As a college student, priorities are school first, partying later. Where is the fitness placed there? All of the habits you create in college carry on throughout the rest of your years past the educational atmosphere. Since this is the case, fitness should be your second priority after your studies. Why? First and foremost, who does not want to have an amazing body that was created out of hard work and dedication?
Being able to look in the mirror and say “I am proud of what I built” is an extremely satisfying feeling (although once you start really lifting hardcore, satisfaction is out of the vocabulary). Not only is an individual working on themselves in the gym for their physical attributes, but also they are increasing their longevity and releasing endorphins. It is basically all around improving the life you live to get the best out of yourself.
There is no doubt out there that time management in college is more difficult than the actual classes. I struggle more with managing my time then I do putting socks on in the morning (there’s a curse with having t-rex arms), but one thing I do best is fitting in time so I can go and kill my workout. If I can do that, almost anyone can. A great part about going to your tuitions facilities is meeting other people that you might not get the chance to meet outside of the gym.
I can say that all of the friends I have made at my college is due to the fact that I have seen them in the gym multiple times. Another reason it is great to meet people in the gym is because you both have at least one thing in common: fitness. It takes a lot of motivation and courage to go to a new gym at a new place surrounded by new people, so you aren’t only taking the steps to becoming more healthy and fit, but you are also building more courage, friendships, and the most important, MUSCLE!
Being fit and healthy in college does not only involve the gym, but also involves eating healthy a.k.a DIET. There are many, many issues with eating at colleges. They make food cheap, they serve cheap food, and they charge outrageous amounts for meal plans. If you can, choose a very cheap, limited meal plan, and use the money you did not spend on a meal plan to go grocery shopping throughout the semester. This is the best decision I have made this year.
I am eating a hell of a lot more food that is high in nutrients, protein, and good carbs. I have more options every day of what I want to eat without it feeling like a job and without the school deciding what I will be eating that day. Now, if that is not an option for you, most schools have set a certain part of the cafeteria up where you can contact them, tell the personnel you have a specific diet you must adhere to, and they will make it to the specs that you need. If your last resort is having to eat whatever is on the menu, make the right choices! No fried food every day, go light on the grease, not too much salad dressing, choose greens and fruits over fries, eat more salad topped with chicken, whole wheat bread over white or Kaiser rolls. You know what I mean by now.
There are so many reasons to be healthy and fit in college, you decrease you risks of the top ten causes of death, increase longevity, look better, feel better, and make new friends! Now get up, get to the gym, kill your workout, and eat healthy! Life is about choices so why not make healthy ones?
Jordan Highbloom is a junior at Cabrini College, where he majors in exercise science and health promotion.
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