One thing that has no doubt changed my life is when I started making the gym, and my physical and mental wellness a main priority.
My journey hasn’t been an easy one, it’s been filled with self-doubt, injuries, and inconsistencies, but I feel like that has only helped to make me stronger mentally and physically.
From the time I can remember, all I did outside of school was soccer. I played recreational soccer on team’s filled with random girls that lived in my area. By the time I got to high school, soccer became the place where I got the most compliments and praise for what I was able to do, but those compliments became the thing I chased and felt inferior if they weren’t there.
Back in 2016, when I was 15 years old, I very badly tore my meniscus in my right knee and had to get surgery to take it out, after that, everything changed. I went through a time that is every athlete’s worst nightmare, I wasn’t able to walk, run, or do the sport that was all I knew. I was out from playing soccer for over a year, and I had to go to physical therapy about two times a week.
I felt like the world was fully against me and I would never be able to play again, but that was when the first part of my motivation to be better kicked in, I realized I took a lot for granted and I told myself I was never going to do that again.
When I got to college in Aug. 2019 as a freshman, I was overwhelmed with everything that comes along with college, and I became inconsistent with my fitness and truthfully got lazy. It wasn’t until I was in my second semester sophomore year in Jan. 2021 that I started going to the gym every single day, and really focused on gaining the muscle I had when I played soccer full time years prior.
After just a few months, I definitely succeeded in my initial fitness goal, and got even better results than what I had thought was going to happen. I was hitting PR’s left and right, and I was gaining more confidence in my abilities at the gym and trying new exercises and workouts every day.
That is when I started seeking advice from Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC, who I know as "Uncle Patrick". Dr. Anderson is an Upper Cervical Doctor (chiropractor) and retired powerlifter (click here to watch him powerlifting in the USA Powerlifting Open Nationals in 2016). He has helped and supported me so much along my journey, and he has taught me a lot of what I know today!
Now that you know more about my story and journey, we can get into the good stuff!
The first topic that I will be talking about is, you guessed it by the title… making the gym a priority. There are so many reasons as to why going to the gym and physically putting yourself first is so important to not only your overall health, but it will make you feel more productive during the day.
In college especially it can be difficult to find the motivation to go to the gym, from thinking you don’t have enough time between classes, homework, having a life, and work for some
people. But the thing is, if you keep making the same excuses, you really won’t have the time to do it all, because you’re too busy being in your head about it.
Contrary to popular belief in the fitness world, you don’t have to spend hours upon hours in the gym every day, even just 30 minutes a day of any exercise to start will help tremendously with making it a habit.
By going to the gym as a college student, it’s known to help students get their minds off of the stresses that school brings, and as a college student myself, I can attest to that. Using the gym as a tool can be one of the best things you do for your mental and physical health, so why not take the chance of essentially killing two birds with one stone? That stone being going to the gym.
“For busy college students who can’t go to the gym due to time restraints, a good alternative would be to use your laundry detergent bottles and water bottles as dumbbells and using stairs for step-ups and pushups.” - Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
As I come to a close on my first blog post, my only hope is that you find me interesting enough to continue reading what I write each week. But as a way to get you to come back, I will let you know some of the other topics I will be covering in the next few weeks. Some of the topics will be keys to time management, the dark side of the gym, and making the gym less intimidating.
Thank you again for reading and tune in next Monday to read about the best workouts for busy college students, where I give some of my favorite quick exercises and give you tips to what will give you the best results under a time restraint.
And as always, follow me on Instagram and Twitter to never miss a post and to get more weekly content from me!
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