Let’s face it: college is hard. Classes are hard. Schedules are tight. The stench of booze hangs in the air of fraternities and social life. Long story short– the “average” college lifestyle is anything but supportive for fitness and health. Here’s a short guide on how to make the most of your four years in the gym and on frat row.

Now, before you do ANYTHING involving your fitness, be as proactive as you can. Set yourself up for success. Here is some general life/nutrition advice for ya.

1.  Pick your classes carefully 

Don’t be this kid.  It’s great to make lifestyle changes and be more productive with yourself, but don’t switch cold turkey from a I-wake-up-at-noon-everyday summer schedule to enrolling in 8 AM’s. If you can pick classes that more comfortably suit your lifestyle, do it. For example– last semester, my classes started at 12 PM on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Tuesday and Thursday, they started at 10 AM. I got between 8 and 10 hours of sleep almost every single day and felt great. I realize this may not be possible with classes that have limited seats (my science classes were large lectures), but try to do it if you can. It can make a big difference with your motivation and daily happiness. 

Side note: pick your MAJOR carefully

Pick a major that you love AND that you’re good at. If you love theoretical physics, but you’re getting C’s in all the classes and staying up until 4 AM doing homework…it may not be the best choice for you. For example, I am a Biology major– many of my friends are Neuroscience majors. I would’ve gladly majored in Neuroscience, but many of the prerequisite courses are simply too restrictive for me and exclude the possibility of realistically taking electives outside of the department offerings. Biology is more flexible for me, allows me to explore my interests, and I’m interested it. Pick what you love, make sure you’re good at it, and make sure it allows you to fulfill all your goals. 

2.  Use a calendar 

I think this is self explanatory. If you’re more organized, you’ll be able to more accurately and carefully follow your goals. Track your life and stay up to date. Make week to two-week plans for your homework, classes, gym schedules, etc.

3.  Buy a water bottle

This is one mistake I made during my freshman year. I was always dehydrated and found that it contributed to occasional headaches and premature exhaustion in the gym. If you carry around a water bottle all the time and make it a priority item to take to class, you will be more energized and your performance will suffer less. I don’t think there’s a need to cite literature explaining why hydrating is good for you, but I’ll leave it at this– dehydrated tissue is not as flexible as hydrated tissue. When over 70% of the body is actually composed of water, you sure as hell better make sure your cells have access to it. 

4.  Stock up on supplements and food in your room.

Food for any college student is hard to come by, and having a good selection of supplements in your dorm could be absolutely invaluable towards staying on top of your nutrition. When your only food option is a small burger joint at 1 AM after the dining hall closes, it’s a good idea to have some quality protein, carbohydrate, and fat sources in your room. Otherwise, well, refer to the meme above.

Potential foods/supplements to have at ALL times:

1. Whey and Casein protein powder
2. Granola
3. Oats
4. Cereal
5. Nut butters
6. Frozen vegetables and other frozen items (preferably with low sodium)
7. Frozen rice
8. Eggs (HINT: If you have a microwave in your room, you can actually EASILY microwave eggs. Super quick calorie and protein source)

Besides these, think of any good quality protein bars or meal replacements you can think of. Avoid super high sodium foods. Point is that food is expensive in restaurants and, as a performing fitness enthusiast/athlete, you need to be fed. This is what ETP is all about. Buy bulk deals on protein powder and oats; in places like CostCo, you can buy a huge amount of this stuff for relatively cheap. On top of that, carbs are super cheap in general. Boom. Fed. 

Now, for the Gym advice:

1. Focus, ideally, on full body workouts, or upper/lower splits. 

Missing a workout or being overwhelmed is a common feature of busy lifestyles. “Man, I can’t go to the gym– my chem lab is taking way longer than usual.” Don’t sweat it. If you are working full body, then you’ll have a chance to make up your missed workouts and be extremely lenient with your body. It’s not a big deal to miss one FBW because every other workout is also a FBW. You can make it up. 

However, if you’re running the stereotypical “bro split” with Chest Monday, being late at lab may cost you another 3-4 days of inactivity for any given muscle group. Or, you may have to shift your entire schedule backwards/forwards a day which could potentially conflict with other plans.

Further, scientifically, FBW’s are extremely helpful towards hypertrophy AND strength gains. The repeated and frequent practicing of strength movements like the squat, bench press, deadlift, and others help “grease the groove” and produce what’s known as synaptic facilitation. If you consider lifting a skill (like it is), it makes sense to practice that skill as frequently as possible. Would you rather practice Piano 5x a week for an hour each day, or 5 hours on Friday?

