Reflection 12

So this week, sadly I was relatively lazy and did not work out as much as I should've mainly because of the horrible allergies that finally got to me this week. It made it hard to breathe and I felt absolutely horrible so my motivation to be lifting weights for an hour was relatively low. Though I was able to find out where I am at in terms of my one rep max and I was able to do 180lbs. My progress is relatively slow sadly and at this rate, I don't think I'll be able to achieve my goal of 205lbs but I think I made some decent progress strength wise. I was in a much worse shape starting out, where I was barely able to do any of the workouts, to now where I am just about caught up to my previous state of well being. I think in a sense that's a win even though I probably won't be able to bench 205. Have a great week everyone!

Reflection 11

This week in terms of exercising motivation is getting better. I'm starting to exercise more in the gym other than simply lounging around doing a couple of half-hearted sets on the vertical butterfly machine though, of course, I still do have my days where I still slack considerably, but progress is progress no matter how slow it may be. We're all learning here and I just think I'm learning to overcome laziness a bit slower than others are learning to complete their tasks and overcome obstacles. In other news, I was able to find my old weight set barbell! I'm now able to do some better exercises for a full body workout with my favorite olympic press exercise now at the comfort of my own backyard! Hopefully I'll be able to work more on becoming less lazy over the next coming week. That's all I have to report and I hope you all have a great week!

Reflection 10

This week I just want to talk about a simple yet immobilizing problem that I have come across numerous times recently which is not having the desire or mentality to actually exercise. So many times at home or during gym class, I'll just not have the feeling and desire to exercise. I used to absolutely love exercising with a passion and wouldn't have any problems going to lift a couple of weights but nowadays, the feeling to exercise just doesn't come as easily. Either I would be way too comfortable in my gaming chair or snuggled into my large bed, or previously taken a test earlier so I would be mentally exhausted and would not want to do anything at all and this has been occurring a LOT lately. Thankfully, I have some supportive friends and especially my girlfriend to push me to exercise and to get stronger so that helped multitudes of times. Hopefully I can find my old weight set at home so I can exercise at home without having to go far for the gym. Wish me luck with fighting the lazy mindset everyone and have a great week!

Reflection 9

This week I will be honest, I started to slack off more than I should have in gym. In my defense though, I was completely mentally drained from studying for an anatomy test that I had (an SGO) and I really was not in the mood to be picking things up and putting them down. Though however, I did happen to find my old iPod to add some workout music to help me in the gym. The iPod though was found in poor condition with the corner badly cracked and the iPod will only play on one earphone regardless of which earphone I use but it's a music player nonetheless and I plan on utilizing it ASAP. I will try to work harder this week because I really want to at least break 200 on the bench. That's all I have for this week, have a good week everyone!

Reflection 7/8

During the past two weeks, I have been trying to exercise more often and to eat healthier with increasing my intake of salad and chicken while lessening on the carbs and fattening foods. Though during the spring break I was sadly slacking off a LOT, and was not exercising at all, I have been picking up my pace to compensate for the lost time this week by working a lot harder during gym class since this marking period we have fitness. I actually tried to go on the bench again to try to get back into the feel of benching and to see if I was still able to maintain my form after a very long while of not benching but I think that I am not doing as bad as I thought form and strength wise. I was able to do 2 sets of 10 reps with 135 lbs on the bar and attempted another set afterwards but only was able to do 8 reps so I know I have to work more on my chest endurance to increase the amount of repetitions that I can do. My goal is 205 by the end of this school year and hopefully, with the diet and the exercising that I am now able to do because of fitness this marking period, I will be able to achieve my goal and to maybe even adopt a healthier lifestyle to live even after this project is done.

