Stay Fit: Some Advice From Students
As we all know, students are always recommended to do sport because it has various benefits not only for our physical state, which is truly important for the young, but also leads to significant improvements in mental health. Summarizing different scientific researches let us list some upgrades you will get after implementing some physical activity in your weekly routine.
Sport decreases cortisol, the stress hormone, which helps fight stress and anxiety. Higher education is a big stress machine, as we have already found out, so mind that fact when trying to calm down before your next exam. Sport also helps you to keep your self-esteem adequate and improve your mood. Remember this when you’re feeling low and meaningless next time. Exercises also support your brain speed up: you literally start to think faster and generate fascinating ideas after a couple of workouts.
With that being said, I bet you are outraged: where can I find time and appropriate equipment? And here our University comes into play. HSE really takes care of the students, judging by the number of sports opportunities. There are a lot of professional groups from Asian wushu to modern but rare curling in our Uni and you are free to join any of them (here is the list https://sport.hse.ru/sc).
But professional sport takes a lot of time and sometimes it is forbidden for people due to high risks of being injured, so this article aims to provide you with information on how to keep fit if you are a real no-sporty.
The first way to keep fit in HSE is free evening yoga classes once a week at the Pokrovka campus. Stretching and easy exercises ease backaches after a hard day and let you feel your body and fuel it with energy. You don’t need anything specific for the classes – just bring comfortable clothes and a bottle of water to stay hydrated, sports mats are already there. It is worth mentioning that yoga takes place in a spacious light room which makes it more enjoyable. For more information go to HSE yoga social media.
The second way is to bring some physical activity in your life is to sign up for a swimming pool. HSE doesn’t have its own swimming pool but it has a contract with another university so we can use theirs. Training take place 4 times a week but 2 of them are reserved for HSE swimming team, so another 2 are for those of us who just want to treat yourself to an hour of real meditation. It’s common knowledge that swimming is an aerobic exercise that enriches your lungs and brain with oxygen, strengthens muscles and also prevents heart problems. 40 minutes in a cool 50m swimming pool will definitely make your day. But don’t forget to bring your swimming suits and visit a doctor in advance.
If you still think that you don’t have time or money to exercise in a fitness club, but do want to stay fit, we have some advice for you.
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Eat much less junk food, completely stop going to fast food restaurant and stop drinking soda
As a student, there are often situations when you need a quick bite to eat. Since fast food restaurants are usually cheap, and students often do not have enough budgets to spend a lot, we usually have lunch and dinner at all kinds of McDonald's, KFC’s, subways, etc. What I offer is to pack food from home or eat in decent establishments, and not in fast food restaurants. Especially stop drinking soda, it has so much sugar that you can earn diabetes. Never go there again. There may be times when you need to go there with friends, but never exceed your limit. Not more than 1 time in 2-3 weeks. I recommend having lunch at university canteens, which is also not ideal there, but at least it will be better than eating burgers.
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Go in for sports at home
Nobody canceled playing sports at home. For example, install a horizontal bar at home and do pull-ups. I had an exercise bike at home and every time I had time, I pedaled. I’m busy, it’s tiring and not everyone can overcome themselves and do this at home, but I assure you that playing sports at home is much easier than if you go to a fitness club that is far from home and you are too lazy to go there. Buy a weight and make a program, for example, lift a weight 300 times a day.
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Reduce food intake
The simplest rule in your diet is to burn more calories than you consume. Everyone knows this, but no one does it, because everyone is too lazy. Just cut back on food. For example, if you used to have two chicken legs, then start consuming only one. Or if you have three fried eggs, cut by two or one fried egg. I assure you this helps. Your body will gradually get used to the fact that you consume less and you will not be hungry, but you will be fed from a much smaller amount of food.
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Walk a lot, about 15,000 steps per day
This is the most important, key factor that helped me lose 10 kilograms. Walk a lot. I highly recommend this method. Every day, from home to university, I gained about 5 kilometers of walking. In addition, I often walked a lot in the park, which was located next to the house. There was a lake and I walked 10 laps around this lake. I often, almost every day, went out and walked a lot. It helped me learn about many beautiful places in Moscow. I walked along the central streets of Moscow, along Arbat Street, along Red Square, along Tverskaya Square, etc. I typed somewhere from 15,000 to 20,000 steps, which is about 15 kilometers of walking every day. This is not so much. Surely just walking to the university you gain a certain number of steps. Just remember one important fact - walking helps a lot in burning fat and walking is not so difficult. Just walk a lot.
