BLOG POSTSThis page is where I will elaborate on my progress with my Genius Hour Project. I will upload blogs weekly. |
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Week 12 - The Finale5/15/2021 My Final ProgressThis is the final week of the project. This week I kind of got things together and ready to present my final project. I did workout once this week. I did quad extensions, shoulder press, and bench press. But since this week I am focusing on my final project, I will explain my final project. I will creating a google slides presentation with a video of my workouts I completed embedded in the slideshow. I think creating this slideshow will not be hard to do because I am going to make the slideshow simple so the audience can listen to me talk and not be distracted by the slides. The thing I am scared about is the time constraints on the presentation. I have to make it between six and eight minutes long, and I am worried my presentation will be longer or less than the limit. Hopefully I can go through the presentation a couple times before class so I am ready. My final numbers for this project are a weight of 142 pounds (goal was 145-150), 175 pound bench press (goal was 185), and 275 pound back squat (goal was 275). I am happy with these numbers considering I thought I would have a lot more time to workout than I did when I started the project. What did I get out of this project?I learned many things while going through this project. One of the biggest things I have realized is how hard it is to find time to workout while in baseball season. I practice everyday, so I have almost no time to workout. I realized that staying dedicated to a diet and workout plan for twelve straight weeks is very hard to do. I enjoy working out and I will go workout whenever I have time, but forcing myself to eat more than I wanted to was hard to do. I learned that it is a lot harder to gain weight than I thought it was going to be. I feel like I gained a lot of strength through working out, but I don't feel like I've gained a lot of weight while trying to eat more. Final ConclusionOverall, I feel like I did a great job with this project. I did as much as I could to get better during my baseball season. Practicing everyday has made it very hard to workout, but I worked out when I can. The biggest struggle I had was eating more so I can gain weight. I had a hard time eating when I didn't want to. I liked working out and gain muscle, but gaining weight wasn't that easy.
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Week 11 - Picture Time5/10/2021 How did I workout this week?This week, I was proud of myself because I was able to go to the gym on Sunday with my friend to get a good workout in and take pictures and videos of our progress. Taking these pictures and videos are important in showing me how my technique is and how farm I have come since the beginning. I had baseball the whole week and on Saturday, so Sunday was the only day I could go. I like that I was able to help my friend monitor his progress with his project and he could help me monitor my progress with my project. While I was there to take videos of myself to see how far I have come, I also was able to get a great workout in. I did a bench press workout, back squat workout, bicep curl workout, shoulder press workout, and jumped rope to cap it off. Since this was the only day I could go this week, I liked how I was able to hit a lot of different muscles in the same workout. Bench press worked my shoulders (deltoids) and chest (pectoralis major), back squat worked all of my legs (but mostly quadriceps), bicep curls worked my biceps and forearm muscles (brachioradialis), shoulder presses worked my shoulders (deltoids), and jumping rope worked my calves (gastrocnemius and soleus). Meal HighlightThis week, I just wanted to highlight one meal that was really good for this project because it had a ton of protein and a lot of vitamins. For Mother's Day, my dad cooked a steak entree for my family. The first part of the plate was the steak. It was a filet that was very thick and protein filled. Steak is one of the most protein packed meats you can get, so this filet was very good for me. The sides included sauteed onions, asparagus, and a baked potato. The onions and asparagus were good vegetables that included a lot of vitamins for me. The baked potato was good because it had vitamins, but it also had a lot of calories and that helps me gain weight. Overall, this meal was probably the best meal for me I have during this whole project. It was delicious as well.
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Weeks 9 & 10 - The Home Stretch5/5/2021 ProgressHonestly, I have been slacking on the working out part of the weight gaining process. I have baseball Monday through Friday, so I have a hard time finding time to work out. But even though I haven't worked out much, I have eaten much more like I said I would. I have tried to incorporate more protein bars and mini meals in between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I currently weighed in at 138 pounds on the dot this week. Not where I want to be, but I am maintaining my gain from the beginning of the project. If you remember, my original goal was 145 to 150 pounds. My real goal was 145, but 150 would've been great. With only a couple weeks left, I have realized it is going to be hard to be able to gain that five to seven pounds with this limited time. I am happy with how my project has gone so far, but I wish I could've gained more weight. One thing I am very proud of myself for is my dedication to eating more each week and working out whenever I can. Even though I haven't seen much growth in weight, I have definitely accomplished the other half of my goal. I have really got stronger in the weight room and I have seen a big difference on the baseball field because of it. My whole goal was to gain weight and get stronger so I can get better at baseball, so the strength I have gained from working out has definitely accomplished that. What does the rest of the project look like?So, I only have 2 weeks left pretty much. Weeks 11 and 12 are going to be weeks were I kind of finish up some things and focus on the final presentation of this project. I will do a final weigh in to measure if I have decreased, stayed the same, or increased my weight over the 12 week time period. My prediction is that I will be around the same weight as when I started. This isn't what I wanted, but I have gotten so much stronger and I feel like that is a bigger success than anything. I will continue to eat as much protein as possible and workout when I don't have baseball.
