Action Research Report

Megan Ramos
EDUC 526 Capstone Experience in Digital Teaching and Learning
Jennifer Courduff
Azusa Pacific University
Spring 2014







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Abstract:
This action research project tests if working out with a partner or group will increase my
fitness consistency. I was working out only once a week before intervention. Over a three-week
period, I worked out with a partner or group to see if it would help me be more consistent. The
workouts were 30-minutes or more of various types of fitness, including soccer, yoga, running,
and more. After the three-weeks, accessed data will reveal the impact that partner and group
workouts have on my consistency.











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Introduction
I have learned that consistent fitness is extremely important for me to be healthy mentally
and physically, but I struggle with consistency. Through research and personal experience, I
know that I have more energy and perform better when I am working out consistently, roughly
3+ times a week. Since I work in education, the patience and mental keenness I have after
working out makes for a huge plus for my students any my experience. Unfortunately, I go
through spurts of having good workout routines to none at all.
So what can I do to workout consistently? Being a soccer player, I know that having a
team or partner helps me be more accountable to stay fit. This is why my research question is if
working out with a partner or group of people will increase fitness consistency. Focusing on
quantitative data, I anticipate an increase in the number of times a week I workout with a
designated partner or group.

Implementation
After assessing the baseline, sparking an intervention on my fitness life took action. My
baseline was working out once a week on the soccer field. I play with my team in a co-ed league
almost every Sunday morning. Games are 90-minutes and I usually play the entire 90 minutes.
Now I know that I am committed to my team, but I need to increase my fitness by buddying up
with a partner during the week.
I presented my intervention proposal to a soon to be fitness partner, who was eager to
start getting consistent fitness as well. We would encourage each other to work out together,
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even after long days at work. Our goal was to workout 3-4 times a week. We were able worked
out together on weekday evenings and a Saturday. A workout consisted of various types of
fitness for 30-minutes or more. Specific workouts I did during the three weeks included the
following:
o Running on a track or trail
o Walking on a track or trail
o Yoga
o Soccer game
o Arm reps
Five different lift/curl exercises using gallon water jugs
Pushups
My partner and I individually tracked our daily fitness completion with visuals. On the
days I worked out, I would use stamp to represent my fitness success, as seen in seen in Figure 1
below. My partner would draw a happy face on a chart for every time she worked out shown in
Figure 2 below. She planned to reward herself once she filled up the entire chart. Both of these
visual representations of our fitness progress were in places that we could see everyday. This
made it easy for us to track and view our success, which aided in motivation.
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Figure 1: A shot of my calendar with the stamps representing the days worked out.



Figure 2: The chart my partner used to track her fitness
progress. The happy faces each represent a day she worked out.

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Results
The results were mixed with success and the opposite. I worked out four times in both
weeks one and two, but on week three I worked out zero times. My hypothesis was that my
fitness consistency would improve, which it did at first. The third week brought an unwelcomed
flu, which caused me to not workout. Unfortunately, it had the same effect on my partner, even
without her having the bug. See the data collected in Graph 1 and Table 1 below for detailed
data.

Graph 1: The graph shows the number of times I worked out during
each week of the Action Research project.

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Week one and two were a success for me. I worked out on Sundays with my soccer team
at the games. The other workouts were with my partner. We ran, walked, did yoga and arm
workouts. All workouts were enjoyable and we encouraged each other. Besides the positive
experience, the quantitative data shows that working out with a group or partner really does help
with consistency
Week three was quite the opposite. I got the flu on that Sunday and did not recover for a
week. This resulted in me not being able to work out the entire week. My workout partner, who
Table 1: This shows specifically what type of workout I did during each
day, and the total number of workouts done for each week.

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was not sick, did not work out that entire week either. This showed me that having a workout
partner really does have an effect on whether or not you are consistent. This was certainly
unsuspected and brought something new to this action research project.
Conclusions
Quantitative data shows that having a partner or group to workout with does help me be
more consistent in fitness. Even with the effects of being unable to workout the last week of this
project, I worked out eight times in the three weeks compared to my previous baseline of
working out once a week. This is a significant improvement. As I anticipated, having a partner or
group to workout with does help me have more commitment and consistency.
If I had to make any adjustments, it would be to involve more workout groups and
partners. I have not missed any of my soccer games because I am committed to my team. It
would be a good idea for me to commit to another team that meets on set dates weekly. I think
this would have been helpful for my partner as well, since she did not workout the week I was
out sick. If she had other people to workout with regularly then she probably would have had
more progress with her workouts. These additional tactics may ensure consistency and success.

General Comments
I plan to continue fitness with a partner and groups, but add more partners and groups to
heighten my fitness consistency. During the first two weeks of the intervention, I felt healthy and
sharp physically and mentally, and I want to keep that. Regardless of a busy schedule, I will
make time to workout (except when struck by the flu). Now my fitness partner and I have been
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joining in more fitness groups, which are increasing our workout numbers. I have also seen us
gain excitement and enjoyment for various workout activities. I want to be at my best, so I will
keep my fitness consistent and enjoyable with my partners and groups.