So for my interview, I decided to talk with Tim Stokes, a gym teacher here at our school. Mr. Stokes currently helps out at the after school gym at the school and exercises almost every day. I chose to interview Mr. Stokes because last year, for 9th grade wellness, my class had to make a fitness program for ourselves to follow. It was sort of like a final project, and I felt that his input and expertise was very helpful. When I went to interview Mr. Stokes, the first question I asked him was; "do you consider yourself an expert on fitness" He answered quickly and gave a confident yes. After all, Mr. Stokes is a personal trainer to hundreds students. I continued the interview by asking these 5 questions.
Should I stretch before or after my workout?
How do you balance Dieting and Workout?
What is your fitness routine?
Do you believe fitness is an individual goal, or a universal goal?
How much sleep is optimal before a workout day?
He gave very helpful and insightful answers that I have listed below:
1. Prior to working out I would suggest raising your body temperature gradually with a light
movement activity and then also some dynamic stretches that warm-same muscles that will be focused on during workout. After the workout I would recommend gradually letting body cool down and include some static stretches of same muscles primarily worked on during workout.
2. Calories consumed should match calories burned .( If burning lots of calories, then you will need to consume more calories) If training intensely and or a decent amount of time calories need to be the highest quality proteins, carbs and fats and as nutrient dense as possible.
3. My routine is that I combine some form of resistance training and aerobic activity 5 to 7 days a week for 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes.
I never do the same exact routine two days in a row, I vary intensity, reps and exercises often, all with minimal rest.
4. Both. Fitness should be a part of everybody’s lifestyle. (Universal) It can take on many forms though that fit an individual’s goals for fitness. (Individual)
5. High intensity training or long workouts require more sleep and rest prior to training days and after. I can’t put an exact number on hours of sleep, but will say that an individual should try to increase sleep above their own average hours for sleep if and when they increase their training load.
So, it’s been 3 weeks
since this project has started. I have been to the gym 6 times, and I have
started to notice something. Some people are nasty. I'm not just saying that
because I may not like them, but because of stuff they do. For
example, someone might spend like, say, 10 minutes on a machine, get it all
gross with their sweat, and then NOT CLEAN IT! That's disgusting! I'm not
trying to get sick at the gym. I've already been on the brink of death
(allergies and a bad couch) for like 3 months, and if someone at the gym puts
me over the edge, ima flip.
 |
| im jumping to conclusions (get it haha) |
Like, some of the people
I see at the gym are just weird. I saw one guy in khakis. They may be
fashionable, but they have little movement, and it’s harder to run in them.
Plus, it is easier to sweat in them because, unlike other workout
pants, they don't "breath".
 |
| im not sorry |
I've also seen people
who go hard. Like: tank tops, grunting, big muscles, and no going on the
treadmills. I didn't think people like this existed. I thought it was just
a stereotype. but apparently not. and it’s not just one guy, its
multiple. Usually traveling together, which makes
since because you need someone to spot you, but like, five of them
come at a time. FIVE! AN ODD NUMBER. Their odd number of people defeats the
purpose of traveling in with a singular friend to spot each other. Maybe I
would be less upset if there were four of them, but still.
So I pretty much spent
the entirety of this blog just complaining about the equivalent of nothing, but
idk. I felt like this needed to be shared. Il probably just have this blog be
my supplementary blog because of my lack of new information about my project.
Anyway, thanks for
wasting your time listening to my pointless rants, you’ll probably see more of
these though.
So... as I mentioned in my last blog post, I am not a big fan of eating healthy. When this project started, I had the plan of eating more fruits and vegetables, as well as more calories. I definitely have been eating more vegetables, as well as calories, but I haven't eaten much fruit in a while. I do however have som pineapple in the fridge, so I will probably be fixing my fruit problem relatively soon!
As well as eating healthy, I have also bought some protein powder, along with some protein cakes. I put the protein powder into milkshakes (vanilla just in case anyone is wondering) and drink it either before or after my workout. Surprisingly, it tastes pretty good! or maybe that's just because I put a lot of ice cream in my milkshakes? Either way, I think they help.
Regarding the cakes, their alright. Not as good as my ice cream filled milkshakes, but I guess I will have to suffer a little bit for the cause. They have a lot of protein in them though. Like, a surprising amount. each cake has about 7 grams of protein, and they each weigh 21 grams, with a diameter of 1.5 inches. (yes I measured them)
Enough with the supplement stuff. As my main meals, I have started to "diversify my portfolio" as one might say. just two days ago, I ate a fish called Barramundi. This fish is very low in fat, high in Omega-3 fatty acids, and (guess what?) has a ton of protein. a six-ounce serving has about 35 grams of protein!
I've also eaten some non-healthy stuff like Mcdonalds, Pizza, and Cookies. But hey, were all Human 😁
So... I started going to the gym. When I first walked in, I saw a lot of machines. Like, a lot of machines. It was sort of overwhelming because I had only thought about my goals, but not how to achieve them. I did at least two reps (10 cycles per rep) on each machine, and I did all machines but 3. But because I spent all of that time trying out new machines, I didn't have time to go on the treadmill, and I pretty much wasted a day.
I made sure for my second visit, to not get distracted and remain focused on achieving my goals. I did: pull-ups, bicep curls, curl-ups, abdominal twists, treadmill, and some other smaller obscure things that I probably won't do again. And even though I went into the gym with an idea about how I wanted to spend my time, I still wasted some time by trying out new things or just trying to find the next machine. (if you haven't noticed already, I'm not good at this)
So after wasting a lot of time, I decided to actually write something down. I created a (sort of) fitness plan consisting of everything I plan on doing the next day.
I know a lot of you are thinking: "Ethan, why didn't you have a fitness plan in the first place?" or "didn't you realize that you would waste time without planning ahead?" Ok well, better late than never. This project is something that you are supposed to not know much about and learn how to do it. Apparently, having a plan is a really big part of fitness.
And as a side note, eating healthy is really hard. 😑
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But I digress, On the topic of my own presentation, I felt like I did ok. I defiantly wasn't the best presentation but i defiantly think I wasn't one of the worst. I felt like I had good eye contact, and had good volume, but I spoke really fast. When practicing, I was finishing around at the 5:20 minute mark, so I cut a few paragraphs and got my time down to 4:40.
