Week #2

• Why is fitness important to you at this time in your life?
• How will you implement a consistent fitness program while in college?
• What resources and setting are you likely to use?
• What are some barriers you might face and how can you plan for them?
• How do you plan to address the principles of fitness into your fitness routine — please address each.

Fitness is important to me because working out regulates my mood and improves my mental health. I realized the positive impact of being active on my mental health in Fall 2015 when I first came to the US. Whenever I felt sad or frustrated, which happened a lot during the first few months, I would just walk those feelings away. I would spend hours walking around despite how cold it was and I noticed how it cleared my head and put me in a much better mood. I think it is safe for me to say my journey with fitness did not actually start until I moved to the US for college. I used to plan my workout time around my schedule of classes, which allowed me to be more consistent with it. In addition to that, I find having a “workout buddy” to support me and keep me motivated is extremely helpful in being consistent with the fitness program. I used to utilize fitness centers at my apartment complex or the school, depending on my living situation whether on or off-campus.

One of the barriers I am facing at the moment is the lack of resources. As I am currently residing at home, I do not have access to fitness centers. The only type of fitness center available here is commercial, which tends to be extremely expensive and not well-equipped as well. To overcome this, I plan on going back to working out at home focusing on bodyweight exercises, just as I used to do during Summer 2020 due to the pandemic.

According to this week’s reading assignment, there are 4 main principles of fitness, all of which are related to adaptability and our ability to physical changes and improvements. Reversibility — the reduction of fitness improvement is perhaps the most important one for me at this point especially after I discontinued my routine after I move home. Including resistance, exercises could potentially reduce reversibility. I think specificity and progressive overload could be integrated differently based on fitness goals. Since my goal is to build upper-body strength and improving cardiorespiratory endurance, a well-rounded program focusing on those goals is the way to go! The last principle is individuality. Sure everyone is different, but generally speaking, everyone has their own timeline and physical activity could improve fitness despite heredity limitations.