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Use a pedometer to measure your steps
This is just my method of fixing steps. Use your smartphone. There is often a pedometer function. If it’s not there, just install it from the playstore or appstor if you have an iPhone. The minimum number of steps is 5,000 steps per day. With smaller numbers, you simply cannot burn the required number of calories.
We do believe that there is a healthy mind in a healthy body. Elizaveta Bagaeva shares her personal experience of visiting them. Here are two top studios in Moscow to visit to gain this healthy body as Elizaveta's choice. You can also find branches of the studio in other regions, namely, in Saint Petersburg or in Nizhniy Novgorod.
The first studio is TOPSTRTCHING studio. I personally have attended several classes there, namely, TRX and stretching. From my personal experience, the level of all trainers is without doubt is high, every trainer knows his sphere. Even though there are sometimes up to 10-12 people in a group, trainer will do his or her best to give personal attention to everyone.
My personal advice in this case will be: if you want to have so-called personal trainings, choose trainings at 9 or 10 a.m. As a result, I often had a personal training even though, I signed up for a group work. For me, TOPSTRETCHING was a unique space where each person can bring his body into shape, improve his emotional state, and, thus, restore emotional balance. This is a sure step towards a healthy lifestyle and well-being.
It is essential to mention that there are 3 main direction of the studio: Stretching School (it will help you to do the split in from 1 to 3 months), AEROSTRETCHING (complex stretching on canvas in the air) and TRX functional training.
What to choose if you attend such studio for the first time? Of course, choose the nearest spot, which can be at any metro station (there are 13 locations in Moscow and many more in other cities in Russia). Secondly, keep in mind that all three main directions of the studio have their different aims. For instance, the ideal choice for those who have not practiced for a long time could be aerostretching. Aerostretching allows body to relax during the exercises, more than thatm it is impossible to overload muscles. Stretching muscles with a hammock occurs during the relaxation phase. Being in the same position for a long time, the body gets used to the pose and makes the stretch stable and steady. Moreover, aerostretching helps to increase the amplitude of movements and makes the occupation as effective as possible.
Another type of activities, which you can choose stretching. Stretching does not just make you flexible, it restores muscles, which means it makes your workouts in the gym more effective. And with good physical shape, you can generally do only stretching three times a week - this will be enough to have a beautiful body.
Finally, TRX workouts – my favorite one. Basically, TRX is a very simple mechanism, consisting only of belts and loops. TRX is one of the safest types of training. Unlike many other simulators, it is absolutely safe for the spine. TRX simulators are universal, so they are suitable for both men and women, not only for beginners, but also for experienced athletes: they allow you to easily adjust the load from 5 to 100% using your own weight, and to increase the load, you just need to change the angle of the body or increase the pace. In addition, due to the high efficiency of exercises, when training on TRX loops, you can reduce the standard training time to 40-50 minutes. However, do not take TRX training for something magical workouts, any kind of workout requires hard and regular work.
To continue the same train of thought, another spot, which I also strongly recommend is SMSTRETCHING. That studio was not only a studio, but also a kind of a family. I could ask any question and girls, who are working there would definitely answer me. Moreover, the studio also had a unique atmosphere, which also is very important, when you spent there 2-3 hours.
It was founded by Samira Mustafayeva, who is a Russian champion and world champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Training takes place daily at 4 studios in Moscow and if you are by any chance in Los Angeles, visit it there!
Classes are suitable for women and men of any age and level of training. Studio directions are Stretching, TRX and Barre. The author’s program, developed by Samira, is aimed at studying such gymnastic elements as twines, bridges, headstand, as well as developing the flexibility of the whole body, improving posture and reducing back pain. In addition to stretching, there are functional training on TRX loops aimed at pumping the buttocks, abs and other muscles, which I described previously. However, there is a major difference between other studios: new direction Barre - training with elements of ballet, yoga and fitness.
It goes without saying, that such studio has a strong coaching staff, consisting of masters of sports in rhythmic gymnastics, prize-winners of various competitions and championships, who first study with Samira and later have joined the team after passing the exams. In addition, not long-ago SM stretching has also launched an absolutely unique project!
The studio provides TRX, Stretching and Barre programs in rooms, which hold the 36’6 temperature, which allow you to speed up metabolism and to increase cardio load. In the studios, classes are held, both individual and in mini groups. What is more, the subscriptions are valid in all studios in three areas: Stretching, TRX and Barre.
We do hope that our advice and personal experience will help you to find the easy way to a healthy body! Stay fit and happy!
