(Rather aesthetic shot of the shuttlecock and racket as I couldn’t get any action shots like last time. Pic cred: The author.)

Doing badminton on Friday evenings as a way to stay healthy

I was able to take advantage of this long weekend and work on the Action section of CAS – this meant that I spent a few hours practicing badminton and doing slight conditioning in order to improve my fitness.

I started off with some usual warm-ups; which consisted of jumping jacks, side shuffles, crunches, and a few other exercises. Afterward, my neighbour and I played badminton for quite a while. Playing with someone else is definitely better than working out alone – like I did with boxing last time – this is because you get to imitate a usual game and have fun with it!

I was able to play a few rallies, something that I definitely missed during the days I haven’t been able to play badminton much. Nonetheless, I think that in comparison to when I first started playing badminton, there’s been quite a lot of improvement. It’s been quite refreshing to see my agility and tendency to hit the shuttlecock progress. Moreover, my coach has said before that my overall fitness has come a long way in improving – something I’m quite proud of as I’ve been working on it for a while.

I’ve found it quite interesting to quantify my progress with fitness (maybe it’s the biology student in me coming out), and I’ve found that since starting workouts and badminton seriously I’ve lost 20+ kg since the start of 2022. I think that this has been a great accomplishment and better for my health overall! I look forward to continuing with this badminton + fitness journey.

Learning outcomes:

• LO2 – Strength & growth
  •  In my CAS goals post, I once mentioned how I wanted to refine my agility and movements when doing badminton. During today’s activity session I was able to work toward this goal and I believe that I saw some progress with this. 
  • I think that playing badminton regularly will also enable me to improve in badminton.
  • The warm-ups that I did (such as jumping jacks, leg lifts, and squats) were particularly effective in exercising my strength and getting me to ready to play.

• LO5 – Showing perseverance and commitment
  • Planning these sessions with the goal in mind to improve certain aspects of my playing lets me implement my organisation skills – while also being an exhibition of my perseverance and commitment. 
  • Continually carrying out these sessions enables me to progressively improve until I reach my ideal; I plan to further continue badminton as part of my Action for CAS.