Annual January boom in gym memberships and resolutions
In the 15 years Justin Heurea has spent in the fitness industry, there has always been one consistent trend - January is the busiest time of the year.
The manager of Anytime Fitness New Plymouth has watched New Year’s resolutions send gym membership numbers up throughout the years, with mid-January seeing a 30 to 40 per cent bump in newcomers.
‘‘Once people are back to work they’re feeling guilty after the holiday and usually motivated to set goals,’’ he said.
‘‘You get a lot of people keen but after the second or third week, there’s a high rate of drop-offs.’’
Fitness-themed self-promised goals are considered the most common resolution on a person’s ‘‘New Year, New Me’’ list.
But these half-baked ideas are, more often than not, just that.
To help maintain eyes on the prize, Heurea suggests people define why they want to achieve a fitness resolution.
‘‘Are you doing it to keep up with your kids? Are you doing it for yourself, to feel better about yourself?’’
About 30 per cent of New Zealanders looking to become more fit within the year will drop out within 12 months, Exercise Association of New Zealand chief executive Richard Beddie said.
However the fitness industry body found in a 2009 survey those who frequent a gym four to seven times within the first month were
19 per cent more likely to renew membership.
And people who attended a facility with a partner were about
10 to 15 per cent more likely to carry on.
‘‘Just make sure that friend has similar goals,’’ Beddie said.
Part of the problem is vague goals, Spartan Fitness Performance Gym owner and trainer Lance Searancke has found.
The New Plymouth kickboxer has seen a healthy boost in membership numbers since the first of
2018 but knows not all will stick with the programme.
‘‘Once they stop I pretty much never hear from them again,’’ he said.
‘‘I might run into them on the street and they’ll say, ‘Oh I’ve been meaning to come back in’.’’
Gill Lambert, owner of womenonly gym Curves New Plymouth, explained if New Year’s resolutions remain the standard ‘‘exercise more’’, the goal will feel like ‘‘weight on your shoulders’’.
Resolutions should instead be linked to a specific goal, she said, such as not feeling out of breath after a walk or making it to the peak of Mt Taranaki.
‘‘When you link it to how you feel, it has more meaning to you so just be really specific,’’ she said.
‘‘And be kind to yourself. A year is a long time and there will be ups and downs - give yourself a break.’’
Those who give up on resolutions have just approached the goal the wrong way, health advisor Laura Warren said.
‘‘People get trapped into a singular vision but you’re not going to be driven to do it. Within a goal, there’s lots of ways to go about it.’’
Warren suggests resolutions be written down and broken up into smaller steps, thus better defining a goal and making it ‘‘more real’’.
And when it’s time to get started, she said an ‘‘add-in’’ practice will make new tasks feel natural.
This practice could be anything from eating a healthy breakfast every day to taking a walk with a friend three times a week.
‘‘Look at your passion and your vision in life,’’ Warren said.
‘‘Have a flexible mindset; it’s not all or nothing. Use positive selftalk and that will foster resilience.’’