Personal Narrative: Sibling And Fitness

Deep breaths… Okay- you got this. It’s just you and the vault. Nothing else matters. You have done this a million times before. Nick always here to catch me if I fall. Muscle memory takes over. When I am in the right mental state, anything seems possible. Any athlete would agree with me. All sports are half mental. AS I run down the runway, I know why I am a gymnast. Every bounding step I take I run farther and farther from everything happening in my life. Farther and farther from all the distractions. I can only hear my feet pounding into the springboard. Flying off the vault with a power I don’t even know I contain, everything zapped into slow motion. This is what it all comes down to. Every minute of training in the gym. Every wrist and

Even before I walk into the gym, I can hear grunting and weights slamming against the floor. As I walk over to the bench, in the air there is the smell of hard work, a combination of iron and sweat. The bench is covered with a layer of blue padding with slight tears starting to form from the constant use. I lie atop the bench and put my hands up and grip the barbell. Unracking the weight, the rough knurling begins digging into my hands, making my callouses even thicker. Drawing in a deep breath, I slowly lower my elbows and as the barbell follows, my chest begins to stretch out. Then, in one moment, tightening my triceps, shoulders, and chest, I press up the barbell as I blow out a constant stream of air while flexing my abs as hard as I can. I have become lost. Lost in the weights. I am no longer thinking about school, my problems, or emotions. I am completely focused on lifting the weight.

To become an athletic trainer, one must complete courses such as Human Anatomy and Physiology as well as other courses that pertain to this major. These classes will help in learning how the body functions. I will also have to pass the Board of Certification exam and must be CAATE certified I could also volunteer at sporting events to get to know the environment around the players, coaches, and spectators from a non-athlete point of view. This could prove helpful because an athletic trainer will constantly be around sporting events and usually close to spectators, coaches, and players alike.

Growing up an athlete I had always been in above average shape. I was a healthy weight with toned muscles but, like most teenagers, I was eating garbage. I loved cheeseburgers and ice-cream and everything in between. For years I was telling myself this diet was ok due to the fact that I worked out. It wasn't until my sophomore year when I stated wondering how great I could be if I ate correctly. I decided to get a food tracker app and count calories. I was going to stick to a strict eating plan making sure I was only eating 1200 calories a day and eliminating snacking all together.

As a little girl, I was the child who would never let go of my parents. If anyone ever glanced over at me they would catch me either wrapping my whole body around my Mom's legs or begging my Dad to pick me up and hold me. Even worse, if any adults dare took the chance to come over and talk to me I would hide my face, thinking they couldn’t see me so I would never have to talk to anyone. I was shy. Simple as that, talking to people was something I feared the most.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been involved in athletics. Now as a senior in high school, I take part in 2 varsity sports and synchronized swimming. This has led to some injuries because I don’t have an off season. Since my sophomore year I have struggled with my knees, having Patella Tendinitis, Osgood Schlatters, a long list of other problems that have been difficult to diagnose. Some would argue I should have quit athletics all together, but if I had done so I would have not met our school trainer, Bethany. Bethany has

Growing up, I was surrounded by the constant whirlwind of athletics. I rushed between softball games, swim meets, dance recitals, soccer games, and gymnastics performances. When I realized I couldn’t participate in all of these at once, I decided to focus on swimming, and for the next 10 years, spent 30+ hours a week in the water. As my team and I continued to grow, and train, so did our bodies. We endured pulled muscles, torn meniscuses, sprained ankles, and countless labrum tears. It wasn’t just them that suffered, but also their performance in the water.

Running affects my life by making it easier for me to get rid of most of the negativity in it. It helps me stay more focused, gives me time to think about my goals in life, and about my choices to life a better life. Running keeps me in shape, makes me healthier, and more active. I run so I won’t get too lazy to anything else. Once I get lazy I don’t want to do anything active besides eat junk foods and watch tv. When I get lazy and not do anything at all, I start to feel sick, so that is another reason I run. Some people wish they could run, but they can’t because they might have a disability or something else, and I don’t want to take that for granted.

