Blog Synthesis

         I find it humorous when people try to compare their one credit Kinesiology course to the actual major of Kinesiology. But rest assured, Kinesiology is no joke. In order to graduate with a degree in Kinesiology it requires a lot of dedication and studying from sources that often is simply just not fun. Sources include: the courses required, the textbooks needed for those courses, scholarly articles, etc.  Not only does Kinesiology require the prerequisite courses but you must complete the core courses required for graduation by Michigan State University (MSU). That mix, as hard as it will make you're life due to an overload of work, helps one in the Kinesiology major become more diverse in all fields of education. Developing this blog which I have produced has taught me a lot of valuable information about both requirements, both physically and mentally, that are essential in order to become successful in the field of Kinesiology. 

     When I refer to the mental requirements that are essential to success I am referring to what some would term “street smarts”. Now please do not misunderstand,  being so called “book smart” is highly essential to this field as I will touch on this later. If you read my blog posts titled “Medical Vs. Social Concepts” and "Practicing My Knowledge", those are more of  the “street smarts” I was referring too. For example, in my “Medical Vs. Social Concepts” post, one could not have produced a post like that, not too gloat, without having an understanding of societal awareness, a desire for equality, fighting societal norms, and just having emotion for your fellow human. 

It is the desire to help people in need that keeps me motivated. This desire helps me keep focus through all of the tough requirements in the hopes that one day I will reach my goal of becoming a physical therapist. 

      If you are thinking to yourself that you want to become a Kinesiology major just for to the money involved, which is a lot if you read my post titled “The Money In Being A Doctor”,  then my advice to you would be to simply not consider a Kinesiology major. To me, especially after conducting this blog for the past couple of months, in order to be successful in this field of study you MUST have the desire to help your fellow man (and woman, sorry that’s just how the phrase goes). Without this desire it may even be impossible to make it through all of the difficult courses required. Personally I plan on using my knowledge of physical therapy by taking mission trips to parts of the world that do not offer quality physical therapy. I will do this in with the hope to help cure indigent people of their injuries throughout the world.  

      Now back to being so-called “book smart”. The amount of knowledge that I have been required to learn (keep in mind I'm only through my sophomore year) and memorize for a passing grade in some of my courses has been OUTRAGEOUS!!! No you do not need to be a genetically born bookworm, but you do need to work very, very, very hard in order to grasp the information thrown at you. The courses I have already completed (required for all Kinesiology majors) include: chemistry, the foundations of Kinesiology, biology, and physiology. Just as a warning, watch out for physiology. The courses I just told you about are not even half of the science/medical courses required to graduate with this prestigious degree. 

   This summer I will be taking Physics online, yay…and I plan on taking Chemistry II, Anatomy, Physics II , and higher level biology by the end of the next school year. All of these courses require tons of work and this blog has helped me realize that I can no longer get by simply cramming hours of studying in before these exams, check out my post titled the “B.S Method". Instead you must actually take this knowledge to heart and set aside time to learn the material verses trying to simply regurgitate it for you're upcoming exam. 

     If this post has made you second-guess your decision on choosing the major of Kinesiology, then I have succeeded in my goal.  My goal is to warn my fellow peers that Kinesiology is no joke. The major attracts students who will strive to be the leaders in the fields of medicine, fitness, and therapy. I would be sad if one picked this major with out knowing the true difficulty involved.  It would also be upsetting if one were to pursue a profession related to Kinesiology simply for the money. To me, becoming a professional in the field of Kinesiology is to gain information that will one day help you heal the injuries, illnesses, disorders, and plethora other problems that face the human body.

 

     

Significance

A specific field of the many in Kinesiology is nutrition. It is clear that as a nation we do not follow a natural diet. I believe that the topic of nutrition is near the top when it comes to importance of our nation. 

     Being nutritionally fit leads to a healthy life and can combat many of life illnesses. 

I find Nutrition to be so significant because of the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) that is hitting our nation hard. It is currently the number one cause of death in the United States. Unhealthy diets are one of the main suspects for this disease. 

    According to the Mayo Clinic there are over 3 million cases of CHD per year. They also stated that there is no cure but a change in one’s lifestyle can help. 

Not only is CHD a main concern for our nation, obesity is also a big concern. “More than one-third (35.7 percent) of adults are considered to be obese. More than 1 in 20 (6.3 percent) have extreme obesity. Almost 3 in 4 men (74 percent) are considered to be overweight or obese.” (mayo clinic)

             Prevalence  of Self-Reported Obesity Among U.S. Adults by State and Territory, BRFSS, 2014

If it is not evident that our nation is in a drastic need for nutritional change, then wake up! It is literally your life at stake. So the next time you see a nutritionist, do not take them for granted. With out nutrition professionals our whole nation would be at risk for CHD. It is our great nutritionists that have come up with dietary programs to help people stay healthy.

