then Stairmaster for 10 minutes. For weights we did a circuit of pushups, 12.5 lb free weight bench press, squats with the medicine ball, 6 lb med ball throws on the balance pad and traveling lunges. My client is just a great person to work with!

Personal Training 11/9-11/11 (3.75 hrs)

This Monday we met at the depot. My client began the workout with the Big 3. She has stayed at 15 sec for each of the exercises. Then she ran for 10 minutes on the treadmill at a 5.5 pace at an incline of 2. Then she biked on the stationary bike for 15 minutes at level 4 on the random setting. She was pretty tired after this, but she has been expressing to me that she desires to do more cardio so then we did the stairmaster for 9 minutes. We could tell that we hadn't done the stairmaster in a while and that our body wasn't used to it because we got fatigued faster than usual. But she did complete the entire 9 minutes so we were both very proud. Then she did 3 x 12 pushups, 3 x 15 ab throws with the 6 lb med ball, 3 x 10 lunges with med ball, 3 x 12 bench press while lying on the mat with the 10 lb free weights, 3 x 12 sitting crunch with med ball pass. Today was a very good workout for my client. Tuesday we did the ropes together for training. There were just three of us there so we were able to do two stations and then run. This was such a great workout. The different stations were: inward circles, outward circles, s-wave, standard, alternating, free rope overhead, and tsunami. Wednesday we met in Centennial and we did something very different. My client had been voicing that her back has been giving her some trouble so I decided to do a more controlled day. We did Doc's dynamic warm-up with a few of Brian's exercises added in. My client really enjoyed this. It was actually a workout because we did each one across the court and then back. These exercises stretched her out very well, worked on her balance, and strengthened her core.

11/4 Shepherd's Center (9 hrs)

Research Day at Shepherd's was such a great experience. My favorite part of the day was the tour that they took us on. The man who showed us around was so personable and such a wonderful guide! He took us to the gyms and rehab rooms and technology room and told us some really fun facts about Shepherds. The research part of the day was a little long and a lot of it seemed to be over my head, but still interesting none the less. A lot of the day was thanking and recognizing people that had been performing research. But the part actually explaining some of the studies going on was interesting. One of the coolest things to me about the day was one of my friends just got transferred to Shepherds so I was able to see his family. While I was meeting the family, I actually got to meet Mr. Shepherd, the man who started the hospital! He was so down to earth and such an upbeat man. This day was such an awesome day!

11/2-11/5 Paint Men's Health Sheet (5 hrs)

We had to paint the sheet for Men's Health Day that takes place on November 11. This took way longer than Jules and I expected. It takes a lot of coats to make the letters look good and then a lot of restroaking to make the edges not look sloppy. But overall I think that the sheet turned out pretty well!

11/4 Sweet Dreams (1.5 hours)

The Sweet Dreams seminar was pretty interesting. I didn't really learn anything that I didn't already know other than about the disorders. A lot of the presentation was common sense, like only use the bed for sleeping...don't eat or study or do anything else in your bed, be sure your partner doesn't snore or act crazy in bed because that will hinder your sleeping. Don't eat big meals, caffiene, or unhealthy foods right before you go to bed. They talked a little bit about sleep pattern and when we go into deep sleep. I enjoyed the talk though. Then the movie was so great! I love that movie.

Research Lab

This week we did another leg submax test. The participant did very well. I think it's very interesting how encouragement helps people. I feel like when we verbally encourage the people they start pushing themselves so much harder than when they are just riding in silence. I'm excited to start tallying the results of the study. I want to see the effect the caffeine has on VO2 max.

Personal Training 11/2-11/3 (2.5 hours)

Monday we started with the Big 3 as usual. Then we did light jog for 5 mins alternating running hard 1 minute and then jogging slowly for 1 minute for 15 minutes then cool down for 5 minutes. Then for two sets we did 12 squats, 12 free weight bench press with 10 lb weights, 12 upright rows with 10 lb weights, 12 tricep pushbacks with 5 lb weights, 12 back extensions on the exercise ball and 12 bicep curls with 10 lb weights. Then to end we did some stretching. On Tuesday we were able to do the ropes for our training session. We had about eight different stations. We did three stations and then ran for the fourth. The stations were regular, S wave, figure 8, tossing the medicine ball against the wall, inner circles, outer circles, alternating, and swinging the free rope overhead. This was my clients first time doing ropes. She really enjoyed it.

