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College life is busy enough as is, especially when you are trying to balance academics, social life, and sleep, ALL at the same time. But what about taking care of your health by exercising?

No matter how busy your schedule is, you can still fit in an exercise and balance everything without going to the gym. Yes, you heard me --- EVEN without hitting the gym! All you need to do is to take some time out of your busy schedule and start exercising!

Below, I have created some dorm room friendly exercises that you can do without disrupting your neighbors. 

I suggest that you do each exercise for 30 reps with 2 or more sets. This can be adjusted downwards if you're time constrained. 

Before you start, you will need the following equipment: 

• Heavy Textbooks or Weights
• Yoga mat
• Chair

On one last note, remember to stretch before and after you exercise. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and listen to your favorite songs.

Workouts

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Sit Ups

Sit ups are exactly what they sound like! This exercise is a great way to build your core strength. All you need is a floor and a yoga mat.

• On your mat, lay down on your back and bend both feet. Put both your hands behind your head
• Engage your core and lift yourself up
• Make sure that your back is not arched and maintain a connection between your mind and your muscles

If you find this difficult, have your roommate or your friend hold both your feet down to get you started. Who knows, this might inspire your roommate or friend to join your workout! 

Russian Twists

Next up is the Russian twist. This exercise should be slow and controlled. Trust me, you will feel your abs burning in no time! 

• Sit on your mat with your legs slightly off the ground
• Balance yourself by moving both your hands from side to side

If you want to challenge yourself, grab a weight. No weight? No problem! Just find something heavy in your room, such as a textbook or your water bottle to hold while you rotate it from side to side.

Planks

We all know this one! This exercise will take you back all the way to your middle school gym classes, where your gym teachers made you attempt the mandatory presidential fitness challenge. Tighten your core for this one and burn those muscles.

• To start, get down on all fours 
• Keep your body straight and place both of your lower arms in front of you
• Lift your body up from the ground with the support of your arms
• To get the most out of it, hold for a minute or two

While you’re at it, distract yourself from the ab burn by singing, talking to your roommate, or counting to 60 seconds.

Cross Body Mountain Climbers

This exercise comes in a three in one package! It works your abdominal muscles, triceps, and legs.

• To start, get into a high plank position and form a straight line with your body from head to toe
• Bring your left knee to touch your right elbow and your right knee to your left elbow
• Repeat this exercise roughly 30 times to complete one set

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Sculpt Your Arms

Push Ups

This one is a classic! And you may have a love-hate relationship with push ups, but that’s okay! There are modified versions you can try to find the perfect fit for you.

• Wall Push Ups

To start, place your hands on the wall and stand one or two feet away. With your hands shoulder width apart, do push ups as if you were doing them on the ground, except now the ground has become the wall.

• Incline Push Ups

This one requires you to use your chair, bed, desk or anything that is slightly elevated. Similar to the wall push up, but this time, place your arms on your chair or anything you choose and complete the push up by bending and straightening your arms

• Knee Push Ups

Like a regular push up, but drop your knees to the ground and find a comfortable angle for support and do a push up with your upper body.

Up and Down Pulses

If you don’t like modified versions of push ups, then these up and down arm pulses can get your arms moving.

• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and extend both of your arms outward like a letter T
• Pulse both arms up and down for one minute together
• Hold outwards for 16 seconds 
• Switch to downward leading pulse for one minute

Up for a challenge? Just add on weights or hold some water bottles!

‍Legs, Thighs, Glutes

Squats

We all know this one! It’s a simple and effective exercise to sculpt and tone up your legs and glutes. Trust me! You will definitely feel the burn after 3 sets of these. The key on squats is to maintain a flat back that aligns with your tailbone. Stick your butt out and get low. The lower the better, and you can even hold it at the bottom to get an extra burn.

Wall Sits

This exercise is performantly exactly as its name implies. All you have to do is place your back against a wall and sit down with your legs perpendicular to the wall. It targets your calves, quads, and hamstrings and is a great way to work all of the muscle groups in your lower body. To increase intensity and build endurance, place a heavy textbook on your lap while performing the exercise.

Lunges

Looking to build and tone your glutes and inner thigh? Try doing lunges. This exercise is great for working all muscles on your lower body. All you need to do is stand up straight with shoulder width apart and step back with your left leg behind your right leg and then bring it back forward. Repeat this for 30 reps and switch the lunges to your right leg. Remember to engage your core and glutes and maintain that muscle-mind connection! The mind-muscle connection is essential as you should feel the exercise directly in your glutes and thighs. If you are not feeling the exercise there, it is likely that you are performing the exercise wrong so you should check your form. 

Wrap Up

All of these are simple exercises that you can do in your dorm if you’re in a time crunch and don’t have time to go to the campus gym. Try to do a couple of these dorm friendly exercises each day to stay fit and healthy.

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