Works Cited:

"Congenital Heart Disease in Adults." - Mayo Clinic. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Practicing My Knowledge

    Although it is necessary to hit the books hard in order for one to graduate and become a Kinesiology major, once you a graduate with your degree you must be successful in working with your hands. Whether a student of Kinesiology decides to go into sports exercise, physical training, physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc...it is essential to actually be able to transfer your knowledge from the books to benefit your patients inuries.
 
   For me, wanting to be a physical therapist, I must know both the anatomy of the human body as well as have the ability to effectively improve my patients injuries. A big part of this will be hands on work such as stretching of the patients targeted muscles and joints. A necessary skill needed in order to effectively stretch out a patient is an awareness of that specific patient's muscle sensitivity.  You do not want to stretch a muscle far too quickly or else you will hurt or possibly injure your patient.

   In order to get hands on practice in the field of stretching I voluntarily stretch out my family members and my lovely girlfriend Hannah. They all know of my aspirations,  and lucky for them it happens to be in a field that helps them feel better.
   
   ***side note, that is the best part of being a physical therapist in my opinion. The fact that you are helping people out with their pain and injuries and in return they help you out too ( by providing you with $$$). No, I do not care only for money. However, In the words of one of my favorite artists, "Money isn't everything, not having it is" (Kanye West).***



     After much experience of stretching out my fellow's specific pains I have been able to gain that awareness of muscle sensitivity. In essence,  I can literally feel the muscles tensing up, and have even learned a method that can help flexibility.  The method being that if the one being stretched provides force against the stretcher from anywhere to 5-10 seconds, once they stop providing the force they will be able to stretch that specific muscle even further.

 Experience is essential in any professional field. However, it is the hands on experience that will separate you from the others in this competitive field of Kinesiology.


Works Cited:

West, Kanye, and T-Pain. "Good Life Ft. T-Pain." Rec. 02 Oct. 2007. Kanye West - Good Life (Ft. TPain) MP3 Download. Kanye West, 2007. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Contemplating Controversy: Perception Vs. Performance

    Sports Psychology is an interesting topic in the diverse field of Kinesiology. With sports psychology comes many controversies and arguments. One key controversy being experimented is, does perception effect performance?
 
   Well According to the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) publication " Putting to a bigger hole: Golf performance relates to perceived size", ones perception can have quite the impact on their performance. However, the concept has roots that are deeper than most. According to the NIH, perception is affected by performance, which then affects performance. I like to look at it sort of as a cycle to simplify it.

   The NIH performed an experiment on softball players and discovered that "softball players who are hitting well judge the ball to be bigger than players who have more difficulty hitting"(Witt & Proffitt, 2005). In an essence, people truly believed that their quality performances were due to the ball being bigger and vic versa. Clearly this should not be the case because there was likely a regulated sized ball.

  However the controversy does not completely lie in does perception affect performance, due to that most professionals agree on this, but the question is does these improved perceptions (belief of increased ball size or increased golf hole size) radiate from good players or rather from players who have played good on a certain night.

"However, a question remains as to who really sees the ball as bigger. It could be the people who are just better players, or it could be the people who played better than usual on that night. This question addresses the nature of the effects of performance on perception. These effects might be time dependent, in which case only players who are playing well at the moment will see the ball as bigger, or the effect might be quite general, in which case better players will always see the ball as bigger, independent of how they are playing at any given time."(Witt & Proffitt, 2005)

     Whether it be the better players or the one-shot-wonders who gain this improved perception, one has to admit it is quite amazing how much psychology goes into sport. Sports can seem so simple, yet it is the true complexity that keeps me so intrigued into the field of Kinesiology


Works Cited:

Get Me Out of This Slump! Visual Illusions Improve Sports Performance
Jessica K. Witt, Sally A. Linkenauger and Dennis R. Proffitt Psychological Science 2012 23: 397 originally published online 5 March 2012 DOI: 10.1177/0956797611428810 

Potassium! Why is it essential to our health?

Bananas are popular due to the fact that it serves as a great source of Potassium. What exactly is potassium? According to WebMD , "Potassium is a mineral that's crucial for life. Potassium is necessary for the  heart,  kidneys, and other organs to   work normally." 