Ropes 10/27 (1 hour)

Today was our first day attempting a ropes class in Centennial for anyone who wants to come can come. It was fun! I haven't done ropes in forever but I did it with the group and it was a great workout. We set up about 6 stations and did two stations and the ran a lap for active recovery. Overall I believe we did the entire circuit four times. I was very fatigued when it was over, but very satisfied with how the class went.

Research Lab 10/27 - 10/29 (4 hours)

We are still helping with the caffeine study in the lab. We are watching Dr. Black and Kori perform the tests. I helped some with the rate of percieved exertion chart as well as taking off and reapplying the nose piece to the person doing the test. This only occurs during submax tests though where they have to ride for a straight 30 mins. I did get to see one max test with a girl who absolutely rocked it. She did such an awesome job and pushed herself to the max. It was so interesting because from the outside you would in no way think that this girl was very athletic or physically fit, but when she got on that bike she had some mean determination and just went to town. I also help clean and reassemble all the equipment for the tests. I enjoy helping in the research lab.

Personal Training 10/26 - 10/29 (3 hours)

This week was a busy week. Monday I wasn't able to stay with my client for very long because I had to meet with my professor. But I was able to give her the workout past what we did together. She ran outside for thirty mins (running for 20 of the 30 mins). In the weight room:bicep curls 3 x 12 with 10 lb weights, Tricep pull backs 3 x 12 with 10 lb weights, Split leg squats 3 x 12 with 12.5 lb then 10 for last two sets, Hamstring Curls 3 x 12 with the 30 lb weight on there. She did the bicep curls, then the split leg squats, then triceps, then hamstring. End with the Martino ab workout. She said that she was feeling better this week and that the workout felt really good to her! I like it when she enjoys her workouts. Wednesday she ran for 25 mins and then did 3 x 12 push-ups, 3 x 12 wall squats with med ball, 3 x 12 jumping lunges, 3 x 12 bench press/tricep backs. Friday we did an awesome card workout! Since it was so beautiful outside, I incorporated some outside and inside into the workout--A: run stairs outside of Centennial, K: Run a lap, Q: 4 ab rounds (this is where you lay on your back, then you lift your trunk and bent knees at the same time for 4 seconds then you straighten your legs and hold for 4 seconds then you lie down again and repeat the round), J: Plank for 30 sec, Club: Push-ups, Spade: bench press/tricep back, Hearts: Abduction/Adducation Leg Lifts with the 12 lb body bar resting on the foot, Diamonds: Squat/Leg raise using the body bar as stabilization in front of you. This week was a good week of training! My client seems to be feeling a lot stronger. She is a little disappointed that she hasn't seen gains in her muscle by looking in the mirror, but she does say that her clothes fit her better which is a plus. What she really wants is to see definition in her arms. I may try to up our cardio a little bit.

Frisbee (1 hour)

We played Ultimate Frisbee at the pit for an hour. It was so much fun! We played all seniors on our team against the juniors. I think we lost, even though we weren't really keeping score.

Guy's Basketball (2 hours)

This week they changed the schedule for the basketball players. We go Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30. They have moved to the "Maintenance Phase" of their workouts seeing as they are almost in their season. So their workouts are focused more on explosive and powerful moves. The station I was placed at this week was the power box jumps. They step onto a really high box, jump down from it and then explode up onto a smaller box. I think this will really aid them in jumping to get rebounds. The second day I was stationed at inverted rows and 1/4 squats. The one mistake a lot of them made was locking their knees out when they reached the top of the squat, but they are supposed to never lock out their legs and just perform fast explosive mini squats. The only part about this lift I didn't like was the fact that the amount of weight on there was really heavy and it was hurting all of their necks. They all complained about how it was hurting them. Maybe we can find a pad or something to help with this problem. All of these exercises are done to improve their power.

Research Lab 10/20 & 10/22 (4 hours)

Dr. Black has been working on a caffeine study. He is doing VO2 tests on people and seeing what their VO2 max is. Then he is doing other tests on them giving them either a caffeine pill or a placebo and seeing if their endurance changes. It's a very interesting study. So this week we were just watching different tests being done and seeing how to do them. I saw a couple of max tests and then a couple of sub max tests. I'm still not confident in knowing how to actually perform the tests on the computer but I do know how to put all of the equipment together and how to set up for the tests. And I know how to clean all of the equipment. For one of the tests we were doing a sub max test on a person, but we had to throw the test out because after the test she told us that her arms were sore before we even started because she had worked out the day before. Dr. Black said that this messes with the results and he has to throw that test out. I need to ask more questions about the study, because I'm still a little confused about what all is being measured and what this is going to tell him about caffeine. I am anxious to see what the results show.

