More time. Less sedentary.
True: You are drowning. You are gasping for air. You have three presentations related to this week’s assignments all due tomorrow. And on top of that, two national tests. You do not have time to even put on your workout clothes not to mention drag your tired body to the gym without feeling anxious over the fact that you can write a hundred more words for your report, study an extra hour for the test or improve your assignment a little bit more. You are 17 years old. You are a second year student at VRG Djursholm. Homework and exams are taking over your life. There is nothing you can do about it. False.
First of all there has to be time. Time is like the conservation of energy you have heard about during physics. You can not create nor destroy energy. It is the same with time. There is 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week, and there will always be. By limiting the time you spend in front of a screen; checking Facebook, scrolling through photos on Instagram, or posting a tweet, you can save a lot of time. According to the report, GWI Social Summary, by Globalwebindex an average person spend about two hours a day surfing the internet on their smartphones. And two hours is more than enough to go out for a run or to the gym for a workout.
To be able to go to a gym you need to have some money. Gladly you do not need to be a billionaire nor a millionaire to work out at a fitness center. I have for the last three years been working out at Friskis & Svettis (F&S) in Näsbypark where the annual cost is 2500 SEK. This franchise chain have many facilites in Stockholm, so no matter where you live Friskis & Svettis will be close by. F&S offers gym classes with good leaders and is according to me well worth the money. Beside F&S there is another gym called Fresh Fitness within the same price range, albeit they do not have as many facilities as F&S.
Well, if you are not ready to give up your internet addiction I got you covered. Yoga, dancing, body pump and much, much more, Youtube has it all. I have tried out booth yoga and dancing and I am in love. All you have to do is to search for whatever workout you want to do. Then put your schoolbooks somewhere where you can not see them and start moving. For example, search for Tabata and then choose the video that you would like to try out. My favourite is the tabata workout by the FitnessBlender. If you try it out, there will not be much energy left in your body when those 45 minutes are over.
Energy, energy and energy. This word has appeared several times in this text, and that is for a reason. To be able to workout you need energy. During the night you need to sleep, at least 7-8 hours. If you sleep less there will not be enough energy for studying nor working out. Therefore I suggest you to not charge your phone next to the bed. This will also make you leave your bed faster in the morning. Since you have to stand up and turn of the alarm, two birds in one stone. I also suggest you to stay on a solid and healthy diet. Coffee gives you a ton of energy, but as you may have noticed that it is not a lasting solution, it is more of a quick-fix. You can for example have some yoghurt and muesli after school before starting your study session. This will generate enough energy for a workout before dinner. I am the kind of person that loves snacking while studying and bananas is the perfect snack. Lastly stay hydrated.
“JUST DO IT”
You are drowning. You are gasping for air. You have three presentations related to this week’s assignments all due tomorrow. And on top of that, two national tests. You do have enough time to put on your workout clothes and with your energized body hit the gym and meanwhile not feel anxious over the fact that you can write a hundred more words for your report, study an extra hour for the test or improve your assignment a little bit more. You are 17 years old. You are a second year student at VRG Djursholm. You got a lot of homework and exams, but that is not taking over your life. There is something you can do and you got the tools above. Just do it (Nike).
Skribent: Malin Sandholm