As a student, a little exercise can help you maintain fitness and stay healthy. Moreover, staying physically active can benefit your academic performance, boost energy levels, and reduce stress. Consequently, even the laziest among us have plenty to gain from these simple exercise tips:
- Set realistic targets for physical activity each week.
- Check to see if your college offers access to any exercise facilities.
- Find ways to work exercise into your daily life.
- Combine exercise with other activities, such as listening to podcasts.
- Find a fitness buddy so you can motivate each other to exercise.
For more on all the tips above, read on below.
1. Set Realistic Targets
If you’ve not done any proper exercise since gym at school, diving straight into a high-intensity CrossFit class might be a bad idea. Luckily, this isn’t necessary!
Instead, focus on setting realistic goals. If you strive for progress rather than perfection, you’re much more likely to feel and enjoy the benefits of exercising.
The HHS currently recommends around 150 minutes minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week, which is a good place to start.
2. Know Your Options
Many colleges offer students access to gym and pool facilities, so it’s worth checking what options you have available. Likewise, joining sports clubs and societies can be a great motivator if you struggle for enthusiasm with exercise.
3. Stealth Exercise
Rather than a workout plan for ninjas, ‘stealth exercise’ is how we like to think of physical activity you can work into daily life, such as:
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- Walking to lectures and classes
- Taking the stairs instead of elevators
- Doing physical housework, like vacuuming
- Dancing (especially dance classes)
- Going for a walk with friends
- Making the beast with two backs (requires a willing friend)
There are plenty of other options, too. Our point is simply that there are physical things you can do without ever having to go near a gym.
4. Multi-Task
Don’t feel like you have time to go for a run? Find the idea of spending an hour on a treadmill tedious? Then you could always do something else while you exercise, like getting your set reading done for class or listening to a podcast.
Obviously this isn’t advisable if you’re doing a sport that requires constant concentration: if you try to read a book while simultaneously white water rafting, you’re likely to end up very wet indeed. Nevertheless, a good book can make time fly on an exercise bike (even when the bike remains resolutely stationary).
5. Buddy Up
As with most things in life, exercise is much less painful if you have someone with whom to share the experience. This should be someone who shares your goals so you can motivate one another while you exercise.
And if they’re also happy to go to a bar afterwards, that’s a definite bonus.
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