The new year invites many new year’s resolutions. The holiday season typically brings about a lot of laughter, joy, and… a variety of unhealthy foods. By the time the new year rolls around, many have already made new year’s resolutions to become more fit for the upcoming year, thus flooding the local gyms. Many gyms offer discounts and specials to lure in new gym-goers with new fitness plans. But although it is easy to make resolutions, staying true to them them throughout the year can pose a challenge.
January is undoubtedly the busiest month for most gyms. Bombarded with a surge of new gym-goers at the beginning of the year, gyms are bound to profit more than they normally would. Jesse Salva, general manager of XSport Fitness at Harlem-Irving Plaza, cited January as being her gym’s busiest and most profitable month out of the year. In an interview with Chicago Tribune, she elaborates, “We have a lot of new people coming in for their New Year’s resolutions, so January is our busiest month. It usually stays steady for a few months and then it starts declining by the summer.”.
Gyms typically see a spike in memberships around New Year’s Day, but it does not usually last through the year. According to the New York Post, although about 50 percent of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions that include becoming more fit, nearly 50 percent of those discontinue their gym memberships by the end of January. Additionally, only 22 percent of those gym-goers brave through October of the new year. Gym managers estimate that only about one quarter of the new committed gym goers stick with their resolutions.
According to fitness professional Travis Hawkins from a The Active Times interview, the new year is a “good time for anyone to set goals and work to achieve them.” Some advice he gives is to “go with fresh eyes” and try a variety of different workouts each week, and to have a plan. “Go with a plan because then you feel you’ve accomplished something.”
Collin Liu at Aragon high school has been going to the gym for about seven months. “I think people take a huge step towards a healthier lifestyle when they make a commitment to go to the gym regularly. I feel like people give up not because they’re uncommitted to their goals, but because they get intimidated by old gym goers.” Liu personally has never felt daunted by seasoned gym goers himself, and states that it is not anyone’s business when a member decides to discontinue his or her membership, even though he himself did not notice a big spike at the beginning of the year in his gym. He states how him experiencing that new gym-goer feeling helped him look at new gym-goers differently than others typically would. “I’m not annoyed by new people because everyone starts somewhere. I certainly had to.”
Junior Kingston Ko, however, reports slight irritation when space is limited due to new-comers. “The gym has a fairly stable amount of people through out the day. It gets a little annoying when I have no space to do my workout or it is not available.”
Math teacher Chelsea Rees stresses the importance of sticking to attending the gym, rather than the time one starts going. Rees has been regularly going to the gym for about two years now after her boyfriend became her motivator and personal trainer, and taught her how to use the machines. “I think most people give up because it takes a long time to see results and all of the equipment in the gym can be overwhelming if you’re not familiar with it. I haven’t noticed that there are more people at the gym that usual, but I always go at the busiest time of day anyways.”
As this year finishes and the next rolls around, old gym-goers will yet again witness new people with new goals.
