May 11, 2014
     This capstone project has really changed me mentally and physically as a person. Knowing that the thing I love doing the most really is the path in which I want to make do a living out of. Fitness is a major aspect in my life and knowing that I can do it as a career keeps me motivated to reach the goal I always wanted to achieve. Working with my mentor was similar to working with a family member. Our communication with one another was like no other. My first mentor I had was as down to earth person he would let me slide when the workouts a little difficult, he wasn't as strict. He found another job and presented me with another trainer. This guy was no joke he was strict, but as I got to know him he was fun to be with. I see my last trainer as a part of my family, even though he was tuff he still manage to put a little fun activities, and help me out through some problems I was facing at the time. I appreciate the help they gave me when I felt like giving up they stood there telling me I could do it not to give up.
     What I gained from this experience personally is it showed me the potential I have inside me. I used to not care about my weight I ate pretty much whatever there was to eat, and I didn't do exercise at all. Now that I have my mind set to a goal that I want to achieve every time I workout I don't give up easily. Giving up on a thing just because its hard isn't worth it. I learned giving up is not the answer to many things. Show yourself that you have potential to make yourself think you can do it, and achieve it. Socially, this project made me more comfortable to go out with family and friends. I used to care about how I looked in my clothes, but now that I lost some weight, I could careless what people think of how I looked because as the months past I'm going to change physically. Lastly, intellectually this project showed me the correct ways to workout. It showed me the right from wrong. Now I know more body parts I can work on, the things I could eat, and what more workouts I can try.
    The challenges I encountered at first the workouts. Some of the workouts were hard for me because in some I had to carry my body weight and I didn't really have that good of cardio. Working with my mentor really changed my body for the good. As the workouts got harder I managed to keep up with the sessions he gave me.  I managed to work from 1 to 3 hours with him. This is why I want to follow my mentors footsteps in becoming a trainer. You can help change somebody's life for the good just by doing the things you loving doing. This whole project at the beginning was a challenge for me because I didn't know what to expect from my mentor. I overcame all this by setting a goal and beginning determined. Also, by the help of my mentor without his help and taking the time for me to shadow him and work with him. I would be giving up easily and still care about my physical appearance.

May 1, 2014 

At last my last 2 hours for the physical project. I'm still going to be doing more hours as we last day of hours. Today since it was my last hours he wanted to make it feel special. Right away incline sit ups with a 15 pound ball through it at him. Through out the workout i mainly wanted to focus on abs. There's many things for abs and for me when I get sore from my abs it the best feeling ever. Call me weird but it feels like I'm actually working out on the area I focused on. Moving planks always works on your abs. These planks were no fun had to find that energy in me to last the amount he has sent for me. These workouts really target that specific area I wanted to work with. Agility, and balance was also an area I wanted to be good at also including reaction time. For agility had to move corner to corner in a zigzag motion as fast as I could. Next I had to balance myself on half a ball with a flat bottom. Had to flip it over and stand on it while holding a yoga ball. While holding the ball he punched it so I could balance myself while moving around. Reaction time had to throw a 10 pound ball to a bumpy surface as hard as I could and grab the ball from the direction it came from. These 2 hours really made me learn how much balance, reaction, and agility is important in out daily lives.  Without these things we would be clumsy, slow and miss the object we would get thrown at. 

Session 2 

Bally's trainer Octavio 

Total hours: 25 

April 29, 2014
With my hours coming to an end he went easy on me. The reason he went easy on me was because for the last 2 hours of my project he was going to make me regret going. Like always I ran a mile to get my body warmed up. Worked on whole body workouts we did some burpees, which for me are hard. Also used dumbbells that worked on my shoulders, back and arms. I did 3 reps each for those workouts. Then weighted squats which like in the last blog he put a 30 pound weighted vest on me. Squatting is easy just it gets hard if you have weighed  vest on you. The next hour he explained to me what smoothies I should drink and why I should. Anyways back to work outs, she showed me a new  way go do push-ups and it was called a diamond push-up. That to me seems easier to do than a regular push-up. Works out the shoulders, biceps, triceps and  upper back muscles. We mostly focus on using free weights rather than machines. For the last 30 minutes I got on the elliptical  and ran some more.  Running is the best way to either start a workout or end itt
Ballys trainer Octavio
Session: 2 hours
Total hours: 23

