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Let me start off by assuming that you are like me….and poor. I don’t mean “living on ramen noodles poor” though. I mean making enough money to get by but also not enough to save up for the future or buy a house, like every single person I went to school with is :(. Grad school is tough and much tougher with the stipend that we are given. This adds even more stress to our lives that we can’t afford to have. Well, this blog post is for the all of the grad school students that want to get fit without having to stress about money, high gym cost (I saw one where its $50 a month 0.o), or those very expensive stationary bikes that I made the mistake of looking up their price. No, you can get fit and not have to worry about spending that much money at all. I will include some links to things that I think are essential for the grad school fitness
First off, if you are able to use the local school gyms, or apartment gyms, do it! Technically, you are paying for those gyms so take full advantage of them. They can get crowded though, especially school gyms. This is a main reason that I hear, at work, why people tend to just workout at home or outside. Totally valid reason so the rest of this post is for those that don’t want to go to the gym.
Stadiums
Do stadium workouts or track workouts. You can really do a million different workouts at the stadium and or on a track. Usually schools will have one available to you to workout at. If not, find yourself an open field. For these workouts, you can do body exercises or even incorporate resistance training as well. I bought these resistance bands and they have been amazing, especially when everything was closed during the pandemic. Using these will help to build muscle and lose weight, which is always a plus. If you can, go on YouTube and look up resistance band exercises. There are a million to choose from. I recommend HASfit (https://www.youtube.com/user/KozakSportsPerform). I followed all of their exercises and saw significant results.
Yoga
Yoga is a big thing in college. All of the yoga classes tend to fill up so quickly. I guess people really enjoy it? I tried it and it kicked my butt, mostly because I was not used to stretching in weird ways and I used muscles that I had never used. If you want to do some yoga and don’t want to go to classes because….covid, then I suggest getting a yoga mat and watching more YouTube videos. Man, YouTube is amazing. I bought this mat and I watch MadFit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQ34afVgk8cRQBjSJ1xuJQ. She is super good and extremely challenging. If you want ab workouts, she’s the one to watch. There are also a hundred more yoga instructors on the site that you can check out.
Weighted Sandbag
If you are like me, you love lifting heavy weights. This is a bit tricky to do without a gym, but if you want to spend a little more, I recommend getting a weighted sandbag like this. I bought one along with the resistance band and Oh My! I believe mine goes up to 45 pounds, so it’s a pretty significant amount of weight. You fill smaller sand bags and stuff them inside a much larger bag so the weight can be adjustable. This was a great buy! I specifically like it for arm workouts as well as back and shoulder workouts.
Posters
The last little bit of exercise “equipment” that I want to share are posters. They have posters that go over different exercises that you can do with weights, resistance bands, bodyweight, etc. I have quite a few in my office at school that I studied prior to getting my personal training certification. These were the ones that I got (link). These are great because they help you visualize a workout and expose you to many different other workouts that you may have never seen or heard of. They are fairly cheap and super helpful.
I hope these suggestions help a tiny bit. If you want some advice from me, reach out and I will happily help. Most importantly, just stay active. It helps in more ways than you can think of. Trust me when I say that staying active in grad school is not just essential for your physical health, but also or your mental health. I have been in grad school for a very long time so I know 😛
See ya later everyone
