Friday December 8th

Ryan Nichol

Good Copy of Draft Proposal

Capstone strand: Service

My inquiry question
How can I create a more welcoming and comfortable environment at the gym for beginners to
encourage their consistent engagement?

Rationale/context
I'm drawn to this inquiry question because my passion lies in maintaining a healthy body and
building muscle. Yet, my journey wasn't without struggles. Starting out, I grappled with feelings
of judgment for being small, confusion about workouts, concerns about nutrition, and challenges
in maintaining consistency. These experiences fueled my desire to eliminate these hurdles for
others. Leveraging my existing knowledge and seeking more, I aim to assist those facing similar
uncertainties. To ensure I don't lose sight of the initial struggles, I'm interviewing my brother's
friends, and others at my gym, delving into challenges they had as beginners, and using their
insights to comprehensively address common issues.

Background
I have been going to the gym for a year and a half and have gained a semi-advanced knowledge
of the human body and how muscles work, how they can grow, how to gain/lose weight, and
how to eat healthy. I have toyed around doing YouTube and editing and would say I have a very
basic knowledge of how to post and edit. I hope to grow my knowledge further in both areas as
the human body is so sophisticated and there is always more to learn. The same thing goes for
YouTube and editing, it is such a large platform, with endless knowledge to gain.

Career conections
At this point in my life, I’m hoping to go into teaching in post-secondary. This connects to my life
as I have always felt comfortable mentoring or teaching younger kids in sports, peer mentoring,
link crew, volunteering, and more. It is something I know I am good at, and I enjoy doing. The
way my inquiry question connects to my goals is through the environment I try and set every
day. I always want my friends, peer mentor class, and link crew group to feel comfortable in this
school because it gets overwhelming and I always want to be there for a helping hand. Much
like my day-to-day goals, I plan to make the class I teach, a welcoming environment open to all
for anything and hope to gain some experience from this project. Another way this connects to
my daily life is through my communications skills. I have to speak with strangers in order to get
the information and data I need for the ideal prooduct. The way this connects to my academic
life is through the problem solving that comes with the struggles of posting and deciding what to
do. I will have to continuosly problem solve for future complictions and come up with ideas to
keep veiwers engaged. This closely relates to having to problem solve in class for tasks,
assignments, tests, extra. Some of these subjects include math for problem solving, english as
when writing you need to keep the reader engaged, and auto class and you are consistantly
creating new plans to counter imperfections in the automobiles.

Indiceplenary and core competency connections

As of this moment, personal awareness and responsibility, social responsibility, critical and
creative thinking, and communication are all core competencies that will connect to my
capstone. Personal awareness and responsibility connect to my capstone due to me having to
work alone and this entire project needing to be self-motivated and regulated. I also have to
maintain my mental well-being and space out this project, so I am not staying up late nearing the
due date to get it in on time. The way social responsibility connects to my capstone is massive as
it is community based. Most of my filming will be in the community and the project is entirely
for it. I will have to build relationships with mentors at the gym as well as the younger peers I
plan on interviewing. The third core competency that I will be connecting to is critical thinking.
This connects as I need to design a YouTube account that I feel, meets the standards I set for
myself. It also relates to my different approach to sharing my experiences with a YouTube
channel. Creative thinking is the fourth competency I am connecting to my capstone. This will
be done by myself using every resource that is available to me that I can. I can use my and my
brother's gym to film and utilize the potential mentors there and talk to as many people as I can
to get the most knowledge for my project. Communication is a big core competency as
throughout my entire project I will be speaking to the camera or a person. As I come across these
people, I plan to take into account that everyone has their own opinions and if theirs is different
than mine, good, I can find out why they think that. I hope to descriptively share my thoughts
and researched information to display on my channel to everyone.

Capstone presentation medium

-YouTube

Capstone description
 Embarking on this endeavour, my first step involves thorough research on YouTube
dynamics. I aim to deepen my understanding of channel fundamentals, diving into the specifics
of video editing to create compelling content with broad appeal. This groundwork will empower
me to establish and maintain a channel dedicated to sharing informative and engaging content
with the public.

Simultaneously, I will dive into deep research focused on the human body, specifically
honing in on muscles and the overall process of food intake. This exploration is pivotal for
delivering diverse insights on weight management encompassing gaining, losing, and
maintaining weight while prioritising fat loss over muscle. By sharing this knowledge on my
channel, I hope to guide viewers through the complexities of body transformation.

