Plight of the Part-Time Student: Staying Fit, Part 1

When you’re an undergrad, it all seems so easy.  A gym is usually within walking distance.  You go there with a few friends.  You run, you lift.  It’s nice.  The crazy stuff that you eat (pizza, pizza, and more pizza) doesn’t seem to affect you at all.  

Things change as you get a little bit older!

Another plight of the part time student is trying to stay fit through class, work, and family obligations.  Also, you may not live that close to a gym, and may not be on campus long enough to take advantage of the University's gym.

This is something I am trying to figure out.  Staying fit is very important when you have so many key obligations in your life.  It relieves stress and makes you feel good about yourself.  It’s important to feel good about yourself so that you can bring the best “You” to your marriage, your job and your school work.

So while I’m not doing this perfectly (and never will), I’m doing much better than I was doing even a few months ago.  Here are a few things I’ve learned that may be helpful for other PT'ers (part-timers). I'll list a few here and some more in my next blog post:

1. Set Goals that work for you

It is often said that in order to stick to our fitness plans, we need to have goals.  On a deeper level, these goals have to be important and specific to you.  For me, I’m finding out that the best thing that motivates me to stay fit, work out and eat right is by focusing on an upcoming event or activity.  Currently, I’m planning on joining some kind of club sport in the Spring.  So this is motivating me to get/stay in shape now.  My last goal was staying in shape for my wedding.  

Setting goals this way may not work for you.  You may do better by wanting to achieve a certain run time or distance, etc.  Take some time to really think what goals work for you and motivate you.

2. Get involved!

If you get yourself involved in some physical extracurricular activities, this will help you reach the goals you set for yourself. Penn has a ton of opportunities.  Some of them are intramural sports that students can join (here: http://www.upenn.edu/recreation/sports/intramural.html) and a state of the art - and huge -fitness center (http://www.upenn.edu/recreation/facilities/pottruck.html).  

3. Schedule exercise ahead of time

If you don’t do this, eventually everything will swallow up all of your time and exercise will be put on the back burner.  But if you make it a point to say, “on Tuesday evening I will run for ½ hour, then again on Saturday” you are much more likely to go ahead and do it.

4. Keep track of the grad school food

Food is a great socializing tool for campus events;  and there’s certainly nothing wrong with engaging in these events and having a bite to eat.  But try to keep track of what you’re eating.  If you’re trying to watch your diet, and you participate in a campus event that has foods that go against your diet, remember that when you go back home to eat dinner and try to adjust.  Originally, I just ate the campus "socializing foods" and never thought twice about it.  Now I am trying to be more aware of what I’m eating and how I might have to adjust the rest of my diet for the day.

Part 2 with more tips coming soon...