Rather than just letting themselves go over break, Robert Swartz, physical therapist and facility manager at McFarland Physical Therapy/Sports Medicine Clinic, suggests students find ways to stay active over the holiday.

“Instead of saying, ‘Oh, I’m not going to do anything over break,’ there’s always ways to be proactive and not lose gains you’ve gained this semester,” Swartz said.

Mike Hollander, senior in marketing, said he thinks it will be hard for students to get back into a routine if they slip out of it during Fall Break.

“You start to lose that routine and habit of going and working out every day,” Hollander said. “If you’re trying to stay physically active while you’re at home, just figure out your options. Maybe ahead of time so you can setup a schedule of what you’re going to be doing.”

Taking advantage of local gyms in the community and at-home workouts are ways to remain active, Swartz said. A site like crossfit.com has good body-weight activities that would work over break as well.

“My favorite, I guess if I’m just going to do a simple workout at home, would be basically to pick four to five exercises, and cycle through those exercises,” Swartz said.

Swartz used examples like pushups, squats, pull ups and deadlifts as basic workouts to remain active.

“Then probably something that’s more dynamic like a burpee where you go down into a plain pushup position then up to your hands and knees then jump, so you incorporate all of these things,” Swartz said.

A standard three to five sets is recommended with 15 to 20 reps for these at-home workouts.

“If you don’t have much time, you have family there, you don’t want to spend time working out, you can get a workout in 20 to 30 minutes as long as your intensity is up,” Swartz said.

When doing at-home workouts it is up to the individual to self-motivate themselves, Hollander said.

“It completely depends on your own willpower to get yourself to workout for that hour or two, depending on how long the workout takes,” Hollander said. “It would almost be easier to drive somewhere because it motivates you to get going with your day.”

If students have noticed weight gain from the college life, then going back home to better food could result in more weight gain if remaining sedentary, Swartz said.

“If you’re going to eat a lot, you better do something to counteract that,” Swartz said.

The most effective way to do this is to cut back on carbs, watch your portion size, watch what your eating and most importantly maintain some sort of physical activity.

“Eat as much turkey as you can; that’s protein,” Swartz said. “It will make you tired, might make you lazier, but the turkey is much better than three pieces of pie after your meal.”

Hollander said that there are a lot of dangers in sitting around and becoming lazy over break, which can lead to weight gain if not watching what you eat.

“I’m not really that much of a dessert person anyways, so I’ll probably stick more towards the meat, the fruits and whatnot,” Hollander said. “It’s a potpourri. You never know what you’re going to get on Thanksgiving, so I might be enticed.”

Swartz said poor food choices can adversely affect your cholesterol and blood pressure.

“If those are getting up a little bit higher, even though you look good on the outside doesn’t mean the inside is doing well,” Swartz said.

Processed frozen foods that are high in saturated fats can increase cholesterol in students without them even knowing.

“In Iowa, everything that’s social is based around food,” Swartz said.

Swartz said his family likes do things like go hiking at Ledges State Park, bike rides, and walking to stay active in Iowa.

“It all starts in the family, so parents need to hear this more than the students, we need to get our kids active,” Schwartz said.