Blended Guided Fitness

Over the 12-year span of my swimming career, I faithfully trusted my coaches when they told me competitive swimming would take me places. At six-years-old, I dreamed of competing in the Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal, and seeing my face on the cover of a Wheaties box. However, at six-years-old, I never envisioned the mental and physical roller coaster that would define my future in the sport. I would experience numerous mental blocks and physical plateaus; I would sometimes go months and even years without achieving a best time; and I would win very few races, especially for the amount of effort I put into my nine practices each week. In high school, I grew frustrated, I doubted both my coaches and myself, and I contemplated quitting more times than I can count. But I kept swimming, hoping that each stroke and each lap would lead to the success that I sought to achieve. Then in 2014, undoubtedly the most frustrating year of my swimming career, I realized that swimming was so much more than just an extracurricular activity for me. It had become a lifestyle that streamlined me into the person I am today: dedicated, driven, and loyally interdependent.

When I was five years old, I joined the Carroll Aquatic Swim Team. I stuck with it because I loved being underwater, feeling the refreshing water all over and the sensation of touching the wall, finishing first hearing the people holler. When I got older I just didn’t have much care for it. So, I decided that I wanted to give up. Then, my mom told me that I should finish the season than I could determine, nevertheless, I did as I was told. At my last meet, my mom signed me up to swim the IM which is when you swim all four strokes. I was convinced that I couldn’t do it because I had never done it before. I told my mom that I couldn’t and I would fail, but my friend convinced me that I should do it. She told me that I would only disappoint people if I gave up; consequently, I swam and received first place. In conclusion, I ended up feeling the same exciting feeling as when I was five.

As I mentioned before swimmers aren’t based on their ability to master the techniques but also in the values they posses. The values they posses are respect, honesty, fairness and courage. I had to learn and use those values everyday I went to swimming practice. There’s one thing that I needed to have to become part of the discourse community, which was being passionate about swimming and not giving up. At the beginning it was really hard for me not to give up when I was exhausted, but after becoming more passionate for swimming I never gave up. There were moments when I thought of giving up, but I knew that if I really wanted to call my self a swimmer I shouldn’t give up and I didn’t. For example, once I was in a Swimming Festival in my High School where I competed the four different strokes. I always finished second in the 50-meter freestyle race, but that day I decided I would end up first place. The race started and I jumped into the water and started pacing my self so that I would finish strong. In the first 25-meters we were all tied up and I was starting to feel tired. But I knew I couldn’t give up, so I took a deep breath and pushed harder. I pushed harder and was able to win the first place. After this race, I realized that even though I felt like giving up, something inside me was telling me to push harder and that thought led me to success. I was able to

My parents tell me that I took to swimming like... a fish takes to water. It is a safe place where I can float free of worries. Driven by passion and dedication, I decided to begin swimming competitively. Competitive swimming requires an intense level of determination and discipline. Forcing myself to get out of my warm bed at 5:30 in the morning to put on a still-slightly-damp swimsuit and stand in 40-degree weather waiting for practice to start. Putting up with limited lane space and irritating swimmers who think they are faster. Making a conscious effort to work on my stroke form, turns, touches, and techniques. The water becomes a whirlpool of injuries, losses, wins, friendships, enemies, and sickness. The water becomes home.

Prior to designing the training program, fitness testing was completed. This tested the main fitness components that would be applied in physical activity. It was important that this was done in order to find my strengths and weaknesses

Instead of focusing on the pain, I’d focus on my goals of being a leader and captain of the swim team, becoming a four year varsity swimmer, breaking a minute in butterfly, and making it to states. These goals motivate me to work harder, push through the pain, and set a good example for the team. As time progressed, I have gotten better at handling the anxiety of meets and now I barely get nervous for my events. Over the years, swim taught me a lot about myself and life. It has shown me that when you think you can’t go on you really can; all you have to do is keep pushing because the outcome is always worth it. It’s helped me with time management as I do have a lot homework during the season and very little free time to complete that homework. Swim has also made me much stronger mentally: I’ve learned how to stay positive even when everything is going wrong. It has shown me to be a leader, even when I questioned my own commitment. Swim has proven to me that I am powerful, and I can do whatever I set my mind too. My dedication to this sport has made me a much better athlete and more importantly a better

When I first joined the North Attleboro Swim Team my freshman year of high school, I did not know what to expect. Prior to joining, I had never swam on a team before so it was a whole new experience to me. As the first week of swim started, I was apprehensive if I wanted to continue since I was not on the same caliber as my other teammates were. The practices were brutal but extremely rewarding, as I strived to prove myself and to my coaches. As my freshman season was under way, a couple of upperclassmen took

As I look at my results for my fitness scores from 9th grade baseline tests to 10th grade posttest results I see a continuous improvement. I started with 1700 meters in my 12-minute run and continually increased my score to 2100 meters in the 10th grade posttest. For the 12-minute swim, I started with 17 wall touches, and I improved to 24 walls for my 9th grade posttest, and than went back down to 23 walls for my 10th grade pretest, and moved back up to 25 walls for my posttest. The front plank test I got a time of 1 minute 30 seconds for my 9th grade pretest, and increased to 2 minutes 45 seconds for my 9th grade posttest. I then decreased to 2 minutes for my 10th grade pretest, and back up to 2 minutes 30 seconds for my 10th grade posttest.