April 27- 28
Sunday was a make up day for Friday since I didn't show up because I forgot about it. And my trainer hates it when people flake on him because if his people don't show up then he doesn't get paid. So I had to pay for not showing up. Instead of running for a warmup, I started to do battle rope burpees, until he told me to stop. Of course he gave me breaks but where it hurt the most was my arms and legs. Sweat was pouring and it looked like I just got out the shower. And it was only the first workout!! After that hard, hurtful workout, I felt as if I already had done 2 hours but I haven't and had to complete the session. We went to the easy workouts which are working on legs. 4 reps of one leg pylo variation, which is put one leg on a bench bend your other knee and jump up.  It's hard and tires the lower body. Then we did some drills that helps me move my legs faster and have better balance.  Had to put on leg in the air and my other in a slanted surface will he through a tennis ball I was suppose to catch. It sounds easy but trust me it's hard to do. Also had to do suicides  until I couldn't do it anymore.  It's a miracle I didn't puke cause I had to hard worker out and this taught me never be late or flake on your trainer cause he will make you suffer during the workouts.
Session 2 hours
Ballys. Trainer Octavio
Total hours 19.
Monday, was an easy day. Well not really but it seemed like it to me. Ran 1 mile in 10 minutes and right away started working out my arms. There's some workouts that I can't remember the names but I do feel the pain of it. Trainer told me pain is just a feeling and to get rid of that pain is to not think about, and concentrate on you're routine. For arms we used workout rubber bands that's create resistance when you pull it towards your body. I felt the pain and the area it workouts. Then we used a 10 pound ball that I had to through against the wall as hard as I could and catch it. Man was that hard to do. I had to use all my strength to throw it and make it come back and also I has to resist it when It came back to me. After that now the hard workouts came. I was new to this workout but I remember the name it was called weighted single leg hope while slamming the battling ropes. Had to put a 25 pound vest on me and use my strength of mostly all my body to slam the battling ropes. Do it for 30 secs and you'll feel tired and your arms and will feel like twigs. Not to mention the weight I had on me, brutal but effective.  After I did 3 30 second reps I did some vertical jumps and man I felt heavy with the vest. Once I took it off it was easier for me to jump vertical higher and do the slamming battling ropes.
Session 2 hours
Ballys trainer Octavio
Total hours 21

April 24th  2014
Like always at the gym I wanted to learn something new. Something that made me swear like crazy and make me feel good about myself. When I told my trainer If he had anything new for me right away he made me do push-ups and Mountains climbers . Had to do It 2 times for 30 seconds, and man I was already tired! It may not look like much but it kills the body. And I was proud of myself cause when I first started this project and training I couldn't do one push-up cause I didn't have any muscle strength and now I can. After that I had to use this machine that mimics  when you're going up the stairs for atleast 20 minutes. Man were my thighs and legs shaking in pain. But like my trainer says "do it for holy damn you got hot".. That's our motto at the gym whenever I'm thinking of giving up. New thing after new thing he through at me and he even taught me alittle bit of MMA.  Which for me was hard because I don't really have good balance and he you need to balance the body in order to kick at your opponents.  This day for me was a good one not only did I learn new workouts but I also found out  if I push myself I can do anything I set my mind to do.
Session: 2 hours
Trainer Octavio ballys
Total hours:17 hours