Personal Training 10/19-10/23 (5 hours)

This week was a great week of Personal Training. We really could tell how much my client had improved. We increased her reps and her weight on some of our workouts. She got really excited about the improvements she has made! On Monday she started with 20 minutes on the ellyptical with above 7 RPM for 2 mins and below for 1 min. She alternated back and forth. Then she did 10 mins on the bike on the random setting. Then we did 3 sets of each of these exercises: pushups (10 reps, 10 reps, 15 reps), exercise ball squats (10, 10, 10), ab leg pushdowns (20, 20, 20), stability pad throws (15, 25, 35), lastly leg lifts ( 10, 10 , 10) She really enjoyed this workout. Tuesday she ran outside for 25 mins and then came inside to do some exercises. Pushups 12 x 3, Sitting crunch with Medicine ball 12 x 3, Jumping lunges 10, 8, 6, Abs on exercise ball with the med ball passes 12 x 3, Bench press with 10 lb free weights 15 x 3. Then she did the Martino ab ball workout. She was feeling super spunky today and just wanted to keep on working out! She felt very energetic. I think a lot of her excitement was from how well she is doing in her workouts. She remembers at the beginning when she could only do 12 solid pushups and now she is up to 3 sets of 12! On Wednesday we did a card workout.
A: Plank, K: 2 mins running outside, Q: 5 shoulder raises, 5 lat raises, 5 V raises with 5 lb weights, J: Throw 6 lb med ball on balance board for 20 times, Spade: Push-ups, Clubs: Jumping Lunges, Hearts: sitting crunch with 6 lb med ball throw, Diamond: Band pull backs. It was such a lovely day outside, we brought all of our equipment outside and did the workout on the porch of the depot. It was so great! Friday was another fun day! I set up a circuit in the gym. We did each spot for a minute and between each exercise we ran a lap in the gym. The stations were: 1) Jumprope 2) squat throwing tennis balls against the wall 3) Shoot the basketball if you miss you run to half court and back 4) Bicep curls with the 12 lb body bar 5) Crunches 6) Band pull backs 7) Split leg squats....My client wasn't feeling very well today. She didn't really seem to be giving it her all like she normally does. She said that she had a really bad headache. So we only went through the circuit one time. But she said she really liked the workout and she wanted to do it another day when she was feeling better and we could go through it more than just once. Overall, this was a great week of training!

Research Lab 10/15 (2.5 hours)

When I got to the lab Doc was in there putting together the treadmill that had been broken forever. He had most of it already apart but he had to figure out how to get the belt off. We were worried that the main machine part would fall flat on the ground if we just lifted the frame up, but we did it and it worked out perfectly. Then Doc had to leave and he asked me to clean the treadmill out with a vacuum cleaner. I was like, this isn't that bad of a chore just cleaning it out. The problem came with finding the vacuum cleaner. I started out getting one from Toyia and it didn't work. Then I waited trying to find a custodian in the Health Sciences building. When I finally found one he sent me to a guy in A & S. That custodian sent me to another building that was by the Magnolia Ballroom. Finally I found a vacuum cleaner with a hose. When I finally got back to the lab I cleaned out the parts of the treadmill. I tried to get all of the dust and all of the dirt off of it with the vacuum and wipes. This was a very eventful two and a half hours. I definitely got a workout in running all over campus.

Club Hours 10/5 - 10/16 (4 hours)

Wednesday night was a great bonding night for the Exercise Science Club. We had a game night at my house. Though my living room is a little small, we were able to fit us all in. We started out just hanging out and talking; then we brought out some delicious cookies and treats. Then we started my favorite game ever...Catch Phrase!! It is such a great game for a large amount of people. That was super fun. Then we played signs. It was quite comical. Thursday night the 15th we had an Exercise Science Club meeting. We discussed the shirts, our potential Turkey Trot...which I think is a great idea! I hope that all comes together and we are able to do that in November. Then we discussed our ultimate frisbee team and about our "Get to Know You" day we are going to participate in with the other groups in the Health Sciences Field. It was a great meeting. I think Jules and Katie are awesome President and VP. Friday the 16th was a special day for our building. It was the ribbon cutting and the dean and important people were going to be all around so we had to decorate one of the bulletin boards with Exercise Science info. I love doing things like that so it was actually enjoyable.