Reflection 5

This week, I studied about how music affects the workout. Since I listen to music relatively often, and I have a wide range of music tastes, I decided why not research on listening to music while exercising and how it either enhances or takes away from the workout. I looked up a couple of sites that talked about the various reasons why adding music to a workout would be beneficial and I only was able to find the positives. Tests were shown that people tended to go for longer periods of time on the bike and at higher speeds, and also lifters were able to lift more because the music would often increase hormone production when they would feel "pumped" and these hormones of feeling pumped up would help to numb the pain that the exerciser would feel. This would help the lifter be able to do more reps in their sets and therefore, more muscle building productivity would be present when exercising with music. After seeing these results and various people saying how music is beneficial, I think its time I start looking for my old iPod and start downloading some nice music to get me going while working out. Have a nice week everybody and I'll see you all next weekend! :)

Reflection 4

So, this week was not as bad as I thought it would be school-wise, and that being said, I was able to put a bit more time into actually exercising and trying to get back my previous physique. It's tough, considering how far behind I am from how I was half a year ago but like I have been saying in the previous posts, I'm getting there slowly but surely which is the best I can do at the moment. Also, I've been researching on various websites to see what kinds of foods is the best to gain muscle mass and strength and luckily, the top food is omega 3 eggs which I have an abundance of in my house and I eat eggs quite regularly so I was glad to see that the eggs help. I also saw salmon and spinach and other various foods that I eat very often and I'll be trying to eat them even more frequently from what I have seen on the websites. That's really all I have to say about this week and until next time, have a great week everyone! :)

Reflection 2

    So, this week, more PARCC testing and other meddlesome shenanigans occurred in school which kept me from being able to actually utilize any of the gyms which mildly upset me. Instead, I thought to perhaps use the time this week instead to also, along with researching about different methods of exercising or how to train to increase my bench, I also wanted to actually do some exercise to prepare myself for the months of training since I haven't been exercising much in the past months so I know that I need to actually get my body prepared for the training. This week, I tried to at least see if my body is anywhere near the strength that I left it, but instead I found that I am nowhere near how I was before. I tried to do my past daily routine of two sets of 40 wide pushups and curls with a 25lbs weight with 3 sets of 20 reps. I could barely do half of the routine so I saw that I have a long way to go if I want to increase my bench to 215. I also researched on various exercises to train my chest and actually, I am quite limited to only wide pushups here at home so I do hope they can get the gym open sometime this week. Have a nice week everybody and I'll talk to you all next week! :)

Reflection 1

So, this week since PARCC testing closed off all of the co options, (like the gym), I wasn't quite able to go to the gym to exercise and to start my training to get back into shape. Instead, I started to use this week to begin researching about different exercises and techniques on how to actually build the muscles and to train to increase my max bench. I came across this website and browsed on it for a while and it had a lot of interesting information about body building and different methods on how to lose weight or to gain muscle. I read this one article that gave tips on ways to increase your bench, I learned different skills like the proper way on how to have the correct form when benching, the importance on the frequency of exercises, and even which muscles to train or how to even grip the bar to target different areas of the pecs. Hopefully the gym will open in school so I can actually test these tips out for myself, but until then, have a nice week everybody! :)

20% Proposal (Semester 2)

Instead of continuing my baking project, I decided to pursue something that I am more interested in and have a bit more experience with, which is exercise. In particular, this semester I want to be able to increase my max bench press weight from 190 pounds to 215 if I am lucky enough to make it that far. I want to be able to do at least one repetition on the bench press with 215 pounds (or more) by the end of the semester. Along with exercising, I will be eating healthier (or trying to at the very least) and will be researching about different exercises and meals that I may utilize to maximize the amount of muscle that I will build throughout this relatively short time. I chose this for my next focus because I have delved slightly into the world of physical fitness before and have trained with friends to become stronger and to lose weight but until recently, I have neglected my fitness for quite sometime and I believe that along with learning new things, this will give me an opportunity to gain back my former (sort of) fit self. This project will be beneficial for me both physically and mentally because along with the strength gain, I will also obtain knowledge about how to work different parts of the body and will know various exercises to help me to become even stronger in the future.

Reflection 13

This being my last post for this semester/project, I want to conclude my research and whatnot with more of a reflection on what I was able to accomplish during this short (relatively short) time period. I feel this may be an appropriate time to be doing this and plus, I am not too much in the mood to be researching about baking because midterms are coming up and I really need to study/do homework. Besides having a considerable amount more baking experience and practice, I was able to research about baking and I think I have learned a nice amount about baking and some of the science behind it all. Above all, I was able to bake and have fun whether it be with my little baby brother, or just baking with my girlfriend, I had a good amount of fun with this project and I enjoyed myself. Its been a cool semester. Bring the next.

