School is in full swing, which means you’ve got classes, student groups, long hours in the library, late night binges after a long night of drinking….

And you gotta fit the gym in there somewhere.

I know, it’s always the first thing to go when things start getting busy, but it shouldn’t be! Working out regularly will keep you fit (obvi), and also help ease the stress and give you that much needed energy to get through those 16 credits, rush meetings, group projects and everything else you need to get through before Friday.

If that’s not enough to motivate you, perhaps some cute clothes will do? It’s obviously not easy to pull yourself out of bed and trek to the gym when you look (and therefore feel) like crap. Those baggy sweats and dirty t-shirts aren’t doing anyone any favors, especially you. And with all the super cute workout-wear that’s out there right now (in every. single. price point), there’s no reason to look drab for the gym. If you’re super busy, you can pile this stuff on before class and sneak in a workout during lunch; the clothes are so cute, no one would ever know. And if you’re just lazy, having cute and trendy pieces around will make you feel better and motivate you to get your butt moving. (It really works!)

If you need a kick in the (yoga) pants to get back to the gym, I’ve got 16 right here for ya. Enjoy. Read More »

There are days when not even a new playlist, the latest issue of Glamour, AND Tough Love on VH1 could make my 45 minute elliptical sesh fly by. My mind is bored, and so is my body. And when my body is bored, it’s not burning as many calories. The human body is designed to be efficient so when I do the same exercise day after day (which gets boring), my body uses fewer calories to do the same amount of work on day 30 than, say, on day 1.

The same goes for you, people.
If your mind is bored, your body is bored.

As college students, we’re bored enough sitting in lecture each day; our workouts should be something that we look forward to! And at the risk of sounding like your mom, college is the time to try new things, so why not new methods of exercise? Cross-training (varying different types of exercise or activity), also helps you burn more calories by tricking your body with new and unfamiliar movements. It can also prevent exercise-related injuries, as you’re working different muscle groups and using different parts of your body for each activity. And, taking group fitness classes is an awesome way to meet people. Studies have shown that exercising with other people increasing the level of endorphins that we release during a workout, keeping us coming back for more!  Some universities even let you take sports or fitness classes for CREDIT! You pretty much just have to show up. Good motivation if you find it hard to get out of bed and to the gym, or wouldn’t otherwise have time to exercise.

If you’ve been doing the same 45 minute elliptical workout for the past few months (or few years!) it’s time to switch things up. Here are a few ideas to add a little mix to your workout: Read More »

I took a yoga class during my senior year of college. Somehow, the dingy and cramped gymnasium-esque room, ratty exercise mats and lingering body order stench kind of zapped the whole “zen” experience. But I still felt great when it was over and wanted more, more, more. However, with limited funds in college, the idea of joining a local studio was out of the question.

That’s why I’m obsessed with Yoga Month and knew you lovely readers would appreciate it as well. You can get a free week of yoga at participating studios across the country anytime during the month of September! I know there’s only a week left (I just found out about it myself!), so go here right now and search your zip code to find a location close to your campus.

Never tried yoga? Well then, this is the perfect opportunity to try it out for a week and see what you think. I mean, it does have just a few benefits: less stress (it can even change your gene response to stress!), boosted mood (and perhaps a cure for depression and anxiety) and better posture (it may even reverse that slumped over look that happens after hours of computer usage). And hey, if the body bonuses don’t do it for you…what about totally adorbs yoga gear like Lululemon (which is cuter/nicer than 90 percent of normal clothes I typically wore to class)? I’ll take any excuse to shop some sales.

Yoga Month is totally free, so why not?

Best class ever?

We’re all well aware of the fact that we are the technology generation. We spend our entire day with our eyes glued to computer screens, sending more texts and BBMs a minute then our hearts beat, and accompanying our lives with a personal soundtrack courtesy of our iPods. After Twitter made it possible to tell the world what you’re doing every 2 seconds (and I found out how often some of my guy friends poop), I thought nothing could shock me.

That was until I heard that the University of Houston now has an entire class dedicated to the Wii. No joke.

The course is listed in the catalog as “online aerobics activities” and the description? A class for PE credit where students work out 20-30 minutes twice a week by playing the Wii Fit video game.

Why the heck can’t my college offer this course? I’d enroll in a nanosecond. Play video games the whole semester and knock going to the gym off my daily schedule twice a week? I’m sorry but that sounds like perhaps the most amazing thing ever. Read More »

"Did you guys know this beer can make your hair stronger, too!?"

Labor Day may be an awesome third day to a typically-too-short weekend, but sadly, it’s also pretty much the last day of summer. But just because those summer days are drifting away, does that mean the fun is o-v-e-r?

Not for CollegeCandy readers! Psh, we can have fun no matter where we are and September is just brimming with some awesome stuff to take part in. Here are some fantastic things to do after Labor Day that don’t involve any heavy labor… or white shoes.

1) Enjoy (useful?) beer at tailgate.
Beer has better uses than just giving you the guts to talk to that cutie you’ve been eying at the party. You can use it to clean your hair and unclog pores, make your own facial mask concoction, and draw a uniquely-colored bubble bath.

