Week 1 Post - Bowen Blair (5.21.21)
Today marks the end of the first week of the "Wellness and Nutrition Expedition." I chose to embark on this project because I saw it as a good way to stay physically and mentally fit, while also learning a lot of new skills to take to college. I will be starting my college freshman pre-season this August, and it is vitally important that I'm in good shape, but equally, if not more important, that I learn how to cook for myself in a healthy and productive manner. Working out is the easy part: everyone in this project either does year-round athletics and/or a year-round workout circuit. The difficult part is being on our own to cook our meals, and making sure that the meals assist the workouts from that day. That proved to be a bit of a problem this week, but I’m happy with the strides we made.
For this project, I’m working with Jaden Edwards and Seby Tremblay. The main inspiration came from our common passion for fitness and nutrition. During the school year, it’s hard to find time to work out, cook, and recover to our desired levels, so we wanted to take this opportunity to do so. We all have different reasons for starting this project, but similar goals. As I stated previously, I’m looking to work out in ways that will set me up for success this upcoming soccer season. This mainly means working extra hard on cardio and legs. One challenge I’ve encountered is juggling this project on top of my current soccer schedule. I was sore and hadn’t eaten enough. This caused me to alter my eating schedule, as well as prioritize recovery in ways I hadn’t had to previously.
As far as how we developed this project, we all worked diligently to create a workout circuit that worked for all of us. We’re hitting a PPL workout circuit. The first day of the circuit is a “push” workout, focusing on working our triceps, shoulders, and chest. All the exercises will be linked at the bottom of the blog, accompanied by our nutrition data. The second day is a leg workout. For this, we target our hamstrings, quads, glutes, and calves, mainly. Then, the final day is a pull workout. This is where we focus on biceps and back. It’s important to note, as well, that we rotate a cardio and ab workout each day. This usually takes the form of a run or hike, as well as a set ab workout. On top of this, we are tracking all calories and recording macros for each day. Our recovery mainly takes shape as pool workouts or certain yoga exercises. Ice baths have proved to be helpful, as well.
My first goal is to learn how to manage this workout schedule, soccer, and recovery in a way that is healthy and effective. This is going to take a lot of trial and error to “perfect,” but it is extremely necessary. In college, we will be doing lifts on top of practices every day. This means it’s going to be extremely important that I learn how to recover and eat in a way that doesn’t lead to me burning out. Obviously, I’m going to have a lot of help and resources at the college level, but it’s still important to come in with knowledge on this issue. My second goal is to learn how to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner by myself. Although I like to cook, I’ve never had to cook this much. Next year, when I’m living on my own, I’m hoping these skills prove to be invaluable. Finally, as I’ve stated a couple of times before, I want to prepare myself to have a great freshman season. It is important to me to start off strong, so I’m hoping this project will allow me to do that!
Link to daily nutrition: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b6cLN1JKhtKUjpLFxWH65zsH-d20fquviN6dY3lrtpg/edit?usp=sharing
Link to workouts: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1twNEY4YVBVj-lzMPpbZLfZfbdl5qixqYAXmwZm5w_3Q/edit?usp=sharing
This looks like a great plan, Bowen, and I'm glad to see you three working so closely together. I'm looking forward to seeing/hearing how this plays out as you all grow more accustomed to your more rigorous schedule. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the data you're gathering on the nutrition side of things. A suggestion for a future blog post: walk through the process you use to gather caloric and nutritional data for your meals (How do you measure portions? Where does your nutritional data come from? Are you gathering info as part of the meal planning process or reconstructing the info after you're done? What quantifiable nutrition targets have you set for yourself? What are the potential sources of error in your figures? etc.)
Hi, Bowen.
ReplyDeleteIce baths do not sound comfortable, but I'm glad that they are helpful. I'm curious whether you'll focus most on the measurables of cooking (ie, calories, protein, carbs), or the qualitative "how did I feel after eating that?" sort of feedback your body provides. Learning to cook is a great life skill. Good for you!
Hi Sue,
DeleteSo far, we are looking at calculating the "measurable" macros of our cooking. There are certain goals we're looking to hit for carbs, protein, fat, etc. so it's easy to calculate it that way. However, we're obviously taking note of how the meals make us feel, as well.