If UTC student Carol Meck didn't have access to the college's gym, she'd have a solution.
The 20-year-old sophomore described how she already does yoga frequently outside the gym - mainly in her apartment - to save time and reduce stress.
"Every time I study, pretty much every 30 minutes I push everything aside and do five minutes of yoga," she said.
And if need be, Meck said, her apartment also could be used for other types of fitness routines.
"You can just look online and look at different [exercise routines] for free and do them right in your room," she said.
Whatever your fitness goals are - cardio, toning, bodybuilding - they can be reached in the comfort of your own room or office space, several fitness experts said.
Sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, jogging in place - there's a long list of physically rigorous activities available for strengthening and toning the body. Additionally, small, affordable fitness devices are available for those wanting to step up their routines.
Exercise aids include inflatable stability balls, push-up bars and pull-up bars that attach to the top of doors. Another device is the Bodylastics exercise band, made of long rubber strips that can provide up to 388 pounds of resistance.
"Whatever it is that you'd want to get done, you can get done in a relatively small space, and we're talking relative to a gym full of equipment," said Ashanti McKissic, a Bodylastics representative.
You can stretch the bands under your feet and pull them up for curls; you can string them through chair legs and strap them to your ankles for leg extensions; you can wrap them around a pole and pull forward with your arms for chest flies. Those exercises and more can be done in the space of an arm span, McKissic said.
"It's good for the office person who's working late nights and can't find time to work out and is stressed out of their mind," he said.
With or without equipment, the root of all exercise at home is motivation, said Jamie Harvey, a health and human performance instructor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Meck's yoga teacher.
"We could come up with all kinds of excuses: It's too cold; it's too hot; I don't have a room," she said. "It can be overcome. You can do it in a small space."
Contact Michael Stone at mstone@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.