Front Squats 10x5

             My least favorite power lifting exercise. It requires you to hold the bar right above you clavicle or caller bone and hold the bar with you finger tips and wrist bent back words. Here is a link to show the correct form of a front squat. http://www.exercise-x.com/exlib//76/view/4
             Then after you hold the bar and everything correctly you just simply squat downwards and come back up, the key is to have your upper thighs parallel to the ground. I did 5 sets of ten reps and my weight was 70,70,70,70,75, I had a really hard time with pushing the weight back up, and my form wasn't bad but it wasn't the best thing ever.

Shoulder Press 10x5

            Today i had two workouts in a row this morning...Shoulder press and front squats. When i was doing shoulder press i held back on the weight and worked on my form a bit, because i have been a little sloppy with that workout. I did 5 sets of 10 reps, my weights were 65-65-70-70-75. It was a really hard workout because you thin to yourself, "oh only 70lbs, that's nothing," but on you sixth or seventh rep it feels like the weight has doubled since you started that set.

Height and Weight

                   Hey Just wanted to do another quick update on my Height and Weight, My height is 73.25 and my weight is 220.4lbs.         

The Great Pyramid

           The great pyramid, a diabolical concoction of lower body and core exercises compiled together to make a pyramid of exercise. It starts with a set of 50 squats, and ends on a set of 50 squats, but whats in the middle of these two sets is just evil ha ha. This is the workout........for time.

50 squats

400m run

50 sit-ups

800m run - the top of the pyramid

50 sit-ups

400m run

50 squats

           It was a truely grueling workout, here is a short clip of me doing this workout first person...



My Weekend

                 Hey, i just wanted to talk about my weekend and share all the fun stuff i did, and that i am looking forward to doing in the future. This past weekend was very busy. It was homecoming week at my school and there was so much going on. I started the weekend by watching our high school's football team loose our homecoming game 14-0 on Friday night. The next day was a very very fun day. It was the day of the homecoming dance. I went for a short  1.5 mile run which took about 25min or so, around my neighborhood. It was a fun little run but i got tired fast. Sunday i spent the hole day suffering from a headache, so i just sat back and relaxed the hole day.
                I also wanted to talk about my goals again and just reflect on how I'm doing with succeeding and surpassing those goals. My goals were to fullfill Mr. Contois' and my expectations when it comes to the training, and do other simple thing like pull ups, and run long distance with more ease. I have been running further then i normally do, and have been getting faster and faster with my mile runs and 5k's that i have tried to run on the treadmill before at the YMCA in the next town over. I intend to keep up this work and surpass my hopes and expectations.

Back Squat 5x5 and Shoulder Press 10x5

Today I did a lower body workout. I did Back Squats which is just like a body squat with a 45lb bar on your upper shoulders and just proceeding with a normal squat. My weights were 95, 95, 115, then 135 and 155lbs. So it was a pretty solid power lifting set. I cant wait to see the progress later in the year. I hope to get up to 185lbs by third quarter.

Then another workout I did later on today was a free weight shoulder press with dun bells, i had to do 10 reps of 5 sets. My weights were 40, 40, 40, 45, 45. It was very very challenging. My chest and shoulders are sooooo soar ha ha.

W.O.D. The Great Pyramid....

              Hey guys here is another fun workout that i did on Monday the great pyramid. In order you have to do this set of different lower body and core exercises for time....

• 50 squats
• 400m run
• 50 sit-ups
• 800m run
• 50 sit-ups
• 400m run
• 50 squats

           my time was 18:46...this is not that good i probably could have tried allot harder. I walked a little bit of the laps that i could have at least given a slow jog. I just need to figure out how to work harder and focus my energy to where i need it. It doesn't really help that i didn't have anything for breakfast except a large hot coffee ha ha. I will not do that again. You should all try this workout if you ever get the chance.

Weight and Height Sept. 14 2011

           hey guys just wanted make another update on my hieght and wieght. Week two of recording my wieght I am 225.2 lbs and 73.25 inches tall. I did a workout today called 5-oh, which calls to do 5 rounds of 50 meters of walking lunges and 50 sit-ups, for time. It really really works your mind and your body hard. My time was 16:24 which isnt good but isnt bad either...i hope to beat that time with something aroun 12-13 min in the future.

Personal Fitness W.O.D. Push Press

           Today in personal fitness calss, we decided to do some wieght lifting. Mr. Contois chose the exercise Push Press, which is like a shoulder press but you use you knees to help propel the bar up and over your head. It was 5 reps of 5 sets, and i did 65, 65, 85, 95, 105. So it was a pretty solid upper-body workout, I cant wait to see the improvement in wieght and form down the road...

Nation Fitness

          Hello again, i just wanted to say i had a pretty good weekend and stayed very avtive. I ate healthy and had good meals for every meal of the day. In this post i just wanted to talk about National Fitness and what our country sets for standards of a healthy life and a healthy body. Im gonna talk about two main topics; National Nutrional Guidlines and What our country has been doing toward daily exercise and fitness.
         To start i think the majority of the country's population is unhealthy. People just dont care or they just dont think about the reprecutions of an unhealthy diet of saturated fats, enourmous amounts of sodium, and not enough intake of important nutrients such as protiens, fiber and potassium. To keep the nation atleast moteratley in shape and healthy the USDA or the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture set guidlines to what a daily intake of nutrients, vitamins and minerals should be. Here is a link to show what your meals should look like and they should be portioned: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/.
         This image shows how you different food groups should coincide during a healthy meal. It might look a little similar to the one they might have shown you when you were in elementary school...

         So this is the "food pyramid" it shows how much daily intake you should have of each major food group and how the realte in importance. The person walking up the steps on the left of the pyramid is to symbolize that a healthy life isn't just aquired by eating healthy but also exercising daily.

         Along with healthy eating comes exercise. Exercise is very important to a healthy life. It helps you burn unwanted fat, and to gain a healthier mind and body. People around the world also neglect daily exercise on a regular basis, but are coming to acknowledge the importance of it. To help people understand the imortance of exercise the U.S. has created guidline for children to become active and forfill a healthy and active lifestyle. The link below is to the National Institutes of Health, and it talks about what daily physical activities are and how to keep you cild fit and healthy. http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/Exercise_and_Physical_Activity.cfm. According to this website everyone 18 and under should be getting atleast one hour everday of fitness. From what i have experienced in my life I think that kids are getting there daily exercise in all the time. This is good news it means we can make a change on how our country is veiwed and how our lives can be shaped into more healthy eating, daily exercising people.

        Here is a chart that i used to get an idea of what a daily calorie intake should consist of...

http://www.netrition.com/rdi_page.html 

        This past weekend I went camping. I had alot of fun and did some very fun active activities. We did a little bit of kayaking which was really fun causse we were the only one on the lake! Then we spent the rest of the day playing ultimate frisby. We had a nice dinner or chicken potatos and corn. We then had a bonfire until about midnight, it was really fun. I hope i get to do that again soon.
        Today in personal fitness we did a workout called "best 400." Best 400 requires you to do 4 laps with breaks inbetween each lap and record you times. My times were 1:57, 2:03, 2:10, and 2:07. It was a really fun workout and i actually cant wait to do it again so i can see my improvement...

New Food Plan Ideas

           Just wanted to talk about some ideas to keep myself healthy when it comes to food and drinks. I spet a while researching different food plans as apposed to diets. One of the food plans i have heard and attempted before is called the paleo diet. It is a high in fat, and low in carbohydrates. It also calls for moderated consumption of meats poultry and fish, to get the protien and fatty acids you need. When i first heard of this diet it was described as a diet that the caveman and paleolithic people would have eaten and not only survived on but thrived too. In this diet u arent allowed to consume any sort of processed food, and it is used as a general rule-of-thumb that anything in a box is a no-go.
           Another kind of Food plan or diet i was intrested in trying was a low-carb, high-protien diet. It would invlove consuming lots of red meats and fish, and very low amounts of carbs, around 30-50 grams spread out everyday. This is a muscle building fat losing diet. I think i might try this one.
           One last diet i found and researched was the Atkins diet. The diet claims by eating natural protiens found in red meat, poultry, fish, and eggs. The diet is intended to lose wieght but is most oftenly used to just simply stay healthy which is what im looking for. I enjoy the sound of this diet alot haha.
           Ill keep u updated on the diet i choose and for what reason. Im gonna try to also find some things i can do over the weekend that are good fun and keep me in shape. Im going camping so there should be no shortages of fun times.

