12/24/2019 0 Comments Week 12 BlogI can’t believe genius hour is over. I am really proud of what I have accomplished over these 12 weeks. I wouldn’t have expected myself to get this far with this project. Since it was the last week I worked out at much as I could. I was hoping maybe this would help the slightest bit. It is crazy to see my progression from day 1 to week 12. This has really worked out well for me. I have written down all the workouts I’ve done in my notebook. Christmas Break just started so I might do some more over the break. If I do, I will write down what I did in my notebook. I really enjoyed doing this because it really pushed me to work and I like it. I feel overall better after doing this because I’ve never really worked out before. I started with basketball conditioning and now I did this. My dad is proud of my progress as well. I want to keep working on increasing my vertical because there is no reason not to. I might even make blog posts about my workouts after this project. I have also been measuring my calf circumference just for myself. They have gotten a little bigger and I’m really impressed with it. I know that some people are just born with natural athleticism and some people need to work for it. I wasn’t born with natural athleticism so I have to work for it. I’m glad that I did this. 2019 has been a crazy year and this project has been a part of it. I was excited to see my progress over the 12 weeks and I can’t wait to see everyone else’s progress. This wasn’t just another boring project; it gave us something fun to do that I personally enjoyed myself. It made us really work for something and even if don’t achieve our goal, it’s okay.
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12/15/2019 0 Comments Week 11 BlogThis week was a decent week If I would have to say. Last week I thought Owen and I could go to Combat Athletics but we couldn't. I am going to go this weekend so I will just have to see the difference from the beginning to the end. It will be interesting to see. I wish I could've recorded the half way mark but it is okay. This week we weren't in the weight room at all; we only did drills. I was at Owen's house on Saturday night so I did some workouts. I made sure as always to stretch before and I went downstairs to the weight room. Owen was spotting me just in case anything happened. I was confident and my legs were feeling really good. Last night, I did two sets of six and two sets of twelve. For the first set, I did 30 lbs on each side for six, then I did 35 lbs on each side for twelve. For the second set, I did 35 lbs on each side for six, then I did 37.5 lbs on each side for twelve. I haven't been doing many workouts in the past two weeks but next week I will try to do more. We haven't been doing much weight lifting in basketball conditioning because of basketball season. I won't have basketball conditioning next semester but I can't wait until I have it next year. I doubt we will be in the weight room at all next week so I will have to do workouts myself. If we do go in the weight room, I will go my hardest since it is the last week. I can not believe this genius hour project is almost over. I feel like I just started last week.
12/8/2019 0 Comments Week 10 BlogDuring week 9, it was only a two day week because it was the week of Thanksgiving. We weren't in the weight room at all that week. We only scrimmaged for the two days. We were off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I took a break off from that week to celebrate Thanksgiving and to be with my family. This week, I did get to do some workouts. I did workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Monday and Friday, I did sets of 10,8,6, and 4. On Wednesday, I did 2 sets of 12. I wasn't able to go to Combat Athletics for week 8 but I was able to go for week 9. I got some pictures and videos of me doing stretches and seeing how high my vertical is. I am really close to the end result now and I am really proud of the progress I have made. I can't wait till the end result. I have made sure to do all my stretches before so I don't get injured and I have felt really good so far. It isn't working on my legs but recently I got 25 lbs on each side for bench and I did them pretty easily. I am proud of all the workouts and progress I have done in the weight room. I'm really intrigued to see how much I will be able to squat and bench press in a year. I could imagine it would be a lot more. I plan to always workout throughout high school and after. It will keep me healthy to exercise and workout. I dream to one day be able to dunk. It will be really hard considering my height, but anything is possible. I'm going to do extra work in the next two weeks. End goal is coming really soon.