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Week 7 & 8 - Spring Break Gains4/12/2021 My ProgressWeek 7 was Spring Break, and I went to the beach on Spring Break. I worked out once before I left that Tuesday and I did a lower body day. I did back squats, Bulgarian split squats, and calf raises. I worked up to about 75 percent of my max on back squat, and that was pretty hard to do. My max on back squat is currently 270 pounds. But the good thing about going on vacation was that I got to eat some great, protein-packed food. One example of these were fish tacos. At the beach, I always love to get some kind of seafood everywhere I go. It is my favorite. These fish tacos were great for me because I got two tacos and each one of them had a big piece of fish in them. The tacos had the piece of fish, some slaw on top, lettuce, and some kind of sauce on it. They were delicious and very good for my weight gaining process. Another good meal I had at the beach were fruit pancakes. The pancakes had protein in them, and I got some blueberries and strawberries on top of them. This was my kind of desert for the week I guess. My Weekly ResultsThis week I weighed in at around 139 which was expected after not working out that much since I was at the beach during the week. I hit 260 on my back squat before I left, which means I can work up from there in the last stretch of my project. I just need to eat more and find ways to workout more in the coming weeks even though I have baseball everyday now. I can't give up, I need to hit the 145 mark so I can accomplish my goal. I am going to start going to workout on mornings during the week I don't have school so I have time to get back, do homework, and then go to practice.
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Week 6 - What I Eat3/29/2021 What do I eat?![]() This week I am going to be talking about something different. Along with my progress, I will be talking about two of my main food sources for quick meals throughout the day. I think that these meals are the most important because they are filled with protein and I can eat them quickly throughout the day. This is the chicken and rice packet that I eat a lot. It contains chicken, rice, and mixed vegetables. I love it because I only have to microwave it for 3 minutes. This mini meal has 15 grams of protein. If eat about 4 of these a week, then I will an extra 60 grams of protein a week. If I can continue to eat these with the Alfredo bowls I eat, my protein intake will continue to increase and I should see an increase in strength and weight. ![]() This is the Chicken Alfredo bowl that I eat often. Whenever I am not feeling the chicken and rice packet, I eat this. I love this because I only have to heat it up for 6 minutes before it is ready. This meal has 23 grams of protein, which is really good for a snack in between meals. I eat this every day that I am at school, and eat it about three times a week when I am at home. What workouts did I do this week?This week, I was able to workout two times which is more than usual because of my baseball schedule. On Friday I did a chest workout. I did 4 sets of 12 reps of dumbbell bench press, 3 sets of 12 close presses, 3 sets of 10 static presses, 3 sets of 10 dumbbell flies, and then 3 sets of 10 pushups. This killed my chest. On Saturday, I did another upper body workout but this time I did more of an arm and back workout. I did lat pull-downs, tricep curls, bicep curls, and shoulder presses. Weekly ResultsThis week, I weighed in at 140 pounds. This is improvement based on past weeks. I feel like I am getting stronger from working out, I just know that my challenge is on the eating side. I need to continue to increase my protein intake each week so I can continue to gain weight. I am happy with where I am in the process, I just have to finish these next 6 weeks off stronger than the first 6 weeks.