A large number of swimmers don’t like it, whether that be because of the sheer difficulty, or because swimming makes them anxious, or because they’ve simply been swimming for so long that they are no longer entertained. The last option is the one that seems to hold true for most club swimmers who no longer find joy in the sport, the ones who have been doing it for five, eight, even eleven years. Those are the people who are simply tired of it. I, on the other hand, love swimming and the feeling of gliding though the water. People will tell you that no one, in any sport, really enjoys practices, but I can honestly tell you that I do. For at least the last five months I have looked forward to swim practice everyday. If nothing else, I know that I have an outlet for my anger, frustration, or any other emotion that I may have. At best, I know that I have a group of friends who are all working to achieve the same goal as I am and that I can always lean on them for support and they can always lean on me, if need be. The feeling of swimming a good race is one of the best feelings in the world. When you can tell that you're just flying through the water and you have everyone’s attention and you know that you're better than you were the last time you raced, better than you were yesterday. I guess maybe that’s the thing I like about practice, that everyday I’m

My short-term goal is to go to the gym through out high school and college to stay in shape. My long-term goal is to do this exercise at least once a week. During freshmen year I also had a 1-minute plank during the baseline testing. On the post plank test I had a time of 2 minutes and 15 seconds. I had an improvement of one minute and fifteen seconds. There was a change in times because I was in sports during the time of these tests. There was also a change because I was in school gym, which made me more fit to be able to do these exercises. I had a great attitude during the time of work out which helped me to do better during the plank test. I was not making healthy choices or eating nutritious meal that could have increased my time even more. I was not injured or ill during this time. My short-term goal is to keep trying to increase my time on the plank test and keep working at it because in my opinion it is one of the harder tests. My long-term goal is to get into a work out program at the gym in Sartell to stay fit. During my 10th grade baseline 12-minute swim test I got a total of 19 walls. During the post 12-minute swim test I received a total of 21

The second tool that has proven beneficial is the President’s Challenge. In the months prior to attending CPOA, I was sedentary, lacked motivation and required a jumpstart. The President’s Challenge did just that for me, catapulting and pushing me towards achieving my health and fitness goals. By the end of week two, I achieved the 12,000 point target. This could not have been accomplished without the support of my team or the fitness program that the academy faculty developed. The CPOA instructors led the class through comprehensive and vigorous routines, opening our minds to new methods for obtaining our goals. Routines included: swimming, spin, circuit training, TRX, interval runs and Fit Deck. As a result, it has ignited a new found passion

On my first week beginning my Senior Seminar project I met with Nathan Cox so we could to the pre-test. The pre-test is used to measure growth in each muscle group, tests include: push-ups, leg press, preacher curls, cable tricep pushdowns, weighted planks, machine shoulder press, and barbell deadlifts. Cox also took my waist, chest, bicep, thigh, and calf measurements so we can compare them at the end of the program. Cox gave me a list of workouts to do on the days when I go to the gym without him there. I worked on shoulders and abs with Cox’s guidance, we did Barbell Punches (3 sets with increased weight and decreased reps), and two Tri-sets of: Leg Raises (15 reps), Weighted Sit-ups (15 reps at 10 lbs), and Russian Twists (20 seconds with 10 lbs).

When I was in 9th grade ran 2400 meters on the 12 min run but at the end of the 9th grade year ran 2600 meters on the 12 min run. So as you can see I made some very big improvements on my 12 min run. I also got a 14 laps my 9th grade baseline and I got 17 for the post test and in 10th grad I got 17 for my baseline and 18 on the post test. I got a 35 on the pushup test for my baseline in 9th grade and for the posttest I got a 40. I got a 120 on the bench press in 9th grade and a 130 for my post rest in 9th and 10th grade. I got a 30 in 9th grade for my 1 min sit up and a 32 for my post test and I only got only a 25 for my post test in 10th grade.

Swimming is a competitive sport, but it is also a very fun activity. I also try to get better at swimming every time I do. I try to do more activities to become a better swimmer. Swimming interests me, because I have always loved to be in the water. I have since I was kid. It didn't take me long to learn how to either. Ever since I learned how to swim, I've always wanted to be in pool or ocean. Sometimes, I can't go swimming. The main set back is the weather. It's been raining almost too much lately. Usually the rain is followed by thunder and lightning. You shouldn't be swimming when there's bad weather; it's a safety precaution. I hope to gain that I'm better at swimming. I'm not horrible, but that's always room for improvement. I just would like to improve on a breath stroke and all the other different styles of

Over my 6 weeks of training I had to do pre-tests and post-test. For the cooper run I did nearly 7 laps of a 400m track and on my post-test did 7 full laps. Push ups, 42 pre-test to 50 post- test. Max Leg Press of 80kg 22 pre-test 30 post-test. Agility Test pre-test 19,87, post-test 18.72. Vertical Test 59cm to 61cm. To accomplish improving all these areas I set a 4 week training schedule which specified on these tests for improvements. Which comprehensively worked as all my tests improved from pre to post.