Why I leave campus to workout

If you’re anything like me, working out is your therapy. When all the anxiety of school/friends/family/boys/etc. comes stampeding in faster than I can handle, sometimes it feels like the only answer is to just drown out my thoughts with some Drake and sweat that shit out.

It would probably be a saner choice to just use actual therapy, but different strokes for different folks, amirite?

Another way my workouts parallel actual therapy is the price point. While I never turn down a Plex date with the squad, I have a minor addiction to boutique fitness classes and it is rapidly draining my family bank account (sorry Mom, you da real MVP).

With classes like Soul Cycle, Flywheel, Corepower Yoga, and Barry’s Bootcamp all just an Uber ride away, I find myself making every excuse to carve out an hour or two of my schedule for a trip off campus.

And with ClassPass increasing in popularity (a membership that lets you pay a flat monthly rate to take any boutique fitness class your heart could possibly desire), it seems more college students are taking the fitness-class-route rather than shlepping it down to the campus gym.

But how can I possibly justify the expense of leaving campus 3+ times a week for a spin class? Hear me out.

Yeah, I’m a basic bitch who’s basically always at Soul Cycle decked out in the apparel and sucking up to the instructors. Case in point:

But let me return to the therapeutic element. Being able to leave campus for a small period of time and release every ounce of anxiety that could possibly have been plaguing my day is an experience I can’t often get at the Plex.

I’m so often concerned with who’s around me or with texting on my phone (something you can’t do in most fitness classes) and thus I don’t get the same release that I get when outside of the BC bubble.

Is the expense worth it? To many, it probably isn’t. But if I can do a little something extra for myself that allows me to get out of my own head and give myself a major confidence boost that lasts the whole day, hell yeah I’m going to take advantage of that.

Boutique fitness classes are not for everyone. Working out is not even for everyone. But taking care of your own mental health in college is crucial, and this is how I get my shit handled.

And at the very least, it’s a great balance to the 5+ nights a week I spend stuffing my face at late night.