Sukh's blog – EDCI 335

Learning Experience

Working at Fraser Health was a great learning experience as it was my first co-op and I was heavily involved in the project, taking on responsibilities that truly meant something to the success of the project. One of my favourite parts about this experience was that I was given the opportunity to be responsible for creating the user accounts, in the system we were implementing, for all of the staff involved in the project. Being my first co-op, this allowed to me develop many new skills and also integrate what I learned in school into the real world.

Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Sukh, I am a fourth year in the Health Information Sciences (HINF) undergraduate program. This is my last academic semester and my first time taking courses that aren’t HINF related in a while so I’m super excited to learn about new material and disciplines. I enjoy spending my spare time playing/watching sports (typical), hiking, playing board games, and I have recently taken an interest in learning about cars. My recent work experience includes two co-ops, both of which where I was in the role of a business analyst. I worked for Vancouver Coastal Health on the CST project and Fraser Health Authority. I have also volunteered for festivals including Rock the Shores and India Fest through organizations including ICCA (Indo-Canadian Cultural Association) and Atomique Productions. Last but not least I am a huge dog person, so here’s a picture of my dog, Scarlet!

Personal Learning Challenge Post #1

I have been going to the gym and working out for just over 6-ish years, and although I may not have a 6 pack yet, I have made significant progress since I began going to the gym. However, those 6 years have only consisted of these past 1-2 years of me being “serious” about the gym and training properly. This includes proper dieting and training, and not just going to the gym and lifting random weights and doing random exercises. Although I have been able to lift somewhat heavy weights, there has always been one aspect of my training that I have lacked in, and that is training related to the domain of calisthenics. Calisthenics exercises involve pure strength, and pushing your ability to perform body weight exercises (exercises involving a minimum amount of equipment, exercises you can do everywhere!). My ability to perform a high number of pull-ups, chin-ups, push-ups, has just never really been there and that is due to either me not training specifically for that, or when I do I am never consistent. This is where my personal learning challenge comes in to play. Over the course of the next 4 weeks I will be training to master the skill of performing a rep of a muscle up.

The muscle up is an advanced calisthenics exercise and is described by Sean Garner, a relatively well-known fitness professional, as “… the hardest pull-up you’ve ever done combined with the most difficult dip you’ve ever done” (1).  Yikes, I’m starting to already regret this. If you’ve never seen what a muscle up is, I’ve provided a link to a YouTube video showing a guy doing 22(!!!) muscle ups. It is essentially doing a pull up on a bar, then lifting yourself over the bar and pushing your body up until your arms are in a straight position. Sounds easy enough, right?

Learning this skill will be gruelling to say the least. The muscle-up variation that I will complete involves 4 phases that I need to be skilled in: the swing phase, pull phase, dip phase, and comedown phase.

The swing phase requires me to swing my body in such a way that when I transition into the pull phase, the swinging motion of my body will allow me to use the force created from the swing to assist with pulling my body up instead of just wasting energy on a strict pull-up.

• For this phase I will need to practice the motion of swinging my body.

The pull phase requires that I pull my body as high as possible above the bar.

• This phase will require me to practice pull-ups as well as increase my forearm strength. Development of muscles including the latissimus doris, trapezius, and subscapularis will be critical not just for the strength aspect, but also for protecting muscles in the rotator cuff and back when done properly (2).

The dip phase will be the most difficult, in my opinion. Transitioning from the pull phase to the dip phase will require me to adjust my grip, turning my hands over the bar. Then, I will have to push my entire my body up.

• This phase will require me to strengthen my shoulders (as they are already weak due to injuries) and practice dips on their own.

Lastly, there is the comedown phase. This occurs when I have successfully maneuvered myself upright, over the bar, and I will have to get back down to the ground.

• This phase will require an immense amount of abdominal & core strength in order to safely allow my body down.