April 23, 2014
Since I was a little bit sore from the 1 hour work out from Tuesday my trainer went a little bit easy on me. When I told him I was sore he said good that's means you worked out good yesterday and you're about to be extra sore tomorrow when you wake up. I wasn't ready for what it was to come... Like always we had to separate the workout so for the first hour we worked mostly on my back and sides and a little bit of abs. For working out the back muscles we mostly used the machines, but also I did some deadlifts, barbell shrug, and back raise. Each workout consisted of 3 sets of 3 reps. For abs we did the usual crunches and the same for sides. The last hour we worked on a muscle I don't really workout which is my fore arm. There's some really strange workout for the forearms and when I tried it I only did it 10 times cause my forearms started to hurt and shake. That was a sign I needed to work out on them more. We did something called Lying triceps extensions which works out the upper body. And to finish it off  20 min boxing session. Learned new combinations and hit the bag. Worked on uppercuts and my defense.
Session: 2 hours
Trainer Octavio Bally's

April 22, 2014
This session was short due to my trainers health needs. This time I had only worked for an hour. We pretty much did the basic workouts, Alittle bit of cardio, and hit the weights. It was a whole body workout, I learned a new way to workout the back muscles and the abs. Lets just say I didn't really like it because the next day I woke up I couldn't move because I was too sore. But the soreness means it worked. Then we worked on the triceps and biceps by using free weights and doing a workout called hammer fist. Worked out the legs by squatting and also by jumping on a black plastic box as fast as I could to workout both the abs and the lower body.
Session: 1 hour
Trainer Octavio Bally's

Monday I started my spring break with working with my mentor. Made an agreement with him if he had time to let me work my hours that are left this week.  Like always he gave me 2 hours, 1 hour was focusing on  lower body like legs, quads, etc.. He got 1 rope that had 2 handles on them and attached them to the wall. I had to squat and an angle while holding on to the handles. That was torture  my quads, and legs were killing me. After that we did some thing called crazy eights which are you have to lift with your legs and do 8 reps as fast as you can..After I did those 8 times, my legs were done I couldn't walk normally. We did various types of workouts for the lower portion of the body. Now it was turn for some agility, and stamina. For the agility he made me do football foot routines that make you have better agility. I had to move me feet from side to side back and forth as fast I could.  After that  we did some little boxing routines. He had me work on my timing on how to protect my self  and how to strike back fast. Over all Monday was a good day
Monday 21,2014
Trainer Octavio
Ballys  session 2 hours

March 24, 2014
Monday I got to the session alittle bit earlier, but I didn't start my hour until my mentor/ trainer got there. When he got there we did something different. He told me I can only work with him for half and hour becasue he had another person after me. So I asked him if i can shadow him and he approved. For 30 minutes he showed me new workouts that he pretty much thought of right away. I asked him to show or explain to me what muscles are being targeted. I felt like I didn't do the workouts correctly and to me thats a fail.
  After my 30 mins workout his trainee came. She was a 45 year old who 6 months ago has a kid and wanted to lose the weight she gained during her pregnancy. So the trainer asked me he was going to go easy because she hasn't been here in the gym for 6 months.  The first workout he made her were squats and sit-ups. I told him why he was going easy on her and he said she her was resting for 6 months that she needs to get used to working out constantly now. He got to do counts the reps she did and also I brought and took back the dumbbells she used to workout her triceps and biceps. He mostly made her work on her stomach like the abs since she wanted to slim down.
Session: 1 hour
Trainer Octavio Ballys

March 13, 2014
The moment I entered the gym my trainer called me over and said it was time to pump some iron. Right away he told me we weren't going to do some boxing, we were going to focus on using mostly free weights and a little bit of machines. To me like I said before I prefer using free weights than machines. He put me through a whole body workout which to me is a very tiring. First work out we focused on lower body, some workouts consisted of squats, leg press, and one legged jump.
We worked on lower body for about 30mins. Next we started to work on the upper body like the chest, abdominals, and back. I prefer to work on upper body rather than the lower because to sweat more, get stronger and I love that feeling when you lift something heavy and then flex... I know that's weird... An hour passed by and now we start working on the arms, shoulders, and a little bit of cardio. For cardio he made me put a 30lbs vest on me and also he tied a rope to my back that had 50lbs. Had to speed walk around the gym 4 times then had to deadlifts which works out mainly your whole body. I was very tired but refused to give up and gave it my best to finish strong. Repeated the circuit 3 times but the last one got to me and I was finished.
 Trainer Octavio
3/13/14 2 hours Bally's

                                      The muscle that are involved in the deadlift workout....

