Getting in Shape: No More Excuses, Tubby!
Fitness and graduate studies shouldn’t be incompatible. Yet a glance at the student body reveals that Graduate Center students are overwhelmingly out of shape. Long hours of slogging through books, endless meetings and rigorous course loads leave little time to exercise – or so you think. I am writing to challenge common ideas about working out in hopes that Graduate Center students will leap to adopt healthier attitudes toward exercise. The excuses my friends and colleagues give for not exercising are astounding in their absurdity. Most of them wouldn’t spew the same nonsense when it comes to schoolwork, but when it comes to their cardiovascular health, they proudly claim to be “too busy” to move faster than a shuffle or lift anything heavier than a fork. Here are some of the most common sorry excuses:
The Excuses
I don’t work out because …
- “I don’t have the time.” The most prevalent excuse is really a cover-up for laziness and lack of motivation. World leaders have much busier lives than you, yet they still manage to schedule an occasional sweat session. Remember President Clinton’s famous jogs? (Okay – to McDonald’s – but it was still aerobic exercise). None of us is so busy that we cannot find a paltry twenty minutes here and there to jump some rope, do some crunches, or run up and down stairs. When you motivate yourself to do something, you will find you actually have time to do it.
- “I live in New York City. I get enough exercise by just walking.” This excuse is foolish for several reasons, but it is likely influenced by the popular words of fitness “wisdom” seen in magazines, claiming that mundane activities like laughing, washing dishes, or clipping one’s toenails burn just as many calories as working out (sure – if you’re giggling for an hour and a half straight). The same goes for hoofing it, these studies insist. Yet it is false to think that one’s daily amount of walking – to and from the subway, to class and back – can be considered exercise. If you break a sweat by merely walking from GC to the 34th street station, then you and your cardiologist have my condolences because you probably don’t have much longer to live. Remember, you are a like a gazelle: you were born to run. Taking a few extra steps here and there is always a good thing, but will not tone you up enough.
- “I’m a vegetarian / naturally thin.” Thinness is no automatic indicator of physical fitness, and while plant-based diets are beneficial to the body in many ways, you can still be an out of shape slug even though you’d never eat a plate of escargot.
- “I have bad knees/a bad back/X hurts when I work out.” Of course, some people do have serious injuries, or have inherited problem body parts. But many students use this excuse as if it’s a bum body part that keeps them on the couch in front of the TV instead of outside playing tennis with you. Unless you spend most of your life in a catcher’s mask stopping fastballs, you do not have bad knees. Rather, everything hurts because your muscles and tendons have been lying dormant. If you go slowly, after a few sessions of light workouts, you should find that your so-called problem middle toes were never any real hindrance to a little exercise.
- “I get enough exercise by chasing after my 2 year old.” I am hesitant to criticize the workout habits of new parents because I am not one myself. Their waistlines are the least of their worries. Checking their kid’s rectal temperature and ransacking the house to find a misplaced stuffed animal is exhausting day in and day out. But while parenting is tiring, it should not be confused with aerobic exercise. Likewise, I can think of no worse example to set for one’s own children than that essential house arrest (i.e., sitting stationary all day) is a way to live. While you might be unhealthily out of shape, don’t let your kids be. Besides, working out will give you more energy to go hunt for that wayward stuffed aardvark.
- “I don’t lift weights. I don’t want to get too bulky.” Women often say this, quite ignorant of how the body works. Fear not: adding ten pound weights to your routine will hardly morph you into a square-headed, burnt-to-a-crisp bleach blonde with Popeye-esque forearms. Those women work out as their full-time job, or are juiced up. Recreational weight training will tone your muscles, not add bulk, unless you train heavily for that purpose. All healthy women should add weights to their fitness routines for strong muscles and strong bones. Popping calcium pills in hopes of staving off the big “O” (osteoporosis) is silly if your muscles are flabby and saggy.
The Solutions
Do any of these excuses sound familiar? Here are some tips for ways to maximize your fitness regime while mired in the rigors of doctoral study. (Remember, consult your physician or go to the Wellness Center before you start any workout program.)
1. Join the Baruch gym. Few graduate students can afford the steep monthly rates charged by most New York City gyms, not to mention their ball-and-chain three-year commitments. In contrast, Baruch College’s fitness center costs a mere $100 per year. It is just a few subway stops from the GC, and unlike some gyms I’ve belonged to, the environment is really relaxed – no intimidating muscleheads or bikini models milling about – just students looking to get in shape.
2. “Run” your errands. For eight years now I have literally run my errands, a time-saving way to squeeze in some aerobic exercise. I put on the appropriate workout gear and a tight-fitting backpack that doesn’t bounce around. Then I run around my neighborhood, hitting the bank, dropping off my dry cleaning, and returning videos. I save my grocery shopping for last, doing bicep curls with the resulting plastic bags. This is a great way to efficiently burn calories. (Of course, you could “bike” your errands too, but add a couple extra miles.)
3. Make efficient use of downtime. We grad students can’t always frolic around outside. So buy an exercise ball and do crunches while you screen movies for your film class. Jump rope in place while you listen to your recorded interviews for your linguistics project. Do lunges across the biology lab while you wait for your fruit flies to mate. Stuck at the computer? Take ten-minute breaks every hour and do a set of triceps kickbacks in between.
4. Involve your friend/lover/spouse/child in your fitness routine. Tell everyone that you’re turning over a new leaf, so you’ll feel like a chump if you give up. Instead of meeting your colleagues for beers, get together in a park and jog or walk briskly together. Strap your kid in a runner’s stroller and do laps. Challenge your roommate to a weight loss duel – whoever loses has to clean the toilet for a month.
As a lifelong exercise lover, I understand that the first step is the hardest. But you can either stop the silly excuses and get moving, or put yourself at further risk for physical woes later on in life. You spend so much time and resources working out your brain, why not do the same for your body?
And besides, do you really want to look like a professor when you eventually become one?
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