As seen in this weeks reading for chapter 2 in “Teaching in a digital age”, Bloom, along with his colleagues claimed that there are three important domains of learning: cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling), and psycho-motor (doing) (3). My approach to this challenge will mainly require the cognitive and psycho-motor aspects of learning. Along the way, I will be learning new techniques and exercises that will further excel my ability to complete a muscle up. This is also relevant to the cognitive approach to learning as these next 4 weeks will involve me understanding, applying, then analyzing exercise techniques. I will also most likely be seeking new exercises, stretches, and techniques to incorporate into my training routine over the course of the 4 weeks, and then bringing all of this knowledge together when attempting a muscle up. This type of memory can be seen as semantic, as described in the reading “5R Adult Learning Assignment 5: Learning the Neuroscience and the Neuromyths” by Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh. Semantic memory includes the acquired facts, concepts, and knowledge of the external world (in my challenge this translates to all of the different exercises, techniques, etc. I will be learning over time) (3).

My overall plan will begin with me performing a preliminary test to see how far I can get attempting a muscle up, as well as recording how many reps I can do for the multiple individual exercises involved. I will be devoting a minimum of 3 days per week training specifically for the challenge, with the focus being on pull-ups, dips, core and forearm strength. As time progresses, I will move on to more complex exercises. I will be tracking progress using the notes application on my phone and then I plan to export this data to an organized spreadsheet. Additionally, I will be taking videos of my progress, which will display how much my strength and power have increased over time. I will be using a variety of resources including tutorials on YouTube, and websites (blogs, step-by-steps, etc) from reputable fitness professionals.

If anyone knows how to do a muscle up and would like to give me any advice, please feel free to!

What a muscle up looks like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS1A–3mNZ4

References used for this blog

1. https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19544134/how-to-do-a-muscleup/
2. https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/proper-foundations-a-5-step-progression-to-the-bar-muscle-up
3. https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/3-3-cognitivism/
4. https://clarissasorensenunruh.com/2019/04/20/5r-adult-learning-assignment-learning-the-neuroscience-and-the-neuromyths/

Personal Learning Challenge Update – Post #2

For the second week of the personal learning challenge, I was really hoping it would start off well. Unfortunately, I only got to train twice this week as I got sick mid-week. When I did train on Friday and Sunday, I still didn’t feel 100% so I know the data I have gathered so far should be a little higher. As for my preliminary test for the muscle up, I didn’t get quite far up and was no where near close to being able to fully turn my wrists and pull my body over the bar. Overall, it wasn’t a great week to begin my challenge but I still took the time to begin my workout log spreadsheet in excel (screenshot link provided below), and also compiled a list of exercises that I am hoping to progress to as the weeks go by, and two exercises that I will immediately implement into my routine. One of these exercises is the band pull apart. When done correctly, this exercise greatly improves muscle control within the shoulders. As previously mentioned in last week’s blog, this is something I need to already work on so it will be a perfect fit into my routine for more than just training for the muscle up. The other is the Australian pull-up, which is a pull-up, but yes you guessed it, “down under”. You do this by hanging below a bar around waist height with your feet still on the ground, and you pull your chest up to the bar. This exercise is great to do because it targets different muscles than a standard pull-up or chin-up, and yet it will help to complete more reps of a pull-up, something I need to work on greatly.

For the exercises I will be incorporating and progressing to into my routine these include:

Variations of the pull-up

• explosive pull-up
• wide pull-up
• chest to bar pull-up
• rack pull-up

Variations of the push-up

• clapping push-up
• push-up on small exercise ball
• decline push-up
• weighted push-up

As mentioned in Destin Sandlin’s “Backwards bicycle” video, knowledge is not understanding [1]. This can be applied to my situation about knowing how to do a muscle up versus actually understanding how to do a muscle up. Yes, I already know how to do one. You pull yourself up over a bar, extending your arms, and come back down. But do I fully understand all of the mechanics and proper technique involved? No, not yet. This involves actually putting in the effort of researching about the movements involved, and then doing them. Which brings me to the learning by doing teaching approach seen in this weeks reading. This is one of Daniel Pratt’s five teaching approaches, and certainly applies to my situation as I can’t just watch videos of people doing pull-ups, push-ups, etc, etc. I need to actually do them, learn about them, progress to the next exercise, and repeat [2].