March 10 2014
First day with my new trainer and I thought he was going to be a harder trainer and it turns out I was right. I warmed up for 5 mintues just so my body will be warmed up and so I wouldn't pull a muslce or anything. After that little warm-up we began to do some cardio. I was alittle bit nervous because my last trainer said he's a little bit more tougher than him. He showed me different ways to workout the human body and of cousre I was the one who had to do all the techniques. The thing I like about my new trainer he doesnt let me rest and keeps telling me I can do it no matter how bad I want to quit. Also we use more free weights rather than the machines because to me using free weights makes me see results faster and according to my trainer you use more muslce movement to do a rep. After the first hour was done I told him if I can shadow him while he's training someone else and he agreed. As I was shadowing him he made me keep the time, had to rerack the weights, count the reps the lady did and as I was helping him I was also learning new things about the excerises he was giving the person. He told me being a trainer is just all about working out and demanding people to do their workouts, but its about motivating them to do good, become a friend to them to encourage them they can do anything they want to achieve and also you have to study the person so you can do the proper workouts.
Trainer Octavio
2 hours 3/10/14

I took a month off the gym due to some problems, but im back at it but with some bad news. My trainer Nelson is leaving and is only working Saturdays so today was his last day as my trainer.. As a welcome back "gift" he put me through hell. There were no breaks only when I needed them the first hour he just made me work on cardio like jumping jacks, push-ups, running a course of 2 miles, and sit- ups. The second hour we worked on working out the core (abs), endurance, and cardio. First thing he made me do was work out my upper body like my chest and arms. He had my using battling ropes which is one long heavy rope that works your arm and chest by moving them nonstop for as much as you can. After he killed my arms we practiced memorization, and cardio. I put on the boxing gloves and from there we did some drills that consisted of using my memory and timing. I stimulated four 3 minute rounds and after each round he made me plank, and throw a 12 pound ball to him 15 times, that made my arms and core tired. After these 2 hours I said my last good-byes to him and got a new trainer named Octavio. 
Trainer Nelson 2 hours 02/18/14

January 19, 2014
Sunday was my second time going and I already had an idea of what he was going to put me through. But I didn't expect he was going to put me through a hard time. First I had to warm up by running for 5 minutes. After that warm up he made me get ready by doing some cardio, he had me jumping rope for 2 minutes non stop, That was hard I tried to do it like boxers when they jump rope but couldn't do it... He made me put boxing gloves on and taught me a few tricks about boxing. When I put the gloves on and starting doing some jabs, combo, and uppercuts right there is when I knew I've had found my hobby. This was my first training session so he taught me the basics like how to punch, my stance, and I had to memorize combinations which was pretty hard to memorize, but I got the hang of it. Pretty much I've spent most of my time to throwing jabs and learning some techniques.

Trainer Nelson:2 hours Bally's

1st session January 10, 2014
Tuesday was the first session with my trainer Nelson. I kind of had an idea of what I was getting into but I didn't expect this. Right away when the hour started he made me run a mile under 9 minutes. After I finished he told me what muslce group I wanted to work on so i chose upper body strength like arms, chest, and back. He showed me the do's and don'ts of each workout. Between every work out he explained many reps I had to do and also explained how each workout excersices different muslce groups. Every workout I did made me feel good about myself but it also made me tired as 1 finshed each rep. As the hour came to a close my workouts became harder, wieghts became heavier, and the reps became shorter. When my hour finshed he explained how he was getting an idea of how determinted I am and if he should go easy or hard depending on how he saw me.
Nelson 1 Hr