Abigail Walker
My Work
Below are some of the projects I've done in my time at IUPUI. Each project has an artifact and a reflection about what the project meant to me and how it has impacted my journey.
KINE-P373
Resistance Exercise and Sports Conditioning
Year-Long Training Program
One of the major assignments in P373 was designing a year-long training plan for a sport or person of our choice. I chose to program for a high school swim team. This project was very challenging initally because the only programming I had done before was for a singular workout. Going from one workout to a whole year was very intimidating, especially with all of the many factors to be considered. Planning the initial periodization was difficult, and I modified it several times throughout, but I learned a lot about how to program for a sport to optimize different aspects of athleticism while still providing sufficient rest and preventing burn out. I feel much more confident in my ability to plan workouts and programs after completing this project.
Global Learning Project
As a part of my learning community/bridge week course, I was able to learn a lot about global engagement. In our first week we were asked to create a project about global engagement and how it impacts our health and wellness and have built on that since. I chose to do mine focused on the comparison between the level of processing of foods in the US versus the rest of the world and created a potential plan that could help with that issue at IUPUI. This tied in perfectly with the global exchange program that followed.
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I was able to be involved in a global exchange program, where students from IUPUI were able to discuss nutrition with students from Newcastle University in England. Being able to connect with students from the UK was an incredible opportunity. I was able to learn about the similarities and differences between the nutrition of our respective nations in a way that simply reading dietary guidelines couldn't provide. Hearing firsthand opinions on the nutrition status of the UK was very revealing of the everyday reality of food there. I learned that global learning is something that everyone should participate in, because experiences like this allow a better understanding of other cultures and even of our own.
KINE-P403
I took this course the fall semester of my second year at IUPUI. It focuses on all-things cardio, including different modalities, teaching group exercise classes, incorporating it with resistance training, and ways to maintain fitness as one ages. One of the major things we did in this class to incorporate most of what we've learned is to make a group exercise video. My group chose to do a chair fitness video geared towards elderly people with limited mobility.
This was a great learning experience that showed me some of the more difficult aspects of my major. It was challenging to gauge what the skill level of our participants would be when designing the program, and figuring out how to present the information enthusiastically without many gaps in dialogue was as well. It caused me to think about some of the challenges that I will face with my career path and evaluate improving some of the skills that may not be my strongest.