To finish off, I really need to push myself this week to get on the right track. I will need to complete a minimum of 4 days of training to catch up. This is something I am looking forward to being able to do, so I need to fully put the work in.

Workout Log Update #1

https://imgur.com/a/TvmgXZ7

References used for this blog

1. Backwards bicycle
2. Learning by doing approach

Personal Learning Challenge Update – Post #3

This week has gone much better than last week and has gone according (for the most part) to plan! I trained 3 days this week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) and felt a lot better mentally and physically than my training sessions last week due to me not being sick this time. Although, I am finding it a little challenging to fit my normal workout routine with this as my muscle-up training sessions takes around 45 minutes, and by the end of it I am quite tired. On the other hand, I know if I complete my normal workout routine before, my energy level will be quite low for the muscle-up training routine. So, one of my goals for this week is to get a little better at managing time in order to incorporate both of my routines into my week, definitely cant skip leg day that’s for sure! Additionally, I noticed that starting my routines on Thursday and causing a big gap between them is not the best idea, I want to keep the days between sessions at a maximum 3. So if I end one week with a session on Sunday, I need to get back by Wednesday latest. My body really hates resting when it comes to exercising, and I lose my “gains” quite quickly.

In regards to this weeks readings, one of the topics that stood out which is extremely relatable to my challenge is that the design of my plan, and any fitness-related plan, must be “sufficiently flexible to allow considerable customization to meet the educational needs..” [1]. When it comes to planning for a fitness goal, one must allow their overall design to be adaptable as they will learn about new exercises and techniques along the way, which is something I have already begun to experience. Social presence was another topic mentioned, and this “sets the environmental conditions for higher learning” [1]. In my situation, my social presence has been my fellow friends from my social circle and the gym that I have been conversing with about my muscle-up challenge. Through this, they have given me tips and advice, along with showing me in person proper form for certain exercises. I also find that when I talk out loud to people this helps me learn. Especially when the person I am talking to is deeply interested in the topic. Lastly, something I need to be aware of is to not incorporate any exercises into my specific routine that have nothing to do with training for a muscle-up. This is something that I believe I have done well with so far, and hope to keep up. In the readings it is mentioned to “avoid assignments and activities that are not central to the topic or are considered optional” [1].

Overall. I am excited for next weeks training and feel like I am on the right path!

Workout log update

References used for this blog

1. http://aupress.ca/books/120229/ebook/02_Vaughan_et_al_2013-Teaching_in_Blended_Learning_Environments.pdf

Personal Learning Challenge Update – Post #4

I mentioned last week that my goal was to try and incorporate more of my own personal routine into my week. I managed to get 3 days in for the muscle up routine and 2 for my separate routine, along with a day of cardio in which I mixed with the muscle up routine on Saturday. I have been starting to see some progress in my normal routine as well, and this can definitely be contributed to the calisthenics training. It is commonly known that when you hit plateau in your training, you need to switch up your exercises and work different muscle groups. For the past while I have been sticking to specific exercises, and begun to hit plateaus, so this addition of calisthenics training has allowed me to work different parts of muscle groups that I wasn’t hitting before with my normal routine.

For the coming week, I’m hoping to add/replace a few exercises into my routine in order to avoid that plateau. I’ve chosen a couple from the list I posted a few weeks ago and they include:

• Decline push-up
• Weighted push-up

I’m not quite feeling confident enough in my ability to perform the other variations of the pull-up so I’ll switch between these variations of the push-up for now. The decline push-up consists of me putting my feet up on a bench, then performing a push-up with my hands on the ground. As for the weighted push-up, I will start off with putting a 25lb weight on my back while performing a push-up, and hopefully progress to higher weights as time passes.

