Oh, The Places You’ll Walk And Other Means Of Staying Fit In College

No matter how big or small your college campus is, you’ll be doing plenty of walking throughout college life. Even if you commute to college via car, unlike in high school, class locations aren’t exactly down the hall from each other. This means you should have your walking shoes ready! If you couple that with wearing a heavy backpack, it can even be a bit of workout going to class!

But don’t stop there. Walking should be seen as supplementary exercise, in addition to some other fitness-based activities. If you went to the gym in high school, college won’t seem all that different. It seems practically every dorm has a gym affixed to it. Gyms around campus are about as common as on-campus cafeterias, meaning there’ll be at least a few, and some should be pretty decent.

But maybe you don’t like the gym. No problem. Most schools probably have at least a pool or two that’s open for students to use. There’s nothing that grinds out the stress better than an evening at the gym or some time spent swimming after a day of class. A lot of students who weren’t gym goers before find that they love the gym after they start going in college. College life is all about trying new things, so make a healthy choice and start going to they gym. And unlike before or after college, you won’t have to pay for a membership to the gym!

Physical fitness-based activities based around college life are so common. Look at how popular longboarding, for example, has become on college campuses. And there are plenty of biking and jogging groups to get involved with at campus. Plus, since there’s such a culmination of new activity happening around campus, why not try a new, perhaps less common sport such as fencing or squash? Your school probably has gyms and activity rooms and courts devoted to sports beyond more common ones such as basketball and tennis. Try something new and find a new means of exercise that you actually enjoy.

When it comes to developing healthy habits, college is the ideal place to start. If you didn’t really exercise or work out much before and then you start to in college, that could be a tough habit to break once you’re out of school—and that’s not a bad thing of course. So whether you find yourself going off to the gym or trying a new exercise activity or sport that you had no idea you’d enjoy, use your time in college for some exploration and keep that freshman 15 at bay.