A lack of time, money and facilities are not only a few factors holding back Michigan State University student Pauleana Stevanovski from exercising, but also are factors holding back many college students.
Stevanovski, MSU Junior, said she doesn’t exercise at all during the school year, other than her regular physical activity of walking anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 steps a day because she struggles to find the time.
“I can’t really fit it into my schedule. I haven’t tried to fit it into my schedule or gotten myself in the routine of doing it, so it’s not a regular thing for me,” she said.
An exercise research study by Dr. Heather Sanderson and Dr. Jason DeRousie reported almost 50% of students participate in recreation less than once a week, 16.7% never participate and only 1.4% do these activities at least five times a week.
Along with Stevanovski, MSU sophomore, Emma Lock, said she exercises three to four times a week, however, she still struggles to find the time.
“In the summer when I’m not in college, I work out six days a week,” Lock said.
Lock said she goes to the free gym in Wonders Hall on campus but says if there were more gyms on campus, perhaps she would exercise more.
“I think cause there are only two gyms on campus and most people living in the dorms don’t have a car, it’s hard,” Lock said. “I feel like there should be a lot more gyms in each neighborhood rather than two big gyms.”
MSU Assistant Director Ross Winter of IntramuralSports West and Recreational Sports and Fitness Services on campus said their department does not have the physical space to meet the needs of every student on campus and that fitness space has not been added since 2005.
“We are drastically behind if you look at national standards for square footage per student,” Winter said. “If we had larger spaces,more fitness space, more multi-purpose rooms,we could offer programs and space that would be available to students at different times of the day, which would then cut back some of the time management issues that students are struggling with.”
Winter said intramural sports on campus are a great way to exercise at an affordable price no matter the fitness level.
“For the individuals that say they don’t have time to exercise — well, they do,” Winter said. “It doesn’t have to be getting into the gym or fitness center three or four days a week. It can just be playing on the intramural soccer team once a week —that’s an hour time block where you just have a little bit of a release that gets you a little more physically active.”
Stevanovski said another reason why a lot of people, including herself, don’t want to exercise is because she believes it’s too expensive.
“Especially when they’re like me, and they don’t have it in their routines,” Stevanovski said. “They don’t want to go and spend the money if they’re not going to end up going.”
Winter suggests intramural sports are one affordable way to exercise, saying the amount of money is trivial compared to the benefits that you would get from participating in at least one team a semester.
“Based on the number of games you get and that you’re guaranteed, it’s two dollars a game. That’s really, really cheap,” Winter said.
Stevanovski said her also not knowing what to do or how to do something is another thing that drives her away from exercising because she doesn’t want to stick to just one thing.
“I don’t want to just do cardio. I want to do weightlifting too, but I have no idea how, and I get embarrassed,” Stevanovski said.
Winter said intramural sports have nothing to do with fitness level. He said it’s all about having fun, meeting new people and participating in activities that you may or may not be familiar with.
“For example, we have inner tube water polo,” Winter said. “Very few people have played inner tube water polo before, but it’s an awesome activity that incorporates fitness.”
But intramurals aren’t the only way to get in your exercise. James Pivarnik, professor of epidemiology and kinesiology at MSU, said there are activities people can do if they aren’t confident about their exercise abilities, are not good at intramurals, or don’t want to join a gym because it’s too expensive.
Pivarnik said in terms of daily living people could keep themselves healthier by “walking, swimming, riding a bike, working in the garden, raking leaves and shoveling snow.”
Pivarnik also said exercising with friends or joining intramural teams are ways to improve exercise but overall suggests finding what’s best for your lifestyle.
“Do the exercise you like,” Pivarnik said. “Because the question I get a lot is ‘What is the perfect exercise?’ and I always say the one you do…there’s not really one that’s any better than another. Assuming you’re fairly healthy, it’s whatever one you like. Don’t worry about what the other people are doing, find some friends and do it with them.”
Documentary sources:
Heather Sanderson, Jason DeRousie & Nicole Guistwite (2018) Impact of Collegiate Recreation on Academic Success, Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 55:1, 40-53, DOI: 10.1080/19496591.2017.1357566