Back on Board

It's been a while since my project but I have been working diligently on a sustainable outdoor instillation. It became a lot harder than I thought because I realized that I had to take the weather into account. I started looking up other artists, such as Robert Indiana and I researched his public art instillations such as his "LOVE" statue, which I have seen in Taiwan, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. So, i was inspired to paint on fire hydrants around the community and it made me realize that I'm actually pretty creative with some of the projects I've done and I should respect and give more credit to some of the ideas I have. Although it was a huge setback to discard my old project with yarn, I feel like I have a very strong hold on my new fire hydrant project. From now, I want to create new designs and think of new simple ways to create an intriguing fire hydrant. I guess the idea behind it is that the law states it is illegal to park within five feet from a fire hydrant. But I think they need friends too. I think this is a quirky idea to support kindness in school and throughout the community. I guess it is also a great idea to go outdoors and look at some art when students or parents get stressed out.

unit 7 reflection

This unit, we learned about muscles and mobility. We started the unit by learning about the different movements different body parts can execute. Afterward, we started to dig deeper on the muscular system. When it comes to labeling and classifying in anatomy, you have to be very exact, which is why we had to memorize various terms that determine the size, shape, and action of a muscle. A way for us to understand the anatomy and physiology different muscles was the chicken dissection lab. We sliced open a chicken and looked at all of the different muscles. We labeled them and saw how they were structured on the chicken.

We also learned the different functions of what happens inside the muscle and my group made a muscle contraction video. Last but not least, we learned about the harms of performance enhancement supplementals. A lot of them such as caffeine, high protein diet, or creatine can either be completely harmful, or safe if used in moderation. My partner and I made an interesting and comical high protein diet ad.

Moving forward, I went to learn different techniques to easily gain muscles in certain area. I want to understand the perfect balance of protein, exercise, and nutrients to have a body with a healthy amount of muscle.

Performance Enhancements Advertisement

Truth is, a lot of performance enhancements cause more harm than good. Although it may seem as if a high protein diet could lead to a person becoming more muscular, it is in fact only a myth. When someone consumes too much protein, a lot of the excess protein ends up causing build up of toxic ketones. This causes dehydration in the body. Also, a high protein diet may seem effective with weight loss at first, eventually, weight loss can become harder to maintain because in the end, it a lot of water weight was lost. In the end, a moderate amount of protein with a healthy amount of exercise is ideal. In the end, all performance enhancements are unsafe if they are not used in moderation. When it comes to our health and wellbeing, balance is key. The question I have left is: What kind of performance enhancement out there is completely safe and effective no matter how vigorously you use it?

Chicken Dissection Lab

I came in during that last ten minutes of class because of a doctor’s appointment so I wasn’t able to contribute a whole lot to the lab experience. However, my lab partners filled me in that they first got a whole raw chicken and made sure the drumstick was facing toward them. Then, they cut off some of the skin and started dissecting the chicken. They started intricately cutting the chicken to show each muscle.

As all organisms have different qualities that depict how they function, chicken, and humans alike, have different muscles bones and tendons that each play a huge role in their movement. The tendon in the chicken is what binds the muscle to the bone. The bones allow body parts to be flexible and move in different directions. Muscles help our bones move altogether. The pectoralis major give the shoulder movement, biceps give our arms movement, and the sartorius gives our legs movement.

Chicken muscles and human muscles have many similarities and differences. A chicken has deltoids, triceps, and biceps. Those are the essential muscles in a human arm that allows it to move properly. Also, both humans and chickens have tendons that perform the same function: attaching muscles to the bone. Another quality is that humans and chickens have the sartorius muscle and it is around the thigh area

What Happens When you Stretch

1. When this occurs, it helps to realign any disorganized fibers in the direction of the tension.

-I felt that this was a cool piece of information because it seems like stretching may be a small action, but it can actually help a lot with your health. The realignment in fact rehabilitates all of the scarred tissue back to health which was something I never knew about.

2. Proprioceptors (also called mechanoreceptors) are the source of all proprioception: the perception of one's own body position and movement.
 

-I have never heard of proprioceptors before and after learning about them, I found it interesting how it is able to detect any physical displacement within the body. Without them, our body cannot rehabilitate itself.

3. When stretching, it is easier to stretch a muscle that is relaxed than to stretch a muscle that is contracting.

-This is a useful piece of information so I know to make sure my muscles relax the next time I stretch. Getting a more effective stretch is very important to make sure that you are taking good care of your body. 

Summary: This reading taught me how stretching benefits the body and how to effectively stretch. It is beneficial to stretch because when the muscles contract, it sends signals to the spine to get informations from the proprioceptors that detect any physical displacement within the body. This is how certain organs help to protect the muscles, tendons and ligaments from injury. Therefore, when you effectively stretch, your body is able to rehabilitate itself. When stretching, it is best to do it when your muscles are relaxed.