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.