How to Integrate Daily Sports Into Your Schedule When You’re in College
College is the bridge between childhood and adulthood. It is a perfect time to build healthy habits that will last you a lifetime. Unfortunately, many young people tend to go in the opposite direction. However, having a sleepless night, falling into an anxious state of mind, and consuming junk food won’t do them any good. This is why it is important to find time for yourself and your health. Sport can be the perfect start in your self-care routine. It will keep you strong, healthy, energetic, and so much more. However, you need to find time, energy, and the will to integrate sport into your life. Here are a few tips on how to build a habit of exercising and stick to it.
Make a day schedule
Skipping exercising will be much harder once they are on your schedule. Of course, you need to make a schedule first. In college, you may struggle with keeping a regular daily routine. Though, this has to change. Your timetable shouldn’t be the boss of your life. You need to take the control into your hands. Write down your studying hours and find the time when you can exercise. Once you have exercised on a schedule, you have no excuse not to do it.
Find the sport you like
The best way to integrate sports into your life is to enjoy them. You may think that you don’t like sports, but it only means you haven’t found one for yourself yet. Sport can be so many different things. Exercising doesn’t always mean sweat and pain. You can easily find the physical activities to your liking and engage in them daily. This can be anything from yoga to swimming. You can find an activity that will bring joy into your life. Find an activity that you actually want to do, and you won’t have any problems with sticking to it.
Trust us, when you find a sport you love, you find yourself saying, “Hey, can you do my homework for me? I have to hit the gym tonight.” Fortunately, these days there are truly no limitations to what sport we can do, regardless of gender. Your campus probably has tons of ads inviting you to various sports classes. Test several of them to see where you fit best.
Join a group
Sometimes, sticking to a habit is much easier when you are not alone on that journey. You can try to join some daily sports sessions to feel like a part of a small community. Ask a friend or two to join you for the gym, jogging, or even at-home yoga practice. Doing sports with a friend can be surprisingly motivational and inspiring.
Sticking to a habit together also doubles your responsibility. Now you own it not just to yourself but to another person as well. It is a weird concept when we feel used to disappointing ourselves but don’t like to upset others.
Be kind to yourself
Being kind to yourself is important, especially when you are exercising. First, you should never push yourself beyond your limits, no matter how often you hear the opposite. You should stop if you feel pain. Don’t go hard on yourself when your muscles hurt from the day before. However, being kind to yourself doesn’t start or end there. You shouldn’t make yourself exercise when you really don’t feel like doing it. Our energy level is very different every day. One day you feel like climbing a mountain. Another day you choose to order an assignment because you barely want to leave your bed. It’s okay.
Also, while in college, you may not always find time to exercise or go for a run. Don’t have to feel bad about it. Our advice is to do a little of something every day. So when you know you can’t spend a whole hour in the gym, do some push-ups and sit-ups at home. When you are too tired to run after classes, do yoga, or stretch before bed. It will feel good, relax you, and soothe your muscles after a long day
So something every day
Building a habit is not an easy job. You will need some time adjusting before you feel like doing sport daily is not of any issue to you or your lifestyle. However, if you choose to stick to it, you will soon notice the difference. Try to do at least a little of something every day.
Jogging, yoga, one hour on a treadmill, or 20 minutes of stretching before bed. You just have to prove to your brain that this sports habit is here to stay. After a while, you won’t have to remind yourself to exercise. You will feel the urge to do it. Besides, you will feel so much stronger and healthier only after a month of regular exercising, you won’t ever want to stop. However, those first weeks of building a habit are crucial here.