Reflection 12

This week, much like the last, was also basically a spawn from the devil. Staying up until 12 to film a condensed version of Shakespeare's longest plays in under 12 minutes and to memorize a full Shakespearean scene? Not a fun time. But anyway, I decided to take a little break from the research and decided to do some baking again with my wonderful girlfriend who came over Saturday to hang out with me and she said she wanted to bake. What a perfect coincidence that I'm doing baking for this, right? So she came over with an assortment of supplies to bake cookies and we went to work. She would measure the flour and etc. and I would crack the eggs because I love cracking eggs. One handed egg cracking can get amusing sometimes when you're extremely bored, take my word for it. And then my baby brother would add in the chocolate chips because we needed an adorable "mascot" to help us cook. I beat the batter but not too much, as I learned in the previous week (I think), then we placed the batter on sheets and baked it. Not without preheating of course. Gotta preheat which I explained in a week that has escaped my memory. Maybe week 9? But anyway, we waited and watched without opening the oven door because that's bad, also explained in the previous week, and instead used a light which has eluded my eyesight until this weekend. After the cookies were done, we took them out, called the family, and ate. I would've taken a picture but I forgot and we sort of finished them on the spot. We're a large family and I love me a good cookie. I enjoyed myself and spent a very fun afternoon baking with my girl, and was able to eat cookies so needless to say, I'm a happy camper. Have a great break everyone! B)

Reflection 11

Well. I am completely confident this week was birthed directly from Satan himself because wow I was busy and put to work with school. But hey, its finally over so I am quite relieved, yet extremely exhausted. I decided to maybe "take things easy" for this week's research and to simply look up a list of common errors that are made in the kitchen because my mind is quite fried from this week and I couldn't think of anything else. Wow I must sound angsty. Anyway, I found a fairly applicable list and was able to read through with ease, understanding the practicality of each mistake and what to do when making said mistake. Moving past the simple mistakes like not taking the measurements to the exact amount or using expired or out of season ingredients, I was able to find a few nuggets of information that I was able to deem useful and interesting in at least my perspective. One was how you shouldn't open the oven to check how your cookies or cake is baking. This is a big one for me because I do this very often and apparently, this greatly releases the heat within the oven (obviously but I didn't know it was that big of a deal before) and will mess up the cooking greatly. Another was that there may be "heat spots" in your oven. This may over bake certain cookies while leaving others unbaked or leave a portion of your cake burnt and another still batter-y. Cool stuff.

Reflection 10

This week was pretty darn easy in terms of school work. Not too much on my plate so I was able to actually sit and have time to think about a topic that would more interest me and would be more applicable to my baking skills. So, this week I decided to research on how to make a nice and soft cookie because in my humble opinion, those are the ones that people crave for with the melted chocolate and how the cookie breaks away without having to make a snapping noise that can be heard halfway to Kansas. But that's just my humble opinion. Anyway, I researched about the science or at least some Q&A's about soft cookies and came across a nice website to give me a couple of smart ideas. Firstly, addressing a large problem of mine, I was able to find a solution to a large problem of mine, which is that the cookies would be slightly burnt at the bottom and not so golden on the top. Apparently, because I have a conventional oven, the heat comes from the bottom and doesn't circulate well enough to cook the entirety of the cookie evenly. The simple solution provided for this by the website was to bake the cookies in a higher rack in the oven. Easy enough solution for a big problem. The other fact that I found particularly interesting is that you should slightly under cook the cookies to make them moist. Though that may sound bad, the website explained in a logical way on how it works. To keep the moisture, you should under cook it and then take the cookies out. Even after under cooking slightly, the hot pan will continue to cook the cookies while on the pan which will do sufficiently to cook the rest of the cookie perfectly. Neat stuff.

