This week of senior project, I did a combination of research, interviews, and tried out new types of exercise. I continued with the Science of Exercise course that I have been taking. I found that this has helped me a lot with my other research. There are a lot of scientific terms, processes, etc. relating to exercise that come up a lot in the articles I’m reading from databases. This course has taught me about these things, so I am able to read through these articles and understand them much better without having to stop frequently and look up things that I’m unfamiliar with. I spent this week focusing on cardio, and ways to do this type of exercise from home. My research mainly steered me towards HIIT workouts, as there are a lot of studies on this type of exercise and I found it really interesting. It was really cool to be able to learn about what’s happening in your body while you’re doing HIIT workouts, and then actually try some for myself. Additionally, over time, after trying so many different types of exercise, I feel like I’m starting to understand what kinds of things I like the most/work best for me and my routine. Keeping a journal of my exercise/mental health has also been really helpful for this. Lastly, I finished off the week by interviewing Sean O’Donnell, an instructor at Equinox who is now teaching classes on instagram live. It was really interesting to hear his perspective on how coronavirus will impact the fitness industry in the longterm, and his concerns about not being able to find new job opportunities, lower attendance in classes, etc. He also provided lots of great tips and advice on how to stay motivated and active, especially with a focus on mental health, during this time. I ended up taking his Saturday 1:00pm instagram live class, which I really enjoyed.