11/24/2019 0 Comments Week 8 BlogThis week was a little odd because our smart lunch being taken away. I still got work done though. I did leg workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I did sets of 10,8,6,4. I did 35 lbs on each side for 10, 40 lbs on each side for 8, 45 lbs on each side for 6, and finally 50 lbs on each side for 4. Unfortunately, Owen was really busy with family this weekend so, we weren't able to go to Combat Athletics. We will try to go there sometime this week or next weekend. I am disappointed I wasn't able to check my progress two thirds of the way there but I will make up for it. It is the two thirds mark and I am really proud with my progress. When we do go to Combat Athletics I feel like I will have progressed by a lot. I have videos of myself doing a running vertical and a one step vertical. I feel like I will definitely get much higher than last time. Owen also took pictures of me doing stretches and he will do the same next week when we go. I have felt a lot better when I am seeing how I can jump and just overall. Working out over these 8 weeks have made me feel healthier and I am glad I have a workout plan that I can stick to. I do not think that I will be done working out at the end of the semester. There is no reason to stop. It has helped me improve so much why should I stop? I can not wait till I get to do the measurements next week. I think I will do workouts over the break but I am not sure. It depends on if I'm with family.
11/17/2019 0 Comments Week 7 Blog Last week was pretty crazy. We didn't have school on Monday and Tuesday. Varsity had a scrimmage on Wednesday and another one on Saturday. We did bench on Thursday but we did legs on Wednesday and Friday. On the days that we did legs, we did sets of 10,8,6,4. I am doing a good job of organizing my routine in my notebook. Right before the scrimmage on Wednesday, varsity went into the weight room to stretch before the game. I started doing some squats with 25 lbs on. I did 10 of them twice and then I was done. I didn't get a full workout in but I got some in. As I said last week, I am getting really confident in doing these workouts and they are easy to me. I feel a difference in my legs and the workouts are really paying off. Next week is going to be week 8 and I am excited. Owen and I are going to go to Combat Athletics and we are going to be taking new measurements. I am going to see how high I can get on the vertical stick. I will also measure my calf circumference. Week 8 is going to be two thirds of the way done. My stretches before each workout is going good as well. I have felt really well doing each workout thanks to stretching before. It is important to stretch always. It would be pretty bad to get injured while working out. I know someone who hurt his shoulder by not stretching before working out and he was hurt for a while. I will make sure that will never happen to me. I am having a lot of fun doing this and I am glad you are on the journey with me.
11/10/2019 0 Comments Week 6 BlogI am really happy on how this is going. I did my workout a little different this week. Instead of doing 10,8,6,4, I did two sets of twelve and two sets of six. I did 25 lbs for the two sets of twelve. I did 35 lbs for the two sets of six. I am feeling really good on the 6th week. I feel comfortable now doing the squats. We did legs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We didn't do anything in the weight room on Thursday because we had early release. My legs feel pretty strong and I'm happy about my progress. The log I made in my notebook was great so I could keep everything organized. I was at Owen's house this weekend and he has a weight set. We went down to his basement to watch a movie and I saw the weight set and I knew I had to do some workouts. I did some bench press at first and then I went to legs. I did a set of 10,8,6,4 and then I took a break. I ended it off with two sets of twelve and two sets of six. I was really tired but I was really happy I got some extra work in. In two weeks, Owen and I are going to go to Combat Athletics and we are going to make the two third mark measurements. It is week 6 and I have had a lot of improvement. I will continue to keep working hard to reach my goal and I can’t wait to see the end!
11/3/2019 1 Comment Week 5 BlogThis week I gathered everything together and put all of my workout info into my notebook. Every week we have done squats in basketball conditioning and we have done sets of 10,8,6, and 4. I have not been doing workouts over the weekend because I have not had access to a weight set at home. I have a friend in my neighborhood who has a weight set and now I will be able to do workouts at home. During basketball season, we most likely won't do much arms in basketball conditioning so it'll mostly be legs. Any day that we don't do leg workouts, I will do them at home and record them in my notebook. During Week 1, I focused more on getting my form right instead of doing as much weight as I could. We started with normal squats with no weights on the first week. I haven't tried doing squats with weights before this year. I have progressed all the way through week 5 now and I have felt a lot of improvement. This week was basketball tryouts. I was and am still pretty nervous. JV and Freshman had tryouts in the small gym from 6-8 on Wednesday and Thursday(October 30 and 31). The last day of tryouts is on Monday, November 4. This week, we did sets of 10,8,6, and 4 as always. We only worked out on Monday and Tuesday because of tryouts. On Friday, we just scrimmaged and didn't work out. Owen and I went to Combat Athletics during Week 4 and took videos of my vertical. We are going to go back during Week 8 and then finally during Week 12. As far as doing squats with weights, I feel really comfortable doing them because of the past weeks. This has been going really well for me and I can't wait to see the end result.
