Love for the Sport

When you play or follow a sport, I think it is crucial for you to have fun and have a passion for whatever sport you play or any team you like. For me that passion lies in soccer, and Manchester United(also known as Man U). I have played soccer for my whole life and I not only love playing it, but I also enjoy watching soccer games and following professional teams.
My favorite team, Manchester United, plays in the Barclays Premier League which is the main soccer league in England. I started to like Man U when I was little, I just loved their aggressive, quick, and calm style of play. My father, on the other hand, is a big fan of Man U's biggest rival, Arsenal. My dad and I are extremely competitive when the two teams play but, in the end, we both marvel at how great both teams are.
Recently, Man U became the champions of the Barclays Premier League giving them their 19th Championship in the teams history. Manchester United have also had a great deal of success this year in the Champions League; a league in which only the best of the best of Europe play. They made it to the championship and played against Barcelona, having arguably the best squad in soccer history EVER. Manchester United played a very hard fought game but they lost 3-1 due to a excellent 2nd half performance by Barcelona.
Not only did I have a lot of fun watching my favorite team play, but I also started to recognize how I could improve my game after watching such fantastic players battle it off.

Off-Season

Many high school students play two sports per year. Rarely do people play three sports and unfortunately, some people don’t play any. Personally, I play both soccer and volleyball and I think that is a perfect combination because soccer works your lower body and volleyball is great for your upper body and arms. Unfortunately, winter separates these two wonderful sports.
Winter is my off-season, and that is the time when I hibernate. After my soccer season, I am in the best shape I could possible be. Then comes the winter and I do not feel like working out. A couple ways to keep you fit is to, find a time that you can move around, stay positive, but most importantly eat right.
It is easy to grab a soda and chips, and watch TV all day. What isn’t easy is standing up and getting a little exercise. If you stay active during your off-season, you will have more energy and that will lead you to be positive. It is essential to be positive because your positiveness guides you away from things you and your body could regret. Being positive also keeps you exercising, but if you are negative, that leads to bad habits and those habits lead you to even more unhealthy habits.
I think that the most important part of keeping fit during your off-season is eating right. On your off-season, you don’t have practice everyday and you have more time for yourself. This then leads to eating little snacks in between your meals. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patricks come during my off-season and it is very tempting to eat those cookies and chocolates, but it is necessary you do not eat too much. Ask your parents or whoever you are living with to eat healthy with you, it will make your off-season so much easier and twice as fun.

Trying New Sports

Trying new sports can be very exciting but also extremely discouraging. In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle you must exercise. If you have the same exercising routine, it can get boring. Also, If you exercise the same way every single time, only that one part of your body is working. Just remember this, you will NOT get it right the first time you try a new sport, so don’t get your hopes down.
I have been a skier for all my life. I compete in races and I am in the top of my age group. I go skiing almost every weekend with my dad to Chestnut Mountain Resort, about 3 hours away from where I live. I wake up at 5 in the morning and we are the first people on the slope and I love it. Now, after every day skiing I come home and my leg muscles are sore. All the time it is the legs, and nothing hurts in my upper body. It is because I am using that part of my body less when skiing.
My friends have been pushing my to try snowboarding. It was never my interest but recently I was given the perfect opportunity to try it out. Of course I thought I didn’t need or want a lesson, but I was wrong. On average if I am on skies it would take me about 30 seconds to get down the hill. On my first snowboard run it took me 15 minutes of sliding down. That one run was exhausting. After that I decided I needed to go on the bunny hill. After two runs and couple tips from snowboarders on the lift, I think I had it down. So, I went back to the bigger hill and I slowly slid down with a couple falls here and there. After a day of this I was feeling pretty good about myself because I went down the hill without a single fall. We got to the top of the hill and it would be my last run. So, I gave it my best and I gained a little speed but when I was changing from one turn, to the other, my board edge caught the snow and I went flying head first about 10 feet down the hill. I landed on my chest and lost my breath. It was so hard to get up from that fall but I didn’t want to give up.
The next morning, I think I took about 20 minutes to just get up off my bed. My butt, legs, knees, arms, shoulders, wrists, abs, neck, elbows, and back hurt so much. Despite my pain, I was happy I tried snowboarding. It was a great experience and I felt extremely accomplished. I was greatly discouraged my first run, but I never gave up. That is important when you try a new sport, you have to give it your best shot and some time and you WILL figure it out, and believe me its a great work out.

New Year's Resolution

               This New Year, many people are deciding that their New Year’s Resolution will be to put an end to their unhealthy habits and exercising more. I polled 7 of my friends and their parents. 3 of my friends and 7 of the parents said this was their New Year’s Resolution. I asked them what they plan on doing to change it. The parents mainly said that they would take all the candy and junk food out of the house. The kids however mainly focused on exercising more. When I asked them why, they said they felt bad about being out of shape because all they’ve been doing is sitting in front of the television for their whole winter break.

