Now begins another year on the Hilltop, and if you’re anything like the average Hoya, you have all kinds of goals for the beginning of the year. Some of those goals you will keep, such as finally trying out for the club soccer team. Others you most likely will not keep for longer than about two weeks, such as completing every reading before every class.

Whatever your ambitions for the upcoming semester, I think we can all agree that a good goal for all of us is to try and take better care of ourselves, while keeping up with school work and social lives. Obviously, this is easier said than done. The best way to cheat your way to good health while living the college lifestyle is to stay in shape. The best way to cheat your way to good health — and the most time efficient — is to try your best to stay in shape. Exercise is not only the best method of weight maintenance (freshman 15, anyone?), but it is also a great way to keep your immune system strong, regulate your sleep pattern and relieve stress.

Coming from a firm believer in the all-encompassing power of exercise, the number-one best and simplest way to stay healthy during the college years is to make working out a part of your everyday life. Depending on your fitness level, a good goal is to get some exercise in four to six days a week for 30 to 60 minutes per workout. This may seem like a lot if you don’t usually work out, but once you begin to incorporate exercise into your everyday schedule, getting to the gym or out on the streets for a run becomes a lot easier.

Be very intentional about the days that you select for your workout and those you choose as your off days. Don’t schedule a workout for Saturday morning if you know that you’re probably going to sleep through it, or one for Thursday evening if you know you always have a French quiz on Friday morning you need to study for. Set yourself up to succeed in your workout plan and try to foresee certain obstacles and plan around them.

The easiest way to keep yourself honest about working out is to get your class schedule and all of your other activities and chart them out day by day on one single calendar. Then schedule your workouts in with your classes and meetings. Your workout should be like a meeting with yourself that you cannot just brush off. Staying in shape does not just happen; it has to be something that you intentionally do for yourself.

Now, exercise comes in many different shapes. Love Yates? Great! Yates is an amazing facility, with a cardio equipment section, lots of space and equipment for weight lifting, tennis courts, racquetball courts, basketball courts and an indoor track. Yates is also equipped with a staff of personal trainers, and a group fitness department featuring daily classes in spinning, body sculpting, yoga and much more.

If you’ve never tried group fitness, you really, really should — it’s a fun way to work out for a solid hour, and since you are being led by a fitness professional, you can be sure that what you are doing is safe as well as effective. Though Yates has chosen to begin charging for admission to group fitness classes (they were previously free with membership at Yates), the price is still a small one to pay for the returns you see. For a Georgetown student, it is only $65 for an unlimited pass for the entire semester, and the first week of fall classes is free for everyone, so take advantage of the opportunity to try out a new class and see if it’s for you.

However, not everyone is into the gym thing … and that’s OK. Fitness doesn’t have to happen inside the walls of a gym. However, it is also easy to lose discipline when you are doing the same workout by yourself every day. If that’s the kind of person you are, I’d encourage you to explore some other options to get involved on campus. Georgetown Running Club is a great way for runners to keep themselves in check as well as meet other running enthusiasts.

If you are really looking to take your fitness level up a notch, don’t be afraid to contact someone from the triathlon team and see if you can do a couple workouts with them. You might surprise yourself.

Club sports are another great way to stay active, especially if you were an athlete in high school but did not continue into collegiate athletics. Club sports are run through the athletic department. There are also plenty of other opportunities for you in the D.C. area, like the Army 10-Miler and the Marine Corps Marathon that occur every fall.

Try a bunch of different things, find out what you like and what you don’t, and go with it. Remember that, above all, fitness should be fun! Once you become a true endorphins junkie, you’ll never go back.

Christina Zimmerman is a junior in the School of Nursing and Health Studies. She can be reached at zimmerman@thehoya.com. Sweating It Out will appear every other Friday in The Guide.