Sure, students are primarily at the University of Idaho to get an education, but that doesn”t mean we can”t stay healthy, too.
Unfortunately the opportunities that students have to be healthy are scarce. With many of our schedules so jam-packed, most of the time we pick the easy option, which is very rarely also the healthy option.
There are fewer healthy food choices available to students at UI than ever before. If we want to maintain a steady and balanced diet, we usually have to make our own food. That can also be a problem for many students, though. Food that is actually good for you is both expensive and takes time to prepare – both of these things are bad news for college students.
One of the only things that students are able to do to maintain their health is to take exercise classes. And after a year of experiencing them, I”ve seen what they offer students.
The best part about workout courses is that they keep the students accountable for the exercise they do. Before registering for an exercise class, I rarely went to the gym just because I couldn”t muster up the motivation to get myself there.
In that way, workout courses are similar – the hardest part is actually signing up. In doing so, you”re making a commitment to voluntarily sweat yourself to death on a regular basis. But students still sign up, because it”s all worth it in the end.
With workout courses, a student”s motivation is their actual GPA. If I don”t go to my exercise sessions enough, I risk failing a class and that impacts me both physically and academically. I don”t know about most students, but that”s definitely enough reason for me to get out of bed in the morning.
Speaking of the morning, that”s yet another benefit to these courses. I normally am the furthest thing from a morning person – it takes an embarrassing amount of caffeine to get me functioning like a human being.
But all of the workout classes I”ve taken have been in the morning, and I have never needed caffeine until later in the afternoon on the days when I begin with yoga or Zumba.
There is something about being active right after waking up that keeps people feeling refreshed for hours afterward. I”m not saying night-time exercise isn”t effective – mornings are just the best time for me.
Additionally, workout courses can get some students eating better. The logic behind this is that if you eat junk food before or even after exercising, you will not feel very good. On the flip side, if you eat well you”ll feel even better.
Plus, there are a wide variety of levels to the workout classes offered at UI. I”m totally uncoordinated and have just begun exercising again after a long hiatus, so I take more low-level courses, and even those are enough to sometimes make me feel like I”m dying in the best possible way. But for other more experienced exercisers there are advanced courses available.
Above all else, workout courses are a way to keep students practicing healthy habits on a somewhat regular basis. I encourage anyone who hasn”t given them a chance yet to make some time for a course in an upcoming semester.
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer