Great topic Micah. I think you found interesting and solid sources, so an defensible claim should follow. One thing that seemed to keep coming up indirectly, was changes in fitness understanding and perception. Maybe that as we know more about the human body, the way we workout progresses too ( or it should but doesnt always, something like that). Military fitness also stood out. I wondered if military fitness is best for overall health, or for doing the jobs the military demands. It is similar to the way nfl athletes train when they are players, but change drastically once they retire (lose weight, train for endurance not explosion, that kind of thing). There are many arguments to make, those are just my ideas. I think one thing that would help would be to think about who you want to make your claim to, and what you want them to know/do/change/etc. This will help narrow and specify your claim.

from Caitlin

Fitness, exercise, and health are all subjective and "weighty" terms.  Micah looks into the definition of these terms and the physical representation of them through notable athletes and himself.

from skyler

workouts are beneficial for your health

there are lots of ways to workout

In conclusion

As this process comes to a close, i feel it's necessary to talk about the main body building pioneer, who is also famous for his acting. Arnold Shcwarzennager is an icon in body building, and he's a beast. His workouts and training regiment is world famous. Aside from his movie credit, he has done a great deal for a healthy culture not only in the US but also in the world. Thank you Arnold. The following article gives an idea about his charity work with children.

SerVaas, Cory. "ARNOLD: THE PIED PIPER OF FITNESS."  The Saturday Evening Post, 1990. Web. 14 Mar 2012

What does this all mean?

Throughout this research, i've learned a great deal. It's been really neat to dig into some of these topics, and just read. As our professor says, "just let the research take you. Let it flow." That's exactly what this blog has been. While it feels random to me right now, it makes a great deal of sense watching the progression of this. I started each blog post out the same, searching for a random fitness idea on the auraria website or on academic one file. Each article i have pulled information from has been the basis for my blog posts. Each question is not related to the others, aside from the fact that they all invole fitness. The questions have just popped into my head, searched, and ran with. After reading the articles i have tried to develop a thought or two from them, and that's where i'm at now. I have found a great article that details the "thinking" process. In my opinion, that means random chance thought.

Markman, Arthur. "Annual Review of Psychology." THINKING. N.p., 10 FEB 2001. Web. 13 Mar 2012.

Which famous athlete has a physique to emulate?

I have always been a football fan. Who doesn't love football? My favorite team is the Broncos, and we have some pretty fit players. One of my favorite is Brady Quinn, and he's jacked. Shredded. Ripped. Choose the adjective, he's a beast. The following article has a great take on Brady Quinn.
Quill, Scott. "The Adonis advantage." Men's Health. N.p., 22 JUL 2007. Web. 13 Mar 2012.

Bad supplements? Military workouts?

There are a million supplements out there, and not all of them are good for you. I've tried multiple ones in my life, and i know they weren't great but i still tried them. What makes them bad?
Werthheim, Jon. "Jolt of Reality." Sports Illustrated. 04 JUL 2003, n.d. Web. 13 Mar 2012.

What are ways to prepare me for the military? there are tons of workouts out there, but many of them can help get you in shape for the military.
Patterson, Lori. "BOOT CAMP CHALLENGE.." American Fitness Sep/Oct 2010. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar 2012

When does my mind fail me?

What are other ways that i can train my body to the highest potential? Am i able to keep going as things get difficult? I know that my mind can push me through the toughest of things, but where does that stop?

 "Nursing Times." Developing mental toughness. N.p., 18 NOV 2011. Web. 13 Mar 2012

What is Crossfit?

As i look deeper into my workouts, i begin to think of other types of workouts that aren't as common as you'd think. What are some of those workout types? One that stands out to me is Crossfit. This is an entirely new type of gym, build by passionate dudes who care about fitness. As you walk in to a Crossfit gym, you're in for a wakeup call. You'll find white boards full of personal achievements, WOD's, or workouts of the day posted on them. There were no treadmills, no mirrors, but rather weights, large boxes for jumping, kettle bells, ropes hung from the ceiling, and medicine balls. No decorations, nothing glamorous about the gym. Motivated people, hard work and dedication was what i found. The philosophy at a Crossfit gym is to incorporate high intensity, dedication, motivation, and a focused mindset. My journey here is to discover my physical limit, and strive to work at my maximum point, known as my anaerobic threshold. There are numerous benefits for training in my anaerobic threshold, such as your body being able to better deal with and handle lactic acid build up for longer periods of time, allowing me to train harder. I love this style!!!

Jodai, Saremi. "CrossFit Training." . N.p., 2008. Web. 13 Mar 2012.

Is yardwork better than the gym?

As i try to decide my next step in this project, i come up with another question. How "green" is your workout? We live in Colorado, and green thinking is huge around here. We've been taught from a very young age about how our actions impact the environment, and what we do now matters down the road. Simple thought right? So how green is my workout? According to the following article "How green is your workout" by Marilynn Larkin, she argued that people burn more calories while sawing down trees and piling them up along the hillside than did her aerobics class taken at her gym. She goes on to argue, "we did find that people actually worked at an intensity which was good enough to benefit their health. Any large muscle group rhythmic activity like raking or sawing, and the bending and stretching that goes with it, is usually of an intensity that is enough to be beneficial". In addition, "the motivation for staying with it is very different from the motivation for going to the [indoor] gym. It's not about weight loss or getting fitter, but the purely intrinsic motivation of enjoyment. So we're trying to get people more active because they enjoy it, not because they have to. And we're not so concerned about the intensity, because any level of activity is better than none". I think this article pretty much says it all! Maybe i should spend more time outdoors doing yard work for my parents than banging weights and doing cardio in the gym? We'll see about that one.
Larkin, Marilynn. "How green is your workout?." . 13MAY2000, n.d. Web. 12 Mar 2012.