Basketball Training 10/5 - 10/7 (2 hours)

Monday the 5th and Wednesday the 7th the basketball players continued in the same phase. Monday they were in the weight room. I was stationed at the boxes. They had to complete one leg jumps onto the large box. I'm always so nervous that they are going to fall or twist an ankle; but I make sure that another player is standing guard in front of the box spotting. I also have realized that I can't talk to them as they are doing the jumps because it is easy for them to lose their balance and fall. The purpose of this station is to work on their explosiveness. It will strengthen the muscles needed in order to jump up powerfully to snatch down a rebound. I have to make sure that the players knees are not translating over their toes when they land the jump. This strain could cause injury at the knee joint. On Wednesday the basketball players were very pumped to say the least because it was their last day of ropes. I really have seen an improvement in their endurance on the ropes. They seem to fatigue later rather than earlier. I was stationed at a Tsunami rope and the plank. The plank is where I have to be on my toes. Since they are so tired, it's really easy for their form on the plank to become slack. They tend to roll their shoulder forward or drop their hips to where it's not really doing much good. After slight cueing though, they normally correct themselves quickly.

Personal Training 10/5-10/16 (6.5 hours)

With the fall break I just decided to combine these two weeks of training blogging. The 5th my client started out with the Big 3 as usual, but this week we increased the time to 15 sec for each exercise. Then on the treadmill she ran two mins and walked one minute for 15 mins. Then she did pushups, squat medicine ball passes, ab leg push downs, and then while sitting on the exercise ball and holding a 6 lb medicine ball she would do a sit up and then pass me the ball. The 6th we did the card game in Centennial. My client always loves a good card game. This day I focused mostly on lower body and cardio. Here is what it entailed:

A: Run on the curves...on straight ways do 1) karaoke 2) butt kicks 3) high knees 4) lunges

K: Run the stairs

Q: Run a lap

J: Mountain climbers x 2 and Pushups x 2

Spades: Squats with the 12 lb body bar

Clubs: Bicep curls with 12 lb body bar

Diamonds: Leg lifts (ea side abduction and adduction)

Hearts: Knee into chest abs

Then on the 7th we started with the Big 3 then the stairmaster. We increased her time to nine minutes at level 14. She was very proud that she accomplished this seeing as we started out only doing 2 mins on the stairmaster and she was very tired. Then we ran/walked outside for 20 minutes. We did abs and arms this day. Scissor kicks 3 x 10, Medicine ball abs on exercise ball 3 x 10, while maintaining a sitting position with abs engaged throwing the 6 lb medicine ball 3 x 10, throw the medicine ball with each arm 15 ea, push-ups 3 x 10. This day I noticed that my clients endurance with the strength in her arms is getting better. I love seeing progress! The 15th she did a 30 min power walk and then Martino ab workout. Then I tried something that I never had before. 30 sec of an exercise with a 30 sec rest period then to the next exercise. Here was the pattern. We did the entire set 3 times. Push-ups, abs on exercise ball, squats with exercise ball, bicep curls, ab leg throwdowns, split leg squats, throw med ball, ab leg roll ups. Rest was in between each exercise. Then we concluded the workout with 10 mins on the stairmaster. The 16th we did antoher card workout, but this one was in the depot. Here it is:

A: 15 sec plank on ea side

K: 2 mins stairmaster

Q: 5 shoulder raises, 5 lateral raises, 5 V's

J: Stand on balance circles for 45 sec while catching and throwing the 6 lb med ball

Spades: Push-ups

Clubs: Jumping Lunges

Hearts: Sitting crunch with med ball throw

Diamonds: Band pull backs (working the back)

Men's Basketball 9/28-10/2 (3 hr)

This was the first week in a long time that I was able to go to all three workouts. On Monday, we were in the weight room. The players always start out with stretches on the court and then they go into the weight room for the circuit. Monday I was at the bench press station. They were to go down at a forty five degree angle (the humerus with the body) and go down right to ninety degrees. Most of the players did it with ease and the few who struggled seemed to work really hard. On Wednesday we did the ropes. I feel like the players are getting better at their form while doing the ropes. It doesn't seem to be getting easier for them though. It's so crazy how by just watching them do ropes you can tell the players who give it their all and the ones who just squeak by. On Friday we were back in the weight room. I was stationed at the one leg box jumps. This station makes me really nervous because people tend to fall. It works on their power as they explode upward on one leg.

