Tag Archives: Swimming

I like to move it, move it!

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Thanks to you readers, I let loose and "moved it"!

Thanks to you readers, I let loose and "moved it!"

I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. Ya like to move it!

For a quick distraction from exam studying, check out will.iam’s music video “I like to move it” from Madagascar II. For me, this song represents how I managed to get fitter this year and had fun while doing it!

Yes, this year, I moved my body in ways I didn’t think were possible. I shimmied and shook my hips in a spicy Latin salsa sequence at Zumba. I picked up complete strangers (who quickly became friends) and threw them in what felt like a back breaking catapult at Tae Kwon Do. I laced up my grandma’s old skates and tried out some of Toronto’s public skating rinks. I got some fitness and nutrition tips at Frosh Fit, and even dragged the UpbeaT bloggers back for a crash course on working out. It was fun, right guys? Hey Cynthia and Lori, have your legs recovered yet???

And it was all thanks to you readers. In September, before I started blogging for UpbeaT, I struggled to get into a healthy routine. I told myself the same excuses: too busy, don’t know how, have no one to go with, too tired, don’t have the “right gear.” But, then I made a resolution to try as many physical activities as possible on campus. At the time, I thought this commitment would turn out to be another dreamy ambition too lofty to reach. Like the year I tried to teach myself to play the guitar and turned into just another one hit wonder strumming a botched version of Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss” over and over.

Somehow, this commitment worked. Knowing that my devoted UpbeaT readers believed in me gave me that extra push to really put myself out outside my comfort zone and flail about awkwardly in activities like cross-country skiing and ashtanga yoga. Yes, readers, you were my cyber trainers who made me accountable for following through with my plan to get fit this year.

Here’s a few tips I learned along the way that helped me get fitter:

Schedule physical activity: You need to make physical activity a priority and schedule it into your life like you would an academic class. Write down a specific date, time, and location of activity and block it into your routine. Ex. Mondays: Women-only weight training at the Strength and Conditioning centre from 12-1 pm.

Find a work-out buddy: Meeting up with a friend makes it harder to back out on your work-outs. My friend, Ali and I did the Hart House Circuit every Tuesday morning at 7:30 am. I’m not a morning person, but just couldn’t let her down by not showing up!

Body power= brain power: No matter how stressed I got this year with the amount of reading or studying I had, I always felt better and worked more efficiently after a good workout.

Have fun! It is much easier to stick to activities that you enjoy. I have a hard time motivating myself to get to the gym if I know I’m just going to run on the treadmill or sit on an exercise bike. But, I actually look forward to things like going for a swim, or playing squash with a friend.

So readers, I’d like to thank you for motivating me and helping me to stick to my commitment to get healthy this year. I only hope that next year, when I’m no longer a student, I keep up with these healthy habits. But at least for now, I’ll bop along with the Madagascar characters that I’m:

“Physically fit, physically fit,
Physically, physically, physically fit
Woman! Physically fit, physically fit,
Physically, physically, physically fit.”

Thanks, readers! Please promise that you’ll motivate next year’s UpbeaT team to stay fit and healthy like you did for me!

-Shannon

Indulge…in a campus spa day

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Readers, how was Reading Week? Did any of you take advantage of the (fingers crossed) last dump of snow and go for a skate or a cross-country ski?

Instead of spending my Reading Week writing my sociology paper, I had some quality “me” time. I hung out with friends, got caught up on all the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars (yah “The King’s Speech!”) And, I’m proud to say, got quite a few good workouts in.

Usually when I get back to school after a break from the books, the panic and regret of “how I should’ve spent my time off from class” sets in immediately. AHHHHHH! Paper! Midterm! Presentation! No time! But this time, I came back to school fully rested and recovered. My usual army of unhealthy fixes: sour ju jubes, caffeine and compulsively checking Facebook, were not needed for this essay. Instead, it was: research, write, edit, and hand in. Who knew the writing process could be so simple?

For me, this experience proved that I need to take more “Reading Weeks”  to do my best at school. A bit dreamy, I know. But, instead of taking a whole week to relax and re-fuel, I could schedule one day each week to be my own “spa day.”

Celebs, like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, visit exclusive spas when they need to unwind from their busy schedules. Now readers, I don’t about you, but their budget is a little bit bigger than mine! I simply don’t have the extra cash to spend on lavish massages, thermal baths, and pedicures.

But I’ve paid my student fees, which means I have access to many services and activities on campus. Here’s my attempt at indulging in a free “campus spa day”:

1. Swimming: For me, it wouldn’t be a spa experience without a swim. I did about half an hour of lane swimming during women-only hours at the Athletic Centre to get some low-impact exercise and enjoy the therapeutic sensations of floating on my back and putting my face in the water. When I was done, I cleared my pores by sweating out toxins in the steam room in the changing room.