In relation to this weeks readings and the topic of social media discussed in chapter 7 of “Teaching in a Digital Age”, I’ve found that social media has definitely been my friend throughout this process. Social media can be described as a variety of web tools that can be used for general and educational use [1]. Just by searching up specific hashtags like #muscleup, #muscleuptraining and #muscleupprogression, I have been able to find several pages where they show specific exercises that allowed them to progress to a muscle up or they have other videos of them doing muscle-ups that I use for motivation. Social media is a very powerful tool and when used the right way and it can become useful in the learning context.

Workout Log Update #3

References used for this blog

1. https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/9-5-5-social-media/

Interactive Learning Resource Peer Review – Group #12

Link to resource reviewed: https://akx335.wixsite.com/mysite

Group members: Alice Park, Kat Gee, Xinyu Zhang

Hi group 12! This is my review of your interactive learning resource. I’ll start off by giving you my feedback on what I believe you have done well, and then I have split up some things that I believe could use some work in several sections below.

Beginning with the “Physical Well-being” tab, pointing out what the videos are about is a nice touch, as many people will just say “please watch this video below about ___ “then put the video in. The arrows are an overall nice touch and give an interactive feel to it. Telling the learner where to go is also really nice to have and you guys have done this. Something you could do is provide a hyperlink that takes you to the next section in those sentences. Not something that is necessary, just an idea. Going along with that, the The first forum post provides a good way to get the learner involved with the material and with other classmates. The instructions are also very clear and easy to follow, the use of bolding in this activity is well done. Next, in the “Emotional/Social Well-being” tab, I like the interactive activity “How are you feeling at this moment?”, it allows the learner to engage with the topic right at the beginning. In the “Academic well-being” section, there are a lot of different interactive activities. I especially like how you linked the UVic webpage for academic wellness with the “CLICK ME!”, and the videos are very relevant as well. For all tabs, the use of allowing learners to leave comments is well done and is a good way to get conversations going. Lastly, citations were all well done, and appropriate references were listed in the last section.

Things to work on and improve:

Learning outcomes

• Try to use a different word other than “explain” for all three learning outcomes. I do understand what you are trying to say with the learning outcomes, however there could be some other words to use. Here’s a link with to a pdf with verbs that could be useful! –> https://www.utica.edu/academic/Assessment/new/Blooms%20Taxonomy%20-%20Best.pdf

Interactivity

• There could be room for a quiz at the end of the overall course, just to get the student engaged with all of the material to end off the resource.

Presentation

• The background for the “Introduction” tab is a little distracting and makes the text hard to read.
• Highlight the three topics in the “Introduction” tab so that they stand out and are separated from the rest of the text, bolding them could be a good way to do this.
• In the “Emotion/Social Well-being” section, I just noticed that there is inconsistency in spacing in the steps for the “How are you feeling at this moment?” exercise. For example,  “Step 1:” “Step2:” “Step3:”
• Be consistent with displaying arrows to videos, there is no arrow on the “Emotional/Social Well-being” tab for the video, as well as for one of the videos on the “Academic Well-being” tab.

Grammar/spelling

• The spacing of “?” in first paragraph. Screenshot provided below.

• Introduction is misspelled “Introductiont” in the first section under “Physical Well-being”. Screenshot provided below.

• In the third bullet point in the “signs you need to improve your academic wellness” part, minute is misspelled “miunte”. Screenshot provided below.

Citations

• Be consistent of the text size for the reference list.

