Although the New Year’s resolution influx of Yates visitors has subsided, a new motivation is pushing numbers up at the gym. With spring break a week away and warm weather in mind, if not in sight, more people are trying to tone up what they let go during the winter months.
The incentive to work out comes from the toned body you get as a result, but as many Georgetown students know, that motivation can be lost pretty easily. Many don’t find the long uphill walk to Yates inviting. What makes it worse, especially now that warm weather is right around the corner, is arriving at the gym to find all the equipment in use, or the classes full. The only available real estate is mats to do monotonous crunches on, or the track to run tedious 200-meter circles. Very quickly, the positive attitude toward working out begins to diminish.
So what’s left for the person who still wants a workout, but doesn’t want the hassle of Yates? There has to be a better option than going with the slimming black one-piece swim suit.
For the majority of students, another gym is not an option. Plus, other gyms are even farther from the dorms than Yates. So, what’s left? Your dorm room or apartment.
From years as a runner, strengthening exercises have always been part of my workout routine, and a few of these are quite easily manageable, even in a small Village C room.
Lunges, a great exercise for hips, glutes and thighs, are essential for core strengthening. While you might be sore for a few days after starting these, at least you know you are getting results. Planks—holding the up position of a push-up for 20-60 seconds while resting on your forearms—and push-ups are other simple exercises that you can do without any additional equipment.
I’ve also found a great use for the desk chair that mainly serves as a step to get into my top bunk bed. I still keep the step aspect of the chair and use it for repetitions of step-ups, another core strengthening exercise.
My final suggestion is, more than the others, targeted towards the female audience: DVDs. I guarantee they can be fun. You don’t have to go with those old jazzercise videos (unless you think you’ll get more of a kick out of them, which considering the hair styles and fashions in these movies, you very well could).
If the eighties aren’t your style, look for a more modern video. A friend of mine has a salsa workout video, and it is one of the better times I have had getting in shape. From tightening our abs when laughing at friends’ attempts to dance, to actually getting the steps down, I had worked up a sweat by the end. It was a simple, enjoyable way to work out that didn’t involve leaving the comforts of my dorm.
If you feel that work out videos or my other suggestions aren’t for you, there are plenty of other options out there. All you have to do is get creative. Just don’t let the inadequacies of Yates compromise your workout aspiration.
