Being away from Tufts for five weeks over break put a real damper on my gym-going. What's the best way to get back into my workouts?
-90% of the student body
Getting back into the swing of things workout-wise is always tough. Being lazy for a few weeks feels good sometimes, and motivation might be lagging when you contemplate the benefits of going to the gym versus sitting in your room with a 10-ounce bag of Smartfood popcorn and two-liter bottle of Pepsi.
The first thing you should do is try to get on a regular gym schedule. Look at your classes and extracurricular activities and plan a few workouts a week around your other commitments. Once you get your schedule started, that's when you need to have a workout plan.
It's very tempting to get back into the gym and try to do everything the same way you were doing things before you fell off the wagon. My advice is not to go full throttle right away. Although it is tough for our egos to handle benching less weight, you can take solace in the fact that it's easier to get back strength that you've lost than it is to make new gains.
When you get back in the gym, the general rule of thumb is to decrease the weight that you are lifting 10 percent for every week that you missed. So, for example, if you were benching 250 pounds (congrats on your well-defined pectoral muscles) before you took three weeks off, you'd want to come back lifting 175. If this feels really easy, by all means increase the weight, but keep in mind that soreness is much more pronounced after a long layoff.
In terms of cardio, the 10 percent guideline doesn't really work. Just go into the workout understanding that you won't be at your pre-sabbatical peak. As with weightlifting, the key is to curb your ego and work out at an intensity and resistance that is appropriate for you. The moral of the story when it comes to getting back into things at the gym is to take it slowly at first. After the first couple of workouts, you can really start pushing yourself in an attempt to regain your peak physique.
Why is the gym so crowded right now? I can't even get a drink of water without standing in line for a few minutes. Who are all of these people?
-Angry senior who takes his workouts very seriously
There are a few things that account for the huge volume of people in the gym right now. Reason No. 1 is New Year's resolutions. A lot of people get this idea that they are going to get in shape now that we have all bought new calendars. These people are very enthusiastic for the first few weeks of school, going to the gym almost religiously for about two weeks, then not going again for the rest of the semester.
On a side note, my advice to these people is not to take it too quickly. Pace yourselves. Fitness is a marathon, and not a sprint. Your goal is to build a healthy lifestyle, not be perfect for two weeks.
The second transient group of gym-goers consists of those who go to the gym when their schoolwork hasn't built up yet. Once the semester gets into full swing, they don't go as frequently anymore.
My best advice is to go on the early side. A lot of people tend to go to the gym after they've finished classes for the day. If you have the willpower, wake up early and work out before class. You'll feel so proud of yourself that class will seem a lot less boring.
The bright side of this beginning-of-semester mad rush is that things calm down after a few weeks, at least until about three weeks before Spring Break - good luck with finding a treadmill then.
