Getting Exercise: It Is Possible!

Now that we’ve made it halfway through first semester, the fond hopes of moderate snacking and regular exercise have ceded to the reality of unlimited Funilla Vanilla froyo and hours of immobile p-setting. For the 80% of us non-athletes, the only exercise many of us may be getting is the occasional midnight trudge up four flights of stairs to the Language Resource Center.

Everyone knows the benefits of exercise extend from physical health to mental well-being, but few of us have the willpower to hike to the MAC on 37-degree mornings or the coordination to kick a soccer ball without stubbing a toe (maybe that’s just me...). Never fear! Flyby has compiled a list of things you can do to begin a healthy lifestyle this fall.

Harvard On The Move
If the prospect of running for longer than between your bean bag and your bed sounds unpleasant, this is the group for you. Harvard On The Move sponsors weekly runs and walks for people with any level of experience. Running is not nearly as awful—it may be enjoyable in fact—when you have a companion, and these community jogs double as a social experience. So you may very well meet a new friend as you increase your speed from sloth to tortoise.

Freshman Bootcamp (kind of)
Do you know what the word “plyometrics” means? If not, Freshman Bootcamp is a great place to learn. This month-long program sponsored by Harvard Athletics & Recreation and the FDO promises “plyometrics, agility training, core strengthening, interval training, and more!” Unfortunately, this year's bootcamp is finished, but you can still reap the benefits of your peers’ wisdom by finding a friend who did show up to the program and asking him or her to teach you their ways. Even better, find a group of friends who will agree to wear yoga pants and do crunches in the Yard three times a week while the tourists stare in awe and take pictures.

Get Some Moves
If you felt too awkward to bust out your dance moves at Heaven & Hell last weekend, take this opportunity to refine your party skills and build cardiovascular endurance at the same time. The range of options is vast: take a dance class through the Office for the Arts; join a group like Expressions Dance Company, where you can learn hip hop from your peers; get involved in CityStep, where you can teach dance and theater to children in Cambridge public schools. If your schedule is too squeezed, take twenty minutes to groove out to the new Miley Cyrus album with your roommate.

Fitness classes
Harvard offers a variety of fitness classes (free to Harvard community members!) at the MAC and Hemenway gyms. Relieve your stress with Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, channel Jennifer Aniston in a pilates class, or work on those moves again with Zumba. Mitigate the embarrassment of showing up alone by dragging along a friend. They will thank you afterward—after all, you are doing something good for both of you.

Tweak your schedule
Add a seven-minute period of high-intensity interval training to your day by scheduling an 11 a.m. French class in Boylston immediately following your 10 a.m. section in Northwest Labs. Wear breathable clothes, sneakers, and extra deodorant for your own sake and that of others.

Of course, if nothing but a brisk walk seems appealing, you can simply hope to get Quadded.