College Fitness: 6 Tips to Stay in Shape While in College

Female students exercising while studying in college
Photo by Wenisa Ng

Your health and fitness should always be one of your most important considerations as you live your life as a college student. Staying in shape is essential for you to be able to keep up with your studies and still have spare some time to socialize and meet new people. And with such a hectic life to live, here are some fitness tips to help you stay healthy.

Walk Around the Campus

One of the easiest and most accessible forms of exercise is by walking daily. And for this, you don’t need to leave your campus or climb up a mountain. Simply spend about 20 to 25 minutes walking around your campus. Spend the first 2 to 3 minutes walking at a normal pace, then gradually increase your speed to get your heart going. By the 20th minute, slow back down to your normal pace, and with that, you get to burn about 200 calories.

Workout with Your Best Bud

What better way is there to exercise than to exercise with your buddy. Workouts can be more fun and productive if you have a workout partner to spend time with chatting, motivating and monitoring each others progress. In effect, you can be each others personal trainer or simply share your health goals and fitness plans with so that you can help keep track of each others performance.

Create a Health Plan

It’s always better to achieve a goal if you create a plan on how to go about meeting it. You want to create a realistic and achievable plan that you can take one step at a time. Drafting such a plan and sticking to it is the best way to succeed. If you plan to lose 10 pounds for the next 2 to 3 weeks, you might want to start by listing what diet to stick to, what sort of exercises to do to make your goal happen, and how will you squeeze your daily exercise regime to your busy college schedule. If you have that figured out, all you have to do next is to stick to the plan.

Be Mindful of What You Eat

No matter how you exercise, if you don’t stick to a healthy diet, then all your efforts will be for nothing. The internet is filled with a variety of diet tips and suggestions that can help you meet your health goals. On the other hand, you can also consult a personal trainer or nutritionist to educate you on what food can best help you maintain a fit and healthy body.

Workout in the Dorm

If you prefer to spend more time in your dorm than go outside for a stretch or a walk, then you might want to adopt the practice of working out in your own room. You can also add some gym equipment such as dumbbells and a yoga mat in your room. If you’ve got more room, a treadmill will also be a good addition. But even without any additional gym equipment, you can still do some exercises by following some exercise videos available online.

Make Free Time Your Gym Time

College will always be hectic, especially if you’re among the hard-working students who would like to ace their courses and make it to top of the class. But keeping your body fit and healthy is still as important as getting straight As. So any time you’re free, squeeze in some exercise time.

Most colleges these days have at least 1 quality gym on campus which is stocked with various types of exercise equipment and many also offer group exercise classes. Since they are located on campus, it’s very convenient and most students already pay for this service through their miscellaneous tuition fees, so you might as well take full advantage of this campus added benefit.


No matter what year you currently are in college, it’s never too early or too late to start adopting a healthy lifestyle. It’s important that you keep yourself healthy to be able to make the most of your college life while at the same time staying in shape because a healthy mind and body go hand-in-hand.