Posts Tagged ‘fitness’

Why Work Out? Utilize College Discounts While You Can!

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, college students should get at least one hour of physical activity per day.  But for many students, working out feels like an impossible task. Between classes, schoolwork, extracurricular activities, social life, love life, and sleep, it seems that there is simply not enough time in the day.

alumni.nyu.edu

However, making time to work out can benefit all students. Physical activity boosts productivity and clears the mind, gives positive energy and instills confidence to take on challenges. It also makes you feel good about yourself, boosting self-esteem, a serious concern for many college students.

A good workout is about balance, no matter your gender. Walking into a college gym, you usually find the women on the treadmills and elliptical machines, while the men lift weights. Oftentimes, men think that they need to lift weights and chug protein shakes in order to stay fit, while women tend to steer clear of the weight room because they fear looking like female bodybuilders. These beliefs are workout myths. Reaching a body type of a bodybuilder is unlikely without intense workouts, extreme dieting, and heavy supplementation. Weight-lifting can boost metabolism, improve posture, and build muscle, which helps burn fat faster; therefore, it can benefit both men and women. However, weight-lifting is not essential to staying fit. Alternative forms of exercise like biking and running benefit the heart and rest of the body in ways that weight-lifting does not.

But you don’t need to become a “gym rat” or a “fitness freak” to stay healthy and fit. There is a myriad of quick and easy ways to work out during your college years. Students can stay fit without even going to the gym through activities like bike rides, yoga, Zumba, swimming, team sports, parkour, or jogging outside with a friend. For those not sure where to start, Tao Yoga, Sacred Sounds Yoga, and Moksha Yoga in New York City are excellent for beginners and yoga masters alike.

www.huffingtonpost.com

The hardest part is finding the motivation to go out and get moving. It is crucial to get into the habit of working out consistently while in college because once you have a full-time job and a family to support, the motivation is more likely to disappear.

Don’t get accustomed to a lethargic lifestyle, because it only gets harder to change. Go now, while you don’t need to pay for a gym membership. If a trip to the gym consumes too much time, complete a body weight workout in your dorm room or apartment. All it takes is 60 minutes a day to get on the right path.

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Joey Silver, University of Delaware. Check out my Twitter!

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Soldier to Student…

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Today, life for me is a rather different matter compared to how it was just six months ago. My day used to begin at seven AM, with BBC Radio 4 news and the sensation of having just emerged from a deep freeze, as my mind attempted a mental inventory of the rest of my body. A partially effective shower later and I would be in the mess hall, shaved, smartly dressed and working through a stodgy breakfast, while my brain took a second stab at the physical inventory. By eight, I would be at my desk and just about through the fourth layer of security before I began a days work that was surprisingly dull, for all the significance it carried. Suffice it to say, those of us engaged in matters of National Security still despise MicroSoft’s Windows, still gossip like teenagers and still engage in petty contests to impress the boss… The best part of the day was my gym time in the evenings.

From my bed, to my breakfast to my workstation, I never had to leave the site; if you worked over a weekend you might not get ‘outside the wire’ in two weeks or more with a gym, a bar, a church, social activities and a life where your colleagues, are your friends, are your neighbors – it can be a true fishbowl. And I guess it was not so different from university life, in some respects – though the timings are offset by at least three hours or more! Where it does start to get different is the world around you. When I get up now I don’t start running through the strict timings of my day, I just try to recall the ones that matter. Instead of all eighteen hours of my conscious existence being accounted for, it’s two hours, every other day. The freedom gets perplexing sometimes, but it only takes about a week and half before you completely abandon your daily shaving regime, stop fussing over the shine on your shoes and even contemplate the necessity of a morning shower. Not so much de-institutionalized, rather re-institutionalized back into being a student, I have gleefully abandoned almost every element of my old life, bar one. After eight years of it, I cannot bare to miss my exercise.

With a host of options in a city like New York – only when you’ve spent ten bewildered minutes in front of three drinks coolers trying to work out the specific character of your thirst, can you really appreciate the majesty of a true consumer culture – finding a gym is technically easy and practically impossible. Normally, I would go to the university gym, but that’s not necessarily for everyone. The gym is always busy, and I’m getting past being an undergraduate by… well, I’m past being an undergraduate. As someone who’s been fit all their life, and in a professional capacity, I really wanted a little more. So, after a week of free trials and footwork, I finally settled on Crunch, near Union Square.

Easy

For me, running in NYC is almost a total non-starter. Yes, you can go out to the Park, or along the rivers, but I don’t live near any of those. I once ran a 10k in the Afghan desert, and that was less daunting, and more effective, than trying to run while constrained by New York traffic, so a good range of machines I can always get to makes all the difference. The weights more than matched my needs but the real difference was the classes. In the Army, you don’t just go out and run, or do push-ups in lines. We were always pretty good about mixing up fitness and providing different challenges and I still much prefer to vary my workout as often as possible, so getting to sign up for a different thing each week keeps me in good nick, and keeps me interested each session. It’s a lot better than just going down on your own and slogging through a routine you clipped from a magazine, or worse, just trailing round the equipment and giving it a bash. Having someone lead you through your exercise makes you work harder and better, and a trainer is just as good as a military PT – though I do get nostalgic for the name calling sometimes!

Hard

Whilst it seems a little extravagant to join a gym, there are deals to be had, particularly as a student. If it seems like something you’d want to get into, check out this deal on Crunch Gyms. They have a great offer across the summer when school is closed, so if you’re in the city over the summer, go for it.
Crunch Gym
Dan
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Relax Your Mind and Feel Good

Friday, May 14th, 2010

As a student, it may sometimes seem that stress is never-ending, especially in New York City, which, based on data from forbes.com is the third most stressful city in the country. The difficulties in balancing school, work, and our relationships can increase stress to the point where it has a negative affect on our physical and mental well-being. According to WebMD, “People who don’t manage stress well can have headaches, stomach pain, sleeping problems, illness, and depression.” However, if it is managed effectively, stress can be defeated, allowing us to live a healthy and more fulfilling life.

Cost Effective Ways to Reduce Stress in Your Life

Workout at the Gym for Free– Many gyms offer guest passes that vary from one day to two weeks for non-members. Colleges and Universities around the city also offer students free access to their facilities. This is a great way to work out without coming out of your own pocket. Just contact your local gym for more details or click on the link below for access to another way to get fit for free.
Shape Up NY

Talk to Someone– Sometimes you just need someone to talk to. Contact your school’s mental health center for details on what services are available to you free of charge. It may also help to find a clergy, relative, friend, or therapist that will listen to you; afterward you may feel relieved to have let it all out. If you still feel a sense of urgency, you can always call 1-800-LIFENET.

Meditate– Look for a quiet place to relax, put your body in any position that you feel comfortable in; stand up, sit down, or lie down and take deep breaths, keeping the focus on your breathing. Continue to do so until you feel the stress melt away. For more information on meditation courses in New York City, take a look at the link below or go to your local library for some books on the topic.
Meditation in New York

Listen to Music– Ever wonder why music is a universal language, it’s because no matter what culture or background you come from tunes can speak to you. Just turn on the radio and before you even realize it, you’ll be dancing and singing or humming and bopping your head. There are also places throughout the city where you can listen to free music. Check some of them out below:
Music at Madison Square Park
Music at Licoln Center
Music at Central Park

-Shana H

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