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Week 5 - Technique3/21/2021 This Week's ProgressThis week I am going to talk about something different that is still one of the most important parts of this project. Before I go into it, I will talk about how I did this week. This week, I weighed in at 139 pounds. This is around what I have been the last couple weeks. I think if I start to drink more protein drinks, I should be good. Whenever I am not doing anything, I can drink protein drinks without thinking and this will give me another 30 grams of protein quickly. Moving on to the main topic of discussion for this week, I will talk about technique in the gym. TechniqueOne thing that I take pride in when working out in the gym, I take pride in my technique and how I carry myself. I make sure I always have the right form so I don't hurt myself and I can get the maximum gain possible from the workout. I learned the correct form and how to work things at the last place I used to workout. I really appreciate this because this allows me to move on with working out and having an idea on how to work out the right way. I am bench pressing in this picture. I try to bench press every upper body day. It strengthens the chest muscles and a little bit of the shoulder muscles. As you can see, I have my arms a little bit more than shoulder width apart. Then I have my hands narrow with my arms, so my wrists don't bend and stretch when benching. By keeping my hands more up-right, it stabilizes the bar and puts less pressure on my arms. I also try to keep my back arched. This protects your back when benching and puts less pressure on it. When bringing the bar down, I lightly press it against my chest coming down. After hitting my chest, I thrust up quickly and controllable. I try to generate explosive movements because these movements help me with sports. I will continue to break down my form on different workouts I do so you can understand the workouts I do and how I do them. Form is something that I need to master when working out so my body can stay healthy and I can get the most out of the workout as possible. I worked out twice this week, one weightlifting by myself and one conditioning workout with my baseball team. At baseball, we working on core and lower body when doing conditioning. An example of a workout we did was sit ups with a medicine ball, medicine ball throws, and wall sits with the medicine ball. ConclusionThis week was very good because I got to have a weightlifting workout and a team conditioning workout. These will get me much stronger and help me get better with sports. If I can stay consistent with these workouts and then continue to eat a lot, I should be able to meet my goal.
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Week 4 - Eating More3/15/2021 What did I eat this week?This week I tried to eat a lot more because I didn't eat as much as I had liked to last week and because I only going to be able to workout one time this week. So, my key focus this week was eating little things the more often. For example, a chicken alfredo microwaved bowl, or some simple chicken and rice. I tried to have little protein packed mini meals throughout the week, along with my three main meals a day. Everyday I started my day out with eggs and bacon. I feel like this is important because it allows me to get my day started with some protein. This sets the tone for the rest of the day. For lunch, I had a microwaved chicken and rice bowl when I was at school. When I was at home, I had either 3 mini pizzas or chicken alfredo. On Friday for lunch, I had a chicken biscuit combo from Bojangles. I ate my best meals for dinner this week. This week my mom made a lot of great dishes for dinner. An example of one of these dishes were barbecue chicken sliders with some pasta and mixed vegetables. What workouts did I do this week? This week I was only able to workout one time. I had a baseball practice or game on everyday except for Friday, so I worked out on Friday. On Friday, I did a mostly upper body day. I worked my abdomin and my arms, along with my back. I did 3 sets of 10 curls, 3 sets of 10 tricep pull downs, 3 sets of 10 shoulder press, and then a bench press workout. I did 5 sets of 10 of 50 percent of my max. 50 percent of my max is 90 pounds, so I did that for a total of 50 times. I finished the day with a abdominal and back workout where I did 3 sets of 20 sit ups and 3 sets of 10 lat pull downs. Before I left I did 2 sets of 15 calf raises as well. ResultsThis week I thought I ate more than last week. This was mostly because I didn't eat much the week before and I was only able to workout once this week, so I had to eat more to balance it out. I weighed in at 138 pounds on Sunday. I am showing slow improvement, but hopefully I can be around that 145-150 pound mark by the end of this period.
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Week 3 - Staying Dedicated3/8/2021 What did I eat this week?This week, I don't think I ate enough for me to maintain a steady increase in weight over the next 12 weeks. I will need to ramp it up next week. On Monday I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast, two mini pizzas for lunch, and my mom's beef stroganoff for dinner. On Tuesday, I woke up late and had a chicken biscuit from Bojangles, and then my mom made barbecue chicken for dinner. In between those meals I had a protein shake. On Wednesday, I had bacon and eggs, a microwaved Chicken Alfredo, and a chicken quesadilla from Taco Bell. On Thursday, I woke up to cereal, then had chicken and rice for lunch, and a chicken biscuit from Bojangles before my baseball game. Lastly on Friday, I had bacon and eggs, three beef tacos for lunch, and a bratwurst sausage meal for dinner. Overall, I ate pretty good this week but I need to continue to eat more each week. What workouts did I do this week?I was only able to workout twice this week because I had a baseball game on Tuesday and Thursday, so I decided to take Wednesday off. When I worked out on Monday, I had an upper body day. I did 3 sets of 10 tricep pull downs, 3 sets of 10 bicep curls, and 3 sets of 10 lat pull downs. Then after this set, I decided to max out on bench to see where I was. I maxed out my bench at 175 pounds, and almost got 185. I hope to work toward 185 pounds soon. On Friday, I did 3 sets of 8 Bulgarian split squats, 3 sets of 10 leg press (increasing weight as rounds go on), 3 sets of 10 quadricep extensions, and I finished with 1.5 miles on the stationary bike. My ProgressionThis week, I ended up weighing in at 138 pounds. I think I will be able to get this up because this week I didn't eat as much as I would like. I hope to get up around the 142 pounds mark over the next couple weeks. I also hope that I will be able to increase my bench press max that is currently 175.
