Here’s why I love the uni gym

I cannot get enough of the Danielle Brown Sports Centre here on campus!! Especially during revision period – it’s one of the few things that keep me sane. I like to schedule my revision around gym classes, so that I have no excuse to be lazy and not go.

There are so many amazing classes with incredible instructors (shout out to Chris, who teaches Abs, All Over Body Workout, and Legs, Bums, and Tums). And there’s a good variety of classes! From more chilled classes, like yoga and Pilates, to really intense classes, like Insanity and Boxercise. Don’t get me wrong, though, you come out of any class feeling like jelly, regardless of how intense it is! My favourite ones are yoga, Body Balance, Abs, All Over Body, and Legs, Bums, and Tums.

A new thing my friends and I tried this year are the virtual classes, which we absolutely fell in love with! These ones are virtual, so there’s no actual instructor – you follow a video. They’re run by Les Mills, and we usually switch it up between CXWORX and Body Pump. These are good because they play the same routines for a few weeks, so you can actually see yourself improving as you do the same routine over and over. But, to keep your body guessing, don’t forget to surprise your muscles by changing up your routine and do other classes, or increase the weight your working with. That’s where you’ll see improvement! Otherwise, if you keep doing the same routine with the same amount of weights, your body will get used to it and muscle growth with be stagnant.

Something my friend and I also tried out this year was a Mini Health Check. This will tell you your current weight, muscle mass, body fat percentage, ideal weight, aerobic fitness, cardio fitness, and you’ll be recommended a daily calorie intake based on whether you want to build muscle, lose fat, or maintain your weight/muscle mass. Even if you’re not interested in finding out any of these things, it really doesn’t hurt to be aware of how fit you are, so you know how to achieve your fitness goal, whether you want to get leaner, stronger, or anything else.

I wish I’d had more time to really throw myself into these classes and get stronger, because I’d always struggled with that. Why, oh why, wasn’t I more adventurous in first year?? So, get out there and try a new class – even if it’s really difficult, you won’t regret it for a second.