Reflections of a Physical Exercise

Physical fitness is an important activity that one partakes to improve his or her health and well-being. To achieve this, one has to perform several daily activities and sports regularly, and this is through ensuring proper nutrition, making sure one gets enough rest, and also getting involved in vigorous physical exercises like jogging, weight lifting, squatting, running, and many other activities. During the period from September 12th to December 7th, we undertook a fitness exercise where we were involved in various activities, and this paper will discuss these different aspects, goals, and outcomes of the training.

Goals for the Exercise Period

To achieve physical fitness, one has to set goals for him or herself. For the time set forth, I had made specific targets for myself. I made three goals for myself that I considered achievable as I achieved all of them very easily. The first goal was to improve my endurance ability and run for twenty minutes per day. At the age of 25, many people would expect that I am much active but the fact was that I was not much of a runner, the first few days was tough as I could not reach the target immediately. The first time I ran, I managed only five minutes. Such a blow to my target as I only managed to achieve only a quarter of the target in the whole of the first week. But as they say, persistence wears resistance, I gradually improved to eight minutes in the second week and still this was way below my target. I did not give up as I continued to press on the following weeks increasing my daily running time to twelve minutes, then to fifteen minutes then eighteen and before I knew it I was running twenty minutes per day.

The second goal that I had set for myself was to be able to lift 40 pounds after the exercise period. Evidently, if one is not a regular weight-lifter, achieving this goal is nearly impossible. But with dedication and commitment, I set forth myself to be able to reach it. I began lifting weights the first week starting with light weights of five pounds. I started small so as to be able to adjust my body regularly to enable it to adapt to the changes that I was going to make soon. This gradually changed as I increased the weight I was lifting to seven, then twelve, fifteen, seventeen, and by the time I reached twenty, I realized that the exercise was becoming much easier. Muscles were beginning to improve in my body giving me the encouragement of reaching my target. I put in more effort reaching thirty by week five. I told myself that if I can move from lifting zero weights before the exercise to lifting thirty in five weeks, then I can be able to reach my target with much ease. Therefore by week seven I was lifting fourth pounds like a pro.

My third objective that I wanted to achieve was shifting my food consumption from junk food to a much more healthy option. I like eating ready meals from fast food chains across town because they are cheap and readily available. They are not like homemade meals where the process for putting a meal on the table is very cumbersome. You have to buy groceries then prepare the meals yourself. Junk food has the upper hand over prepared home meals for those people living alone, like me, but the fact remains that they are not nutritionally healthy. Junk food does not provide the necessary nutrients that the body needs and thus makes the body lack very crucial nutrients required for varying health reasons. To achieve this goal, I gradually began shopping for groceries, looking up the daily nutrient requirements and purchasing the groceries and the required stuff concerning these demands. I slowly withdrew from visiting fast food chains and only visited them when it was deemed necessary. I began preparing my meals taking in more balanced diets that provided all the needed nutrients. At first, when I began preparing my meals I felt like it was a tedious endeavor but as time went by it became a much more enjoyable activity.

Did I challenge myself?

I would say that I put my body through tough situations so as to achieve the desired outcome. I was not the outdoor kind of person before the beginning of this exercise. My body was well used to eating and doing mostly no useful physical activity. Therefore, it was difficult to adjust to the daily task of running and lifting weights every single day. I was not able to run for a long distance on the first day just managing to run for about five minutes. As time went by, I saw that I was able to adjust the length of time that I was able to run from the five minutes to eight, to fifteen and finally I was able to reach the desired outcome with no time. This was only possible after I convinced myself that everything is achievable as long as you put your mind to it. This was also the same slogan that I applied to my weight lifting exercise. Lifting weights for an amateur is something very uncomfortable as it makes the muscles feel uncomfortable. But regular exercise makes the muscles adapt to the strenuous activity thus making the exercise less and less uncomfortable.

In the case of my meals, achieving this goal proved to be tough in my part as it involved supreme sacrifice from my part. I was hooked up on junk food, and I could not go a day without having a bite of the junk foods. Having to let go of this habit was not very easy for me as I loved junk food but since my health was more important than my passion and love for junk food, I decided to challenge myself to let go of the junk food and start consuming more healthy foods.

Importance of keeping fitness logs

Planning and data collection are some of the key variables that determine the progress of any endeavor. The fitness records helped me know the progress that I was making during the exercise. It is tough to keep on exercising when you don't know if you are making progress or not thus the reason for maintaining a fitness log. The records also help one to know which areas are supposed to be given more priority than other sectors. The records showed me which exercise showed more progress or less progress thus helping me to know where I should improve on and where I should not overdo. The logs also provided me with a source of motivation as it shows the progress that I was making thus assuring me that something was happening and that I should put in more effort to fulfill my goals.

Changes in my body fat and BMI

When I started this fitness exercise, I had a body fat measurement of 115 and a BMI of 18. With the rigorous weightlifting and running exercises and the overall change in diet, this measure improved significantly with the body fat increasing to 118 while my BMI reducing to 15. The body fat increased due to the development of muscles from the weightlifting and also the running exercises. My BMI changed since I changed my diet thus having an impact on my weight and therefore my BMI.

Overall changes

During the exercise period, I noticed that my body started developing lumps of muscles on my arms, chest, legs, et cetera as a result of the many various exercises that were conducted during the period. Also, I noticed that of late my sleeping experience has improved as now I sleep very well as opposed to the way I was sleeping before the beginning of this exercise. Currently, I feel like I can endure extended periods of immense tension due to the performance of certain activities. My endurance for physical activities has improved drastically.

Exercises conducted during the specified period

Very many recreational and sports activities partook during the period by my colleagues, and I. this activities included running, weight lifting, pushups and sit-ups, rope jump, Jack jump, and frog jump, squatting, dynamic warm-ups and also thrusters. These activities were performed either regularly or occasionally improving endurance and stamina of the participants.

Conclusion

Some of the lessons I learned in this exercise include the one that determination is key to success, and that physical fitness is the pillar of excellent health. My participation in these fitness activities has improved my health and also my physique as I now see myself as well built as a result of the vigorous activities I undertook in the training period. Many people see exercise as a difficult thing to perform regularly as they may jog one day and when they feel some pain, they stop exercising. The only key to ensuring that your body remains fit is by putting your body through the pain and continuing to exercise regularly as this will make the muscles firmer and also enable them to get used to the activities thus eliminating the pain.