The second sibling was born January twenty-third of 1988. 28 years later, he has graduated from high school, attempted college, and is married. Currently and still resides in El Paso, Tx with his family too. As he and his wife, moved out of their households to live with one another, as he and wife moved back in with our parents. They moved in not only because of financial reasons, but because our mom is doing well and is getting weaker. He has advanced himself, due to the fact that he started at an entry level position at his work and is not the head manager. As higher authorities have been sending him to major conferences in a couple of states around Texas. However, he has been really engaged with our mom, as I believe he still resides in

One day after eight hours of work, I was sitting on my couch watching television when I saw a commercial showing a man who had lost fifty pounds in six months. Having seen similar commercials over the years, I really did not give it much thought. However, a couple hours later the commercial still lingered in my mind. I stopped for a second and thought, “Why don’t I work out, but to gain muscle instead of losing weight?” I decided to join a gym with two goals in mind, to gain muscle and become fit; I did not want to be the skinny kid anymore. I began working out four days per week, doing squats, sit ups, push ups, bench press and deadlift reps. Pushing through the pain and exhaustion has made me a better person. My perseverance has taught me

Exercise is something that has turned my life around, changed me, and made me a n overall better, happier person. I was never really interested in exercise when I was a kid, always signing up for sports teams and quitting after a season or two because my heart just wasn’t there. I was pretty positive that I would never find a sport that I loved and would never be deemed an “athlete”, but I decided to try out basically the last sport on my list, track and field, my sophomore year of high school. The first day of winter practice, sprinting through the halls of my high school and doing lunges in the middle of the cafeteria, I fell in love. The lifting, sprinting, and mileage was definitely a challenge, but unlike all of the other sports I had tried in the past, it was a challenge that I loved and a challenge that I was determined to overcome. I began to notice changes in my body, in my mood, and in my life in general. I was infinitely more fit than I had ever been in my life and I felt as though I was constantly on a high. I even started performing better in school, getting more sleep, and craving healthier foods. Ever since then, I have been fascinated by how my body made these drastic changes and what my body was actually enduring as I was doing these exercises and running

I am not a very talented person, but I always try my hardest in everything that I do.  Ever since the day that I was 10 I have loved being involved in the sport of Gymnastics.  I don't know what I would do or who I would be if this sport would have never come into my life.  This sport has taught me so many life lessons that have made me a better person.  One of the things it has taught me is always trying my best, I have never been one to learn something quickly and be perfect at it but I will always try.  Another thing that it has taught me is to never give up, when doing gymnastics you always have times where you just want to quit because you can't do something but in the end all you have to do is trust in God and never give up.  In the last

I also use a fitness band, I have the garmin vivosmart. I am not aware if I can log my food and water with my fitness band but it is something I am going to look into. I have used the application My Fitness Pal and I ran into some issues with that application. I would log in my food daily and also add my exercise. For example it allow me to eat thirteen hundred calories a day, when I would add my exercise to the application it would add calories I could eat. My initial goal would be thirteen hundred calories and now it has jumped up to fifteen hundred. This causes an issue because if my goal is to lose weight then I do not want to eat more calories. I need to have a calorie deficit in order to lose weight. Is this something that your

I finish later than I expected because I did extra cardio. Running is my favorite part about working out. I always run on the same treadmill just because I know it’s clean. Not a lot of people use them at my gym surprisingly. At times like this I wish I had a car. I really didn't want to walk home, but there is no other way of transportation. I could call Alex to pick me up and take me home but she's sick. I could also take the bus, but I've never taken the bus so I don't know how it works. I suck it up and start walking. This was the longest 4 miles of my life. I thought about running, but I had my backpack, gym bag, and my heavy water bottle.

I hate people who “love” working out. I hate them because they are liars. Not a single soul can honestly tell me that they enjoy getting their heart rate up uncomfortably high or inflicting pain on themselves in the form of sweat and soreness. Maybe they like that it makes them skinny or it will make them feel less guilty about eating that jelly filled donut later. I am at war with working out.