Having some experience in exercising and having played an ultimate frisbee tournament after a while, I decided to start regular strength and conditioning training to improve my physical fitness and help me in ultimate frisbee. I opted for an online program(Morrill Functional Performance and Training), which gave me daily exercises along with videos to follow.
I followed this program for around 4 months, from June to September. In these 4 months I saw significant improvement in my physical fitness, in areas such as endurance, speed, strength and power, and improved physique. Yet, I faced several challenges along the way which I was forced to overcome. One of the main challenges was making enough time to exercise daily, and although this seemed difficult at first, as I developed time-management skills I was able to prioritize and complete my workouts almost everyday. I had to showcase the learner profile “Balanced”. I also faced challenges in several of the exercises, such as not being able to lift the mentioned amount of weight. This frustrated me and I looked for immediate solutions, which rarely seemed to work. Yet, by the end of the program I was able to far exceed the recommended amount of weight, making me realize that progress takes time, and persistence is key to success.
On several days I had to wake up before dawn to workout, or stay up till midnight. This seemed very difficult at the time, as I had to drag myself to the gym. But I now understand the importance of working hard and being consistent to achieve results. I have also started implementing this learning to other areas of my life, such as studying.
Another task in the program was to get proper nutrition, which was seemingly impossible for me as I have a sweet tooth. At the beginning of each week I would try to eat right, but by the third day of the week I would go back to my unhealthy eating habits. This persisted throughout the program, and hence I was unable to see the significant change in my physique that I wanted. This “failure” made me realize the importance of discipline, and is a challenge I would like to try and overcome in the future.
In conclusion, this strength and conditioning program was a very demanding, yet effective one, which I am proud to have completed. This CAS experience allowed me to stop thinking about studies for some time every day and focus on holistic development.
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