OUGD405: How to... research.

So as a group we've decided to tackle exercising amongst students. We decided if we were to get someone to try something new the most effective solution was to try get students to incorporate exercise into there weekly routine schedule. As we are students we are able to understand our targeted audience, and we will look at the best possible ways to try and make students, who are not fond of exercise and who are fond of exercise, to try out specific, easy exercises which will leave them feeling more awake therefore increasing there productivity at college.

We decided that we would make an interactive poster and an app which specialised in helping students incorporate exercise into their weekly routine. We will research into quick and easy exercise routines which can easily be done at home. We plan on creating a questionnaire which will help gather data about who exercises, how much time is spent exercising, and if they don't, why?

One thing i think students lack is the motivation to get up and actually partake in exercise. I've looked at some tips from 'Mens Health' on how to stay motivated:

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/fitness/cardio-exercise/the-best-fitness-motivation-tips

1. Listening to music
2. Keeping track of the distance you’ve covered improves your performance as it gives you the confidence to release even more energy reserves.
3. Training partners are a great way to get more out of your session.
4. Think positive

A few of these may be helpful towards motivating students to try our exercise routine.

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/bodyweight-exercises/home-workout-9427?click=main_sr

I found a home workout on mens health. Very straight forward, but if our exercise is unisex we may have to tweak the exercises, or add exercises which are more acceptable for time purposes.

Hear are some interesting infographic workotus which could help with the creation of our work:

I've noticed that simple block colours and the simple illustrative design is a recurring theme through the info graphics. Backed up by important and helpful information the graphics are easily readable, and its easy to find your way around them. I'm thinking that we could possibly design a folding exercise routine which you can pin on your wall. I believe approaching the audience with quite a relaxed tone of voice will be more engaging for a student. If the poster was serious it would bring in an element of strict routine, where as if we're more relaxed it'll allow the student to take a more relaxed approach.

Picking which exercises to incorporate into the design has to be vital. We want the exercise to be unisex, so anything which is going to be difficult or off putting for either sex will have to be left out.

There are a couple of exercises our group has decided to look into:

Sit ups
Press ups
Crunches
Wall sit
Jogging
Lunges

Sit ups

From my own knowledge i understand sit ups are a great way of toning your abs if done correctly! A lot of people mistake sit ups for helping you lose weight, when in fact they strengthen the abs, tightening your stomach helping flatten your tummy.

Press ups

Press ups can be varied, depending on the placement of your hand you can train very different muscles. The most simple press up targets your biceps but also effects your forearms, your pecs, your back and your shoulders. Other pressups can train your abs and your triceps.

Crunches

Crunches are an advance on the sit up and target directly your abs. These may be difficult for some people.

Wall sit

Wall sits are really easy and can be done anywhere with a free wall. The wall sit targets your hamstrings, your quads and your bum. I think this could be a brilliant exercise for a student.

Lunges
Lunges are similar to the wall sit as they train your hamstrings, quads and your bum. They can also help tone your abs. We dont want our exercise to be grueling so we have to consider how hard each indivual exercise may be.

Jogging

Jogging is a great workout for the legs and abs, and is very good cardio. The problem with jogging is that you have to leave the flat, and we are wanting our routine to be quite stationary! We could maybe add it as an alternative!