2. Massage: Readers, did you know we can get free massages on campus? Just stop by Hart House on Mondays from 11-1 until April 4, for a free mini shiatsu massage. It was absolutely wonderful to get the knots of tension released from my head, neck and shoulders. Oh, and following my massage on Monday, I had a hair cut at “The Hair Place” at Hart House. Getting rid of my split ends really added to the spa experience!

3. Yoga: This term, I’ve registered for the Mind-Body Flex Pack, which lets me go to any yoga or Pilates class at the Athletic Centre. After my spa day’s ashtanga yoga class, I’ve progressed from basic poses to “binding,” a more advanced option where you use more flexibility to intertwine and lock your arms to pull yourself into deeper stretches. If you’re not registered for a class this term, there are some yoga classes on the drop-in fitness schedule at the Athletic Centre that you should check out.

4. Sleep: I topped off the spa day by going to bed early!!! For me, the biggest challenge of getting to bed on time is turning my computer off. This makes me tired and groggy the next day, which means less motivated to get to the gym and hit the books. According to a 2009 U of T Health and Wellness report, 22% of U of T students reported that problems with sleep negatively impacted their academic performance. So, in order to get the full academic benefits of my “campus spa day,” sleep needs to be a priority.

Yes, the concept of a “campus spa day” is a bit of an oxymoron (Campus: Exams! Stress! Marks! Due dates! Spa Day: Relaxation! Rest! Massage! Hot baths!). But, I know that taking one day each week to rest, relax, and re-charge will help me do better academically by making me more focused, have less anxiety, and work more efficiently.

Oh, and readers, if you have any other activities to include in our “campus spa day” itinerary, please let me know!

Swimming: A great aqua-tunity to relax and get fit

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I’m not a fan of being cold or wet and I absolutely dread trying to squeeze into my hideously unattractive one-piece (which, by the way, squeezes at all the wrong places). Other than taking a dip to cool off while tanning on a hot sandy beach, I don’t swim that often. But, in my commitment to trying a variety of physical activities on campus and to staying fit, it was time to get my feet wet and check at the pool.

I looked online at the drop-in aquatics schedule at the AC and learned that there are both co-ed and women-only swim times daily. As a fan of women-only weights at the SCC, I figured I’d probably feel more comfortable swimming with other women.

Since I’d never gone swimming at the AC before, I’d assumed that the pools were attached to the main change room. So after putting on my favorite wardrobe item, the “fashionable” swimsuit, I did a thorough lap of the change-room in search of the 25 m (or Benson) pool. I felt like such a rookie: I couldn’t find the pool! Luckily, I bumped into another swimsuit-wearer who, as a regular, knew where to go. She led me out of the change room, down the hall, and up a set of stairs to get to the women-only swim.

I felt a bit uncomfortable walking around in my swimsuit and bare feet, but quickly learned that this could have been avoided. There is actually a large washroom that you can change in, right on the pool deck, as well as a private changing stall, just outside the pool.The windows of the pool were also all completely covered, making it impossible for people to look in from outside.

There were about 20 women of varying abilities doing laps of front crawl, breaststroke, kicking with a flutterboard, or doing their own modified versions of basic strokes. Before entering the pool, I had a decision to make: am I a slow, medium, or fast swimmer? I opted to swim in the medium-speed lane, which ended up being the right match for my ability. But once I was in the pool, I was politely informed by the lifeguard that there is an etiquette to lane-swimming: up the middle and down the sides…rookie mistake number two.

Since I don’t swim too often, I didn’t know how many lengths to do, what strokes to use, or how long to go for. I basically just copied the other swimmers in my lane, doing a combination of breast-stroke and front-crawl for about 20 minutes (which I knew was the general target for cardio exercise). At the end, I was exhausted. As someone who runs often, I’m not used to doing full-body exercise. It drained me.

I also felt incredibly relaxed. Unlike running, which is a high-impact activity, swimming allows you to increase your fitness and burn calories without placing impact stress on your joints. As corny as this sounds, it was also very therapeutic to put my face in the water, focus on my breathing, and clear my head of the stresses of looming presentations and assignments that I haven’t started yet.

My friend, a third year biology student, told me that the relaxation I experienced could be due to the “mammalian diving reflex.” This is an innate response which causes our heart rates to lower by ten to twenty-five percent as soon as our faces enter the water so that our body does not need as much oxygen in the bloodstream.

Regardless of the specific physiological benefits of swimming, I enjoyed the experience so much that I went back the next morning. This time, it was co-ed, but having guys there didn’t really bother me; our faces were in the water most of the time anyways! I also came prepared with flip flops and a hoodie to make the walk from the change room to the pool a little more comfortable!

Tae Kwon Do Update: The moves are getting more complex and technical, and I’m realizing that it is hard to improve at a new sport when you are only going once a week…I think that if I continue next term, I’ll have to up it to twice a week!

-Shannon