Looking after your body: exercise

*First and foremost, I am not pretending to be a nutritional expert or fitness guru, rather, this is what works for me!*

University is a great time in your life! Whether you feel it or not, you’re an adult now; independent in your education and becoming independent in all other aspects of your life. Looking after your body is very important during this time, not only to feel and look amazing, but also to do well in your studies (especially during exam period!)

In my opinion, there are three things you need to do to look after your body: sleep, eat and exercise.

Exercise

Regular exercise is one of the hardest things to stick to (especially during winter!). I play football with training three nights each week and a game, I’ve also been playing futsal at Uni, and a friend recently introduced me to pilates. It’s very intense and to be honest, this amount of sport is not necessary to maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. Honestly, twenty minutes four days each week of gentle exercise can be enough to keep your muscles active. If you find it difficult to get motivated, look up PumpUp – it’s a fun fitness app rather like the Instagram of the health and fitness world! And try Blogilates – a YouTube channel and blog that is really challenging for all fitness levels, so don’t worry about finding your workout too easy! Alternatively, just grab a friend to go for a walk with!

NOTE: Females!!! Building muscle is the best thing you can do for weight loss. You are not capable of building ridiculous amounts of muscle unless you use protein powder. Having a toned frame with some muscle will actually burn fat and you will lose weight. So do squats and lift those dumbbells!

Once again, I’m not pretending to be an expert, but these are what I feel work well for everyone and we should all feel our best during exam time! Good luck everyone! I’m sure you’ll do superb!