Sept 8th, 2011

         Hey I just wanted to make another post about my W.O.D. in personal fitness. Today this morning i did 5 sets of 5 repetions of Shoulder press. There was a slight problem though. On my 5th set on the 4th rep, i felt my neck tighten up real hard to the point where i couldnt move my head at all sise-to-side. I went home to take it easy and it just got worse. It really really hurts and i feel strong saying that it is probably the worst pain i have ever had.

Sept. 7th 2011

         Hey just wanted to talk real quick about some of the exersizes that i did today to stay healthy and fit. I did alot of walking....and i mean alot. I walked around in gym class for two class lengths, which is about 2 hours of walking and did prob around a mile and a half i would say. I then went for another walk when i got home with my mom and her dog, which was a short 25min walk around the nearby cemetery in our town. we probably walked a quarter mile or so. For lunch i had a sandwich and milk and for dinner i had some pizza, and water, i need to deffinately start eating better.

Personal Fitness Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

          Hey its jake again, i just wanted to talk about a quick yet gut-busting workout i did yesterday in my personal fitness class. The workout was called burp-me, named after one simple exersise called a burpee. A burpee consists of a squat a push-up and a jump with a clap over head in an almost similtaneous action.
          Before the workout though we did a warm-up. the warm-up was to do 3 rounds  of 25 body squats, 25 situps, and 25 jumping jacks. After all three rounds we bagan our W.O.D. or workout of the day.
          Burp-me is done by completeing one burpee on the first minute then two on the second and three on the third and so and so on. Well at the beggining we are asked set a goal of how many we would do in that alloted time. My goal was for 10 the first time i did this workout, i only made it to 8. The second time i attempted this workout I set my goal at 10 again and made it to 9 burpees in one minute. This shows improvement which is one of my long term goals by bieng in this class.
          I continue to make more posts about all the workouts i attempt and conqure. -Jake

Week 1 Day 1

          Hey guys its Jake. I just wanted to share some info on my daily life and what i have been doing to keep my fitness campaign up. Today is my first hieght and weigh-in measurement. I am 221.4 lbs and 6.06 feet tall or 72.75 inches.
          For workouts this past weekend i did some walking and swimming. I went on a walk on saturday the 3rd through the woods near my house, about a quarter of a mile away. The walk was probably only for an hour and a half but we walked around 2 miles with stops. On monday the 5th i went on another walk with my friend form her work to my house and then her house, it was about one and a half miles total. That walk was about 1 hour long.
          My weekend was pretty healthy when it comes to my choices in meals, but my breakfast this morning was not so healthy. I had a Coffee and a chocolate butter-nut donut, which is delicious but not very good for you. next time i will have to choose some healthier foods for breakfast.
          My Goal for this week is to focus on getting in a rythm of eating well and healthy. Im planning on going and getting some food later at my local grocery store. Im gonna focus on eating the right portions and the right kinds of food. I would alo like to keep walking whenever i can. It seems to be a good stretch after working out and it is relaxing too.

My Labor Day weekend

           Hey guys its jake again, i just wanted to talk about what i did this past week that contributed to my fitness campaign. I tried really hard to eat healthy this weekend. I had some chicken and pasta salad the other day for dinner at my friends house and i just had a stuffed pepper for dinner. I didnt do so good at lunch when i had a steak and cheese at my favorite pizza place. i went on a few really long walks and did some swimming too. I plan on working my butt off tommorow at gym class and maybe go for a short ride in the afternoon too.

          i'll make sure to keep the posts coming......Jake

The Beggining

           Hello, my name is Jake. I am a senior at my local highschool. In my years here i have been very fourtunate to meet some great alumni and some great teachers. I have been very intrested in exersise, fitness and over all well bieng. At the highschool i attend we are very proud of our classes and teachers. I have met many people while following my passion and hobbie of recreational fitness. One of these people i met is Mr. Contois, an excellent teacher, friend, and more than anything a very good runner. Mr. contois and many other of my friends have inspired me to get in shape and have fun doing it.
           Our school has a great class and program called an "independent study," where the student can get a more in-depth and better atmosphere for learning with the teacher. This class is a one-on-one learning curve that i have not really had a chance to experience. In this class i intend to try my hardest and sucseed to my and Mr. Contois' expectations. I would like to be able to do some simple things i have not been able to do in the past, like pull-ups, running long distance, and just simply get more fit no mater what i have to do.
           So with that i will keep up and keep trying my hardest....