  I gave them couple tips to help them fulfill their New Year’s Resolution. To my friends I told them they could walk their dogs. Even if it’s for 5 minutes they still are moving and the fresh winter air is extremely refreshing. I then told them that we could get together and play some football at the park. I also said that whatever sport they play during fall or spring, they should go and practice. They could also set up lessons or just go to the gym and play.

  I didn’t really tip the parents because I thought that would be rude. For the parents, they wanted to eat more healthy. As far as candy is concerned, it’s as simple as putting it all in the rubbish bin. Change the chocolate bars into fruit or nut bars. Change the Fruit Rollups into fruit. The parents usually make the food for the kids so change the ingredients you are using to make them more healthy as well. Do not use as much sugar, oil, but most of all butter.

  You need to have determination to fulfill you resolution. Get in the habit of exercising daily and eating right. Tell yourself you can do it and if you do so, you will succeed. Good Luck!

Equipment Options

If you want to complete the P90X program, you will need equipment. There are a couple of options that you have in order to get this equipment. The gym is an excellent source if you don’t want to spend too much money however it will be quite complicated to watch the videos at the gym. Another thing you can do is buy the very expensive equipment, such as dumbbells. The final option that I chose was Amazon.com. 

The gym can provide you with all the necessary equipment you need. They will give you dumbbells, mats, push up bars, pull up bars and most of all, room to exercise. The only problem with this is you cannot watch the videos unless you bring a computer or some kind of DVD player. Also, there will be other people so it might be distracting. If you choose to go with this option I recommend buying a membership to that club because you will be visiting it for the next 90 days or more. 

Next, you can buy the really expensive equipment that will last you forever. You will be able to do the program at home unless you do not have space to do it. This option I personally think is the worst because in total with the DVD’s you could spend more than 500 dollars on your equipment. If you have the money this is the nicest option because the equipment will really be worth its money.

The option I recommend for everyone is Amazon.com. It is a website that offers the best deals on EVERYTHING. On amazon you could get equipment that would cost a lot of money but you would save so much money. Dumbbells are a big part of the program but there is another cheaper option, resistance bands. They work the same as dumbbells and are much less expensive. You can also get push up and pull up bars for a small price that you can install on any door in your home. If you feel that there may be something better at a store and you want to get the feel for something, check it out before, although Amazon’s return policy is wonderful. So, make sure you get on the internet and start shopping. Good Luck!

Health in America

       A couple days ago I was told that my generation is the first generation that parents will live a longer life than their children. The reason was because of bad nutrition in America. More kids are becoming obese and having heart problems. 

Americans want cheap fatty foods. More and more kids are buying lunches out of vending machines. Any fast food chains like McDonald’s, KFC, 7-Eleven, and Subway are not good for you, yet they have huge amounts of sales. Anything they sell you is processed and awful for your health. Ever since I started my P90X workout plan I have been eating healthy.

       I always knew that sugar in my food was not good for me, but I always thought that the fat in what you eat is even worse. I was wrong. We need fat to live. In fat there are calories and calories give you energy, which we need to stay active. Often people claim that fat-free or reduced fat items are preferable, because people believe it is better for them. This is totally incorrect because not only do we need that energy, but also in that item the fat was probably substituted with some even worse fatty and oily things.

As we were discussing this in class a very interesting question came up. How come people that have a lot of fat, or are obese, have a very little amount energy. This question puzzled me, I had no idea what the correct answer was. The answer to that question was that they do have a large amount of energy but most of that energy is used be the person's heart to pump blood through their bodies. 

After that Biology class I realized what a great thing I’m doing. P90X had really changed who I am and how I ate. I now know I will continue eating right and I will also make sure I live a long life.

P90X Poll

         P90X consists of two main parts, the exercise and the nutrition. The exercise displays your will, while the nutrition shows your determination. That is of course if you bring it. 

P90X is aimed for the adult crowd due to its physical demands, however, I am 14 and I was able to handle it. It pushed my physical limits to new limits and it took away my need or want for unhealthy foods.

After my experience with P90X I started to wonder how many people my age could handle P90X’s demands. I took a poll of 20 of my classmates. I asked them if they ate healthy and whether they exercised daily, and then I let them answer the question to what they thought eating healthy and exercising daily was. My result were that 8 out of 20 kids said they ate healthy and 16 said they exercised daily. 

While I was taking the survey, I noticed that the kids I was asking whether they ate healthy and exercised daily seemed a little unsure when they answered me. So I took another poll but I explained what I defined as eating healthy and exercising daily. 

I told my classmates that my definition of eating healthy was not eating junk food, desserts, and not drinking sodas. Later I defined exercising daily as you going out of your way to move around and exercise in any way, walking to school and gym did not count.

My second poll results drastically dropped. Now only 3 out of 20 kids ate healthy and people that exercised went from 16 down to only 5 people. Out of the 20 people, only two people did both. 

I personally believe that any person with mental strength, heart, and determination can finish P90X. I am confident to say I am one of those people and I am sure you can be too.