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Week 2 - My Progress This Week2/28/2021 What workouts did I do?This week for my project, I worked out twice. I worked out on Monday and Friday of this week because I had baseball practice after school on Tuesday and Thursday and I had a game on Wednesday. On Monday, I worked out my arms and upper body. To do this, I did 3 sets of 10 for Bench Press, 3 sets of 10 for Curls, 3 sets of 10 for Tricep Pull Downs, and 3 sets of 10 for Lat Pull Downs. Then I did an abdominal workout that included 3 sets of 20 for Sit-Ups and 2 one minute planks. Then on Friday when I came, it was Leg Day. I did 4 sets of 5 or 8 of Back squats (5 if heavier and 8 if lighter). I also did 4 sets of 10 Leg Press with increasing weight each time, 3 sets of 15 Calf Raises, and 4 sets of 10 Quadriceps Extensions. Overall, I think I gained a lot of muscle this week because I was very sore and could feel the results after. What foods did I eat?This week, I tried to eat healthier than normal for my first week. Monday, I had school so I always have a microwaved Chicken Alfredo Bowl, Goldfish, a Protein bar, and a water for school lunch. Every morning, I have around 4 pieces of bacon and 3 eggs to start my day. I eat those because they have a lot of protein to get my day started. Today, I ate a great restaurant called Taco Mama. The tacos had a lot of protein. Tonight, my mom made Chicken and Rice with Cranberry Sauce. My mom usually makes lots of healthy meals for dinner, and a lot of them have to do with chicken. What have I learned?The biggest thing that I have learned from this week is that I need to make a log of the workouts I do and the food I eat each day. This week was my first real week focusing on getting things done for my project to increase weight. In order to see the difference of weight, I need to see the difference in the amount of food I eat and how much I workout. By making a log of what I do each week, I will be able to see what I have done to gain weight and I will be able to see what I have done that week so I can write about it in my blogs.
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Week 1 - Introduction to Project2/20/2021 What's my goal?Welcome to the first post of my Genius Hour Project. My project is called Parker's Gains because I will be showing you my gain in weight and strength through the 12 week period. The main goal of this project is to help me get stronger to improve my baseball performance. The stronger and bigger I am, the better I will be at baseball. I will be able to throw harder, hit harder, and run faster. That being said, my overall goal is to hit 145-150 pounds by the end of the journey. I currently weigh 136 pounds. My Diet PlanA big part of getting stronger and gaining weight is your diet. In order to gain weight, I need to eat lots of healthy and protein-packed meals. I plan on eating three good meals a day. For breakfast, I usually eat three eggs and around five slices of bacon everyday. For lunch, I usually have a microwaved meal of either Chicken Alfredo pasta or Japanese Chicken and Rice. These are filled with protein. And lastly for dinner, I eat whatever my mom decides to make that night. Most of the time, she makes something having to do with chicken or hamburgers. If I follow this protein-packed diet, along with protein shakes and other healthy snacks, I can hopefully meet my goal of 150 pounds. My Workout PlanAnother big part of getting stronger and gaining weight is working out and exercising. I need to workout so I can gain the muscle needed to get stronger and get better at baseball. I will do this by working out 2-3 times a week. It will be hard to do this because I am going to start having baseball practice or games almost everyday of the week, but I will make sure I get at least 2 workouts in per week. If I can go more than three times a week, then I can definitely do that. I plan on having at least one leg day and at least one upper body day per week. If I go three times that week, I will separate the upper body day into one arms/shoulders day and one core/abs/back day. By combining this workout plan with my diet plan, I should see a growth in weight and strength. How will I monitor my progress?To monitor my progress, starting in week two, I will upload pictures of at least one healthy meal I ate that week and one picture of me working out from that week. These pictures will go along with my weekly blog. For the final product, I plan on making some sort of video that combines videos and pictures of workouts and food I ate during the journey to hit 150 pounds. I plan on making this video montage of my progress on the app iMovie. I can combine my videos and pictures and add text to the videos using that app. I can also add a background song to the montage. ![]() I will be doing my workouts at Gym 365. Here is a picture of Gym 365. They have lots of machines, weight racks, and other equipment that I can use to strengthen my muscles. |