Research Lab 9/29- 10/1 (4 hr)

I was able to help in the Research Lab this week. I was able to get much more familiar with the VO2 machine. I now know how to put the head piece and mouthpiece together, which is harder than one would expect. I know how to assemble the machine, but I am still a bit wary about how to get the test started. On Thursday I was able to listen in while Dr. Black quizzed his juniors about Exercise Physiology and how it related to the submax and max tests that they performed in the lab while I was there. This was a good review and made me realize how much I need to continue to refresh about what we have already learned. The submax test was cool. After the guy biked for around 20-30 mins, he just sat still so the machine could measure his EPOC. Very interesting.

ZUMBA 9/28-10/1 (5.5 hr)

Teaching ZUMBA is so much fun, but it also takes a lot of preparation. On Monday, I just went over my songs. Tuesday Sonya and I got together and went over our routines. I had some songs that she didn't know and she had some that I didn't know. So we wanted to become familiar with each other's routines. Thursday was the day of the event. Sonya and I met earlier in the morning to go over it again, then we had the event. It was a lot of fun!

Personal Training 9/28-10/4 (4 hr)

Monday we just did our workout in the depot. Since my client really enjoys being outdoors and gets really bored working out indoors, I try to do most of our workouts outside. Monday it wasn't really pretty outside, so we started out doing 25 mins on the ellyptical doing Kilamanjaro setting. Then we did 3 sets of 10 of split leg squats, bicep curls, tricep pull backs, and hamstring curls. Then we did leg push down ab workout. Friday we did a different workout that I gleaned from something Jules does with her client. We had 10lb dumbells as well as the medicine ball outside. We alternated running, med ball, lunges, bicep curls, running, med ball, karaoke, pushups, running, medball...etc. This was a very good workout! After my client said that she felt like it worked her entire body. Sunday we just went on a long walk/run.

Dodgeball and ZUMBA (3 hours)

Wednesday, Ex Sci Club got together to play dodgeball. It was a blast! I always love playing that game. The only thing I don't like is getting hit super hard by the ball, but it's fun enough, I don't mind it.

For Women's Health Fitness Day I made a flyer about ZUMBA that's going to be taking place on front campus at 11:00 am. We are trying to get many women to turn out! Sonya and I also worked on our routines for an hour this week. We got a good bit accomplished but we still have a good ways to go. I am excited about next Thursday!

Men's Basketball Workout (2 hours)

This week the guys started a new phase of their workout. Many of the exercises are similar but some of them are completely different. Monday I was stationed at the one leg box squat. This was very scary because if the athletes weren't focused or did not get enough height, there could be a serious fall. I did have two instances where I had to catch players that tripped. The single leg squat seems very interesting. The person has to generate an explosive force through one leg to be able to get up on the box. This is very difficult looking. Wednesday was another ropes day. This workout seems to be the most difficult for the team as a whole. This is when you can tell who truly pushes themselves versus who just does enough to get by. I was stationed at the outer circles and the plank. The person at the circles has to have enough slack on the ground to where when they produce the circles they make it almost to the pole. They have to stabilize their core and squat. The planks were difficult for them because they were already so fatigued. I really enjoy doing the men's basketball workouts.

PARC (30 mins)

I went to go shadow the PT with the athlete who tore her ACL but she cancelled after I had been there for awhile. So I didn't really learn much on this trip except in life you have to be flexible!

STEPtember (2 hours)

Though one day no walkers showed up, it was still fun to just enjoy people watching on front campus at the Bobcat. The Thursday a lady showed up and we were able to walk the mile. It was so much fun! She was so nice and we were able to tell eachother about our lives. Maybe next time a better turn out will show.