Also, since Muscle Protein Synthesis only truly lasts between 36-48 hours, it makes sense to optimize this window and train (relatively) as frequently as you can– or, in other words, at the end of each Muscle-protein-synthesis cycle. 

An upper/lower split (or something similar) offers comparable benefits to a FBW, with the main difference being that there is more emphasis placed on the upper and lower body, respectively. 

Ah, but what about CrossFit?

Listen, all the power to you if you can do CrossFit in college. But here’s the skinny: CrossFit is super stressful. I can usually only manage 3-4 days in the gym a week while at school, and they are nowhere near the physical and neural intensity of crazy CrossFit workouts. I’m not saying you can’t do some intense conditioning while at school, but don’t expect to be able to kill yourself each time you do conditioning. Mental stress, as research shows, triggers similar catabolic responses in the body as physical stress. Namely, this response is dominated by the release of cortisol in the blood stream. So, if you’re already experiencing your daily dose of cortisol from deadlines and Organic Chemistry, chances are you’re not going to be able to do 1000 rounds of 1000 deadlifts with any sort of enthusiasm. You can condition, but don’t expect to go nuts. 

2. Pick and use exercises that are scalable and adaptable.

What do I mean by this, exactly? Well, when a college weight room might only have one or two squat racks, both of which are being occupied by quarter-squatting blasphemers, you should be able to occupy yourself with an exercise that is COMPARABLE to the exercise you had planned. Find routines and exercises that are easily interchangeable. For example, if someone is at the squat rack, I’ll go over to the dumbbell rack and do some Bulgarian split squats. If the benches are filled, I’ll do some weighted push ups. If I can’t do barbell rows anywhere, I’ll go over to the smith machine and do some inverted rows or go to the dumbbell rack and do dumbbell rows. Don’t restrict yourself TOO much, but also remember that it’s important to practice certain movements on a regular basis, like the squat. 

The Party Advice:

1. Be responsible.

This goes without saying. Don’t get smashed and black out every weekend. Drink responsibly. Have a fun time responsibly. Not only are you going to fail Psych 101 while encrusting your professor’s lawn with pizza chunks, but you could get into serious physical trouble. You don’t know what you are doing, your motor abilities are impaired, and you can do stupid things that you won’t hear of until the morning. So, under the assumption that you are being responsible with yourself, a key to being fit while drinking is…

Making your body more sensitive to alcohol.

This might seem like a buzzkill, but being a lightweight, relatively, is helpful. If it only takes you 3-7 drinks to have a nice time, that’s a LOT of calories saved from the other 10-15 beers your buddy is having. Considering alcohol has 7 calories/gram, this little molecule is exemplary of the “empty calorie.” Not to mention, something like five drinks is a lot less alcohol for your liver to deal with a somewhat regular basis. So, how to do this? Here’s the simple answer: don’t eat a ton before the party. The food in your stomach will absorb the alcohol and slow down its entrance into your blood stream. Now, I realize that many people might not feel even remotely buzzed by 4 drinks. But, a lot of people do. This is for the average person, not somebody whose liver is made of kevlar. 

It may be obvious, though, that anyone seeking legit, constant progress in the gym can’t party like a madman and destroy their body every weekend.

For more advice on drinking and performance, check out the ETP article on alcohol here.

2. Don’t uselessly drink

If you are going to drink, at least make sure it’s for some occasion. I am really just not a fan of casually getting wasted for no apparent rhyme or reason. “Useless drinking,” as I like to call it, can not only potentially get yourself into trouble and danger, but is not even remotely healthy for your lungs and liver. There are tons of resources on the internet explaining the effects of binge drinking on the lungs and liver, all of which– if included here– would declassify this guide as “brief.” So, I will leave that part of the research up to y’all.

In the end game of college, it’s about having fun and staying healthy while you do it. Make sure your academics are manageable, eat right, exercise optimally, and rage responsibly. That’s it, folks. Have a great day. 

References:

Protein Synthesis and Synaptic Facilitation:

1. http://easacademy.org/research-news/article/nutritional-regulation-of-muscle-protein-synthesis-with-resistance-exercise-strategies-to-enhance

2. http://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/s1/chapter07.html

Stress: 

3. http://bsj.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/04-FeaturesEffects-of-Cortisol_Preethi-KandhaluKim.pdf

4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(biology)

Alcohol and the lungs:

6. http://whsc.emory.edu/_pubs/em/2008fall/truth_alcohol.html