Personal Narrative: Power Shifter In The Classroom

He let out a powerful yell, one much similar to a war cry and began to lift the 500 pounds in front of him off the floor. Everyone on the lacrosse team was cheering him on as the barbell slowly moved up and reached its destination. I stood there in awe at this incredible feat of strength: at this moment that I knew that I too, wanted to be strong. Before I became serious about weightlifting, I would often settle for the minimum amount of success possible. I believed that this was enough to get by in life. Once I began weightlifting however, I saw almost no progress. After reevaluating what I had been doing, I realized I needed to take a different approach and take weightlifting more seriously. I decided to set smaller, more achievable goals

In any sport, many things are needed to achieve. The sport that asks a person to literally go beyond what they can do is powerlifting. To do this, a person has to know the sport called powerlifting. He or she must learn to adapt a new way of physical and mental training, breathing, and way of life. Since the first professional competition in 1964, powerlifting has shown great feats of strength, power, legends and dreams that have changed, "How strong are you," actually implies (Hatfield 5).

We are not talking about body building here, just getting stronger and increasing the mobility strength equation.

Up above the classroom full of children staring at me, I have to adjust this light fixture. I remember being in class thinking the maintenance people were so obnoxious. I don't remember being that small when I was 17 either. I feel so old now, how strange.

Whether God blesses me to teach in a graded setting or a multiage setting, one aspect of my classroom will be the same. Christ will be the cornerstone of everything we do and learn and our classroom organization will reflect that. My plan for a multiage classroom will incorporate that cornerstone. From the moment a student, caregiver, or faculty member walks into our classroom, they will be able to see that Christ is at the center of everything we do. Our classroom will have a class verse which the students and I will work together to choose at the beginning of the year. The class verse will be posted on a bulletin board in the back of the classroom so that it is the first thing a person would see when walking through the door. The students and I will work together to design and create the display.

The mentality that one would need to be a professional strongman / bodybuilder is nothing short of amazing. One would need the ability to keep pushing through the

“212 on deck!” At this moment, I can hardly stand still while I wait for my turn to lift. I’ve been up since early this morning and have been waiting a couple of hours for my weight class to start. There have been weeks of preparation just for this one day, the first of many for the season. The sport of powerlifting is serious and the only way to be at the top of your class is to practice, increase your lifted weigh and be prepared. Most people have limited knowledge of this sport, like I did when I first began competing. However, once you find yourself at a powerlifting meet, there is no going back. The sport is friendly yet competitive. For some, placing in their weight class is all that matters. Meanwhile, others are focused on increasing their bench, squat or deadlift to beat their current best. At this moment, all that matters to me is that I get all my lifts today.

I nodded, “Yeah, I’ve lifted 200 pounds in actual weight and it was a little heavy, but 200 pounds in body weight isn’t that much.” I told him. Now I will tell you I have never have seen someone so surprise than these boys.

Have you ever looked at a bodybuilder and wanted that type of a body? Perhaps you want to lose weight, but don't know a lot about the type of exercises that are best for you? Or have you always tended to shy away from weight lifting fearing that it isn't for you? Let me tell you why weight lifting is an exercise that delivers top health benefits.

Coming into this class I knew it would be difficult. Despite that, I know I have to take it and think it I'd best to challenge myself and learn the most I can from the class. Being in the class, a few things stood out to me that I knew were going to be more difficult than others. One of those things was part of the student learning outcomes, revision. I always have a hard time editing my own work, for whatever reason it is hard for me to see the little mistakes that I make. Furthermore, a lot of the time when I write I have a difficult time coming up with a good, well-written thesis or primary claim. In spite of the challenges I know I am going to face I am also excited for what I will be learning and how my writing skills will improve. The

Eugen Sandow is generally accepted as the first modern bodybuilder. He performed feats of strength and displayed his body in the late 1800s. As a result of his exhibitions, Sandow was known as the strongest and best built man in the world. Others soon began to admire and emulate him. Most of these bodybuilders, mostly men, performed at exhibitions and for circuses. As more individuals participated in bodybuilding, gyms and weight-rooms appeared. Standard exercises began to dominate weightlifting competitions. Although it was still not popular in the United States, an increasing number of men and women began lifting weights to improve their physiques.

I held my breath as I spun the last screw in place and anxiously pushed the power button. Nothing. Wondering what I could’ve missed, I reopened the metal case to inspect my patient. Like a surgeon looking over his handiwork, I made a thorough inspection to ensure every component was secured in place and that the arteries of power from the power supply were properly attached to each component. All good. Glancing up, I now realized what my problem was — the power cord was still unplugged. Of course — now that I was finished, there was no need to keep my patient anesthetized. I firmly plugged the power cord back into the outlet and pushed the power button again. My computer whirred to life and greeted me with a beep. Fans softly humming to the

During mid April me and my siblings came up with a new game. At the time I was only 8 , my sister was 13 and my brother was 14. We came up with the game when the power shut off. The reason the power shut off is because of a nasty storm that was happening in Miami that completely cut off our power and anyone that lived relatively close to us.

My interest in exercise began early in high school and continued on throughout college. After being overweight throughout my early teen years. I was determined to begin a healthier lifestyle. I began power lifting in high school and continued throughout college in order to strengthen my body, mind, and spirit. Through several years of intense training and healthy eating, I achieved the one-thousand pound club. This is an informal club reserved for power-lifters whose bench press, squat, and dead lift max total over one thousand pounds. The club is also used as a metric to gauge power lifters. At this stage, one is said to be relatively strong amongst fellow power lifters. Although I was not awarded a certificate or recognition for the feat,

Weight training originated in the Egyptian-Greek era. Since war was common in those days, weight training was a tool to gain muscle and stamina. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s did a man named Eugene Sandow change the way people viewed bodybuilding. In those days, weightlifters were called “strongmen”. These “strongmen” entertained people with their displays of great strengths by lifting animals and pulling carts. Many “strongmen” were overweight with meaty limbs, in which today’s society would view as “overweight”. It wasn’t until Sandow came along that the concept of weightlifting changed. Sandow was able to display great acts of strength, but unlike the “strongmen”, had an appealing physique to the public. His physique drew people in by the masses. People became intrigued with weightlifting and many researchers began to study the sport. Through their research, they