Student Life: Lesson 2 - How to Stay fit at University
Student life can perhaps be best described as a delicate balancing act between your academic and social life, both need attention and care if you wish to excel in your studies as well as leave University with a bank of memories that’ll last a lifetime. However, whilst traversing between your books and friends it can be easy for your health to take a back seat, indeed staying on top of my fitness was a problem I encountered during my first year at University. However, since then I have discovered that not only is it possible to stay fit as a student but actually incredibly easy! Now at this point you may be worried that in this blog I will advise that you exercise everyday like you’re a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, stick to a diet of gruel, and look in the mirror every morning so that you can hate yourself into staying fit. Let me put any anxieties you may have to rest, I like all students am guilty of digging into a large 2 am pizza from Dominos or having a cheeky mid-afternoon Chicken Cottage, but what I have learned from my time at Oxford Brookes, is that all aspects of student life require balance if you are to truly get the best possible University experience. So in the following I’ll answer two questions I had myself when I was looking to stay on top of my fitness; ‘"Where can I go to exercise?’ and 'How can I stay on top of my diet at Uni?’
Where can I go to exercise?
Back in school you may have found it easy to get your exercise in, what with various sports teams, school gyms, and regimented P.E. classes, which when put all together can make you feel as if you’ve just been condemned to a labour camp in Soviet Russia. However, at University there is no despotic sports teacher to force you to exercise, it’s all up to you, something that I’m sure will come as a missive relief to many of you. So what exercising options are available to you? Well during Fresher’s Fair, you’ll find amongst all the societies, clubs, and other excuses to drink, a wide verity of sports teams, from football to ultimate frisbee, all looking for new players to sign up, weather you are looking to take part competitively or just take part for fun.
I for example joined up for 5-a-side football with a group of friends, just looking for a fun kick about on a Sunday afternoon. I would definitely recommend joining a sports team as it is not only great ways to learn a new sport or continue taking part in one that you already enjoy, but it is also a great way to expand your university social life. Indeed this year I joined the Oxford Brookes Squash team, where I found a great weekly workout running around the court as well as a really great group of people, who I also join for squash team nights out. Exercise is almost never fun, but it is a lot easier to pull yourself away from your Netflix marathon and get up to do some sport when your friends will be joining you.
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| (Oxford Brookes Women's Hockey Team) |
If sport isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other options open to you as well, when I was looking to get on top of my fitness during my second year I joined the Brookes gym, located at the Headington campus, there I found a large array of gym equipment for both cardio exercises and weights. I must admit I was somewhat anxious going to the gym at first, partly because I was fearful of stepping into a douche bags paradise, full of weight machines, flatcaps on backwards, and an endless barrage of tank tops. Instead I found a mixture of people looking to exercise once a week and those there everyday. The Brookes gym also has a really friendly atmosphere, as I found guys and girls coming up to me, to give friendly advice on how best to do certain exercises and suggestion on exercises to incorporate that they themselves had found useful. The gym also runs classes, from yoga to cycling if you’re looking to take on something a little more structured. I myself opted to just go along to the gym a few days a week and built my own routine.
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| (Oxford Brookes Gym) |
It is important to note that most sports teams will charge a joining fee, the fee will vary from team to team as some will require to buy equipment to take part. The Oxford Brookes gym also charges a membership fee, which ranges from £12.99 per month for the bronze membership which gives you access to the gym, most facilities, and some classes (which is what I have), up to £24.00 per month for the gold membership which gives you access to all classes and facilities.
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| (End of year Squash Tournament - Disney costume optional) |
How can I stay on top of my diet at University?
At University you can quite often feel like a kid in a candy shop, there is what appears to be an endless source of junk food and no one other than your bank statement to tell you no. There seems to be no escape from the bombardment of offers and deals on pizza’s, Chinese food, curries, fried chicken, and burgers... are you getting hungry yet? Student life gives you unparalleled independence and power to pick and choose as you wish, but unfortunately as the ill fated Uncle Ben once said; “with great power, comes great responsibility”. The responsibility is yours to balance your diet, to go to the shops during your weekly food shop and put down the 6 pack sausages and instead pick fish, to not buy the huge packet of crisps and instead pick up a packet of baby carrots. At the University I found that the Brookes deli and food court offered healthy alternatives with salads and meals that give you the nutritional balance you need. I found balancing my diet at University particularly hard, but with healthy options available at Brookes and steadily making healthy food choices at the supermarket I saw real improvement. I’m not going to sugar coat it, eating healthy sucks, come on we’d all much rather dig into ice cream or chips and [insert type of fried food here], but by eating healthy food in reasonable amounts, whilst treating yourself to something a little more enjoyable once or twice a week, you’ll find that your diet isn’t something that you need to focus on, and eventually it’ll just become part of your weekly routine and be second nature to you.
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| (Me at the end of 1st year) |
By the end of my first year I found myself overweight, out of shape, and in terms of confidence, at a real low point. Lost in the freedom that goes hand in hand with student life, I didn’t exercise, thinking that it would be impossible to incorporate it to my studies and social life. Furthermore I made really poor diet decisions, opting for the unhealthy option almost every time I was at the supermarket. It took me almost the entirety of my second year as a student to get myself back on track. Now I am in the best shape of my life, I have discovered a new confidence I didn’t know existed, and for me this was an extremely important lesson, but one that I learned the hard way and I do not wish to see others to have to learn as I did. Student life is all about balance, you find yourself for the first in your life with the training wheels taken off, and if you lean too far on either side, you’ll fall off.
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| (Me today) |
I hope this blog has given you a helpful insight into how to stay fit at university, and as always have an awesome day!
Enjoyed your douche bag preconceptions; very entertaining
ReplyDeleteAlways Do Gyming In Winters to Stay Fit
ReplyDeleteWinter has arrived already, and it’s the best season to get a warm cup of dark chocolate while you wear a comfortable cardigan. Still, this does not mean that you should be sleeping throughout the full day.