Blake’s Senior Project

 

 Today was our last day of senior project :(. We met on the turf and did a quality workout and then later moved into testing more of our maxes. We started out with box jumps and then went into testing the rest of our weightlifting maxes. We did core, an upper body finisher and stretched and went to seminar. After seminar, we grabbed lunch and went on a run and then got to work on our presentation for tomorrow. We worked for a while on the pamphlet and got ready for tomorrow.   Hours: 4

 Today we did the first day of our last round of testing. We met on the turf strip to do a quality warmup first and then got into the gym and started testing. We tested our maxes for back squat and bench press. This took about two hours and we later walked to seminar and went to lunch as a group. After this, we went up to the tennis court and played tennis for two ours. When I got home, I went on a run and did some core. I had a lot of free time today since we no longer have spring sports! Hours: 5

 This week felt like a great week in terms of achieving our goals. We set a goal to make more smoothies which we definitely did. We came prepared with ingredients, did a lot of trial and error, and eventually make really good smoothies. For now, we have 3 smoothies that we really loved that will have a place in our recipe book. We are going into next week with some inspiration for our smoothies.  Another goal we had was to switch things up and have more fun with working out, which we defiantly did. Constantly being in the gym was getting a little boring so we switched it up and spent a lot of time outside which was definitely needed. The highlight of my week was the 3am hike we did to watch a really pretty sunset. Although I had to leave my house at 2:15, it was so worth it to see the sunrise and get a good hike in because I really like hiking. This also caused a bit of a problem because since we only got about 3 hours of sleep, we all were really tired for the rest of the week and nev

 Today was a very fun day for me because I got to get out and ride my bike which I hadn't been able to do in a while with my busy schedule. I went on a 2 hour bike ride with my dad which was awesome because it was a super nice day and I got to spend time with my dad. It was also a great break from the gym and it was great to be able to spend time in nature. I had to get back to school for a softball meeting so I got there and did core on the turf strip and got a good stretch and foam roll in after the meeting. Then, I met up with Maddie and Sage for a walk which was really nice. We even went to the bridge that Maddie got tetanus a few days ago! Hours: 5

 Today we had a bit of a sleep in and met up at 10. We did a workout on the turf strip because the times that the gym was open didn't fit up with our schedule. We stretched for about a half our (we were very sore) and then did our workout. We did a bunch of circuits which was sooo tiring and took a lot out of us. We did 30 seconds of exercising with a 10 minute break, 5 times. And then we would change the exercises and do it again, and then change the exercises and do it one more time. After this we did a lot of core and more stretching and foam rolling. We brainstormed what the perfect smoothie would be for what we were in the mood for. Then it hit us, a chai smoothie would be perfect. We added a premade vanilla chai protein drink to the blender with vanilla protein powder, bananas and ice, and it was so good. We then realized that it needed something more so we added spinach which tasted the same but just made it green.  Hours: 4

 Today was an easy day as we all were so tired from the 2 am wake up yesterday. We met as a group and planned out our day as we walked over to senior seminar. Then we went to lunch and planned out our next couple of days over lunch. We then began our workout at 1 and worked out for about an hour and a half. We did a full body workout which started in the gym and ended on the turf strip for 10 minutes of core. Then we made a smoothie which had some flaws with the consistency. It will definitely not have a place in our smoothie book! Hours: 2  

 Today was my favorite day of senior project so far. Our day started at 2:30am for a sunrise hike. We met as a group at 3:00am and started the hike up the Bulkhead. We got lost many times but we made it up in time for the sunrise and it was so pretty! We hung out at the top for a little while, and then began the way down where we (not surprisingly) got lost again. Although it was early, it was a lot of fun and I'm so glad we ended up doing it! We weren't tired during the hike but when we got back, the 3 hours of sleep we got hit us hard. We met back up as a group at 10 and went to the ski hill where we did hill sprints, ran the beep test, and finished with jog.  Hours: 5

Our day started at around 11:00 when we all had lunch together after Sage’s class. After lunch we went on a walk to the ski hill to act as our warmup. We then went into a lower body strength workout which was very long and hard. Since I have a very bad sunburn on my shoulders, I had to supplement with different exercises. Because of this, I learned some new squat types which was very cool as the only type of squats I have done before was a back squat. We later did a killer circuit of wall sits, tuck jumps and narrow front squats which was really tiring. After this, did a 10 minute core circle where we each said an exercise that we did for a minute. I did a quick spin workout after and then got a good stretch.  Hours : 4

