University Vs Gym

Most will struggle managing the gym the university (or a fulltime job). I too, struggled at first. Infact, the first year of university i think i forgot what a gym was or what exercise was. I got absorbed in the university lifestyle and pushed exercise aside, in fact i pushed both exercise and healthy eating aside. I tend to forget about first year because i really did nothing at all fitness wise. Which is bizarre because i used to gym 4-5 times a week when i was at sixth form. Anyway..

THE BALANCE

BALANCE is what i needed to find.

In my second year i decided i was going to join the Xercise4less gym which was a 5 minute walk from my new university house.

Me & a couple of my house mates walked and signed up to the gym. I was excited and went later that day. At first i started planning my gym sessions around when my house mates were going but i soon learned that one, they weren't reliable and two they didn't have the passion for the gm that i did. So, i decided to gym alone and this is really where my progress began.

KEY POINT: don't always rely on other people to get you to the gym, find your motivation.

Going back to balance. The way i decided to balance my university work and gym was around my timetable. I would set which days i was going to go to the gym, for example: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday. These were the days that worked best for me and i made sure that i went at least 4 times a week. If i were to miss a day, i would try make it up another day but it didn't matter because i knew i'd already gone 3 other times that week. By allocating myself 4 days this meant that i pushed myself to get to the gym even when i really didn't want to.

KEY POINT: try to set days to go to the gym and don't stress if you don't make every day.

HOWEVER, this method may not work for all and admittedly, it didn't always work for me.

My passion for the gym has always remained and even if i set days to go to the gym, i may go the complete opposite days to which i set but i still get there. The thing with me is that i find the gym eases my stress. For example, if i've been sat in the library since 9am and i'm getting no where, i'll pick myself up, go home, have a snack and then go to the gym and then get myself back to the library with a fresh mind.

KEY POINT: find your motivation, whether it be stress related, pure enjoyment or for personal goals.

To be honest, i think you just need to find the balance that works for you. Everyone is different and works in different ways. The key to maintaining the gym is still BALANCE, but you just need to find YOUR unique balance.