If going to the gym seems impossible when your planner is already full of classes, study sessions, work shifts, family obligations and fun time, a recent study says you are not alone.
Your best bet to burn some calories: Pencil a gym regime in your planner or get a trainer.
A study by a Marquette University exercise science professor, William Ebben, found that lack of time was the primary reason college students either don’t exercise or quit their exercise routines.
The study examined college students’ motivations to exercise and the mental barriers that keep them from starting or cause them to stop.
The study concluded that most college students need personal trainers and personal fitness plans in order to stay motivated and on schedule.

Having a healthier lifestyle and staying in shape were the motivations for the majority of the 4,001 college students surveyed. On average, students quit their exercise regimens after adhering to them for six months.
Ebben said understanding why people drop out of exercise plans is necessary to understand how to keep them exercising. He said it’s important to make time for exercise and to “re-frame this idea of whether we have time.”
For students who may not know how to start an exercise schedule, the Student Recreation Center has a group of personal trainers who are available to help students, faculty and staff at the University.
One of the trainers, senior Elliott Moffat, said personal training is useful to some people, but not necessarily others.
“Some people need to feel that accountability, and some don’t,” he said.
Many people who go to the rec center are self-motivated and have already made fitness a priority, he said.
Moffat noted that accountability is a common motivator among rec center users, including those he doesn’t see. In physical education classes, for example, he said the students taking courses for credit show up more often and try harder than the students taking the courses non-credit.
Moffat observed that many of his clients request a personal trainer because they have a goal in mind. Many start out with something such as, “I’d like to lose weight,” but Moffat said he tries to make the goals more specific to the person. He finds out why they have chosen that goal and then turns the focus to how many pounds they’d like to lose or an event they need to get in shape for. It’s a strategy people can use on themselves as well, he said.
Moffat said he sees more women than men, and said women often feel they need more guidance or direction than men do. Men typically show more initiative to figure out equipment and exercise routines on their own, he said.
In Ebben’s study, the students reported exercising an average of three days per week. The most popular type of exercise was cardio, such as running or aerobics.
Moffat said students shouldn’t limit themselves to those numbers. Three days per week is a good “rule of thumb” for a minimum amount of cardio, he said, but people should also mix weight training into their routines as well. Moffat emphasized that three days per week should only be considered a minimum to maintain cardiovascular health.
A number of University students agreed with the study’s findings.
“I exercise because it makes me feel good and I don’t want to get fat,” freshman Sierra Argyle said.
When she does exercise, she likes to run, go to the gym and practice yoga. However, she, like most students in the study, said fitting it in her schedule was a significant barrier.
Freshman Jane Hildebrand agreed with Argyle.
“It definitely makes me feel a lot better about myself,” she said, but added that finding time is difficult. Cardio is her favorite type of exercise, in the form of running and team sports, such as soccer.
Sophomore Jason Fajardo said he used to exercise – he liked lifting weights – but has stopped completely. His reason: school and work.
“I have no time,” he said.
[email protected]