Wellness Day Reflection

Link to presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ndzrEX3UAvps-eBjMwcg0tAQO5QCVYckR9GxP0szpto/edit?usp=sharing

In this project my partner was Divya, and we chose the topic of core strengthening. We chose this topic because we both knew that the core played an essential role in the body, but did not know to what extent it did. As an athlete, I myself, also wanted to understand the importances of the core. It is interesting to understand why we do so much core at practices, when to the common eye it seems that the core is not used that much in soccer. However, I learned that this is a common misconception and is not the case. The core makes up much of the body. Just like it sounds, it is the center of the body. Something interesting that I learned was that the core included more muscles than just the abdominal muscles. The core includes the glutes, back, and upper legs as well as the abdominal muscles. I was surprised that the core included the upper legs because normally people would not think that the core would be a part of the legs. Because of this, the core has lots of control over leg control and balance. Also, I was surprised that the core correlated towards better posture since it seems like sitting or standing up straight does not require much muscle strength. I also learned that there are different ways to exercise the core, such as isometric, concentric, and eccentric contractions. Isometric contractions are used when a person holds a certain position for a set amount of time. One example of an exercise that uses this type of contraction are planks because in a plank you hold the push-up like position. Concentric contractions are the initial contraction of the muscles, so that the muscles shorten. An example of this type of contraction is when you go up in a sit-up, since the muscles contract by shortening. Eccentric contractions are when the muscle comes out of the concentric stage, and elongates back again. An example of this is when you go back down to your back in a sit-up. The core is essential to health and wellness because it is the center to the body and holds it all together. Without the core, people would be unbalanced and have no control over their body. The core allows people to be active by just reducing chances of injury in general. Having a solid core allows people to fulfill the exercise pillar of health. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give myself a 9.5 on this project. I believe that we did an excellent job on this, but it was not perfect of course. I believe that the presentation itself was complete. We were able to explain the core and how it was important very well. However, the activity itself was a little less than perfect. It seemed a little disorganized and chaotic. Some of the instruction confused some people, so that was a drawback. Also when we demonstrated the exercises, we forgot to grab a mat for ourselves, so we were forced to do it on the tile. Besides those few things, I think that we were successful in teaching the class about the core.