Whether you’re in grade school, college, or taking classes online, balancing fitness and school can be a challenge. Just like a full-time job, you spend most of your time attending classes. Unlike a job, however, you’re also responsible for homework and extra studying on your own time. This eats up even more of your day and requires a lot of time management skills. With so much to do, how do you strike a balance between that and fitness?
Balancing schoolwork and exercise requires 3 things: choosing a place where you can workout consistently, making realistic goals given your schedule, and exercising in a way that enhances your schoolwork instead of hurting it. It helps to use some time management tools like planners and calendars to help organize so many objectives.
Choosing a Consistent Place to Workout
Almost everyone wants to workout at their local gym, but this might not be as good as working out at school or at home. The best option amongst the three is the one you can stick to consistently every single week with as little interruption with schoolwork as possible.
Local Gyms
Going to a local gym is only recommended for those with:
- Reliable transportation (a car, bus, etc.)
- The money for a membership
Reliable transportation is the number one factor. Those with a license and their own car have the most reliable transportation since they can go to the gym whenever they want. However, some students – especially those in grade school – don’t have that luxury and often rely on either friends, parents, or public transportation. The problem with relying on others is they may have conflicting schedules, so you may be missing days in the gym simply because they don’t have time to drive you. Public transportation doesn’t have this problem because it’s on a set schedule, but it takes significantly longer to get there. If the combination of waiting for the bus, riding to the gym, then walking from that stop to the gym takes longer than 30-45 minutes total; the bus is likely not a good source of transportation.
You should also consider the cost of having a gym membership. Most gyms cost between $20-50 a month depending on the amenities. If you’re taking the bus just to go to the gym, you should add another $5-10 for that. If you don’t have a reliable source of income, or if your budget is tight, you may want to consider school or home workouts instead since their significantly cheaper.
Those who do have reliable transportation and the money to afford a membership, local gyms are your best option. They usually have the best variety of equipment and amenities compared to home and schools. More importantly, it separates exercise from school and home life. Having a specific place for your major life activities – the school for learning, the gym for exercise, and the house for your personal time – has been shown to make each activity much more effective and enjoyable.
School Gyms
Many schools, especially colleges, have a gym students can use either for free or for a very low price.
Grade schools often have “fitness clubs” where members can come after school to workout with the PE teacher in charge. Although the equipment will be very limited compared to local gyms, having the PE teacher as well as other dedicated students provides a great workout community. You’ll easily learn from people with experience in an intimate environment, and the bonds you can form with classmates can turn exercise into the most enjoyable part of the day.
Most college gyms look very similar to local gyms. The best part is that the membership is usually already included in your tuition whether you use it or not. Even if your campus gym is smaller than a local gym, the sheer convenience of walking from class to the gym in 5 minutes makes up for this.
Whether you’re using the campus gym or your “fitness club,” school gyms are one of the most convenient options. Since they’re at the same place you attend classes, there’s little to no excuse why you can’t keep a consistent workout schedule.
At-Home Workouts
If local gyms are not an option, and your school does not provide an open workout setting, at-home workouts would be the last option.
It’s easy to see home workouts as the “worst option,” but there are many benefits exclusive to the home.
Convenience: Similar to school gyms, home gyms are convenient because it takes place in the same place you live in. In fact, it’s even more convenient since you have much more control over when to workout; school gyms may have a set schedule, but you can workout whenever you want.
Privacy: This is a big deal for people who are insecure about gyms. It also helps because the group most concerned about how they workout in public are beginners. Beginners see the fastest progress of any other experience level, and it does not require fancy equipment or a larger space to see that progress. Practicing the form on simple bodyweight exercises will not only provide a great workout, but it will also boost confidence to start going to a public gym in the future.
The biggest and most obvious con to home workouts is the lack of equipment and space. Although you don’t have to spend thousands on a decent home setup, it costs to have good equipment at home. Here’s a list of the best at home equipment to have as well as their estimated cost:
| Resistance Bands | $20 – $50 |
| Adjustable Dumbbells | $100 – $400 |
| Adjustable Bench | $100 – $200 |
| Physio (Yoga) Ball | $20 – $35 |
Space is an issue too depending on the home. In small spaces like apartments or dorms, you can’t do anything that involves a lot of high-intensity movements like jumping, throwing, running, etc. This will limit exercise selection further to stationary bodyweight exercises like pushups, squats, etc.
Making Realistic Goals
After selecting the best workout location for you, it’s time to make fitness goals that are realistic given your priorities with school.
SMART Goals
SMART goals stand for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely goals. Goals that fit within all 5 categories are more likely to succeed in the long-term. Here’s a breakdown of each category and how to make sure your goals match:
Specific: Your goal is unique and cannot be confused with anything else. For example, saying “I want to lose weight,” is not specific enough because weight lose can include water and muscle lose (unless you literally need the scale to go down, like a boxer trying to make their weight class. In this case, you need to say “I want to lose bodyfat.”
Measurable: Progress can be objectively measured over time. If you want to lose bodyfat, you should be using a bodyfat measuring device over time to track progress. If you want to get strong, the weights you use in the gym should be going up. Track these numbers consistently over time to see where your hard work is going
Achievable: Are your goals realistic given your other priorities? This is very relevant with those juggling school and fitness, so this will be covered in more detail below.
Relevant: Your goals should synergize with the rest of your life. Irrelevant goals are nuisances; they take away valuable time and energy without providing any value to your life. Again, more detail on this below.
Timely: Set milestones for when each goal should be achieved. This may be hard for beginners since they don’t know what realistic timeframes should be, so in this case it’s best to overshoot the goal. If you don’t know if 1 month to lose 5% bodyfat is realistic, shoot for 2-3 months instead.