How hard should i train? What is my optimal heart beat per minute range? According to the following article, your maximum heart rate should be calculated first, as exceeding that literally could kill you. To calculate your maximum heart rate, take 220 and subtract your age. there lies your max heart rate. So for me, my maximum heart rate would be 196 (i am 24 years old). What that means to me is that i can push my body to the limit, that limit being 196 beats per minute. that article also says that you should aim to stay within your "key target training zone," which is from 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, along these lines:

From 60 to 70 percent:

low-intensity exercise

From 70 to 80 percent:

medium-intensity exercise

Over 80 percent:

high-intensity exercise

Using that logic, and the way i train my body to a high intensity level, i should manage to keep my heart rate lower than 196 but higher than 156.3 to meet high intensity level training. This is not an issue for me, as my workouts often include 3-4 mile runs at a 6 minute mile pace along with 45 minutes of weight training and 10 minutes of core strengthening.

Butler, Carolyn. " Sweating to the beat: your heart rate and your workout ." . 11 NOV 2010, n.d. Web. 12 Mar 2012.

Running and heart rate?

I love running, and cardio workouts are a great way for one to increase overall fitness. What exctly should i avoid when i ramp up my intensity during a run? What are the ways in which my run workouts could result in injury? According to an article, walking as primary form of cardiovascular workouts resulted in fewer injuries. One study looked at 5,000 men and women all aged under 45 from 1987-1995. The study compared the amount of injuries found among them, and utlimately resulted in a significantly higher amount of injuries in those participants that were runners. in the study, nearly 700 of the runners admitted suffering some sort of injury that required doctor attention, while only 160 participants that walked admitted to similar injuries that required doctor attention. My main take away from the article was that running is higher impact, and results in greater risk of injury.
Colbert, Lisa. "Physical Activity-Related Injuries in Walkers and Runners in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study." . 02 OCT 2000, n.d. Web. 11 Mar 2012.

What about stretching after a workout? How affective is stretching at preventing injury? One article helped answer that question. The article included a study in which Range of Motion (ROM) was tested to look at how much if any ROM improvement was noticed as subjects stretched following a workout. The study looked at reducing muscle stiffness and fatigue after workouts. The study concluded that no sign of tension inside the muscles could be found following short term stretching. In non scientific terms this means that subjects that stretched following a workout did not report any change in tightness or soreness while using stretching. Basically they felt the same after stretching as they had before they even finished their workout. I guess what this means to me is that stretching is one of those things we're always told to do by out coaches and teachers growing up, and this article confirms a suspicion of mine that stretching is important for you, but not that important for you. You can get by without it.
Wiemann, Klaus. "Influences of strength-, stretching- and circulatory exercises on flexibility." . 18JUL1997, n.d. Web. 11 Mar 2012

Workouts from a sociological perspective

To build on post #1 in which i defined physical activity and began to look at workouts from a sociological perspective, i want to begin this post with another question.
So what exactly happens when my body performs a bench press workout? My interest is piqued by this question. I am a science nerd, and thinking about how my body performs and acts at a cellular level really interests me. The following article helped answer part of that question, as it discusses ways in which the human body recovers following a bench press workout. The article was a research paper, in which 12 athletes were tested, 6 male and 6 female. Subjects completed a three week training program in which various levels of strenthg were tested. According to the article, 48 hour recovery times at minimum were reccommended for male athletes in order to optimize strength development.
Burke, JR. The effect of recovery time on strength performance following a high-intensity bench press workout in males and females. N.p., 05 JUN 2010. Web. 11 Mar 2012.




Loy, Stephen. "Is the Ab Do-er a Don't?." . 09AUG2000, n.d. Web. 11 Mar 2012.

I often workout my abdominal muscles, and these muscles are extremely important in the overall physique of most athletes. What are some exercise do's and don'ts for Ab workouts? According to the article, "Is the AB Do-er a Don't", 25 men and women were enlisted in a study to test the overall performance of various Ab exercises. The study concluded that Abdominal exercises alone will not greatly increase one's overall fitness, as it deemed Ab workouts to be relatively low intensity compared to workouts such as running and cycling. The study found that Ab workouts are great, but would require the exerciser to spend considerably more time performing these exercises in order to add up to the amount of calories burned by running and other higher intensity exercises.

Stating out..... what is a workout?

What exactly is working out?
I start out this process with curiosity, and right now i'm wanting to know more about workouts in general, and also what ways people these days exercise and incorporate those workouts into their daily routines. I have several questions all in regards to workouts, but for now we'll just try to determine what exactly fitness professionals consider a workout. Fitness in general seems to be common place these days, and i find that to be interesting. Let's explore! I start this project with a search on the auraria campus library searching for "fitness." My first article is the following:
Fitness Culture: Gyms and the Commercialisation of Discipline and Fun. Roberta Sassatelli. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Palgrave Connect. Palgrave Macmillan. 11 Mar 2012.

 This book begins to answer my first question. The author looks at fitness not from a physical perspective, but from a mental perspective. She discusses fitness from a sociological perspective and ways in which a person "needs" to feel fit, and looks at personal experiences at the gym to help describe those personal "needs." The author looks at how fitness culture is much more broad than just the gym. This is a good place to start! maybe my qwest for workout knowledge first must start out with fitness culture?

Before i answer that question, i feel it's important to define fitness and physical activity. One article defines physical activity as "movement via skeletal muscles, that results in energy expendiatures, planned, physical, and repetitive bodily movement."
 Caspersen, C., K. Powell, and G. Christenson. "Physical activity, exercise, and physical fitness: definitions and distinctions for health-related research." . N.p., 1995. Web. 11 Mar 2012.