What: Swimming and working out at the gym
When: all throughout (see description)
Evidence: umm, here are some selfies of me in the locker rooms I guess
A major contributor to my active part of CAS were my visits to the gym. I wasn’t sure at all what I should do as evidence for this, because the last thing I’m doing is taking pictures of me working out, but I do take selfies after every workout, either because I think my hair looks funny or I want to show my friends that I’m being healthy. However, the length of time is proven by the length of my hair. Also, in the first two photos I am wearing pajama-like clothes because it was the evening and because I swam, took a shower, and then sat in the sauna. The third was a different gym, where I worked more with weights. The first photo was taken in the summer before junior year (2016). The second was taken in the middle of junior year (Dec 2016). The third was from the summer after junior year (June 2017). The day immediately following the third photo, I drove to the airport for my flight to Germany. Therefore, that was the last time I worked out at the gym. My senior year, I took physical conditioning as a class both semesters, so I had no point to visit the gym anymore. However, I still learned a lot from these experiences.
In terms of CAS, I challenged myself by doing an exercise which I knew little about: swimming. Because I swam with my friend, she was able to show me the best ways to swim, so I practiced the different strokes, especially my discovered favorite, the backstroke. However, I knew I had to practice more of the ones I didn’t know well, and so I improved then. That was at the Monon, which differs from when I worked with weights, at a different gym. At the other gym, I ran and did more cardio, including classes which were for me free, and was also introduced to the weights. I think I learned and grew the most at the second gym, because I explored and did things that I thought I wouldn’t do well in. For example, one of the classes I took was a boot camp course, and so it was super rigorous and I thought I wasn’t physically fit enough. However, when I was there I put in my effort, and although I wasn’t as good as the other regulars, I was able to improve my own fitness.
I know that beyond high school, I will continue improving my health and fitness at the gym or with a sport. PC taught more about form, but my experiences outside of school dealing with personal fitness also benefited my mentality about perseverance and achievement of goals. I realize the importance of tracking progress and sticking to a plan or schedule.