For more details on SMART goals, check out this article on building workout discipline.
Achievable Goals: Making your goals realistic
The number one determinant of a realistic goal is this: how much time can you devote to fitness without sacrificing school? Time spent on fitness boils down to 3 major factors
- How many days a week you exercise
- How long you spend in the gym
- How much time you can spend preparing your food
Frequency and length of exercise
The most impactful of these factors is how many times you go to the gym and for how long. Most motivated people plan on doing 4-6 times a week, but once that motivation runs out a couple of months later, they’ll realize there’s no way to balance that schedule with school and normal life. Instead, starting with 2-3 days a week is recommended. This does not sound like much, but because it’s much easier to maintain for months (or even years), it’s far more effective than doing 4-6 days for only a couple of months. For how long to stay in the gym, 30-60 minutes is great. Anything longer than an hour though is not sustainable in the long run.
Time Spent on Food
For nutrition, the same rules apply. While everyone should be preparing their own meals, be realistic to how much time you can devote to meal prepping. If you only have an hour each morning or less, don’t go for the complex recipes you find online, even if they’re healthy. Stick to simple and fast ingredient. For example, all three meals can be the exact same recipe: rice. chicken, and broccoli. Especially when the meat and vegetables were bought frozen, preparing this meal for the whole day only takes an hour at most.
Eating healthy also does not have to be expensive. When most people think “healthy,” they think of Whole Foods stores with their variety of organic kale and quinoa, etc. There’s no doubt that these are great healthy options. However, buying frozen vegetables and chicken breast is just as healthy at a fraction of the cost. While it’s important to get a decent source, eating primarily whole foods will contribute to much better health regardless of if it’s organic or not. Here’s a list of relatively cheap whole foods that can fit in any budget:
- Frozen mixed vegetables
- Frozen meats/fish (chicken breast, swai, etc.)
- Canned meats/fish
- Rice
- Ground beef
Relevant Goals: Exercising to Enhance Schoolwork
Having relevant fitness goals is one of the most important aspects of balancing fitness with school. A relevant goal will synergize with your studies; they give you more energy, better focus, and overall more brain power to get through classes. The two main ways to achieve this is by using high/low intensity training effectively and eating to promote brain health.
Using High/Low Intensity Training
The intensity of your training impacts how well you your brain functions for the rest of the day. Depending on the person, their fitness goals, and their day-to-day life, using the right style of training will provide different effects.
High Intensity
High Intensity training means training where your heart rate stays at a very high level for most of the session. Circuit training, short rest periods, and supersets are a few ways to accomplish this. Examples include spin classes, boot camp workouts, heavy weightlifting, etc.
Those who consider most of their days as low-stress and low-activity will benefit from this style of training. This applies to a lot of students since their sitting in once place during class and while studying. Also, if you don’t find yourself stressing often over school or work, you can use this style to give your body an energy boost.
Low Intensity
Low intensity training is the opposite of high intensity. The goal is to keep the heartrate relatively low by using less weight (if any at all), longer rest periods, putting more focus on technique and breathing, etc. Examples of this style include yoga classes, some weight training, walking, etc.
Again, opposite of high intensity, this style is best if most of your day is high-stress and high-movement. High intensity exercise when already stressed from exams or work will only overwhelm the body, making it impossible to make any progress. Instead, allow the body to relax and recuperate from your stressful days to keep the brain working optimally. The same is said if you have a lot of movement from walking or working. Adding more movement to an already active individual can cause the same stress problems
Using High and Low Effectively
Life is hectic and switches between high-stress and low-stress often. The best way to utilize these types of training is to switch between the two as circumstances change in school and life. For example, you can use high-intensity in period of normal workload then switch to low-intensity when exam time comes around.
Knowing your body is important. Understand how you think and feel after a high or low intensity session to find the best time to incorporate the two.
Eating For Brain Health
As mentioned before, eating primarily whole foods will provide a massive boost to health and brain power. For further benefits, you can include plenty of protein and fiber in your diet, monitor your carbs sources, and pay attention to possible food intolerances.
Getting Plenty of Protein and Fiber
Protein and fiber are the most satiating nutrients you can eat. These molecules are so much larger than carbs and fats that they take much longer to digest, leaving you feeling fuller for much longer. This satiating effect is important as hunger pangs, blood sugar drops, and random cravings can all interfere with your focus.
Monitoring Carb Sources
To be clear, carbs are completely healthy. The only reason to monitor the source and amount you eat is because of blood sugar spikes and crashes. Blood sugar crashes must be avoided because it’s much more difficult to think and concentrate on low blood sugar.
Simple carbohydrates such as white rice, white bread, sugar, etc., show the biggest spike and crash of any nutrient. However, you can reduce this spike by adding protein, fiber, or fats to your meal. Because these nutrients are slower to digest, mixing chicken breast and avocado into white rice will help prevent spikes. You can also replace these carbs with complex carbs such as sweet potato, brown rice, whole wheat, etc. Like protein and fiber, complex carbs are so large that it takes longer to digest.
Paying Attention to Food Intolerance
Food intolerance doesn’t always mean a deathly peanut allergy. Intolerances can be as subtle as slight bloating after eating a certain food. The exact foods that cause this depend entirely on the person, which is why mindfulness is key. Pay attention to how you feel after certain foods, ingredients, and meals. If you notice slight drowsiness or bloating despite following the above tips, you may have an intolerance to a specific food.
To find out for sure, remove that food from your diet for a couple of week and see how you feel. If there’s no difference, it may have been another food; but if you feel better, be sure to only eat that food sparingly. Keep in mind that foods you love and eat all the time are the most likely to cause an intolerance.