Personal Training 9/21-9/25 (3 hours)

Due to my client's busy schedule, we were only able to meet twice this week. The workouts we did though seemed to be full body engaging. Monday we focused on abs and arms. Since one of my client's goals is to gain more upper body strength, I try to do arms and shoulders as much as possible. She always starts with the Big 3 (planks 12 sec and superman 15 sec). For cardio we did the Kilamanjaro setting on the ellyptical for 25 mins at high RPM. Then at 1/3 of the way through she went for 30 seconds as hard as she could and then did the same thing 2/3s of the way through. Then I wanted to have a baseline of how many push-ups she can do so we can try to increase that number over the semester. So she did 12 solid push-ups. Then ball roll ups on the exercise ball alternating with push-ups on the exercise ball--5,4,3,2,1. 25 crunches on the Exercise ball. Then we ended by using the 6 lb medicine ball and throwing it with our right arm, left arm and then both arms together 15 throws with each. On Wednesday we did the card game. Every time we do this my client loves it! The variety and constant movement is such a fun way to get a full body workout but have fun at the same time! Here is our workout:
Hearts: abs on exercise ball while chest passing the 6 lb med ball (5 and below double number)
Clubs: bicep curls with 10 lb dumb bells
Diamonds: Burpees with pushup
Spades: Exercise ball squats on wall
Ace: With 5 lb dumb bell 5 shoulder raises, 5 lateral raises, and 5 V's
King: 2 mins on stairmaster
Queen: High knees in place for 30 secs
Jack: Throw 6 lb med ball 15 times
Needless to say we were soaked with sweat after this workout!! It was great!

Sinclair Christian Academy PE (3 hours)

This was very interesting, but pretty enjoyable as well. This was my first time helping out with this PE class, and it was also the one day Ms. Everett was out. So the two other exercise science girls and me had to really help control the out of control kids. Overall though the younger ones ended up listening and I was at the kick ball station and we ended up having a great time. It blew my mind, though, how out of shape the majority of these children were. It makes me sad to see this is the way that our society is going in. After running only one lap some of the children acted as if they were about to pass out. Somehow, someway we are going to have to get the children of our country to become more active. The high school students were a lot of fun. We played the basketball game Gotcha or Knock Out with them. They seemed to enjoy it and showed a lot of improvement in their basketball skills from the beginning of the class to the end. I think I will try to do this at least once a week.

Basketball Workouts 9/16 (1 hour)

Since the golf tourney was on Monday and I had to work on Friday from 12-5 I was only able to attend the basketball workouts one time this week. This was a misfortune, because I love helping with their workouts. Wednesday was very intense though. This was their first workout with the ropes that Doc created for the year. It looked to be extremely difficult. There were twenty stations and between each station they had to run a lap. After calculation I figured out that that would be about 2 and 1/2 miles of running along with intense core training. I was manned at the tsunami wave and the alternate arm motion wave. The trouble that I mostly saw with their form was that they were trying to get the burst of force from their arms instead of letting it come from the ground through their legs. So that was the main correction I had to watch out for. They did very well though and at the end of the workout no one passed out or did anything crazy on us, so that was a plus.

Personal Training 9/14 - 9/18 (4.5 hours)

Every session we start out doing the Big 3 to strengthen the core. My client is getting much stronger in this area. We are up to 12 secs, two times all sides on the plank. Monday was an intense arm day. We did bicep curls, tridep pull backs, shoulder raises, and free weight bench press. We did ten reps and went through the cycle three times. She used the 10 lb weights for everything except the bicep curls where she used 12.5 lb weights. Then using the Exercise ball she did 2 x 25 sit-ups and 10 x 2 knee roll-ups. For cardio, we did 25 mins on the ellyptical and 4 mins on the stairmaster. This was her first experience with the stairmaster and she thought it was killer. We will try to work our time up on that. On Wednesday, we did the ellyptical for 10 mins doing the interval training workout. On the more resistance periods I had her keep the RPM above 6 and on the lower resistance above 7. Then on the treadmill she started out with a speed of 4 and an incline of 3. For three minutes. Then we increased the incline to 4 and the speed to 5. She did this for ten minutes. Then with the Exercise Ball she did the Martino ball workout placed on the wall in the depot. She did each with ten reps. Then with the 6 lb medicine ball we threw with each arm back and forth ten times. She did wall squats on the exercise ball 15 x 2 and ab crunches while throwing the med ball 10 x 2. Then on Thursday we mixed it up a bit and did the card workout. This was a challenge for my client; but she really enjoyed it! Here are what each of the cards stood for:
Aces: Run on the curves and on the straight ways first ace do grapevines, second ace do butt kicks, third ace do high knees, and fourth ace do lunges (these almost did us in :)
Kings: run the stairs (half of the gyms worth)
Queens: Leg bicycles keeping the abdominals contracted
Jacks: Mountain climbers
Spades: Squats with the 12 pound body bar on our shoulders
Diamonds: Flutter kicks with our legs
Hearts: X-factors to strengthen the back
Clubs: Down with your arms to the ground and then push the feet back and then jump up
This was my favorite workout of the week. It was very challenging, but also very fun! Also, I enjoyed that a junior Ex Sci major came and did the workout with us.

Research Lab

I spent about four hours this week in the Lab helping with VO2 max tests performed on the Baseball team's pitchers. I mostly just cleaned the equipment, monitored heartrate, and gave the RPE of the players. This is an interesting study that one of the GAs is performing. He is seeing how the regular cardio running pre-season workouts compare to a pre-season workout of ropes. I'm sure there is more to the research, but I gathered that this is the basis of it. The GA directly measured the VO2 max using arms and legs on the stationary bike.

Basketball and Cheerleading Workouts 9/8-9/11

This week in the Basketball workout was pretty much the usual. The players' form at each of the stations is getting way better. I didn't have to correct near as many as I have the last couple of weeks. They seem to be working harder as well. I really enjoy working with this team. Some of them ask, "Am I doing this correctly, or Do I have good form?" I just like how they care about doing it right and seeing effects.

This was the first time that I have gone to the cheerleading workouts. This was interesting seeing as it was 5 a.m. But it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. The cheerleaders were not as weight savvy as the basketball team. One could tell that many of the girls had never lifted much before in their life. This was good for me though because I was pretty constant in correcting form or helping that I didn't get sleepy. Then we helped them with their form for an ab workout.

Personal Training 9/8-9/11

This week was a great week with my client! We were able to meet three times this week and have three solid workouts. Since we were out of school on Monday, we ended up meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday we ran for about 15 mins and then ended up at Centennial and did four rounds of stairs for cardio. Then we came back to the depot for resistance training. We focused on arms and went light on the legs. Then we ended with some Big Ball workout. We did something different where she would do five sit-ups on the ball while throwing the Medicine ball at me and then would do five push-ups and then 4, 3, 2, etc. She really liked it and felt like it would great. Wednesday we did the card workout in Centennial. She had never done it before and really enjoyed the variety it entailed. For hearts we did squats with weights, for clubs we bicycled abs, for diamonds we lifted weights with our arms, for spades we did mountain climbers, for aces we ran steps and then for the face cards we would run one lap around the top. She had to leave a little early so we couldn't quite do the entire deck, which was unfortunate; but we got a good 45 mins in. Then Friday was a fun day at the pit. She started by running one lap around the pit while I set up the circuit. We went through the circuit three times, five stations (abs, bicep curls, shoulder raises, pushups, box jumps). Then we ended by running four hills on the big hill on the side of the pit. Needless to say we got a total body work out. My client said that she really enjoyed it because she had to push herself but it wasn't to where it hurt. She just liked the challenge of an unusual but harder workout.

Men's Basketball Weight Training

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have the opportunity to help the guys basketball team in the weight room. Working with the team has made me realize how much I miss the TEAM atmosphere. I enjoy being around the team so much. The workout they are performing right now is a circuit with different weightlifting exercises at each station. Our job as helpers is to stand at a station and be sure that the players have the correct technique in the exercises. They are all very nice and enjoy the constructive criticism. I also enjoy getting to know the players slightly so when I go to the games I will have a better understanding of who each person is. I'm excited about this portion of hours.

First Training Session

This week was the beginning of my Personal Training experience. To begin with I was very nervous. The person that I am training has a few specific goals that she desires to accomplish during our training sessions, but her main goal is to just forming a routine and feeling more comfortable in her workout routine. She desires to learn enough to when I am no longer with her she can still enjoy working out and not getting bored with it. Our first consultation went really well. She was very receptive and very excited about beginning our journey. After the consultation we did a fitness test and that concluded our first session. We decided that our meeting times are going to be Mon, Wed, Fri at 11:00. Our first real session was Monday. We began by doing the Big 3 and I decided that we are going to do this to start every session. The importance of a solid core has been drilled into our heads since we have begun the program. Next, we went into the weight room and I showed her the correct technique to multiple arm exercises that we will be using throughout the semester. We ended with some Exercise Ball work. The first session was very successful. My client seemed to really enjoy it and I think that this semester is going to be really fun training her.