    Potassium is important for these board general reasons, but as I learned in my physiology class, this can be a very difficult concept to understand,  there are sodium-potassium pumps that regulate the intake and output of both sodium and potassium that help regulate the function of all cells in the body. With out working sodium potassium pumps you would have no regulation of muscle or nerve control.
  If you have understanding of the average american's diet it is clear that we have a huge disproportion of the amount of sodium we intake vs. potassium. 

"Sodium and potassium have opposite effects on heart health: High salt intake increases blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease, while high potassium intake can help relax blood vessels and excrete the sodium and decrease blood pressure."  (source)


How much potassium should you try to have a day? WebMD provides us with a table,

Category	Adequate Intake (AI)
CHILDREN
0-6 months	400 mg/day
7-12 months	700 mg/day
1-3 years	3,000 mg/day
4-8 years	3,800 mg/day
9-13 years	4,500 mg/day
14 years and up	4,700 mg/day
ADULTS
18 years and up	4,700 mg/day
Pregnant women	4,700 mg/day
Breastfeeding women	5,100 mg/day

Besides bananas, there are many other ways to ingest potassium. There are vitamin supplements that you can take as well. Eat more Potassium!

Be Smart when You squat

      Very famous workouts may not be exactly all they are put out to be. I grew up playing football. Naturally, as a dedicated football player, I was very committed to gaining muscle mass through resistance training (weight lifting). One lift that was heavily stressed as a need for improvement by my football coach and others was the good ole’ full squat. However, do not confuse it for a body weight squat. I am talking about the one where you slap a 45 pound bar on your back and add weight as you improve. 

Now before I begin my rant, let me start out by saying based on my observations the full squat exercise can serve to be very beneficial. However, it is the way most go about this work out that makes it so dangerous. 

    

     Anyways, my coach always made it a big deal for us to improve how much weight we were able to lift on our squat. 

By squatting you are able to target your:

                                                               -quads

                                                              -hamstrings

                                                               -Gluteus

                                                                -gastrocnemius ( a muscle of your calf ).

This access to multiple muscle groups one is able to cover by performing a squat is the reason for its popularity. It is the unique ability of the squat that makes it a great exercise compared to other workouts because it is viable to improve your body in multiple ways. I would personally consider it the most versatile exercise for its benefits outweigh the negatives when using this exercise.

After performing sets of maximum weight squats it was clear to me that my back was starting to tense up. This could really be easily due to a bunch of different factors. firstly i think that this is because i may have been standing in a wrong stance, causing one side of my body to be doing more work than another side of my body. another possible factor that could influence me in getting back pain is the actual option of the squat as i was going through it. i may have been putting too much strain on my muscles as i was moving up and down. Those are all factors of the reason why I say that the squat is a danger to us. A smarter way to go about it would be to perform sets with a higher amount of repetitions and lower weights. This way you still gain muscle while also putting less stress onto those muscle groups as well as your back. 

The B.S Method

To my delight I was able to work my way through high school and get into my desired university, the great Michigan State University (Go Green!), with the method I like to call the B.S method. 

   Growing up I have always taken pride in my ability to bull shit (B.S) my way through classes. Getting through middle school and most of high school with putting in as little effort as I could but yet get the required grades needed to gain access to the colleges I desired to one day apply to. When i refer to B.S’ing my way through classes I mean that if there was an assignment or exam coming up, I would wait till the last second or last few hours depending on the difficulty of the class to start preparing. This so called B.S method worked for me all the way up till I started actually taking college courses that are required for all Kinesiology majors. That first course being Biology. 

 
Being the big shot i though I was, or the B.S’er, I rolled into that course confident that my methods of studying would prevail. Well let me inform you all, I was in for quite the surprise. I came out of my first exam after cramming only four hours of studying in with about a 60%. I was like “wtf” how could I study more than I usually do for an exam and still do so bad on it. The answer was simple enough. When it comes to courses like biology there is no B.S’ing you're way through it. Luckily I was allowed to drop my lowest exam score in that class. Pretty much failing that exam was a rude awakening that was necessary for future success.

      For the following exams in biology and till this day I try my best to study at least five days before an exam while also reviewing course information after each day of class. I ended up receiving an A in Biology, but it wasn't due to my old method it was, due to the classic method that we have all been informed by either our professors or our parents. Actually studying and caring about the information given out rather than regurgitating it for an upcoming exam. No I am not perfect and I tend to fall to my old B.S method every so often, but at least now I feel bad whenever I refer to that method for a course. 

    I hope you will take this blog post to heart because even though it may seem repetitive, in the sense that it is very obvious that studying a lot will help you. It truly will help guide you to a successful career.