How To Stay Fit as a Postgrad

We’ve mentioned this on the site before; things slow to a crawl when you graduate from college. Maybe your metabolism, maybe your sociability, maybe even your love life. One thing seems to go for sure, though – your discipline to stay fit. I know that happened to me. I’m a generally fit person. I’ve always been conscious of my diet and exercise routine, but when you have your whole life to live before you and maybe nobody to impress, exercise just doesn’t take precedence. But here’s to the new year and maybe, if you’re like me, a set of new resolutions. Judging by the post-holiday population increase at the gym, getting fit is one of the biggies. So how can you get there?

1. Set a realistic goal. Keep it simple and obtainable. Lose 10 pounds. Lose 2 inches in the waist. Be able to run a mile in under 8 minutes. It’s hard to find the discipline if there’s no feasible goal in sight. I know it took a clear goal for me to hit the gym the last couple of weeks. After a heartbreaking loss at a football game, I vowed to work harder and get stronger so that in the rematch (coming up in 2 weeks), I wouldn’t be so helpless. And it has really helped. I’ve been much more disciplined in the past couple of weeks and can already see great results.

2. Realize that it takes work. Nothing comes easy, especially in regards to physical fitness. Professional athletes capable of amazing physical feats wouldn’t be able to compete very well if they weren’t disciplined in their training. A lot of the time, their success during the regular season directly correlates with the amount of work they put in during the off season. Sure, you can get by on natural talent to a certain degree, but if you want actual results, you need to put in the work. So consider your realistic goal from number 1, research it and figure out the best way to break it down to bite-sized pieces, and figure out what quality ‘work’ you can do to get to that goal.

3. Gather your resources. There is no clearcut way to stay fit. If you’re not able to go to the gym solo, then go with a dedicated group of friends. If you can’t run by yourself, take your dog out for a brisk run. A way that has helped me personally has been my iPhone. Yes, there’s an app for that. It’s called iFitness and it’s probably one of my most useful apps right now. There are pictures and videos that teach you how to execute certain exercises at the gym. You can build your own workout to help you focus on different muscle groups or accomplish certain goals. The best part, by far, is that you can log every exercise you do. As I go from workout to workout, electronically logging every exercise I do, I can clearly evaluate my progress over a given time period. When you feel like you’re actually accomplishing something, then the goal that you’ve set isn’t something unattainable. Because you feel capable, you’ll find that staying fit isn’t so much an impossibility but just a matter of willpower.

What are some of your personal goals this year?