Andrew Frosceno, Staff Writer:
For students at Southern like Clare Kostka, working out helps relieve the stress that being a college student brings to the table.
Kostka, a sophomore and commuter student, said that it is exercising that keeps her sane.
“Not only is working out important to help you stay healthy,” Kostka said. “But it helps me stay sane. It’s a time to forget about the amount of work I have to do and just be alone.”
For some students like Andrew Pattyson, a junior who also commutes, exercise is so important that they schedule their days around it.
“I set up my school schedule every semester around the gym,” Pattyson said. “So I can get there before I go to work and in between classes.”
For a lot of college students who want to workout it is hard to do so consistently with the loads of work they receive.
For Michael Parrott, a junior psychology major, that has become an issue.
“There are a lot of times when I want to work out and have a bunch of homework due,” Parrot said. “And as someone who truly believes working out is important it is difficult to skip out on it when I have to do my job as a student and do my work.”
Pattyson said he feels the same a lot of times.
“It’s hard to stay motivated to exercise with all the homework but after freshman year when I put on a lot of weight, I worked hard to lose that weight,” Pattyson said. “Which keeps me wanting to keep working out and not get out of shape again.”
One problem-Where to work out?-remains hard to figure out.
“I am a member of Peak Fitness,” Pattyson said. “So I work out there either at the Naugatuck or New Haven branches or at home.”
For Kostka everything she needs to workout is right at home.
“I have a home gym so every other day when I come home from classes I work out right there in my home,” Kostka said. “I do a 45 minute workout where I do cardio and abs.”
For campus resident Liana Krohelski, a freshman, everything she needs to work out is just a short walk away.
“I can’t have a car on campus as a freshman and it’s important to me to stay in shape,” Krohelski
said. “So I paid the $60 and joined the gym here on campus. It’s a good solid gym, I like it.”
Parrott said another hard thing about working out and being a student is coming up with a workout schedule.
“I’d like to work out daily around the same time every day,” Parrott said. “But with school and work it’s hard so I just work out whatever time I can every day.
Kostka said she chose to work out every other day.
“It’s hard to work out every day with all the homework and having to work,” Kostka said.
Pattyson said he chose to work out six days a week.
“Working out is important to stay healthy,” Pattyson said. “One day when I have kids I want to be able to play with them, not be out of shape and just watching. Working out now is helping me for the future.”
