CAS Week 1: Body Pump

Learning outcome 1, 2

Body Pump is a fitness activity that runs every Thursday after school, it is a physically demanding activity which focuses on doing high repetition exercises with smaller weights. Each session is hosted through the Les Mils application and with upbeat music goes through exercises that develop all aspects of the body.

Throughout my years in IGCSE, I successfully trained my body more than I had ever done, motivated by my inability to get into badminton u19 C team in Grade 9, I diligently trained my stamina and developed much better fitness habits to come to where I am today. My journey of fitness throughout my teens has been rather turbulent, although I knew of the importance of exercise I often ignored it outside of PE which was why physically I failed to get into the team. However, when I was unable to even make the C team of badminton, I decided it was time to make a change. I sought to challenge myself physically and mentally to become fitter. Though this isn’t necessarily part of my CAS Journey, it was what motivated this activity. In the last 2 years, my peak weight was 75kg, and earlier this year, the lowest I hit was 61kg. I had come a long way from who I was before but after shedding my fat and improving stamina, its time to improve my strength too.

This year my goal of becoming fitter continues, however only now I have higher goals and expectations for my self in the coming years. To me using weights has always been uncomfortable and seemed out of reach. Going into this activity, I felt anxious to use something other than just bodyweight to train my body, after all, I already struggle enough moving my own body how would I be able to efficiently move heavy objects. Thankfully, after the first few sessions, I have found it quite doable. Although the addition of weights seemed to very daunting at first, I realized with the adjustability of how much weights you add to yourself it means that no matter what level you may be at the moment you can adjust to keep it challenging to you. Another aspect of this activity that I didn’t expect is the incredibly supportive interactions I have had with other participants around me, and this has aided in persevering through this activity.