One of the most common times in people’s lives where they lose their fitness and start to gain unwanted pounds is during college. Most of our activity levels go down, we start to eat crappier foods, there are more excuses to go out and drink, our sleep patterns get thrown off, and there are many times where stress can get the best of us. Obviously, no one plans to gain weight and get out of shape, but it can easily happen to the best of us including myself. I may be known as “the fit guy” now and I am a trainer, but in my first year of college I turned the dreaded “Freshmen Fifteen” into the freshmen thirty.

I tend to learn things the hard way, but my goal with this series is to educate, so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes. In part one, I am going to go over the basics that honestly anyone and everyone should pay attention to in order to stay fit. If you’re trying to get back into shape, need fresh ideas for workouts and meals, or you just want to look better naked (because we all do, lets be honest) then you are going to want to follow this series of content over the upcoming weeks and months.

First, find an activity you enjoy. For example, I love lifting weights and doing a lot of old school bodybuilding/powerlifting, but that may not be your thing. The key to seeing long-term results is finding an activity you enjoy because that means you are more likely to stay consistent. Yoga, Crossfit, kickboxing, running, swimming, hiking, intramural sports, and basketball are all fantastic activities to improve general fitness levels. A pro tip here is to find an activity you can do with friends or join a class. It is so much more fun when you are doing something active with friends or meeting new people. Plus, on those days where you just aren’t feeling it, your friends or the money you paid for a class will keep you accountable to showing up. I love the gym, but I also love getting outside of the gym. Some of my favorite things to do are kayaking, hiking, boxing, and any type of friendly competitive pickup game no matter the sport.

If you want to be more fit, you will probably have to eat a little bit less Boot Pizza. You should be eating real food most of the time. That means getting in plenty of fruits, vegetables, meats, beans, starches, etc. Basically, you want most of your food to come from the perimeter of the grocery store and less from the aisles because that’s where all the packaged/processed junk usually is. While I do suggest eating real food most of the time, it is also important to enjoy life. I love Ben and Jerry’s just as much as the next person, but I also know I can’t get away with eating it every single night. If you are putting better things in your body, it will improve your overall health, mood, energy levels, fat loss, muscle gain, and a lot more. Personally, I eat little to no meat even though I am very active. That is what works best for me and what I feel best on, but you may be different. Take time to experiment with foods and monitor how you feel.

We all have times in our lives where stress can get to us. That being said, managing stress is extremely important when it comes to our health. Too much stress can affect our sleep, body composition, workouts, energy levels, mood, and a whole lot more. For me, focusing on my faith, practicing gratitude, working out, and yoga are ways I manage my stress. I also like to spend quiet time outside, but sometimes that isn’t very easy in a city like New Orleans. Other examples are meditation, light reading, socializing with friends, therapy, long walks outside, and music. All of the things I am talking about work together in a mutually beneficial way. If you are less stressed, you will sleep better, which will give you more energy to workout and more will power to make good nutrition choices. If it is finals week and you already have stress, maybe worrying about hitting a new personal record in the gym or working out six days a week isn’t best. Even just ten minutes of movement in the morning is better than nothing until finals are over.

This brings us to our next pillar of fitness and health, which is sleep. College students are infamous for going long bouts without quality sleep. Whether it is because of late nights at the library or late nights at the bar, not getting quality sleep consistently will catch up to you. The best tip is to try your best to set a consistent wake up time and bedtime. Our bodies have an internal clock. When you are more consistent with your clock, your quality of sleep will improve as well. Again, sleep will improve everything including your mood, stress levels, energy for workouts, and will affect how much will power you have to make good healthy decisions throughout the day. A good general amount of sleep would be anywhere from 7-9 hours per night, but just try and listen to what your body needs.

At the end of the day, the only person that is responsible for your health is you. If you want to be more fit, then you have to make fitness a priority in your life. Consistency of what you do to be fit is more important than what specific activity you are actually doing. Find ways to make yourself accountable by joining a class, finding good workout partners, or hiring a personal trainer. Find a way to add some type of movement to your daily life. There is no need to have crazy intense workouts everyday to be fit, but you should be moving in some fashion every single day.

I always like to leave a practical tip in all of my content, so that you can take action and start seeing results right away. There are a lot of fitness regimes out there, as well as a lot of fancy routines. At the end of the day, the basics and the old school movements will always reign supreme. Those movements include squats, bench press, dead lifts, pushups, pull-ups, lunges, rows, dips, running, jumping, swimming, and the list goes on. If you just picked 3-5 of those movements and got really strong at them, you would 100% look better for it especially if you were eating right too.

These are some of the most important aspects of staying and being a fit individual. If you focused on these aspects over a long period of time, you would see great results. This article was a more general piece of content, but I will be breaking each section down more in the upcoming weeks and months. I will also be showing some great practical ideas for workouts, nutrition, stress relief, and how to improve sleep. Also, I will be showing you guys practical workout and meal ideas on and around Tulane’s campus. If you have any specific questions feel free to comment, email me, or hit me up on social media. I am looking forward to sharing more with you guys and maybe even doing some workouts together. Last thing, if there is anything specific you want to see me talk about or make videos about let me know!