[Collegiate Exercise] Dorm Room Fitness

In the midst of homework, exams, parties, and other college distractions, finding time to hit the gym can be difficult.  I've compiled a set of exercises that you can do from your dorm room.  For just twenty minutes a day, you will see results from these simple exercises!

Keep in mind that is is important to make an effort to hit the gym to lift weights and perform cardiovascular exercise as well.  On days when your schedule is just too packed to hit the gym for an hour, perform these exercises in your dorm and you will look and feel better!

My room is about 15' by 12'.  In just this small space, you can make a difference in the way you look and feel!

Step 1: Push-Ups

Although the push-up one of the most common exercises, many people perform this exercise incorrectly. 

• Begin with your hands at about shoulder width apart.
• Keep your hands directly beneath your shoulders.
• Your body should be in a relatively straight line from our heels to your shoulders.
• Lower your body down to the ground using your core (abs) and upper body.
• Lower your body just until your chest touches the floor.
• Now just push up with your arms, and chest muscles.

Be sure that your back remains straight, and does not sag.  The buttox also tends to rise up on some folks, so make sure you keep your buttox down as well.  Another issue comes when your hands are too far from your body, or too far in on your body.  Keep your hands directly under your shoulders when you begin the pushup. 

You can perform the following exercises in a circuit, performing 10 repetitions, and then moving on to the next exercise.

Don't fret if you can't do these perfectly yet.  As your upper body gets stronger, you will be able to perform them cleaner and you wil be able to do more of them.

Comments

[Chumlee]

this is sick, nice one (y)

[basementhacker]

AWESOME I'BLE!!!!

[basementhacker]

Another style of planking is to put your elbows on the ground and lift up with your back, facing the ceiling - works your lower back just like your abs.

[basementhacker]

Once you've built up enough arm muscle, you can move these to the floor. When I first started doing these on the floor, I had to do five at a time, and then eventually moved up to ten reps.

[basementhacker]

For Cross Country we do LOTS of these sculls - brilliant exercise incorporated from our crew team at school. Thanks for putting this in here!

[jacquelinekvz]

Great selection of exercises, with a focus on a strong core. I like!

For cardio I'm thinking I could add a few minutes of skipping rope outside...

[ChewyCov]

this is great! i used to play rugby long ago, so i'm trying to get my fitness and strength back up to where it used to be so i can start again, and this guide seems to be helping with the strength and endurance aspects! unfortunately, my room is even smaller so some of the exercises i cant do, and others, i'm just too unfit and can only do 1 rep! but thanks, this really helps!

[JungleMugsy]

This is almost always good for programmers! All that hard work sitting at a computer is really wearing me down.

[fitness4life]

I just wanna add to be careful when doing dips. Depending on how deep you go, they can hurt your shoulder, due to the hyperextension of the shoulder girdle. Otherwise, great exercises for dorm space!

[nicoleb00]

i don't think the shoulder girdle range of motion includes hyperextension....retraction, elevation, depression, and protraction

[fitness4life]

Perhaps its shoulder joint then...yes, i believe it is. I was just always told to be careful on these is all. I don't think it will be a huge issue unless if a person has recurring shoulder injury though.

[Eacon]

Nicely mixed and practical exercise series for the stressed student in a swotting phase! A good way to relax your brain and work those muscles - for a change... =)

[bridge47]

Very nice! Perfect mix of exercises and good instructions too

[jsl127]

Perfect exercices for vacations, tanks a lot Brennn10 ;)

[destructopop]

Ooo! The chair dips are exactly what I needed for my triceps! :D

[dwest-1]

Seems like there is something missing at the end of text (maybe repetitions)... Great 'able, thanks.

[Brennn10]

Thanks for catching that. It must not have saved. It is corrected now!

[devinhoo]

Props for watching Harry Potter in the background. :D

[ATTILAtheHUNgry]

Agreed.

[planethalia]

Also, great for young working people in small aparments! Thanks for the tips!

[abnor]

It looks silly but exercise is exercise! I would prefer to take a job around the campus, but that's just me!

[menahunie]

Great tips. from my dorm days I hope the carpet was clean? LoL..
There was real skanky stuff that was "spilled" on it during parties..

[juanvi]

thanks, ive been looking for something like this...
do you recomend like exercising one day and resting the next one? fo muscle rest and so??

[Brennn10]

Since this exercise regiment is more intended to maintain muscle growth and to tone your muscles, I reccomend doing this every day that you don't have access to a complete gym where you are using weights and cardio machines.

[art.z]

Aw man, I was actually working on a instructable like this, I was only searching for more exercises, because I didn't have that many steps (No Xbox for me, I guess)

Really nice instructable, I would add those door pull-up bars too, they are really good and you can even use it to hang clothes! lol

[Kasm279]

Good, 'ible. One thing I would like to mention though is that with the chair dips, make sure you have a chair without wheels!

[froggi]

This is a great "able" overall.... One thing I'd like to comment on and that's the sit-up section...... It all starts off brilliantly but you'd be best not doing the complete sit-up.... Only reason I say this is that when your trunk/torso gets past about 20/30 degrees from the horizontal, the back muscles begin to kick in and eventually take a greater part in the total movement. If you're trying to develop the abdominal muscles then a "crunch" is more beneficial to strengthen the front of the abdominal belt....
Still it's a great sequence of exercises....

[Iam4NUru]

you have just won my vote because this is what I will be doing during our "active rest week" of summer training so I dont get yelled out for not working out during that week. :D

[mistressdominastar]

Simple but effective. Wish I had this when I was in college.

[Dartag]

This will work well for traveling folks who can't get away from the hotel room, or have limited (treadmill or stationary bike only) workout rooms in the hotels. Thanks!

[capricorn]

A complete and funny program.

Tthank you for sharing this mate, I'll be at it from now on :)

[mottiru]

cool