As the semester continues, students’ schedules fill up, midterm season is in full swing and there are never enough hours in the day. Most students don’t have a mandate to exercise during the school year unless they are in a varsity sport or in a physical education class.
Despite the benefits of exercising, finding time to exercise with a busy schedule can be hard. Danielle Dungen, Trinity coach, personal trainer and nutritionist, gave advice to combat time management difficulties.
“I tell a lot of people: Schedule [time to exercise]. Put it in your calendar. I feel like everyone deserves at least 30 minutes to themselves every day, and you should use it to work out because you don’t have to spend two, three hours in the gym,” Dungen said.
Dungen tied in exercise with nutrition and improving overall well-being. She stated that these benefits make scheduling time to stay active important.
“We have to work out,” Dungen said. “And if you don’t, you’re going to pay for it in school because if you’re not getting the right nutrients, you’re not feeding your brain, and if you’re not feeding your brain, then you’re not going to do well in classes. And you know, sleep, that’s part of it.”
Dungen discussed those who have experience playing sports or who regularly exercised before college and may have fallen out of their routine. When asked what she would tell people looking to get back into making activity a regular part of their week, she outlined a schedule.
“If you’re going to start a routine, I always say you want to get and go by body parts. You never want to work the secondary muscle when you’re working your primary muscle,” Dungen said. ”You don’t want to work on that secondary muscle, because it’s going to fatigue before you get to it.”
Shelby DeVore, aerobic fitness instructor and assistant director of golf, highlighted the importance of activity of any duration for students in an email.
“Anything is better than nothing. Go for a 20-minute walk or do some pushups, lunges and curl-ups in your dorm. It’s amazing what a few minutes of activity will do,” DeVore wrote. “Students forget the importance of activity on their mental health. Even if it’s 20 minutes of exercise, people who are active are overall healthy physically, mentally and emotionally.”
Laura Cook, yoga, kickboxing, conditioning and weight training instructor, recommended ways to get students motivated to stay active, even when they are busy.
“We’re shooting for 150 minutes a week of physical activity. So, do something you like. It doesn’t have to be all at one time. 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at night, you did 20 minutes that day,” Cook said. “That, and get an exercise buddy. You don’t feel like it, they’ll pull you out there. Do something you like.”