Today wee came up with a plan for the week (such as workouts, meeting times, etc.). After about a half hour of planning, we made more progress on the smoothie and workout book (which is starting to look really good). After a chance to stock up on smoothie ingredients this weekend, we were ready to crush the smoothie game today. Todays smoothie was my favorite so far. It was a protein packed chocolate, peanut butter and banana smoothie with some protein powder and yogurt. It was a perfect was to get ready for a workout. We started our workout right after our smoothie making with a stretch and foam roll. The plan for today was to do a full body workout but mid way through we decided to make it a upper body and core focused workout and to do lower body tomorrow.  Hours: 4

 This week has been very fun and interesting. After a winter of not working out because of skiing, we were very clearly able to see our strengths and weaknesses compared to this fall and we found a baseline of where we are and also have our goals of where we want to be next week at this end of senior project. Aside from the physical aspect of our project, we have also learned a lot about nutrition and what goes into our body. Part of this has been demonstrated through making smoothies. We have spent a lot of time this past week building recipes that will both taste good and fuel us.   We started out this week testing our maxes. While this seems like it would be simple, after a winter of not working out, the maximum amount of weight and reps was significantly lower. We tested our maxes for back squats, bench press, deadlifts, pull ups, push ups, and box jumps. All together, this process of testing took about a day and a half and then we got right into our workouts as we made sure we con

 Today was an early morning for me because I had to fit a workout in before I had to leave for my softball game at 11:15. Because of that, I decided to go to Pats Peak and do a jog/fast pace hike with my dog. I hung out at the top for a little while and did some stretching before I jogged down. After this, I got home, did some core and made a smoothie (one of the best ones yet). I used spinach, vanilla protein powder and some fruits to create the perfect pre game drink. I then headed to my softball game where we were very successful and ended up winning by a lot. Since I love hiking, today was a really good day but I am excited to get back into the gym next week and work on strength. Now onto Ski Team Fitness Testing tomorrow morning which will act as a benchmark to see how much progress we have made throughout our fitness journey.  Hours:3

 Today for our senior project we started out our day with some yoga. After a long week over working out, this was much needed. It was so nice to relax and focus on getting our bodies recovered after spending this week being very sore. I then did some core circuit just to get a little workout in. Later, we did some agility and quickness which was a good way to get out bodies moving even more. We decided not to do any strength today as we were pretty sore and wanted to make sure we were recovered. We weren’t able to make a smoothie today but we did even more with our recipe book today which will set us up well for next weeks smoothies! Hours: 3 

Today we did some endurance which included a LOT of sled pushes. This was very hard and was exhausting. Although it was hard while we were doing it, it felt really rewarding at the end, even though it took a while for me to catch my breath! After this, I went on a quick run as a cool down. We didn't make a smoothie today as we didn't have enough ingredients but we look gathered some more ideas of different recipes to use in the next days to come. We planning some tropical smoothie days, as well as some chocolate protein smoothies. I think we are all super excited to see how they come out! Hours: 2

Today was an early morning with a 7:30 start. We stretched and warmed up for about 30 minutes and then got into our workout at 8. Todays workout was upper body focused as we did a lot of pull ups, push ups and bench press, a long with many other upper body exercises. Additionally, I did a quick lower body back squat circuit and did extra foam rolling because I was really sore which ended at around 10:30. After todays long workout, we successfully made a fully blended smoothie!! (as oppose to our half blended smoothies from the past couple of days). I later started putting together our smoothie cookbook (did some drawing and writing in it) and did some additional research on some of the best smoothie recipes.  Hours: 4

Today we did some more planning, got a nice stretch in and warmed up for our workout (which included an intense game of basketball). After that, we got right into the last portion of our testing which was box jumps and pushups. For pushups, we just saw how many we could do to a metronome and for box jumps we saw how many we could do in 1 minute. After the box jumps, I needed about 15 minutes to catch my breath as it was really exhausting. After our testing (which took about 30 minutes) we took a break and made a smoothie. Today we used vanilla protein powder, almond milk, bananas and strawberries to make our smoothie (which came out a lot better than yesterdays smoothie). We later got into a lower body strength and lower body endurance workout and finished with core.   Hours: 3

Today was day one of our fitness and nutrition based Senior Project! We started out by spending about one hour on setting a plan for how we will spend these next two weeks. We created workouts for each day, created a list of ingredient we need for the smoothie component of our project, as well as created/found the smoothie recipes that we plan to use each day. After our planning, we stretched  and then got right into our workout. Today, we just gathered our maximum weight for back squats, bench press, and deadlift as well as our maximum reps for pull ups and bar hangs. Looking ahead for tomorrow, we still have to finish up testing our maximum box jumps and pushups before our planned workout for tomorrow. After our gym session, we used our first recipe to make a smoothie. After today, we definitely noticed areas to improve on (especially with making smoothies) but we are super excited to see how these next two weeks go! Hours: 3