A Dude’s confession: I’m no longer in the most immaculate shape of my life. I was at one point. Second semester of Freshman year I was in that frickin’ gym 4 times a week, sometimes 5. I had pecks that make The Rock’s surgically enhanced ones seem like, like, something, uh, less impressive as the pecks as I had! Yeah! And abs? 6 pack. That’s right. 6 pack.

But not only did I look good, I felt good, 8 hours of sleep per night, never got sick, never got tired, soreness was a constant validation for the better quality of life I was living. Now, years later, I have a job — 3 jobs in fact — and I’ve got bills to pay, and an apartment to not get kicked out of, and what’s one of the first things that went by the wayside as I entered adulthood? Gym membership! I’m not The Blob, but I’m not The Great One anymore either. So here’s what’s going to happen: For the next 30 days, I’m going to do 100 push ups every day.

At the peak of my physically prowess I actually could do over 50 without stopping, now…well let’s say at one of my jobs last week, we had a push-up contest and…I didn’t win…really didn’t…but flab be damned! Read More »

Like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with the gym. In fact, our flame is so hot and cold that I sometimes I stare at the door the entire time I’m working out, counting down the minutes ’til it’s time to leave. There are, of course, other days where I am so excited to go to the gym its like okay, who put the steroids in my coffee?

I hate going to a packed gym, so I always try and go when it’s inconvenient for me and everyone else. Lunch? No thanks, you guys go munch on delicious flat-breads, I’m gonna go pump some iron and have a protein shake. Sleep? Eh, I think I’ll run six miles instead.

Even though it’s a vicious cycle, I do love the gym. But I always feel like a trip to the gym is like looking through a digital People of Walmart magazine. I just want to say to the guys lifting weights in work boots and the preteen girls reapplying mascara in the locker room…. what are you doing? This is the gym. A place where it’s okay to sweat, pant, and guzzle your water down so quickly it’s like Y2K is a threat all over again.

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Okay, I’m not usually one for seemingly unnecessary workout accessories. I’m perfectly fine with my yoga mat and iPod Nano. I bought into the Power Balance band thing last year, and while it did kind of work it was definitely more of a placebo effect than anything else. Gimmicky workout products just don’t float my boat. But when I heard about the Nike + FuelBand, it totally peaked my interest. And now I’m convinced I need one.

The FuelBand tracks all kinds of activities whether you’re running or dancing and syncs up with your mobile devices so you can see how many calories your burning even just from walking around. Nike + FuelBand allows you to set up goals and unlock achievements, making your workout routine more interactive. The band glows different colors based on your daily goal achievement. It works with Nike + Connect software to track your movements and customize your settings. Read More »

Here at CollegeCandy, we like to think we’re experts in a few key areas: budget fashion, sex, budget sex and college fitness. That’s why when FitSugar asked us to help them put together a post on keeping fit during those tricky undergrad years, we immediately blurted out, “Wear that cute dress you got on sale last weekend and go bang some hot dude until you sweat out all the beer you consumed the night before!!!”

And as soon as the words left our mouths, we realized that our advice wasn’t exactly sage…kinda like the time your older sister suggested you chug a 40 oz. of watermelon Smirnoff Ice. So, in light of our personal inadequacies when it comes to workout tips, we decided to toss this one over to a few of our trusty writers — the real CC fitness pros.

Head on over to FitSugar to see what they had to say about motivating yourself for the gym, scoring stylishly functional duds and fitting a workout into your busy schedule.

I have always been a fan of any quick fix diet plan. If there was a pill that would melt away pounds within a day, I would be first in line to buy it. So when I was perusing the web one day and happened upon the Slim Fast website, I saw an opportunity and ran with it. After all it has ‘fast’ and ‘slim’ in the name, so how bad could it be?

Within the first day I realized this was going to suck.

First let me just explain to you what it entails. Everyday you eat three snacks that are 100 calories, Slim Fast provides snack bars and the website also offers healthy 100 calorie snacks of real food you can make yourself. Then you also eat two 200 calorie meals, both are provided by Slim Fast and  you can choose between a shake or meal bar. Lastly you have one 500 calorie meal. It doesn’t seem too hard, right?

