{"id":6002,"date":"2010-10-08T08:54:35","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T13:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/UpbeaT\/?p=6002"},"modified":"2010-10-08T08:54:35","modified_gmt":"2010-10-08T13:54:35","slug":"excuses-in-september%e2%80%a6tae-kwon-do-in-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2010\/10\/08\/excuses-in-september%e2%80%a6tae-kwon-do-in-october\/","title":{"rendered":"Excuses in September\u2026Tae Kwon Do in October"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a whirlwind summer of backpacking through Europe, sleeping on overnight trains, and pushing my body past its limits on grueling bike rides in the Italian Alps, I arrived at U of T slightly dreading the school year. I cringed at the thought of late nights spent on my butt, eyes glued to my computer screen, overdosing on Diet Cokes while picking at sour jujubes. Something needed to be done. Urgently. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\nI came up with what I thought was a master plan. A \u201cNew School Year Resolution\u201d as I called it. I\u2019d sample as many campus activities as possible in hopes of getting fitter, discovering a hidden talent and meeting new people. I would prove that even on a budget, students really could \"live the dream.\"<\/span>\n

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My first stop was the Athletic Centre. I figured it to be the hub of student recreational activity (since this visit, I\u2019ve learned that Hart House<\/a> has just as much to offer). After picking up a drop-in fitness schedule<\/a>, I dreamed of how worldly I\u2019d feel doing exotic-sounding classes like Nia, Zumba, or Ashtanga Yoga\u2026whatever they were. I flipped through an Activity Guide<\/a>, and wondered if I had the guts to try middle eastern belly dancing, fencing, or trampolining. So much to choose from, so little time!<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nMaybe I got too ambitious, so determined to do everything that I became overwhelmed when I tried to squeeze it all into my schedule. Whatever the reasons, by mid-September I realized my\u00a0 plan failed miserably. I sincerely apologize to all the adventure-seekers out\u00a0 there who had hoped to be inspired. I am disappointed in me too.\n\n<\/span>\n

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Disheartened by the fact that my mission to transform my student experience would likely be replaced by extended-hours <\/a>sessions at Robarts, I started thinking about why it\u2019s been so hard to fit \u201cfun\u201d into my schedule. Isn\u2019t maintaining a balanced, healthy lifestyle vital to my success as a student\u2026so why has it been so difficult to achieve?\n<\/span>\n

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\nI wracked my brains. I\u2019m motivated to go to class, study, and get my readings done because my marks would suffer if I didn\u2019t. I realized that I needed\u00a0someone, or something, to drag me off my butt and whip me into action...\n<\/span>\n

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\nLuckily, last Friday, a friend convinced me to go \u201cFrosh Fit,\u201d<\/span> a free <\/span>drop-in fitness class<\/span><\/a> which runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the <\/span>Athletic Centre<\/span><\/a>. It combines circuit training with education on both fitness and nutrition- the perfect bootcamp to turn my resolutions into realities! So, I got reacquainted with my neglected sneakers and shorts and found myself standing in the brightly-lit dance studio with six other fitness newbies and an energetic instructor, ready to sweat. <\/span>\n

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\nDuring the workout, we squatted, crunched, skipped\u00a0 and lunged at stations with a partner, alternating between 30 seconds of weights and cardio intervals. \"Go! Go! Go! Three more,\" the <\/span>instructor belted, in the most cheerful tone possible. Thankfully she was not the drill-sergeant-type<\/span> fitness instructor I fear. My partner, on the other hand, an impressively\u00a0fit, middle-aged staff member, shook his fist at me when I flopped on the mat during push-ups. Just the work-out buddy I needed to kick start my routine!\n<\/span>\n

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\nAfter the class, we met with a nutritionist for an hour. She taught us about the importance of eating \u201cnutrient-dense\u201d foods as opposed to \u201cempty calories\u201d (so, for bread that means seedy, whole-grain or brown beats anemic, bleached and white). It made me realize that I need to start packing my lunch to avoid satisfying my mid-day cravings with over-priced, calorie-packed muffins or greasy (yet delicious) pizza slices.\n<\/span>\n

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\nMotivated by how energized I felt after the \u201cFrosh Fit\u201d session, I immediately headed to the Athletic Centre office to check out other <\/span>activity <\/span><\/a>options. Staying faithful to my plan to try something new, I signed up for a <\/span>Tae Kwon Do class<\/span><\/a>. Sure, I had to put a little coin behind the commitment, but that might motivate me to actually go.\n<\/span>\n

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\nThe first session is tomorrow night! I am feeling a little nervous, wondering what I am getting myself into (What, by the way, do I wear to such a class?) But I am also excited to learn a new sport. Check in next week and I\u2019ll let you know what it was like! Maybe I\u2019ll find that hidden talent after all!\n<\/span>\n

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-Shannon\n<\/span>\n

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\nAfter a whirlwind summer of backpacking through Europe, sleeping on overnight trains, and pushing my body past its limits on grueling bike rides in the Italian Alps, I arrived at U of T slightly dreading the school year. I cringed…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Excuses in September\u2026Tae Kwon Do in October”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Excuses in September\u2026Tae Kwon Do in October”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[784,1733,88,1734,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}