A third strand of my research centres on gym culture and workouts. I will delve into gym
etiquette, emphasising respect within the community. For workouts, my focus extends to
meticulous exploration of ideal forms for each muscle group. Although I possess a solid
foundation in form, this research aims to elevate my knowledge to a level where I can effectively
instruct and communicate these ideas to my audience.

The content I plan to produce includes instructional videos on proper workout form and
techniques, offering beginners a guide through foundational exercises. Additionally, I have
potential interviews with fellow beginners, creating a sense of community and removing the
isolation often felt by newcomers. The channel will also feature guidance on weight
management, uncovering the intricacies of how food impacts the body and unravelling the
mysteries of effective weight loss. Finally I will be adressing consistancy and how to motivate
ones self to grasp the goals set previously and keep going.

My overarching goal is to tackle the "beginner's curse" (the tendency for individuals to
quit the gym within the initial months) . Through my research and content, I aim to create a
welcoming atmosphere, encouraging more people to embrace fitness as a positive lifestyle. I
anticipate the production of 5 to 10 instructional videos to insure a complete coverage of all areas
of knowledge that I can.

Looking beyond the capstone project, I plan to consistantly engage with my audience
through the comments. Feedback will be extremely important in refining posted videos, with a
commitment to temporarily taking down and replacing content for continuous improvement. I
also will utilize audience suggestions for new video ideas, ensuring the channel evolves to meet
the needs of its growing community. This continuos process will establish a dynamic and
enduring legacy for the channel, fostering its growth and impact.
Resources/ Technology/Skills

I’m going to need access to the gym that I go to and a filming device which I already have (my
phone). I have also ordered a microphone for optimal sound quality in the videos. I plan to do an
abundance of research online and find a middle ground on all the workout opinions as there are
many to cover for all bases that I need to know. I also plan to use my peers who are bodybuilders
as well that happen to have a plentiful amount of knowledge of the gym and working out, with
the body’s to show for it.

Mentors/Community Connections

Some mentors I will utilize are people at my gym who have been working out for a long time
and have a lot of experience. This is heavily community-based as it is centralized and will have
filming at my local gym with our community members in the videos. I am already familiar with
these mentors as I have asked them numerous times for tips to critique my form myself.

Project limitations
My overall skill level could be an issue as there are people who have been doing this for 10-plus
years, and still have a hard time posting quality informational content that matches the rest out
there. There are so many ways to grow the muscle, and there are multiple ways to do things,
thus, making it easy to make mistakes. There is also potential for youtube and editing
complications as it is a very new topic for me and it is possible for these issues to occur.

References

Bennett, Richard. “Easy Way to Edit Youtube Videos in Imovie.” How to Edit YouTube Videos
in iMovie?[2023], 26 Oct. 2023, filmora.wondershare.com/youtube-video-editing/edit-
youtube-video-in-imovie.html.
This site touched based on iMovie and specific tips and tricks on how to make good youtube
videos through the app.

Chillingworth, Alec. “How to Use CapCut for TikTok, YouTube & More: Epidemic Sound.” This
Is the Epidemic Sound Blog | Epidemic Sound, This is the Epidemic Sound blog |
Epidemic Sound, 22 Nov. 2023, www.epidemicsound.com/blog/what-is-capcut/?
_us=adwords_max&_usx=14492154145_&utm_source=google&utm_medium=paidsearch
&utm_campaign=max_14492154145&utm_term=&gclid=CjwKCAiA98WrBhAYEiwA2Wvh
On1ladCJ8C-FCzldHN8qA2WVBmc6Ih_aZTR4OyG1DIrxNjqXnqMz9hoCf34QAvD_BwE.

This website much like the first one touches on a different website, Capcut. It has multiple
common questions with answers that are a touch of a button away.

“How to Lose Weight Fast and Safely.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/diet/lose-weight-

fast. Accessed 7 Nov. 2023.

This website mentions how to healthfully lose weight by being in a calorie deficit while still
being able to maintain muscle.

Staff, Familydoctor.org Editorial. “Healthy Ways to Gain Weight If You’re

Underweight.” Familydoctor.Org, 2 June 2023, familydoctor.org/healthy-ways-to-gain-
weight-if-youre-underweight/.

This cite is the opposite of the previous cite as it is centralized on gaining weight healthfully by
being in a caloric surplus. It also mentions how to get your protein in at the same time.

Yetman, Daniel. “Muscle Groups to Work out Together: How to Create a Plan.” Healthline,
Healthline Media, 24 Feb. 2023, www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/muscle-
groups-to-workout-together#muscle-groups.
This website talks about how there is no wrong way to work out but there are ways to make your
workouts more effective.