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I always have a difficult time staying motivated about working out. The problem is, I’m lazy, so the hardest part is actually just getting out of bed early or getting my butt off the sofa to drive to the gym and work out. Since I have a hard time dragging myself to the gym, I’m trying to stay in shape by running around my neighborhood. I still don’t do that as often as I should, but it works for me, since it doesn’t require me to go anywhere except out my front door.

The only problem with going for a run around the neighborhood is that it’s not as easy to gauge the distance I’ve run as it is on the treadmill at the gym. But that’s not a problem anymore, now that I’ve discovered WalkJogRun!

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Have you ever stayed up all night studying for a final? Blood shot eyes, empty coffee cups, pages and pages of notes…you know, the works. Do you remember sitting there wishing you had diligently studied all semester long, gone to class or stayed awake during the Powerpoint presentation?

Yeah, me too.
Every. damn. semester.

Well, I’m here to let you know that just like studying, the same goes for good health and fitness. We can’t expect to do crash diets or spend 3 hours at the gym on one day to achieve our goal body. There’s no way that’s healthy or realistic. Just like school, it takes a little effort every single day in order to see maximum results. And with Spring Break and summer just a few months away, if you want to feel beach body confident by semester’s end you have to start now.

The secret to having the body you want is actually pretty simple. If you know and understand these three key factors in exercising, you’re off to a very good start. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Melanie is putting her health first and going to the gym....every day....without excuses. We watched her suffer through her first week, breeze through week 2, and work her way through major obstacles in week three. So how did it all turn out in the end?]

After dealing with the turmoil of a breakup, the impending holiday season, the bitter cold and the death of my beloved aunt, the only thing getting me through were my workouts. That’s right, while the rest of the world was going for pumpkin pie, I was skipping dessert and smashing up the elliptical. While everyone threw elbows at their local Target, I was throwing punches (Jillian Michaels style) on the treadmill.

All I can say is: I did it.

Yes, I slipped up last week. But you know what, I pulled through. Even through the holiday season when my plans inexplicably brought me to my relatives in Ohio, I was blessed with a 24 hour gym in my Cleveland hotel. And you know what? I felt amazing skipping the pie and busting my ass on the elliptical. Granted, it might not have been the most fun or indulging holiday, but I felt ten thousand times better skipping out on the alcohol fest of “Thanksgiving Eve” or the “drinking to make my relatives seem normal” tradition of Thanksgiving itself. I burnt off my aggression about my break up, my sadness about my lost aunt and the general grief that this season brings me.

This month challenge has truly inspired me in many ways. Although it seemed like an arduous task at first, I really feel that I gave 100% of myself into this and I want to keep going. From this day on, I want to continue my high-energy motivation for the gym. Albeit, now that I’m not documenting every moment in time of this journey, I will take some time off once a week to rest. I’m allotting 5-6 days at the gym for Gym-cember (doesn’t have as catchy of a ring to it, does it?) and going to keep pushing myself. I do know that 7 days is too much for my body to handle at this point and I deserve a day off instead of just feeling crushing guilt when I skip. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Melanie is putting her health first and going to the gym....every day....without excuses. We watched her suffer through her first week, and breeze through week 2. This week, though, Melanie faced a whole new sorta challenge.]

So, just wanted to let you guys know that this stupid One Month Challenge is officially cursed. When my sister gave up her penchant for junk food for a month, her and her bf broke up. Fast forward 2 challenges later, I broke up with my boyfriend, who was living with me and my roommate. All drama aside and cutting to the chase: I skipped a day at the gym. Oops. However, I have been getting a significant amount of cardio in from my sporadic post-break up sobbing in public/indiscriminate panic attack dry heaving. I can already feel my abs tightening.

Now, I’ve started to work out even harder at the gym, pushing myself to my full limits. Actually, skipping a day made me work even harder. I think my body needed the rest. Except this week really, really sucks for working out. There’s nothing I want more than to curl up on the couch clutching my bottle of Pinot Grigio, my two new boyfriends Ben and Jerry and weep while watching “It’s Complicated” because I will never find a guy like John Krasinski. But oh no, I have to take my multi-vitamin as per Jillian Michaels, pound out some time at the gym, do crunches, do my sobbing abs exercise and try my damndest not to skip another day. Read More »