#Nerd

I went to the gym today! This was the first time I used the Rec Center at my school. I will tell you this...I really miss the gym back at my undergrad. It was much nicer than this gym at UMFlint. But they do have an indoor track which is awesome. And the GPS on my Nike+ running app worked well, which was also awesome.

I ran just over 2 miles. Not bad considering that I haven't ran in almost 3 weeks. And because I ran on the track, my pace was faster. It was at about 8:40 a mile pace, which is fast for me. Granted, I was gasping for air after like crazy, but I was still impressed.

You are probably wondering what the title of this post means. On Tuesday of next week, I have my first Kinesiology quiz. So I have been studying A LOT! Anyways at the gym, I was doing some strength training at the gym, including bicep curls and squats. In Kinesiology, one of our topics is learning what a closed or open kinematic chain is. (Here is the Kinesiology lesson).

An open kinematic chain is when the distal segment of the kinematic chain is not fixed to the earth or another immovable object. An example of this is a bicep curl (The chain is the upper arm and the forearm. The forearm is farther from the center of the body to the upper arm; hence it is the distal part of the chain). Basically, the forearm is not fixed to the earth and free to move while to upper arm is not.

A closed kinematic chain is the opposite: the distal segment of a kinematic chain is fixed to the earth or other immovable object. An example of this is the squat. (The chain is the thigh and the calf. The calf, which is distal b/c it is farther away from the center of the body than the thigh, is fixed to the earth). The thigh is free to move, but the calf is not.

SO...while doing these exercises, I caught myself saying out loud "Open/Closed Kinematic Chain" during very rep. I wonder what the people around me were thinking when I was saying that haha. It was kind of awkward and embarrassing. But now I will definitely remember it for the quiz on Tuesday!