10/27/2019 0 Comments Week 4 BlogThis week I worked out some more. We did squats all week in basketball conditioning. We did sets of 10,8,6, and 4. When we first started squatting, I was sore from doing the smallest weights. Now, I barely get sore anymore. I was doing 20 lb for all my sets when we first started. I didn't have correct form which is why I could only do small weights. On Friday, I started with 25 lb for 10. Owen told me to just try the 45 lb and he thought me the correct form. I did them easily and they got easier as I went on. When we squat again, I wanna do even more. I feel like my legs are getting stronger and they should be from all the squatting we have been doing. Before the football game on Friday, Owen and I went to Combat Athletics in Mocksville. I did all my normal stretches such as: ankle sweeps, walking lunges, and lateral leg swings. Owen took pictures of me doing these stretches. There was a vertimax at Combat Athletics and I used it to my advantage. I did one step vertical and a running start vertical. Owen took videos of these as well. My jumping form isn't correct because I got higher off one step than the running start. It is best to jump off one foot and I do that but I don't think my form is 100% right. A great workout to improve your vertical is lifting your feet. By this I mean just stand straight up, and lift yourself up with your toes only touching the ground. It doesn't seem like much but, after a while it starts hurting and you can feel your calf muscle hurting a little. This is going really well and I can't wait to see the final result!
10/20/2019 0 Comments Week 3 BlogThis week I was unable to go into the weight room again. I could not record any data specifically. Next week Owen and I are going to go to Combat Athletics and record measurements. Last week, I took a video of Owen attempting to flip and he took a video of me jumping as high as I could. Next week I am going to do start doing workouts specifically and take note of it. Owen and I still do the workouts everyday in basketball conditioning but I will start doing it outside of class and start taking notes on it. We also do stretches everyday before we start basketball so we do not get injured. Most of the stretches we do will are the ones I will be doing before I workout. The workouts we do in basketball consist of: air squats, squats with weight, push-ups, left and right side planks, normal planks, and bench press. Those are for your legs, arms, your core. When I do workouts outside of the class, I will be just focusing on my legs and torso area. The most important muscles I will be exercising are my calves, glutes, hamstrings, and quads. I listed the workouts and stretches I will be doing as part of my routine the past two weeks. I will be measuring what exactly my vertical is at Combat with a vertec and I will also be measuring the circumference of my calf (flexed and not flexed) to see if it gets any bigger. I am so excited to make the closer step towards my goal!
Hopefully by the end, I will have raised my vertical by at least 4 inches. I am hoping to be able to touch the backboard as well but hopefully that will come in the middle of my progress because I am so close to touching it right now. 10/9/2019 1 Comment Week 2 BlogThis week Owen and I went to the gym and took some videos of each other. Owen was trying to flip and I was attempting to touch backboard. I was also jumping as high as I could up towards the rim and Owen took a video of it. We went down to the weight room but it was occupied so we could not use it. Whenever we can we will try to go to the weight room. For our first period, Owen and I have basketball conditioning. We do a lot of exercises in that class including normal squats and squats with weights.
Whenever I am able to do a workout in the weight room I will write down what I did. It is really important to stretch before every exercise. I researched some more exercises I can do. You should to stretch all around in your body when dealing with weights so you don't get hurt.
Sources: https://www.jetts.com.au/jetts-life/workouts/7-stretches-you-should-be-doing-after-every-workout |