Essay On Weightlifting

Throughout the time of this course, I have been developing expertise in weightlifting using the techniques used in class. I have been doing this by going to the gym to perform weightlifting sessions at least 3-4 times a week and going with my friend who is close to an expert in the subject. To improve my expertise I have used class materials such as deliberate practice methods, the methods learned in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and our weekly journals to evaluate my progress. I plan to use this information to further my expertise in the future and apply it to other skills I need to develop through my schooling and career. To develop my expertise in weightlifting, I used many deliberate practice techniques taught in this class.

This book advises on many different habits that can help people live better lives. One of the practices that I incorporated during my expertise journey was habit 1: be proactive. This habit explains that in our life, it is important to focus on making our circle of influence bigger instead of worrying about things in our circle of concern that we cannot control (Covey, 2020). I used this concept when I first started weightlifting, to help me focus on my personal initiative instead of things out of my control. There were many things that were not in my control during my weightlifting sessions, such as my strength or ability to lift heavy weights that others could. Instead of focusing on what I couldn’t control in my circle of concern, I focused on performing deliberate practice to improve my expertise, which was in my circle of influence. Another habit I utilized from the book was habit 3: put first things first. Habit 3 is all about time management and learning how to prioritize. It explains that there are 4 quadrants that humans spend their time in but people often spend too much time on urgent tasks in quadrants 1 and 3 and forget about quadrant 2. Quadrant 2 deals with things that aren’t urgent, but are important, such as working out or spending time with family (Covey, 2020). I applied this to my expertise journey by making sure to take

The main reason I believe this is because I was able to achieve the goal that I made at the beginning of the semester to go to the gym 3-4 times a week and I made progress in lifting heavier weights. Another indicator that I made progress can be shown by the stages of expertise of development, explained by Dr. Alexander. This includes 3 stages: acclimation, competence, and proficiency/expertise (Alexander, 2003). Throughout the semester I have progressed from acclimation to competence, showing that I made progress toward expertise by moving on to the second stage. Competent learners are described as individuals that have a mix of both surface-level and deep-processing strategies. This also leads to an increase in an individual’s personal interest in the domain (Alexander, 2003). This readily applies to me, as I have surface-level knowledge about how to do a weightlifting exercise but I also have deeper knowledge such as why that exercise is important and what body part it works. These examples show that I have now progressed to a competent level in my expertise and made progress throughout the