College can be a trying time for many. Between homework, clubs, sports, social gatherings, relationships, and anything else that goes on, there's a lot of baggage that students have to deal with. Some people cannot handle it; they are simply crushed by all of the emotional weight they have to carry. It is a sad sight, indeed.
Right now, however, I couldn't care less about them. I'm here to talk about the other weight that students all around the country have to struggle with. The freshman 15. The sophomore 16 plus 14. The junior ... yeah. And last but not least, the senior 60.
Yep, four years of Natty Ice, a daily serving of fried fat at Late Night, and general lethargy takes its toll on many college students around the country. In 2007, 66 percent of adults in the United States were obese, a number that will climb to 75 percent in 2015.
Students here at Boston College, however, are a shining beacon in the dark, lard-clogged country that we live in. BC was voted as the third-fittest college in the country by Men's Fitness magazine in 2006. Somehow, our prestigious University has conquered the thunder-thighs, love-handles, and man-boobs of America and cemented itself (and its rippling abs) at the top of the country.
How does this happen, people may ask. What is it about BC that makes their students so fit and muscular, especially considering the fitness center contains equipment that would be considered dated in the 1960s? Well, after months of extensive research, I have discovered the secret.
Every single day, BC students undergo an extremely rigorous, full-body workout without even realizing it.
Exercise 1: The "OH #$&@ THAT'S THE COMMONWEALTH AVE/NEWTON BUS" sprint: Let me preface this by saying that whoever designed the campus made the walk to the Main Gate 15 times longer than necessary.
Now that that's cleared, up, we all know that feeling. It's been a long day of classes and you begin the walk up to Main Gate. After about 10 minutes of walking, you make it to St. Mary's Hall, when all of a sudden, on the horizon, you see the bus pulling up to the bus stop. This is when the exercise begins. You frantically sprint to the bus stop like Carl Lewis, hoping you make it to the bus before it rolls away.
This exercise is excellent cardio work, builds muscle in the legs, and, as an added bonus, the dodging and weaving through other students does wonders for the agility.
Exercise 2: The 1 p.m. Hillside Scramble: Hillside Cafe, due to the delicious sandwiches it provides to students, is one of the most popular lunch spots BC Dining has to offer. Unfortunately, it may also be the most poorly laid-out area on the entire campus. It has approximately 50 square feet of space for students to maneuver. The combination of pushing, stiff-arming, kicking, and boxing out makes the Hillside Scramble an excellent method of building muscle in all parts of the body.
Exercise 3: Million Dollar Misery: The Higgins Stairs are a BC landmark. While nobody is certain exactly how many stairs are on its hallowed ground, one thing is for sure: The number is in excess of 500. Every single day, thousands of students at BC scale these horrible stairs. This is truly an amazing accomplishment, especially considering that it is done without the aid of oxygen stations and a team of Siberian Huskies.
Top scientists around the world have estimated that climbing the staircase once burns about 8,000 calories, give or take a few thousand. This alone can explain the excellent general fitness of the BC student body.
So there you have it. These "inadvertent" exercises make our wonderful University into the toned, muscular, attractive place you see today.
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