2) Do the Downward Dog.
You can get a full week of free yoga at a studio near you during the first ever National Yoga Month. And since yoga is supposed to improve your sex life, why not try it? Your boyfriend can thank me later.

Read More »

I’ve always hated going to the doctor. I vividly recall being held down my 3 nurses at age five, so that they could inject me with numerous vaccinations. I kicked; I screamed; I felt like I was being personally invaded.

That’s still what I think about traditional medicine: It can be severely invasive. Are objects and chemicals meant to be stuck into our bodies? To me, it just seems a bit unnatural, not to mention painful.

Since establishing my own set of ideas about life, society and health, I’ve become immensely involved with holistic healing. I know, I sound like a total kook; but this stuff is not only interesting, it’s also effective. I swear.

Our whole lives we have been poked and prodded, whether it be due to an injury or simply because we are female. Every sickness we’ve had has been treated alone as if the body is incapable of attacking the problem itself. Truth be told, our bodies definitely need some assistance with the big bad ones, like cancer, heart disease, etc. But not in the way we’ve learned. Evidence is mounting that diet and lifestyle are the best cures for our worst afflictions.

The latest scientific studies, according to www.altmed.com, show that “simple choices that we make in our lifestyle — what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke cigarettes, how much exercise we get, and the quality of our relationships and social support — can be as powerful as drugs and surgery.” I think this makes so much sense. Just think how amazing you feel post-workout, when laughing with friends, or when hugging your mom … All of that is healing.

“When you eat a healthier diet, quit smoking, exercise, meditate, and have more love in your life, then your brain receives more blood and oxygen, so you can think more clearly, have more energy, and need less sleep. Your face gets more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. Your heart gets more blood flow, so you have more stamina and even begin to reverse heart disease,” says Deeprak Chopra, the author of more than 50 books on mind, body and spirit.

So how can you get more holistic? Yoga, acupuncture, and ayurveda. Read More »

Sometimes just the thought of working out at the campus gym was enough to give me a near-panic attack. When I wanted to have a solid sweat session (usually donning sweatpants, no makeup and a worn out sorority event t-shirt), the last place I wanted to be was on display in front of the whole campus. Where, let’s be honest, I would inevitably run into my uber-attractive grad student TA, that boy I may or may not have made out with Friday night or my ex-boyfriend’s new annoying girlfriend who seemed to think it was a good idea to get fully made up before the gym so that she resembled a melting troll on the treadmill.

All of those reasons are why the idea of working out in the privacy of my own apartment or dorm, was much more appealing from time to time. When I lived in my sorority house, my roommate turned me onto Denise Austin and her DVDs. Unfortunately, our floor space was limited so we couldn’t easily exercise at the same time, but somehow we each managed to squeeze in quite a few workout sessions in that tiny room.

Luckily, that experience prepared me for living (and working out) in a tiny NYC apartment post-college. However, funds are limited to say the least, so I can’t afford to buy DVDs extraneously. That’s why, in the time since I’ve been out of college to now, I have discovered a number of great, FREE workout options that you can follow to get fit, toned and best of all, do them in your underwear at home!

Here are some of my favs:
Read More »

Maintaining a healthy diet and working out obviously has beneficial effects for our body and well-being. But need another reason to trade in the fries for some fruits and vegetables? Need extra motivation to get yourself to the gym?

Well, here you go:  These things may also have an effect on our sex life.

And not in a “eating carrots means a hotter bod” sorta way. There are tons of  healthy foods out there that actually pump up that libido of yours.  And although most of us probably are at that age where we don’t exactly need an extra boost, we might as well take one anyways! Can’t have too much of a good thing, right? Read More »

I’m always looking for a new, interesting way to work out and keep me coming back for more. That being said, I’m also pretty picky. I don’t want to invest in something if I’m not sure that I’ll like it, and in the summer, I need something to help keep me accountable.

There have been so many times that I’ve said, “Oh, I can skip going to the gym today – I’m going to go on a run! And then go swimming!” But what really happens is…. I go to the air-conditioned mall. And eat Panda Express.

So, when one of my girls suggested we take a Bikram yoga class together, I was super excited. Having each other to go with make things fun, and we’d have to pay for the classes, so we’d stay accountable. Sounds like exactly what I’m looking for. Or it did before I actually took a class. Now, I’m just torn.

Love it:

- Weight loss. After a class, you’ve already sweated off some inches. A lot of inches. If those few dehydration-induced losses aren’t enough, the body supposedly burns fat more effectively when it’s warm. The extreme heat increases your metabolic rate, helps to detoxify, and supposedly helps you to stretch more than you would be able to in a normal climate.

- Easy to learn. There are only 26 easy-to-learn asanas. In my class, each pose was done twice and held for 30 seconds each, which was especially nice for me, because I’d never done yoga before with the exception of “Yoga Booty Ballet.” It was easy to follow and I didn’t get lost, but I have a feeling that since it was so easy and monotonous, it could get boring after awhile. Read More »

No, this image is not Photoshopped; that really is an 83-year-old woman and she really is doing that. Betty Calman has been teaching yoga forever (literally…she’s old!) and is in better shape than my mid-twenties ass.

I bet she’s a freak in the sheets.

What? You know you were thinkin’ the same thing.