#Gym new years resolutioners full#

'Just give it a month, tops,' Morris says. Vince Morris, 45, uses the StairMaster a couple of times a week at Results Gym in Washington, D.C., but uses less-popular equipment instead every January. 'At the end of the day, the toughest part of working out is getting to the gym,' he says.Īt least one group is usually happy to see the crowds die down: gym regulars. David Reiseman, spokesman for Gold's Gym, says about half of gym members walk away, returning, perhaps, to their sedentary lifestyle. Most gyms, however, don't have the same knack for retention. He's expanded the Chicago location to triple in size in preparation for the rush and is offering $25,000 worth of prizes to the folks who slim down the most over the next six months. Chances are, more than a couple of the top 10 most common resolutions will look familiar to you: Exercise more. 'Most people who are overweight have a fear of becoming that spectacle in the gym,' Hazlett says. He says the club's policy of barring membership to anyone shy of 50 pounds overweight makes new members more comfortable. Not only does it expect to double, if not triple, membership this month, but Vice President Justin Hazlett says member retention is no sweat. New Year's means big business for overweight-only gym Downsize Fitness, in Chicago and Dallas. 'They want them to sign up, but they know that after the 15th of January, they won't see 95% of them again.' 'If gyms operate at more than 5% of their membership at any given time, no one can use the gym,' says branding consultant Peter Shankman.

#Gym new years resolutioners full#

Skeptics say gyms take advantage of New Year's resolutions to rope newbies into year-long contracts, knowing full well they'll only use two weeks' worth of them. 'You may not be able to even handle those people all year, but the more you work to keep them satisfied, the more they're going to come back and refer you to their friends,' Kufahl says. While readying the gym for a deluge of newbies is no cakewalk, says Pam Kufahl, editor-in-chief of Club Industry magazine, the real challenge is to get them to stay. Gyms have prepared for heavy traffic by ordering the latest new treadmills, scheduling more pilates classes and hiring more staff just to process all the membership applications from optimistic resolutioners. 'You've got cold weather, a long month, psychological awareness about achieving goals, and everybody's finally out of vacation mode.' 'January is the perfect storm,' says IHRSA Chairman Bill McBride. According to the International Health, Racquet, & Sportsclub Association or IHRSA, over 12% of new gym members join in January alone. “We’ll see what my resolution is for 2018 at that point,” she joked.New Year's is Black Friday for the gym industry. Lafontaine said she doesn’t plan on going back to Netflix and pizza.

“You can motivate each other towards crushing goals.” More than 35 of Americans make a New Years resolution, like losing weight, eating healthier or saving more money. “That’s why I encourage people to join fitness classes or find a fitness buddy,” he said. Why New Years resolutions fail, even though people know how they can succeed. Wicks said a lot of people quit because they don’t have a motivator. “You want to cry and hate life, but it’s been a great program.” “I’ve never run before, period,” she joked. Lafontaine said she’s no fitness guru by any means. “I’m not going to the gym because I’m terrified, but the treadmill is working well.” “I don’t have any specific goals, but just do better and do more,” she said. Tenille Lafontaine is doing the couch-to-5K program, which is a nine-week running program designed to guide just about anyone to be able to run five kilometers. “You need to ask yourself why you started in the first place and always think about that.” “You have to make it a lifestyle,” he said. 1 jump at gyms, only to see it fall off towards the end of the month. Wicks is also a personal trainer and has been around for the Jan. “They want promotional rates and what we can offer them.” “I found a lot of people have been emailing us,” said Brandon Wicks with Rise Strength Lab. The New-Year’s resolutioners have once again descended on the city’s gyms.