My English 112 blogging experience

I could still remember that very first evening I walked in my English 112 class. We were already on the second week of the semester and I had missed the very first class of the semester. Upon arrival to the class I met a professor who wasn’t very pleased with the fact that I had missed our first class, however after giving me an extensive lecture she went on to explain to me what the class was going to be all about, and also what I needed to do to make up for the class I had missed. After hearing from the professor that the class was going to be a blogging class, I then said to myself, what the hell is a blog? I mean, I’ve heard of blogs before, but I wasn't exactly sure how to create one, and most of all, I didn’t think I was going to be able to maintain one for the next eight weeks. But nonetheless, with a little hint of reluctancy I eventually chose my topic and wrote my introductory blog. In this introductory blog I told my audience a little about my personal background, then after which I went on to explain why I chose to do my blog on the subject of health and fitness. After publishing that very first blog I was now fired up about this whole idea of blogging for an English class. After all, I knew it could have been a lot worst; we could have talking about stuff like Shakespeare, which probably would have put me to sleep for the entire semester.

Then by the time we got midway through the semester, all of a sudden I felt like I was running out of ideas to blog about, and at that point in time, writing blogs started becoming less exciting, and more of a constant struggle to get through. For the next two weeks or so the only thing that kept me motivated was those weekly feed backs from the professor and also from the other student’s in the class.

To summarize my blogging experience in English 112, I would definitely have to admit that it was somewhat of a different experience from all the other English classes I had ever taken. And the fact that we were only required to write one major paper at the end of the class, made the experience a lot more enjoyable. Now that it’s finally over I’m certainly going miss receiving those feed backs, but nevertheless, I’m still going to continue blogging, because I think that if I continue to write blogs, it could ultimately help me to become a much better writer.

Having trouble focusing

Normally I would write my blogs over the weekends but this past weekend I had to work. And for that very reason I've spent the past few days struggling to come up with topics and ideas to write about. Since yesterday I’ve decided to write a blog about "appreciating the beauties of the human body," but I just haven’t been able generate any real flow. The main problems I’ve been having is concentrating and staying focus. Every time I sit down to write my mind tends to wander off on something else. Below is the introductory paragraph of the blog I’ve been trying to work on for the pass two days, if anyone have any good ideas about this topic or any other topics I could write about, please don’t hesitate to share your opinion.

The human body comes in so many different variations. Whether we’re talking size, shape or just simply our various skin tones, it’s safe to say no two bodies look exactly the same. With that concept in mind many of us, who are not naturally gifted, are force to get in the gym and work extremely hard to obtain that beautiful looking body of our dreams. And even though a beautiful looking body is base on each individual’s opinion, certainly we could all agree on some key features in determining someone who has a great looking body. When it comes to determining the ideal female’s body many would readily agree that a more slender and shapely looking female would be consider having a better looking body than one that’s not as slender or shapely. As far as us guys we need to be somewhat bulky with lean muscles in order to be even considered as having a great looking body. But in my personal opinion I think people should first appreciate the way they look, because not everyone could a Brad Pitt or Kim Kardashian.

Potential sources

I must admit that this idea of blogging for an English class seemed a little weird to me at first. But the moment I chose my topic and started writing, right then and there it started becoming much clearer to me why an instructor would want to use this unconventional style of teaching in a classroom setting. The reason I believe blogging was chosen as a way of educating us students is mainly because of its effectiveness. Blogging I believe, forces us to get creative and venture outside the normal realm of academic writing. From the moment a student create a blog they then realize that they don’t have to stick solely to using written words, instead they could utilize things like images, videos, music or any other media they could think of that would better get their points across. Blogging also presents a sort of competitiveness, the fact that students know other students are reading their blogs, helps to create somewhat of a competitive atmosphere, because of this small amount of competitive pressure, all of a sudden every one's working hard to present their best blog. The other reason I think this method of learning is proving to be so effective to me is, as the author of a particular blog you get to decide what materials gets published on your blog, and as a result I think people are taking full advantage of all the resources available to them in the blogging world.

Well, now that this exiting class blogging is nearing the end, we’re now face with putting together an analysis paper, this paper will serve as a summary of our experience as academic bloggers. So in keeping that in mind, and the fact that I had to come up with three potential sources to support my analysis paper, I went out and search the enormous community of health and fitness blogs. After analyzing quite a few blog sites in my community, I was able to narrow down my choices to what seems to be three reputable sources. These blogs sites came across to me as just simply perfect to support my analysis paper.

The first blog I want to talk about is a blog from a DC fitness trainer that goes by the name Doug. The first thing that caught my attention as I was reading through Doug’s blog was the fact that he was an actual experienced expert in his field. Besides being an excellent fitness trainer Doug has also done things like,

Contributing to Men’s Fitness magazine, ACE Certified News, IDEA Fitness
Journal, and AtoZFitness.com. Featured fitness consultant for a variety of
newspaper and magazine articles, as well as TV and radio appearances. Media rep
for TEAM Arthritis, an exercise program sponsored by Pfizer and the American
Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine. Fitness modeling in Miami. [Murphy]

The other things I found to be appealing about Doug’s blog was his essay to follow page layout, and also the smooth flow of his words as he wrote his incredibly informative post. In my opinion Doug's blog definitely appears to be the strongest potential sources for my analysis paper.


The reason I chose this next blog to be among my final picks is mainly because, one, its an health blog that supports a lot of my ideas. It support ideas like healthy dieting, it also supports the idea of staying away from foods that are potentially harmful to our bodies. But the thing that interested me the most about this blog was, the fact that the author seemed to be well informed about her topic, and with that she provides extensive information in the form of well researched data. Over all I found this blog to be extremely informative and that’s why I chose it to be one of the potential finalists for my analysis paper.

This third and final potential finalist was basically chosen because of its similarities to my blog in the sense it runs parallel with what I'm trying to accomplish with my blog. This blog consistently follows my mission in informing and educating the public about health and fitness. It also talks about a lot of the same issues that I’ve covered on my blog site as well. Topics like losing weight, fad diets, diabetes and maintaining good health. Even though I might not necessarily agree on the style and formatting of this blog, mainly the color, I think more importantly we share common interest about the things that matters most, health and fitness. So with these three great potential sources it seems like I'm going to be in good shape once I sit down to write my analysis paper.

The benefits of having a personal fitness trainer

For the many of us who maintain a busy schedule, we could barely find enough time to exercise, let alone make time to study proper workout techniques. However, even if we somehow learned proper exercise techniques on our own, we would still have to try our very best to stay current with all the many exercise equipments the gym has to offer. This is why I think having a personal fitness trainer might not be such a bad Idea, because when you have a fitness trainer your only worry is to make it to the gym with enough energy to make it through your training session, the rest is up to the trainer to worry about. After all, we turn to experts for just about every other area of our lives. If our car needs maintenance, we take it to an auto mechanic. If our hair needs grooming, we go see a hairstylist. There is even an expert solution for when our pets get sick, we take it to see a veterinarian. So as a precaution to prevent injuries and get the best from our work out, why not call on a certified fitness trainer?

No matter how knowledgeable you think you are when it comes to health and fitness. I still think you should leave it to the experts to do their jobs and get you the results you’re looking for in the gym. Back before I suffered a shoulder injury from doing martial arts training. I too had a personal trainer for a few months and the experience was amazing. In those few months I learned more about working out than I ever did my entire life. Because not only did I receive proper demonstration of various exercise techniques, my fitness trainer also designed a good fitness plan that was just right for me to accomplish my fitness goals. He also gave me nutritional information that got me started on a much healthier diet than the one I was previously on. So if you are sitting on the side line wondering if a personal training is the way to go, I would strongly recommend giving it a shot. Because with the expert advice a personal trainer offers, you will start to see excellent results in no time.

Holidays

Traditionally Thanksgiving and Christmas is when just about everyone tends to pause from their regular healthy diets so they could enjoy holiday meals with friends and families. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with indulging in the holiday festivities, we should try our very best not to overindulge. This idea of eating in moderation should be especially appealing to those people who have a hard time losing weight after the holidays. Sure, the holidays are all about having a good time eating and drinking with friends and family. But then there is always that dreadful feeling when all the festivity is over and you realized that all the dieting and exercising you have been doing for the past year has now gone down the drain. And the main reason this happened was mainly because you weren’t exercising self control or eating in moderation.

The key is not to try and avoid any particular food unless of course you were told to do so by your doctor. But try to eat small potions instead, this will lesson your chances of over eating and as a result give you less calories to burn off after the holidays. However eating is not the only thing we should avoid overindulging in, we should also consume alcoholic beverages in moderation. Aside from the fact that alcohol is addictive, alcohol in excess is also not good for the body. To better understand why alcohol should be consumed moderately, take a brief look at this article. If some how you've carefully followed these considerations, consumed alcohol in moderation and ate small portions, but still woke up after the holidays and realized you’ve gained a few pounds. Don’t beat yourself up too much, instead go back to exercising regularly and eventually you’ll be back to your normal size.

Gaining healthy weight

With just about everyone focusing their attention on weight loss in America, little or no thought is hardly ever given to the few people in our society who struggle to gain a few pounds. Primarily far more Americans struggle with the issue of being overweight, but that should certainly not take away from the fact that there are people in our society who struggle on a daily basis to gain healthy weight. At one extreme end of the spectrum there are people who unsuccessfully struggle to gain weight. These same people are generally extremely thin and usually have a more weakened immune system, and as a result they are more likely to contract several diseases. There are also those who suffer from eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. But aside from these extreme issues, there are also those people including myself, that find it extremely difficult to gain and maintain weight because of high metabolism. According to ditionary.com metabolism can be define as "the chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized."

People with high metabolism burn calories at a much faster rate than those with lower metabolism, and as a result it’s extremely difficult for someone with high metabolism to gain and maintain their desired weight. While there are things people could do to increase their metabolism such as exercise more or eat four to five small meals a day, there is hardly anything you could do to reduce a high metabolism. Generally high metabolism is either something you were born with or inherited. Ironically many people with low metabolism usually think that having high metabolism should only be considered a blessing and nothing else. While those of us with high metabolism are wishing that it would slow down even for one day. This issue of having high metabolism is found in both males and females. So while there are some guys who would like to beef up and look like someone from a fitness magazine. There are also females out there who wouldn’t mind being able to gain a few inches on areas like their butt and thighs.

The advice that I would give to anyone seeking to gain healthy weight is this, it is very possible to gain weight. Even with a high metabolism, gaining weigh on all the right areas of your body is very possible. I had a life changing experience in 2007; I was able to accomplish my goal of gaining 35 pounds, which brought me from weighting 160 to 195 pounds. This accomplishment was definitely not the easiest, but I was determining to succeed. First I had to increase the amount of time spent in the gym working out. So then I was in the gym five to six days a week, some weeks I would even go the entire week without taking a break. This was mainly because my motivation wouldn’t allow me to take a day off. With that dramatic increase in exercising, my body started craving more food. To satisfy that craving I then change my diet to a high protein and carbohydrate diet. The protein to build muscle and the carbs to supply the energy I needed to keep up with my routine. Once I got to my desired weight, I then gradually started eating a little less. The next step was to change my exercise routine to a more high intensity work out plan. Unfortunately things took an unexpected turn after that. Right before I made the change, I suffered a shoulder injury during a martial arts training session. And as a result I had to give up working out, at least temporarily. It's been two years now and I'm still waiting on a full recovery. But even with this minor set back, I certainly haven't given up hope. So as soon as I get the green light from my doctor, I'll definitely be back in the gym working on gaining my fair share of healthy weight.

Losing weight the correct way

Losing weight gradually is not only the ideal way, it's also the healthy way as well. Buying into short term fad diets might give you the temporary results you're looking for, but when it comes to losing and keeping the weight of, I know everyone would rather a more permanent fix. Too often people get wrap up in fad diets only to be disappointed when they don't see the same results that were promise by TV commercials. So to avoid disappointments I recommend a more reliable way to lose weight. I believe using the systematic approach is the best way to lose weight.

A sudden change in diet or exercise is definitely not good for the body. The best thing to do is to gradually work these things in your life. The first step in working these things in your life is by gradually changing your diet. The idea of a gradual change refers to slowly reducing the amount of junk food you consume on a daily basis. While keeping in mind that it's not the end of the world if you suddenly fall back to your old habits, as long as you keep trying to get to where you know you need to be and don't completely give up. The next area to focus on is breaking up your meals into three or four portions for the day, this will gradually reduce that bad habit of wanting a snack in between meals. Mainly because this is where a lot of people tend to eat the majority of the junk food they consume. Ultimately it's going to take a lifestyle change to lose the weight you want to lose, but to key thing to keep in mind is, gradual steps.