Reflection 9

This week went by surprisingly fast yet so much was needed to be done in school so I wasn't able to research on much nor even think about what exactly I would like to research on. I did decide to research on different aspects of baking in general though this week, I couldn't quite think of anything in particular that piqued my curiosity. Though I was finally able to think of what I would like to find out this week. I wanted to find out how non-stick cooking spray works. Though, I do admit to most, the topic may not sound the absolute most interesting topic, the thought occurred to me and I realized that I actually had no clue as to what it is. So, I looked up "what is non-stick cooking spray?" and I came across various articles and I read. The articles would say that the spray is usually a mix of oil and water which actually do not mix due to the differing polarities of the substances. When sprayed onto the pan or whatever, the food you place on the pan will not stick due to the surface being slippery with the combination of oil and water. The article also said that butter or a nice oil sprayer (for a lack of a better word?) would be sufficient if the baker does not prefer the non-stick sprays. The topic may not seem as interesting to many but to me, I thought that was pretty cool.

Reflection 7

This week I was able to research reasons why you should pre-heat the oven and the reasons actually surprised me. I was one to believe that it would be more sufficient to simply put the food or baked goods into the oven and heat it at the recommended temperature with a slightly larger amount of time to make up for the lost pre-heat time. But after researching on the internet, I came to realize that this wouldn't be the best idea. I found out that the chemical reactions that come with cooking such as caramelisation and Maillard reactions work better at higher temperatures and therefore the food will taste and look much better than if the baking started at a lower temperature. Also, the pre-heating kills off any bacteria within the oven and also, if the food baking was left in the oven for a longer time than recommended, the food would most likely be dryer and more stale than if it was placed in the oven to heat after the oven was pre-heated. Who knew? The practicality of pre-heating, everybody.

Reflection 5+6

So now that the marking period is ending, I want to be able to both transition from marking periods, and start to research more on the science about baking, not the actual baking. I know this may seem a bit backwards to do where I should have probably done the research on baking science THEN the actual baking but I guess I didn't quite want to do that. The probable main reason for this choice is because I have always wanted to learn to bake and I guess that I wanted to learn as soon as possible. I've always been more of a person to learn by doing and I never too much cared for the how and the processes behind what I was learning to do so that may have been a factor as well. I really hope to learn a lot during the upcoming second marking period.

Sidenote: Sorry for the late post, I totally thought I published this before but I guess I merely assumed that I had and closed out of the window before actually posting. My mistake. I guess with learning to bake, I need to learn to be more aware of my actions as well.

Reflection 4

After laying in bed after completing a college application, I realized that the marking period would soon be ending. Looking back, I don't really see much that I have accomplished other than scraping through different classes (mainly English which I am a complete lost cause in) and doing adequately in multiple tests. But when I look at this class, I can say that I am learning a skill that will actually follow me in life that is being graded as a project. So as these last weeks of the marking period come to a close, I will be proud to say that I will be able to finally be able to create my mother's apple caramel "cake" (I don't know whether to call it a cake or pie). Wish me luck with this one guys!

Reflection 3

I thought this project would be very boring and tedious. But after a while, this project started to grow on me. I actually found myself liking the task of searching and learning new recipes and actually I would enjoy my mother's help as well. Much like now, I had trouble finding a cupcake recipe this week and my mother knew about my project and looked up a nice recipe for fudge that she wants to make with me. Also I would occasionally find myself talking to my mom and asking her about different recipes that she knows and asking how difficult they are and I enjoy being able to converse with her about something else other than how messy my room is. Maybe this project isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Reflection Week 2

Despite being submerged in immense amounts of school work and etc., I was able to research about my next venture: brownies. I surfed Google for multiple recipes and found a small batch that suited my liking. I picked a nice recipe for chewy fudgy brownies since personally, I prefer my brownies chewy and having a less cakey texture. Though I was not able to produce a batch of brownies this week or this weekend since the weekend also produced a large amount of stress and work for myself, I was able to help my mother cook and watched her bake which helped me to see some baking from a (relatively) professional baker. I plan on making the brownies during the weekend if my schedule shall allow.