Personal Learning Challenge – Final Post

Well, this is it! I swear it was just yesterday that I was getting my plan ready on what my routine would look like and how I would achieve the goal of completing a muscle up, and now it has all come to an end. Well, not actually, though. I’ll get to that at the end of my blog post. First, I just wanted to provide a quick little update on my progress from the previous 2 weeks since there was no blog post last week. Beginning with last week, I saw an improvement particularly in my dips and chin ups. I was able to push to 8 dips consistently in every workout, this is something I haven’t been able to do for over 3 months, so it felt amazing. Secondly, I got up to 5 chin ups. It wasn’t just about me getting to 5 chin ups, all 5 felt so much easier than before. So, 2 good things that I noticed, my workout log can be seen here. But then this last week, a close family member of mine passed away. I was with my family or doing school work all week, so I didn’t end up going to the gym at all, not even for my own personal routine. Its an extremely unfortunate thing to happen, and I just couldn’t find the motivation to bring myself to the gym. However, I will now go on and provide a summary of my overall experience, beginning with going week-by-week for the weeks with blog posts, and then ending it off by what worked for me and what did not throughout the weeks as a whole.

Week 1

In my first week, I did a really good job at researching what exercises are required to include in a muscle-up training routine and what a muscle-up actually is in terms of breaking it down into different phases. This allowed me to be organized when putting my routine and overall plan together, and gave it some nice structure. I will admit, I was a little afraid of the challenge just from looking at videos of extremely jacked dudes performing reps on reps of muscle-ups, but at the same time this got me extremely motivated going into week 2.

Week 2

Week 2 was definitely a let down for me as I was really looking forward to getting a good start on my training, but I got extremely sick and only got train 2 times. Even though I did get to the gym twice, those workouts were tough to get through and I put out some very weak numbers. However, during this week I did choose two exercises to implement into my routine: the band pull-apart and the Australian row. Boy am I glad about that because not only are those tough exercises and good to do when training for a muscle-up, I’ve seen improvements in both of them over the weeks. The band pull-apart was especially important to implement because my chiropractor did recommend that exercise for me to do to increase my stability in my shoulders.

Week 3

In week 3,  I started to get into the swing of things and felt a lot better than the previous week, but here I began to stumble across the problem of time management between my normal routine and the muscle-up routine, and making sure to not give myself too much time between my training days. This week, in general, made me realize how difficult it is incorporating two separate routines into my week.

Week 4

In week 4,  I successfully managed to fulfill my goal of managing my time between my normal routine and my muscle-up routine and was proud of doing that so quickly and efficiently. I also started to see progress in my normal routine (for dumbbell press, shoulder press, back exercises, etc) that were definitely associated with my calisthenics exercises. It was really nice to see this progress and this added some extra motivation for me, as I have been struggling to see real progress for a while.

To summarize things, I’ve realized, especially thinking about this learning challenge this week, that fitness goals take a LONG time to achieve results. Especially with something like a muscle-up, it is an extremely difficult feat to achieve and takes time, lots of time. It is not a race. Especially for someone like me, who at the beginning of training struggled to complete 3 reps of pull-ups and was even surprised I was able to achieve that number. Along with that, my shoulder strength was relatively weak, something that is needed to complete a muscle-up. Some things that worked well for me during my challenge, was utilizing social media and online discussion forums. Through this, I was able to grasp what was needed to be done to achieve my goal, and there were many people that were struggling with the same things as me, so it was nice to know I was not alone. Another thing was being organized and creating a workout log. The log gives me a clear look at how I have progressed. Although, I know that I could clean it up a little bit more. Something that didn’t work well for me initially, was my time management. As previously discussed, my time management wasn’t the best with both of my routines and I had to readjust quickly in order to not sway away too much.

A classmates post that I found particularly meaningful to me was Chloe’s “Brush it off: Week 6” post. This is because she also had a learning challenge that was fitness related, so it was really nice to see how much achieving fitness goals and seeing results means to someone else. It definitely resonates with me and I am familiar with the feeling.

To end things off, I am extremely happy I started this challenge, and there is no way I am done it yet. After I will be done school this coming week, I am hopping right back on the gain train and training to complete a muscle-up. I know what it takes, and I want it to happen.