For this activity, I admitted myself to a gym in my town. I had to regularly visit the gym to maintain my body structure as well as overall good health as I performed different exercises and followed a prescribed diet.
CAS strands that are covered: Activity.
Date: 10 June 2019 to 10 July 2019.
My participation description: the purpose of participating in this activity is to demonstrate my state of fitness before and after going to the gym. Through this activity, I got a chance to maintain my health as well as develop my skills of performing different exercises and analyze what the delicate body parts and subsequently strengthen them. Additionally, I developed a good habit of eating healthy foods.
Learning outcomes that I achieved:
LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth (I categorized my strengths and weaknesses as physical and mental qualities. My physical strength was that I faced less resistance in an overall workout because of my good stamina and my mental strength was that I was able to commit myself in performing an exercise, even after I entered an exhausting stage. My physical weakness was that I had reduced physical strength/power due to which I was not easily able to perform weight-lifting. And my mental weakness was that I cheated on my workout routine by avoiding a few exercises to get to the main set. In short, I tended to find an easy way out. When I identified these qualities, I was proud of myself and subsequently upset as I was not able to see myself as a perfect candidate for participating in gym exercises. This was very important because my goal of transforming myself physically required me to become an ideal candidate for participating in gym exercises and for becoming one, I had to maintain my strengths and turn my weaknesses to my muscles by resolving them. To solve my shortcomings, I had asked my trainer to become strict by becoming autocratic on me, which forced me to complete my exercises. Additionally, I had to develop the self-discipline to become better than what I was).
LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process (Overcoming my physical weakness of holding a reduced physical strength/power due to which I was not easily able to perform weight-lifting, and my mental weakness of cheating on my workout routine by avoiding a few exercises to get to the main set was the most challenging part of this activity. On the whole, this was difficult because I had very little or no self-discipline, which completely contradicted to the mindset that is required when one performs intense exercises. Additionally, I had never participated in activities that required significant physical contribution as this activity. As mentioned earlier, I had asked my trainer to become strict by becoming autocratic on me, which forced me to complete my exercises and develop self-discipline. Having undertaken this challenge, I feel very confident about myself on the whole which is crucial as I know that I have resolved my weaknesses which makes me realize that I can always do better than what I can do right now and eventually become an elevated person. As a result, I discovered that I had developed the skills of executing basic weight-lifting exercises flawlessly. In the future, this skill will not only keep me in shape but additionally improve my physical strength, which will help me lift heavy items by myself. Having this important makes me feel very strong!).
LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience (To organize me for participating in this activity, I had to prepare an after-school timetable that acquired a slot for the gym as well as academics and other extracurricular activities. I did this because I usually am an organized person. Initiating was more difficult than planning as I was not always able to follow my after-school timetable due to anomalies such as Gym unexpectedly closed. Planning and starting an activity like this will be more comfortable in the future because I have already gained ampler experience of planning and initiating an event like this. This is important because in the future, one may need to perform physical activities and to do that, planning and undertaking those activities is necessary to balance work life with these sorts of actions).
LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences (Showing determination or commitment was difficult when it was the matter of attending gym sessions every day because of my academic schedule which always conflicted my gym time table. To be committed and persistent to activities like this is difficult because they can resist one from doing other necessary activities such as completing homework. Being committed and persistent to actions, in general, is vital because being so will provide fruitful results).
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively (In this case, I had to work collaboratively with my trainer to transform my physique by following my trainer’s instructions and asking my trainer to help me lift the gym equipment. Working with others is generally tricky at an initial stage because one is not acknowledged about the person with whom he/she is working. Doing this was easy as the relation of my trainer with me was of a simple connection of a student and a teacher. Hence, I did not have any difficulties in working with my trainer. Working collaboratively is essential because doing so will make a task much easier and faster to complete. The importance of leadership was to a reasonable extent because the guidance of my trainer was the critical element in transforming my physique and developing self-discipline).
LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions (The ethical issues were indirectly connected to money. In this case, my gym membership was bought with cash; therefore, misbehaving with the act of following the gym time table would mean a waste of money. In this manner, indirectly, this ethical issue affected me because I did miss a few gym sessions by my choice. It made me feel guilty about my mistake! My opinion on this issue before this activity was that it had to be avoided entirely to avoid money wastage, and this opinion did not change even after the action was completed).
The two learner profile characteristics that I developed were balanced (as I had to manage my time for the gym as well as academics) and thinkers (as I had to think before I made any decisions that could potentially result into unethical outcomes that were mentioned earlier). This activity indirectly benefited another person as well. My trainer got paid for instructing me, which financially benefited him. The highlight of this CAS experience was that I was able to transform myself physically as well as mentally (as I learned to become persistent to an activity such as this). This success made me feel proud of myself and motivated me to continue this activity. From this activity, I learned that showing commitment and perseverance to any task in life will result in success! One aspect that I would change about this activity is that I would not miss any gym sessions to avoid the wastage of money completely. Finally, through this activity, I would like to spread the message in my environment that performing physical exercises are important for one’s well-being, and commitment and perseverance is a must to achieve the predicted result.
Image (transformation):
Before:
After:
