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.

Benefits of living a healthy lifestlye

When it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on what healthy living is all about. Certainly there might be some what of a disagreement on certain aspects, but I'm sure that almost everyone would agree that proper dieting, adequate rest and some amount of exercise is certainly needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I know fitting these basic things in our busy schedule might seem almost impossible, but I firmly believe that if people really focus on the rewards that healthy living has to offer, then they could make the impossible possible.

Pursuing a healthy lifestyle is extremely rewarding both mentally and physically. For one you could reduce injuries and illness, because it's no secret that poor dieting and a lack of exercise lead to such things as obesity and heart diseases. The reduction in injuries and sicknesses would ultimately lead to a reduction in health care cost. Then on the mental side of things, healthy living also helps with dealing with stress. Those few hours spent exercising allow you to take a break and free your mind from those everyday stresses of life. There are endless amount of ways that healthy living can have an impact on our life. One other way is by reducing our waist line which help tremendously with our physical appearance. And after all, who doesn't like looking good in a bath suit?

Avoiding injuries while exercising

Many people would argue that exercising has been around since the very existences of man kind. While others might say that exercising only became relevant since the start of the industrial period, when people were require to use less physical labor because of the invention of factory machinery and the assembly line. Some may even go as far as to say that exercising only became a major factor when TV and automobile was invented in the nineteen fifties for the mere fact that diabetes and heart disease was the leading cause of death during this period. But no matter when it came into existence, exercising is here, and its here to stay. However with the vast amount of injuries that can occur from exercising one has to be extremely careful in order to avoid exercise related injuries.

Completely avoiding exercise injuries could almost be considered an impossible task. Just for the simple fact that an injury could occur in so many different ways. One common way to get injured is through an accident. Whether it's from biking or from accidentally twisting your ankle during a run, accidents do happen from time to time. But injuries also occurs in other ways that could have been prevented; only if people would take the necessary precautionary measures to avoid these injuries. In order to personally avoid injuries these are the few tips I keep near and dear to my heart. I usually stretch before, during and after my exercise. "Stretching is important because it increases flexibility which lessens the chance of injuries". I always warm up before exercising no matter what. "Warm up help reduce your risk of injury and the aches and pains that comes with exercising. The physiological reason to warm up is to assist your circulatory system in pumping oxygen-rich blood to your working muscles." And finally I change up my routine, the reason I usually change up my exercise routine is simply to give my sore muscle the opportunity to heal and recover from what ever damage that might have occur during my previous exercise.

There are endless more advice out there on the subject of avoiding injuries while exercising. But along side stretching, warming up and mixing up my routine. Hydrating is also another thing that I personally use in order to avoid injuries. "Sweating is the body's major way of getting rid of excess body heat. We sweat to help regulate our body temperature. If we can't sweat (for lack of water), our body temperature spirals up and we quickly find ourselves at risk of heat injuries like heat cramps, heat stroke, and exhaustion." These few things might seem quite simple in a sense, but nevertheless these simple techniques have been helping me in avoiding injuries for many many years now. I intend to continue to use them to my advantage in order to stay injury free, and I would suggest you adapt these basic techniques if they are not already a part of your routine. Also anyone that has other interesting techniques that they would like to share, I am always open to new advice.

References cited

(2008). "Why stretching is so important to fitness." Improving Your World. Retrieved Nov 8, 2009. http://www.improvingyourworld.com/health/why_stretching_is_so_important_to_fitness_002316.html

(2009). "Ask the Experts." Sparkpeople. Retrieved Nov 8, 2009. http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=10

(2005). "Hydration and Dehydration." Runlikeagirl. Retrieved Nov 8, 2009. http://www.runlikeagirl.co.uk/running-articles/health-and-diet/hydration.php

Healthy Eating

Just about all of us could remember being forced by our parents as kids to eat our vegetables and drink our milk so we could grow up healthy and strong is what they would tell us. Now that I'm an adult and have a three year old daughter of my own, I find it ironic that the same things my parents use to force me to eat are the same things my daughter is refusing to eat almost on a daily basis. The only foods my daughter would readily eat on some occasions are, macaroni, spaghetti and meatballs and of course endless amount of junk food. The fact that my daughter hardly gets enough nutrients from a well balanced diet is starting to concern me in a major way. Even though I assume this is something all parents wrestle with at one point or another.

Healthy eating should never be considered as optional, everyone should make a strong effort to maintain a healthy diet. It's a well know fact that we need nutrients from the food we eat to nourish our bodies and produce the energy that we need on a daily basis. But aside from those basic necessities, we also need to Maintain a healthy diet to prevent things like obesity and heart disease. Plus even though there is no certainty of the cause of diabetes, research has shown that poor dieting has had a negative effect on those people living with diabetes. The bottom line to all this is what you eat could play a big roll in whether you stay healthy or become sick. Or in some extreme cases you could potentially die from consuming things that are not good for the body. For example for people who consume excess amount of fast food, that grease from the fast food could potentially clog their arteries which could result in them getting a strokes or a heart attack and if still not corrected could ultimately lead to death.

With the vast amount of information at every ones finger tips these days, there should be no excuse for not educating yourself about what healthy eating is all about. Gone are the days when people use to solely rely on health professionals to tell them whats good for them or whats not so good for their health. So for those people who are still on the side line when it comes to planing and maintaining a healthy diet, I hope you'll take the time out and plan a decent diet so you could live a long healthy life. Without waiting for extreme circumstances such as a heart attack or stroke for you to start taking what you eat seriously. I will continue to research fitness and exercise for all my reader but in the mean time you should do the same. And as for my daughter she continues to be a work in progress for me, but its one battle I intend to win eventually.

THE LONG TERM STRATEGY

The idea of going on a diet to lose a few pounds in a few weeks only seems logical if you are trying to lose weight. But the problem I have with many of these fancy diets is simply this, they almost never offer any long term solution to dieting. So people go on these diets, lose a few pounds, only to gain it all back within a few weeks. The point I try to argue with my wife almost on a daily basis is, instead of going on a temporary diet to lose a few pounds, only to gain it all back once you get off the diet, why not just permanently change your diet since you're looking to lose weight and hoping to keep that weight from ever coming back. Just like exercising I believe healthy dieting should be viewed as a ongoing process for anyone looking to live a healthy lifestyle.

Sticking to a long term diet is not so hard once you get pass the initial stage and get use to the idea of healthy eating. After being diagnosed by a stomach doctor with Gastro- Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) a few years ago. He told me to start maintaining a bland diet in order to repair my stomach and get some relief from all the pain I was experiencing at the time. Maintaining a bland diet simply means I wasn't suppose to eat any fatty, greasy or spicy food. I was only suppose to eat foods that are are soft and easy on my stomach, foods such as: low fat yogurt, macaroni and cheese, mash potatoes. And as far as meats I was allow to eat, I could eat fish, chicken turkey and occasionally I could have some steak but just a small amount. Initially all that meant to me was I am only going to take a small break from eating junk food and drinking alcohol and once I start feeling a little better then I am going right back to my old eating habits. But after really thinking about what the doctor said about junk food and alcohol, and what it does to the stomach if consume on a regular basis. I started thinking maybe I should make that temporary diet change more of a permanent one. So after coming to the realization that it was these things that caused my illness in the first place, I figure it wouldn't made much sense to recover from my illness and then go right back to the same eating habits I had before.

At first the idea of a permanent change sounded almost like an impossible task, but once I got started, I was hooked and before long I was starting to feel a lot better. But even now that I've somewhat recover from my illness, I would never consider going back to my old eating habits.There is no sense in recovering from my illness only to have the same problem occur at some time in the future because of my own negligence. And because of my own experience, I always tell people to forget temporary diets because unless you're only planning on living for a short period of time, temporary diets seems a little pointless to me.

NO PAIN NO GAIN

The mere fact that exercising can be such a painful practice is one of the main reason so many people tend to ignore all the many benefits and rewards, that exercising has to offer. But despite the pain involve, I've always enjoyed exercising. I am especially delighted on the days when I'm able to push myself a extra mile, because even though the pain was intense, that good feeling of accomplishment at the end, makes it worth all the suffering I had to endured. There is common saying in the Marine Corps that goes like this "no pain no gain" which simply means that, if you haven't really experience any pain during your exercise, then you haven't really gain anything from it. With out even having to take it to such extremes like Marines do, I believe we all should learn to appreciate the pain from exercising because in the long run, that same pain is very crucial in developing a stronger and healthier body. In this article on doctor Mirkin's website Dr Mirkin, he talked about "when muscles are damage they produce healing prostaglandins that cause muscles to become bigger and stronger than before they were exercised vigorously" (Dr Mirkin). So in other words, we all need that sore feeling we get from exercising, in order to see just about any result we're looking for.

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Andy Nevers. Besides being a proud American, I am also a proud Jamaican. Growing up on the lovely island of Jamaica was a beautiful experience for me, the weather was always warm, which meant we could play all our favorite outdoor sports all year round. A lot of the sports we played in Jamaica were somewhat unique to the Jamaican culture. So after moving to America at the age of eighteen I notice that soccer and cricket weren't viewed the same way in America as we view them in Jamaica as our most dominant sports, instead football and baseball dominate the sporting seen in America. With no one to play soccer with while living in New York I started experimenting with basketball as a way of staying in shape. While I am by no means a health nut, nor a fitness junkie, I try my best to keep my body in a healthy condition while maintaining somewhat of a decent diet. Joining the Marine Corp about five years ago has only made me more health conscious. While the other branches of service might have a somewhat relax standard as far as health and fitness, the Marine Corps has very high standards that all Marines have to live up to.

Prior to starting Eng112 I have never blogged nor have I ever followed any ones blog. So with that said I must accept the fact that I am simply just a rookie in the blogging game, but I must say that the idea of blogging for class, does seem somewhat interesting and exciting, in a sense that it offers a break from the conventional way of traditional learning. As I embark on this new experience, I am going to blog about something that I have always been interested in, something I wish to get more knowledge about; I am going to blog about health and fitness. With all that said, I do hope that all my readers get something from each of my post.


To give everyone an idea of what a game of cricket is like, I've posted a youtube video of a cricket match below.




Below is another video taken youtube honoring the members of the Jamaican soccer team.